166 



EIGHTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE 



to me the feet of the bee may become 

 contaminated with the diseased mat- 

 ter, and, in visiting a watering dish, 

 would contaminate the water and the 

 whole apiary get the disease. 



Mr. McEvoy — ^Eighteen years ago I 

 was appointed inspector. For fifteen 

 years before that I had been treating 

 and I had never disinfected a hive in 

 my life. The question was often put 

 • to me this way, how long am I to boil 

 the hive? And my answer was, that 

 will depend upon how long you intend 

 to boil the bees. What, boil the bees? 

 Yes. Surely you are not going to take 

 these bees and just throw them all 

 into your nice clean hive without boil- 

 ing or scalding their little feet, are 

 you? I said, never mind the hive at 

 all. I will be responsible for it if you 

 will thoroughly cleanse those bees of 

 the honey. An empty hive can't give 

 the disease. The bees do not feed 

 lumber to the larva. 



Mr. Robb — I would like to ask Mr. 

 McEvoy, is foul brood in Ontario on 

 the increase or on the decrease? 



Mr. McEvoy — No. We had it seeded 

 down in 37 counties, but after all that 

 has been written and spoken it is 

 wearing out; It will never again be 

 bad in Ontario, if we had no inspec- 

 tors at all, from the simple fact that 

 the people understand it pretty well 

 now. 



Mr. Coggshall — ^Which is the most 

 contagious, black or foul brood? 



Mr. McEvoy — Of the two I would 



sooner take my chances and treat the 



black than the foul, unless the foul 

 was thoroughly done. 



— Mr. Byers — Mr. President and Gen- 

 tlemen: I wish to say I agree 

 'thoroughly with our friend, Mr. 

 Wright, when he suggested to Dr. 

 White that he should put European 

 foul brood first. Some three or four 

 years ago at our Ontario Convention 

 the question was asked, Have we got 

 European foul brood or black brood in 

 Ontario? We have got European foul 

 brood in Ontario at the present time. 

 There is no question about that, on 

 account of its great virulence and a 

 little difference in the way it seems to 

 act as compared with the way Mr. 

 Wright says it acts in New York 

 State. In the first place where this 

 outbreak has occurred in Ontario it 

 only covers about ten miles square, 

 and a good honey flow has had no 

 effect upon it. It has increased by 



leaps and bounds. Apiaries that have 

 it in the middle of June are wiped out 

 by September. I have seen larvae at 

 the age of three or four days dead, 

 jvist as if a blight had went over it. 

 I am thoroughly convinced it is not 

 through robbing alone that this dis- 

 ease is spread. It might be a good 

 thing for Dr. White and others to in- 

 vestigate this disease. In my opinion 

 we practically know all we need know 

 in regard to American foul brood. I 

 don't rush after it, but I don't dread 

 it; it has no terrors for me, but I do 

 dread European foul brood. Dr. White 

 told us that practically nothing lis 

 known of how this disease is spread. 

 I hope steps will be taken to find that 

 out. I am a honey producer and de- 

 pend upon honey for a living, and I 

 told Mr. Holterman while I did not 

 dread American foul brood, when I got 

 out where this European outbreak was 

 it made me .shiver. I am not so sure 

 as to the McEvoy treatment being as 

 effectual with European foul brood as 

 it is with American foul brood. I do 

 not agree with him that it is easily 

 treated. If he was out for one day 

 where this outbreak in Ontario is he 

 would agree with me that the Ameri- 

 can is not to be compared with the 

 European foul brood as we have it in 

 Ontario, We hear that we got it from 

 New York State. I don't know where 

 we got it, but the fact remains that we 

 have got It, and I earnestly hope steps 

 will be taken at Washington and Ol- 

 tumwa to combat this terrible scourge. 



Dr.- Phillips — In view of the fact 

 that spoken of the danger from Euro- 

 pean foul brood it might be of interest 

 to get an idea as to where European 

 foul brood is now found in the United 

 States. As near as we know it was 

 first discovered in New York in 1897, 

 and in 1899 they began to fight it in 

 that State. For a long time it was 

 not found outside of the Mohawk Val- 

 ley.. As I understand, it is now found 

 in several parts of New York State 

 and in about sixteen other States of 

 the Union as well as in Canada. It 

 is a disease that is spreading very 

 rapidly, and it will only be a very 

 short time when, in discussing Euro- 

 pean foul brood, we will have to say 

 it is found in every State in the Union 

 and in every county, unless some steps 

 are taken to stop it. 



Mr. Holterman — Have there been 

 any reports made to Dr. Phillips at 

 Washington from any other part of 



