54 



It is an accepted principle that like begets like, therefore many bee- 

 keepers are in error When they suppose a form of Foul Brood niay develop 

 from an insanitary condition of the hive. Before European or American 

 Foul Brood can attack the young larvae the bacillus must first be intro- 

 duced into the hive from the outside, hence it is well for the beekeeper to 

 know how the infection may be carried in. Dr. White found that while the 

 greatest number of infecting germs of Bacillus alvei were to be found in 

 the bodies of dead larvae, he also got many from the pollen in the cells of 

 the Foul Brood combs, smaller nunibers in the honey stored in these combs; 

 he found them also on the surface of the combs and frames; likewise on the 

 wings, legs, head, thorax and abdomen, and in the intestinal contents of 

 adult bees in the infected colonies. 



These facts give us a working hypothesis. We know that bees are quick 

 to rob the honey of a weak colony. Just as soon as Foul Brood has lowered 

 its population sufficiently to make defence of the stores impossible, the bees 

 of the neighbourhood at once carry off its honey to their own hive, and as 

 a consequence implant the germs in their home, which in turn becomes a 

 new center of infection to other colonies. One diseased hive in a locality 

 means sooner or later, generally sooner, the total extermination of the bees 

 in that district. 



Let us consider how Foul Brood may be brought into British Columbia. 

 We have learned by experience that it can be introduced by settlers bring- 

 ing their bees along with them. To minimise this channel of infection, the 

 Department of Agriculture puts all imported bees on combs into quar- 

 antine for nine months. 



The disease may reach us by spreading from an infected area. This is 

 the most serious cause for anxiety at the present time, for American Foul 

 Brood is close to the boundary line on the south. The forests are full of 

 "bee trees" over which man has no control so that the beekeepers near the 

 international line will be the first to feel the onslaught. It is the duty 

 of these men to be specially watchful and to report to the Department the 

 first suspicious symptoms. 



Dr. White reports that he was able to isolate the bacillus of European 

 Foul Brood from the queens of three badly infected hives, which fact sug- 

 gests that it is possible for the germs to be imported along with a queen, 

 though it should be said that the large queen breeders are exceedingly 

 careful. 



It is the opinion of some that the present rapid dissemination of Foul 

 Brood may be due to the very general custom of buying queens from breed- 

 ers, but few facts have been advanced in support of the theory. 



We have seen that the germs may be present in the honey from a dis- 

 eased apiary. Over one hundred thousand pounds of honey are imported 

 into this province annually, much of it from infected regions, and it is more 

 than probable that much of it carries disease germs. It is therefore ex- 

 tremely unwise to feed to bees honey that has been bought in a store, 

 especially if the source of origin is unknown. The retailers word is not 

 sufficient, for the writer recently bought a section of honey guaranteed to 

 be raised in Chilliwack, yet not one pound of section honey was produced 

 in that district the previous summer. The only safe feed for bees is 

 sugar syrup. 



