DECEMBER 1, 1914 



the past four years I have taken 36 colonies 

 from trees, old buildings, beer-kegs, etc.; 

 and during- that time I have never been able 

 to find one diseased cell. Some of these 36 

 colonies had been there for from three to 

 five years, and most of them were taken 

 during the month of August, and in four 

 cases they were less than a mile from badly 

 diseased colonies in hives. Aside from these 

 Ihat T took myself, I asked other bee-hunters 

 to bring" liome brood that I might look it 

 over, and in that way have probably exam- 

 ined the brood from ten or more wild colo- 

 nies with the same I'esult. 



About March 20, 1914, I took a nice 

 colony of Italians from a tree about a quar- 

 ter of a mile from my home yard; and 

 what brood they had was perfectly healthy. 

 T fed them on sugar syrup, and increased 

 on the Alexander plan ; and to-day I find 

 the one with the mother queen badly dis- 

 eased. They were put on two perfectly 

 clean combs and new foundation at the first 

 start, and in a new and clean liive. 



I find the worst cases of foul brood in 

 eight-frame hives every time. 



I had a colony of blacks in an old ten- 

 frame unpainted hive for six years; and 

 after transferring them to an eight-frame 

 painted hive last year they develo]ied foul 

 brood within 30 days; and I fail to see why 

 they should, as they were in fine condition 

 when transferred. Two years ago there 

 were probably 25 beekeepers here who ke])t 

 from one to forty colonies, and now T do 

 not think there are fifty colonies all told, 

 and I am. sure there are not 25 healthy ones. 

 Why the wild bees all around us should be 

 in a liealtliy condition, and none of the 

 domestics, is one too many for me. 



East Hampton, Ct., June 26. 



("We referred the above to Dr. C. C. 

 Miller, who replies as follows:] 



As you state the case, it does seem rather 

 inizzling-. Answering your question whether 

 European foul brood follows painted hives, 

 foundation, and the smoker, I say yes and 

 no. 



First the yes. Take a man who has a 

 dozen colonies or more in unpainted box 

 hives, a man who knows veiy little about 

 bees, and is careless about all he does. 

 Wliile his bees are in box hives, if European 

 foul brood gets into a colony it may stay 

 there a long- time without getting into other 

 colonies, and so the disease will be slow 

 about getting' into the whole apiaiy. Then 

 he adopts paint, foundation, and smoker, 

 not so much because he cares for those three 

 tilings, but because he wants movable-frame 



hives, and with this usually go paint, foun- 

 dation, and smoker. Then when European 

 foul brood gets into one of his colonies he 

 exchanges combs throughout the apiai'y, 

 and soon all are affected. He could not 

 liave done that with fixed combs, so in his 

 case movable combs have favored the dis- 

 ease. 



Now the no. Take an up-to-date bee- 

 keeper whose hives are nicely painted, and 

 who wouldn't think of doing without foun- 

 dation and smoker, and when European 

 foul brood strikes him he is ready for it, is 

 careful to do nothing to spread it, and 

 promptly uses the well-known means to 

 conquer it. But to use these means he must 

 be able to lift out the combs, and with fixed 

 combs he would be helpless; so in his ease 

 movable combs are not only a help but an 

 absolute necessity in overcoming the disease. 



So you see that movable combs — the thing 

 that you represent by paint, foundation, 

 and smoker — may be a great help in spread- 

 ing the disease, or in overcoming it, depend- 

 ing on how they are used. 



Let us turn specifically to each one of the 

 things you name. It may be said in general 

 that the disease comes from the entrance of 

 a particular germ. A worker-bee brings it 

 into the hive. Paint has no influence what- 

 ever in favoring the entrance of the bee and 

 the germ, nor do unpainted hives prevent it. 

 I may refer to an example in my own expe- 

 rience. When European foul brood struck 

 me, with one or two exceptions all my hives 

 were unpainted. Yet I made a brilliant 

 success of rapidly spreading the disease 

 throughout the apiary. 



As to foundation, just a short time ago a 

 document was published by the apiarian 

 authorities at Washing-ton. showing- clearly, 

 from actual experiments, that the heat nec- 

 essary for making- foundation is more than 

 sufficient to destroy the germs of European 

 foul brood. 



If smoke is the culprit, then it must have 

 taken 40 years of smoking in ray case. 

 Moreover, there are tliousands of beekeep- 

 ers who have been smoking their bees for 

 years, and yet have no foul brood. Clearly 

 that idea must go up in smoke. 



It may be well to say here that those who 

 ought to know the most about the disease, 

 the foul-brood inspectors, are a unit in say- 

 ing they can treat the disease only in 

 movable-frame hives ; and this is so emphat- 

 ically true that in some States it is unlawful 

 to keep bees in otlier hives. 



But Avhy is it that you have found no 

 disease in trees when it is found in sur- 

 rounding hives? I might rej^ly that others 

 1/ave found it in trees. I prefer to accept 



