ON SUCCCSSWi BffKffPIHC. 
 
 NECTAR PRODUCING RESOURCES 
 OF MICHIGAN 
 
 BY 
 
 B. F. K INDIG, 
 
 Director Apiary Inspection 
 
 BULLETIN No. 4. 
 March 1, 1922. 
 
MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
 
 LANSING, MICHIGAN 
 
 H. H. Halladay Commissioner 
 
 John A. Doelle Deputy Commissioner 
 
 Director, Bureau of Agricultural Development 
 
 W. P. Hartman Director, Bureau of Foods andMarkets 
 
 Horace W. Norton, Jr Director Bureau of Animal Industry 
 
 T. FI. Broughton Director Bureau of Dairying 
 
 The State of Michigan has tremendous areas of untouched honey producing 
 resources. The number of colonies of bees in the State is less than ten per 
 cent of the number that would be required to conserve all the nectar that is 
 being wasted annually. It is with the desire to bring to the attention of the 
 beekeepers and others the opportunities presented here for profitable bee- 
 keeping that this circular is issued. 
 
 JOHN A. DOELLE, 
 
 Director Bureau of Agricultural Development. 
 
OUTSTANDING FEATURES OF MICHIGAN BEEKEEPING 
 
 A soil where the clovers grow wild. 
 
 Millions of acres of red raspberry, fireweed, milkweed and goldenrod. 
 Comparative freedom from drought. 
 
 A cool, invigorating summer temperature. 
 
 Long days and short nights during the growing season. 
 
 Adequate rainfall. 
 
 Sunshine predominating. 
 
 White honeys of highest quality. 
 
 Long continued honey flows. 
 
 There are over 5,000 lakes and hundreds of trout streams. 
 
 Michigan is the summer playground of the Central States. 
 
 Tnousands of high grade beekeeping locations unoccupied. 
 
 Winter temperatures tempered by the Great Lakes. 
 
 Abundant snowfall. 
 
 Markets unexcelled. 
 
 A constructive policy in disease control. 
 
 One of America’s greatest deciduous fruit States. 
 
 Dandelion and other early wild flowers throughout the State. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2015 
 
 https://archive.org/details/tipspointersonsu25ulma 
 
NECTAR PRODUCING RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN 
 
 Two natural factors which are of extreme importance in honey production 
 and which cannot be modified by the beekeeper are climate and soil. Because 
 of the unique situation of Michigan, being surrounded on all sides by water, 
 excepting the western boundary of the Upper Peninsula and the southern 
 boundary of the Lower Peninsula, this State is peculiarly favored in climatic 
 conditions as compared with the other states in the same latitude. Inasmuch 
 as Michigan was traversed by at least two of the great glaciers or ice sheets 
 which came down from the north and northeast, much of the surface soil i? 
 extremely variable in character within relatively short distances. 
 
 SOILS OF THE LOWER PENINSULA 
 
 Lake Clay Areas. The best beekeeping soil, the lake clay, extends from the 
 the Ohio line northward along the Detroit and St. Clair rivers and along the 
 shores of Lake Huron to Mackinaw City. This area of soil marks the limits 
 of the old lake bed. Between areas of lake clay there are found occasional 
 tracts of water-washed sand. The best beekeeping territory in the State 
 from the standpoint of the growth and abundance of clover' and the natural 
 resistance to drought is the lake clay area. The next best is that covered by 
 the bowlder clay and the moraines. This type of soil is found immediately 
 to the west and south of the lake clay soils and extends as far west as Lake 
 Michigan. The clay soils are the best soils for beekeeping because of their 
 natural resistance to drought and because they are the soils of best quality 
 and therefore produce blossoms more abundantly and for a longer period of 
 time. While the lake clay soils are distinctly clover soils, yet there are 
 many other plants growing there which are of great value to the beekeeper. 
 Golden rod, Canada thistle, basswood, sweet clover, raspberry, dandelion 
 and many others grow on the clay soils or on their borders. There are few 
 beekeepers in the heavy clay areas that do not secure surplus honey from one 
 or more plants in addition to the clovers. 
 
 Sandy Areas. The sandy loam and the light sand drift are found in aroas 
 of greater or less extent throughout the State. The <central part of the 
 northern portion of the State, comprising the southeastern part of Antrim 
 County, the southern part of Otsego County, the western part of Oscoda, and 
 a large part of Crawford, Kalkaska, Roscommon, Ogemaw and Iosco Counties, 
 comprise the great sand plain and only a limited part of these counties could 
 be considered as of value in beekeeping. However, in travelling across the 
 sand plains one is frequently surprised in coming upon very fertile tracts of 
 heavy soil admirably adapted to beekeeping. 
 
 The Swamp Areas. The swamp lands become more and more valuable as 
 sources of nectar as we approach the southern boundary of the State. The 
 
6 
 
 yield from the swamp flowers during the months of August and September 
 often constitutes as good a crop as may be secured from the clovers and other 
 summer flowers. In the four southern tiers of counties, Spanish needle, 
 goldenrod, boneset, verbena and asters are very valuable sources of fall 
 honey. 
 
 It is interesting to note the changes that come in the swamp flowers as a 
 result of the lowering of the water level through complete or partial drain- 
 age. In the southern part of the State, when a valueless swamp is partially 
 drained, there soon springs up a heavy growth of Spanish needle which fur- 
 nishes a valuable flow of nectar. If drainage is carried further, golden rod 
 appears and Spanish needle may disappear entirely. When the soil becomes 
 dry enough for agricultural purposes, then the verbenas, wild touch-me-not, 
 asters, boneset, heartsease and many other wild flowers contribute to the 
 autumn honey flow. 
 
 SOILS OF THE UPPER PENINSULA 
 
 The lake clay soils which occur in Chippewa, Delta, Baraga, Houghton, 
 Ontonagon and Gogebic Counties are the soils best adapted to the growth 
 of alsike and white clovers. Those areas are now the great clover-hay pro- 
 ducing areas of the Upper Peninsula. These soils generally lie flat, the water 
 table being rather close to the surface. They almost never suffer for lack 
 of moisture. This particular type of soil occurs in a formation covering 
 quite large areas and therefore the possibilities for extensive beekeeping in 
 such sections are very great. The lake clay soil areas are spotted somewhat 
 with water washed sand and are largely surrounded by the morainic clay or 
 sandy soils. On the lighter soils the wild red raspberry and minor honey 
 plants grow in abundance. It is possible to secure a yield of nectar from the 
 clovers, raspberry and other sources by placing the yards on the borders of 
 the lake clay area. The lake clay soils should be considered as primarily 
 white and alsike clover territories. 
 
 THE MORAINIC SOILS 
 
 These soils differ much in their formation, ranging from a loose, somewhat 
 gravelly or sandy soil to a very heavy clay soil. The surface is usually rolling. 
 The quality of the soil ranges from fair to very good. This soil supports a 
 very good growth of clover. Raspberry is one of the conspicuous honey 
 plants of this type of soil. On these areas there grows a larger variety of 
 nectar secreting plants than on the lake clay area. 
 
7 
 
 ROCKY SOILS 
 
 Part of the soils of morainic formation contain such large quantities of rock 
 deposited by the glaciers that they are unfit for farming purposes. Also, a 
 part of the rocky soils of the Upper Peninsula are due to the out-cropping of 
 the underlying rock bed. The rocky areas of Marquette, Houghton and 
 Keweenaw Counties are of interest to the beekeeper only in those districts 
 where the wild red raspberry is abundant. Along the southern side of the 
 peninsula a limestone out-cropping extends from the Canadian boundary 
 westward into Wisconsin. In the more rugged parts of this area cultivation 
 of the soil is impossible. Along the edge of the limestone formation there is 
 agricultural soil which has wonderful possibilities from the standpoint of the 
 production of the various clovers. In a part of this territory alsike and white 
 clover are already growing in abundance. With the increasing interest in 
 sweet clover beekeepers may well look with favor upon the more rugged lime- 
 stone formations as an area on which a perpetual cropping of sweet clover 
 
 Map showing relative number of colonies of bees in the various counties in Michigan. These figures 
 were taken from the census report and represent about one-half of the colonies owned within the State. 
 This error is in the census because no inquiry is made in regard to bees in cities and towns. Most of 
 our larger beekeepers live in cities and towns and operate their out-yards from their homes. 
 
8 
 
 could be expected. Fortunately, much of the limestone formation lies 
 adjacent to the morainic clay and the lake clay areas. Again the oppor- 
 tunities of migratory beekeeping are presented. 
 
 Sandy Soils. Part of the sandy soils, especially those of the highest quality, 
 lie within the morainic clay areas. The larger part of the sandy areas are 
 sand plains which are the outwash plains formed at the foot of the glaciers. 
 Excepting the best quality of sandy soils, this type is not of interest to the 
 beekeepers. It should be noted that the rocky, sandy and swamp soils are 
 very much in the minority, as 65 per cent of the surface of the Upper Penin- 
 sula is agricultural land. 
 
 Swamps. The swamp areas are contained largely in Schoolcraft and Luce 
 counties, although small swamp areas may be found in all parts of the Upper 
 Peninsula. The swamps do not offer desirable locations for beekeeping 
 excepting that in some years, aster, goldenrod, boneset, willow herb, and 
 other nectar secreting plants appear in abundance. At such times the bee- 
 keeper could move his colonies there to take advantage of the late ( nectar flow. 
 Willow herb is a conspicuous flower for several years after the swamps have 
 been burned over. 
 
 CLIMATE OF MICHIGAN 
 
 Temperature. As Michigan is almost surrounded by water, the climate is 
 greatly modified by its influence. As shown in the accompanying map the 
 mean temperature for the month of January in the Upper Peninsula is the 
 same as in central and southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, Iowa and north- 
 ern Nebraska. The Weather Bureau records show that on the eastern shore 
 of Lake Michigan in winter, the temperature is often ten degrees higher than 
 at points directly across the lake in Wisconsin. In the summer the tem- 
 perature on the Michigan side is correspondingly cooler than on the western 
 side of the lake. It will be noted that during the winter the temperature 
 along the Great Lakes is much higher than east or west of those points inland. 
 The influence of the Great Lakes extends for many miles back from the shore. 
 This should be particularly noted in the Upper Peninsula. The cool even tem- 
 perature of winter is conducive to the health of all animal and plant life. 
 While extremes in temperature are sometimes experienced in winter, most 
 cold waves are very much moderated in passing over the great surface areas 
 of the surrounding lakes. 
 
