Ttmm mfmrnrni^'Mn mmm jourimjkiu. 



351 



anioung our own kind, so this disease 

 comes into the bee-community lilve a 

 terrible scourge, and if the bee-keeper 

 is ignorant, incautious, or indifferent, 

 it abides with him until it starves for 

 want of bees on which to feed. Ter- 

 rible, and terribly fatal as this disease 

 is known to be, experience has proved, 

 certainly, that with full knowledge, 

 and as great care, it can be kept in 

 check, and wholly cured, and that with 

 not very serious labor and expense. 

 The very nature of the disease makes 

 CAUTION the ALL IMPORTANT thing in its 

 management and cure. 



FUNGOID DISEASES IN GENERAL. 



Foul brood, like the Asiatic cholera, 

 tuberculosis, swine plague, etc., is the 

 result of the growth and development 

 in the animal tissues of myriads of 

 very minute microscopic plants, which 

 are called micro-organisms, or microbes. 

 The disease, like consumption, Asiatic 

 cholera, swine and chicken cholera, 

 etc., which result from the presence in 

 the tissues of such organisms, are 

 called " fungoid," as the organisms 

 that produce them are fungi, which 

 reproduce by division or fission. Thus 

 the little, rod-like or spherical bodies 

 separate into two precisely similar 

 parts, and there are two instead of one 

 organism. 



Many animals reproduce in the same 

 way. Some of these also develop 

 round, seed-like bodies, called spores ; 

 these are very minute, and, if placed 

 in the proper seed-bed, will again de- 

 velop into the mature, larger microbes. 

 These spores, the microbes' seed, are 

 exceedingly minute. Thousands might 

 be on dress parade, and yet, so many, 

 shoulder to shoulder, they could not 

 be seen unless the microscope were 

 called to our aid. 



Again, they are very persistent. 

 Dried up, they will live for years, may 

 be ages, ready, if properly sown on the 

 right soil, to again produce the swarms 

 of life, that feed on death. Hence the 

 danger ; hid by their very minuteness, 

 they come all unrecognized, and find 

 no fences to stay their progress. 



The endurance of the spores — often 

 retaining their vitality for years in 

 some dry crevice or corner awaiting in 

 a dried-up dormant condition, the 

 proper conditions (a suitable soil, if 

 we may so speak), when they will de- 

 velop, increase enormously, and again 

 bring death and disease — also makes 

 these micro-organisms able to work 

 the most dire mischief. Thus the sub- 

 tle nature of these spores, their invisi- 

 bility and persistence is what makes 

 the diseases they cause so alarming 

 and so dreaded. They come as still 

 as the death they cause : their very 

 presence is unknown until their fright- 



ful work is accomplished. Hence it is 

 that such perfect knowledge, and ab- 

 solute caution is necessary to combat 

 these fearful plagues. 



It is one of the chief glories of 

 Science that she has unveiled the 

 mysteries of thesis tiny destroyers, and 

 revealed the sword that shall lay them 

 low. These micro-organisms are sep- 

 arated into different groups from their 

 form, etc. Thus the micrococci are 

 globular, and reproduce by division, 

 in which process they assume the form 

 of a dumb-bell. The bacteria are 

 chain-like, or in form of short rods, 

 while the genus bacillus, which in- 

 cludes our foul brood microbe, con- 

 tains organisms that are in form of 

 straight rods or filaments. The other 

 genus, spirillum, contains spiral forms 

 which move by a curious and interest- 

 ing augur-like motion. All of these 

 cause decomposition of the material 

 on which thej- work. 



The substances that arise in this 

 decomposition either go to nourish the 

 microbes, or are given off as excreta, 

 just as we excrete carbonic acid in our 

 life economy. Thus in sweet liquids, 

 these cause fermentation, as when 

 cider changes to alcohol and then to 

 vinegar. In meat and other dead ani- 

 mal-tissues they cause putrefaction. 

