FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IX. 607 



Another source of the disease is the use of second hand honey- 

 containers. A large part of the western honey crop goes to mar- 

 ket in sixty pound cans. These cans when empty are sold at a 

 very low price and many bee keepers are tempted to make use 

 of them. While these cans were being refilled they have often 

 been visited by the bees with the result that foul brood has been 

 carried to the apiary often in a minute drop of honey. Bee 

 .keepers have sometimes brought the disease home by the use of 

 western honey for feeding in time of short supply of stores. I 

 have been surprised at the extent of the complaint of the spread 

 of disease from these two causes. There is so little to be saved 

 by the use of a second hand container that bee keepers can hardly 

 afford to take the risk. In case it becomes necessary to feed the 

 bees, good sugar syrup should always be used unless the honey 

 is known to be from apiaries that are free from disease. 



The use of hives, frames, etc., in which bees have died is not 

 safe unless they have been disinfected. While the disease some- 

 times appears from some unaccountable source, the bee keeper 

 should take every precaution to avoid its spread. 



The presence of foul brood in an apiary is a serious matter to 

 the owner and cannot but result in serious loss. Frequent re- 

 ports come to this office of the loss of entire apiaries, sometimes 

 of hundreds of colonies from disease. 



The Wax Moth. 



It is a common complaint among the inexperienced that the 

 wax moth is the worst thing with which they have to deal. The 

 adult moth is a small grayish white insect, three of which may 

 be seen at rest on the comb shown in Plate I. The larvae when 

 nearing maturity are repulsive caterpillars nearly an inch in 

 length which burrow in the combs and soon destroy them. The 

 moth, however, is not nearly as serious a pest as is commonly 

 believed. The expert bee keeper is seldom heard to complain 

 of them, as he has long since learned that by keeping his colonies 

 strong there is little to be feared. Colonies that have become 

 weakened by disease fall an easy prey to the moths. 



The writer has often had occasion to appreciate the work of 

 this insect in neighborhoods where foul brood is prevalent. Not 

 infrequently do we find hives where the bees have died of disease 

 and been left without attention by the owners. When the bees 

 first die these brood combs have the appearance of that shown 

 in Plate I. Plate II shows the work of the moths in a little more 



