12 



of their length (as shown in illustration), so that two days' extracting- 

 can be run separately into the one tank, and they may be made to 

 any proportions suitable to the beekeepers' needs, but they should 

 not be of greater depth than the figures already given. 



The specific gravity of average-ripened honey, which may be 

 obtained by the use of a hydrometer, is usually given at r350, 

 though I have had it as high as r488, or nearly half again as heavy 

 as water. But for the average beekeeper it will be sufficient for 

 liim to decide that the honey is ripe enough to run off as soon as 

 it shows signs of "clouding" — that is, granulating. 



In conclusion, the beekeeper, working for extracted honey, 

 should have a bee-tight, yet well-ventilated, honey-room, in a warm. 

 ;ind sunny situation, large enough to do all his extracting and tin- 

 ning in, and a ripening tank or tanks such as I have described, which 

 should never be covered except when out of use. 



III. " FOUL BEOOD " {Bacillus alvei, Cheshire) AND ITS 



TEBATMENT. 



The germ disease of " foul brood " has evidently caused more or 

 less trouble to beekeepers from very early historical times. Refer- 

 ences are made to some such disease before the Christian era bv 

 Aristotle iu his works on husbandry, which no doubt was what we 

 now know as " foul brood." It is quite possible that the disease 

 was not so troublesome in former times, as the facilities for its 

 spreading were few compared with what they have been durino- 

 the last twenty-five or thirty years. The trade in bees and queens 

 that has accompanied the expansion of modern bee-culture, and their 

 consequent transportation from district to district, and from countrv 

 to country, is accountable, no doubt, for the universal extent of its 

 ravages at the present time. When or where it first made its 

 appearance in New Zealand is not known so far as I am aware but 

 I do know that " foul brood " was very prevalent in some dis- 

 tricts — notably in Taranaki, Hawke's Bav, and Poverty Bav 



before 1880. 



Very little, if anything, was known or understood concerning 

 this disease in New Zealand before the dissemination of modern bee 

 literature about that time, consequently it had not been recoo-nised 

 previously by our beekeepers. The loss caused by "foul brood" 

 during the intervening years in this colony has been enormous, and 

 calls for serious consideration. We have everything in our favour 



