ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. 317 



decomposition when exposed to air and 

 moisture; that is, to undergo fermenta- 

 tion and putrefaction. It is hence obvious 

 that pollen, even though having under- 

 gone only partial decomposition, must 

 affect the bodies of bees and larva? differ- 

 ently from what it did or would do in its 

 natural condition; and there is no longer 

 a doubt that it is from pollen, thus par- 

 tially decomposed, that the foul-brood 

 originates. That it can readily undergo 

 decomposition is manifest. Moisture, 

 emanating in part from unsealed honey, 

 and in part from the perspiration of the 

 bees, becomes condensed in the hive from 

 external cold, and in the fall and toward 

 spring it is frequently found hanging in 

 drops on the combs, just as we find it 

 condensed on the windows of our dwell- 

 ing-houses. If one of these drops falls 

 into a cell containing pollen, decomposi- 

 tion of the latter speedily commences, 

 and is then communicated by the bees to 

 the pollen in the other cells; and the 

 cause of foul-brood is hence abundantly 

 present in a hive thus circumstanced." 



There is no cure for this disease when 

 it has once obtained headway. Destruc- 

 tion of the bees and honey and thorough 

 purification of the hive is the only remedy 

 to prevent the spread of the disease. As 

 a means of preventing the disease, Dr. 

 Preuss gives the following directions: 

 Feed no fermenting honey ; feed no meal, 

 especially when the hive is threatened 

 with disease ; destroy carefully every par- 

 ticle of dead and moldering matter : and 

 avoid weakening bees during the brood- 

 ing seasons, so that they will not be able 

 properly to maintain the heat necessary 

 for the development of the brood. 



With the light now thrown upon the 



nature of this disease by these recent dis- 

 coveries, bee-keepers may be able to 

 conquer the contagious malady whenever 

 it makes its appearance. 



BEES, Ages of. — The queen passes the 

 period of about three days in the egg and 

 five as a worm; the workers then close 

 her cell, and she immediately begins to 

 spin her cocoon, which takes her from 

 twenty to twenty-four hours. On the 

 tenth and eleventh days, and perhaps a 

 part of the twelfth day, she seems to be 

 exhausted by her hard labor. She now 

 remains in almost complete repose; she 

 then passes four or five days as a nympha, 

 and on the fifteenth to the sixteenth day 

 a perfect queen is attained. Much de- 

 pends upon the strength of the colony 

 and the heat of the season, which will 

 vary it from one to two days. 



The drone passes three days in the egg, 

 and about six in the worm, and changes, 

 into a perfect insect on the twenty-fourth 

 day after the egg is laid. Much depends 

 upon the strength and heat of the colony, 

 which should be about 70 Fahrenheit 

 tor their speedy development. They lie 

 in rather a dilatory state for several days 

 after they hatch before taking wing. 



The working bee spins its cocoon in 

 about thirty-six hours. After passing 

 three days in the egg in this state of pre- 

 paration for a new life, it gradually under- 

 goes a great change, and becomes armed 

 with a firmer body, with scales of a brown- 

 ish color, and somewhat fringed with light 

 hairs. On its belly it has six rings or 

 scales. After it has reached the twenty- 

 first day of existence — reckoning from the 

 egg — it comes forth from the cell on the 

 twenty-first to the twenty-second day a. 

 perfect insect, and is termed an image. 



