THE 
Australian §tckttptrs 
JOURNAL. 
You L— Na ».] SEPTEMBER, 1886 . [I U' ' ' " 
EDITORIAL. NOTICES, &c. 
Bee News from Abroad. 
The disease* of boes and their treatment is a 
stock subject for bee journals and magazines, 
and no wonder, for where apiculture is carried 
on as an industry and means of livelihood, it 
is a subject of the utmost importance. Of 
course, foul brood is the chief and most dreaded 
disease; still there are others which — although 
perhaps not so contagious, are even more 
rapidly fatal to stocks if unchecked — claim 
attention, notably that disease which has been 
called a great many names, dysentery, virtigo, 
trembling disease, and, in its more advanced 
stages, shiny bee, or Bacillus Oaytonii. 
For the treatment of foul brood one is at a 
loss what to try •, the cures are legion, and 
now from our German brethren comes another, 
bichloride of mercury, or corrosire tublima te of 
commerce, a well-known poison. M. Naveau con- 
tributes a few lines on this subject on another 
page, translated from the illustrated German 
Bee Journal from Gravenhdrst. Probably the 
bee farmer will find the shortest and cheapest 
way after all is the old one of taking the bees 
ant! queen from their infected hive and combs, 
and place them in a clean hive on full sheets 
of foundation, and feeding freely. Our experi- 
ence so far is in favour of this plan 
The use of the vapour of crude carbolic acid, 
instead of smoke, to quiet bees, appears to be 
gaining ground in England, and ail who have 
used it speak in the highest terms of its 
effectiveness and advantages. No matches, 
no fire going out at the wrong time, no bad 
words now, they say. We have tried it two 
or three times and it seems to do well ; the 
fumigator is always ready, and requires to be 
used very moderately only. This is the way 
it may be used. Get a "little wire net cage 
that will go inside your smoker ; into this cage 
put a small piece of sponge or some cotton 
wool ; now get some of the ordinary carbolic 
acid used for disinfecting, and add to a table- 
spoonful of it half a teaspoonful of creosote and 
one tablespoon ful of water. Shake it up well 
and keep in a well-corked bottle. If now about 
thirty drops of this is dropped on to the sponge 
or cotton wool in the wire net cage, and the 
cage inserted in the smoker, by working the 
bellows you blow out air impregnated with 
the vapour of carbolic acid and creosote. This 
vapour alarms the bees so much that they 
commence to gorge quicker than with smoke, 
and are, therefore, quieted sooner. In using 
this vapour, none should be blown into the 
entrance of the hive, but the cover is taken off, 
and the mat lifted at one corner, and the vapour 
blown gently under it among the frames ; and 
as one gradually “ peels " off the mat, the 
vapour is quietly diffused between the frames, 
quickly driving the boes to fill themselves 
with honey and thus becoming quiet. Great 
care must be taken that the sponge or cotton 
is not too wet with the fluid, or some may be 
blown into the hive, and cause the bees to 
leave. 
In the apirultural exhibits of the Indian 
and Colonial Exhibition, some Victorian 
beekeeper exhibited a lot of nicely sealed 11b. 
section boxes, and a writer in the British Bee 
Journal states “ they are the best exhibit of tho 
kind, and if the honey is only as good as it 
looks, should certainly have a high award.” 
The question of the heat methods of intro- 
ducing new queens to hives appears to be one 
that is uot yet by any means settled, and like 
the cures for foul brood, every plan is good till 