 The length of the growing season is determined by computing the number 
 of days between the last killing frost in spring and the first killing frost in 
 autumn. It should be especially observed that the area previously described 
 as the sand plain area of the Southern Peninsula has the shortest growing 
 season. Iii the Upper Peninsula that part which is farthest inland from the 
 Great Lakes and where the surface lies the highest has the shortest growing 
 season. It is particularly noticeable that for a number of miles back from 
 
9 
 
 TABLE OF COMPARATIVE TEMPERATURES 
 
 Compiled, by U. S. Weather Bureau , D. A. Seeley , Chief , East Lansing , Mich. 
 
 Name of station. 
 
 Mean 
 
 temperature 
 
 January. 
 
 Lowest on 
 record. 
 
 Average 
 length of 
 growing 
 season. 
 
 Upper Peninsula — Michigan : 
 
 
 
 
 Soo Ste. Marie 
 
 15.0 
 
 —37 
 
 138 
 
 Marquette 
 
 17.0 
 
 —27 
 
 147 
 
 Humboldt 
 
 10.7 
 
 —49 
 
 79 
 
 Escanaba 
 
 15.5 
 
 —32 
 
 147 
 
 Menominee 
 
 18.1 
 
 —27 
 
 149 
 
 Houghton 
 
 16.4 
 
 —27 
 
 151 
 
 Lower Peninsula — Michigan : 
 
 
 
 
 Lansing 
 
 22.8 
 
 —26 
 
 159 
 
 Detroit 
 
 24.3 
 
 —24 
 
 164 
 
 Grand Rapids 
 
 23.8 
 
 —24 
 
 164 
 
 Grand Haven 
 
 24.6 
 
 —25 
 
 165 
 
 Port Huron 
 
 22.5 
 
 —25 
 
 157 
 
 Alpena 
 
 19.0 
 
 —27 
 
 138 
 
 Wisconsin : 
 
 
 
 
 Madison 
 
 16.9 
 
 —29 
 
 180 
 
 LaCrosse 
 
 15.9 
 
 —43 
 
 162 
 
 Milwaukee 
 
 20.5 
 
 —25 
 
 163 
 
 Green Bay 
 
 16.4 
 
 —36 
 
 153 
 
 Stevens Point 
 
 14.8 
 
 —48 
 
 124 
 
 Hancock 
 
 15.3 
 
 —35 
 
 132 
 
 Fond du lac . 
 
 17.0 
 
 — 44 
 
 150 
 
 Minnesota : 
 
 Park Rapids 
 
 3.5 
 
 —51 
 
 122 
 
 Pembina 
 
 —2.4 
 
 —59 
 
 104 
 
 Duluth 
 
 10.4 
 
 — 41 
 
 153 
 
 Moorhead 
 
 2.9 
 
 —48 
 
 132 
 
 Milan 
 
 10.5 
 
 — 40 
 
 130 
 
 St. Paul 
 
 11.9 
 
 —41 
 
 159 
 
 North Dakota: 
 
 
 
 
 Devils Lake 
 
 0.8 
 
 —51 
 
 121 
 
 Bismarck 
 
 7.0 
 
 — 44 
 
 129 
 
 Williston 
 
 6.1 
 
 — 49 
 
 119 
 
 South Dakota: 
 
 Huron 
 
 10.8 
 
 —43 
 
 131 
 
 Pierce 
 
 17 9 
 
 — 40 
 
 153 
 
 Rapid City 
 
 22.9 
 
 —34 
 
 143 
 
 Nebraska : 
 
 
 
 
 Valentine 
 
 22.0 
 
 —38 
 
 132 
 
 North Platte 
 
 22.9 
 
 —35 
 
 151 
 
 Lincoln 
 
 22.6 
 
 —29 
 
 174 
 
 Iowa: 
 
 
 
 
 Sioux City 
 
 19.4 
 
 —31 
 
 146 
 
 Charles City 
 
 15.5 
 
 —31 
 
 133 
 
 Des Moines 
 
 19.9 
 
 —30 
 
 171 
 
 Dubuque 
 
 18.6 
 
 —32 
 
 176 
 
 Davenport 
 
 21.4 
 
 —27 
 
 174 
 
 Keokuk 
 
 23.7 
 
 —27 
 
 200 
 
*%2.ro 
 
 10 
 
 Heavy black lines show mean temperature for January. Figures show lowest temperature on record at each station. Data compiled by 
 
 U. S. Weather Bureau, D. A. Seeley, Chief, East Lansing, Mich. 
 
11 
 
 shore, in circling the whole Upper Peninsula, the growing season is more than 
 120 days and near the shore where the lake influence is greatest the growing 
 season is from 140 to 150 days, this being nearly equal to the growing season 
 in the south central part of the Lower Peninsula. 
 
 The absence of extremely hot weather in summer and of extremely cold 
 weather in winter is a matter of tremendous importance in beekeeping. The 
 moderate heat in summer is sufficient to produce a very heavy flow of nectar 
 but does not dry the soil excessively. This results in uniformly heavy honey 
 flows of long duration — one of the outstanding characteristics in Michigan 
 beekeeping. The cooler summers also cause the production of a very white 
 mild flavored honey as compared with honey from the same sources produced 
 where the temperature is higher. This feature of our climate insures very 
 high grade honey. Outdoor wintering of bees is being successfully practiced 
 in all parts of the State. Cellar wintering is also satisfactory in all sections. 
 
 RAINFALL 
 
 The accompanying map shows that with the exception of two very small 
 areas the average annual rainfall is more than 26 inches. It is a significant 
 coincidence that those areas which receive the smallest amount of rainfall 
 are so favored by soil and temperature that they do not need the heavy rain- 
 fall which is found in some other parts of the State. In the “Thumb” dis- 
 trict of the Lower Peninsula where the rainfall is smallest, the soil is the sur- 
 face of the old lake bed and withstands the lack of moisture exceedingly well. 
 In the Upper Peninsula the excessive heat of southern latitudes is conspicu- 
 ously absent. Cloverland, as the Upper Peninsula is commonly called, is 
 particularly free from drought. The rainfall also is so distributed through 
 the year so that the most rain falls at the time it is most needed. In the 
 Upper Peninsula, during the months of May, June, July, August and Sep- 
 tember, the rainfall is three inches per month or more. During the rest of 
 the year the amount of rain does not approach three inches and is only about 
 one inch per month during January, February and March. The same con- 
 dition holds true to a greater or lesser extent for the Lower Peninsula. It 
 will thus be seen that Michigan is favored by having the greater part of its 
 rainfall at the time that the crops are most in need of it. While the precipi- 
 tation in winter is less than in summer, yet the ground in winter is usually 
 well covered with a blanket of snow. Snow that falls in early December 
 may not melt until in late March. 
 
 SUNSHINE 
 
 Michigan lies principally between the latitudes of 42° and 47°. While 
 the length of the growing season becomes shorter in number of days with 
 the distance from the equator, yet that is compensated for to a great extent 
 by the fact that the hours of sunlight each day are greater than farther south. 
 During the longest days of summer there are 15J/2 hours of daylight in the 
 Upper Peninsula. In the vicinity of Lansing there are only 15 hours of day- 
 light and in the states farther to the south of us the number of hours of daylight 
 
12 
 
 are correspondingly less, so while the growing season of 120 days for -example 
 might seem short to some, yet the added hours of daylight in reality 
 makes the season much longer. A growing season must be measured in 
 hours of sunlight as well as in number of days. Atmospheric conditions are 
 such that the number of cloudy days during the summer is very small outside 
 of the time when rain is actually falling. The very high per cent of the 
 possible hours of sunshine is one of the factors which results in such rapid 
 plant growth in the Upper Peninsula. It has been amply demonstrated that 
 the light of twilight and dawm is sufficient to cause plant growth. In the 
 summer, during the long days, twilight may continue until ten o’clock at 
 night and dawn is evident before three o’clock in the morning. With favor- 
 able temperatures and rainfall, plant growth may be much greater per day 
 than in the states along the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 Map showing average annual rainfall in inchs. Courtesy U. S. Weather Bureau, E. Lansing.^Mich. 
 
13 
 
 EFFECT OF THE CLIMATE ON THE QUALITY OF HONEY 
 
 It is a well established fact that many of the plants which yield a dark honey 
 in the warmer southern states yield a much lighter colored honey in the north. 
 The honey from white clover south of the Ohio River may grade from light 
 amber to amber in color. Our favorable latitude together with desirable 
 climatic conditions causes our honey to be of exceptionally light color. In 
 those parts of the United States where the atmosphere is humid the honey 
 seems to contain a higher per cent of moisture than in the drier climates. 
 While Michigan can not be considered a dry climate, yet the absence of undue 
 humidity between rains gives the bees an opportunity to thoroughly evapor- 
 ate the nectar. Michigan honey has long been famous for its very light 
 color and heavy waxy body. Michigan honey frequently commands a price 
 of from three to eight cents per pound higher than honey from the same 
 source in less favored states. 
 
 THE UPPER PENINSULA AS A BEEKEEPING LOCATION 
 
 Parts of the Upper Peninsula have been devoted to farming for more than 
 sixty years. In many of the counties there are old settled localities that 
 remind one of the farming districts of the states to the South and East. In 
 such places schools, churches and roads are of the very best. There are 
 many thriving cities which furnish adequate markets. Among these might 
 be named : 
 
 Bessemer 
 
 . . 5,500 
 
 Iron Mountain 
 
 9,200 
 
 Calumet and vicinity . . 
 
