38 



The method was first tried by us during the latter part of 

 July, 1916, at the suggestion of Prof. Renwick H. Leitch 

 (Dairying Department, West of Scotland Agricultural 

 College), who also supplied the culture. The culture was mixed 

 with syrup and fed to the bees by means of spraying. The 

 bees will readily take the food in the feeders, but spraying 

 is the quicker method. The treatment was tried on a swarm 

 of bees which arrived from the South of Scotland on the 27th 

 July, 1916, and which on arrival almost immediately 

 developed a virulent attack of Isle of Wight disease. 

 The swarm weighed seven pounds. It was 1 placed on ten 

 frames, which had previously been fitted with brood founda- 

 tion. In the course of two days the whole of the ten comb.-; 

 had been built, the cells being filled with nectar, pollen, and 

 eggs of the queen. On the 30th July it was noticed that, on 

 the ground in front of the hive, the bees were crawling about 

 in hundreds. The entrance to the hive was closed the same 

 evening, and the colony removed from the Holmes Farm 

 Apiary (where it was first placed) to the Research Apiary — 

 about 2 miles distant. On the bees being liberated the fol- 

 lowing day, external indications of the disease were even 

 more pronounced, probably owing to the confinement of the 

 bees during transit. By this time there was a disease in the 

 population of at least 30 per cent The Bacillus Bulgaricus 

 was administered on the evening of their arrival, by spraying 

 both at the entrance and over the tops*of the brood combs. 

 The number of crawlers decreased each day, and finally 

 disappeared altogether after a fortnight's treatment. The 

 culture had a noticeable effect, not only on the expulsion of 

 the faecal accumulation, but also on the nature of the dis- 

 charge. There is less tendency for the excretion to solidify; 

 after it has been voided it rather tends to break up. 

 Ordinarily the colour of the faeces in cases of Isle of Wight 

 disease varies in summer from a light yellow to a dark brown. 

 The Bacillus Bulgarians changes it to a dark grey. The 

 colony thrived during the autumn and winter, and remained 

 alive until early in the spring. 



It would appear, from the supplementary evidence of 



