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44 



NINTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE 



quantities, everywhere, and the prin- 

 cipal thing for us to look after is to 

 get a man who has had good experi- 

 ence; to get a man who is competent, 

 and honest, so that when ihe says he 

 spent ten days in July and ten days 

 in August, you will know that he spent 

 this time in inspecting and not sitting 

 at home doing nothing, or staying at 

 home doing work with his own bees. 

 "We want an honest man, in the first 

 place; then we want a competent man; 

 and then, in the third place, we want a 

 man that is in the midst of us, one wiho 

 is centrally located. Our candidates 

 are pretty nearly all of them in those 

 positions, so it is going to be a pretty 

 hard matter to select -an inspector. I 

 hope you will weigh this matter well 

 before it comes to the election of a 

 foul brood inspector. 



Mr. York — I would like to ask. Does 

 the Governor appoint the foul brood 

 inspector, or he is appointed on the 

 recommendation of this Association? 



Mr. Stone — We have no foul brood 

 law. 



Mr. York — How do you get your 

 man appointed? 



Mr. Pyles — "We elect him, and that is 

 all there is of it. 



Mr. Stone — I will tell you how that 

 is, Mr. York. In the first place, the 

 committee in the Legislature said they 

 could not give that much liberty to 

 the State Bee-Keepers' Association; 

 that the Governor must have the ap- 

 pointing of the foul brood inspector. 

 Then they turned around and gave us 

 an appropriation and let us do it all 

 ourselves. 



President Kildow — I don't want to 

 take up much of your time. I do not 

 talk in public, anyway, but as I happen 

 to be a candidate for the inspector- 

 ship, you can see who I am. I have 

 had lots of experience, and have been 

 through the mill. I have helped our 

 late inspector do considerable work, 

 and believe I understand it. I have 

 treated foul brood in all ways that are 

 known, but I am not much of a man 

 to blow my own horn, so I will just 

 leave it to the bee-keepers. 



Getting Rid of Foul Brood. 



Mr. Dadant — "What is the best 

 method of stamping out foul l^rood? 



President! Kildow — The method I like 

 the best is to shake the bees in their 

 own hives, or brush them on empty 



frames. Put them into the cellar and 

 leave them there thirty-six to forty- 

 eight hours until they have practically 

 consumed every drop of honey; then 

 take them out, tow^ards evening, and 

 give them some warm syrup — sugar 

 syrup ; it does not entice robbing, when 

 there is no honey coming in; feed them 

 daily until the honey does come, and 

 I don't think one case will ever re- 

 turn to foul brood. I have burned 

 frames, but never hives. 



Mr. Dadant — Don't you believe in dis- 

 infecting the hives? 



President Kildow — Sometimes I take 

 a bunch of straw, turn the hive over, 

 and scorch it, but where you shake 

 the bees in the hive, they will clean 

 it all up; I don't! think anything but 

 just the honey will carry foul brood. 



Mr. Stone — You shake them in their 

 own hives? 



President Kildow — Yes, sir. They 

 consume everything in there. 



Mr. Coppin — Instead of putting the 

 bees into the cellar or starving them, 

 I generally practice having some 

 cracker boxes, or something of the 

 kind, and hive them in that, and let 

 them work for forty-eight hours, and 

 then give them a clean hive, with full 

 sheets of foundation; but we can't tell 

 for certain as to whether that stamps 

 the disease out or not, because we go 

 ahead with our work, and finally we 

 sometimes find the disease in other 

 hives that we had not found before. 

 "Where did they get it from? "We are 

 just as liable to find some in those we 

 have treated. There is no dependence 

 to be placed upon any certain treat- 

 ment being better than another, be- 

 cause they are going from place to 

 place. There is a colony that is af- 

 fected, the germs are around, and they 

 get it. It is quite a problem — quite a 

 question — to tell for certain which is 

 the best way. I don't believe in giving 

 them a hive that is not clean. I gen- 

 erally boil them before I use them 

 again. 



Mr. Bowen — Allow nie to inquire 

 w;hat your success has been in using 

 empty combs which have been in two- 

 story hives, when the brood next was 

 infected with foul brood ? Is there any 

 method of treating it with a solution of 

 formaldehyde? Have you ever treated 

 them .in that way? Have you had ex- 

 perience with that? 



President Kildow — I have never used 



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