Foul Brood and Its Propagation.
Written for the American Bee Journal
BY RANDOLPH GRADEN.
It was gratifying to me to see such persons as Messrs. Hutchinson, Muth, and others differing from Mr. McEvoy’s treatment of foul brood. Still, I do not intend to be understood as meaning that Mr. McEvoy cannot cure foul brood by his method, as the word “foul” is a German word, and its meaning is “rotten,” and any decayed, dead brood may be called “foul brood;” but I do know from experience that Mr. McEvoy’s method will not cure the disease that I had to contend with here in Michigan, for hives and frames used without first being disinfected, would soon become diseased. I have never destroyed any hives or frames, but have always kept them in use after being disinfected.
Mr. McEvoy says that frames are so cheap that they might as well be burned; still, I can disinfect the frames as fast as they can be nailed together, say nothing about the cost of the frames, and time and trouble in getting them from the factory.
What seems to me very queer is, that soon after my article appeared in the Bee Journal about a year ago, I received a letter from the President of the Ontario Bee-Keepers’ Association, asking for my method of curing the disease, as he wished to bring it before a meeting to be discussed. Now, why should they want my method when they have the discoverers of the cause and cure of foul brood in their midst?
Since I discovered my method of curing the disease, I would not pay the price of a 2-cent postage to know how others treat the disease; but, then, they might want to know how to treat the foul brood that some bee-keepers have in their apiaries in the United States, as it appears from descriptions that the disease that myself, Messrs. Muth, Hutchinson, and others have had to contend with, is different from that experienced by some in Canada, that Mr. McEvoy has treated; more so than the difference in the United States basswood and Canadian linden honey. The honey might all be acceptable, but the disease that I have had to battle with would not yield to any treatment that I have seen made public, not excepting Mr. McEvoy’s.
Still, I saw in the Bee Journal of Sept. 7, 1893, page 308, a challenge to me, by which article Mr. McEvoy does me an injustice, in saying that I warned bee-keepers not to be misled by him. Now, if Mr. McEvoy had not been so hasty in his conclusions, and in misrepresenting my words and meaning to the public, and had looked a little more carefully at my article, that he referred to, he would easily have seen that I only warned such as had my method (and not the bee-keepers at large) to follow my treatment, and not be misled by Mr. McEvoy’s article or method, as I am just as much interested in the success of my method of treatment as he is in his, no matter if I am but a wee bit of a fellow compared with him, in the eyes of the public.
Now as to the challenge: Does Mr. McEvoy think that I have a foul brood apiary, or kind of foul brood hospital here, so as to have a foul-broody colony whenever I wish? If so, I must answer, No, sir! Nor have I seen any foul brood in the last two seasons, for if I had, I should have cleaned it out before this time. Nor am I able to cause it (that is, such as I am writing about) with dead brood, as I am not writing about the chilled or drowned foul brood of which it seems Mr. McEvoy speaks, but such as I have had in my apiary, and such as it appears that Messrs. Muth, Root, Hutchinson, and Mrs. Atchley and others have described; but if I had a foul-broody colony, or if Mr. McEvoy will wait until I can get one, and allow me to amend the challenge as follows: The $100 each to be deposited in a savings bank of Detroit or Wyandotte, Mich., subject to withdrawal upon the decision of three judges (one to be selected by me, one by Mr. McEvoy, and the third by the first two appointed), thereupon Mr. McEvoy to come here, and in my presence treat a colony by his method as given in the American Bee Journal, without disinfecting or scraping or cleansing the hive in any manner but to put the bees back into the same hive that they occupied when diseased—then, if after the lapse of 60 days they are found to be in a healthy condition, he to take the $200; if not, then it is to be given to me; and if he is willing to accept it in that way, I will let him know when I get or find a foul-broody colony, as I could not accept his challenge in the way he makes it, for several reasons.
