136 THE HONEY-BEE. 



The late Mr. Woodbury, whose name is " a house- 

 hold word" among bee-keepers, was unfortunate 

 enough to have this disease among his hives in the 

 spring and summer of 1863. He published a graphic 

 account of his trouble in the Journal of Horticulture 

 of July 2ist, 1863, entitled, "A Dwindling Apiary." 

 By very vigorous measures he was able to get rid of 

 the pest ; but the conclusions to which he came were 

 the following : " First let me endorse the opinions of 

 both Dzierzon and Rothe, that, except under very 

 especial circumstances, it is unadvisable to attempt 

 the cure of a foul-breeding stock : better, far better, 

 to consign its inhabitants to the brimstone-pit : the 

 hive itself, if a straw one, to the flames : the comb to 

 the melting-pot : and appropriate the honey to any 

 purpose except that of feeding bees." 



The detection of signs of the disease is not very 

 difficult, especially in hives with moveable frames. 

 If, during the working season, a stock seems not 

 only not to increase, but to diminish in numbers ; 

 if fewer and fewer bees appear active about the 

 entrance ; and if, above all, a peculiarly disagreeable 

 odour is perceptible, at even one or two feet from 

 the entrance, it is time to look to the condition of 

 the interior. An infected comb, on examination, is 

 seen to be dark and unwholesome-looking. If the 

 caps covering the brood be distinctly sunk, so as to 

 show a concave surface, the existence of the disease 

 is almost a certainty ; and if the covering of one or 

 more of these cells be removed, there will be found 

 dark coffee-coloured, slimy liquid, the remains of the 

 larvae destroyed by the bacillus. 