 ..40,000 
 
 Ishpeming 
 
 12,500 
 
 Crystal Falls 
 
 . . 3,500 
 
 Manistique 
 
 6,400 
 
 Escanaba 
 
 . .13,200 
 
 Menominee 
 
 9,000 
 
 Houghton 
 
 . . 5,200 
 
 Munising 
 
 5,000 
 
 Hancock 
 
 . . 9,000 
 
 Marquette 
 
 15,000 
 
 Iron wood 
 
 . .15,700 
 
 Negaunee 
 
 Soo Ste. Marie 
 
 8,500 
 
 12,700 
 
 Until within recent years lumbering and mining have been the chief indus- 
 tries of the Upper Peninsula. As long as timber was abundant little thought 
 was given to agriculture. The result is that, with the exception of a few of 
 the older settled tracts, agriculture is a new pursuit. Since most of the 
 Peninsula has been lumbered off, and much of it many years ago, there are 
 today tremendous areas of fertile cut-over land on which a furrow has never 
 been turned. In some places a second growth of timber has come on. In 
 other places the fires have destroyed all of the smaller trees and seedings. 
 Where the fire damage has not been too severe, the clovers and raspberries 
 have survived. These plants sometimes cover areas of many townships. 
 
 Beekeepers in southern Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota supply the 
 Upper Peninsula with practically all of the honey that is sold there. From 
 
14 
 
 a marketing standpoint the territory is unsurpassed. The Upper Peninsula 
 must not be thought of entirely as a pioneering or home-steading country. 
 The people have wealth and culture. There are many farms as modern as 
 any in the State. The buying power of the population is above the average. 
 
 Beekeepers seeking new locations can find anything they desire from the 
 typical American city to the sparsely populated areas of the grazing or cut- 
 over lands. Villages and small towns are scattered at convenient intervals 
 throughout the Peninsula. The beekeeper who desires to live in a town where 
 he and his family may enjoy social and educational advantages can easily 
 find such a desirable place with unlimited beekeeping territory conveniently 
 near. The wonderful system of State roads for which Michigan is justly 
 famous is rapidly linking together all the larger cities and towns. 
 
 Nearly all of the bees in the Upper Peninsula are wintered out of doors. 
 All of the larger beekeepers prefer packing the bees outside. The great 
 blanket of snow which covers the Peninsula in winter protects the colonies 
 from the winds and from the cold. When it is known that the soil of the 
 Upper Peninsula during many winters is not frozen and that potatoes are 
 often dug in the spring instead of in the fall, then the beekeepers of farther 
 south will understand why bees can be perfectly wintered outdoors. 
 
 Someone has said that there are only two seasons in the Upper Peninsula — 
 winter and summer. Springtime is of short duration. The long hours of 
 daylight push the plant growth with a rapidity never witnessed even in south- 
 ern Michigan. Bees build up with extreme rapidity. The honey flow opens 
 in June and continues for the most part until the frosts in autumn kill the 
 flowers. Comb honey is produced on the shores of Lake Superior. Extracted 
 honey production is more general and is much more profitable than comb 
 honey production. It must be remembered that for maximum crop produc- 
 tion these factors must be present in a beekeeping location: Ample rainfall, 
 a rich soil which is retentive of moisture and adequately supplied with lime, 
 favorable temperature, the maximum amount of sunshine and daylight and 
 no excessive humidity. All these essentials are present to a remarkable 
 degree on all the better types of beekeeping soil throughout the State. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS IN THE LOWER PENINSULA 
 
 The southern half or more of the Lower Peninsula does not differ materially 
 from the older settled states. Agriculture is highly developed. Cities and 
 towns are numerous, State roads have been built and are well kept up. Every- 
 thing that characterizes an intelligent and prosperous country is present. 
 
 The northern part of the Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula is the 
 great summer play ground of the Central States. With its thousands of lakes 
 and trout streams, with a climate that is unexcelled and because of the absence 
 of hay-fever and asthma, thousands of people from adjacent states flock to 
 Northern Michigan for the summer. The summer tourist is the beekeeper’s 
 opportunity which at the present time he is not recognizing. The bee- 
 keepers of this region could build up a tremendous trade in honey to be 
 shipped later by parcel post or otherwise to the homes of the summer 
 visitors from other states. 
 
 There are great areas throughout the upper half of the Lower Peninsula 
 where very little farming is carried on. The clovers, milk weed, fire weed, 
 
15 
 
 and raspberry often grow in considerable areas beyond the range of the present 
 beekeepers of that region. While there are districts in which beekeeping is 
 carried on in a commercial way, yet the unoccupied territory is probably in 
 excess of that which is occupied. 
 
 In the southern half of the Lower Peninsula there are also many unused 
 locations. There are, however, many thousands of beekeepers widely scat- 
 tered through this district . See map on page 7 showing colonies of bees by 
 counties. The opportunity for a new good location is in the northern part 
 of the Lower Peninsula and in the Upper Peninsula. 
 
 The markets of the Lower Peninsula are excellent. Ninety per cent of 
 Michigan’s honey crop is consumed locally or sold to merchants or housewives 
 without passing through the hands of the wholesaler. Detroit, the fourth 
 city in size in the United States and having a population of over one million, 
 could absorb all the honey that goes into the wholesale trade in addition to 
 what is already being sold there. Consider the potential buying power of the 
 following cities in the Lower Peninsula: 
 
 Ann Arbor 
 
 .... 20,000 
 
 Jackson 
 
 48,374 
 
 Battle Creek 
 
 .... 36,164 
 
 Kalamazoo 
 
 48,858 
 
 Bay City 
 
 .... 60.000 
 
 Lansing 
 
 57,327 
 
 Detroit 
 
 . . .1,050,000 
 
 Muskegon 
 
 36,570 
 
 Flint 
 
 91,599 
 
 Pontiac 
 
 34,273 
 
 Grand Rapids . . . . 
 
 ... 137,634 
 
 Port Huron 
 
 Saginaw 
 
 25,944 
 
 65,648 
 
 NECTAR SECRETING PLANTS 
 
 The following are the chief sources of nectar in Michigan : 
 
 White Honey 
 Alsike clover 
 White clover 
 Wild red raspberry 
 Milk weed 
 
 Fire weed or willow herb 
 Sweet clover 
 Basswood 
 Alfalfa 
 
 Canada thistle 
 
 Asters 
 
 Verbena 
 
 Mints 
 
 Blackberry 
 
 Maples 
 
 Light Amber or Amber Honey 
 Golden rod 
 Spanish needle 
 Buckwheat 
 Boneset 
 Fruit bloom 
 Dandelion 
 Heartsease 
 Cucumber 
 
 Alsike and White Clover. Both of these clovers are ordinarily found in the 
 same territory. The alsike clover, however, is particularly adapted to the 
 low lying heavy soils of the old lake bed. Both clovers are found in abun- 
 dance wherever the quality of the soil is such as to be good farming land. 
 Alsike is more tolerant than white clover in that it makes a good growth on 
 
soils somewhat deficient in lime and insufficiently drained. In the days of 
 the lumbering industry the alsike clover seed was scattered along the logging 
 trails through the hauling of hay. Today alsike clover is found growing wild 
 in almost unbelievable quantities throughout the cut-over lands wherever 
 the soil is good. These two plants constitute the chief sources of nectar in 
 Michigan. In the Upper Peninsula and in the northern part of the Low'er 
 Peninsula there are thousands of acres of alsike clover growing wild with no 
 bees near enough to gather any of the nectar. The number of colonies in 
 the alsike districts of the whole State could be increased to five times their 
 present number without crowding. Alsike and white clover produces a 
 heavy white honey of the very best flavor. It is this honey that has contrib- 
 uted largely to making Michigan famous for its high grade honey. 
 
 Red Raspberry. A heavy growth of red raspberry followed the cutting of 
 the timber, chiefly on the hard wood lands. When undisturbed by fires the 
 raspberry grows in such profusion that it is almost impossible to penetrate 
 the thickets. Raspberry blooms about two weeks previous to the beginning 
 of the alsike bloom. The two honey flows frequently overlap. The honey 
 is light in color, mild in flavor and is very much sought after because of its 
 excellent quality. The growing scarcity of raspberry honey places the bee- 
 keeper in raspberry districts in a position where he can demand and receive 
 several cents per pound premium over the price of other honeys. 
 
 Fire Weed or Willow Herb. This plant was at one time quite common as 
 far south as Lansing. It cannot withstand civilization and so is found today 
 in areas of importance to beekeeping only on the cut-over lands and swamps 
 of the northern part of the State. Following the forest fires, willow herb 
 springs up and gives an excellent flow of water-white honey of the finest 
 quality for several years. As the raspberry and other plants become re-estab- 
 lished the fire weed gradually disappears until the advent of another fire. 
 
 Milk Weed. Milk weed is a major honey plant in a rather restricted area 
 in Cheboygan, Emmett, Charlevoix, Antrim, Grand Traverse and Leelanau 
 Counties and to a lesser extent in counties east and south. The milk weed 
 territory is growing larger year by year as the seeds are carried very readily 
 by the wind. Milk weed honey is a very light amber which passes on the 
 markets for white honey. It is very rich in flavor, has a very heavy body and 
 is considered one of Michigan’s best honeys. 
 
 Sweet Clover. Sweet clover has become important as a honey plant only 
 within recent years. With the advent of the annual white sweet clover a 
 new interest is being taken in its cultivation. Sweet clover seed is being 
 produced in a large number of the counties. Sweet clover is most popular 
 on the lighter soils and is being advocated by County Agricultural Agents as 
 a means of building up the sandy soils and other soils that have been worn 
 by cropping. Probably every county in the State is growing some sweet 
 clover and the acreage devoted to it is bound to become larger year by year. 
 The sub-divisions lying at the outskirts of our cities are frequently covered 
 with a growth of sweet clover which forms a valuable source of nectar for the 
 city beekeeper. Sweet clover honey ranks with the other clovers in quality. 
 It has a greenish tinge and a mild aromatic flavor. 
 
 Basswood. Basswood has been one of the major sources of nectar in Michi- 
 gan. However, the basswood timber has been removed to such an extent 
 that there is very little, if any, pure basswood honey produced. The bass- 
 
17 
 
 wood flow comes at the latter part of the clover flow or immediately following 
 it and practically all of the basswood honey is therefore mixed with the 
 clover. It is a light honey with a strong aromatic flavor and is considered of 
 highest quality. 
 
 Alfalfa. When alfalfa is planted on a light soil and when the summer is 
 inclined to be rather dry and hot, the bees frequently work the alfalfa bloom 
 with considerable energy. Beekeepers have from time to time reported the 
 storing of considerable surplus from this plant. The seed bearing alfalfa 
 which is being developed at the Agricultural College will likely be our most 
 important source of alfalfa honey. 
 
