34 



SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



tricts, tell them our needs and 

 wants, and in time we will surely 

 accomplish it. Just how foul brood 

 started I do not know. How did 

 small pox start? But we all know how 

 contagious they both are, only small 

 pox can cure itself or get well again, 

 but foul brood, without treatment, is 

 fatal to the colony, and all honey 

 stored in a cell where there has been 

 foul brood is fatal if carried to another 

 hive by the mature bees, is fatal to all 

 the brood that consume any of the 

 honey. 



N. A. KLUCK. 



Mr. Dadant: That question, it seems 

 to me, is very easily answered in just 

 one word — nothing. But to get at what 

 we want, to be practical, it may not be 

 out of the way to discuss the means of 

 accomplishing this — the passage of such 

 a law. 



It seems to me that what is neces- 

 sary is to have positive testimony as 

 to the damage done by foul brood, 

 from parties who have suffered from 

 it; that we should have the names and 

 addresses and affidavits of such par^ 

 ties. "With such testimony as this we 

 could go before the legislature with 

 something definite and having gotten a 

 committee to report in favor of the law 

 those who have influence will be more 

 strenuous in working for it. 



One thing I would like to ask in re- 

 gard to foul brood. 



You have said as state inspector that 

 foul brood is apparently permanent in 

 some localities; that you find it in the 

 same spots over a.nd over. We have 

 never seen it where we are. But Chas. 

 F. Muth of Cincinnati spoke to me 

 many times about its recurrence in the 

 vicinity of Cincinnati after it was 

 thought entirely stamped out. To my 

 mind, there is a possibility of the re- 

 currence of such a disease through 

 some other agencies than the honey 

 bees and this may be why it re-appears 

 after destroying it. 



President Srpith: This matter haar 

 been suggested by members of the Leg- 

 islature who have argued that bees in 

 the woods, in hollow trees, may carry 

 the disease and that therefore it is 

 useless to try to stamp it out. 



Mr. Dadant: Such men surely do' 

 not show very much judgment. It is 

 now proven that yellow fever is caused 

 by a certain mosquito, and yet no one 

 has ever thought of giving up trying 

 to prevent yellow fever on that ac- 

 count. Small pox was found to be a 



disease of cattle and that very fact 

 helped to prevent it in the human 

 race by inoculation. We need foul 

 brood inspectors not only to stamp out 

 foul brood, but to search for the causes 

 of it, but as long as our legislators will 

 deny us, we can make but feeble efforts 

 at stamping it out. When the cause 

 of a disease is known, half of the work 

 is done towards stopping its ravages. 

 But there is no„ -doubt that the most 

 important requirement is to cure the 

 colonies of bees that are infected. 



Mr. Kluek: The only thing for us 

 to do is to continue to ask for a law 

 such as Wisconsin has had' in force for 

 a number of years. We want to be 

 able to compel those who have foul 

 brood in their apiaries and pay no at- 

 tention to it, to treat it as we do. We 

 must all insist on the passage of such 

 a law. 



Mr. Dadant: Most of the states 

 around us have such laws, even Mis- 

 souri passed a law last year. It is 

 of the utmost importance that those 

 of our bee-keepers who have had to 

 suffer from the vicinity of careless bee- 

 keepers who fail to treat diseased hives 

 should make affidavits of these cases 

 and should unite with others to insist 

 on securing a law. We have the In- 

 spector and we can use the funds of • 

 the Association for stamping out the 

 disease, but our Inspector should be 

 empowered to treat the disease wher- 

 ever it exists; that is the only thing we 

 lack. Our previous failures in the 

 Legislature show us that this law can 

 be carried through if properly worked. 



Mr. Smith: There Is no doubt that 

 a law will be passed just as soon as 

 we make a sufficiently united effort. 

 Illinois cannot much longer remain be- 

 hind other states in this respect. I 

 believe that just as soon as the In- 

 spector obtains authority to examine 

 suspicious colonies wherever they may 

 be and is thus enabled to point out the 

 disease and the cure, with power to 

 enforce his instructions, the disease 

 will be practically stamped out. As it 

 is, he has no authority whatever and 

 can only act where he is called by the 

 owners themselves. But it does only 

 little good to cure one apiary when 

 there are diseased bees in the close 

 vicinity. 



The next order of business being the 

 election of officers for the ensuing year, 

 the convention proceeded to ballot for 

 the same, with the following result: 



