1Q PABMEES' BULLETIN" 9^5. 



of the facts is attested by the experience of hundreds of beekeepers. 

 In certain cases the findings have been corroborated by bacterio- 

 logical investigation.^ The methods of treatment have also all been 

 devised in the apiary. 



The difficulty in drawing conclusions from practical observations 

 is that too often beekeepers fail to show the ways in which their ex- 

 perience differs from that of others or in what manner the same 

 principles have been applied in a slightly different manner. 



PREVENTIVE MEASURES. 



In keeping European foulbrood under control it is far more im- 

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

 than it is to eradicate the disease afterward. 



This is not true of American foulbrood, for reliable and practicable 

 preventive measures have not been found for that disease. 



(1) The use of resistant stock is of the greatest importance, other- 

 wise there is no hope of warding off the disease when it enters a re- 

 gion or of eradicating it froir the apiary after it is once introduced. 

 The use of strong, vigorous Italian stock is best from the standpoint 

 of honey-production, and every beekeeper should therefore see that 

 his apiary is provided with such queens even before European foul- 

 brood appears in the unmediate neighborhood or in the apiary. When 

 the disease is absent it is quite permissible for the beekeeper to save 

 any mismated queens which show themselves to be good, but when 

 European foulbrood is near by this course is unsafe, and in no case 

 should a mismated queen be used as breeding stock. The purity of 

 mating of queens then becomes a matter of first importance and this 

 entails more work than is necessary in the ordinary practices of the 

 apiary. 



It is not enough simply that queens be pure bred and purely mated, 

 however, for it often occurs that a queen will be poor from other 

 causes. Whenever a queen shows signs of failing it is good bee- 

 keeping to replace her with a good queen. When European foul- 

 brood is present this becomes far more important. 



Not all Italian stock is equally resistant to European foulbrood, and 

 when the disease is nearby it becomes important that the beekeeper 

 find out which stock is best. Not all queens sold as Italians are pure 

 bred. By far the best plan is to buy a few untested Italian queens 

 from each of several queen breeders and after these have been under 

 observation for a short time the beekeeper will be able to choose 

 from the lot those best suited for breeding purposes. It is not so 

 good a practice to buy a breeding queen, for such queens do not ship 



1 Bacteriological studies of bee diseases have been useful to practical beekeepers in 

 explaining the reasons for success or failure with various treatments attempted. These 

 studies have been especially important, however, because through them methods of 

 laboratory diagnosis of the different diseases have been wmrked out. 