 Canada Thistle. This plant is scattered to a greater or lesser degree 
 throughout the State. In some sections it grows so abundantly as to interfere 
 with the growth of other plants. It does not always yield nectar in paying 
 quantities. If the weather conditions are suitable a yard of bees situated in 
 a good Canada thistle territory may store a quantity of honey sufficient to 
 place it among the major honey plants. The honey is white in color and of 
 very good flavor. This honey is often mixed with the clover honey and sells 
 as such without anyone realizing that half or more may be from Canada 
 thistles. 
 
 Asters. In the southern half of the State the asters grow principally in 
 the swamp lands. In the northern part of the Lower Peninsula and in the 
 Upper Peninsula, asters are frequently found in abundance on the higher 
 soils. With satisfactory weather conditions they yield a tremendous crop' 
 in a very short time. A yield of 200 pounds of surplus per colony in 20 days- 
 has been reported from the Upper Peninsula. The honey is light in color 
 and when well ripened is of good body and flavor. However, when weather 
 conditions do not permit of the proper ripening of the honey, then the flavor 
 is strong and unpleasant . 
 
 Verbena. The verbenas grow on the rather low pasture lands and swamps. 
 They are of principal importance in the southern one-third of the Lower Pen- 
 insula. The honey is in quality equal to clover and is commonly .considered 
 as such on the market . 
 
 Mints. Michigan is the largest producer of mint oils of any of the states. 
 The mints are grown chiefly in the southern parts of the State in the counties 
 of Allegan, Cass, Berrien, Kalamazoo, Van Buren and St. Joseph. On many 
 of the large marshes it is not possible to cut the whole acreage for distilling 
 until after the blossoms have opened, and so the bees frequently secure a 
 considerable amount of surplus honey. The mints are grown chiefly on the 
 reclaimed swamp lands. Beekeepers in the vicinity of the mint marshes 
 usually secure some mint honey which is white in color and has a very delicious, 
 spicy flavor. 
 
 Blackberry. Blackberries like the wild red raspberries grow principally 
 on the cut-over lands of the northern part of the State. They frequently 
 grow in abundance on marshes and on soils that are lighter than those on which 
 the raspberry does best. The blackberry is not of such importance as the red 
 raspberry, but there are thousands of acres of this plant in northern Michigan 
 that would be a valuable source of nectar if there were bees there to gather it. 
 The honey is white in color and of very agreeable flavor. 
 
18 
 
 Maples. The maples are found growing on the better soils throughout the 
 whole Upper and Lower Peninsulas. They are not particularly of value for 
 surplus honey, but they frequently furnish an abundance of nectar for brood 
 rearing in the spring time when no other source is available. Because of their 
 value in supplying the food for producing a large colony of bees for the later 
 honey flow, the maples are considered by all of our beekeepers to be a very 
 valuable asset. 
 
 Cucumbers and Related Plants. There is a great number of salting stations 
 scattered through the Lower Peninsula. Around all of the salting stations 
 there is grown a considerable acreage of cucumbers. Beekeepers who have 
 apiaries within reach of the cucumber fields find that they secure a consider- 
 able amount of very desirable honey from the cucumber bloom. Squashes 
 and melons are also of value where grown in a sufficient quantity. The bloom- 
 ing period is midsummer and later. The honey is light amber in color and of 
 mild and pleasing favor. 
 
 Goldenrod. Taking the State as a whole, golden rod is considered to be our 
 most valuable source of fall honey. In the northern two-thirds of the Lower 
 Peninsula, and in the Upper Peninsula, golden rod is looked upon as an almost 
 unfailing source of nectar. There are many varieties, some of which do not 
 seem to be of any particular value. The distribution of the nectar secreting 
 golden rods is so general that beekeepers in practically all locations secure at 
 least some surplus golden rod honey. Even though it furnishes many tons of 
 desirable honey, yet its greatest value lies in the stimulating of brood rearing 
 during the fall months. A golden rod territory insures good sized colonies of 
 young bees for the winter cluster. The honey is a pure gold in color. The 
 flavor, while more pronounced than in the clovers, is mild and agreeable. 
 
 Spanish needle. Spanish needle constitutes a major source of nectar in 
 the southern one-third of the Lower Peninsula in those areas where the swamps 
 have not been drained. As the swamp lands are reclaimed, Spanish needle 
 disappears. It is as yet a very valuable source of nectar in nearly every 
 county in the southern part of the State. Fortunately for the beekeepers, 
 there is an infinite number of small swamps which are so situated that it is 
 impractical to drain them because of the expense involved. In such places 
 Spanish needle will doubtless continue to be a major honey plant. The honey 
 is amber in color and of rather strong flavor. Pure Spanish needle honey is 
 not often found as golden rod, verbena, heartsease, boneset and buckwheat 
 all bloom at about the same time. The fall honey in the southern part of 
 the State is usually a combination of most of the above sources. This honey 
 is of a very agreeable flavor to those who have a taste for the darker, stronger 
 flavored honeys. 
 
 Buckwheat. Buckwheat is a common crop on the lighter soils in all parts 
 of the State. The nectar is secreted in early autumn after the white honey 
 flows are over. When found pure, it is dark amber in color and strong in 
 flavor but very pleasing to a part of our population. 
 
 Boneset. Boneset grows in swamps and marsh lands in all parts of the 
 State. It is not considered by beekeepers as a very good source of surplus 
 honey but is valued by them for its influence in keeping up brood rearing at 
 a time when other nectars are scarce. It is a very dependable source of 
 nectar. The honey is rather dark and of unpleasant flavor. 
 
19 
 
 Fruit Bloom. Michigan is famous for the Avonderful fruit belt which lies 
 on the western side of the State within the influence of Lake Michigan. 
 Within this fruit belt apple, peach, plum, cherry and the smaller bush and 
 vine fruits are grown in places almost to the exclusion of other crops. During 
 the blooming time they furnish an exceedingly valuable source of nectar. 
 Surplus honey is not usually stored from the^ fruit bloom as the blossoms come 
 early and the colonies are not usually up to storing strength. It furnishes, 
 however, the food which is so essential to getting the colonies in proper con- 
 dition for the clover and later honey -flows. To the eastward beyond the limits 
 of the fruit belt proper, there are many farm and commercial orchards. The 
 smaller orchards are not confined to the Lower Peninsula alone but are found 
 as far north as the shores of Lake Superior. The presence of a goodly acreage 
 of orchard is a valuable asset to any beekeeper. 
 
 BEEKEEPERS’ ORGANIZATIONS 
 
 Michigan Beekeepers’ Association. This is one of the oldest if not the oldest, 
 beekeepers’ organization in the central states. It was organized in 1865 
 and has upon its list of members some of the country’s greatest exponents of 
 good beekeeping. The names of Hutchinson, Bingham, Hilton, Heddon, 
 Benton, Cook, Townsend and many others, all Michigan men, are household 
 names among the beekeepers. The association all through the years of its 
 existence has taken the lead in directing the policies in education, marketing, 
 inspection and kindred interests of the beekeepers as a whole. There are now 
 about 700 active members. The annual meeting is held each winter in the 
 city of Lansing. * A summer meeting is held in northern Michigan. Mr. R. 
 H. Kelty, E. Lansing, Mich., is secretary. 
 
 STATISTICS RELATIVE TO MICHIGAN BEEKEEPING 
 
 It is estimated that there are from ten to fifteen thousand beekeepers in the 
 State operating from 150,000 to 200,000 colonies of bees. The product of 
 the bee is about 8,000,000 pounds of extracted honey, 2,000,000 pounds of 
 comb honey and about 150,000 pounds of bees wax. As Michigan honey is of 
 very high grade, it brings the top price on the market. The value of the 
 apiary products, aside from the colonies of bees and the queens that are sold, 
 is nearly $2,000,000. 
 
 APIARY INSPECTION 
 
 The work of Apiary Inspection has been carried on for a number of years. 
 Complete data is available as to the distribution of the bee diseases in Michi- 
 gan. Two inspectors give their entire time to the work and about fifteen bee- 
 keepers in various parts of the State give varying amounts of their time to 
 inspection work during the summer. Because of the lack of funds, it has been 
 impossible until within the last two years to undertake a compaign of eradica- 
 tion of bee diseases from any of the infected districts of the State. A program 
 is now being followed which it is believed will in time with more liberal finan- 
 cial assistance result in the bee diseases being crowded out of the State. 
 
 Apiary inspection is a part of the Michigan Department of Agriculture, 
 Lansing, Mich. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLIN0I8 - URBANA 
 
 N301 121 18459442A 
 
oh successful damme. 
 
 AMERICAN FOUL BROOD 
 
 BY 
 
 B. F. KINDIG, 
 
 Director Apiary Inspection 
 
 BULLETIN No. 2 
 October 20th, 1921 
 
MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
 LANSING, MICHIGAN 
 
 H. H. HALLADAY, ..... Commissioner 
 FEED L. WOODWORTH, Director, Bureau Foods and Markets, 
 
 Deputy Commissioner 
 
 JOHN A. DOELLE, - - Director, Bureau Agricultural Development 
 
 HORACE W. NORTON, Jr., - Director, Bureau of Animal Industry 
 T. H. BROUGHTON, .... Director, Bureau of Dairying 
 
 The industrious bee creates about $1,500,000 for Michigan annually. 
 Mr. B. F. Kindig, Inspector of Apiaries, has condensed the informa- 
 tion concerning the most serious disease of the bee in a manner which 
 will aid the beekeeper to recognize the disease and eradicate it. 
 
 JOHN A. DOELLE, 
 
 Director, Bureau of Agricultural Development. 
 

American Foul Brood is an infectious disease of the larvae of the 
 honey bee. It is quite generally distributed throughout the southern 
 peninsula of Michigan with the exception of the northeastern quarter. 
 
 CAUSE 
 
 The disease is caused by a microscopic organism similar in appear- 
 ance and habits to some of the germ's which cause disease in the 
 human body. The organism is known as Bacillus larvae. 
 
