Hello Dee,
Listen and learn as I speak the truth. Most of those beekeepers  which were
involved are dead now.

Dee asks:
When did  this AFB start?

After the depression I have been told by many large beekeepers which went
through the problem.

Dee asks:
Tens of thousands of hives burning and beekeepers hiding hives?

Across the U.S. AFB was spreading in many areas (possibly not in Arizona)
and the only allowed cure was burning. According to those which lived
through the problem (and told their stories to me in person) every time the
bee inspector came hives had to be burned it seemed. The hives were the
beekeepers in many cases only way of making a living.

The law was that burning was the only method (like in the U.K. I believe
today).

A hatred for bee inspectors came about. When I got my first bees in Florida
bee inspectors were still not popular.

Bee inspectors were under pressure to get a handle on American Foulbrood by
the USDA. . Heated arguments happened between the bee inspection service and
beekeepers (commercial & sideline) over the number of hive needing burned
and  even fistfights in Florida between *Florida Crackers* ( Florida slang
for several generation Florida natives) and bee inspectors.

Many beekeepers said to let AFB kill off the susceptable brood nests and
they would breed a strain of bees from the survivors (sound familiar?).
Often only a ploy to prevent the inspection service from burning hives.

New inspectors which had little experience were hired to help with the
problem. Causing problems with lifetime experienced commercial beekeepers
over hives chosen to be burned. No bee inspector was allowed to wear gloves
while doing inspections to keep from spreading AFB. Ever wonder where that
rule came from? Now you know!

I talked to a bee inspector later of the period and he said the disrespect
he got from beekeepers was almost unbearable.

Beekeepers begain to set up remote apiaries and try to control AFB without
help from the inspection service ( trying many methods which were not
allowed.)

And even the old Quinby and escape methods wrote about in the old turn of
the century bee books. We know now those methods were doomed to falure most
of the time because the bees carried the AFb spores in honey with them into
the new hive.


Dee said:
Sulfa you say in 1944! But I thought Terramycin is used to
control foul brood.

Come on Dee you are exposing an incomplete area in your beekeeping
knowledge.

You always quote from Roy Grout so will direct you to reading from the 1946
"Hive and the Honey Bee" by Roy Grout.(page 271 )

Sulfa was used first to save an industry and teramycin came later after
sulfa contamination was found in honey.

If you have got acess to these articles you can follow the history.

Discovered the method:
Haseman, L. and L. F. Childers (1944).
"Controlling American Foulbrood with sulfa drugs"
Mo. Agr. Expt. station  bult.

The great beekeeping pioneer G.H. Cale wrote an article about the Haseman
and Childers discovery for the American Bee journal 86(11):464.

Prior to the Haseman and Childers discovery only the Quinby and escape
methods had been tried but we know now both had a less than 50% change of
success due to the fact the bees could be taking AFB spores with them in
honey.

If you note Dee there is  zero mention of terramycin in the 1946 Hive and
the Honey Bee.  Also in going through my collection the 1946 book is also
the first to mention sulfa for AFB prevention and possible control.

Use of sulfa was NEVER registered in the U.S. but was sold at most be supply
houses at the time.

Terramycin was later approved as the industry needed a safer drug to use.

Bob Harrison then wrote:
Burning alone will not control AFB when *out of control*
*UNLESS* you burn all colonies.

Reply:
Don't believe this either! Dr Jaycox used to take foul
brood combs to bee meetings and show around.

Dr. Elbert R. Jaycox  is a favorite of mine. I have got all three of his
books and believe they will be collectors items fifty years from now. I
believe you can still purchase all three from bee supply houses with a
little checking. Will post Jaycoxs changing posistion on AFB in another post
as this one is getting long and I have spent a great deal of time (which I
should be spending  in the honey house extracting today)   and long posts no
matter how interesting get deleted by those with lives in the fastlane!

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
Odessa, Missouri
beekeeper

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