858 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov 15. 



year — not by one firm nor by half a dozen. 

 He says he may have said that 6,000,000 lbs. 

 was the amount, and this would come nearer 

 to the actual amount sold ; but this would in- 

 clude only all domestic honey, not counting 

 the large consignments of foreign honey that 

 come through that port. All told he estimates 

 that the New York market handles from 7,000,- 

 000 to 8,000,000 lbs. of honey annually. 



It is a little risky to speak favorably of any 

 one commission house or commission man, 

 for, almost as sure as fate, some one, having 

 had some unpleasant deal, will complain that 

 he has not been treated fairly. This world of 

 ours is a big one, and is filled with peculiar 

 people, and I doubt if there is any business, to 

 say nothing of commission men, who can please 

 every one; and while I realize there are strong 

 temptations in the commission business, yet I 

 am proud to say we have among our honey 

 merchants some clean honorable men, and 

 some who probably purchase as often outright 

 as they take honey on commission. And 

 right here let me emphasize the fact that, 

 when one sells for cash, he must usually ex- 

 pect to take a lower figure than if he lets the 

 honey go on commission ; for when the pur- 

 chaser buys outright he must buy at the bot- 

 tom of the market. 



THE NEW MALADY IN NEW YORK PROBABLY 

 NOT FOUL BROOD. 



Several days ago I received samples of 

 badly affected brood from Frank Boomhower, 

 who has been inspector for Schoharie County. 

 These were examined in the presence of A. I. 

 Root, Mr. Vernon Burt, Mr. Calvert, and my- 

 self. We all agreed that this malady was not 

 the same as the foul brood that we have had 

 here in Ohio. The surface of the combs with 

 the depressed and punctured cells did not have 

 the same appearance, and the dead matter it- 

 self was only slightly ropy ; in fact, it was 

 difficult to get it to string out more than % or 

 l 4 of an inch, while the dead matter arising 

 from Bacillus alvei ( real foul brood ) will draw 

 out four or five inches. When the filament 

 breaks, the two points will fly back to their 

 attachments almost like the two ends of a bro- 

 ken rubber band. While the dead brood sent 

 by Mr. Boomhower has somewhat the odor 

 arising from real Bacillus alvei, yet there is a 

 slight difference even in this respect, as I now 

 remember. 



It will be remembered that Dr. Howard has 

 examined a specimen of brood that is said to 

 have come from Mr. Boomhower's district ; 

 and he says, after microscopic examination, 

 that it is not the same as ordinary foul brood. 



Whether this new malady is more easily 

 handled or is more serious in its nature, re- 

 mains to be shown ; but from all the evidence 

 I can gather, it is not as virulent nor as de- 

 structive as real foul brood, by considerable. 

 Some report that it disappears of itself. Mr. 

 Boomhower, on the other hand, says it is 

 about as bad as it can be, for colonies are dy- 

 ing of it all over his county, and he has found 

 the same trouble within a radius of thirty miles 

 of him. But Capt. J. E. Hetherington, P. H. 

 Elwood, and Inspector West, have called it a 



pickled brood, because this malady often goes 

 away of itself. 



An idea comes to me just now that may help 

 to explain the great divergence of opinion or 

 testimony regarding the different cures for 

 real foul brood, and their value as specifics. 

 P'or instance, C. F. Muth found that he could 

 very readily handle the foul brood, or what he 

 supposed to be that disease, in his locality, 

 years ago, by spraying the combs with a solu- 

 tion of salicylic acid — a well-known germi- 

 cide. A great many others reported that sali- 

 cylic acid and phenol would not only stay the 

 ravages but absolutely cure the disease, and 

 wipe it out from the infected district. But we, 

 on the other hand, with the foul brood that 

 visited our vicinity, found that these various 

 drugs were worse than useless, because, during 

 the time that we were testing these various de- 

 coctions, the disease was spreading everywhere, 

 while, if we had gone at it immediately by the 

 starvation plan, we might have cured it at 

 once. 



Another fact is interesting to note — that the 

 malady in York State does not yield, or at 

 least has not in some cases yielded, to the 

 McEvoy treatment — a plan that has come to 

 be regarded as an entire success in handling 

 the real foul brood. Practically the same 

 treatment was practiced by us when we had 

 the disease, and that, too, without a failure. 



I am sure that we had the real foul brood in 

 Medina, because Prof. Sargent, then of Cor- 

 nell University, made some very careful mi- 

 croscopic examinations of the dead matter 

 that we had, and he found it was the same 

 thing that Cheshire called Bacillus alvei — 

 that is, foul brood. Later on, Thos. W. Cow- 

 an, editor of the British Bee Journal, exam- 

 ined the matter of foul brood I selected from 

 one of our combs, and he unhesitatingly pro- 

 nounced it at the time to be real foul brood. 



The morale of this thing seems to be that 

 there are two kinds of foul brood, so called, in 

 the United States, or at least there have been. 

 The kind that has run through Wisconsin, 

 Northern Ohio, and parts of Canada, is, evi- 

 dently, not the same thing as that which is 

 troubling the bee-keepers of Eastern New 

 York. Real foul brood is about as bad as it 

 can be ; but we shall hope that the new mala- 

 dy, or an old one under a new name, will read- 

 ily yield to the drug methods which have been 

 said to be so effectual with what is supposed to 

 be foul brood in some sections of our country. 

 The very fact that the McEvoy treatment fails 

 to effect a cure on the New York disease, in 

 some cases, and that the affected brood has a 

 different appearance, and is only slightly ropy, 

 seems to indicate that it is not the foul brood 

 so familiar to some of us. 



The specimens of diseased brood that Mr. F. 

 Boomhower sent us, above referred to, were 

 sent by express to Frank Benton, of the Divi- 

 sion of Entomology, Washington, D. C. I 

 have also sent him full particulars, and hope 

 to have a report that will show just what this 

 malady is beyond a doubt. Dr. Howard, hav- 

 ing already examined a specimen of the Scho- 

 harie brood, it seemed better to send these 

 other specimens to Washington. 



