This subject is a very difficult one to handle to the reader's advantage without the aid of illustrations. Furthermore the abundance of authoritative literature to be had on the subject with or without price, leaves the short article the poorest means of giving the reader a working knowledge of symptoms, treatment, etc. So I am going to refer my readers first of all to the bulletins on bee diseases published by the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. They may be had for 5 cents each.

All amateur beekeepers should supply themselves with the Department bulletins on bee diseases whether they have any reason to suspect the presence of disease in their colonies or not. Disease is a snag you will run up against sooner or later if you follow beekeeping. When you do you will stand or fall on the knowledge with which you are equipped to meet it. Luck will not get you by.

In addition to the Department literature I must add that all bee books deal exhaustively with be diseases, accompanied with lifelike illustrations. Better than all is the county bee Inspector. Twenty-one counties of California have regular bee Inspectors, many of whom have numerous local deputies to aid them in covering their territory. Bee Inspectors of California are paid out of the public treasury and serve without charge to the owner. A phone call or letter to your county agricultural commissioner will give you your county inspector's name and address.

European foulbrood also known as black brood, and American foulbrood are the two prevailing ailments which are of enough importance to be rated as diseases. Both attack the brood during the incubation period, neither affect the adult bees.

American Foulbrood

SYMPTOMS: The worker larvae dies and de composes in the cell before or after it reaches the sealed state. The diseased matter gives off a foul, fishy odor. It settles to the bottom wall of the cell in a brown glue-like mass which will string out in a rubbery fashion from the end of a toothpick. In its last stage it becomes dark, almost black scale which closely adheres to the lower side of the cell. The combs take on a mottled, greasy, diseased look, showing many sunken and perforated cappings. In all its symptoms it has a uniform appearance. The bees seldom make any progress in cleaning out the dead matter. It can be more readily detected when the comb is held so the light strikes the lower wall of the cell. TREATMENT: American foulbrood is a spore forming disease. The spores abound in the honey, comb and equipment. Robbing and the exposure or re-use of the infected equipment are the chief means of spread. No treatment yet devised, whereby either the combs and honey or bees may be saved, is sufficiently reliable to be practical. Killing and burning the entire contents of the hive has been found to be the only method that gives satisfactory results. Section 6 of the California Apiary Law as amended June 18, 1931, provides as follows:

"provided, that if the disease be American foulbrood, a most dangerous infectious disease of bees, the time specified in the notice shall not be less than twenty-four hours nor more than one hundred twenty hours from the time of serving the notice, and the eradication of said American foulbrood shall be by killing the bees in the hives plainly marked as hereinbefore provided, and burning the diseased colonies, including the bees, brood, combs, frames, honey, and wax, in a pit, burying the ashes no less than two feet below the surface of the ground and disinfecting by scorching the hives, bodies, bottom boards, covers and supers associated therewith. "

In destroying a colony of American foulbrood it is well to bear in mind that the job embraces three important operations. First, kill all the bees; second, burn and bury the entire contents; third, thoroughly disinfect the hive. The common method of killing out a colony of bees is by placing a tablespoonful of calcium cyanide powder on a card and inserting it in the entrance of the hive. The fumes will kill the colony in a few minutes. It may also be thrown in at the top of the hive. Burning sulphur fumes blown in the entrance by a bee smoker is also effective. The killing should be done after dark in order to get all the bees. The burning should be done at once. If a considerable amount of honey is to be burned, it will be found necessary to provide a means of standing the combs on end while burning. An old box thrown on the kindling will serve as a means of accomplishing this point. The combs, etc. should be burned to a cinder and carefully covered with dirt. The empty hive, cover and bottom may be disinfected by means of a blow torch. It may also be done by first saturating the inside of the hive with gasoline and applying a match. In either case the burning should blacken and slightly char the wood. The hive should be disinfected immediately to get rid of small drops of honey which the bees give up when killed by fumes. Carefully disinfect hands and tools after completion of the work.

Always beware of used hives and frames; they may be infected. Unless you are positive that such equipment originated in a clean apiary it should be disinfected by the scorching method given under "American foulbrood" When a considerable number of hives are to be disinfected it is a common practice to submerge them for ten minutes in a boiling lye solution; 1 lb. lye to each 15 gallons of water. This treatment is effective.

European Foulbrood