THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



January 



to it by Mis.'^ Giiyton. MifeS Gaytnii 

 thought the disease was connected 

 wit!: i!ic (jiieeii. and has succeeded in 

 CUiiiig it by changing of queens. 



S ni(d)()dv may ask here what batil- 

 lus i . 



Bacilli are microscopic critters' in 

 the shape of a stick: These sticks 

 •grow rapidly under favorable circum- 

 stances, and when they reach a certain 

 length, break into two or more pieces. 

 These pieces grow as well as the fir^t 

 ones, and break 'I'-o, and so on as long 

 as there is plei.iy to eat, and the other 

 circumstances ;mv favorable, 



When the (c^d i< about to give out, 

 the last ' stick,' instead of growing 

 and breaking, contracts themselves 

 into, egg-shaped 'spoi'es.' These 

 . spores are to the sticks exactly what 

 •the seeds are to the plants. They can 

 be kept like seed perhaps for yeats, 

 under certain circumstances, without 

 any change, and then v.-hen placed in 

 the right conditions, develop into 

 sticks again, and these sticks multiply 

 like the original ones as long as they 

 are favorably placed to do so. 



Foul brood is caused by a bacillus 

 called Bacillus alvei, which developes 

 rapidly in the brood, but seemingly 

 under difficulties in the bodies of the 

 grown bees, though it is found there 

 also. The spores are transported from 

 one cell to anotlier, also from one hive 

 to another, by the bees, and even the 

 apiarist. The disease can be prevent- 

 ed from spreading to the healthy 

 hives by spraying the diseased bees 

 with some antiseptic (phenol or salicy- 

 lic acid). The operator is also to wash 

 his hands and instruments carefully. 



But these spores cannot live expos- 

 ed to the air very long, some say not 

 more than a few hours. On the oth- 



er hand, they will keep their vitality 

 almost indefinitely in honey, and 

 wluM) lioiiev (•'■iitaiiiiiig spores is fed 

 to larval li'o, ihc 'stick.-' <levelop at 

 once wiih astonishing rapidity. 



Owii u" to the impossibiliiy of reach- 

 ing (V(My where into the hive, and in 

 all ilie honey, with anticoptics, the 

 treatment with such have gencially 

 (not always) failed. 



Thcie is a similar disnaso attacking 

 the ^ilk-wol■m-. but of a more slow 

 growth, and developing itself in the 

 moth as well as in the worm. If the 

 attack is strong, that is, if the bacilli 

 are nuiiiei'ous. the worm will succumb 

 before spinning lis cocoon, but usual- 

 ly dies ill ihe cocoon. Often the 

 silk-moth comes out of the cocoon and 

 lays her eggs as usual. In such cases 

 spores are found not only in the body 

 of the silk moth, but also in the eggs: 

 and of cour.se these eggs hatch dis- 

 ea.-ed worms. 



Generally, the spores come from the 

 excreta of the diseased worms, or the 

 putrified bodies of the dead ones, and 

 are swallowed by other worms when 

 eating. 



By what proceeds, it seems as 

 though bee paralysis is much more 

 like silk-worm disease than foul 

 brood. Like silk-worm disease, bee 

 paralysis developes itself gradually, 

 and attains its full development in 

 the grown insect. I have never seen 

 any brood that did not look jierfectly 

 healthy, but for all that it might be 

 diseased already — only on account of 

 the slow development of the Bacillus 

 Gaytoni,ihe disease would not show it- 

 self until much later 



The silk-worm disease is disastrous; 

 bee paralysis comparatively not. This 

 may be due to the fact that as bees 



