OC'TOBKR 15, 1914 



7P9 



evidence still when 1 was there, and I gath- 

 ered up several hundred, although the num- 

 bers were nothing- like as numerous as Mr. 

 Brown said they were earlier in the season. 

 One thing that I had not previously 

 known was that the poisoning gave many of 

 the bees a malady which apparently was 

 dysentery. The yellow deposit on the hives 

 and in front of the entrances was plainly 

 visible. I examined a number of apiaries 

 in Montrose County, where spray-poisoning 

 had been reported, and I found no evidences 

 of European foul brood. Then in company 

 with J. C. Matthews, George Nichols, E. D. 

 Nichols, and J. G. Brown, I went to Mr. R. 

 W. Ensley's home in Delta County. Mr. 

 Ensley had lost a great many bees at his 

 home yard, and had moved most of the bees 

 away, but we examined a dozen or more 

 colonies, but could find nothing that resem- 

 bled the descriptions of European foul 

 brood. Mr. Matthews, Mr. Brown, Mr. E. 

 D. Nichols, and his son, George Nichols, then 

 left in Mr. Matthews' auto for Montrose, 

 and Mr. Ensley and I started the next morn- 

 ing for Paonia, where Mr. Ensley secured 

 the sample of brood which Dr. Phillips re- 

 ported as affected with European foul brood. 

 Paonia is nearly thirty miles from Mr. 

 Ensley's; and after stopping on the way 

 to examine one apiary we reached Paonia 

 by night. 



During the next two days we examined 

 practically all the apiaries within a radius 

 of six or seven miles, and found no Euro- 

 pean foul brood more than IV2 miles from 

 the apiary where Mr. Ensley secured tdie 

 sample. There arc three apiaries affected 

 that are so far known. There are none but 

 Italian bees in the district; and in one 

 apiary which was not seriously injured by 

 the spraying, though European foul brood 

 is quite plentiful, a good crop of honey is 

 being harvested. 



From what I see now I think that the 

 disease can be cleaned out. It appears to 

 me that the heavy losses of bees from spray- 

 ing probably so weakened the colonies that 

 European foul brood got a good start. No 

 strong colonies seemed to be affected, and 

 swarms hived on combs affected cleaned 

 them out, and the disease did not reappear 

 except in a mild degree, and the bees seemed 

 to have the upper hand. 



Dr. Phillips' letter to Editor Root, pub- 

 lished in the editorial columns of August 

 1.5th Gleanings, page 615, has raised a 

 storm in Western Colorado. Some said that 

 probably all European foul brood is, any 

 way, spray-poisoning. Others ventured the 

 opinion that spray-poisoning could prob- 



ably cause European foul brood. The sen- 

 timent seemed to be quite prevalent that, if 

 what they had was Euroj^ean foul brood, it 

 could be easily cured by moving out of the 

 fruit district, which many had done and 

 thus cured their trouble. 



The statement of Dr. Phillips, that Euro- 

 pean foul brood is worse than a little sur- 

 plus arsenate of lead, gives the impression 

 that European foul brood must be very de- 

 structive, as half of some large apiaries were 

 wiped out by spray-poisoning in five days, 

 or what was alleged to be spray-poisoning. 



I think that the beekeepers in the fruit 

 districts will have to make arrangements to 

 have the clover cut before spraying. I be- 

 lieve it a mistake to look for spray-poison- 

 ing in the brood ; but all should keep on the 

 lookout for European foul brood. From 

 indications so far I think that spray-poi- 

 soning has been far more destructive than 

 European foul brood; but the beekeeper 

 who gets both along with American foul 

 brood and a jioor season has about met his 

 Waterloo. 



To sum up, I have been unable to find 

 any evidences of European foul brood in 

 the large beekeeping districts of western 

 Colorado where spraying has been seriously 

 complained of excejit in one very restricted 

 district. 



Moving the bees away from the orchards 

 has been generally followed, and has proven 

 successful. Fortunately none of the bees in 

 the district where Euroi^ean foul brood is 

 present have been moved this season. 



The owner of one of the affected apiaries 

 told me that he had noticed this trouble for 

 several years, and I saw on one of his record- 

 cards (these beekeepers all use records) 

 these words: ''Not foul brood, but what is 

 it?" It did not answer the description of 

 sac brood or American foul brood, and he 

 had it under observation when I got there. 



In another hive I found a beautiful sam- 

 ple of diseased comb of both American foul 

 brood and European foul brood. All the 

 brood was dead in either one or the other, in 

 the proportion of about half and half. This 

 colony had been treated for American foul 

 brood ; and some one who can, please tell 

 me what a small colony in the fall will be 

 worth after it has been treated for both. 



Boulder, Col. 



[While it is not our purpose at this time 

 to take any hand in this controversy, we 

 might add that we have had numerous re- 

 ports of bees dying. They had visited clo- 

 vers under trees that had been sprayed to 

 kill the codling moth. — Ed.1 