 SYMPTOMS 
 
 To the beekeeper who is unfamiliar with this disease, usually 
 the first symptoms apparent are a gradual weakening of the colony 
 and the presence of a very unpleasant odor in the hive. In the 
 very early stages of the disease it is recognized by an occasional brood 
 cell capping being sunken ,and darker in appearance than the cappings 
 of the adjacent cells. A part of these cappings may also have small holes 
 in them, often ragged in appearance. Upon further examination it may 
 be found that in a few uncapped cells the larvae have died and are de- 
 caying on the lower cell walls. Upon careful examination, the dead 
 larval remains in all of the cells just mentioned will be found to be 
 similar in shape and position, although they may vary somewhat in 
 color. Soon after the ,death of the larva it begins to take on a brownish 
 appearance and the longer the larva has been dead and the more it be- 
 comes dried down the darker is the color. When the remains have dried 
 down to a thin scale on the lower cell wall the color becomes almost black. 
 When larvae die from this disease the decayed remains tend to become 
 quite gluey in their consistency. If a match or tooth-pick be inserted into 
 the cell and a part of the remains drawn out it will be found to stretch 
 out somewhat like glue. This quality is commonly spoken of as ropiness 
 and is often considered the diagnostic symptom of this disease. However, 
 in making a diagnosis these four factors should be present : 
 
 (1 ) The larvae should lie on the lower cell wall. 
 
 (2) The color should be brown or black. 
 
 (3) The consistency of the larvae should b,e ropy unless dried down 
 into a black hard scale. 
 
 (4) The odor should be repulsive, inasmuch as it is commonly de- 
 scribed as smelling like a glue pot. 
 
 Even in a very jnild case of disease the first three symptoms should be 
 apparent while the fourth (the odor) may not be so noticeable if only a 
 few cells are affected. Whenever there is the slightest doubt as to the 
 diagnosis of disease a sample of the comb containing the diseased larvae 
 should be sent to this office, where a microscopic examination will be 
 made. Upon application, the department will gladly furnish a mailing 
 case for sending in samples of comb for disease identification* 
 
6 
 
 TREATMENT 
 
 The only successful treatment for American Foul Brood con- 
 sists in removing the bees from the combs and hives and placing them 
 in a clean hive without combs but in which the frames are fitted with 
 full sheets of foundation. There are slight variations in the method of 
 treatment according to the season of the year. These slight differences 
 will be fully discussed under the method of treatment for the particular 
 season. If it is at all possible to avoid it, a diseased colony should 
 never be treated in the same yard with colonies that are not diseased. 
 Wherever possible, the diseased colonies should be removed a mile or 
 more from the yard, given the proper treatment and then returned to the 
 yard. Whenever treating for disease one should give due consideration 
 to the location of other beekeepers in order that disease may not be 
 spread by robbing during the process of treatment. 
 
 SPRINGTIME TREATMENT 
 
 When it is desired to treat the bees as early in the spring as possible 
 and when more than one colony is diseased, it is possible to save the 
 brood of each colony excepting the last one treated by the following plan : 
 
 Pick out from among the diseased colonies the ones which are deemed 
 strong enough to stand the shock of treatment during the month of 
 May. Each of these colonies should be transferred into clean hives with 
 full sheets of foundation and the brood which they had should be 
 placed on one or more of the weaker diseased colonies. In the process 
 of transferring, the diseased colony is placed two feet or so to the back 
 or side of where it formerly stood. The hive into which it is desired 
 to transfer the bees is placed on the old stand. After placing a news- 
 paper in front of the hives to catch any honey that may drip, then 
 taking one frame at a time the bees should be brushed upon the paper 
 in front of the new hive. Care should be used to see that the queen 
 enters the new hive. After she is in, a queen-guard or queen and drone 
 trap should be placed on the entrance to prevent the swarm from ab- 
 sconding. After all the bees have been removed, the combs may be placed 
 on another diseased colony as said before. If only one colony is affected, 
 then the combs should be buried deeply or burned. In all of the 
 manipulations concerned with the handling of disease every precaution 
 must be used in order that no robbing may take place. If any robbing 
 occurs it is quite certain that each colony concerned in the robbing will 
 later become diseased. For this reason it is customary to treat dis- 
 eased bees late in the evening after the bees have quit flying. If it is 
 necessary to treat them in a yard where there are healthy colonies, then 
 the entrances to all of the adjacent healthy colonies should be closed 
 with a screen so that in the excitement and confusion incident to trans- 
 ferring if any of the bees from the diseased hive attempt to enter they 
 will be unable to do so. If it is impractical to move the bees from the 
 yard for treatment, then the hives should be moved a foot or more each 
 day until the diseased hives are as far as they can be placed in the yard 
 from other colonies. Many beekeepers who have treated disease from 
 year to year find it advisable to use a screened cage about six feet 
 
7 
 
 square and six feet high. They perform all of the work of transferring 
 within this cage. In this way it is impossible for robbers to enter or 
 for any of the bees of the colony to enter another hive. Whenever bees 
 are disturbed as in transferring they fill their honey sacs with honey. 
 In case it is a diseased colony the honey which they carry may transmit 
 disease to any colony which such bees may enter. It is, therefore, very 
 essential that all of the bees of a diseased colony be kept together. 
 Colonies which are strong enough to admit of treatment in the month 
 of May should build up and store a satisfactory amount of honey dur- 
 ing the following honey flow. 
 
 SUMMER TREATMENT 
 
 Weak colonies on which the brood was stacked from the colonies 
 treated in May, or other colonies which were too -weak for treatment 
 at that time should be treated during the first few days of the main 
 summer honey flow which in this State is either the raspberry or clover 
 flow. The same method of treatment should be followed as described 
 previously, excepting that in case some colonies are not strong enough 
 at that time to produce surplus honey, then, two or more colonies 
 should be united at the time of treatment. It is not advisable to handle 
 colonies in such a way that the surplus honey crop is entirely sacrificed. 
 If an increase in the number of colonies is desired, it can be made in 
 the latter part of the clover flow with but very slight sacrifice in the 
 honey crop. The brood from five or six treated colonies can be piled 
 upon one diseased colony and after three weeks when all of the brood 
 is hatched, then the remaining colony should be treated. Whether or 
 not all of the colonies are to be treated at the beginning of the main 
 honey flow is optional with the beekeeper. If they are all treated at 
 that time all frames containing brood must be burned or buried at 
 once. If some of the diseased colonies are still weak it is probably best 
 to pile the brood from those that are strong enough on them and ar- 
 range to treat three weeks later. However, when treatment is delayed 
 until three weeks after the beginning of the honey flow in some instances 
 not sufficient time is left for them to store honey enough for their needs. 
 In this case they will have to be fed later. 
 
 FALL TREATMENT 
 
 It occasionally happens that a colony which becomes infected in the 
 spring may not be discovered until after the clover honey crop has been 
 gathered. In general, it is not advisable to treat .bees when there is no 
 honey flow. The danger of robbing under such conditions is very much 
 greater and feeding must be resorted to in order to keep the colony alive. 
 Late cases of infection may be treated during the month of October 
 after brood rearing has practically ceased. The method of treatment 
 is the same as described before, excepting that the bees are transferred 
 into a hive without frames. They should be left in this hive for at least 
 48 hours. At that time the beekeeper should carefully remove the hive 
 body from the bottom board. A hive body full of combs of honey taken 
 from a healthy colony should be set in its place. Then the empty hive 
 
8 
 
 body with the bees should be set on top and jarred slightly. The bees 
 will then take possession of the combs and honey and the empty hive 
 body may be removed. 
 
 FEEDING IN CONNECTION WITH TREATMENT 
 
 When it is desirable to treat very early in the season it is occasionally 
 necessary to resort to feeding in order to get the foundation drawn 
 out and to get brood rearing under way as quickly as possible. Realiz- 
 ing that the bees carry with them a supply of honey which is sufficient 
 for their food for several days, it is not necessary to do any feeding un- 
 til from two to three days after treatment. It is very fortunate that 
 in the digesting of the disease carrying honey which the bees have in 
 their honey sacs at the time of treatment, all danger of disease is elimi- 
 nated. When bees are placed on foundation they very rapidly use up 
 the honey which they have with them in the secretion of wax for comb 
 building. For this reason it is not advisable in treating disease to 
 give the colony a set of drawn combs. When this is done they deposit, 
 the honey which they carry with them in the cells and part of it is fed 
 to the young larvae which they proceed to rear. Thus the disease which 
 was present in the old hive is continued in the new one. When it is 
 necessary to feed, the use of a Boardman entrance feeder or an Alex- 
 ander bottom board feeder is very convenient. If these are not at 
 hand a very efficient feeder can be made by punching a number of fine 
 holes in the lid of a friction top pail. This should be filled with syrup* 
 and inverted directly over the frames. The bees will then suck out the 
 syrup. 
 
 DISPOSAL OF WAX AND HONEY 
 
 Where only a small number of colonies are treated the best means of 
 disposal of the frames and honey is to burn or bury them. In cases 
 where a large yard is quite generally diseased it then becomes advisable 
 to save as much of the equipment as possible. After the brood has 
 been allowed to emerge as previously mentioned, then the hive bodies 
 of combs should be removed to a bee-tight building. There the honey 
 should be extracted at once. The honey may be used for making honey 
 vinegar. A bulletin on the subject of making honey vinegar can be 
 secured from the Department of Bacteriology, Michigan Agricultural 
 College, East Lansing, Michigan. It is not desirable to sell this honey 
 as it may be exposed by the purchasers in such a way that bees may 
 secure some of it and thus carry the disease to their own hives. 
 
 After extracting, unless a very cold cellar is available for storing the 
 combs, it is necessary to cut the combs out and melt them at once be- 
 cause of the danger of wax moths at that season. No one should ever 
 attempt to ship diseased combs to a foundation factory for rendering, 
 excepting during the months of December, January and February. 
 When combs are packed in a barrel and shipped, very often honey leaks 
 out upon the floors of the cars or in the freight houses and becomes 
 accessible to the bees of the vicinity. This practice is forbidden by law 
 in most States including Michigan. 
 
