1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



807 



when caught between the jaws of a panther. 

 From what I know I have been forced to 

 the conclusion that the most that can honest- 

 ly be claimed for any race is this: The pro- 

 lific races are better nurses, and rear more 

 brood, and are, therefore, more inclined to 

 clean up the brood- combs, spread out more 

 in the main brooding season, occupying more 

 of the formerly unused combs, and, conse- 

 quently, are able to stand the ravages of the 

 disease longer. But to say that any of the 

 races are able to resist it when well started 

 is, in my humble opinion, very simple. 



In order to ascertain how far right I was 

 in this matter I took several powerful colo- 

 nies, and, after cutting a hole through a 

 comb in the center of the brood-nest, I fitted 

 in a small piece of the diseased brood from 

 infected colonies, and in every case the dis- 

 ease appeared within two to three weeks, 

 and that is just how immune the best colo- 

 nies of Italians I ever owned were. 



Now in conclusion I want to say that all 

 men have a perfect right to their say; but 

 when a doctrine is dangerous to the interest 

 of our beloved pursuit, I think if there are 

 any who know they should step forward and 

 sound a warning; and this much I positively 

 know, that Italian bees are not proof against 

 foul brood; neither is there a possibility oj 

 curing the disease as long as there exists a 

 drop oj the diseased honey in the hive. Put 

 that down in your little book, and keep it 

 for future reference. I am willing to stand 

 back of this, for with me it is not guess- 

 work, nor jumping at conclusions; but, on 

 the contrary, it is from the most trying ex- 

 perience of my life. 



Vigo, Texas, 



[If you will read over again what Mr. 

 Alexander and Mr. Simmins have said I 

 think you will see you have read more into 

 their statements than the actual construc- 

 tion of the language specifies. Neither Mr. 

 Simmins nor Mr. Alexander has claimed 

 that the mere removal of a queen will cure 

 the disease. Both state that such removal 

 was a help, and should be used only in con- 

 nection with some other helps or conditions 

 that assist in bringing about a cure. One 

 of those conditions was a broodless hive for 

 a period of three or four weeks, during 

 which the bees have an opportunity to 

 polish up the cells. Neither did either one 

 of them, so far as I can discover, make the 

 bald statement that Italians are proof 

 against foul brood. On the contrary, they 

 simply stated they were better able to stand 

 it. Mr. Alexander or Mr. Simmins, I do 

 not remember which, included Camiolans 

 with the Italians. 



But there is another factor that perhaps 

 you do not take into consideration. Mr. 

 Alexander, if you will read all he has ever 

 said, made no claims concerning Joul brood. 

 That to which he refers was distinctly black 

 brood. As I have elsewhere pointed out in 

 this issue, it now appears that the black 

 brood of New York may be the foul brood of 

 England but not the foul brood of Ohio and 



Wisconsin. If this is so, it is only within 

 late years that we have had what is really 

 European foul brood, and that, so far as I 

 know, has been confined to certain counties 

 in New York. The foul brood of Wisconsin, 

 Ohio, Michigan, and elsewhere, is quite a 

 different disease. Mr. Alexander, referring 

 to this, told me personally that he did not 

 know what his cure would do with the foul 

 brood we have in Ohio. 



There has been any amount of proof ad- 

 duced to show that Italians resist this black 

 brood (or European foul brood) better than 

 ordinary black bees; but no one, so far as I 

 know, has ever made the statement that 

 Italians are absolutely proof against it. 



Respecting foul brood, or the kind that is 

 found in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, and 

 Canada, I think all of us will agree to your 

 propositions. The most that any of us have 

 ever said, and I said it myself, was that 

 there was a possibility that the Alexander 

 treatment might cure the Ohio foul brood. 

 But, as you say at the outset, I expressed 

 my doubts. 



For authority for the statement that the 

 black brood of New York and the foul brood 

 of Europe are alike, you are referred to 

 the bacteriologists at Cornell University, 

 and to the bacteriologist in the Department 

 of Agriculture, working imder the direction 

 of Dr. Phillips.— Ed, 1 



FOUL BROOD. 



Curing Diseased Stocks Without Medication; 



Why Do Not the Stores Again 



Start Disease? 



BY SAMUEL SIMMINS, 



[In January 1st issue, page 22 of this year, appeared 

 an article from this same writer in which he showed 

 that he has many years past advocated some of the 

 principles so successfully carried out by Mr. E. W. 

 Alexander in the curing of the disease known as black 

 brood. In the footnote that followed I expr« S8« d my 

 doubt as to whether the treatment would prove effec- 

 tive in the case of foul brood such as we have known in 

 Wisconsin. Michigan, Ohio, and, years ago in the days 

 of Moses Quinby, in New York. If Mr. Alexander and 

 Mr. Simmins are talking about the same disease it ex- 

 plains why they agree.— Ed.] 



Many bee-keepers, including editors, hav- 

 ing heard it said that foul brood and other 

 diseases can be and have been cured without 

 medicinal application, and with no destruc- 

 tion or mutilation of combs or hives, say at 

 once the thing is impossible. In this they 

 are unlike the editor of Gleanings, who, 

 while somewhat skeptical about the matter, 

 leaves his mind open to all the facts which 

 may yet be presented. The one thing we 

 all hope for is that the said cure may pres- 

 ently be effected under his own personal 

 investigation; and this, doubtless, will occur 

 in good time. 



I quite agree with the editor that it is 

 most unfortunate so much valuable material 

 has been sacrificed in the past; but this ter- 

 rible destruction was necessary where the 

 owners had not yet known or realized the 

 better way: otherwise even greater troubles 

 would have occurred in those localities. 



