190 



NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



that one hive. The man said, "Can't 

 I cut those out?" "Yes," I says, "you 

 can, hut what is the effect?" I said, 

 "Mister, if you have small pox, if you 

 take off your undershirt, are you free 

 of the disease?" It is thorough eradi- 

 cation, and nothing else. I said, take 

 it all away; it is so easy to do now, 

 with hut one swarm in this yard af- 

 fected. He said, "All rig*hit." I went 

 on, and I say a little over a year after, 

 I returned and expected to find . a 

 healthy yard. I found 24 swarms in 

 the yard; 24 with every comb equal to 

 this sample. Now, you see what it has 

 djone for hiiri'. In order to know that it 

 was thoroughly cared for, as I had a 

 date to keep some distance from there 

 that evening, and not wanting to risk ■ 

 him any longer, I deputized man 

 right there, a practicable bee-keeper, 

 and who was at the mercy of heing 

 exposed to this yard; I appointed hrm 

 as my deputy to immediately go at 

 it that evening and eradicate the 

 whole thing. 



Now^, to look into a comb, there are 

 various ways to see this disease, but 

 for me, I wouldn't want to look at a 

 sample of foul torood by lamp liglht, 

 and 'by daylight I want the light fair- 

 ly strong, and I prefer to have it come 

 from over my shoulder, rather than 

 the reverse. Then hold the comh 

 tilted sufficiently that the light will 

 strike down into the ce'l nearly to 

 the bottom, then I can see those lit- 

 tle iblack dried down scales; look into 

 the openings where the sunken cap- 

 ping are, and there see the brown 

 ropy larvae. There are occasional 

 cases in the last dying effort of that 

 larvae that it throws out the tongue 

 as a last effort of life, and wherever 

 it strikes that ropy tendency it will 

 stay attached, so that I quite frequent- 

 ly find combs where the tongue in 

 the last effort has gone with force 

 sufficient that it has struck the up- 

 per side wall, and it remains there, 

 a tiny thread tacked down to the dried 

 down larvae. I found several of them 

 in this particular sample here. The 

 peculiar odor has ibeen described over 

 and over again. I don't know that it 

 is correct, it is something like glue 

 "■-when it becomes stale. Although there 

 is a scent of tobacco from this cigar 

 box in which I have this sample, if 

 you will allow it to be closed for a 

 moment, and on opening bring it close 

 to your nose, you will get a scent of 

 foul brood which I presume you will 



not forget. Remember that one thing, ! 

 if we have seen the disease, let us I 

 ever be on the watch for it. I don't ; 

 think many bee-keepers in a commer- ; 

 cial way would allow it to get very ; 

 much of a headway, but, as I said at i 

 the beginning, I do find men who are ; 

 readers of the American Bee Journal, ; 

 Gleanings in Apiculture, the Bee-Keep- \ 

 er's Review, and keeping over 100 

 colonies of bees, who are indifferent ; 

 imtil it gets into their own yards, and : 

 then they could work night and day, 

 so it is that one thing, if any, that I 

 want to caution you as to, know what ! 

 it looks like, post yourself, and then 

 be on the watch for it. 



The President — The next paper is 

 "The Practical Treatment of American 

 and European Foul Brood" by Dr. E. '■. 

 P. Phillips, of Washington, D. C. Dr. 

 Phillips is our representative from the 

 Agricultural Department, Washington, 

 and is sent here by the Department 

 itself. 



Dr. Phillips then read the follow- 

 ing paper: . 



THE PRACTICAL TREATMENT OF 



AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN 



FOUL BROOD. 



(By E. F. Phillips.) 



The subject which has been as- 

 signed to me at this time is one of the 

 most important now before American 

 bee-keepers and, unfortunately, is not 

 very well understood by anyone. To- 

 ward the end of devising proper treat- 

 ment all investigations of the cause 

 and characteristics of bee diseases 

 must bend, if they are to be of any 

 value to the practical bee-keeper. 

 However much the bee-keeper may be 

 interested in the bacteriological find- 

 ings in a bee disease, these things are 

 of less importance in his practical 

 work but he wants and needs careful, 

 reliable work on treatment. 



The bacteriological investigations 

 are very important but I shall not 

 dwell on this point. It is perhaps 

 enough to say that, until we know the 

 cause of a disease and can make a 

 detailed study' of that cause, we can- 

 not know just what we are fighting. 



In finding methods of treatment, 

 there are two possible ways to pro- 

 ceed. By repeated trials of various 

 manipulations the practical bee-keeper 

 may by chance hit on something which 