9 
 
 After disposing of the combs and honey the frames should be boiled 
 for not less than five minutes in a solution made from one can of con* 
 centrated lye to six gallons of water. Before placing the frames in this 
 solution the wax and propolis should be carefully removed. After boil- 
 ing, the frames should be thoroughly rinsed in a tub of clear, warm 
 water. The hive bodies, super covers and bottom boards, should be 
 thoroughly scraped to remove all particles of wax, honey and propolis. 
 /Then they should be gone over with a flame of a blow torch and the 
 surface scorched until no germs can remain alive. Ordinarily supers 
 and hive bodies are more easily sterilized by piling them up-side-down 
 as high as one can conveniently reach and burning a small handful of 
 straw or paper on the inside. Care must be exercised else the whole 
 pile of supers will be burned up. A hive cover should be convenient for 
 putting over the top to stop the blaze. 
 
 It must be realized that there is grave danger in the handling of dis- 
 eased material unless every precaution is taken to prevent robbing. 
 The extractor should be thoroughly scalded out after extracting dis- 
 eased honey. If possible the extractor should be taken to where it may 
 be turned up-side-down and a steam hose turned into it with consider- 
 able pressure for at least 15 minutes. If the wax is rendered, the slum- 
 gum and the water used in wax rendering should be buried after the 
 bees have quit flying in the evening. All vessels or tools which come in 
 contact with the disease must be thoroughly disinfected. If the above 
 directions are followed carefully much valuable material may be saved. 
 If not, Foul Brood will be scattered far and wide over the adjacent 
 territory. 
 
 METHODS OF SPREAD 
 
 American Foul Brood is commonly spread through carelessness on 
 the part of someone. If carelessness on the part of beekeepers could be 
 eliminated the problem of controlling Foul Brood would be very much 
 simplified. Weak diseased colonies may be robbed out because the en- 
 trances have not been contracted to a point where they can defend them- 
 selves. Dead diseased colonies are robbed out because the beekeeper 
 carelessly leaves such colonies exposed in the bee-yard. It is a bee- 
 keeper’s business to know whether any colonies are dead or weak, and 
 it is his business to take care of them so that they may not be a menace 
 to the neighboring beekeepers. The careless exposure of disease carry- 
 ing honey and the like is criminal and the offender should be punished 
 by nothing less than confinement in the county jail. Often honey houses 
 and other places where diseased honey and combs are stored have cracks 
 in the doors or windows or the siding does not fit properly and what- 
 ever is contained therein is exposed to all of the bees in the territory. 
 Often hives in which the colonies have died from disease are sold either 
 through ignorance of the seller, or as has been amply demonstrated, 
 because his sense of right and justice has never been properly developed. 
 A careful survey of conditions in Wisconsin showed that a large part of 
 the spread of foul brood was directly traceable to the selling or moving 
 of diseased hives or equipment. The feeding of honey, a part of which 
 was extracted from a diseased colony, causes an outbreak of disease 
 wherever such honey is fed. Therefore, this department never advises 
 
10 
 
 the feeding of honey. It is not always possible to know whether or not 
 some of it may have come from a diseased hive even though no disease 
 is known to be in the bee-yard. Some of the honey in the yard may have 
 been stored from honey robbed from a diseased colony in the neighbor- 
 hood. 
 
 BEE YARD SANITATION 
 
 The bee-yard practice must be such as to prevent robbing. 
 
 Frames of honey should not be taken from one colony and given as 
 food to another colony. 
 
 A diseased colony should never be opened when there is the slightest 
 danger of robbing. 
 
 Diseased colonies should be removed from the yard as soon as dis- 
 covered and treated before returning them. 
 
 Carelessness, ignorance and malice are at the bottom of most of the 
 spread of disease. 
 
 Do not use equipment from an unknown source without seeing to 
 it that it can not carry disease. 
 
 When a colony shows disease every frame connected with that colony 
 must be destroyed. (Some have erroneously judged that those frames 
 which do not have dead larvae in them are suitable for further use. 
 
 In purchasing bees buy them in combless packages, not on drawn 
 combs, unless there has been no disease among the bees for at least one 
 year. The selling of diseased bees has contributed largely to the spread 
 of disease in Michigan. 
 
 Every super and every frame should be numbered to correspond with 
 the hive on which it belongs and should be used there and nowhere else. 
 If this suggestion is followed, extracted honey producers will find that 
 foul brood is just as easy to control in their yards as in the yards of 
 comb honey producers. 
 
 Apiary inspection which was formerly administered from the Agri- 
 cultural College is now a part of the State Department of Agriculture. 
 All of the employes are giving their time to the work throughout the 
 year. With this new arrangement more effective wrnrk will be possible 
 and a greater service will be given to the beekeepers of the State. The 
 Bureau of Apiary Inspection of the Department of Agriculture, Lansing, 
 Michigan, will be very glad to correspond with you and help you in every 
 way possible in the control of bee diseases. 
 
 LAWS RELATIVE TO FOUL BROOD 
 
 Section 4. If the owner, possessor, agent or lessee of an apiary, honey 
 or appliances, wherein disease is known to the owner, possessor, agent 
 or lessee to exist, shall sell, barter or give away or remove from the 
 premises, without the consent of the inspector, any bees from diseased 
 colonies, be they queens, drones, or workers, honey or appliances, or 
 expose other bees to the danger of such disease, said owner shall, on con- 
 viction thereof be punished by a fine of not less than ten dollars or more 
 
11 
 
 than fifty dollars and costs of prosecution : Provided, That bees may 
 
 be shipped without honey or feed containing honey, also provided that 
 honey may be sold in tight containers for commercial purposes, other 
 than with bees or as food for bees. 
 
 Section 9. It shall be the duty of any one keeping bees in the State 
 of Michigan, to deeply bury combs and frames taken from diseased 
 colonies, in places where they shall remain undisturbed, unless they be 
 placed in tight receptacles so constructed that it shall be impossible 
 for bees to gain access to combs, or for honey or any other liquid to 
 leak out where bees can gain access to it. Anyone knowingly exposing 
 comb, honey, frames, quilts, empty hives, covers or bottomboards, or 
 tools or other appliances contaminated by infected material from the 
 same, from diseased colonies, shall on conviction thereof, be punished 
 by a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars, nor more than fifty dol- 
 lars : Provided, That the wax may be rendered in such places or at 
 
 such time that no bees will be able to gain access to the comb before it 
 is thoroughly heated, or at any time to the liquids expressed in the pro- 
 cess of rendering. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS — URBANA 
 
 N301 121 18459442A 
 

 S and 
 
 WVfSSlT) 
 
 J UL 31 
 
 '•'vv 
 
 ^ f A . ^ 
 
 <9 i /?£ers 
 
 on succcsswl damme. 
 
 REQUEENING THE APIARY 
 
 BY 
 
 P. T. ULMAN 
 Apiary Inspection 
 
 BULLETIN No. 3 
 January 30th, 1922 
 
Requeening the Apiary. 
 
 Michigan has many localities where European foul brood is securing a 
 stronghold and is discouraging the beekeepers of those sections. 
 
 The Apiary Division of the Department of Agriculture considers European 
 foul brood the problem of the individual beekeeper and not one for the in- 
 spector, except as he may be able to give information for its control, yet the 
 „ control of this disease is so closely associated with pure Italian bees and young 
 queens that it was deemed advisable to write this circular. 
 
 The purpose of this article is to enable the beekeeper to rear his own queens, 
 and is not intended to supply the information necessary to rear queens on a 
 large commercial scale. 
 
 Many beekeepers are being disappointed in queens purchased from com- 
 mercial breeders This dissatisfaction is not because the queen breeders 
 are shipping inferior queens, but because queens shipped through the mail 
 in the regular cages, or even in pound packages seem to have lost much of 
 their .vitality and, consequently, have a greatly reduced period of egg laying. 
 Just why the shipping of queens seem to reduce the vitality and to shorten 
 their life in many cases is not known. The beekeepers have experienced 
 this for many years and in many instances the queen breeder has been unjustly 
 accused of shipping inferior queens. 
 
 The preceding statement is not intended to convey the impression that 
 queens should never be purchased. It is essential that the beekeeper has 
 a good strain of Italian bees before attempting to rear his own queens. The 
 comparative freedom from stings, saying nothing about the other good 
 qualities, will more than repay for Italianizing the apiary. It is also advisable 
 to introduce new blood into the yard from time to time so that the stock 
 will be kept pure and there is always the possibility that superior honey 
 gatherers may be introduced. 
 
 A black or hybrid queen is expensive to maintain in the bee yard. A 
 colony headed by a black or hybrid queen usually has a very poor disposition 
 and such a colony suffers from lack of proper manipulation. Black bees 
 should never be allowed in a bee yard located within a town or city limits. 
 Opposition to the keeping of bees in town would be much less frequent if 
 all such colonies were Italian bees. 
 
 Selecting the Breeder. 
 
 Instead of a haphazard selection of the colony to be used for breeding 
 purposes, there are several points that should be taken into consideration. 
 Every beekeeper knows that some colonies have many good qualities that are 
 lacking in others. It is the good qualities that the beekeeper should have 
 predominant in his apiary. 
 
 There are six principal points that should be considered in selecting the 
 breeder. 
 
 1. None-swarming. There is a great difference in colonies in their ten- 
 dency to swarm. Choose one in which the swarming instinct is not predom- 
 
4 
 
 inant. Non-swarming should be given only secondary consideration but 
 should not be forgotten altogether. 
 
 2. Gentleness. In many respects this is of minor importance. Do not 
 breed for gentleness at the expense of the more important qualities. It is 
 a desirable trait in a colony and makes work with the bees much more pleasant. 
 Many beekeepers would take better care of their colonies if it were not for 
 the stings of their cross bees. 
 
 3. Color. Do not breed for color alone. Color is, however, the only means 
 of determining the purity of the strain. There are three kinds of Italian 
 bees: namely, three banded, goldens, and leather colored. 
 
 The three banded Italians are considered by the majority of beekeepers 
 as the best. This type of bee should have three prominent yellow bands 
 commencing with the segment of the abdomen where it is attached to the 
 thorax. The yellow bands produced by the fine hair of very young bees 
 should not be taken into consideration. 
 
 Golden Italians have four or five yellow bands on the abdomen. It is 
 very seldom that an all yellow bee is found. When the bee emerges it appears 
 as an all yellow bee, but soon after starting its short and strenuous life, the 
 fine hairs wear away and the black markings can be plainly seen. 
 
 The leather colored Italians have but two prominent yellow bands and 
 therefore appear a little darker than the three banded. The third band will 
 show, if the bees are full of honey, when placed on a window so that the ’light 
 can shine through the abdomen. The leather colored Italian is typical of 
 the native bees in Italy. 
 
