Isle of Wight Disease in Hive Bees. 37 



{i.e. numerous) stock becomes affected, disease progresses much more rapidly 

 than in the case of weaker stocks. 



B. — A serious outbreak occurred in July 1915, in R's apiary, situated 

 about a mile and a half south-east of N's apiary. R owned one hive and 

 five ruskies, and by the end of 1915 nearly all his bees were dead. 



S. — This brings us within a mile of Banchory village where a case broke 

 out in July 1915 in S's apiary. This was on the east side of the village and 

 within a mile of the last outbreak at E's. 



S owned five hives and a ruskie. In May three stocks were very weak. 

 Numerous dead bees lay near the hives, but this might have been the result 

 of robbing. 



In July, Isle of Wight disease was marked in a swarm in this apiary. In 

 August all the other stocks but one began to show the same symptoms, and 

 S destroyed them. The one left was strong and gave two crates of sections, 

 which was good for a poor season. 



At this date no cases farther west of Banchory and Raemoir have come 

 under notice until Dinnet and Tarland are reached — 15 miles away. 



(3) Dinnet Area. 



T. — In 1913, two bee-keepers at Dinnet, very near neighbours, found 

 their bees suffering from some trouble they were unable to recognise. They 

 consulted the North of Scotland College of Agriculture bee expert (Mr 

 Manson), who found the bees to be suffering from Isle of Wight disease. His 

 opinion was confirmed by the British Bee Journal expert, to whom 

 samples of bees were sent. The owners were recommended to destroy their 

 stocks in order to prevent the spread of infection. They not only did this, 

 but burnt up bees, hives, and all appliances. One bee-keeper, T, owned 

 fourteen stocks. Before the disease was recognised a swarm had come off 

 and settled in the roof of a cottage close at hand. This swarm seemed to be 

 strong and working well ; and owing to the difficulty of removing the bees, 

 it was left ^alone. T had brought bees from England not very long before 

 the outbreak, and the disease was attributed locally to these imported 



In 1914, T started keeping bees again. He had made himself new hives 

 and bought two stocks from a bee-keeper west of Ballater. In July 1914, 

 he had six hives and three ruskies ; all were very strong and doing well in 

 the supers, and there was no appearance of disease. 



In October 1914, the stocks seemed in splendid condition, and T was also 

 feeding two stocks of driven bees. These had been obtained locally. 



