160 FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT 



up on the North Side I had an apiary and I had something 

 I didn't understand, 'so I sent a portion of the brood to Dr. 

 Howard, and he returned it stating it was not foul brood, 

 but pickled brood. This year I have something just like both, 

 and not like either. I think possibly we may be getting a 

 little taste of black brood; and possibly the reason we differ 

 is that we are looking at things from different points, or rather 

 have a different disease ; that may account for the discrepancy 

 of symptoms, etc., which we find in different hives. 



Dr. Miller — I rise to a question of privilege. I have a 

 whole lot of speeches on foul brood, and I know you would 

 be delighted to hear them, but I think the time is passing, 

 and I believe we ought to hear from Mr. France. 



Mr. France — I don't know just what part of this discus- 

 sion you want. Do you want the description so that you may 

 know without guessing when you look into a hive or not? 



Dr. Miller — Give that first as briefly as you can. 



DETECTING FOUL BROOD. 



Mr. France — There is one thing of vital importance to 

 Illinois, that the State Association and the Chicago-North- 

 western, now made a part of it, hand in hand together work 

 for the needed legislation this winter, and not wrangle so 

 much over other things. I am on my way to Washington to 

 help Prof. Benton get out a bulletin, of which there will be 

 published 50,000 conies for free distribution to the bee-keepers 

 of the United States, on the diseases of bees. I find that edu- 

 cational literature on this subject will do as much good as 

 inspe<^ting. As Jsoon as we can get the people educated I 

 nuestion if we will need any inspectors. [Applause.] As I 

 said yesterday, unfortunately in our State I find a very small 

 proportion of the bee-keepers who read bee-literature, and it 

 is going to take some time to get them educated. Until that 

 time we will have need of those other devices. To those of 

 us here who have not seen foul brood, this sample I am tak- 

 ing with me to Washington — (by the way, it has odor enough) 

 — is a sample procured out of a hive in the city of St. Louis 

 while I was down~there at our National Convention. That 

 disease was contracted from your State, across the river, by 

 bees robbing from the city of St. Louis, so that your State 

 transmitted it over there. It is a very serious case of disease. 



Mr. Wheeler — How can you prove that? 



Mr. France — We prove it in this way : The strongest 

 colonies of bees that this man had in St. Louis were, in the 

 fore part of the season, very busy bringing in honey and ap- 

 parently robbing from somewhere. He took chop dust and 

 put upon those bees so that he might see how long it would 

 take for them to go and come back again. He got the time, 

 and he discovered them all going directly east across the river. 

 He went across the river and found a bee-yard infected with 

 foul brood, and these bees with the dust on, going in and out. 



Mr. Wheeler — Did he have other colonies? 



Mr. France — Yes, there are three others that have stolen 



