46 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL., 



all know hereafter when your bees have 

 foul brood. 



" Now, all circle around this hive, and 

 I will lay this rotten comb down on the 

 cover, and show you what I can. You 

 see this is a bad case— foul brood in a 

 malignant form. It has been in this 

 apiary a year or more. Now, right here, 

 in the center of this comb, is where it 

 started, as you see this rotten, offensive 

 mass. This disease was brought here 

 likely when Harry bought his bees from 

 neighbor Jones, and it began in hive 

 after hive in the center of the combs, 

 and spread like this one until you see 

 there is only a very few cells hatching 

 around the edges, and soon none will 

 hatch at all, and they are gone forever. 



"Now look al this ropy substance. 

 See how it stretches ; and see these 

 sunken cells with a little pin-hole 

 through the caps of the cells. These 

 holes have been made by the bees, think- 

 ing to remove it, but when the cell was 

 punctured, the sickening or disgusting 

 smell caused the scavenger to back out 

 from her job, and thus it goes on. Or 

 the small hole may be caused by explo- 

 sion, as the air-tight, or almost air- 

 tight, cell may become so crowded with 

 gas that a small hole in the weakest 

 part of the cap (which is the center, as 

 it is farthest from any supporting wall)— 

 I am not going to say just what makes 

 those little holes, but one of these ways 

 seems most likely to be right. But we 

 will pass on by knowing the hole is there, 

 for we see it, as it is the things we know 

 that we wish to teach. 



"This dread disease is like yellow 

 fever, or any other catching disease. It 

 will take hold of its victim at once when 

 properly exposed. 



"Now, I will try to show you why 

 dead brood does not produce foul brood." 



"Yes, all right; that's what we are 

 anxious to hear." 



"First, let me give you the points I 

 wish to make. We have always had 

 dead brood, and we have not always had 

 foul brood ; as I know I can remember 

 hearing father talk about dead brood, 

 and I never heard of foul brood until 

 after bees were imported to our Ameri- 

 can shores from distant lands. 



" Next, foul brood is a walking or fly- 

 ing ' roaring lion,' blood-thirsty, and 

 kills live brood, not caring anything 

 about dead brood, nor would it ever 

 spread an inch if dead brood was its 

 only show. Its germs will no doubt live 

 in dead brood awhile, but before it can 

 start, or make one single bit of prog- 

 ress, it must have live, fresh blood to 

 devour. It is the same with small-pox. 



What would you think of me, if I should 

 say that dead body yonder will start 

 small-pox ? Why, you would likely say 

 I was foolish, as you say small-pox 

 travels through the living, and kills the 

 living, and cares nothing for the dead, 

 more than its germs will take hold of a 

 live being, if such is exposed before the 

 germs all die. But never will it hunt 

 for another dead body to start again. It 

 is the same way with foul brood. A 

 common air-germ looks after a dead 

 body to start and thrive, and will not 

 take hold of decaying matter in freezing 

 weather, nor will a dead substance de- 

 cay until it is warm enough for air- 

 germs to grow. I believe freezing will 

 also stop the germs of foul brood. But 

 I am not yet able to say that freezing 

 will kill a foul-brood germ, but I know 

 cold weather will check it, the same as 

 common air-germs. 



"Now, have I made it plain to you 

 that foul brood does 7iot start from dead 

 brood ? Well, I will rehearse to you 

 that foul brood has no such a germ as a 

 common air-germ, nor is there any com- 

 mon air-germ that has any part of a 

 foul brood germ about it, as the two are 

 as different as day and night ; and to 

 close this lesson on foul brood, I will say 

 that I will endeavor to give you its cure 

 in a future lesson, if I can." 



The next lesson will be on Bee-Para- 

 lysis or the " Nameless Bee-Disease." 

 Then, before we get through with Dis- 

 eases of Bees, we will take up every- 

 thing known as a disease, and treat it as 

 clearly as we can. While I have not 

 seen a real case of foul brood for ten 

 years, aside from specimens sent me, I 

 had a four years' siege of it, and lost 

 100 colonies of bees by it, and I tell you 

 I learned something about it. I will add 

 right here, that I am firmly convinced, 

 by what I have read about foul brood 

 lately, that it is of a much milder type 

 than it used to be. It is said that the 

 longer a catching disease runs, the 

 lighter it gets. So foul brood may, and 

 I trust will, play out ere long, and be 

 remembered only in the past. 



Jennie Atchley. 

 (To be continued.) 



Weak Colonies— Greenish Pollen. 



Mks. Atchlky : — Will you please tell 

 us through the AmkkicanBkk Journal, 

 in your department, how to manage 

 weak colonies, as I always read that 

 part first. I notice what Doolittle has 