 4. Drone Selection. Do not allow a miscellaneous assortment of drones 
 in the yard. Eliminate the undesirable drones as far as possible and give 
 the good colonies plenty of drone comb. The drone rearing colonies should 
 
 ' be selected for the same qualities that the beekeeper has in mind when selecting 
 his breeding queen. 
 
 5. Resistance to European Foul Brood. This is of first importance to bee- 
 keepers located in European Foul Brood territory and should not be over- 
 looked by beekeepers who have never had the disease in their yard’s. It 
 may be introduced into disease-free territory. Italian bees are the only bees 
 that are practical for cleaning up European Foul Brood. 
 
 6. Honey Gathering Qualities. To commercial beekeepers this quality 
 is absolutely essential. Without surplus gathering bees, they cannot stay 
 in the business. The breeding colony should be one of the best surplus pro- 
 ducing colonies in the apiary. 
 
 Method of Rearing Queens. 
 
 Under methods of rearing queens only two of the most extensively used 
 will be discussed. A discussion of the many processes being used with suc- 
 cess has a tendency to confuse the beginner. The beekeeper having succeeded 
 with one of the following methods may later modify it to suit his individual 
 conditions. 
 
 Cell Building Colonies. 
 
 In producing queens it is important to give attention to the colony that 
 will draw the cells. There is a great difference in the manner in which 
 colonies will draw out queen cells and feed the larvae. Some hives are very 
 saving with the royal jelly placed in the queen cells, often not giving enough 
 
5 
 
 food for the proper development of the queens. Others supply the larvae in 
 great abundance with this rich, precious food, a surplus often being found 
 in the base of the cells after the queens have emerged. 
 
 Fig. 1. Dr. C. C. Miller method of fastening foundation in frame. 
 
 Queen larvae, with an abundance of food, develop into the best queens. 
 For a cell building colony, select one that is not miserly with its royal jelly. 
 This can be determined by observing the natural built queen cells. The 
 beekeeper will have to resort to artificial means if there are no natural built 
 cells. This is done by placing artificial cells in several colonies and testing 
 them out. 
 
 It is not advisable to use natural cells built by queenless colonies. Queen- 
 less colonies, in their great haste to overcome this handicap, start feeding royal 
 jelly to some larvae too old to develop into good queens. The old larvae, 
 when fed royal jelly, develop into queens of inferior quality and never 
 produce the colonies that queens developed from very young larvae produce. 
 
 Many beekeepers plan on requeening by killing the old queen and allowing 
 the bees to rear a queen from the brood in the hive. This is not considered a 
 good practice by many and the writer has never found it satisfactory in his 
 own yard. In this method the old queen is generally killed near the beginning 
 of the honey flow. 
 
 Dr. C. C. Miller’s Method. 
 
 Fasten triangular or rectangular strips (fig. I) of foundation to the top bar 
 of an ordinary Hoffman frame. Place this prepared frame in the center of 
 the brood nest of the colony selected as a breeder. As soon as the foundation 
 has been drawn out and eggs deposited in the cells, usually in three to five days, 
 remove the frame and with a sharp knife cut the edge of the comb back to the 
 cells with eggs in them. Place this frame in a cell building colony which has 
 been previously made queenless. (The queen may be saved by placing her 
 in a cage in another hive or she may be introduced to a nucleus). The 
 Miller frame may be placed above the excluder of a queen-right colony as 
 
6 
 
 described under the Doolittle method, (Page 8). If the frame is introduced 
 to the cell building colony within a day or two after being made queenless, 
 the original brood combs must be examined on the sixth day after being made 
 queenless. All queen cells started by the bees should be removed. If the 
 colony is made queenless ten days prior to the time the Miller frame is to be 
 put in, an examination of the colony should be made on the sixth and tenth 
 days after being made queenless and all queen cells cut out. If this is done 
 carefully there is no further danger from a queen emerging prematurely, 
 there being only eggs or very young larvae in the cells of the Miller frame. 
 
 On the tenth day after placing the Miller frame in the cell building colony, 
 the queen cells will all be capped. Remove the cells by carefully cutting 
 the comb far enough back of the bases of the cells to prevent injury, and in- 
 troduce them into the colonies to be requeened or into mating nuclei. 
 
 Doolittle Method. 
 
 The Doolittle method of queen rearing or modifications of it is the most 
 popular system in use, especially by commercial queen breeders. 
 
 Fig. 2. Queen rearing equipment. A. royal jelly spoon; B, grafting spoon or transferring needle; C, 
 Miller queen cage; EE, nursery cages and nursery cage frame; F, wax cell cups; G, wooden cell cups. 
 
 Equipment. In this system there is a small amount of equipment with 
 which the beekeeper must supply himself. It may be made .by the beekeeper 
 himself. However, most people find that it pays to purchase at least some of 
 the articles from a bee supply house. The equipment needed is listed below, 
 see cut, (Fig. 2). 
 
7 
 
 Wooden cell cups. 
 
 Wax cell cups. 
 
 Cell cup stick. (Fig. 3). 
 
 Grafting spoon — for transferring larvae from comb to cell cups. 
 
 Royal jelly spoon — for lifting royal jelly from discarded queen cells and 
 depositing in container. 
 
 Cell bar frame. (Fig. 3). 
 
 Royal jelly — obtained from queen cells that are cut out and destroyed 
 and the royal kelly kept in a small stone jar with screw top lid; viz: 
 cold cream jar. During the season there are queen cells started in 
 many colonies that are removed in the usual swarm control methods. 
 There are occasionally artificial cells that become damaged and it is 
 from these cells that the beekeeper should depend on his supply of royal 
 jelly. Royal jelly can be kept in a tight container for months. The 
 royal jelly may be thinned with a small amount of saliva or warm water 
 if it becomes too thick. 
 
 Starting the Cells. 
 
 Insert the wax cell cups in the wooden cups by means of the wet cell cup 
 stick. The end of this stick should be. just the size and shape of the inside 
 
 CLr 
 
 4 
 
 m 
 
 Fig. 3. A, cell bar frame; B, cell forming stick, showing method of fastening wax cup to wooden cup* 
 
 of the wax cup so that the base of the wax cup can be pressed firmly against 
 the base of the wooden cup. 
 
 Before the cell cups are placed on the cell bar, the frame should be placed 
 in the brood nest and the bees allowed to draw out the foundation in the upper 
 half. After that is done the frame is taken out and the cell cups fastened 
 on the center bar (Fig. 3) by the pins in the base of the wooden cups. If 
 
8 
 
 there are no pins in the wooden cups they can be fastened on very securely 
 by placing a thin layer of wax on the bases of the cups and pressing them firmly 
 on the bar. From ten to fifteen cups are generally used on one bar. 
 
 A small amount of royal jelly (amount used equal to about one-half the 
 size of a small pea) is placed in the base of the wax cup. If the royal jelly 
 is scarce a much smaller amount will serve the purpose. A frame with larvae 
 not over three days old, preferably about thirty-six hours old, is then removed 
 from the colony selected for a breeder. For the beekeeper with normal eye- 
 sight, larvae that can be just readily seen with the naked eye are of the right 
 age. Transferring the larvae is done with the grafting spoon. The spoon is 
 carefully slipped under the minute larvae, being careful not to bruise them, 
 and then lifted out and slipped off of the spoon on the royal jelly in the wax 
 cell cup. This work should always be done on a bright day and with a tem- 
 perature of not less than 80 degrees F. 
 
 Having grafted all of the cells, the frame is ready to be placed in the hive. 
 Many beekeepers use a queenless colony to get the cells accepted and started. 
 However, the general practice is to raise the brood (both young and emerging). 
 All the brood is taken from the brood chamber with the exception of one 
 frame left below with the queen. The brood combs are replaced with empty 
 combs for the queen to lay in. This brood is placed above the excluder, on 
 the same colony and the frame of grafted cells placed in the center of the 
 brood. Many beekeepers believe that better results are secured if one or 
 two extracting supers are placed between the excluder and the cell building 
 chamber. Sugar syrup should be poured over the frames so that the bees 
 will start work more readily on the cells. A small garden sprinkling can is 
 good for this feeding. The cells will be drawn out and capped in this chamber 
 because everything above an excluder is queenless as far as the bees are con- 
 cerned in cell building. 
 
 Where young brood is raised above an excluder great care must be taken 
 in finding and cutting out the queen cells started on the combs. A queen 
 cell started from an old larvae will hatch before the artificial cells are ready to be 
 removed and such a queen will destroy all of the developing queen cells. 
 
 Fig. 4. Capped queen cells ready to be removed from the cell bar. (Courtesy Michigan Agricultural 
 
 College). 
 
9 
 
 Ten days after the grafted cells are placed in the cell building colony they 
 should be capped and ready to emerge in another day or two (Fig. 4). Do 
 not let the cells remain in the colony longer than the tenth day. To do so 
 would probably destroy all of the cells. If one queen emerges she will do 
 her best to see that the remaining cells are destroyed. Do not trust to 
 memory for the date that the cell bar was grafted, but write it down some 
 place where it can be found. 
 
 The cell building chamber can be used indefinitely by raising two or three 
 frames of emerging brood every week. The raising of the emerging brood 
 provides a constant supply of nurse bees to care for the queen cells. 
 
 Time to Rear Queens. 
 
 The commercial queen breeder cannot select the most desirable time to 
 rear queens, but must use artificial means to secure results. The beekeeper 
 rearing queens for his own use can usually wait until conditions are suitable 
 for the work. To secure the best results the air temperature. should range 
 from warm to hot and there should be nectar coming in. It is not necessary 
 to have a heavy flow, a light steady flow will serve the purpose. If the flow 
 should stop the colonies that are drawing cells must be fed with a thin sugar 
 syrup. 
 
 If there are queenless colonies early in the spring, cfo not attempt to rear 
 queen cells but order a queen from some Southern breeder. Good queens 
 cannot generally be reared in the early spring months in Michigan because 
 of the low temperature. Commercial breeders in this State do not plan on 
 filling orders for queens before May 15 to June 1. 
 
 Caring for the Capped Queen Cells. 
 
