TREATMENT FOB BEE DI8EA8EB. 65 



There are several points in this treatment and its successful nppli 

 cation by Mr. Alexander which may well claim our attention. In 

 the first place the scales formed by the dried larvae of European 

 foul brood arc less adhesive than arc those formed when American 

 foul brood is present. Ii is therefore easier for the bees to clean 

 oiii ilie cells, and in most cases, ai any rate, a strong colony would do 

 this. This i> one point, then, in favor of the Alexander treatment 

 {>{' European foul brood. 



Mr. Alexander's apiary is Located in a portion of New York State 

 (Delanson, Schenectady County) where European foul brood has 

 been prevalent for several years. It is a matter of common observa- 

 tion that this disease becomes less virulent in any given locality 

 within a few years, and it is very probable that this plan might be 

 successful in Mi- Alexander's apiary and not in localities where the 

 disease is just appearing. At any rate, it js unwise to advocate it- 

 use in new regions when there is an established remedy thf shaking 

 met hod. 



The hives used by Mr. Alexander seem to me to have a decided 

 bearing on this subject. They are several inches shorter than the 

 Langstroth hive. and. as a result, in the spring, when European foul 

 brood usually appears, there is not a large supply of honey on hand. 

 This, taken into consideration with the fact that very little honey 

 comes in before August 1 in that locality, is very significant. The 

 hive is not full of infected honey, and consequently when the bees 

 clean out the combs they gei all the infected material present. That 

 this method woidd he successful in a moderate-sized hive — e. g., a 

 LO-frame Langstroth — may well he doubted, for in the twenty- 

 seven days during which the colony is left queenless many cells 

 containing contaminated honey would be left untouched. Either 

 we must advocate very small hives or advise against the Alexander 

 method as a cure. 



The New York inspectors say that the publication of the Alexander 

 plan ha- been a great detriment to Bee keepers. 



Mr. France. I visited a yard last year where there were 22 infected 

 colonies. The owner wished to save some new drawn-out comb- that 

 were on hives \'vcc from the disease. As an experiment we used foun- 

 dation with hall of the colonies and in the other- we put the QeVi 

 comb-. Eleven had to be treated again, while the other-, right in 

 the same yard, did not. Von can kill the germs m the honey, but 

 you have to boil it until it is a- black as molasses to do it. 



Mi'. Loi is SCHOLL (Texas). I do not know that \ e;in say iniieli 



about treatment in Texas. We do not rely on the shaking treatment 

 at all. Whenever we have had foul brood we have tried something 

 a- radical as could be practiced that is, the burning of the dis- 

 eased colonic-. There is one trouble that we have here in shaking 



30547— Xo. 70— <)7 m 5 



