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88 



TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



brids, probably 2-3 pure Italian stock — 

 very good stock. I shipped into a loca- 

 tion where I know positively the col- 

 onies were 'healthy* and inside of six 

 weeks I am satisfied half the yard 

 would show European foul brood, and 

 inside of three months, 70 per cent of 

 the yard had it. 



Now, I don't think for a minute that 

 those bees w^ent over and robbed out 

 any diseased larvae from other hives. 

 They robbed the honey from the hives 

 and transmitted that disease to those 

 bees, because it was backward weather, 

 a cold spring, and fhe bees, some of 

 them, were weak; that is what I think 

 about it. 



'Mr. "Wilcox — Then they are very 

 often in a favorable conditiom to receive 

 it? 



Mr. Cavanagh — ^Very often, in the 

 spring of the year, they are; unless you 

 have exceptionally fine weather; unless 

 your colonies are very strong and 

 rugged. 



Mr. Taylor — How do you think the 

 germs of the disease got into the honey 

 that the bees robbed? 



Mr. Cavanagh — You are asking 

 something that is beyond me, Mr. Tay- 

 lor, That would be something I would 

 be unable to answer. I would like to 

 hear some one on that, who knows 

 more about disease germs. I am satis- 

 fied it does get there. 



Mr. Taylor — ^I don't think it can get 

 there without the existence of the dis- 

 ease. 



iMr. Cavanagh — I would not think so. 



Mr. Taylor — You cannot get seed 

 until you have planted. 



Dr. Miller — ^When a man like Mr. 

 Cavanagh makes a statement, I am a 

 little careful about saying anything 

 against it, yet, with' all my respect for 

 him, I have a little question upon one 

 point. I believe with' him, thoroughly, 

 that there are many ways, and perhaps 

 some that we do not know about, 'by 

 which the disease may be carried. It 

 might happen from a spore on the side 

 of the hive, and by some accident it 

 might be carried on the foot of the bee, 

 and by some accident the nurse-bee 

 might get It into its mouth and feed it 

 to a baby bee, and it could be carried in 

 that way, but I don't believe, as a rule, 

 nurse-bees feed filth to their babes. 



As to feeding honey: The year be- 

 fore last was the year I had a battle 

 with it, and I had a fight with dearth 

 and with European foul brood, both at 



the same time. That is a combination .' 

 that is not to be desired. I commenced ' 

 upon the foundation, and a num'ber of 

 colonies were put upon foundation, and ^ 

 that worked all right — the cure was 

 complete. There didn't come any more ' 

 foul brood there. Some, however, de- 

 serted their hives — it was because they 

 were starving — they had nothing to eat 

 — no flow on — so when I threw them 

 upon foundation I gave them honey to 

 eat, and I gave them honey that was 

 taken from foul brood colonies, foul 

 brood honey, and they ate that, and the 

 cure was all right; they didn't get the 

 disease from it. I don't say Mr. Cav- 

 anagh is all wrong, but I say there is 

 something he needs to question. 



Mr. Cavanagh — I am glad Dr. Miller 

 started this; I am ready to fight to a 

 finish; I claim that the disease was in 

 the honey. I have had too many inci- 

 dents recited to me, and I think it has 

 been shown conclusively that it is. Dr. 

 Miller's colonies were probably not in a 

 condition to receive foul brood when .he 

 fed the honey back. 



Dr. 'Miller — They had the foul brood. 



Mr. Cavanagh — We will let that go 

 — ^but I talked a great deal with Mr. 

 Demuth, of Indiana, the inspector, and 

 I have worked some with him. We get . 

 together and have little confiabs. He 

 tells ms that he has a man down in 

 our State that was in a part of the 

 country where European foul brood 

 had never been heard of, and he bought 

 honey of Mr. Alexander at a time when 

 Alexander had European foul brood, 

 and the bees developed European foul 

 brood from it. 



Now, if these statements are true, I 

 think it proves that he fed the honey 

 infected with European foul brood, 

 and that his bees got it. He says he 

 fed those unfinished sections to a col- 

 ony, and that the colony became in- 

 fected. 



If a colony is in right condition It 

 will not be affected, but I am just as 

 well satisfied as anything can be that 

 that disease can be transmitted 

 through the honey. 



Mr. Anderson — What do you mean by 

 condition? 



Mr. Cavanagh — I don't know that I 

 am able to judge where a colony would 

 be in proper condition, or how. I can tell 

 you what I have seen — where the bees 

 have taken the disease readily — where 

 the bees have been wintered too early, 

 and are in a weak condition in the 



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