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90 



TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



when you stuck a tooth-pick in it, an 

 inch and a half long. 



Dr. Miller — That is American. 



Mr. Hatch — I had that, and when you 

 get that, you have something that is 

 worth your effort to look after it. We 

 cleaned it all out of ours by transfer- 

 ring. We finally exterminated the 

 whole apiary when they carried it from 

 a neighbor, and it made me quite a 

 loss. 



Then there was another neighbor 

 whose bees were affected; he cleaned 

 hit; apiary out but saved the combs, 

 and he sold these combs after he had 

 them lying idle about two years to 

 another man, and he infected an apiary 

 of 200 colonies, and he had to melt 

 those up and destroy them. There are 

 two ways I am positive they carried 

 i: — by the honey, and by the old combs. 



In the case of Mr. ^Howard carrying 

 tlie bees over during the spring when 

 the European foul brood appeared — it 

 was in the bottom of the cell, and when 

 they got down so they had to use up 

 the bottom of that cell, they got foul 

 brood. 



In the case of Dr. Miller, where they 

 didn't get it by transferring them on 

 foundation and the using of infected 

 honey^they ate it all up before they 

 got brood to feed it to. 



Dr^ Miller — They could not. 



Mr. Hatch — That was before they 

 got young brood. 



A member — Dr. Miller, did they rear 

 brood while you were feeding? 



Dr. Miller — They must have. I 

 don't say it is not in the honey; I 

 think it may be. I would be rather 

 surprised if it were not. 



Mr. Hatch — No infection occurred 

 from the outside hive without disin- 

 fecting, but the combs, if they were 

 used again, you have got the infection 

 just as sure as fate. 



Dr. Miller — I want to add a word 

 as to distinguishing between the two 

 diseases; I will tell you why I think 

 it can be done; I don't know, because 

 diseases had the American. With the 

 European, a diseased colony will carry 

 out the larvae — you understand the 

 dead larvae dries up in the case of 

 the European, and the bees can dig it 

 out, while the American dries down 

 like dried glue, and they will not carry 

 it out I think. 



In the case of a diseased colony, I 

 would find on the entrance more or 



less of these dead scales they had 

 carried that far and dropped them; 

 I suspect you would not find that in 

 American. 



And then, if a rain came on and wet 

 the larvae, the larvae would all swell 

 up there, and j'ou will have them 

 alighting on the door step, those 

 swelled up larvae, and would recog- 

 nize diseased colonies by that. 



Mr. "Wilcox — W^^ould the bees not 

 carrj- them out the same way if they 

 died of starvation? 



Dr. Miller — Yes, but understand, 

 they would look in a very different 

 way; this is a dried-up black scale— 

 they are a little black lump that they 

 carry out. 



Mr. Wilcox — Not black where they 

 carry it out from' starvation. 



Dr. Miller — That is true; it is the 

 white skins they carry out in case of 

 starvation, but these are the black, 

 dried-up larvae, and, by the way, I 

 never paid any attention to them. 

 You talk about disinfecting the hive — 

 they were all over the ground for 

 yards around each hive; I don't think 

 the bees take the trouble to pick them 

 up and carry them and feed them to 

 the babies, and I don't think there is 

 any need for cleaning up the hives. 



Mr. Cavanagh — I want to bring 

 home one more point on the sub- 

 ject of European foul brood: While 

 the combs from a colony that has 

 once been infected with European 

 foul brood can, under conditions, be 

 used safely again, there is a . condi- 

 tion in which they cannot, and that is 

 when the bees die from that disease 

 in winter, and leave that disease in 

 the cells. Those combs, if used next 

 season, the swarm is sur« to have foul 

 brood. 



I moved into a localitj' with lots of 

 EurcJpean foul brood, and I had time 

 and again cases where hives were 

 badly infected where the foul brood 

 had been transmitted from hives 

 they bought from men that had a 

 regular hot-bed of foul broad. 



At the same time I am using in my 

 apiary some combs in which the bees 

 were cleaned up two years ago. I 

 don't use these combs until late in the 

 fall, or until such time when the bees 

 are strong in numbers — plenty of 

 young bees and the honey-flow on; I 

 don't attempt to use these combs until 



