41 



be burnt and the soil round the hive turned over and sprinkled 

 with paraffin and then dug oiver and oO'vered with quicklime. 



2. Drinking PFa'ier.^Wa.ter'is required by bees at all times- 

 when they can leave the hive, though only sufficient is taken 

 to serve the needs of the colony for a short time. 



A. great deal of water is carried into a hive at the height of 

 the breeding season. It is collected, on dewy mornings and 

 after showers, from the blades of grass and the leaves of 

 other plants. In dry weather bees resort to streams and 

 ponds, certain selected spots being made use of. They often 

 select dirty pools of warm stagnant water rather than take 

 clean water that is colder. In showery weather, water is 

 probably' a. greater source of infection than in dry weather. 

 The bright intervals which permit the gathering of water are 

 also utilised for, cleansing flights by many bees. Since the 

 excrement of infected bees is often full of spores, many of 

 the puddles and drops must be highly contaminated where 

 infected bees are present. 



3. Movement of Bees. — It need hardly be said that bee- 

 keepers who live in districts which are free from disease, 

 should on no account purchase swarms or driven bees from 

 an infected area. There is no surer way of spreading disease 

 than by transferring bees from one district to another, for 

 swarms even from apparently healthy colonies sometimes 

 develop disease when placed in new hives. It is probable that 

 all the parasites have not the same degree of virulence, and 

 that the passage of the parasite through successive bees may 

 increase its virulence. It is, therefore, important to prevent 

 the disease being spread by parasite-carriers; that is, bees in 

 which the parasite is present without the disease showing 

 itself. These parasite-carriers may be divided into two 

 classes : (1) those which have come in contact with diseased 

 individuals, and have in some other way acquired the 

 organisms without contracting the disease; and (2) those 

 which have suffered from the disease, often in a slight and 

 modified form, and have subsequently continued to harbour 

 the org-anisms for long periods. 



Either of these classes of parasite-carriers m.ay spread disease 

 if brought into contact with susceptible stocks, so clearly it is 

 equally dangerous to introduce bees froim a disease-free dis- 

 trict, into a neighbourhood where disease abounds. Bee- 

 keepers in such districts should, therefore, if they wish to 

 acquire fresh colonies, purchase them in the immediate neigh- 

 boiirhood where there is a possibility that the bees are capable 

 of resisting any infection with which they are likely to come 

 into contact. 



4. General Management. — Finally, bee-keepers must 

 remember that much may be done by careful and proper 

 management of their apiaries. It cannot be stated too 

 emphatically that the production of disease depends on many 



