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44 



SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



ingf state. The cases in our neighbor- 

 hood came from a visitor just out of 

 quarantine where air-tight fumigation 

 was used. So it seems that there is 

 much to learn yet about formaldehyde 

 as a disinfectant, especially among bee- 

 keepers. And I want to add with great 

 emphasis that formic acid, and not for- 

 maldehyde, is the real disinfectant; and 

 if an air-tight tank be used in disinfect- 

 ing combs there will be no formic acid 

 produced, consequently no thorough dis- 

 infecting. Practice the McEvoy plan 

 until we know more about gas treat- 

 ment, but let our experimenters not give 

 up formaldehyde, as that will be the 

 'plan' w'hen better known and properly 

 used." 



Mr. Hinder said he had raised that 

 question, and wanted to know if the 

 practice of allowing bees from clean 

 hives access to bees and the honey from 

 hives infected with foul brood was 

 dangerous. 



Mr. Holekamp — I, too, am much in- 

 terested in this discussion. We have suf- 

 fered a great deal from this trouble. 

 We formed a club for the purpose of 

 assisting each other in dealing with it. 



Mr. Holekamp also said that he had 

 experimented with it, keeping a piece 

 of foul brood a whole year in his of- 

 fice. He thought there was danger of 

 its being carried, and said we could not 

 expect to make much progress in get- 

 ting rid of it as a long as all did not 

 work together to that end. He said any 

 foul brood law should compel inspec- 

 tion. The greatest danger he saw was 

 in the shipment of honey. Comb honey 

 will leak. Boxes will be thrown out 

 in the back yard, and bees will clean 

 them up. There should be uniform 

 laws in all the States, and we should 

 not rest until we get bills passed which 

 will compel inspection. Chemicals may 

 be good enough, but we do not want to 

 be using them continually. He had 

 found that an easy way to destroy bees 

 and the comb. He related some of his 

 experiences with foul brood, and re- 

 peated that it was of little use for one 

 bee-keeper to clean up his hives while 

 others were careless of theirs. 



Other members said their experience 

 had been similar, and thought the in- 

 fection was carried by bees and in the 

 honey. 



Mr. Dadant — Some think they can 

 cure it by simply changing queens. 

 Some do not believe in this shaking 



business. Some want to scorch the 

 hive. I advocate the use of the Mc- 

 Evoy treatment. 



Mr. Baxter — Two years ago I had 

 a colony I was sure had foul brood. 1 

 had never had it in my apiary, and I was 

 thoroughly scared. I asked advice as 

 to what to do. Upon that advice 1 

 changed queens and had no more 

 trouble. 



Mr. Johnson told of one instance 

 where it seemed apparent that the foul 

 brood was brought by the introduction 

 of a new queen. 



As it was getting late Pres. Smith 

 suggested that it was time to adjourn. 



Mr. Stone moved that the first thing 

 to be done in the morning be to take 

 up the consideration of a law for deal- 

 ing with the foul-brood problem, which 

 motion received a second and was car- 

 ried. 



The meeting then adjourned till g a. 

 m. on Wednesday. 



Second Day — Morning Session. 



At 9:30 a. m. the convention met 

 again. 



Pres. Smith — The meeting will now 

 come to order, and we will proceed 

 with the order of business. Upon ad- 

 journment last evening it was decided 

 that we should take up the question of 

 foul-brood legislation this morning. 



Mr. Dadant — It seems to me you, Mr. 

 President, are the best informed man 

 on this matter, having served the As- 

 sociation as Inspector, and we should 

 have your ideas on the subject as to 

 how best the desired laws for the ex- 

 termination of foul brood may be se- 

 cured. 



Pres. Smith — I would like to hear 

 from some of the members. I have been 

 upon the Legislative Committee for the 

 past four legislatures, and they have 

 turned us down every time, so far as 

 enacting any law for the control of 

 foul brood is concerned. They claim 

 they don't want to create another of- 

 fice. They are all politicians, and work- 

 ing for themselves, and it is hard to get 

 their interest or assistance in passing 

 such a law. They told me at the time 

 we made our last effort in this direc- 

 tion that if we insisted on the foul brood 

 law we would lose not only that, but 

 any appropriation — would not get any- 

 thing. If we would leave that out, we 

 might get our Bill passed. Talking to 

 a member of the Committee on Ap- 



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