EUROPEAN FOUL BROOD. 



Until 1907 the only infectious brood disease known to exist m 

 Ontario was the one already described. But another then made its 

 appearance. It is called European Foul Brood (sometimes black 



brood"). . • i t 



European Foul Brood has destroyed the apiaries in great areas ot 

 different States in the Republic to the south of us. It is now known 

 to be rampant in at least three sections of Ontario. In one way it is 

 much more to be dreaded than American Foul Brood, because it runs 

 its course and destroys an apiary much more rapidly, and because the 

 adult bees will carry out the disease scales and scatter them in the yard 

 and farther, to find their way into healthy colonies. 



In the part of Ontario where it was first discovered apiaries were 

 wiped out at first something like this : 



112 colonies reduced to 23 in two years. 



180 reduced to 21 in one year. 



60 colonies reduced to 44 in one year, and the balance all diseased 

 the second year. 



The following report in reference to European Foul Brood, received 

 in the fall of 1910 from one of our apiary inspectors, will give an idea 

 of the danger : 



Inspector's Report for Peterboro, Northumberland, Hastings and 



Prince Edward. 



Inspector W. Scott, Wooler. 



"1 travelled over the same ground as last year, and found that all 

 the bees had been treated, except one apiary, but very little Italianizing 

 had been done, and consequently the disease returned in every apiary 

 and destroyed some of them completely. I found the disease spreading 

 very rapidly ; it has more than doubled since last year. The disease now 

 covers fully 400 square miles ; besides two outbreaks in Prince Edward 

 County, also two in Hastings County, one in Roden Township, and one 

 in Huntingdon Township. I think if the Department could encourage 

 the beekeepers to Italianize ahead of the disease, it would prevent a great 

 deal of loss, as the disease does not affect the Italians nearly so badly as 

 the blacks. I think the disease could be prevented some if the law would 

 forbid the moving of bees except by permission of the inspector. I found 

 three cases in the past season, where the disease has broken out, caused 

 by the moving of bees from a diseased territory to an undiseased' one. 

 Had this m'oving been prevented it would have taken it probably two 

 years to travel of its own accord. 



"I may say that $5,000 is not too large an estimate for the loss sus- 

 tained by disease in my district last year, but these figures will be greatly 



