352 



G T. K A N T N G S IN B ?: K C U I. T U R R 



Junk, 1921 



^ FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



p' -«-^^--' .^ _ _. _ _ 



Is the germ 7/rrr, or is it an epidemic? We 

 hear it is not so prevalent in the eastern 

 jiart of tlie State with its drier climate. 

 Can the humidity be an indirect agent or 

 cause? There is no question as to the greater 

 susceptibility of blacks to this trouble here. 



Colonies purchased from outside districts 

 may appear to have no disease when 

 bought, yet after a few weeks they will 

 show foul brood in a greater or less degree. 

 Did they get it here, or was it purchased 

 with them? It is certainly discouraging to 

 those who buy blacks expecting to Italian- 

 ize, to tind on the arrival of the queens that 

 a large portion of the brood is diseased, and 

 what was a promising colony is now re- 

 duced to a nucleus. You can readily see 

 wiiere it places us at the beginning of the 

 season, and what a handicap the bees have 

 to overcome. 



Now here is the question: If the infec- 

 tion is here for the blacks, why not for the 

 Italians? Nearly all Italians are clean and 

 healthy. Is it any wonder that whole dis- 

 tricts are bee-less owing to the ravages of 

 foul brood when the colonies were blacks, 

 or hybrids, which are but little, if any, bet- 

 ter? There is a great chance here for re- 

 search work covering the cause and the 

 source of the trouble. The use of Italian 

 bees and of the very best is an imperative 

 necessity I find the good old three-banders 

 are by far the Vjest for ////.s- trouble, as well 

 as for all other purposes. Our fond hope 

 and only salvation are in the recent organi- 

 zation of county and state thru which we 

 expect to teach better methods of beekeep- 

 ing, and persuade beekeepers to Italianize. 

 Unless we can do this thoroly in all dis- 

 tricts, the ease is hopeless. The wonder to 

 me is they cannot themselves see the light, 

 but when shown they acknowledge the dif- 

 ference between thine and mine. One in- 

 stance brings this forcibly to mind: 



A so-called beekeeper, who at one time 

 was a successful producer, was taken to in- 

 spect his colonies that were scattered thru 

 the hills along the Columbia River. Seventy- 

 five per cent of them were found to be rot- 

 ten — many dead, and not a single healthy 

 colony. Bees were blacks, equipment was 

 fair, but prospects nil! Owner couldn't 

 tell how it happened, but called it bad luck. 

 He now sees the light, for after leaving the 

 horrible mess, with recommendation to burn, 

 a visit w^as made to a real beekeeper and 

 the poor man's eyes fairly bulged when 

 shown colony after colony of three-banders 

 boiling over with bees, with healthy brood, 

 and encouraging prospects. This is a prac- 

 tical demonstration of real value, and one 

 that counts. The lesson taught this man 

 will never be forgotten, but this doesn 't 

 tell us how it comes, or why. E, J. Ladd. 



Portland, Ore. 



I Much is already known about lioio EuTO- 

 ]iean foul Vjrood comes. Robbing of in- 

 fected colonies is a fruitful source of infec- 

 tion. Nurse bees from an infected colony, 

 which have been feeding larvae and l)rob- 

 ably liave been cleaning out dead larvae, 

 may return to the wrong hive after a play- 

 flight. The beekeeper may transpose combs 

 containing the infection from a diseased 

 colony to a healthy one. Honey in some 

 cases may be the medium thru which the 

 infection is carried, tho in European foul 

 brood this is probably not an important 

 source. When one stops to think of how 

 many ways the infection may be transmit- 

 ted he ceases to wonder why the disease 

 sometimes spreads so rapidly, and begins to 

 wonder why any colony in an infected api- 

 ary ever escapes. Why it comes has already 

 been demonstrated again and again in wide- 

 ly scattered regions thruout the country. It 

 comes because the colony that gets it is 

 either not strong enough to clean out the 

 infected material thoroly and keep it 

 cleaned out, or because the bees for some 

 reason are not inclined to clean it out. Some 

 strains of bees are more energetic than 

 others in cleaning out the dead larvae, and 

 at certain seasons any strain of bees do a 

 better job of cleaning than at others. 



Strong colonies of Italian bees usually 

 keep the combs free from dead larvae ex- 

 cept sometimes during the period of heavi- 

 est brood-rearing in the spring. If a good 

 honey flow comes on at this time, the bees 

 at once become more active in cleaning out 

 the infection. For this reason, in the region 

 east of the Cascades, where heavy spring 

 brood-rearing comes on later and is followed 

 b_y the honey flow from alfalfa, the disease 

 would naturally be less prevalent, since the 

 honey flow stimulates the bees to clean 

 house better at the time European foul 

 brood would otherwise have been the worst. 



In any region where there is a dearth of 

 nectar, or adverse weather prevents the 

 bees from working in the fields at the time 

 European foul brood usually does the great- 

 est danuige, the disease may be expected to 

 be bad, and it is apparently always worse 

 when the colonies are weak. 



Wherever European foul brood is present 

 tlie beekeeper, in order to succeed, must 

 make a greater effort than ever before to 

 have his colonies abundantly strong during 

 the critical period for this disease in the 

 spring. For this reason many beekeepers, 

 who have fought their way thru a siege of 

 this disease, say that they are securing lar- 

 ger crops than before, because they now 

 have stronger colonies at the beginning of 

 the honey flow. Strong colonies of vigor- 

 ous bees cure many other beekeeping ills 

 besides that of European foul brood. — Edi- 

 tor.] 



