1562 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



journals and texts one is led to believe that it is also 

 the prevalent brood disease in Europe. Although it 

 is found in almost all sections of the United States, 

 there are many localities entirely free from disease of 

 any kind. 



The adult bees of an infected colony are usually 

 rather inactive, and do little toward cleaning out in- 

 fected material. When the lan.'je are first affected 

 they turn to a light chocolate color, and in the ad- 

 vanced stages of decay they become darker, resembling 

 roasted coffee in color. Usually the larvse are attacked 

 at about the time of capping, and most of the cells 

 containing infected larvae are capped. As decaj' pro- 

 ceeds these cappings become sunken and perforated, 

 and, as the healthy brood emerges, the comb shows 

 the scattered cells containing larvae vsrhich have died 

 of disease, still capped. The most noticeable charac- 

 teristic of this infection is the fact that when a small 

 stick is inserted in a larva which has died of the dis- 

 ease, and slowlj' removed, the broken-down tissues 

 adhere to it and will often stretch out for several inches 

 before breaking. When the larva dries it forms a 

 tightly adhering scale of very dark brown color, which 

 can best be observed when the comb is held so that a 

 bright light strikes the lower side wall. Decaying 

 larvae which have died of this disease have a very 

 characteristic odor which resembles a poor quality of 

 glue. This disease seldom attacks drone ^or queen 

 larvae. It appears to be much more virulent in the 

 western part of the United States than in the East. 



EUROPEAN FOUL BROOD. 



European foul brood (often called "black brood ") is 

 not nearly as widespread in the United States as is 

 American foul brood, but in certain piits of the coun- 

 try it has caused enormous los,ses. It is steadily on 

 the increase and is constantly being reported from 

 new localities. . It is therefore desirable that bee- 

 keepers be on the watch for it. 



Adult bees in infected colonies are not very active, 

 butd6;>twc;eed in cleaning out some of the dried scales. 

 This dis^as^ attacks larvae earlier than does American 

 foul brdod, and a comparatively small percentage of 

 the diseased brood is ever capped. T"edisea-ed larvae 

 which are capped over have sunken and perforated cap- 

 pings. The larvae when first attacked show a small 

 yellow spot on the body near the head and move un- 

 easily in the cell When death occurs they turn yel- 

 low, then brown, and finalU' almost black. Decaying 

 l^T^'^B which have died of this disease do not usually 

 stretch out in a long thread when a small stick is in- 

 serted and slowly removed. Occaisionalh- there is a 

 ver3' slight " ropiness," but this is never very marked. 

 The thoroughly dried larvje form irregular scales 

 which are not strongly adherent to the lower side wall 

 of the cell. There is very little odor from decaying 

 larvje which have died from this di-sease, and when an 

 odor is noticeable it is not the " glue-pot "' odor of the 

 American foul brood, but more nearly resembles that 

 of soured dead bro d. This disease attacks drone and 

 queen larvje very soon after the colony is inft cted. It 

 is, as a rule, much more infectious than American foul 

 brood and spreads more rapidly On the other hand, it 

 sometimes happens that the disease will disappear of 

 its own accord, a thing which the auihor never knew 

 to occur in a genuine case of American foul brood. 

 European foul brood is most destructive during the 

 spring and early summer, often almost disappearing 

 in late summer.and autumn. 



This drfferentiation. from what I have been 

 able to discover, is accurate, and one who 

 will follow it carefully will be at)le to distin- 

 guish pretty unerringly between the"'two dis- 

 eases, which, though very much alike, ye* in 

 some important respects are very dissimilar. 

 Pickled brood. Dr. Phillips describes as be- 

 ing "characterized by a swollen watery ap- 

 pearance of the larva, usually accompanied 

 by black color of the head. The larv;e usual- 

 ly lie on their backs in the cell, and the head 

 points upward. The color gradually changes 

 from li^ht yellow to brown after the larva 

 dies. There is no ropiness. and the only 

 odor is that of sour decaying matter, not at 

 all like that of American foul brood." 



Personally I have had more trf^'uble in dis- 

 tinguishing between pickled and European 

 foul brood, because at some stages the dis- 



tinguishing symptoms do not appear. In 

 that case the only thing to be done, proba- 

 bly, is to send a sample to Dr. Phillips. 



The treatment for the European and Amer- 

 ican foul brood is the McEvoy, shaking on 

 to foundation. In the case of American foul 

 brood. Dr. Phillips advocates that the hives 

 be disinfected by burning out the inside of 

 the hives. He does not appear to urge this, 

 however, in the case of European foul brood. 



with 



Wttlt 



I 



EMBKYO QUEEN-CELLS; FINDING EGGS, ETC. 



" Say. Doolittle, I want to ask you a lot of- 

 questions." 



"All right. Mr. Smith. I'll do the best at 

 answering that I can. What is first on the 

 program'.'" 



"The books tell me that, when I find 

 queen-cells in any hive, th^ bees are making 

 preparations to swarm. Is this always thjfe 

 case".'" 



"No. Perhaps the books do not go into 

 the minutia\ or do not sufticiently explain 

 •so that a novice may understand. What 

 part of the matter is bothering you?" 



' ' Last summer I hived a prime swarm in 

 a hive, the frames of which were filled two- 

 thirds full of comb foundation, as I did not 

 have foundation enough to fill all the frames 

 full. In about a week I looked into the 

 hive, and I found on two of the combs, built 

 from the foundation, near the bottom of the 

 coml)," quite a number of queen-cells built, 

 and I watched that hive for days and weeks, 

 expecting it would swarm, as the books 

 said. Imt it never swarmed at all." 



" What do you mean by queen-cells? " 



"Ju.st what any fopl would mean. A 

 queen-cell is a queen-cell, is it not? " 



"Well, perhaps so. to a fool or a novice; 

 but when the bees first start a queen-cell it 

 is only in the embryo state; and when in 

 that state I call themqueen-cups. or embryo 

 queen-cells. These embryo queen-cells, re- 

 sembling an acorn, cradle, or saucer, as they 

 are sometimes called, are found in each col- 

 ony, so far as my experience goes; and new 

 swarms, as you say, Ijuild them almost inva- 

 rial)ly during the' first two or three weeks 

 after" hiving: but such cups, not more than 

 from \ to § inch deep, are no sign of swarm- 

 ing at all, as they are found at all times of 

 the year, and in all or nearly all colonies, be 

 the same weak or strong." 



"Then why do not the books explain ■> " 



"I suppose they think that we should be 

 familiar enough with the inside of the hive 

 to know about these things." 



' ' That is a strange supposition. What do 



