1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



121 



New York Bee Disease, or 

 Black Brood. 



BY WM. R. HOWARD, A.B,, M.D. 



Fellow of the Texas Academy of Science, Professor 



Histoloff>', Pathology, and Bacteriology, Medical 



Department, Fort Worth University, Fort 



Worth, Texas. 



Author 6f ''Foul Brood; its Natural History^ etc.;" 



"Pickled Brood," and minor Papers on 



Diseases of Bees. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



In my investigations of this disease I have 

 carefully examined each specimen separately, 

 and noted the details in my laboratory note- 

 book, from which extracts have been made. I 

 have received specimens from Messrs. Geo. 

 W. York, editor of American Bee Journal, 

 Chicago, 111. ; E. R. Root, editor of Gleanings 

 in Bee Culture, Medina, Ohio ; N. D. West, 

 New York State Bee Inspector, Middleburgh, 

 N, Y.; and P. H. Elwood, Starkville, N. Y. 

 All of these men have furnished, not only 

 material, but have been active in getting data 

 for the investigation. Mr. N. D. West has 

 kindly written up the history of the disease 

 as it appears in the apiaries wliich he has vis- 

 ited. Mr. P. H. Elwood has contributed his 

 experience, as well as answered questions rel- 

 ative to certain points of interest. In making 

 a report of the work and of the character of 

 the disease, I have endeavored to write a com- 

 plete history of its nature so far as is known, 

 so that those who have not seen it may appre- 

 ciate the work, and be able, possibly, to recog- 

 nize it. I have drawn largely upon what these 

 gentlemen have furnished, as well as from 

 notes taken from my experience with the dis- 

 ease transferred by infected food to healthy 

 bees in my own laboratory. 



I have made more than one thousand mi- 

 croscopical examinations, and have given the 

 results of those of the most practical impor- 

 tance, followed by a general summing-up of 

 the facts, and the conclusions based upon them. 



A differential diagnosis has been made be- 

 tween this disease and those of foul brood and 

 pickled brood, considering most of the diag- 

 nostic points worthy of interest. 



On account of the character of the dead 

 brood ; its beginning with a dark spot on the 

 larva, which increases in size, becomes darker, 

 and finally black, for convenience and brevity 

 the name black drood has been suggested, and 

 this name is used in the text. 



In conclusion are given a few remarks upon 

 the recurrence and treatment of this disease 

 from a practical standpoint. 



The drawings have been taken from my lab- 

 oratory note-book, and were made from nature 

 as the work was going on. 



"A Mr. Overbaugh, of Sloanville, N. Y., 

 three or four years ago, bought ten nuclei from 

 some man in Tennessee whose name and ad- 

 dress have been forgotten. Of these nuclei, 

 only seven were sent, which were found the 

 same fall to be foul. They were allowed to 

 stand, and robbers from neighboring colonies 

 spread the infection. As nearly as I can learn, 

 this infection has extended north twenty miles; 

 west and south twenty five miles. 



" About the time apple-blossoms come in, 

 this disease breaks out all at once and spreads 

 with amazing rapidity. The young larva will 

 have a yellowish speck on its body, about the 

 size of a pinhead, while the older brood will 

 stand out lengthwise in the cell, sharp at the 

 ends ; white, but not capped over ; this brood 

 dies, and is either removed by the bees, or, 



HISTORY. 

 From the best that can be learned of the 

 first appearance of this disease, Mr. N. D. 

 West, New York State Bee Inspector, writes : 



BACTERIOI^OGIST DR. WM. R. HOWARD. 



later, flattens down in the cell and becomes of 

 a cream color, and, later still, a coffee-colored 

 mass. Later in the season some brood that 

 died in the cells, which had been capped over, 

 becomes a rotten mass — a coffee-colored mat- 

 ter about the consistency of heavy honey. A 

 toothpick dipped into this, and drawn out, 

 causes this matter to stretch from half an inch 

 to an inch, but does not break and fly back 

 quickly as in foul brood. The smell is not 

 very bad in any of the many cases I have ex- 

 amined this season. In some it has a sour 

 smell, while in some of the sealed rotten cof- 

 fee-colored brood it has a kind of rotten smell, 

 but not like that of the old-time foul brood. 

 There seems to be a level where bees either go 

 down or get better, so that, later in the season, 

 no diseased brood can be found. Where the 



