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OEORQE W. YORK, Editor. 



i i J:^ -i- i -i- -i- 



39th YEAR, 



CHICAGO, ILL, MARCH 16, 1899, 



No, 11, 



Report of the Chicag-o Bee-Keepers' Convention. 



BY A SHORTHAND REPORTER. 



The second quarterly meeting- of the Chicago Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association was held Dec. 1, 1898, with a good attend- 

 ance. 



President C. Beers called the convention to order, and 

 Secretary Herman F. Moore read the following paper by 

 Hon. R. L. Taylor, of Michi;ran. on 



Foul Brood in a Nutshell. 



Foul brood is a term that is applied to a disease that at- 

 tacks the larva; of the honey-bee, and is attended with fatal 

 results either before or soon after the cells containing them 

 are capt. Unless remedial action be taken it generally re- 

 sults, in the course of a year or two, in the destruction of 

 the colony attackt, not so much on account of the numbers 

 of the larva; destroyed as on account of the fact that from 

 the consistency of the dead larvae the bees cannot remove 

 them, and so are precluded from rearing j-oung again in 

 such cells. 



ITS CAUSE. 



The disease is caused by the action of a microscopic 

 ■organism termed " bacillus," from its rod shape. So far as 

 I am informed its nidus or original home is not known, and 

 the disease is spread only by the conveyance of the bacilli 

 from one colony of bees to another. 



HOW To DETECT IT. 



The healthy larvae are of a glistening white color. 

 When attackt by the disease they lose this lively appear- 

 ance, and turn brown like coifee prepared with milk, when 

 each is a homogeneous, g-lue-like mass. Now it is viscid or 

 ropy, like mucus, as readily appears by inserting the end 

 -of a sliver in it and withdrawing it. This is the surest test 

 of the disease, and for the greater part of the year the 

 easiest to be applied. 



This ropy mass after a time dries down and becomes 

 a thin, dark-brown scale, lying on the lower side of the cell 

 and reaching nearly, but not quite, to the open end of the 

 cell. By holding the comb at the right angle in the light, 

 these scales are readily seen, thus revealing the disease in 

 the winter when there is generally no dead larva; remain- 

 ing in a viscid state. 



Further, the cappings of comb much diseased are gen- 

 erally to a degree ragged, sunken, perforated, and discol- 

 ored. The odor of a brood-nest much diseased is always 

 bad, tho not always very strong, and will not be confounded. 

 by any one having a good sense of smell, with anything 

 else in the apiary, unless it might be with a bad case of 

 dysentery. 



Finally, a diseased colony has often its alighting-board 

 near the entrance more or less bedraggled and dirtj'. 



HOW IT SPREADS. 



I speak not as a scientist nor as a microscopist, but 

 from observations made during the practical handling of 

 this disease. The bacilli multiply in the viscid matter of 

 the dead larva;, and the bees, in their efforts to remove the 

 matter, get them upon their tongues whence thej' are con- 

 veyed to the cells of honey and then into the food of the 

 larva;. Sometimes, too, hone^' is stored in cells with the 

 dried matter, which being thus moistened releases the 

 bacilli .so that they mingle with the honey. Of course 

 when such honey enters into the food of the larva; they are 

 pretty sure to contract the disease, and when such hone}' is 

 carried away by robber-bees the disease is spread to new 

 colonies. In endeavoring to control this plague, robbinn- in 

 all its forms is the great thing to be guarded against. 



HOW TO CURE IT. 



Three days of comb-building with no brood to feed and 

 no comb for the storage of honey, except what is made 



J\. L. Taylor. 



within that time, frees the colony subjected to these condi- 

 tions from all germs of the disease. The comb may be 

 built either entire or from foundation. The problem then 

 simply is. to put the bees under those conditions without 

 permitting any robbing, or what amounts to the same 

 thing, the mingling of any of the bees of the diseased col- 



