UjLJNois state bee-kebpees' association 



85 



Dr. Miller — I don't think it is worth 

 anything for American foul brood. I 

 think it is very reliable for European 

 foul brood. 



Pres. York — ^Will you give the treat- 

 ment? iCome don't know, perhaps, just 

 wihat the Alexander treatment is. 



I>r. iMiller — In brief, the Alexander 

 treatment for foul brood is this: Take 

 away the queen from the diseased col- 

 ony. In the first place, make sure that 

 the colony is strong, and that generally 

 means that you must strengthen It. 

 The treatment is good for nothing un- 

 less you have a strong colony. Then 

 take away the queen, and In 20 days' 

 time give a virgin queen or a queen- 

 cell, all pure Italian stock, and that is 

 all there is of the treatment, 



Mr. Macklin — ^Was it very successful 

 with you last year? Did it crop out 

 again this year in those treated col- 

 onies? 



Dr. Miller-^I don't know. I have no 

 way to tell positively. Because Euro- 

 pean foul brood is all around me, and I 

 can't tell whether they get it fresh, r 

 whether it crops out again. I think it 

 did crop out again in some cases, and 

 I think you will have rome crop out 

 with almost any kind of treatment you 

 'have. My impression is, if there had 

 not been anything within LOOO miles of 

 me, I would have had some repetition; 

 but I would vary as to one point from 

 Mr. Anderson. I don't ibelieve it Is 

 necessary to have pure Italian stock: 

 I believe iblack-stock (would be just as 

 good, if not better. The black stock is 

 better than the yellow stock. I think 

 that, generally, Italians are better than 

 the black, and on that account they are 

 better to cure disease, but with vigor- 

 ous blacks or vigorous hybrids I be- 

 lieve you could get just as good results 

 as you can with pure Italian stock, but 

 I made the mistake that I told you 

 about last year, of understanding that 

 Mr. Alexander gave, after 20 days, a 

 laying queen. I made the mistake of 

 thinking that he gave them a laying 

 queen, and so I gave one. 



I got down to another theory since 

 last year, and I don't want to lose my 

 reputation for veracity, but I may as 

 well tell you what I did, and what I 

 think, and then you can form your 

 own conclusions. 



As nearly as I could make out I be- 

 gan to get to this belief, that the dis- 

 ease is generally conveyed by the nurse 



bees taking an infected larvae In its 

 first stage. 



You know that bees will eat the lar- 

 vae when a colony is starving, and 

 they will throw out the white skins. 



Now I suspect that in the same way 

 when larvae first dies with the dis- 

 ease that the bees will eat that larvae, 

 or at least will eat some of It, and then 

 with that they convey the disease. 



/Suppose, however, that a larva dies, 

 becomes decomposed, and In a day or 

 two the nurse bees don't find it palat- 

 able, and they would not use it — so it 

 is only during a day or two that they 

 would take the diseased larvae. 



Now don't understand that I think 

 for a minute the disease cannot be 

 conveyed in any other way; I think it 

 might be conveyed by spores In the 

 honey, but I think that is the principal 

 way; at least that is the working 

 theory. 



If that be true, then here is a rather 

 startling conclusion: If you stop a 

 queen laying long enough so that there 

 will be no bad larvae that will be good 

 enough to eat, it will stop the continu- 

 ance of the disease. 



When I got that far (and that was 

 pretty late last summer) I thought I 

 would try it. I had two colonies then 

 (I think that was the only chance I 

 had, with those two) to try it upon. 

 Instead of taking the queen away, I 

 caged the queen In the hive (that 

 stopped the laying) for 6 days, and then 

 started her at the end of 6 days, and 

 the colonies, both of them, were cured. 



How long they will stay cured I 

 won't say. I know that is radical, 

 and I would not recommend that treat- 

 ment. 



A member — That would explain why 

 colonies that seem perfectly clean in 

 early spring develop the disease In- that 

 period of dearth when sometimes the 

 bees get down to the ragged edge of 

 despair. In the early spring, good 

 colonies that were perfectly clean until 

 cold weather came, and there was no 

 honey, and they were near to starva- 

 tion, then it showed up in ever so 

 many hives. 



Dr. Miller — ^Here is the point the 

 gentleman makes, and I .think it is a 

 good one: 



Under ordinary circumstances the 

 bees are particular about what they 

 eat, but when it comes to a matter of 

 starvation, they would not be quite so 



