THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



the pungeut odor diffused. Since honey (H12 

 C12 012—2 H O) contains no nitrogen, it is 

 manifest that the substances forming the tissue 

 of the cocoon enveloping tlie embryo, must 

 have been derived from the nitrogenous pallen 

 consumed by the larvae. 



It is tlius demonstrable that the cocoon 

 tissues remaining in the brood cells contain ni- 

 trogen and sulphur ; tbat these absorb water 

 like a sponge ; and when this happens they he- 

 come coated witli mouUl and finally undergo 

 decomposition. The honey gathered and stor- 

 ed in the cells, hegins to ferment, and in this 

 state furnishes the most fitting material for gen- 

 erating foulbrood. 



Now conceiveof any formvf\i&ie\ex of wooden 

 liim, tenanted by hees, in which they consume 

 their food, and in which consequently a propor- 

 tionably great quantum of aqueous vapor is 

 generated and condensed against the sides, just 

 as we see it in spring and fall on the window 

 glass of our dwellings, and it may well be con- 

 tended tbat tiie moisture, (which must eventu- 

 ally be generated in any loooden hive,) with its 

 resulting evils, is more and more certainly det- 

 rimental to bees than any other malign influ- 

 ence to whicli they are liable to be exposed. 

 ******** 



Having thus, as we conceive, shown conclu- 

 sively the effect which water has on the combs 

 and tlie life of the bees, we have only to add 

 that this dangerous, malady—foulbrood— finds 

 its source naturally in the circumstances to 

 which we have traced it. If namely, pollen be- 

 comes putrefied by the conjoint operation of the 

 oxygen of the atmosphere, water and heat, then 

 the cause of foulbrood is obviously discovered. 

 Precisely because wooden hives are now more 

 commonly used than formerly, and the condensa- 

 tion of moisture is thus of more frequent occur- 

 rence and more abundant, complaints of the 

 prevalence and diffusion of this malady, are far 

 more numerous than Ihey formerly were, when 

 straw hives were in almost general use. 



That the cause of foulbrood must properly be 

 sought for in pollen made putrescent by mois- 

 ture, will be clearly eslablislied by the follow- 

 ing experiment : Take a fourth of an ounce of 

 pollen, and triturace it between the fingers ; place 

 it in an open phial and keep it constantly moist 

 with lukewarm water, exposing it for eight or 

 ten days to a temperature of 62° to Go® F. The 

 mass will then, if the moistening has not 

 been neglected, have fully undergone decompo- 

 sition. Having satisfied yourself of this, take 

 half a pound of honey warmed to liquidity, 

 pour the decomposed pollen in it, and mix the 

 whole thoroughly by shaking or stirring. Let 

 it now stand eight or ten days longer, in a tem- 

 perature of from 65® to 70o F., and then feed a 

 healthy colony with this fermenting substance 

 — taking care to do the feeding in a close cham- 

 ber, to prevent other bees from participating. 

 The brood in this colony will, icithin a week, be 

 dead and putrid. 



The attentive reader will thus understand 

 that the pollen decomposed by the action of 

 moisture and heat, caused the honey to undergo 

 a chemical change. In other words, the pu- 

 trescent pollen was the leaven by which the 



fermentable honey with which it came in con- 

 j tact was brought into a state of fermentation; 

 i and being then fed, ^indigested, by the nursing 

 j bees to the larvoe of workers and drones, just 

 previous to their last transformation, carried 

 the fermenting process over into their delicate 

 organism — causing putrefaction and death. 

 The contagious matter of this disastrous mala- 

 dy, as is well known, speedily becomes diffused 

 [ far and wide, carrying with it the destruction 

 j of bee-culture in all its range. It is hence speci- 

 i ally important that we acquaint ourselves with 

 its nature and mode of diffusion, that we maybe 

 the better able to preserve our colonies from it 

 or cure them when attacked. 



In organic bodies we clearly distinguish two 

 different classes of substances. One of these, 

 under the influence of the oxygen of the atmos- 

 phere, in certain conditions of temperature and 

 moisture, is susceptible of decomposition. Prom- 

 inent among these are all bodies rich in nitro- 

 gen and sulphur (phosphorus). The others do 

 not undergo decomposition so long as they are 

 kept pure and unmixed. To these belong non- 

 nitrogenous substances (starch, sugar, fats, 

 &c. ) To the first-class belongs the pollen gath- 

 ered by bees ; to the second class belong honey 

 and the wax produced therefrom. When a nitro- 

 genous substance undergoes decomposition, its 

 j constituent elements possess the peculiar prop- 

 erty of communicating the putrefactive process 

 1 to any non-nitrogenous substances with which 

 tliey are brought in contact, and thus become 

 the occasion of the separation of the elements of 

 which organic substances are composed and 

 enable them to enter iato other combinations. 

 This phenomenon may be distinctly observed 

 by placing some sound organic substance in 

 close contact with a rotten apple or other decay- 

 ing fruit. In a short time it will be acted on by 

 the atoms of the putrescent body; and the in- 

 fection will in consequence speedily spread 

 more and more, in concentric-circles, until it 

 whelms the whole in one common abysm of de- 

 composition and destruction. If now such pu- 

 trescent substance be suddenly diied, decompo- 

 sition is at once arrested and ceases; but imme- 

 diately recommences and proceeds, when again 

 permeated bj' moisture and heat. 



Having, in the foregoing, given a somewhat 

 minute account of the nature of the putrefac- 

 tive process, it will readily be understood that 

 so soon as the larva, prior to its final metamor- 

 phosis, partakes of the undigested jelly, compo- 

 sed of putrescent pollen and houey, the fermen- 

 tive process will be communicated to its body, 

 which, infected thereby, at once passes into a 

 state of decomposition. So long as the colony 

 continues populous, the extraordinary internal 

 heat of the hive dries up successively the putrid 

 larval remains ; but minute motes, such as we 

 may see fioating in the sunbeams in a darkened 

 chamber, become detached and float about in 

 the atmosphere of the hive as well as in that of 

 the apiary, and are spread abroad by every cur- 

 rent of air. They are thus carried to and enter 

 other hives, and may finally reach even distant 

 apiaries. They find a lodgment in the pollen, the 

 honey, and the cells of the hives they enter, in- 

 fecting the contents, and communicating the 