I said in my former article, that in my next I would give the reason why I do not give my method to the bee-papers to be made public, because when my article on that subject appeared in the Bee Journal about one year ago, I got quite a shower of letters of inquiries, the first of which I answered at once, giving my method as best I could in a hurry; but as each mail brought more letters, I saw it was impossible for me to answer all, as some did not inclose as much as a stamp for reply. So I thought I would reply to all in the Bee Journal, but as I got my method nearly ready to send to the Bee Journal, I received three very sharp letters, one of which was very insulting, and the address not properly given. Now, to give my method to such as they—no, sir! I thought I would rather lose a few dollars, than to let such as they have my method, which cost me so much in bees, time and trouble.
Still, many that asked in good faith must be answered, as I have been at bee-conventions and met many bee-keepers, and always found them the cream of society, and as every bee-keeper in the land ought to have my method, no matter whether his bees have foul brood or not, for what Mr. McEvoy and some others caution bee-keepers against, I just recommend, and vice versa. Still, the Doubting Thomases should not get my method to laugh at and poke fun at, but to such I would say that I am ready to put up $100 or $150 against the same amount, that if they will send me a foul-broody colony that has enough bees left to form an ordinary colony in May or June, and if after the lapse of 60 days I cannot return them in a strong and healthy condition in the same hive and frames (hive to be a single-walled, movable-frame), then I will forfeit the $200 or $300; but if the bees are strong and healthy, then I am to get the money.
So I had printed a very limited number of leaflets containing my method, which are placed within the reach of all asking in good faith, but as soon as they are gone, or enough to pay the printing and expenses, no more will be sent out by me, as I will give it away to be given as premiums.
I can agree quite well with Messrs. Muth, Hutchinson, Mrs. Atchley and others, in regard to the disease of foul brood, except in regard to its propagation or spreading. I think they mostly claim that honey is the medium through which the disease is spread. Now I have evidence which proves beyond a doubt that bees in robbing a foul-broody colony do not carry the disease to their hives in honey, but I don’t wish to be understood as saying that the disease cannot be carried in honey, for honey that is extracted from foul-broody combs, where the foul matter is thrown out of the comb into the honey, for such I have never tried, for I always boil and skim it properly before feeding it to the bees.
In regard to the spreading of the disease, my observations have been such that at times when a foul-broody colony was in my apiary, all hives or colonies that stood near by became affected, and at other times a strip or line in a certain direction from the first affected colony for some distance every colony would become affected, and at other times it would be some other direction, etc., while at another time a diseased colony may stand and become quite rotten, and no bad result to other colonies near by, which goes to show that it depends entirely upon what kind of weather we have when the disease is in the apiary, as the odor, which is nothing more than small particles of the substance from which it arises, which is driven out of the hive by the bees fanning at the entrance. Should the air be heavy, or such that when smoke comes from a chimney it shoots upwards quickly, the disease does not spread as fast as when the air is light so that the smoke from a chimney comes to the ground and moves along the ground slowly, the air carrying the deadly odor from hive to hive. Now, dear reader, did it ever occur to you that this is one way in which the disease spreads? For when the air is lighter, or the same as the particles of disease or odor, it simply moves or floats around, and woe be to the hive or colony that chances to be in its way!
Now here, in regard to that disease, I will give some food for thought. Why do not such colonies of bees, that rob foul-broody colonies, always become affected with the disease? I imagine I hear a long list of persons who answers “They do;” while I say, emphatically, they do not!
Now, how many have had foul brood among their bees, that had some colonies in the swarming season that were badly affected with the disease, yet strong enough to cast a swarm, that swarmed and were hived? If so, did you watch for the hatching of the first brood? and was it diseased, or did the first brood hatch and appear healthy? If so, why was it not diseased, for the bees came from a foul-broody hive with their honey-sacs filled with the deadly honey?
Now those having my method of curing foul brood, if they will look over the foregoing article, and at my method of treatment, they will easily see how my method originated with me, and why I recommended some things that others strictly forbid; also why I say that comb foundation made from foul-broody combs, as made by the leading manufacturers, is perfectly safe to use, unless it is exposed to the foul or diseased matter, after it leaves the dipping-tank at the factory.
Taylor Centre, Mich.
