DVSENTKRY. 



15(1 



DYSENTERY. 



( AISK UK DVSKNTKHV. 



The real cause is long-continued low tem- 

 perature, further aggravated by bad food. 

 Ill order to keep up sufficient animal heat^ 

 the bees liave to overeat, surcharging their 

 intestines. The long-retained fecal matter 

 results in purging or dysentery. We can 

 hardly think that any food alone would pro- 

 duce the disease, because we rarely, rf ever, 

 tind the bees suffering from any thing they 

 will gather, in warm summer weather. Hon- 

 ey gathered from rotten fruit, if we may call 

 it honey, is very productive of this complaint, 

 and cider from cider-mills is almost sure to 

 kill bees at the apjiroach of cold weather. 

 We knew a lady wlu) boiled up a mash of 

 sweet apples and fed to the bees, because 

 they were short of stores, and she could not 

 afford to buy sugar for them. They all died 

 of dysentery, long before spring. Wheie 

 dampness accumulates from their breath, 

 and settles on the combs, diluting the honey, 

 it is very apt to cause these symptoms. Sor- 

 ghum syrup has brought on a very aggravat- 

 ed form, and burnt candy or sugar is almost 

 sure poison to bees during cold weather, al- 

 though it may be fed them with impunity in 

 the middle of the summer. 



While it is very certain that no such symp- 

 toms are found in warm weather, it is also 

 certain that a strong colony in a hive with 

 soft, warm, dry porous walls, will stand an 

 amount of bad food that a weak one, or one 

 exposed to drafts of cold air, will not. We 

 have known bees having considerable stores 

 of cider, to winter very well if the colony 

 were strong enough to keep the whole inte- 

 rior of the hive dry and warm. A powerful 

 colony, if left with their hive uncovered 

 during a rain storm, will soon dry them- 

 selves; and while they are doing this they 

 remind one of a sturdy cart-horse as h? 

 shakes the water off his hide and dries h in- 

 self by his internal animal heat. While they 

 have the health and numbers to repel mois- 

 ture in this way, thev are safe against almo t 

 any thing. But to help them to keep this 

 internal strength, they should have close 

 and comfortable quarters, very much such 

 as we would need for ourselves to enable us 

 to pass a severe winter's night in health and 

 comfort. The hives often used are so large 

 and barn-like, in respect to the winter's 

 brood-nest, that comfort is almost out of the 

 question, for it does little if any good to 

 pile straw, c( rn-fodder, etc., over the out- 

 sides of the hives while the cluster within 

 has no sort of protection at all. If they 

 were in a hollow tree, the diameter of which 



was sii small that they could till it cumplete- 

 ly, they would be in a much better place, es- 

 pecially if the sides were lined with soft dry 

 rotten wood. We have seen icicles nearly as 

 large as the arm, in box liives that were 

 tight and large; these had all formed from 

 the condensation of the breath of the bees. 

 Now, should they melt during a thaw, in 

 such a way that this water w^ould run down 

 on the bees and their unsealed stores, it 

 would be very apt to produce unhealtliiness, 

 to say nothing further. 



THE AGENCY OF THE APHIDES IN I'UODUC- 

 ING DYSENTERY. 



The very worst winter food is, without 

 doubt, the honey gathered from the aphides 

 (see Honey- dew); or, at least, most com- 

 plaints have been made of this honey. As 

 bees seldom touch this, except during 

 drouths or unfavorable seasons, it no doubt 

 has been the cause of much of the mischief. 

 If the early honey is all extracted from the 

 brood-combs, and the bees left with nothing 

 but this bad honey, gathered late in the fall, 

 the matter is much worse; and many cases 

 have been rejiorted of colonies dying where 

 the extractor had been used, while those un- 

 touched had been free from the disease. 

 The moral is, refrain from extracting too 

 closely from the brood-apartment. We 

 would at least let the bees fill their brood- 

 chamber with clover or linden honey, just 

 before the yield ceases, extracting toward 

 the close of the harvest, only from the 

 combs in the upper story, imless we choose 

 to feed them up for winter on sugar or can- 

 dy. We have had one or two favorable re- 

 ports of wintering on the aphidian honey, 

 from which we may conclude it is not al- 

 ways deleterious. 



PREVENTION OF DYSENTERY. 



From what we have said, one will probably 

 infer that we would make the colony larger 

 or the hive smaller, during the winter sea- 

 son. If we say, also, have the walls of the 

 hive of some warm porous material that will 

 absorb moisture and afterward dry out read- 

 ily, we have the idea so far. Perhaps the 

 chaff cushions and division-boards are the 

 readiest means at our command of acccmi- 

 plishing this. A dry cellar is excellent. 



While bees might get along on almost anv 

 kind of food when thus i rspared, we would 

 by no means fail to give them good whole- 

 some stores, as far as possible. Honey 

 gathered in the middle of the season is gen- 

 erally wholesome; for by the time winter 



