1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



143 



There would be no fermentation, no souring of vine- 

 gar or milk, no ripening of cream or cheese. 



These organisms vary greatly in shape. Some are 

 merely oval bodies, being nearl5' as broad as long; 

 others are cylindrical, or rod-shaped ; of the latter, 

 some are very short and others are long compared 

 with their diameters. Others are variously curved, 

 some taking the form of a spiral. All have the power 

 of movement, and when .seen alive under the micro- 

 scope they are usually moving very rapidly about, oft- 

 en in countless thousands. 



The germs of foil brood have been named Bacillus 

 ■alTt'i. They are very large compared with most bacil- 

 li, and are in the shape of short rods of varying 

 lengths. The longer ones have about the proportions 

 of the half of an ordinary leadpencil. Although these 

 germs are very large it would require 5400 of them 

 placed end to end to reach one inch. Of the spores 

 formed from the rods it would require 12,0(X) to span 

 one inch. Some micro-organisms are so small that it 

 ■would require more than 50,000 to span one inch when 

 placed end to end. Perhaps it would be more intelli- 

 gible to say that 1,800,000 of these spores could rest 

 side by side on the head of a common pin. This will, 

 at least, make it evident that there would be no u.se to 

 look for these organisms with the naked eye or with 

 any of the hand magnifiers. Nothing but a powerful 

 compound microscope can reveal them to the human 

 eye. 



In 1850, Davaine, of France, discovered great num- 

 bers of minute rod-like organisms in the blood of an- 

 imals dying of splenic fever, or anthrax. He consid- 

 ered these objects as one of the symptoms accompany- 

 ing the disease, but did not think of such a thing as 

 their being the cause. 



A few years later. Pasteur, also of France, began a 

 series of experiments to determine the cause of fer- 

 mentation of beer and wine. He succeeded in prrv- 

 ing, beyond question, that the real cause was the pres- 

 ence and growth of micro-org-uiisms, and that with- 

 out these organisms no fermentation could be produc- 

 ed These announcements of Pa'-teur in 1863 led Da- 

 vaine to suspect that the rods that he found in the 

 blood of animals having splenic fever might be the 

 cause of that disease. To test the matter he inocu- 

 lated healthy animals with blood of diseased animals 

 containing the germs, and found that he could produce 

 the disease with great certainty So it was about 37 

 years ago that it was first proven that micro-organisms 

 might be the cau'e of a contagious di.sease. 



When Devaine's announcement was made there 

 were very few, even among scientists, who would be- 

 lieve it. In consequence of this the experiments were 

 ■carried through again with the utmost care by Dr. 

 Koch, of Germany, in 1876, and by Pasteur, of France, 

 in 1877. The results were so conclusive in proving 

 that the bacilli were the real cause of the disease that 

 Davaine's theory was generally accepted. 



In the mean time, in 1865, Pasteur announced the 

 results of his investigation of a terrible silkworm dis- 

 ease known as Pebrinc, which threatened to de.stroy 

 the silk industry of France, showing that this disease 

 •was also caused by a specific microbe. 



These discoveries struck the key-note to the real 

 cau.se of all similar di.seases, whether in man, the 

 lower animals, or in plants. It is one of the epoch- 

 making discoveries of modern times. I will tell you 

 "briefly the process by which it is proven that a special 

 microbe is the cause of a particular disease. 



In the first place, it must be determined that the or- 

 ganism does not occur in the tissues of the healthy 

 animal. Secondly, the microbes must always be 

 found in the tissues of the animal having the particu- 

 lar disease in question. Thirdly, the organism must 

 be taken from the tissues of a diseased animal, sepa- 

 rated from the other organisms and grown through 

 several generations. Then the organisms from the 

 last culture must be inoculated into the tissues 

 of a healthy animal, and cause the particular disease. 

 Lastly, the tissues of this diseased animal mu.st be 

 found to contain the characteristic germ with which 

 the experiment started. Such proof must certainly 

 be conclusive. It is in this way that Cheshire proved 

 foul brood to be caused by the organism that he named 

 Bacillus alvei. 



Now let \is consider how these organisms can in- 

 crease so rapidly a- they must to cause the death of a 

 large animal in a few days after they attack it, which 

 is not an uncommon thing. 



