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ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



165 



again, and I brought the cross rods 

 over the diseased cell; that is where 

 they put the honey — one the crust of 

 the old foul brood; I took a pin and I 

 would lift that out and drop a little 

 here and there in the larvae and every 

 one of these went foul. I couldn't 

 give it to the clean cells, but every 

 time I would dip into that, especially 

 where it was a sort of crust of the old 

 foul brood, that honey was foul. 



As my combs gave out I have 

 shaken the bees down to let them 

 build. It was a cure in one case and 

 a failure in the other. Why? The 

 one had but very little disease and 

 hadn't much loose honey unsealed in 

 the brood nest; the other was a bad 

 case and they stored a quantity of it 

 all through these cells, and it being 

 in the honey flow, as soon as they 

 drew out a little of that comb they 

 stored some of it and it broke out 

 again. When the season gave out in 

 the fall I resorted to building. I 

 would take a board and nail a rim 

 around it and run wax in the joint and 

 feed sugar syrup and let them build. 

 Along later on in the season I found 

 colonies that I didn't think had it, 

 but they were pretty full of brood, and 

 perhaps three dozen cells were foul, 

 and to destroy that brood was going 

 to destroy my fall and winter bees. 

 I shook the bees off and gave them 

 plenty of honey to winter, but there 

 was a piece left at the bottom there; 

 they stored some of the honey and 

 started up business. I cut ofE some of 

 these with solid honey, but some of 

 them would build a little comb at the 

 bottom and start again. I found out 

 later, by letting them go till they 

 hatched out and then shaking, that T 

 could innke the cure in that way; and 

 I would feed Ihe sound on<^s, one liore 

 and another there, and get capped 

 stores. Aftsr I shook them all on to 

 capped stores they had no place to 

 put it; they had got to keep that 

 honey and consume it, because these 

 were sound combs. 



Speaking of this pickled brood, 

 scientists have looked for the germ. 

 Grentlemen, that is starved brood. I 

 have been on that for twenty-two 

 years. That takes place in the period 

 between fruit and clover bloom in 

 some localities. They use the unseal- 

 ed stores for feeding the larva, and 

 they Yv^on't uncap fast enough to keep 

 pace with all the larva that requires 

 feeding, and the result is that some 



are well fed, some are half fed, and 

 some starved. The gentlemen who have 

 described that starved brood have 

 described it perfectly. On the ninth 

 day, lying on its back, you find it 

 turned up black, pickled as they call 

 it. That is starved. Some of it will 

 die after it is capped over, and you 

 will often find a bad capping here and 

 there, and you think, oh my, foul 

 brood! No; that is starved. The 

 larva didn't get enough and it died. 

 By feeding between fruit bloom or 

 during any check, where there Is a 

 quantity of brood feeding, you will 

 never have the thing at all. There is 

 one thing in favor of Italians, they are 

 better feeders of larva than any other 

 race_ I ever found. In 1869, on the 

 28th of May, after a very favorable 

 spring when the brood nests were full 

 of brood, a heavy frost took place and 

 killed everything, and for days it 

 came on rain, rain; the bees 

 used up the unsealed stores, and there, 

 was starved brood everywhere all 

 over Ontario. They all thought they 

 had foul brood, but it was starved 

 brood. They sent it away and some 

 of the scientists said they didn't think 

 It was. In 1895 we had one week in 

 the latter end of May and two weeks 

 in June when we had so much rain 

 each day. Then again we found it. If 

 3rou will follow up the feeding you will 

 never have that. As far as the treat- 

 ment is concerned one shake will do 

 in many cases, but where a farmer 

 has bees and is busy and has a very 

 bad case in the honey flow it will not 

 do to shake once only. If he shakes 

 them on to foundation and leaves 

 them sitting in the sun, some of these 

 will swarm out the next day and mix 

 with the sound ones and spread it; 

 but if he shakes them on to starters 

 they will seldom swarm, and four 

 days after that they will be cured. 

 Practical men can cure in many cases 

 in one shake. 



I don't know that I have anything 

 more to say on that point than that 

 I think if people would look closer 

 after their bees and attend them there 

 wouldn't be so much disease, but the 

 trouble is by letting them get ahead 

 and then treating. 



Mr. Brown — There is one subject 

 that has not been touched upon. A 

 great many bee-keepers keep different 

 watering devices in their yard, and in 

 handling a foul brood colony, if it is 

 badly ' affected, it has always seemed 



