212 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



the center of one area inspected and treated, and there, 

 another year, beekeepers shoukl be in a position to get a 

 harvest. Leominster and vicinity showed nearly every colony 

 diseased, but it is being held in check. Although it was 

 impossible to treat all of the stock so late in the season, many 

 colonies were shaken. The remainder are being held for 

 treatment next spring, instructions having been given for 

 safely wintering them. In the spring it is hoped that the 

 work may be followed up, in order to expand the circle of 

 examination. In Worcester and vicinity, where there are 

 a large number of bees, and where the disease is admitted 

 to be prevalent, a beginning has been made. Worcester 

 should be the center of another circle of inspection, being 

 expanded to meet those about Leominster and Southborough. 

 In Worcester County, while the figures are only suggestive, 

 more than 50 per cent of the colonies examined were dis- 

 eased, and a much greater per cent of the apiaries visited 

 had diseased colonies in them. An area of probable infection 

 is so pronounced in the vicinity of Barre and Dana that 

 several weeks' work will be necessary in this excellent api- 

 cultural district. 



Eastern Massachusetts. — The work in the eastern part 

 of the State has had merely a beginning, the most pro- 

 nounced feature being the discovery of European foul brood 

 in and around Boston. This one fact, together with indi- 

 cations of widespread infection of American foul brood, 

 and in consideration of the vast local agricultural investment 

 in lines Avhich require the service of healthy, dependable 

 colonics of bees, evinces the nrgency for immediate remedial 

 measures. It is also important to consider that a large part 

 of the bees raised in the east are sold and shipped, so that 

 if diseases, especially European foul brood, are not checked, 

 there is the gravest danger that they will have become scat- 

 tered throughout eastern New England. 



