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92 



NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



the bees may clean out the cells of the 

 dead larvae, but is not the honey there 

 to carry the germs of the disease to 

 the new queen that is put in? 



Dr. Miller — Possibly it would be in 

 some cases, but I do know this: Those 

 frames that they cleaned out — we used 

 them afterward where they w^ere 

 clean, and it didn't give the disease 

 there. I don't know. (I am entirely 

 candid in saying I don't know.) It is 

 a question: Would they not carry the 

 disease in the honey? But they didn't. 



Mr. Macklin — It may crop out next 

 year. 



Dr. Miller — That is true. 



Dr. Bohrer — You took the honey 

 away from them? 



Dr. Miller — No, whatever honey was 

 there, was left there. 



Mr. Thompson — ^What was the final 

 condition of the larvae that the bees 

 carried out — dried — in scale form? 



Dr. Miller — No, it does not dry down. 

 I may say right here, I would not have 

 any faith at all in the Alexander 

 treatment with American foul brood, 

 because American foul brood dries 

 down in dried scales right tight down 

 to the cells, and the European foul 

 brood does not. They can take them 

 out, and you will see little black 

 pieces of dried-up larvae at the en- 

 trance of the hive. 



A Member — Does the larvae straight- 

 en out in the cell? 



Dr. Miller — I don't know. I think, 

 in that respect, it is different from 

 American foul brood — you will find 

 that sealed over. I think we didn't 

 have very many cases when it was 

 sealed over, although I know we had 

 some queen -cells sealed over with the 

 European foul brood. I want you to 

 note three things about that in all 

 that I have said: We are talking 

 about foul brood — European foul 

 brood. That American foul brood 

 might be entirely different. And this 

 was (another thing) at a time of 

 dearth, and that may make a differ- 

 ence. 



It has occurred to me that, possibly, 

 in a time of dearth, there might be, 

 in some respects, a good deal of ad- 

 vantage, because, in these cells they 

 wanted to clean out, if there was a 

 rush of honey, might they not pile in 

 honey that had some dead scales? 

 And another thing: It is very easy 

 to crow and say: "Oh, yes, I am all 



over with it." But wait until next 

 year; it is not next year yet. Even 

 if it should come next year, that would 

 not prove whether the treatment was 

 bad or good, for I suppose the disease 

 is all about me, scattered here and 

 there. There is the hopeless case in 

 the whole thing, that it is scattered all 

 around. The disease is here and 

 there, and I can't help myself. 



Now, no matter what view I have 

 had before, if I have buttonholed any 

 of you, and begged you to oppose leg- 

 islation about foul brood, I want to 

 take it all back most thoroughly now. 

 I am thoroughly converted to the idea 

 that we need legislation of the strong- 

 est sort about foul brood, for this 

 thing may keep on for years to come. 

 Three or four years ago it was within 

 a radius of twelve miles of me, and 

 now it is there, and it is all around 

 me, and if it reappeared with me, I 

 could not tell whether it was because 

 the treatment was bad, or because 

 somebody else around me has gotten 

 it. I wish I could say it in some sort 

 of an eloquent way, that it wouM get 

 into your heads, and make you feel 

 how much we need the help of legis- 

 lation. 



A Member — You would not want it 

 again, would you. Dr. Miller? 



Dr. Miller — I did have just one com- 

 fortable thought. When I found it in 

 the first place (I suppose some of you 

 would say I must have been very 

 stupid to let the thing go on so far) — 

 but I tell you we didn't have any legis- 

 lation on the matter of spraying, and 

 there was a good man who sprayed 

 his trees, and for the last three years 

 we thought at that time that the bees 

 were poisoned by the spraying, and so 

 we concluded that it was all right. 

 But this year I sent a sample of it 

 to Washington, to Dr. Phillips, and 

 he wrote back — and he tried to do it 

 in a gentle way — and told me we had 

 European foul brood. 



You don't know how I was taken 

 back. I am not the most despondent 

 person in the world, but I felt the bot- 

 tom had dropped out of everything 

 when I learned I had foul brood in 

 my apiary. When I had a chance to 

 take a second breath, as I commenced 

 to tell you before, I took a little com- 

 fort in it, and I said: "We are going 

 to have a lot of fun fighting it, any- 

 how." I am not so sure but I would 



