June 15, 1911 



ever, have simplified the method of separat- 

 ing the bees from their brood, eliminating 

 the labor of interchanging hives, shaking 

 and brushing, etc. 

 Birmingham, O. 



[We do not claim that the plan we out- 

 lined in our April 15th issue is infallible. 

 The fact is, that any of the methods that 

 have been described will fail sometimes. 

 Your system, not tried by the general public 

 yet, may be infallible. That is to be deter- 

 mined. — Ed.] 



EUROPEAN FOUL BROOD. 



The Various Treatments for Saving the Combs; a 

 Reply to H. H. Selwyn. 



BY F. B. CAVANAGH. 



I wish to answer Mr. Harley Selwyn in 

 his exi)erience with European foul brood, as 

 outlined on jiage 254, April 15. He evident- 

 ly confuses his treatment with that advo- 

 cated in my article appearing in the March 

 1st issue, p. 130, while, as a matter of fact, 

 I believe his treatment to be lacking in the 

 vital elements which go to make a cure. 



Mr. Selwyn makes the two common mis- 

 take of i)lacing the diseased brood over the 

 shaken swarm. In reality his treatment 

 amounted to nothing more than placing a 

 set of extracting<'ombs beneath the diseased 

 hive with the queen confined below by an 

 excluder. This is the old J^emaree i)lan, I 

 believe, when followed up for extracted hon- 

 ey. Now, if the reader will glance at the 

 beginning of my article, March 1, \). loO, he 

 may read the following: '"Having observed 

 the importance of Part I., or ridding the hive 

 of diseased material, and Part II., establish- 

 ing immunity in all colonies in the apiary, 

 let us now consider," etc. Now, Mr. Selwyn 

 omitted Part I. by placing the diseased ma- 

 terial back on the shaken hive. He omit- 

 ted Part II., viz., the establishment of im- 

 munity by making colonies very strong, re- 

 queening all in the yard with Italian stock. 

 Hence I think he will agree with me on sec- 

 ond thought that he failed entirely to in- 

 clude the vital principles which I believe 

 constitute success during the honey-flow. 



In the second column, p. 130, I did advo- 

 cate the Demaree plan; but under the fol- 

 lowing conditions only; viz., strong colonies 

 which have just been requeened with Italian 

 stock, and which are just beginning to lay. 

 This condition imposes a term of queenless- 

 ness just previous to the shift. Further- 

 more, a heavy honey-flow is specified, and 

 the condition is mentioned that the disease 

 has probably disappeared by this time. If 

 under the conditions for which this treat- 

 ment is permissible the disease has not yet 

 disappeared, then the operator and I evi- 

 dently can not agree on what constitutes a 

 "strong colony," "slightly infected colo- 

 ny." and "heavy honey-flow." 



Perhaps it will be apparent from the above 

 why I do not recommend any thing except 



375 



the McEvoy treatment for the amateur. It 

 takes a man who is an expert, and intimate- 

 ly familiar with every detail of the bee- 

 keeping craft to succeed with the plans I 

 have outlined for the professional. 



I am glad to hear from Mr. Selwyn, and 

 hope to be corrected if I have made any er- 

 rors in my treatment. While I am fully 

 satisfied that European foul brood is much 

 easier to cure if properly treated than Amer- 

 ican, yet I feel that iierhaps we are yet go- 

 ing a long way around to get a whack at it. 



The matter of cleaning out extracting- 

 combs after brood has all hatched hinges 

 on the fact that bees store late-gathered 

 honey in the center of their brootl-nest. This 

 being also their winter nest, the taste of hon- 

 ey they get from the combs is consumed in 

 the beginning of winter, hence no danger is 

 present that I have ever experienced or can 

 see. 



Hebron, Ind. 



PROGRAM FOR THE NATIONAL. 



E. B. TYRRELL, SEC. 



Your Secretary believes that the average 

 producer keeps his nose so close to the grind- 

 stone of proiluction that he doesn't have 

 time to learn the best selling system, and 

 for that reason isn't getting all out of his 

 product that he should. Believing this, I 

 am anxious that the next convention go on 

 record as the best one ever held with refer- 

 ence to real iDusiness methods being discuss- 

 ed. In addition to this selling question, 

 there is the all-important one of new laws 

 for the National, and this should be of inter- 

 est to every member. 



I want every member to read carefully the 

 following proposed program. Think it over, 

 and then tell me by return mail what sub- 

 jects you would like cut out. and what ones 

 added. Also be sure to tell me whom you 

 would like to handle the different subjects. 

 You see I am going to ask you to help me 

 get up the program. I want to get some- 

 thing the members want, and I offer the 

 one below simply as a starter. 



1. President's address. 



2. General Manager's report. 



3. Secretary's report. 



4. How can a national campaign be con- 

 ducted against foul brootl? 



5. How to get State foul-brood laws. 



6. Shall the National l^e one separate as- 

 sociation, or an aggregtition of smaller ones? 



7. Is a national advertising campaign for 

 selling honey practical? 



8. A national cami)aign for developing 

 markets and selling the honey crop. 



9. The new constitution and by-laws. 



10. Developing the home market. 



11. A mail-order honey trade; how con- 

 ducted. 



12. Question-box. 

 Detroit, Mich. 



