Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-06-23
What is Foul BroodP
paper read before the Addison County Bee Keepers
Association, at Middcbury, May 2b by II. b. Leon.

| ard Of Brandon. = Y - - --''"
A name the Germans have given to dis.
ease of bees, which is confined to the srood
The larvae after being sealed over, aud in
some instances before, become dead and
putrid, and in advanced stages of the disease
emit very offensive smell.
The cause of it has never yet been def.
nitely ascertained. Some claim it TO bo the
effect OF cold. Mr.. Kidder of Burlington is
Of that opinion. Some claim it to be caused
by fermented pollen; some by poor honey,
gathered from the emissions OF aphides. All
good authority. When doctors disagree,
who shall decide2 But what does it matter
what has been the cause Of cancer, so long
as it must be cut or drawn out root and
germ before cure can be Effected
How is il detected The most sure way is
TO examine the sealed brood, and if the caps
of a few cells here aud there scattered
through the brood appear little sunken, or
older and darker than the others, open them
with the point Of knife II white, there is
life; il dark, there is death and if you are
novice, and careless one, it means de-
struction, not only to that stock, but perhaps
to your whole apiary. If the disease pre-.
walls to any great extent in an apiary, there
will be noticed by any common observer
dvindliDg down of some stocks even in the
best OF the season, to outward appearance
some like the spring dwinging that has
declmated so many apiaries all over our
country aud Canada the past few years, and
II not attended to at once it will be fatal in
the extreme, because contagious, on account
OF the robbing propensities OF bees. As soon
as flowers cease to yield nectar, bees begin to
plunder those dwindled stocks, and carry the
seeds Of disease not only through the apiary,
but to neighboring ones also for the stores
of the diseased stocks are oil infected with
the virus of the disease.
To one who has had experience this dis.
ease is not so alarming, but the experience
have had has cost me more than [ would
like to sacrifice again for an experience so
unpleasant.
Seven or eight years ago purchased of
Mr.. Quimby two Italian queens in the fall.
The next spring | thought to raise queen
from one Of them, though neither were pure.
| removed the queen and succeeded in rails.
ing one. But the stock seemed not to in.
crease in number during the season /; and in
the fall they were 50 weak concluded they
could not winter, so shook the boes out on
the snow, and observed in tho brood.nest
capped cells. AT that season Of tho year the
brood should have been all hatched. opened
few cells and observed dead larya.
l had suspicion that it might be foul
brood, but had never seen any before. SO
| put the combs away by themselves. In
the spring these combs were all bright and
clean, aud | thought my suspicious were
untimely, after all. Surely such bright.
clean combs were not foul.broody. SO /
inserted them in different stocks, and changed
them again in swarming In the fall | had
foul brood seed enough to satisfy me as long
as | live, even should attain to the age OF
Methuselah. Had the disease spread little
further should have got ril Of il as quickly
as was getting it, because should have
lost all my bees. That fall aud the next
season had to destroy, or the foul brood
did destroy, nearly half of my apiary, con.
slsting Of about fifty stocks. IL took me
about three years to get entirely rid of il.
Perhaps you ask, How did you cure it2
N'u NV Suio I've utSNIOJcu Tue Does,
strained the honey sliDgsrs had not yet been
invented,) melted the comb into wax, aud
burned some Of the hives. But can it not be
cured 2 DR., II. p. Able says it eau be, and
his prescription is solution of hyposulphite
Of soda as a wash for each cell, frame aud
hive. believe Mr.. Burbank Of Kentucky
tried it, and worked two days on four combs
without success but after reducing the mum.
ber OF combs one-half aud continuing expert.
ments through tho season he succeeded with
the two combs. But few apiarians could
afford to save combs at such expense. They
could be raised for less than oue.tenth the
cost OF cleaning. Had not the monopoly Of
the manufacture Of comb foundations been
secured artificial comb have been purchased
cheaper.
Then, shall we destroy at once all diseased
stocks2
II the "haryest is past and the summer is
ended, know Of no better way to do. If
the disease is detected ia the early part Of
the season, as the bees that are hatched are
not diseased, they can be saved by treating