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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



occasion for renewed self-congratulations. 



By the middle of June we bad grown 

 less vigilant; partly, because of a com- 

 fortable assurance that all was well ; part- 

 ly because the swarming season brought, 

 &s usual, new cares, perplexities and de- 

 lights. Just at this time — looking into 

 No. 7, one day, with some thought of di- 

 viding the colony — we again found dead 

 brood. Not, as before, confined to one 

 ■comb, but quite evenly, though sparingly, 

 distributed throughout the hive. We 

 judged that there were twenty or thirty 

 dead larvae to each comb. And — to us the 

 most alarming feature of all — the caps to 

 many of these cells were perforated ! We 

 could no longer, as hitherto, allay our 

 fears by reflecting that all descriptions of 

 foul brood made mention of perforated 

 caps, and that these we had not found. 

 Here, plainly enough, were the perfora- 

 tions ! As to the fact that the odor was 

 less offensive than that which foul brood 

 is said to emit — this might be explained 

 by supposing that the disease had not 

 reached a sufficiently advanced stage for 

 the complete manifestation of all the dis- 

 agreeable symptoms. 



Bitterly did we reproach ourselves now 

 that we had not destroyed these combs the 

 preceding season. For, admitting the 

 ' disease to be foul brood, we at once con- 

 cluded that its re-appearance must be con- 

 sequent — as Dzierzon says, is not unlikely 

 in such cases — upon " infectious matter 

 remaining latent in the hive." Subse- 

 quent developments induced us to ques- 

 tion this; and a strong doubt of it was at 

 once suggested when, on the next day, we 

 discovered that our very best colony, No. 

 3, was affected quite as badly as No. 7. 

 There had been no interchange of comb — 

 no communication of any kind, between 

 tiie two. We had noticed no robbing. 

 Tlie fact that the disease had made no 

 more progress in No. 7 than in No. 3, also 

 seemed to indicate that the former could 

 not justly be held accountable for the 

 troubles of the latter. 



That some unknown cause had pro- 

 duced the disease in each liive, independ- 

 ently of the other, seemed most probable. 

 And it was as easy to suppose that, in the 

 case of No. 7, it had been re-introduced, 

 as that, through the fall, winter and 

 spring, it had lurked unmanifested in the 

 combs which — after all, we wished had 

 been destroyed ! 



We resolved to trifle no longer ; we would 

 destroy the combs, and put hives, frames, 

 and everything but the bees, quite out of 

 the way. As both hives were full of brood, 

 and the proportion of diseased brood 

 was so small. We decided to begin by di- 

 viding each colony; putting the greater 

 part of the bees, with their respective 

 queees, into empty hives with new, empty 

 frames. Nothing that had had communi- 

 cation with the old hives was left any- 



where in the vicinity of these new colon- 

 ies. The hives containing the infected 

 combs, with bees enough in each to care 

 for the brood, were removed some distance 

 and placed side by side, with entrances so 

 contracted that but one bee could pass. 

 We purposed to leave them thus till all 

 the health}^ brood should have emerged; 

 taking care that a new supply was not 

 started. Then we would unite the bees, 

 putting them in a new hive, with empty 

 frames, and — as we flattered ourselves — 

 should have secured three strong, healthd 

 colonies, from our two strong, but diseasey 

 colonies. 



Our plan was faithfully carried out. 

 The new colonies were watched a little at 

 the outset, to see that comb-building went 

 right, and then, being adjudged in no need 

 of further treatment, were left quite io 

 themselves. In the old hives the healthy 

 brood duly matured, while the diseased 

 brood was removed by the bees. (By the 

 way, I am convinced that the bees attend 

 to this matter much better after the re- 

 moval of their queen; perhaps because 

 the nurses — relieved from their ordinary 

 duties— have the leisure and the inclina- 

 tion to act as scavengers.) When the col- 

 onies were united, there remained in these 

 combs — twenty-two in all — no trace of an}^- 

 thing wrong. We extracted the honey 

 and put hives and combs in the garret till 

 we would have leisure to melt the combs 

 into wax. 



Meanwhile, the united colony troubled 

 us by persistently remaining very much 

 on the outside of its new dwelling. Near- 

 iy forty-eight hours had elapsed, when I 

 said to Nellie: 



" Those bees seem too much discouraged 

 to go to work. There can be no risk, 

 surely, in giving them a comb of honey, 

 now." 



Much pleased were we to see how 

 quickly the bees poured into the hive, on 

 receiving the honey. Much less pleased 

 were we, three hours later, when, every 

 bee having supplied itself with all the 

 honey it could carry, the whole colony 

 rushed forth, rose high in the air, — a mag- 

 nificent body they were! — and moved off 

 in a straight line for parts unknown. It 

 was not particularly gratifying to reflect 

 that their conduct had been sucli as should 

 have given abundant warning of their de- 

 sign. 



As, after seeing the bees safely off, I 

 returned through the bee-yard, feeling, for 

 the moment, very much in need of con- 

 solation, I paused" to look at the best of the 

 two new colonies, made from No's 3 and 7 

 more than three weeks before. The hive 

 was very nearly filled with comb, and the 

 sheets of capped worker brood, with their 

 regularly quilted and delicately browned 

 surfaces, were indeed beautiful to see. 



I was just beginning to realize that, in 

 due time, we should recover from the ef- 



