380 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



June, 1922 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



business. It also discourages the keeping 

 of a colony or so on every farm by careless, 

 inefficient people, which might otherwise be- 

 come a source of trouble from American 

 foul brood. 



American foul brood is being controlled 

 in this state in a very thoro and efficient 

 manner. Our drastic law. which controls 

 the movement of all bees, is working won- 

 derfully to stop the spread of the disease. 

 The inspection force is doing more in the 

 way of destroying infected material than 

 was ever done before. We are practically 

 unanimous in our conviction that the ordin- 

 ary treatment in the hands of the ordinary 

 beekeeper is a failure. We have not a sin- 

 gle case on record where a beekeeper, even 

 the best of them, has been able to eradicate 

 American foul brood from his yard by the 

 "shaking method." I know of many, many 

 cases, among them wise beekeepers, progres- 



his bees. There are no "bee tight" honey- 

 houses. To keep infected material about 

 the place and to keep it away from the bees 

 appears to be an impossibility. I know of 

 no beekeeper who has performed that feat. 



Picture No. 2 is a cosy little yard which 

 was found to be about 75 per cent infected 

 with American foul brood. The disease here 

 can bo traced, throiijiii tlie movement of bees 

 from the yard of Adam Grimm, who is said 

 to have introduced American foul brood into 

 this state from Italy more than 50 years 

 ago. I Doubtful after .50 years. — Editor.] 



While the inspection department has not 

 had sufficient time to demonstrate conclu- 

 sively the success of the area clean-up meth- 

 od, yet we have entirely freed a number of 

 counties from the disease where there were 

 but few infected yards. In heavy-infected sec- 

 tions where the inspection has been carried 

 on for three successive seasons, the diseased 



Fig. 2. — Seventy live per 



■lit of tlie colonies in this cozy little apiavy were found to have 

 American fotil brood. 



sive beekeepers, teachers and professors, 

 who have been treating American foul brood 

 in their yards for several years, and not a 

 single one of them has been able to free his 

 yard from the dread disease. 



The average beekeeper is a "lover." He 

 loves nature, he loves learning, he loves his 

 bees, but the things he loves the most are 

 the old hives, the old combs and the old 

 paraphernalia which he has made with his 

 own hands. Oh, if we could break up this 

 ' * love affair ' ' and turn these ' ' comb lov- 

 ers" into "fire worshipers!" If we could 

 only get them to realize that one "fire" is 

 better than a dozen "shakings;" that in 

 the long run burning is easier, cheaper and 

 surer than shaking. I have found no one 

 able to keep infected material away from 



apiaries have been reduced to a very small 

 per cent. The inspection department has 

 stopped the spread of disease into scores of 

 diseased free sections and counties. I have 

 come to the conclusion tliat the sooner we 

 begin to treat American foul brood as we 

 treat other incurable diseases, the better. 

 No one thinks of treating the foot and 

 mouth disease among cattle, except by the 

 out and out destruction of all infected ani- 

 mals. 'If we could use that method and de- 

 stroy all diseased colonies and infected ma- 

 terial on the spot, we would soon have this 

 disease under absolute control, from which 

 you may observe that I am a "fire worship- 

 per.'" H. L. McMurry, 

 Madison, Wis. 



