ass 



NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



is practically insurmountable, because 

 no community would submit to ttie^ex- 

 pense necessary for the extermina- 

 tion of the disease from forests and 

 ibuildings. Intelligent care, however, 

 will guard against serious injury aris- 

 ing from these sources. But there are 

 some who will, no doubt, claim that I 

 Am putting the matter too mildly, for 

 they still insist that the germs of foul 

 brood originate spontaneously in the 

 -dead matter of dhilled and starved 

 brood. This, if proved to be true, 

 would ibe fairly alarming, since it 

 would be hard to guard against. For 

 ■myself, I deny its truth, and still say, 

 as I said years ago: In Virgil's time, 

 'bees were bred from tihe carcass of 

 an ox; when good Izaak Walton lived, 

 the fish called the pike bred from 

 pike weed; lately, chess grew from 

 wheat, and now foul brood grows 

 something else. 



Well, bees, and fish, and chess, have 

 now come to increase normally, and 

 if foul brood has not yet, it very soon 

 will. No, it is still true that men do 

 not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of 

 thistles. R. L. TAYLOR. 



Mr. France — I would recommend, on 

 ;beha;lf of the Program Committee, 

 that all the papers be read before the 

 'discussion. I think it would be wise. 



The President — Does the recom- 

 Tnendation receive the support of the 

 convention? If there are no objec- 

 tions, the recommendations will stand 

 ■as made by our General Manager. 



The next paper will be on "European 

 Poul Brood," by W. D. Wright, of Alta- 

 mont, N. Y. 



At the request of Mr. France, Mr. 

 York read the paper as follows: 



EUROPEAN FOUL BROOD. 



Fellow Bee-Keepers and friends: 

 Your worthy Manager and Secretary 

 have asked me to furnish a paper on 

 "the above subject, but as I have been 

 telling this association for several years 

 past nearly all that I knew about it, 

 1 cannot understand how they expect 

 me to give you something new and 

 Interesting along this line. However, 

 it may not be out of place to reiterate 

 •a few important points. 



Tt> those already afflicted, and to 

 •all others within several miles of this 

 scourge, I would say, Itlianize, first, 

 last and all of the time. It is very ex- 

 ceptional to find an Italian apiary bad- 

 Qy affected with this disease, so much 



so in fact, that in making a prelimin- 

 ary examination of an apiary, I often 

 skip the Italian colonies. Now, friends^ 

 please don't conclude from this, that 

 I am careless and lack thoroughness 

 in my inspection work, as it is only by 

 long experience in this line, that I am 

 able to decide in a measure, by the 

 appearance of the bees at the entrance 

 of the hive, what is contained within. 

 No doubt Brother France can corrobo- 

 rate this statement. 



The three banded or leather colored 

 Italians are the only strain or race 

 that I can recommend for this purpose. 



I notice in the September number of 

 the American Bee Journal that one of 

 the Canadian Inspectors, Mr. Scott, has 

 discovered a strain of Golden Italians 

 that seem quite immune to this disease. 

 It must be a very exceptional strain, 

 as I have failed to find such in ten 

 years of inspection work. 



In my territory, I strenuously advise 

 the Italianizing of black, cannolian and 

 hybrid bees, in advance of the tidal 

 wave of disease, thus saving much la- 

 bor and expense to their owners, which 

 would be entailed in treating this dis- 

 ease, not mentioning the loss in surplus 

 honey, when an apiary is strongly in- 

 vaded by it. The old proverb, "An 

 ounce of prevention is better than a 

 pound of cure" is applicable in this 

 case. 



Mr. J. L. Byer, of Ontario, reports 

 that this disease will spread all 

 through an apiary in a few weeks when 

 there is no robbing going on. I am at 

 a loss to know why this is so. I have 

 found the spread so rapid, except fol- 

 lowing the robbing period in the spring, 

 where foul brood honey has been ex- 

 posed and been taken freely by the 

 bees throughout an apiary of black or 

 hybrid bees, then as brood rearing in- 

 creases, the amount of disease keeps 

 pace with it. 



I still recommend shaking as the 

 quickest and best method of treatment 

 during the honey flow. This method 

 is usually effective with any race or 

 strain of bees, but unless they are 

 Italians the apiarist may reasonably 

 expect to repeat the treatment the fol- 

 lowing season, if foul brood is rampant 

 in his locality. 



Diseased colonies which have not 

 been treated during the honey flow, 

 or which are found to be diseased too 

 late for treatment, might best be 

 brimestoned, the contents properly 



i;ii.V. :-'i:i.-:j'^'^-^ -■lii.h-^'r^;^ii4-:ix^\-- 



