Should bees ever be seen vigorously fanning at the entrances to a hive without apparent cause, it is a sure sign there is something wrong, and examination should be made at once. =Foul Brood.=--This is the very worst scourge to which the bees are subject. It is a disease that attacks the brood in the cells, and, as there are no young bees produced to take the place of those that die, the hive is soon decimated. The disease is easily identified, for the whole of the cells attacked are perforated and of a brown colour, and a most offensive odour is produced. The disease is probably spread by bees from an infected hive taking refuge in others, or by robber bees entering the infected one. There is nothing to do when virulent foul brood is discovered but to burn the whole contents of the hive. =Dysentery.=--This is a disease which principally affects the older bees and is generally caused by feeding too heavily on pollen--more particularly in winter time when proper exercise cannot be taken. The symptoms are a distended abdomen, which is filled with a yellowish brown substance that is discharged copiously. In bad cases it is discharged on the combs. The _best remedy_ is to add an ounce of table salt to a quart or more of warm syrup and feed the bees outside in a sheltered spot. =Isle of Wight Disease.=--This is one of the most mysterious and deadly diseases which affect bees. Further, it attacks the hives in winter when circumstances are all in its favour. Large sums of money have been spent by bee-keepers, and a vast amount of time and thought given by pathologists in the endeavour to trace its cause and remedy, but hitherto without avail. The _usual symptoms_ are similar to those of dysentery, with a loss of power of flight. In attempting to fly, an affected bee falls to the ground in a helpless condition. As in dysentery, however, it is the older bees that are affected; the brood and young bees seem immune. It would seem, therefore, that the winter feeding on pollen has something to do with it. Probably because pollen is more of a natural food to them, and because their air organs are not fully developed, the disease does not affect the young bees through that channel. There are many so-called remedies which claim to be efficacious, but I have no faith in them except in very mild cases. I fail to see how a remedy can be administered when a hive is attacked in mid-winter and the bees are clustered, or when it reaches the stage when paralysis occurs. In such a case there is nothing to be done short of destruction.