BEES IN COLONIES AFFECTED BY EUROPEAN FOULBROOD 5 



from the Italian queen began to emerge, yellow bees were found on 

 either side in several of the hybrid colonies. Speaking of uniting 

 weak diseased colonies and requeening, Matthews writes: 



Alter two or three were put together, each stack of brood was given an 

 Italian cell. When young queens commenced to lay there was still disease in 

 many of those hives, but as the queens increased in laying the bees cleaned 

 out an ever-increasing sphere of comb • for a brood nest until they had the 

 hives free of disease. But in no case, however long a hive might be queenless, 

 did I see the disease cleaned out before a virgin appeared In the hive. In 

 other words, a virgin had to be present before the bees would commence their 

 job of cleaning up. Therefore, I see little to commend the practice of keeping 

 diseased colonies queenless 21 days. 



A new bulletin by Phillips (7) has been issued recently by the 

 Department of Agriculture. The fundamental idea emphasized is 

 that "in keeping European foulbrood under control it is far more 

 important to prevent the disease from getting a foothold in a colony 

 than it is to eradicate the disease afterward." This bulletin, aside 

 from discussing symptoms and methods of treatment, states concisely 

 for the first time the facts observed in apiary practice on which 

 successful treatment is based, and without an imderstanding of which 

 it is difficult for a beekeeper to use preventive measures with any 

 success. 



The analysis of these factors of response in behavior to treatment, 



as stated by Phillips, has been used to some extent as a foundation 



for the present work on the behavior of the colony in relation to 



disease, in an endeavor to substantiate, with data obtained under 



controlled conditions, these facts that are constantly observed in 



apiary practice and, if possible, to eliminate confusion in methods of 



treatment. 



PROCEDURE 



Shortly after the middle of May, 1918, experiments were started 

 in Ithaca, N. Y., at the Cornell Agricultural College. Through the 

 kindness of Prof. J. G. Needham, head of the department of ento- 

 mology, and others associated with him, the use of a small, isolated 

 yard of bees and also of laboratory facilities was offered for the 

 purpose of carrying on these investigations. This small apiary had 

 been used previously in fruit-pollination studies and had no record 

 of disease. The yard was admirably located in a naturally well- 

 protected hollow beyond the college fruit orchards, about a mile and 

 a half from the main college apiary or other apiaries, with high 

 ground and woods intervening. The author and the Office of Bee- 

 Culture Investigations are under deep obligations to the Cornell 

 authorities for the assistance so cordially extended. 



Being in the buckwheat district, the general locality was well 

 adapted to the work because of the desire for as late a main honey 



