342 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



COMBS INFESTED BY THE LESSER WAX-MOTH. 



This photograph wis sent us by George W. Tebbs, Hespeler, Ontario, Canada, who wrote that the frame was taken from a hive 

 which had originarally contained an Italian colony, but which had been empty during the winter. 



tion showed that a lot of dead bees that had died 

 during the winter were in front of the entrance. 



But we have heard bee-keepers say that they do 

 not regard the odor from foul brood as so foul as 

 the books have stated. This all depends on the 

 kind of nose one has. Some odors are sickening 

 to one, but endurable to another. This is par- 

 ticularly true of the odor that emanates from foul 

 brood. 



When one finds a comb like the one shown in 

 the engraving on the preceding page the colony 

 is pretty badly diseased; and it is also probable 

 that other hives in the immediate vicinity are 

 likewise affected; because when a case is so far 

 advanced as this, the probabilities are that several 

 colonies in the yard are involved; and it would 

 be well to make a general search through the api- 

 ary. Colonies with entrances pointing in the 

 same direction, and near by, will be almost sure 

 to show some diseased cells Possibly one will 

 not find more than three or four affected cells, 

 and those in only one comb, for the disease has 

 only started in that hive. Sometimes one will 

 not be able to find a singlecell containing a dead 

 larva. In one case, where we could plainly smell 

 foul brood, we could not find any dead specimen 

 in any cell until we had looked over the combs 

 for something like half an hour, opening up here 

 and there a cell, until we finally located a dead 

 larva whose tissue would rope out as we have 

 Nisfore explained. But as a general thing, before 

 tl\ere is any pronounced odor a comb will be 

 quite badly diseased. In that case one is not 

 likely to notice it, even at the entrance. Some- 

 thing will depend on the direction of the wind, 

 if any, and whether the bees are ventilating the 

 hive. 



BLACK BROOD. 



So much for the old-fashioned ordinary foul 

 brood. Black brood is much more diflncult to 

 diagnose. It may look ver_y mmii like oidinaiy 



dead brood or what is called " pickled " brood or 

 " starved " brood. If the reader will imagine a 

 slightly yeasty or sour smell combined with a 

 faint suggestion of foul brood he will get an idea 

 of the characteristic smell. But there is lacking 

 the strong foul smell that one gets from ordinary 

 foul brood that has been so often likened to that 

 which we get from an ordinary glue-pot. Most 

 of the larva; have died before sealing, in the early 

 stages; while in the case of the old-fashioned foul 

 brood in the other stages, most of it diei after 

 sealing. The dead larva: do not lose their shape 

 or form, neither does the matter rope except to a 

 very slight extent. 



In the case of either black or foul brood, when 

 one finds a comb affected like the one shown in 

 the illustration he may assume, as a matter of 

 course, that the disease has gained a pretty good 

 start in his yard. If one hive is badly affected 

 there are liable to be a good many other grouped 

 around it that will show more or less of the dis- 

 ease. If foul or black brood is in the vicinity 

 one will do well to keep tab on every inch of his 

 brood-combs, going over them every few days, 

 especially when the bees are running short of 

 stores, either before or after the main honey-fiow. 

 It is possible that one may catch the disease at 

 its very inception. If he sees a cell or two that 

 are ragged and sunken in one hive he had better 

 go over his whole yard; but make these examina- 

 tions when bees are not robbing. If it is during 

 the robbing season, examine the hives during a 

 misty rain or at night. 



The greatest means of spreading the disease is 

 by robbing. In spite of all we can do or say in 

 our literature, many and many a bee-keeper will 

 be caielcss. He will attempt to transfer when 

 the bees are inclined to rob; to open up hives, 

 scatter the honey on his clothes, on the ground, 

 and on his tools When work ng over a diseas- 

 ed colony one slioul 1 be caelul not lo soil his 



