THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
135 
suitable places in the colony where bees were 
not kept, or if kept, very little attention was 
paid to them. The mode adopted for obtain- 
ing signatures was this : — A number of 
memorials were printed and sent haphazard 
to persons through the country, mostly to 
storekeepers. Many did not trouble them- 
selves about the matter, and others took it up 
energetically. Had a system of canvassing 
been adopted, the signatures of nine-tenths 
of the beekeepers of the colony could have 
been obtained. He (Mr. 'Warren), came there 
as representing the Beekeepers’ Association 
at Williamktown, and he knew that beekeepers 
generally would as soon destroy their bees as 
have them overhauled by an Inspector. It 
would be a most difficult matter to find out 
what fowl, brood really was, for au English 
specialist had affirmed that there might be 
100,000,000 in one egg. Beekeepers might 
well object to having their hives inspected 
under the Act, as Government Inspectors 
were not always very civil, and no decision 
had been come to as to the nature of foul 
brood From a statement in an English paper 
it would seem that foul brood had been 
repeatedly introduced into England by 
Ligurian bees. It was only lately that foul 
brood had been heard of in this colony, and 
possibly it had been brought here in the same 
way. To transfer bees within one week from 
one set of hives to another was an impossi- 
bility. The beekeepers whom he represented 
had the impression that the Act had been 
promoted by certain interested parties, who 
had the new bar-framed hives to sell, and who 
wished to get a good market for them. The 
idea had also got abroad that the Adelaide 
Beekeepers’ Association were going to recom- 
mend the Inspector to the Government, and 
that the largo beekeepers wished to crush out 
the industry among the poorer people. 
Mr. Oastler (Yankalilla) spoke in support 
of the memorial. 
Mr. Peake (Rowland’s Flat) said he had 
been a beekeeper for over fifty years, and had 
always found hives more or less subject to 
what was known as foul brood. There was 
nothing at all new in it, and it arose from 
different causes. The queen bee, when im- 
pregnated, went through the hive and laid 
perhaps from 3,000 to 1,000 eggs, and 
Sonietimos two eggs were in one cell. 
The nursing bees followed the queen, and took 
Care uf the eggs, giving them a sort of nourish- 
ment very frequently. If there were two eggs 
in one cell they would be neutral, and foul 
brood would result. In the ease of au abor- 
tive egg the bees themselves would close up 
the cell with hard pollen, and prevent it 
degenerating into foul brood ; but if the same 
egg had eouie to a larva or maggot then it 
w '"dd decay and stink, and thereby cause 
■ jy” b rood. When a great number of these 
larvic were in the combs and very cold weather 
came on sometimes the bees could not keep 
the hives sufficiently warm, and that would 
cause foul brood. The sudden changes which 
marked our climate had a great deal to do with 
the existence of the pest. If an egg should 
be laid in the' cell where the chrysalis of a 
former bee had been foul brood would result, 
because the egg could not eouie to maturity. 
Another cause was want of food by the bees. 
However, he had found foul brood in beehives 
in England as well as here, and he would 
advise the Government that the bees under- 
stood their own business much better than 
the South Australian Parliament could under- 
tand it for them. (La ighter). Hu had great 
experience in beekeeping, and in the old 
country lie acquired a lot of knowledge about 
them from gentlemen at the Cambridge Uni- 
versity, whom he used to supply with bees to. 
keep for pleasure. It would tie just as expe- 
dient to pass a measure prohibiting a farmer 
from having bad eggs from poultry as to 
attempt to suppress foul brood. (Hear, hear. ) 
Mr. Messner (Williamstowu), who had 
kept bees for eleven years and now had 103 
swarms, did not think any one could speak 
with certainty as to the cause of foul brood. 
He had noticed that the pest showed itself in 
bad seasons, and that it appeared at different 
places at the same time. He did not regard 
it as contagious, and he did not believe it 
could be eradicated. Most of the beekeepers 
still used the old boxes. The Inspector could 
not examine the hives unless he tore out the 
combs, and the bees would then fly away. 
Mr. Berrbtt (Barbssa), had k. pt bees for 
twenty years, and was convinced that not 
more than one-twentieth of the swarms in the 
colony at present were entirely free from foul 
brood. He had for years past made not less 
than an average of .X 1 per week out of bees 
with very little trouble, and he thought the 
Government slionld prefer to listen to those 
who owed much to the bees than to he guided 
by people who kept bees for amusement’s sake. 
In two or three months’ time foul brood would 
not be visible, but now even the ants were 
affected in the same way as the bees owing tb 
their being poverty-stricken. Last year the 
Inspector might have destroyed every swarm 
in tlie colony. If the honey and comb were 
taken away the bees would certainly die, 
because it was death to them to disturb them. 
He had lost more bees by heat than by 
foul brood. 
Mr. Martin (Hahndorf) attributed the pest 
entirely to- want of food for the bees. In a 
good season like that of 1880 there were no 
signs of foul brood. 
The Commissioner, in reply, said — This is 
a petition to His Excellency, and of course it 
will be presented to him in due course, and it 
will be for him, with the advice of his 
Ministers, to take such action as he may con- 
sider desirable. So far as foul brood in bees 
is concerned. I admit that personally I know 
nothing at all about it; aud 1 have learned 