A single spore or rod of Bacillus alvei is sufficient to 

 start foul brood in a colony if it is eaten by a larval 

 bee, and a few weeks later the germs will be present 

 in countless millions, and nearly all the brood will be 

 diseased or dead. Cheshire estimated that a single 



bee-larva might contain a thousand millions of these 

 germs. An illu.stratioii or two may help us to under- 

 stand the enormity of this number. If each of the 

 thou.sand million germs could be represented by a 

 block an inch on a side, these blocks would he suffi- 

 cient to build a wall an inch thick, 10 feet high, and 

 more thaii 130 mile^ long. Again, if each of these 

 microbes was a foot long, and they 'were all placed 

 end to end, they would reach more than seven times 

 around ihe earth. 



The method of increa.se in these ot^ganisms is bj' di- 

 vision. One of the rods attains a certain length, and 

 then divides into two rods. The two soon attain adult 

 size, and divide, forming four. These four and all suc- 

 ceeding ones grow and divide in like manner, which 

 gives an increase in geometrical ratio. A few minutes 

 figuring will prove to you that, if one of these germs 

 and its progeny divide every four hours, they will 

 amount to a billion in lessthan five daj-s. So, although 

 the number is enormous, the manner of increase 

 makes it possible toattain such numbers in a little time. 



Appreciating to some extent the extreme minute- 

 ness of these organisms, and remembering that they 

 are hundreds of times smaller than the smallest mote 

 that we can see floating in a sunbeam, we are prepared 

 to understand how they can float about with great 

 readiness in currents of air. Micro-organisms are al- 

 ways about us, in the food we eat. the water we drink, 

 and the air we breathe, but they are more abundant 

 about cities and thickly populated communities than 

 in more thinlj' populated places. Water exposed to 

 the air always co:itains them. Experiments by Mi- 

 quel, of France, showed that rain water contains 

 64,000 germs to the qiiart. Most of these germs are 

 perfectly harmless ; but when pathogenic (disease- 

 producing) germs do occur in any place, it is easy to 

 understand how readily thej' may be carried about 

 upon one's hands or clothing, in milk or water, in 

 letters through the mails, by insects such as flies and 

 mosquitoes, and in similar ways. 



There is a difference of opinion as to how the foul- 

 brood germs are introduced into the bees. The popu- 

 lar belief is that they are taken into the alimentary 

 canal along with the honey that the larval bee eats. 

 This being the case, there .should be large numbers of 

 the germs in the alimentary canal in the early stages 

 of the disease. Cheshire says that the germ almost 

 never makes its attack in the alimentary canal. He 

 thinks the germs come in contact with the surface of 

 the body, begin to develop there, and then penetrate 

 to the interior. 



Foul brood was so named because of the offensive 

 odor which usualh' accompanies it, and the suppo.si- 

 tion that it attack.s the larval bee only ; but Cheshire 

 found that mature bees often succumb to the disease. 

 He al.so states that queens of badly diseased colonies 

 frequently have the disease, and that the eggs laid by 

 them contain bacilli. Pasteur, in 1865, found that the 

 eggs of the diseased female .silkworm moths always 

 contained germs of the .silkworm disease, and that 

 worms hatching from these eggs always died prema- 

 turely. If queen-bees can become diseased, it seems 

 probable, then, that the eggs they lay would contain 

 germs of the disease which would develop and destroy 

 the future larva. 



While there can be little doubt that the foul-brood 

 germs are usually communicated to the young bees in 

 honey given them as food, it may also be carried from 

 colony to colony upon the hands, upon knives used to 

 trim burr-combs, or upon boards or cloths or sections, 

 or other furniture used in the hive of an infested col- 

 ony. If a diseased colony becomes weak, it may be 

 robbed by other colonies, all of which would probably 

 contract the disease. 



The symptoms of foul brood are quite characteristic. 

 The larvae lose their pearly whiteness, gradually 

 changing to a coffee color, finally turning black, and 

 drying down to a mere scale at the bottom of the cell. 

 The cofi'ee-colored mass that the larva changes to is 

 entirely shapeless, showing none of the structure of 

 the griib ; and if a sliver or pin he used to remove it 

 from the cell it will stretch out for some little distance, 

 and then snap back. If the larva is nearly grown be- 

 fore the disease attacks it, it may cap its cell, and then, 

 after it dies, the capping usually sinks, and often has 

 a hole at the center. When mature bees are attacked 

 they weaken and die, but reiain their form. 



You are familiar with the methods of treating this 

 disease as given in the State law. in bee-journals, and 

 by county inspectors, so I shall not take time to treat 

 this phase of the subject, except to warn all, especial- 

 ly beginners, again.st any attempts to cure the disease. 

 You will do better to bury or burn the entire colony as 

 soon as found to be diseased. 



