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Be sure to remove out of the way of the bees, and disinfect or burn, everything used during the operations of treatment; and a solution of izal should be kept for disinfecting the hands, knives, &c., after handling an infected colony. Directions are given on the bottles, and the solution will not harm the skin.

Young Queens.

There can be little doubt that bees from young vigorous queens can better cope with disease than those bred from aged and weak mothers. It is therefore advisable to change the queens at the time of or shortly after treatment if those in the affected hives are not up to the mark; in any case it is profitable to do so if young queens can be obtained.

Summmary.

The following interesting items bearing upon foul-brood are taken from the ‘‘Summary’’ of the author of ‘‘The Bacteria of the Apiary” :—

1. There are a number of diseased conditions which affect the apiary.

2. The disease which seems to cause the most rapid loss to the apiarist is European*(?) foul-brood, in which is found Bacillus alvei—first isolated, studied, and named by Cheshire and Cheyne in 1885.

3. The distribution of Bacillus alvei in the affected hive is as follows :—

(a.) The greatest number of infecting germs are found in the bodies of dead larvæ.

(b.) The pollen stored in the cells of the foul-brood combs contains many of these infecting organisms.

(c.) The honey stored in brood-combs infected with this disease has been found to contain a few bacilli of this species.

(d.) The surface of combs, frames, and hives may be contaminated.

(e.) The wings, head, legs, thorax, abdomen, and intestinal contents of adult bees were found contaminated with Bacillus alvei.

(f.) Bacillus alvei may appear in cultures made from the ovary of queens from European(?) foul-brood colonies, but the presence of this species suggests contamination from the body of queen while cultures are being made, and has no special significance.

OTHER DISEASES.

The following description of symptoms of other diseases than foul-brood: is taken partly from ‘‘The Bacteria of the Apiary,’’ published in 1906 by the United States Department of Agriculture, and partly from ‘‘The Brood Diseases of Bees,’’ by Dr. E. F. Phillips, of the same Department :—

• I have queried this word, because there is a good deal of doubt at present as to the correctness of differentiating the disease common in Europe from that found in America.—I.H.