ALEXANDER'S PLAN 219 



Detection by Odor. — In some localities European foul brood 

 is said to be attended with a decided odor, although unlike that 

 of American foul brood, being more like that of decayed fish, 

 according to Morley Petit, of Ontario. 



Resistant Bees. — For some reason Italian bees seem to be 

 much more resistant of this disease than the hybrids or blacks, 

 and the best insurance against this malady is to re-queen all 

 colonies with vigorous Italians. Some strains seem much more 

 immune than others, so that it is desirable to secuia a strain 

 that> has demonstrated its disease resistance. 



Treatment. — Dr. Phillips of the U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture strongly recommends the shaking -treatment for this dis- 

 ease the same as for American foul brood. However, there is 

 a growing sentiment among bee-keepers in favor of what is com- 

 monly known as the Alexander plan. The essential element of 

 this plan is the saving of the combs instead of melting them up 

 as in the case of the other disease. There are many modifications 

 of the plan as proposed by the originator. 



Alexander's Plan. — To begin with, the queen is removed 

 from the diseased colony in order to check brood rearing. The 

 bees being relieved of nursing young brood, turn their attention 

 to cleaning out infected mattier from the hive with the result 

 that given a new queen a few days later they often remain free 

 from the disease. Mr. Alexander believed it to be necessarj^ 

 for twenty-one days to elapse from the time the old queen was 

 removed before the new queen began to lay. Of late many bee- 

 keepers have found that under favorable conditions a much 

 shorter time is sufficient. In order to be successful with this 

 method several things must be borne in mind. First the new 

 queen must be a vigorous young Italian. Then the colony must 

 be very strong and the treatment must be given in early stages 

 of the disease. If the combs are fairly rotten with decaying 

 larvffi it is too much to expect that the bees will clean them up 

 again. Hybrids or black bees are seldom, if ever, able to rid 



