502 



AMERICAN BEE JOURJMAi-. 



to start the fungus-like growth of Bacil- 

 lus alvei. 



Foul brood had not been known in my 

 district, neither did it exist there after I 

 had cured that apiary, until the time I 

 left the location. Another apiary I had 

 only three miles off was perfectly free 

 all the time. 



Friend Hutchinson gives a number of 

 instances of dead brood which did not 

 result in foul brood. I could give as 

 many more, and never hesitate to use 

 combs containing simple dead brood, but 

 I would not advise any one to leave 

 whole frames of dead brood, month after 

 month, where the bees cannot ?et rid of 

 it. He goes on to say, " But to decide 

 that foul brood results from dead brood 

 because the latter is immediately fol- 

 lowed by the former, is not scientific." 

 As a matter of fact I have never claimed 

 that the disease immediately follows 

 upon dead brood. 



No, that is just the point. Practical 

 men are not afraid of simple dead brood. 

 It is the wholesale quantity, originating 

 in such a manner that the bees are ren- 

 dered too weak, and incapable of re- 

 moving it. It is when it is left in that 

 condition m,nnth after month, with a cer- 

 tain amount of breeding still going on — 

 the living, breathing and feeding among 

 the dead — with the fermenting warmth 

 of the clustering insects, which appears 

 to generate the fungus growth of the 

 foul brood virus. 



I believe I could produce the genuine 

 foul brood, with bees started as a pure 

 swarm, and excluded from all intercourse 

 with other bees. It is only my duty to 

 customers that prevents me trying it; 

 but while I cannot be positive, all my 

 experience tends to prove that aside 

 from the causes of continuation, the 

 actual origin of the foul brood virus was 

 in the long-continued fermentation of 

 wholesale quantities of dead and rotten 

 brood in connection with the bees occupy- 

 ing the same combs. 



While we consider the cause of con- 

 tinuation by infection to be Bacillus 

 alvei, seeing that healthy brood must 

 have existed before the arrival of that 

 disordered condition which enabled the 

 microbe to live upon that brood, then we 

 are compelled to admit that the same 

 fungus growth can be again developed 

 without any infection from outside 

 sources, if only the same disordered con- 

 dition be again produced. 



If, then, we are compelled to arrive at 

 this conclusion, it must be assumed that 

 all animal life carries with it certain 

 infinitesimal and unobserved seeds of 

 disease and death, which develop into 



microbes only in the presence of those 

 various disorders brought about by the 

 violation of Nature's laws. 



My position still holds good, that the 

 various micro-organisms are merely the 

 evidence or accompainment of disease in 

 its various forms, and not the origin of 

 those disorders, though they may act as 

 continuing causes by means of infection. 



In my next I propose to treat upon the 

 means I employed in curing the disease. 

 Seaford, England. 



i;onTentiou I^otices. 



CONNECTICUT —The next meeting of the 

 Connecticut Bee-Keepers' Association will 

 be held at the Capitol at Hartford, Conn., on 

 Thursday, Nov. 2, 1893, at 10::?0 a.m. 



Waterbury, Conn. Mrs. W. E. Riley. Sec. 



ILLINOIS. — The annual meeting of the 

 Northern Illinois Bee-Keepers' Association 

 will be held in the Supervisor's Room of the 

 Court House, in Rockiord, Ills., on December 

 19 and ^0. 1893. A good programme is being 

 prepared find all are cordially invited. 



New Milford. Ills. B. Kennedy, Sec. 



PENNSVLVANIA. — The Fourteenth An- 

 nual Convention of the North-Eastern Ohio 

 and North- Western Pennsylvania Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association will meet in the parlors of 

 the Coleman House, Union City, Pa.. October 

 25th, at 10 o'clock a.m.. for a two days' ses- 

 sion. All interested are invited to attend. 

 Union City is located on both the New York, 

 Pennsylvania and Ohio, and the Philadelphia 

 and Erie railroads. Rates at hotel will be 

 $1.00 per day to those attending the conven- 

 tion. George Spitler, Sec. 



Mosiertown, Pa. 



MISSOURI.— The 8th semi-annual conven- 

 tion of the Missouri State Bee Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation will be held at Pertle Springs (near 

 Warrensburg) Mo., on Oct. 18. 19 and 20. 

 ] 893. It is desirable that as many as can pos- 

 sibly make arrangements will be present, in 

 order that the prosperity of the Association 

 shall not suffer in these poor seasons, for 

 want of personal support. The Executive 

 Committee will prepare a program that will 

 give all an opportunity of expressing them- 

 selves on the most important subjects now 

 occupying the attention of the bee-keepers of 

 the country. Arrangements have been made 

 with the M. P. Ky. Co., for IH fare, certificate 

 plan. Accomodations at the Pertle Springs 

 Hotel will be reasonable. Bee-keepers from 

 any State and every State will be cordially 

 welcomed. P. Baldwin, Sec. 



Independence, Mo. 



Xlie l..oiii!«iaiia. Hotel is the place 

 where the North American bee-convention 

 was held on Oct. 11th, 12th and 13th. See 

 the advertisement of the hotel on page 508 

 of this issue of the Bee Journal. Any of 

 our readers who may be coming to the 

 "World's Pair since the convention was held, 

 would do well to " put up " at the Louisiana 

 Hotel. Full information, on page 508. 



