578 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



September, 1922 



library. A number of the associations have 

 contributed liberally, but there are others 

 which will not want to be lacking in an ex- 

 pression of appreciation of the worth of 

 Doctor Miller and which will want to add 

 their part to this great library. 



The committee having this matter in 

 charge has decided to locate the Miller Me- 

 morial Beekeeping Library at the Univer- 

 sity of Wisconsin, where it will receive sym- 

 pathetic care and support. I should like to 

 see this fund turned over to this institution 

 with a larger amount than is at present at 

 hand, and then I should like to see beekeep- 

 ers look on this library as something to re- 

 ceive their constant interest and support, to 

 which they will make contributions of mon- 

 ey, books or journals, at any time when it 

 is possible. 



Several beekeepers of my acquaintance 



have some fine old books on bees, and I 

 have some myself that I prize highly. When 

 I get through with these books I can think 

 of no better place to put them than a library 

 of this kind. All of us who have taken the 

 trouble to collect these books would rather 

 have them kept where they will do good 

 than to have them scattered and lost, and I 

 suggest that we all put provisions in our 

 wills to have our bee books sent to the Mil- 

 ler Library. I think it is not too much to 

 expect that, as the years go by, the Miller 

 Beekeeping Library will become one of the 

 landmarks in American beekeeping, and I 

 want to do all I can to make it great and 

 valuable. There is no way that I can think 

 of which will better express our apprecia- 

 tion of the life and works of the man in 

 whose honor this is being established. 

 Washington, D. C. 



CONTROLLING FOUL BROOD 



Practical Methods of Keeping 

 Down Infection in the Yards 



By M. C. Richter 



HONEY pro- 

 duction to- 

 day must 

 concern itself 

 with American 

 foul brood. This 

 brood disturb- 

 ance is going to 

 folloAV the hive 

 bee wherever 



beekeeping is practiced in the state. There 

 is no absolute preventive for the disease, 

 and every good beekeeper must know its 

 symptoms and know how to keep it under 

 control. When American foul brood has 

 reached an advanced stage there is no ex- 

 cuse for not being able to recognize it. Our 

 chief diagnostic trouble is during the time 

 when American foul brood first enters a 

 colony that already has been affected by 

 European foul brood. The symptoms of 

 American foul brood and sacbrood are quite 

 constant, but the reverse is only too true 

 in European foul brood. Ever so much time 

 and trouble are saved in treating brood dis- 

 eases after an exhaustive study of their 

 symptoms has been made. Mr. Sturtevant 

 has given us the latest regarding symptoms 

 of the various brood diseases in the current 

 May issue of this publication. It will be 

 well for many of us to re-read this article. 

 General Considerations. 

 In control work we must ever bear in 

 mind that, no matter how severe our pre- 

 ventive or combative measures may be, we 

 are liable nevertheless to have the disease 

 reappear at any time. We are able to keep 

 it under control very nicely, and in our work 

 we have in mind rather the "dollars aiul 

 cents" standpoint than the possibility of 

 comi^lete eradication of the disease. For 

 instance, we do not destroy partly drawn- 

 out foundation taken from an infected col- 

 ony although such a procedure may result 

 in a two or tlirce per cent infection of colo- 

 nies to which the foundation was given. We 



feel that it is 

 cheaper to shake 

 two or three col- 

 onies in every 

 hundred than it 

 is to destroy a 

 given number of 

 frames of foun- 

 dation. In other 

 words, we must 

 be guided by common sense and make our 

 control work practical. 



Sources of Infection. 

 We know that the source of infection is 

 carried in the honey, and that the common 

 carrier of this infected material without the 

 hive is the robber bee. Any hive material 

 that may be contaminated by honey from 

 an infected colony and the brood-combs that 

 contain the dried scales of American foul 

 brood are likewise carriers of the disease. 

 The beekeepers' paraphernalia also may be 

 a source of infection. 



There is yet another and important source 

 of infection. It is the flight bee as distin- 

 guished from the robber. This matter will 

 be discussed later. 



How Spread. 

 The disease spreads within the colony by 

 means of the nurse bees using infected hon- 

 ey Avhen feeding the larvae. During honey 

 fiowa the nurse bees use incoming nectar 

 for this purpose, and under such conditions 

 the disease makes little if any headway. It 

 is during a dearth of honey, in poor years 

 and more especially when stores are lowest 

 in the colony, tliat the disease not onlv 

 thrives but spreads rapidly. Wlien an api- 

 ary has once been subjected to a source of 

 infection any colony in the yard may har- 

 bor the infected material for several years 

 before any diseased larvae appear. A single 

 worker in but one trip may carry tlie 

 s])ores, and several years later a single 

 cell of honey may be uncapped by the 

 bees during a lean year and fed innocent- 



