1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



871 



IS BLACK BROOD SPREADING IN THE UNITED 

 STATES? A NOTE OF WARNING. 



Anywhere from one to half a dozen spec- 

 imens of affected brood are being sent us 

 every week during the summer. I have 

 been fearful for some time that, in addition 

 to the regular foul brood so named in this' 

 country, we have been getting specimens of 

 black brood, or what the United States and 

 Cornell bacteriologists call the European 

 foul brood. During the last thirty days we 

 have been handing in several suspicious sam- 

 ples to Dr. E. F. Phillips, of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Washington, who in 

 turn handed them over to the government 

 Bacteriologist. The reports that I got back 

 were somewhat alarming. One specimen 

 of brood from Illinois, three from Pennsyl- 

 vania, were pronounced to be black brood. 

 I feared as much when I forwarded the spec- 

 imens to Washington. Other specimens 

 have been found in California. 



I have just examined two specimens sent 

 from Michigan which I think are black 

 brood without question. 



When I first received this report from 

 Washington I was a little uncertain what to 

 do; but the more I thought of it the more I 

 became convinced that 1 ought to inform the 

 bee-keepers of those States that the insid- 

 ious disease is lurking in their borders. 



When it is remembered that black brood 

 came very near wiping out bee-keeping in 

 New York, and that it was only bv the most 

 strenuous efforts on the part of four of the 

 best inspectors in the country that it was 

 brought under control, the bee-keepers of 

 these other States may well pause and pon- 

 der. 



I would respectfully urge every bee-keep- 

 er to keep a tab on the brood in his yard. 

 When he sees any unsealed dark-colored 

 brood, especially if it be of a coffee color, 

 yellow or brown, and finds further that it is 

 accompanied by a sickening or foul odor, he 

 had better send a sample of the brood with- 

 out any honey at once either to Washington 

 or Medina. But in any case send it in a 

 stout wooden or tin box, the whole wrapped 

 in heavy manila paper. Besides using a 

 strong box, wrdp the brood itself in paraf- 

 fined or oiled paper. It is not necessary to 

 have a large sample of brood; but hunt up 

 a small wooden or tin box and cut the brood 

 to fit, so it will go in without crowding after 

 it has been wrapped in paraffined paper. 



Remember to send brood only and no hon- 

 ey with it, for the honey introduces an ele- 

 ment of danger to the recipient. Brood 

 samples put up in paper or paper boxes we 

 shall not examine, but burn them bejore un- 

 wrapping; so don't send them. 



When sending samples be sure to put on 

 your own name and address. About half a 

 dozen of the samples sent us were not mark- 

 ed. As we are getting a good many every 

 week, absolute identification of each sample 

 is rendered difficult if not impossible. 



DEAD BROOD, NOT FOUL. 



Shortly following a chilly or cold spell in 

 the East, quite a number of bee-keepers re- 



ported a quantity of dead brood. One or 

 two apiaries seem to have had a large amount 

 of it. Samples of the brood were sent here, 

 and we diagnosed them as dead or poisoned 

 brood. They were sent, one to N. D. West, 

 of Middleburg, N. Y., and the other to N. E. 

 France, foul- brood inspector of Wisconsin. 

 Both men confirmed our diagnosis. On re- 

 ceiving the samples we wrote all the parties 

 that we thought it was nothing serious ; that 

 it would all disappear in ten days or two 

 weeks. Happening to be in the East lately 

 on special business I visited one or two of 

 the affected yards, and foxmd, as I suspect- 

 ed, that the bees were coming out all right. 

 The brood that had died seemed to be all of 

 one age. All new brood was healthy, and 

 seemed to be in first-class condition. 



THE bee-keepers' FIELD DAY AT JENKINTOWN, PA. 



To-DAY, June 28, I have just returned from the above 

 convention; and 1 can heartily indorse what a gm>d 

 many said at the meeting, that it was the greatest bee- 

 keepers' convention ever held in the United States; and 

 some went so far as to say it was the greatest, perhaps, 

 ever held in the world; and if you take into consideration 

 the new inventions and up-to-date appliances that were 

 there exhibited and under demonstration, I do not know 

 but that it was in advance of any thing that has ever been 

 done before in this world of ours. Mr. Pratt had all his 

 recent discoveries and short cuts in queen-rearing; and 

 some of them were so new and astounding, even to my- 

 self, that I could only open my mouth and stare in mute 

 astonishment. Doolittle gave a talk, showing his meth- 

 ods of grafting larvae. Prof. Bigelow had a beautiful 

 little apiary of Pearl Agnes hives placed around in a 

 circle, and he gave a talk that was simply wonderful. 

 When you looked into the faces of the youngsters who 

 stood around him, with the baby sections in their fin- 

 gers, you could get some glimpse of what this " baby 

 bee-hive " may do with the children of the future. C. 

 M. Church was there and gave us a picture of his mam- 

 moth tent or wire-cloth house 30 feet across and 30 feet 

 high. He told briefly what they had accomplished in 

 letting drones fly in the great tent. Perhaps I should 

 explain first, that, when we came in sight of Mr. Sel- 

 ser's beautiful home, a great banner swung overhead, 

 announcing what was going on. Then a raised plat- 

 form, draped with red, white, and blue (or something of 

 that sort) contained an ex- tempore office or offices where 

 some girls dressed in white took the name and address 

 of every bee-keeper, and furnished him a badge and 

 program. By the way, Philadelphia, the "City of 

 Brotherly Love," has some of the most beautiful homes, 

 lawns, flowers, and shrubbery to be seen in the world ; 

 and the young ladies (I do not know whether they were 

 all bee-keepers' daughters or not) are not one whit be- 

 hind. I think I had better tell you right here, before I 

 forget it, that there were toward one thousand in at- 

 tendance. They were all bee-keepers, college profess- 

 ors, big doctors, or something of that sort, or they could 

 not get on the grounds; but after they were once on 

 the grounds, lunches, both for dinner and supper, were 

 furnished free of charge; and the same supper and din- 

 ner tickets when presented to said young ladies brought 

 a dish of beautiful ice cream, both afternoon and eve- 

 ning. There were, perhaps, a dozen or more apiaries, ar- 

 ranged in a circular or some other form, and each 

 speaker stood in the center of this apiary while a rope 

 around the outside kept the spectators from crowding 

 too closely upon him. Mine was the Caucasian apiary, 

 comprising perhaps 15 or 20 hives, big and little. 



We also had on demonstration stingless bees and also 

 stings for rheumatism; and, by the way, the stingless 

 bees made more of a racket with the spectators and old 

 bee- k eepers than the other kind. Of course, they could 

 not sting, but they could bite, crawl into your hair, get 

 down your collar and into your nose and ears, in a way 

 that set the whole crowd in an uproar more than almost 

 any thing else 



But I am admonished that there is no more space in 

 this issue, and so I will tell you more later. —A. I. R. 



