1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



8-:i 



FOUL BROOD AND BLACK BROOD IN NEW YORK. 



The Tenth Annual Report of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture contains a report on 

 bee diseases, by Veranus A. Moore, M. D., 

 and G. Franklin White, B. S., of the New 

 York State Veterinary College, Cornell Uni- 

 versity, Ithaca, N. Y. I have already re- 

 ferred' to this report (page 121, Feb. 1), ex- 

 pressing surprise that all the samples of 

 black brood that have come under the in- 

 spection of these bacteriologists are diag- 

 nosed as foul brood. Indeed, the half-tone 

 reproductions from the microscopic slides 

 show the identical rodlike bacillus of the 

 genuine Bacillus alvei. But the specimens 

 diagnosed as black brood by the inspectors, 

 these scientists do not find to be the same 

 as the specimens which are pronounced by 

 those same inspectors "foul brood." Un- 

 like foul brood with which we are familiar, 

 the diseased matter of the black brood of 

 New York is not viscid, according to the 

 New York bacteriologists. All the genuine 

 cases of foul brood I have seen were always 

 viscid or ropy. The disease that wrought 

 such destruction in New York, which we 

 have commonly called "black brood, "is not 

 ropy, but, on the other hand, has a sort of 

 fermented smell. The foul brood of Eui'ope, 

 and with which we are familiar, is gluey, 

 and smells like a cabinet-maker's glue-pot. 

 If the bacteriologists of New York are cor- 

 rect, then Bacillus alvei manifests itself in 

 two forms; and this leads to the inquiry 

 whether or not there is some other microbe, 

 which, in conjunction with Bacillus alvei, 

 changes the general character of the dis- 

 ease so that it gives rise to ' ' black brood. ' ' 

 Dr. W. R. Howard, of Fort Worth, Tex., 

 says he found an entirely new microbe, and 

 not Bacillus alvei. The one he discovered 

 he called Bacillus milii, from its general re- 

 semblance to millet seed; but the New York 

 men do not find any thing of this kind, not- 

 withstanding they have pursued their inves- 

 tigation the second season, and this last 

 time with the special view of determining 

 whether their first findings were correct. 



The Europeans have spoken of the fact 

 that there are two forms of foul brood— the 

 mild and the virulent. As it has been gen- 

 erally regarded that the black brood, so 

 called, was much worse, it may be that we 

 have here an out-cropping of the more ma- 

 lignant kind. But the foul brood we had 

 here in Medina eighteen years ago was pro- 

 nounced by scientist Mr. Thos. Wm. Cowan, 

 who examined the disease with his micro- 

 scope, to be the same as that in Europe, and 

 the symptoms of it in every way tallied with 

 the descriptions of it in all the European 

 works so far as I know. The fact that this 

 black brood deports itself so diflFerently in 

 external symptoms to those shown by foul 

 brood is somewhat of a puzzle. I think that, 

 for a matter of convenience, we shall have 

 to call one black brood as we have been do- 

 ing, and the other foul brood, and in the 

 mean time may discover whether or not there 

 is another microbe that works with Bacillus 

 alvei to produce the other disease. 



F. H. DK BECHE, THE BEE-KEEPER AND CU- 

 BAN PATRIOT. 



Mr. Francisco H. de Beche was born of 

 French parentage in Havana, Cuba, where he 

 passed the gi-eater part of his childhood. 

 At the age of nine years, having lost his 

 mother, he was sent, in charge of his grand- 

 parents, to France, afterwai'd entering the 

 College of Bonn, near Antwerp, whence he 

 went some years later to the famous college 

 of Carlsbui'g, where he finished his educa- 

 tion. 



On leaving college Mr. de Beche accepted 

 a responsible position in the well-known 

 Parisian banking firm, " Le Comptoir Lyon 

 Allemand," where he remained until his re- 

 turn to Havana for the purpose of accom- 

 panying his sister, who had just finished her 

 education in Paris. Returning by way of 

 New York he was much impressed with the 

 activity and business opportunities in that 

 city; and as soon as his mission to Havana 

 was completed he returned to New York to 

 perfect his knowlede of English, entering 

 the employment of the Munson Steamship 

 Line, where he remained until the political 

 situation in Cuba attracted his attention and 

 appealed to his natural chivalry and sense of 

 justice. Arriving again in Havana, just a 

 few months previous to the outbreak of the 

 insurrection against Spain, his attention 

 first became attracted to bee culture; and 

 although actively engaged at the time in other 

 pursuits he found time to build up, in a few 

 months, an apiary of about 300 colonies a 

 few miles west of Havana. In the mean- 

 time, however, the spark of liberty, which 

 was lighted by a few hundred men in the 

 mountains five hundred miles east of Havana, 

 had swept the entire length of the island; 

 and his apiary, just at the time it was on a 

 footing to become profitable, was made a 

 sacrifice to the Spanish torch. 



Owing to his peculiar fitness, he soon be- 

 came one of the most active and valuable 

 representatives of the revolution in Havana. 

 The history of his exploits, not only in car- 

 rying out intrigues, but the tact and diplo- 

 macy displayed by him in interviews with 

 the commanders in the field, and his invalu- 

 able service, not the least among them being 

 the successful management of an ammuni- 

 tion-factory in the heart of Havana, supply- 

 ing the insui-gents in the field with arms, 

 ammunition, and medicines, would more than 

 fill a volume. 



During all this time, however, his interest 

 in bee-keeping had not lagged; and several 

 months before the close of hostilities, and in 

 the face of innumerable difficulties and dan- 

 gers, he established another apiary in the 

 southeastern part of Havana Province, from 

 which he secured a very large crop of honey 

 the first season. At the close of the war he 

 retired to his ranch, intending to engage in 

 the business on an extensive scale; but at 

 the insistance of his many friends in Havana 

 he was persuaded to return to commercial 

 life in the city, soon afterward selling the 

 apiary, owing to inability to look after it 

 properly. 



