46 FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT 



I read the bee-papers. I thought I would get good queens 

 and improve my stock, so I sent and got 6 queens. They 

 were in queen-cages accompanied with J/^ dozen bees, and 

 enough honey to carry them through their journey. I in- 

 serted queen, bees, cage and all on the comb, and let the 

 bees cut their way out, and before I knew it 82 of my colonies 

 were infected v/ith foul brood. I found my bees were weak, 

 and I began to investigate, and on investigation found it was 

 foul brood. Then the next season a neighbor of mine con- 

 cluded he would go into the bee-business. He went down 

 *o this party and got 20 nuclei. I destroyed my bees, only 

 having 7 colonies left. The next fall I built everything up 

 even from the hives, then sent to this man and got 20 nuclei. 

 He sent for me to come over and see his bees; they were 

 not doing well, and I was enlightened then. We went 

 through and found every colony infected with foul brood. 

 We burnt them all up, and I supposed that they had been 

 infected by some bees in the locality. Well, there were only 

 a few liees in that locality that 3'^ear. The following year I 

 went to that man again and got 60 more with the same result. 

 There was a gentleman moved in from a farm near who 

 sold some bees. I bought them all, black bees. I wrote to 

 this party for queens, got 4, and successfully introduced them, 

 yet in two months my bees were infected with foul brood. 

 Now, then, there was a good indication that they were in- 

 fected before they came here. It was three years before we 

 got rid of that trouble in that neighborhood. I built up 

 again, and have had no foul brood since, but everyone in 

 Sangamon county is willing to do all possible to keep out 

 foul brood. 



Mr. Becker — ^^Does foul brood exist all over the State of 

 Illinois? If not, in what part of the State, and in what 

 counties, does it exist? 



Mr. Smith — Well, it exists in the river country all the 

 way, as I understand, from Cairo up to Galena ; up the Fox 

 River through the northern part of the State, and down 

 the Illinois river is where we find the most of it. I found 

 some in Kankakee county. I believe the best way to do is 

 to educate the people by sending printed matter to them and 

 get them interested. 



Mr. Stone — When they know we have a foul brood in- 

 spector they will be more liable to try to get rid of the foul 

 brood. 



Mr. Smith — They mail me a piece of their brood-comb, 

 and I tell them if it is foul brood. I think that we can do lots 

 of work that way. Now, when we send out our report to 

 Mr. York about it, I think it does as much good as the 

 foul-brood inspector could do. We have now 119 members, 

 and if all members will send in the name of every bee-keeper 

 in their vicinity, we will mail them some more of this printed 

 matter, an outline on how to treat the bees, as Mr. France 

 illustrated ; I think we could prevent the disease. The bee- 

 keepers that are bee-keepers are, as a rule, practical, and 

 are getting more so every year, and those little fellows are 



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