
U. 8, Department of Ar 


So ert oem ee mg som eee ee ae 

Number 175 November, 1928 
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SS a A ERR a a a a a a Oe cE: - od 


BEE CULTURE INVESTIGATIONS 
James I. Hambleton, in Charge 
Dr. A. P. Sturtevant and J. E. Eckert, of the Intermountain Bee 
Culture Field Laboratory, Laramie, Wyo., attended the meeting of the 
Colorado Beekeepers' Association, at La Junta, on November 13 and 14. 
Doctor Sturtevant spoke before the meetings of the Montana State Bee— 
keepers' Association, held at Billings, Mont., on November 19 to 21; and 
the Wyoming State Beekeepers' Association, at Thermopolis, held November 
22 to 24. Mr. Eckert also attended the meeting of the recently organized 
Colorado—Wyoming Academy of Science, held at the University of Denver on 
November 30. 
Dr. Warren Whitcomb, Jr., of the Southern States Bee Culture 
Field Laboratory, Baton Rouge, La., attended the meeting of the Alabama 
State Beekeepers' Association, at Montgomery, on November 14. On November 
15 a field meeting was held at Andalusia, Ala., where members of the As- 
sociation inspected the bee-supply plant of the Andalusia Manufacturing 
Company. Doctor Waitcomb reports that the meeting was well attended, and 
that great interest was manifested in the establishment of United States 
standards for package bees. 
The use of formaldehyde gas for disinfecting combs infected with 
American foulbrood has been recommended rather strongly during the last 
year in a number of articles appearing in some of the bee journals. 
Years ago Dr. G. F. White, of the Bureau of Entomology, tried formaldehyde 
gas for disinfecting American foulbrood combs. Although he found that 
it was possible to kill the spores of Bacillus larvae with the gas, no 
practical method presented itself for subjecting the combs to treatment 
which gave uniform results, and therefore the hope of devising a method 
that could be used by the beekeeper was at least temporarily abandoned. 
The articles referred to, however, have stimulated a great many beekeepers 
to use formaldehyde gas in an effort to disinfect combs infected with 
foulbrood. Practically all samples of combs which have been subjected 
to the gas, and afterwards submitted to the Bee Culture Laboratory for 
culturing, indicate that sterility is by no means complete, and that the 
method as it has been advocated by a few beekeepers can not be recom— 
mended. 

