AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



759 



hatched bees in the top hive, remove all 

 queen-cells, and put this on the old 

 stand, as in the beginning. 



Now, in a few days the bottom brood- 

 chamber, into which I drove the bees 

 from the top brood-chamber, is ready 

 for sections. I go to one of the strongest 

 colonies, take off one set of partly-filled 

 sections, and put on this doubled up col- 

 onjiland they will fil! it full in a short 

 time, if the flow continues. 



I will say that when you put the first 

 old brood-chamber on a weak colony, it 

 is generally best to kill the old queen in 

 the weak one, and rear a new or young 

 queen from a cell in the one put on top, 

 which generally is of the best stock, as 

 the best build up earliest and swarm 

 first, and are the best to gather honey. 



Now for the result of this system of 

 management: I have neighbor bee- 

 keepers who go on in the "good old way 

 of our fathers," and I think I can safely 

 say I produced from twice to three times 

 the amount of honey they do, and I sell 

 my honey in my home market for 20 

 cents per pound, while they sell what 

 little they happen to have at about 10 

 to 15 cents, and it is dear at that. I 

 generally sell to one or two grocery 

 men furnishing a nice show-case about 

 3x4 feet, with a glass in front where 

 customers can see it from the outside, 

 but cannot handle and disfigure the 

 honey. I have kept bees for the last 15 

 years, and I find the longer I keep them 

 the more there is to learn about them. 



For practical purposes in producing 

 honey for profit, we want actual experi- 

 ence more than theory. As a rule, bee- 

 keepers want money, and let such men 

 as Prof. Cook, Doolittle, and others, do 

 the scientific work, and give their ex- 

 perience to the world; and then the 

 common men and women who keep bees 

 for profit, can have the benefit of 

 their labor. 

 Windsor, 111. 



Theories Regarding the Origin 

 of Foul Brood Examined. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY S. CORNEIL. 



Leaving out the narrative portion of 

 Mr. Simmins' article on page 501, the 

 remainder is a medley of theories long 

 ago shown to be erroneous, but as some 

 of these exploded theories keep cropping 

 up on this side of the water, from time to 

 time, and as the editor has thought fit 

 to publish them, it is desirable that they 

 should be examined. 



Mr. Simmins says : " As a matter of 

 fact health existed prior to disease, 

 hence the respective microbes are only 

 evidence of any particular disease ;" and 

 again : " When I repeat that healthy 

 tissue existed before a diseased condi- 

 tion of the same could occur, then it is 

 self-evident that microbes were not the 

 origin but the result of the disease." 

 Here he draws two conclusions, each of 

 which is based on one premise only, in- 

 stead of two. This is not the kind of 

 logic we are accustomed to find in the 

 writings of prominent English bee- 

 keepers. 



Further on I find the following state- 

 ments : "Seeing that primarily the 

 disease was contracted without any ex- 

 ternal communication, scientific theor- 

 ists should not overlook the fact that 

 what has happened once, can, and does 



happen again " " We are compelled 



to admit that the same fungus growth 

 can be again developed without any in- 

 fection from outside sources, if only the 

 same disordered condition be produced." 

 Let us see how this "practical man's " 

 theories work out in a practical test. 



Suppose a young man in vigorous 

 health presents himself before a physi- 

 cian, and requests to be vaccinated. The 

 doctor scrapes away the cuticle from a 

 spot on his arm, and introduces into the 

 young man's healthy tissues the mi- 

 crobes of cowpox. These microbes at 

 once commence to draw nourishment 

 from the surrounding tissues, and to 

 throw off their poisonous waste-products, 

 producing a diseased condition, where 

 before there was nothing but health. 

 I ask, is this a case in which " the 

 disease was contracted without any in- 

 fection from outside sources '?" and are 

 the microbes present " the result, and 

 not the origin of the disease ?" 



The specific microbes of infectious 

 diseases find a lodgment, and grow, in 

 healthy tissue, at some point so tender 

 that assistance from the lancet of the 

 surgeon is not required. The germ 

 of diphtheria, which finds a lodg- 

 ment in the delicate tissues of the 

 throat, is a case in point. The microbe 

 of foul brood, which fioats in the air, 

 may fall on the soft tissue of a living 

 bee-larva, and start the disease. If, in- 

 stead of a living larva, it should happen 

 to fall on a dead one, there would be no 

 resistance to its growth, and experiment 

 shows that in the temperature of the 

 hive the conditions for its multiplication 

 are favorable. A prominent English 

 writer says that "dead brood in the hive 

 is an accessory before the fact." 

 Trouessart, in his work, "Microbes, 



