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ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



129 



these men at the head of our interests 

 in the Government have appHed a new 

 test. They have applied the test of dif- 

 ferent kinds of culture to these microbes, 

 and they find that the beef culture will 

 enable the Bacillus alvei to propagate 

 , and to increase, while if used with the 

 other Bacilli they perish, showing con- 

 clusively by this new test that they are 

 two different Bacilli. 



Mr. Kimmey — If I understood what 

 Dr. White and Dr. Phillips were try- 

 ing to explain to us at the Bee-Inspec- 

 tors' convention at San Antonio, it was 

 something like this : The European foul 

 brood was examined and they believed 

 that the cause of the disease was the 

 Bacillus alvei, and traced it to that. 

 When we got a disease, without making 

 any examination we called that "foul 

 brood." Then another disease sprang 

 up which we called "black brood." Up- 

 on making the scientific investigations 

 which these men directed, they failed to 

 find Bacillus alvei in our foul brood, 

 but they did find it in black brood, so 

 they came to the conclusion that what 

 we had always called black brood was 

 really the European foul brood. In 

 order not to confuse the names, they 

 then decided to call our foul brood 

 "American foul brood," and the black 

 brood "European foul brood" — the one 

 having the germ Bacillus alvei, the 

 European foul brood; and the American 

 foul brood having the Bacillus larvae. 

 In order not to rob the European people 

 of their honor of discovering that, they 

 called that the European foul brood 

 which was formerly our black brood, 

 making two distinct diseases. 



Pres. York — Our foul brood they call 

 "American foul brood," but the Euro- 

 pean foul brood happens to be the same 

 as the black brood they have in New 

 York and a number of other States. 



Mt. Kimmey — So we will drop the 

 name "black brood" entirely. 



_Mr. France — I got quite interested in 

 this subject the past summer, and 1 

 asked Dr. Phillips upon his return from 

 California to come to my place. I 

 wanted to investigate this subject of 

 black brood or European foul brood, 

 as I understood it was approaching. I 

 was attending a meeting of some of 

 the inspectors at Milwaukee, and de- 

 cided to take a train and go to Michigan, 

 where we could find the European foul 

 brood. We had no microscope, but 

 from the appearance of the brood itselt 



— the dead larvae — it looked decidedly 

 different, so that the naked eye could 

 tell, after once seen, the difference. With 

 the black brood, if there are larvae at 

 an earlier stage they turn dark, almost 

 black, and flatten right down on the 

 bottom of the cells, whereas the Ameri- 

 can foul brood becomes a brown, ropy, 

 putrid matter, and lies upon the side of 

 the cell, and becomes stringy in its na- 

 ture. The European never does that. 

 As for the odor, there was a marked 

 difference again. Our common foul 

 brood has what we call a glue-pot smell, 

 the other had not; not much of any 

 odor, but what there was, as near as 

 I can remember, was more like sour 

 pomace from a cider-mill. 



Mr. Kimmey — Allow me to ask Mr. 

 France these questions : Is the Ameri- 

 can foul brood prevalent in Europe? Do 

 they have the two diseases there? 



'Mr. France — They have them both. 



Mr. Kimmey — What do they call them 

 there, do you know? 



Mr. France — As far as I know they 

 call them foul brood. That is why there 

 has been this trouble. We found, by 

 referring to scientific researches in 

 Europe, that they had made scientific 

 cultures of them, and examined them, 

 and got conflicting results, examining 

 one and then another, and were misled 

 by the name. 



Dr. Miller — If you will allow me to 

 answer Mr. Kimmey's question, I think 

 they distinguish them as the mild and 

 severe. 



Mr. Thompson — I would like to ask 

 if the treatment of both is the same. 



Mr. France — Not exactly, although 

 the thorough treatment as has been de- 

 scribed, taking away the infected combs, 

 will cure either one. 



Dr. Bohrer — Speaking about the odor 

 of the foul brood as we find it in this 

 country, it has been compared to the 

 smell of dissolved glue. I want to say, 

 from my experience, it is that way, only 

 more so. 



Inspecting Apiaries in Cook County. 



"Was there a foul brood inspector 

 around this summer to inspect the apiar- 

 ies of Cook County?" 



Mr. Moore — I believe there was not. 

 I acted as foul brood inspector for 

 only one season, and I think Pres. 

 Smith, of the Illinois State Association, 

 is the only one who has acted as in- 

 spector of apiaries since then; and Mr. 