 Rot then is simply the feeding of count- 

 less millions of these micro-organisms 

 on the tissue that is decaying. They 

 cannot work in the absence of spores, 

 heat or moisture. Hence by heating 

 our fruit to kill the spores, and then 

 sealing to keep the spores out ; by drj'- 

 ing our meat, and bj- placing it in i-e- 

 frigerator cars, we make it impossible 

 for these microbes to work, and so pre- 

 vent decay. 



The forms that live on live animals 

 and tissues, just as truly produce de- 

 composition, disorganize the tissues, 

 and thus cause disease, may be death. 

 Sucli are the microbes that produce 

 cholera, consumption, and diphtheria 

 among people, and foul brood among 

 bees. 



From the very nature of these micro- 

 organisms we see that it is incumbent 

 on us (would we fence them out) not 

 to introduce the spores, the seeds of 

 these most terrible weeds ; to prevent 

 the spread of seeds if the organisms 

 are once introduced; and to destroj- 

 the organisms when once they gain a 

 foothold. The first two points — keep- 

 ing them off and preventing the spread 

 — are the most important. This re- 

 quires great care and caution ; but 

 with full knowledge of all the facts, is 

 doubtless entirelj'iDossible. 



Thus we have reason to hope and 

 expect, that with fuller investigation, 

 we shall be able to escape some of the 

 very worst maladies that now atiiict 

 our race. 



WHAT IS FOUL BROOD ? 



This is the result of the growth and 

 development in the brood of bees, of 

 a bacillus, which has been named by 

 Mr. Cheshire, " bacillus alvei." These 

 bacilli look like .short rods, and when 

 magnified 1,000 times, appear about 

 one-fourth of an inch long. Thus we 

 see that they are exceedingly minute — 

 only 1-4 000 of an inch long ; and yet 

 the spores are even smaller — from one- 

 third to one-half as long. I have 

 stained specimens taken directly from 

 diseased bi'ood, and from cultures in 

 tubes, whore a little of the decayed 

 Isrood was placed in preparation of 

 beef decoction. In this last case the 

 media in the tube was soon swarming 

 vfith the bacilli. All look just alike, 

 and just like those from the decaying 

 brood. 



If we take a section of a rather small 

 black pin one-fourth inch long, we 

 will have just about the appearance of 

 these stained foul brood bacilli. From 

 what we have already learned by these 

 organisms in general, it is easy to 

 study this special foul-brood bacillus. 

 The minute ovoid spores are brought 

 to the hive probably in honey fed to, 

 or brought in t)y, the bees. It is easy 

 to see how honey in a diseased colony 

 of bees would receive these spores. It 

 is difficult to see how it could be free 

 from them. 



The spores might also be introduced 

 by giving combs containing the dis- 

 eased brood, or which had previously 

 contained it, to the bees, and so now 

 would have the dormant bacilli or 

 spores. Undoubtedly foul brood is 

 usu.ally first introduced through the 

 honey, while it is often spread rapidly 

 by an exchange of combs in an apiary 

 where only a few of the colonies are 

 affected. While the bacillus cannot 

 develop in the honey, very likely the 

 honey serves admirably to hold and 

 preserve the spores. 



APPEARANCE OP THE BROOD. 



When the larval bee is once affected, 

 it is disturbed, lies differently in the 

 cell from the healthy larva, soon turns 

 yellow or straw color, then to brown, 

 while the skin seems loose and flabby. 

 Later the mass becomes thick and 

 viscid, and turns dark brown, the 

 color of coffee before any cream is 

 added to it. It then dries up. and at 

 last forms a thin layer over the bottom 

 of the cell. While in the putrid coftee- 

 colored state, if drawn out from the 

 cell b}' inserting into it a pin-head, it 

 is stringy, and if it fails to hold to the 

 pin, it will fly back. This brown, 

 stringy, elastic mass, with no resem- 

 blance to a larva or pupa, is, I think, a 

 sure proof of the presence of the dread 

 malady. 



