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24 



EIGHTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE 



in another State and I asked itc:^my 

 there had had experience with foul 

 brood. There was a goodly number 

 of raised hands. Then I asked, "Do 

 any of you think you got the disease 

 by buying queen-bees?" Again sev- 

 eral hands were raised. Even bee-keep- 

 ers there had traced the disease in 

 their apiaries to the buying of queens, 

 and all from the same breeder. If you 

 get queens from abroad, I hope you 

 will do with them as I have described 

 above. Better be on the safe side. 



Experiments. 



1. A prominent Wisconsin bee- 

 keeper some years ago had foul brood 

 among his bees so bad that he- lost 

 200 colonies before the disease was 

 checked. Having a honey-extractor 

 and comb-foundation machine, he first 

 boiled the hives in a large sorghum 

 pan, then in a kettle all combs were 

 melted after the honey was extracted, 

 the honey was boiled and also the 

 extractor and implements used. The 

 bees were returned to their hives on 

 comb-foundation he made from the 

 wax made from the melted combs, then 

 fed the boiled honey. Several years 

 have passed and there has been no 

 sign of disease in his apiary since. 



2. Foul-brood germs are not always 

 killed when exposed to a temperature 

 of 212 deg. F. (boiling point) for 45 

 minutes. But in every case where the 

 combs are boiled in boiling water, and 

 same were well stirred while boiling, 

 no germs were alive. 



3. Foul brood in brood-combs is not 

 .destroyed when exposed to the temper- 

 ature of Wisconsin winters of 20 deg. 

 below zero, and in one case I developed 

 foul brood from combs that had been 

 exposed to 28 deg. below zero. 



4. Honey, if stored in diseased 

 combs, acts as a preserving mediujn, 

 and in such cases the germs of disease 

 will remain so long as the comb is un- 

 disturbed. Four years at least. 



5. Honey or beeswax, or the refuse 

 from a solar or sunheat extractor, is 

 not heated enough to kill foul-brood 

 germs. Several cases of contagion 

 where robber-bees worked on solar ex- 

 tractor refuse or honey. 



6. Comb-foundation, made by sup- 

 ply manufacturers is free from live 

 germs of disease and perfectly safe to 

 use. To prove this experiment be- 

 yond a doubt I took a quantity of 

 badly-diseased brood-combs from sev- 

 eral apiaries and rendered each batch 



of combs into wax myself on the farm 

 where found. Then on my own foun- 

 dation mill I made some brood-foun- 

 dation. I also took quite a quantity 

 more of said wax, went to two whole- 

 sale comb-foundation manufacturers, 

 and both parties willingly made my ex- 

 perimental wax into comb-foundation 

 just the same as they do every batch 

 of wax. I then divided the various 

 makes of foundation and selected 20 

 of the best bee -yards in Wisconsin, 

 where no disease has ever been known 

 had the same placed in 62 of their best 

 colonies, and in every case no signs 

 of disease have appeared. Those same 

 colonies continue to be the best in the - 

 various apiaries. 



Symptoms of Foul Brood. 



1. The infected colony is not liable 

 to be as industrious. Hive entrance 

 with few guard bees to protect their 

 home. Sometimes fine dirt or little bits 

 of old comb and dead bees in and 

 around the hive-entrance, and often 

 robber-bees seeking entrance. 



2. Upon opening the hive, the brood 

 in the combs is irregular, badly scat- 

 tered, with many empty cells which 

 need inspection. 



3. The cappings over healthy brood 

 are oval, smooth and of a healthy color 

 peculiar to honey-bee brood, but if 

 diseased the cappings are sunken, a 

 little darker in color, and have ragged 

 pin-holes. The dead larval bee is of 

 a light color, and, as it is termed, 

 ropy, so that if a toothpick is inserted 

 and slowly withdrawn, this dead larva 

 will draw out much like spittle or glue. 



5. In this ropy stage there is more 

 or less odor peculiar to the disease ; 

 it smells something like an old, stale 

 gluepot. A colony may be quite badly 

 affected and not emit much odor, only 

 upon opening of the hive or close ex- 

 amination of the brood. I have treated 

 a few cases where the foul brood odor 

 was plainly notic.ed several rods from 

 the apiary. 



6. Dried Scales. — If the disease has 

 reached the advanced stages, all the 

 above- described conditions will be eas- 

 ily seen and the dried scales as well. 

 This foul matter is so tenacious that 

 the bees cannot remove it so it dries 

 down on the lower side-wall of the 

 cell, midway from the bottom to front 

 end of the cell, seldom on the bottom 

 of the cell. According to its stage of 

 development there will be either the 



