pEBBUARy, 1922 



GLEANINGS TN REE CULTURE 



8.T 



BROOD dis- 

 eiises aiiioiij;^ 

 bees is a sub- 

 ject that most 

 b e e k e (' p c v s 

 would like to be 

 able to dismiss 

 { r m t h e i r 

 minds; but eveu 

 it' the subject is 

 ail nn])leasant one, sad experience teaches 

 us tliat no such pleasant prospects are pos- 

 sible for a loufj time to come, to say the least, 

 and, as in the case of many other pests that 

 afflict almost all kinds of rural industries, 

 "eternal vigilance'' is the only thing that 

 will keep us from going under in the fight 

 with this age-old enemy of the bee industry. 

 True there are some who contend that we 

 are gradually gaining in this fight, and that 

 it is only a matter of time before foul brood 

 will be almost, if not altogether, wiped out; 

 yet I for one have no such hopes. I fully 

 believe that this disease wall be here to 

 fight, just as long as this present generation 

 of the genus homo remains here on terra 

 firma, and that is about as far ahead as the 

 most of us care to speculate, so far as earth- 

 ly matters are concerned. Only recently I 

 had first-hand information that large com- 

 mercial beekeepers in a near-by state were 

 being forced to give up producing extracted 

 honey on account of the prevalence of Amer- 

 ican foul brood; so I judge that other sec- 

 tions, as 'well as Ontario, look upon foul 

 brood as still being the chief menace to suc- 

 cessful beekeeping. 



The curse of the disease does not merely 

 consist of loss from the actual destruction 

 of colonies, but in many other ways as well. 

 We have a slight sprinkling of American 

 foul brood in two of our three beekeeping 

 centers, and I have often remarked that, 

 even if disease is known to exist near our 

 yards, the work of the apiary is increased 

 at least twofold. 



When looking for queens in the annual 

 overhauling of the colonies during fruit 

 bloom, if the operator is examining for 

 traces of disease at the same time he is sup- 

 posed to be looking for queens, it is surpris- 

 ing how many queens he will overlox)k, as 

 compared with working in an apiary where 

 he is reasonably sure no disease is near, and 

 consequently is able to concentrate all 

 his attention in looking for the queen. In 

 forming nuclei in a rush of work, time must 

 be taken to examine every comb thoroly, if 

 he wishes to be really safe against the pos- 

 sibility of breaking up those same nuclei 

 later in the season. 



And so these items could be multiplied in- 

 definitely, but all beekeepers who have had 

 much experience in keeping bees in a local- 

 ity where foul brood is present know all 

 about this matter already. 



The Lewis Foul Brood Cure. 

 But niv attention w;is dii-ectcd to this sub- 



SOME DANGEROUS ADVICE 



Lensjis Treatment and Stewart Treat 

 ment for the ^rood T)iseases Han- 

 dled Without Glo'ves 



By J. L. Byer 



being heralded by 

 in British Columbia. 



ject, this eve- 

 ning, by an .-ir- 

 ticle in a recent 

 issue of the 

 American Bee 

 Journal, relative 

 to tlie new cure 

 for foul brood, 

 (both kinds evi- 

 dently) that is 

 some of our friends 

 A drug with various 

 names, some of them verv lengthy, is 

 sprayed over all the surface "of the combs 

 and this, it is claimed, kills all the germs' 

 spores, bacilli or whatever else causes the 

 disease. Our genial but generally very 

 critical friend, A. C. Miller, reports that he 

 has tried it with European foul brood with 

 such success that the disease now has no 

 terrors for him. As the drug solution kills 

 all the eggs in the combs, possibly all the 

 young larvae too, I am forced to wonder 

 why friend Miller has jumped to the conclu- 

 sion that the cure was caused by the drugs, 

 for a cessation of brood-rearing will gen- 

 erally stop the further development of Euro- 

 pean foul brood in strong colonies, as many 

 of us have proved conclusively. 



Only a few years ago we were panicky 

 here in York County as to the ravages of 

 European foul brood, and I frankly admit 

 that for a time it looked as tho we were 

 going to be put out of business. Altho we 

 do not know what is ahead of us, yet we 

 now look upon this disease with comparative 

 contempt; while, on the other hand, the old 

 brand of American foul brood is still giving 

 us trouble in some sections more than at 

 any other time. A few neglected colonies in 

 a back yard, diseased, later on dead, and 

 then all robbed out, will give a commercial 

 beekeeper worry and trouble altogether out 

 of proportion to the value of all the offend- 

 ing colonies. 



Aside from the possible benefits of drugs 

 as applied to the combs, so far as combating 

 disease is concerned, the method of treat- 

 ment would be mussy and highly dangerous 

 to other colonies, all combs having to be 

 handled individually while being sprayed on 

 both sides. The bees are all driven out of 

 the hive during the treatment, I understand, 

 and please conjure in your minds just what 

 that would mean unless all colonies were 

 taken away to some place where there were 

 no healthy colonies present. 



The Stewart Foul Brood Cure. 

 But if you must use drugs for treating 

 American foul brood, why not try the fol- 

 lowing remedy (printed on a card) as it is 

 most simple and every one can get the drug 

 recommended in this case: 



HOW I HANDLK AMERICAN FOUL BROOD. 



After dark quietly pick up the di.seased hive and 

 without di.sturbiiig the );ees carry it into the shop 

 Irom which let the hoes go out thru a bee-escape 

 in a window. Authorities tell us tliat a bee carries 

 no honey wlu-n leavins; its liive voluntarilv, and 1 ee 



