Beekeeping in Wisconsin 23 



the rapid and extensive sale of and interchange of queens and 

 bees, especially of the newly introduced Italian race which 

 is credited with a portion of the rapid spread of foul brood. 

 At that time queens were usually shipped with a small piece 

 of comb containing some honey, these pieces being the car- 

 rying agents of foul brood. Thus, whenever queens were 

 sold from an affected apiary, they were probably quite effec- 

 tive in spreading the disease. 



American and European Foul Brood 



About 1890, the seriousness of the foul brood situation 

 became apparent, many beekeepers in various parts of the 

 state rapidly losing their bees. Frequently the bees died 

 with plenty of honey in the hives and conditions became so 

 bad that it was evident that some serious trouble existed 

 among the colonies. About that time information reached 

 Wisconsin regarding the presence of bee diseases in Ontario, 

 Canada, and in the eastern United States. It was soon found 

 that the cause of much of the loss among bees here was due 

 to foul brood of the American type. The result of this was 

 the passage of a foul brood law by the Wisconsin Legislature 

 which became effective in 1898. The senior author of this 

 bulletin was appointed Foul Brood Inspector and has been 

 reappointed successively so that 1915 made his seventeenth 

 year of continuous service. 



Previous to 1907, the foul brood observed in Wisconsin 

 was of the type now known as American foul brood. This 

 same year a new disease occurred at Portage which proved to 

 be what is now known as European foul brood. Since this 

 appearance of European foul brood the records of the In- 

 spector show that it was present at Portage in 1908, 1909, and 

 1911 and that the same disease appeared at Elkhorn in 

 Walworth county in 1909; Mauston in Juneau county; Ells- 

 worth and Spring Valley in Pierce county; and Ashland in 

 Ashland county, 1911 ; Darien in Walworth county, and West 

 De Pere, in Brown county, 1912; Lyndon in Juneau county; 

 Forest Junction in Calumet county; Verona in Dane county; 

 Maiden Rock, Bay City, Beldenville in Pierce county in 

 1913; and Milwaukee and West Allis in Milwaukee county; 

 Two Rivers in Manitowoc county; Green Bay in Brown 

 county; Kaukauna in Outagamie county; Rock Elm, Elm- 



