AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



311 



nectar deposit them on the flowers so 

 that they may become by chance attach- 

 ed to another bee from a healthy colf)ny 

 in its visits to the same flowers, and thus 

 become the means of spreading the dis- 

 ease ; or whether a bee from a diseased 

 colony will convey the disease, if on re- 

 turning from the field with a load of 

 nectar it enter a hive not its own, I 

 know not ; but there are numerous ways 

 by which the disease may certainly be 

 spread which should be familiar to every 

 bee-keeper. They all depend upon the 

 principle that the incorporation of the 

 bacteria with the food to be given the 

 larval bees will start the disease afresh. 



Some of the more common ways in 

 which this is done are the following : 



1st. The "swarming out" of bees 

 from a diseased hive and coalescing 

 with a healthy colony. 



2nd. The artificial uniting of a mass 

 of bees from a diseased colony with a 

 healthy colony. 



3rd. The giving of a comb from a dis- 

 eased colony, or even a very small piece 

 of such diseased comb to a healthy col- 

 ony. 



-ith. The robbing of a diseased colony 

 by bees from a healthy colony. 



5th. The feeding of honey taken from 

 diseased colonies to healthy bees. 



When it is known that the disease is 

 caused by bacteria, it would be readily 

 granted that it would be contracted 

 from comb containing diseased larvse, 

 but it may be questioned, as it has been, 

 whether it could be contracted from 

 honey taken from the combs of a dis- 

 eased colony ; but when it is considered 

 that the bees are continually traveling 

 back and forth over open cells contain- 

 ing the putrid remains of the diseased 

 larvas to the open cells of the honey, 

 and that they endeavor to remove from 

 the cells the glue-like mass with their 

 tongues, and then insert their tongues 

 into the cells of honey to obtain their 

 food, it must be admitted that it would 

 be very strange if the honey were not 

 thoroughly contaminated; and that it is 

 so, and that the life of the germs is pre- 

 served in the honey, seems abundantly 

 shown by an experiment I made with oO 

 colonies to which I fed honey, not to ex- 

 ceed one per cent, of which was taken 

 from diseased colonies. The result was 

 that within two weeks 29 of the 30 

 colonies were badly diseased. 



Honey may be safely considered the 

 great source of danger, because under 

 all possible circumstances it is greedily 

 taken by the bees and conveyed to their 

 hives and their own stores thereby con- 



taminated. It is to the last degree im- 

 portant, therefore, that whenever the 

 disease is known to exist, or its existence 

 suspectcid, extreme care be taken that 

 the bees have no opportunity to get a 

 taste of contaminated or suspected 

 honey. 



SIGNS OF THE DISEASE. 



Now as to the signs by which the pres- 

 ence of the disease may be certainly 

 known. 



So far as I have been able to discover 

 there is one symptom, and one only, by 

 which the average bee-keeper may deter- 

 mine without danger of error whether 

 the disease is present, and that is found 

 in the character of the remains of the 

 larvaj before, in the course of time, they 

 become dried up. 



Brood dies from several causes — per- 

 haps from other diseases — but there is 

 always a plain distinction to be observed 

 between the appearance of the larvae 

 dead from foul brood and of that dead 

 from other causes. The substance of 

 the former (foul brood) is homogene- 

 ous throughout, that is, all parts of the 

 mass in a given cell are of the same con- 

 sistency, that of the latter generally 

 varies in consistency, one part being 

 watery, another more or less solid; the 

 former is of a solid color, brownish like 

 coffee prepared for drinking by the addi- 

 tion of milk, the latter is usually of dif- 

 ferent colors, often partly white and 

 partly black but if in the grub stage it 

 is nearly white; the former is without 

 form like a drop of glue, or becomes so 

 on being touched, the latter in all cases 

 retains its shape with more or less per- 

 sistency; and lastly the former is always 

 viscid, the latter never. This character- 

 istic alone, I believe, always furnishes a 

 sure test. 



Take a sliver, match, or straw and in- 

 serting one end into the dead matter in a 

 cell withdraw it ; if the matter proves to 

 be sticky or ropy as shown by following 

 out the straw in a string you have foul 

 brood, otherwise not. So far as is now 

 known if the above rules are carefully 

 applied there never need he any doubt 

 as to whether the disease exists or not. 

 'However, unless one's attention is es- 

 pecially directed to the matter, one is 

 not likely to discover the presence of the 

 disease until it has practically destroyed 

 the colony, and perhaps also been con- 

 veyed to other colonies, hence it is im- 

 portant as an assistance in the discovery 

 of the disease to bear in mind the follow- 

 ing facts: 



The life of the larva may be destroyed 

 either before its cell is capped or after. 



