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46 



NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



lamp contains gasolene. Run It over 

 the Inside of the hive and you can heat 

 every corner; do the same thing to the 

 frame, and anything at all that has 

 been touched by the bees. Tou under- 

 stand, I am not a candidate. 



Mr. York — Mr. Dadant spoke about 

 the people in Europe using some kind 

 of a chemical preparation, some kind 

 of drugs — don't they do that mainly 

 to prevent the disease, rather than to 

 cure it? 



Mr. Dadant — Yes, after they have 

 had it and cured it; then they use the 

 drug to prevent it. 



Mr. Pyles — ^Mr. France and Mr. Mc- 

 Evoy say it is not necessary to disin- 

 fect the hives. I am ;iot going to say 

 it is not necessary, absolutely, because 

 it might be, but in dozens and 

 dozens of cases, where I compelled the 

 bees to use up all the honey, where 

 there would not be any possibility of 

 honey being left inside the hive, I 

 would think it would hardly be neces- 

 sary to treat the hive; not in such 

 cas<;s. If honey is the place where the 

 disease develops, if that is the me- 

 dium it is carried from one hive to 

 another, and you can compel your bees 

 to use up all the honey, I don't see 

 very much need of disinfecting the 

 hive. 



Mr. Dadant — Is there any need of 

 washing your hands? 



Mr. Pyles — I think there is, but if 

 the bees will gather up every particle 

 of honey that it is possible to gather up, 

 they can never gather up more after 

 that. Ordinarily, in speaking of brush- 

 ing bees, it is done at a time when 

 new honey is coming in, and I would 

 not be much afraid of new honey. It 

 is a pretty hard matter to find any 

 honey that has been in the hive for 

 a long time, to find any around your 

 hive unless you break a comb. Foul 

 brood will almost disappear at times 

 when there is a great flow of honey — 

 almost disappear from a hive that has 

 got it pretty bad, but just as soon as 

 the honey-flow stops, then you have 

 a lot of dead brood. Mr. Johnson, in 

 talking on this question, two or three 

 years ago, of the use of formaldehyde, 

 sa:d that there were two great disin- 

 fectants — formaldehyde and sulphuric 

 acid. 



I don't think it is necessary to treat 

 the hive after the bee is placed in 

 that condition where it uses up every 

 bit of the honey. 



I advocate shaking bees instead of 

 brushing. You can go to a man's place 

 and shake his bees and carry them in 

 the cellar, leave them three days, and 

 he can carry them out. If you scatter 

 them around the yard, other bees will 

 gather the honey. If you brush them 

 oi'C, what are you going to brush them 

 off with, or if you have a brush, are 

 you going to be careful that every 

 sprig of that brush is left there and 

 not scattered; if you are going to do 

 that, do everything to the letter; I don't 

 know where that would end. If you 

 have a common bee brush, made from 

 broom-corn, are you sure there is not 

 going to be one of those pieces drop 

 off? I don't use a brush in my hives; 

 I shake the bees. 



Dr. Bohrer — ^Why wash your hands 

 after shaking bees, or opening the hive 

 and handling the frame that has had 

 any disease in? I do it for the reason 

 that I don't know how often I may 

 have a broken honey-comb and get the 

 honey on my fingers; there is where 

 the germs are, said to be the foul brood 

 germs; for that reason I don't take 

 any chances, but wash my hands well 

 and get rid of it. You don't know, if 

 you open a hive, ever so careful, if 

 your rnind happens to be off from it for 

 a minute, you may touch the comb and 

 hreak it and get some honey on your 

 fingers; and at the rate with which 

 these spores multiply, you would have 

 your hive full in a few hours or a few 

 d.'jys; that is, then, the reason you 

 want to disinfect your hands in han- 

 ding the hive. 



Mr. Dadant — I still hold to my view, 

 that if we think it is worth while to 

 wash our hands, it is worth while t<; 

 disinfect the hives, because what hap- 

 pens to our hands will happen ti the 

 liive; if you shake the bees, some 

 honey has touched that hive; if your 

 hands can take the disease, the body 

 of the hive will. It seems to me that 

 !f ore thing is safe, the other is sai'a, 

 and, although it may not be absolutely 

 necessary, still, I think it is a good 

 thing to do. 



President Kildow — Another point: 

 These spores are so small that where 

 a drop of honey containing spores en- 

 ters the hive bottom, or the walls of 

 the hive, that pine absorbs more or less 

 of that honey; it carries the spore 

 with it, and the spores will be trans- 

 mitted; for that reason, to be on the 



