664 Journal of Agriailiiire . [8 Xov, , J 907. 



utensils are thoroughly scrubbed with boiling water and soda, and placed 

 out in the sunshine on a rack made for that purpose, thereby keeping 

 them sweet and free from germ life. 



The Poultry. 



Upwards of 100 fowls are kept, comprising Brown Leghorns, Buff 

 Orpingtons, Langshans, and until recently 20 ducks. The owner goes to 

 no end of trouble to keep his stock clean and free from vermm. The brick 

 fowl house, which is limewashed at intervals, is cleaned out daily, thickly 

 dusted with wood siftings, and is a treat to look at. The roosts are 

 scorched twice a week by running lighted })aper along them, and the brick 

 f]oor washed out at intervals and sprayed with phenyle. The returns for 

 twelve months from eggs and young stock sold amounted to jQii 3s. 3d. 



The Orchard. 



The orchard contains a nice lot of profitable fruit trees, well pruned 

 and cared for. Last season the produce sold amounted to 8 cases 

 Japanese plums, i case walnuts, 2 cases apples, 2 case.s' pears, 7 dozen 

 oranges, 3 dozen lemons, 3 cases quinces, and i case damsons, the total 

 value being ^,^3 2s. 6d., irrespective of what was used for household 

 requirements. 



FOUL BROOD OF BEES. 



R. Bcuhne, President, Victorian Apiarists' Association. 



Foul brood is, as the words indicate, a disease of the brood or larva^ 

 cf bees, although to some extent the adult bees, under certain conditions, 

 are also affected. The destruction of colonies of bees is usually brought 

 about bv the failure of the brood to survive the chrysalis stage in suflficient 

 numbers to replace the adult worker bees dying a natural death, and thus a 

 colony affected with foul brood dwindles away more or less rapidly accord- 

 ing to the greater or lesser virulence of the disease affecting the larvae. 



To describe the appearance of brood affected with this disease, so as to 

 enable any one not well acquainted with bees and their habits to detect it, 

 it is necessary to first describe the appearance of healthy brood. If a 

 brood comb is examined there will be found cells with eggs in them, and 

 others containing grubs of all ages from the newly hatched larvge of the 

 size and shape of the small " c " of ordinary print to the large grub com- 

 pletely filling the lower part of the cell. There are also cells, covered 

 over with a cap, which contain brood in all stages from the full grown 

 grub to the young bee readv to gnaw its way out and emerge from the 

 cell. If the brood is healthy the grubs have a pearly white appearance 

 with a glossy and tight-looking skin, and the cappings of the covered cells 

 are the shape of a watch glass or at least straight. 



When foul brood is present some of the grubs will be yellowish in 

 colour, flabby looking and not curled up so much, while the cappings will 

 be flat or sunken and perhaps here and there show irregular holes. If 

 these cells are opened a brown mass is visible which when probed with a 

 jtraw or match is of a gluev or ropy nature. This ropiness or brown 



