346 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



fully ; and if the older bees should attack her, 

 smoke them ; but they would hardly do that. 

 In a few minutes you will find the oldest bees 

 caressing the queen, having accepted her in 

 the cage. Now give them to the colony to eat 

 out the candy and liberate the queen ; and if 

 the work was properly done, the queen is per- 

 fectly safe. It seems that the damp feet and 

 wings of the very young bees in crawling over 

 the queen cause the older bees to accept her in 

 the cage ; and once they commence to caress 

 her in the cage she is safe. I introduce virgin 

 queens in this way without difficulty. 



To perforate separators, take a hard- wood 

 block sawed off smooth. Lay the separator 

 flat on the block, and with a light hammer 

 and a ^-inch belt-punch cut the holes as fast 

 as one can strike, and move the punch, mak- 

 ing the perforations nice and accurate in size ; 

 and by dodging the holes in the rows, broken- 

 range fashion, make a better separator than 

 slats, as the face of the comb honey is less 

 likely to be ridgy than when an opening runs 

 all the way across between slats. 



Newriver Depot, Va., Feb. 12. 



SOME DIFFICULTIES IN CONNECTION WITH 

 FOUL BROOD. 



Read Before the California State Bee-keepers' 

 Convention ; a Clear Concise Statement. 



BY THOS. WM. COWAN. 



Those who have had very much to do with 

 foul brood will readily admit that, for the 

 average bee-keeper, there are many and seri- 

 ous difficulties in connection with this disease 

 which baffle him, and can be overcome only 

 by an intelligent mastery of the subject. The 

 disease is allowed in many cases to break out 

 and spread, without the slightest precaution 

 being taken, sometimes through ignorance, 

 carelessness, or indifference on the part of the 

 bee-keeper, to the detriment of others keep- 

 ing bees in the vicinity. In consequence of 

 this it is no wonder that foul brood is spread- 

 ing, and that there is a demand among intelli- 

 gent bee-keepers in all countries for legisla- 

 tion to prevent the industry from being de- 

 stroyed. To be brief and concise, I will men- 

 tion only some of the difficulties we have to 

 encounter to make people understand the con- 

 ditions under which the disease exists, or to 

 study its etiology. 



1. That foul brood is terribly contagious, 

 and that as great care should be exercised in 

 dealing with it as with smallpox or cholera. 

 What these diseases are to man, foul brood is 

 to bees. 



2. That foul brood is a germ disease, and is 

 produced by the presence of a minute organ- 

 ism called Bacillus alvei, which exists in two 

 different forms. In the earliest stages of its 

 existence it is in the form of a rod, and is 

 usually then termed bacillus, to distinguish it 

 from the later stage, or spore, as it is then 

 commonly called. 



3. That there is a great difference between 

 these two stages ; and as both may exist in 

 the hive at the same time, the treatment that 



would destroy the one would have no effect 

 upon the other. 



4. That Bacillus alvei is in form rod -shaped; 

 and each rod, as it attains full growth, splits 

 in two, each of these taking up an independ- 

 ent existence, and going through the same 

 process ; and as two generations can be raised 

 within one hour, the same rate of progression 

 being kept up by each individual, it is not as- 

 tonishing that foul brood spreads so rapidly, 



5. That under certain conditions bacilli have 

 the power of forming spores which are analo- 

 gous to seeds or plants, and are endowed with 

 wonderful vitality, being able to endure ad- 

 verse influences of various kinds, without in- 

 jury so far as their germinating powers are 

 concerned. Boiling water and freezing will 

 kill bacilli but not their spores. In the same 

 way chemical reagents which readily destroy 

 bacilli have no effect upon the spores unless 

 given in such strong doses as would kill the 

 bees. (It is extremely difficult to make peo- 

 ple understand this great difference in the vital- 

 ity of bacilli and their spores, and it is here 

 that the great danger arises. ) 



6. That spores coming in contact with suit- 

 able nutrient material have the power to ger- 

 minate into bacilli, after the lapse of long pe- 

 riods ; and according to Dr. Klein, one of our 

 best authorities, there is no reason to assume 

 that these periods have any limit. This is why 

 the disease sometimes breaks out in districts 

 where bees have not been kept for years. 



7. That experience has shown with foul 

 brood, as in all epidemic diseases, the weak, 

 sickly, and badly nourished are attacked and 

 become centers of infection to others ; and so 

 rapidly does the disease spread by contagion 

 that, unless precautions are taken, a whole 

 neighborhood may become affected in a short 

 time. 



8. That colonies suffering from foul brood 

 are usually weak, and this induces bees from 

 other hives to rob them of their honey, and 

 thus carry off the germs of the disease along 

 with their ill-gotten gains. 



9. That combs which have contained foul 

 brood retain the spores. The queen lays eggs 

 in the cells, and the workers deposit their hon- 

 ey and pollen in them. Both honey and pol- 

 len in this way become vehicles for the trans- 

 port of the disease to the larvae in the process 

 of feeding by the nurse-bees. The workers, 

 in endeavoring to clean the combs, scatter the 

 spores, which may also be driven out of the 

 hive by the current of air produced by the 

 fanners at the entrance in their endeavor to 

 rid the hive of foul odors. 



10. That, if on examining the combs, to all 

 appearance healthy, with brood compact and 

 larvEe bright and plump, we find here and 

 there a cell with young larvse moving uneasi- 

 ly, or extended horizontally instead of being 

 curled up, and changing to a pale yellow col- 

 or, we at once detect the first symptoms of 

 foul brood. The germ at this stage being only 

 in the rod form, the further progress of the 

 disease can be arrested by feeding the bees 

 with syrup, to which a suitable antiseptic drug 

 is added. The bees then generally remove 

 the dead larvse. 



