BEES. 39 
with literature describing symptoms and treatment, and should also 
try to induce them to unite in eradicating the malady. Since it is 
so often impossible to get all of the bee keepers in a community 
to treat infected colonies properly and promptly, it is desirable 
that the States pass laws providing for the inspection of apiaries and 
eranting to the inspector the power to compel negligent bee keepers 
to treat diseased colonies so that the property of others may not be 
endangered and destroyed. This has been done in a number of 
States, but there are still some where the need is great and in which 
no such provision has been made. When no inspection is provided, 
bee keepers should unite in asking for such protection, so that the 
danger to the industry may be lessened. 
In case there is an inspector for the State or county, he should 
be notified as soon as disease is suspected in the neighborhood. 
Some bee keepers hesitate to report disease through fear that the 
inspector will destroy their bees or because they feel that it is a 
disgrace to have disease in the apiary. There is no disgrace in having 
colonies become diseased; the discredit is in not treating them 
promptly. The inspectors are usually, if not universally, good 
practical bee keepers who from a wide experience are able to tell 
what should be done in individual cases to give the best results 
with the least cost in material and labor. They do not destroy col- 
onies needlessly, and, in fact, they all advocate and teach treatment. 
The brood diseases are frequently introduced into a locality by the 
shipping in of diseased colonies; or, more often, the bees get honey 
from infected colonies which is fed to them, or which they rob, from 
discarded honey cans. It is decidedly dangerous to purchase honey 
on the market, with no knowledge of its source, to be used in feeding 
bees. Many outbreaks of disease can be traced to this practice 
(see ‘‘Feeding,”’ p. 23). It is difficult to prevent bees from getting 
contaminated honey accidentally. If colonies are purchased, great 
care should be taken that there is no disease present. Whenever 
possible, colonies should be purchased near at home, unless dis- 
ease is already present in the neighborhood. 
There are other diseased conditions of the brood, known to bee 
keepers as pickled brood, but these can usually be distinguished from 
the two diseases previously mentioned. The so-called “pickled 
brood”’ is not contagious and no treatment is necessary. Bees also 
suffer from ‘‘dysentery,”’ which is discussed in the earlier part of this 
bulletin, and from the so-called ‘paralysis,’ a disease of adult bees. 
No treatment for the latter disease can as yet be recommended as 
reliable. The sprinkling of powdered sulphur on the top bars of 
frames or at the entrance is sometimes claimed to be effective, but 
under what circumstances it is beneficial is unknown. 
397 
