ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



39 



bees, by destroying it, and one to com- 

 pel people to destroy the contents of 

 foul brood hives. And if they don't 

 know the disease, should have an in- 

 spector's instruction. I don't believe 

 the hive is the cause as I have used 

 hives in which it had been cured — and 

 no after itrouble. Foul brood is re- 

 ported 4 or 5 miles east of me now, 

 near Vergennes. 



I think foul brood first started with 

 my bees from their having access to a 

 pile of decaying brood from transfer 

 scraps, in a sunny place, at least no 

 one else near me had any foul brood 

 so far as reported. \ 



A. B. PHOENIX. 



Meredosia, 111. JaUrl 21, 1908. 



I am greatly in favor of a foul brood 

 law and say that bee-keeping will nev- 

 er be conducted safely on a large com- 

 mercial plan until we get the much 

 needed legislation. For instance, take 

 my case. I have approximately $500 

 to $600 invested in bees, honey house, 

 bee supplies and other apiarian tools, 

 and have taken pains to inform my- 

 self as to the industry. Suppose a 

 neighbor has 2 or 3 colonies and they 

 have foul brood. So have mine. I rid 

 my apiary of the disease only to have 

 them infected again from my contrary, 

 ignorant neighbor, who has only $10 or 

 $12 invested and doesn't believe such a 

 disease exists. 



What we need is a foul brood law 

 making the inspection of bees com- 

 pulsory. It will be a great benefit to 

 all the bee-keepers and place the in- 

 dustry on a safe and sane basis. 

 Yours respectfully, 



FRED H. MAY. 



Oakglen, 111., Jan. 18, 1908. 

 Secretary Stone: 



Dear Sir: Foul brood laws are need- 

 ed pretty badly. Most every apiary 

 in this part of the country has foul 

 brood. I am troubled with it most 

 every year and have to cure it each 

 year only to get it again from my 

 neighbor bee-keepers that don't know 

 beans about foul brood. So I have it 

 to fight every year. 



Yours truly, 

 JOHN EENIGENBURG. 



Woodhull, III., Feb. 17, 1908. 



Dear Sir: There is foul brood near 



here at Mr. Reynolds' place, but I have 



never had any trouble as yet. But 



should I have, I would shake them into 



a clean box for 24 hours then place 

 them on new frames of full sheets in 

 a hive that has been boiled in lye 

 water, and thoroughly cleaned and 

 dried. 'Then never blow smoke into 

 a hive that has young brood in it. 

 For what can a ^mature larva stand of 

 smoke? I think that smoking them 

 causes foul brood more than any thing 

 else. 



Yours truly, 



A. N. COOKE & SON. 



Freeport, 111., Jan. 31, 1908. 

 Mr. Jas. A. Stone: 



Dear Sir: We have no foul brood 

 in our community that I know of, -but 

 I think we ought to have a foul brood 

 law like they have in -Wisconsin, 

 where the Inspector has the right to 

 go into any bee yard to examine the 

 bees, and, if they have foul brood, to 

 cure them if possible, and, if too badly 

 affected, to have power to destroy 

 them. Otherwise a foul brood law 

 does us but little good. 

 Yours, 

 LEWIS SCHMERTMAN. 



Franklin Grove, 111., Jan. 23, 1908. 

 We need a foul brood law for the 

 protection of the bee-keeper who is 

 working for the money and the pleas- 

 ure there is in the business. In the 

 first place, if we want to keep our bees 

 in working condition when there is 

 foul brood in the neighborhood we 

 must be treating them every year. We 

 need the law for the careless and ig- 

 norant owners of bees who think that 

 all there is to do with bees is to put 

 on sections and let the brood nest go 

 with combs built together or any way. 

 So no one except an Inspector can 

 know if there is foul brood in the hive 

 until it gets far enough to detect by 

 the odor and then the owner thinks his 

 bees were just lazy and for that reason 

 made no honey this year. Objects to 

 any one meddling wdth them. Now 

 suppose this man's bees dwindled 

 down and finally die in the spring 

 from foul ibrood. He looks in the 

 hive and, if there is some nice look- 

 ing honey, he cuts out some to eat 

 so as not to derange the old combs too 

 much, then fixes the hive up with the 

 entrance open to catch another swarm 

 of bees. Now all bees within reach 

 of that hive will rush in and rob the 

 honey out of the combs and carry it 

 home with the foul brood germ. In 

 many hives, then, to get rid of it is to 