 Queen cells should always be handled with the greatest of care. A queen 
 cell handled roughly — turning them up-side-down, bruising, dropping, 
 chilling — will often result in killing the pupa or in the emerging of an imper- 
 fect queen. 
 
 Mating Nuclei. 
 
 The capped cells having been removed from the cell bar, they may be 
 introduced directly into the colonies to be requeened, or the cells may be 
 introduced to mating nuclei. 
 
 There are a number of different stjdes of mating nuclei hives being used 
 and the majority of them require special equipment. 
 
 The most economical method of making mating nuclei equipment is to use 
 eight or ten frame hives. The hives are divided into bee tight compartments, 
 each compartment holding two Hoffman frames. The entrances are so 
 arranged that no two are on the same side of the hive. The top of each 
 nucleus is covered with a piece of oilcloth. Great care must be taken to make 
 the partitions between the compartments absolutely bee tight. 
 
 The formation of the mating nuclei is a simple matter when the standard 
 eight or ten frame hive is used. One frame of emerging brood and adhering 
 bees, and one frame of honey and pollen is placed in each compartment. 
 The entrance to each newly formed nucleus should be closed with grass. 
 Twenty-four hours later the grass should be removed and the cells or virgin 
 queens may be given to the newly formed nuclei. 
 
10 
 
 The mating queen should not be allowed to remain indefinitely in the 
 mating nucleus as she will soon fill the empty cells with brood and swarm out. 
 
 Nursery Cages. 
 
 Some beekeepers prefer placing the capped cells in nursery cages. When 
 the nursery cage is used the cages are placed in a specially constructed frame, 
 (Fig. 2). This frame is then placed in the brood nest where the proper incu- 
 bation temperature is maintained and there the queens emerge. The virgin 
 queens are fed through the wire screen by the nurse bees. The virgin queens 
 should be removed from the nursery cages and introduced within a day or 
 two after emerging. The majority of queen breeders and beekeepers prefer 
 to introduce the queen cells direct. 
 
 If the beginner is not successful in getting the first cell bar accepted, try 
 again within a few days. Quite often the second or third bar of cells is more 
 readily accepted than the first. 
 
 To the beginner, the rearing of queens presents many intricate problems 
 but by careful study and giving strict attention to the small details the novice 
 should readily overcome them. 
 
 To any beekeeper who desires to go into queen rearing extensively, the 
 writer would suggest that one or more of the books on queen rearing be 
 secured and studied diligently. 
 
 Following is a list of some of the available books on queen rearing. 
 Practical Queen Rearing — Pellet. 
 
 Scientific Queen Rearing — Doolittle. 
 
 A. B. C. & X. Y. Z. of Bee Keeping — A. I. and E. R. Root 
 Modern Queen Rearing — M. T. Pritchard. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLIN0I8-URBANA 
 
 N301 121 18459442A 
 
on successful damme. 
 
 EUROPEAN FOUL BROOD 
 
 BY 
 
 B. F. KINDIG, 
 
 Director Apiary Inspection 
 
 BULLETIN No. 5 
 May 1, 1922 
 
EUROPEAN FOUL BROOD 
 
 European Foul Brood is a bacterial disease which causes the death 
 of the larvae of workers, queens, and drones. It attacks them normally 
 when they are about three days old and usually kills them before the 
 cells are capped. The disease is quite variable in its severity; in some 
 cases most of the uncapped larvae are affected while in other colonies 
 or under different conditions of season or honey flow, but very" few lar 
 vae may be attacked. 
 
 DISTRIBUTION 
 
 European Foul Brood is found in nearly every county in the central, 
 southern, and western part of the Lower Peninsula. Several years ago 
 Dr. E. F. Phillips of the Bureau of Entomology, United States Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture, called the attention of the writer to what seemed 
 to be a striking coincidence, in that European Foul Brood seemed to 
 be particularly virulent on the poorer types of soil. The truth of this 
 statement seems to be well borne out in the distribution of the disease 
 in the various counties. While the disease is frequently met with on 
 the heavier types of soil, yet it appears as a serious menace largely on 
 the lighter soils where there is but little incoming nectar during the 
 spring and early summer months. There are many counties in the 
 State from which the disease has not been reported. This should not 
 be construed to mean that such territories are immune from the malady. 
 On the contrary, it seems to be purely an accident that this trouble has 
 not appeared in many of these counties. 
 
 PREDISPOSING CONDITIONS 
 
 As' noted above, areas in which there are but few nectar secreting 
 flowers during the early part of the season seemed to be favorable for the 
 development of the disease. As Italian bees are essential for the control 
 of this disease, it therefore follows that in those communities where the 
 black bees predominate European Foul Brood is particularly serious. 
 It has also been noted that the poor wintering of bees is exceedingly 
 favorable to rapid progress of the disease. Those colonies are particu- 
 larly susceptible which are weak in numbers and slow to build up either 
 because of insufficient strength or because of the presence of a failing 
 queen. 
 
 STRENGTH OF COLONY IN RELATION TO DISEASE 
 
 Strong colonies of bees attempt to eradicate the disease from the 
 hive by carrying out the dead larvae. This reminds one of the reaction 
 of a strong colony to the presence of wax moths. Weak colonies seem 
 to make but little effort to clean out the diseased larvae as they appear. 
 The carrying out of the dead larvae seems to be an important factor in 
 retarding the spread of the disease within the colony. Nurse bees have 
 
often been observed sucking the juices from the bodies of the dead lar- 
 vae. Doubtless the nurse bees, because of their contamination with the 
 bacteria, form the principal agency in the dissemination in the hive. 
 
 Very little is definitely known regarding the spread of the disease 
 from hive to hive or from one apiary to another. It has been definitely 
 shown, however, that the disease can be transferred by the agency of 
 the honey taken from the diseased colonies. 
 
 DIAGNOSIS 
 
 The larvae are first affected by European Foul Brood while they are 
 curled up in the backs of the cells adjacent to the midrib of the comb. 
 Frequently the larvae seem to move about slightly before death and 
 ead larvae change in color from pearly white to gray or yellow and if 
 term it ted to remain in the cells they may become a yellowish brown or 
 town in color. The larvae do not adhere tightly to the cell walls. In 
 udous cases there is usually a decided odor. There is but slight ropi- 
 ness, if any a,t all. Queen, worker, and drone larvae seem to be equally 
 susceptible to the disease. * 
 
 In case of any doubt in diagnosis of disease, write to the Director 
 of Apiary Inspection, Department of Agriculture, Lansing, Michigan 
 asking for a box in which to mail a sample of the diseased comb. The 
 comb should not be wrapped in waxed .paper nor mailed in tin con- 
 tainers. 
 
 TREATMENT 
 
 During the past ten years the methods of treatment for European 
 Foul Brood have been changed quite radically. The transferring of the 
 bees from the diseased hive is no longer advocated. 
 
 E. W. Alexander of New York and Dr. C. 0. Miller of Illinois, dem- 
 onstrated conclusively that the destruction of combs and the loss of 
 brood were unnecessary in treating this disease. Dr. E. F. Phillips has 
 summed up the whole matter of preventive measures : “The practices 
 
 of good beekeeping are those which result in the eradication of Euro- 
 pean Foul Brood.” * 
 
 Every beekeeper should look forward to the possibility of European 
 Foul Brood becoming epidemic in his apiary. Preventive measures are 
 therefore indicated rather than awaiting the coming of the disease and 
 then attempting to remedy the situation. The following points are 
 particularly important in this connection : Young queehs, an abund- 
 ance of food, suitable winter protection, Italian blood, and strong 
 colonies. 
 
 In combating the disease after it has appeared, the queens of the 
 diseased colonies should be killed and Italian queens of known resist- 
 ance should be introduced as soon as the bees have had an opportunity 
 to free the combs from all dead larvae. The length of time required 
 for removing the dead larvae depends upon the race of bees and strength 
 of the colonies as well as the amount of infection present. If colonies 
 are weak, it is frequently desirable to unite two or more colonies. The 
 uniting of two weak discouraged diseased colonies frequently results in 
 
 ♦'Farmers’ 'Bulletin 975, “The 'Control of European Foul Brood” by Dr. E. F. Phillips. 
 
4 
 
 a complete change of morale and a quick cleaning up of the diseased 
 material. 
 
 In those apiaries where most colonies are headed with resistant 
 stock, it is unnecessary to send away for queens. Ripe queen cells 
 from the best queens may be introduced into the colonies at the time 
 the old queens are killed or a few days later depending upon the se- 
 verity of the disease. If the cells are introducd some time after the 
 removal of the queens, then a careful examination of the combs must 
 be fmade and all queen cells removed before introducing the ripe cells. 
 Negligence in this matter may result in a hopelessly queenless colony due 
 to the destruction by the bees of the celt introduced and by the blasting 
 of the cells reared by the colony because of the disease present. 
 
 In connection with the treatment for disease, beekeepers frequently 
 find it advantageous to feed a thin syrup at frequent intervals. After 
 requeening all diseased colonies the beekeeper should keep very close 
 watch of the performance of the various queens. He should begin rear 
 ing young queens from those queens which seem to produce colonies mq 
 resistant to the disease. The beekeeper should not deoend entirely 
 upon purchasing queens from regular queen breeders. He should lear 
 to rear liis own queens from those which he knows are fully capable 
 of carrying their colonies through the season without a severe outbreak 
 of disease. The vigor of a queen seems to be impaired by shipping 
 through the mail. Vigor is of exceeding importance in queens in 
 apiaries where disease is present. The beekeeper should therefore exert 
 all possible effort to the end that he may produce all of his own queens. 
 A bulletin on the rearing of queens is available for distribution by ad- 
 dressing the Department of Agriculture, Lansing, Michigan. 
 
 ir- 
 
 jy 
 
 •iy V 
 
 )le 
 
 MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
 LANSING, MICHIGAN 
 
 European foul brood is the cause of a tremendous economic loss to 
 Michigan because often the disease so weakens the colonies that they 
 are unable to store a surplus of honey. In this circular, it is the desire 
 to bring to the attention of beekeepers of Michigan these practices which 
 will reduce the loss of brood in the spring time and result in the gather- 
 ing of a much greater crop. JOHN A. DOELLE, 
 
 Commissioner. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILUNOIS-URBANA 
 
 N301 121 18459442A