THE AMERICAN JJEE JOURNAL. 



231 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Bee Diarrhoea. 



1. K. POND, .IK. 



Mr. H. O. Morris, on page 202 of tlie 

 Bee Journal, desires the experi- 

 ment made of feeding a colony of 

 bees on sugar syrup alone, and then 

 closing it into a hive for a few days 

 to see if diarrhiea is caused thereby. 

 I will say to Mr. M. that the experi- 

 ment has been tried, and the Dees 

 when released, would discharge the 

 bowels as freely as when released 

 after long confinement in the winter. 

 Wliether the eases are analogous or 

 not, 1 do not pretend to say positively, 

 but the facts are as above stated, and 

 any one can take his choice in the 

 matter. 



My bees have all wintered well, and 

 every colony I had in the fall is now 

 strong and well stocked with brood. 

 They were confined from Nov. 17 to 

 Feb. 19 without once flying, and when 

 they did come out, hardly a spot was 

 seen on hives or snow. I put up 2 or 

 3 colonies, last fall, especially to test 

 the pollen question. I had seen 

 enough in past years to convince me 

 that excess of pollen has no more to 

 do in causing bee diarrhoea than does 

 bacterium ; but in order to fullv test 

 the matter for myself. I left a'large 

 auKiunt of pollen in each of three 

 hives; so much, in fact, that a con- 

 siderable portion of it was consumed, 

 but no bee diarrlio^a has followed. I 

 still think that the whole trouble is a 

 simple inflammation of the bowels, 

 caused by eating incongruous food, 

 which acting as we know it does on 

 man, promotes excessive watery se- 

 cretions, which must be evacuated, 

 and which evacuation carries off the 

 exciting cause and thus produces a 

 cure. I may be wrong in my opin- 

 ion, but can only draw my inferences 

 from analogy ; and analogy, as a rule, 

 amounts to probability. If I am 

 wrong, I certainly wish to be set right; 

 but shall require something more 

 than mere a.ssertions, or statements 

 of opinions with only a guess work 

 basis, to cause me to change my views. 



Foxboro, Mass., March 27, 1884. 



Read at the S. B. MicbiKan Conyention. 



Cause and Cure ot Foul Brood. 



DK. A. B. MASON. 



The subject of foul brood is one of 

 great interest to every bee-keeper, 

 whether he be an amateur, keeping 

 only a few colonies for pleasure, or a 

 large number tor the sake of the 

 profit there nuiy be in the pursuit. 

 With some, it is of all absorbing in- 

 terest. Many, perhaps, have passed 

 over the articles on foni lirood in the 

 bee papers without reading them, 

 probably feeling that the subject was 

 of no interest to them ; when, in fact, 

 the disease was in their own apiary ; 

 in saying this. I am giving my own ex- 

 perience as well as that of others. 



At the recent meeting of the Michi- 

 gan Bee-Keepers' Association, it was 

 stated that there was no foul brood in 

 the region where the convention was 



being held, but before the close of the 

 session, a comb with the malignant 

 disease was shown that was taken 

 from an apiary in the town where the 

 convention was in session. This is 

 not an exceptional case. Localities 

 supposed to be free from the disease, 

 are found to be badly infected, and 

 those suffering from its ravages are 

 not aware of the nature of the trouble 

 that is keeping their colonies weak. 



I was much surprised, last season, 

 at receiving a sample of the disease 

 from this locality (Adrian, Mich) ; the 

 person sending it wishing to know if 

 it was foul brood, and stating that it 

 was taken from one of several box- 

 hives from which the honey had been 

 taken by a neighbor, and the hives 

 and combs left exposed so that the 

 bees from other colonies could clean 

 up and save the waste honey. 



During the season of 1879, I had 

 charge of a neighbor's apiary, three 

 miles from home. The bees were all 

 in box-hives, and I transferred them 

 to movable frames, and there was 

 where I flrst saw foul brood. With as 

 many as 150 colonies at one time, he 

 had done well with them, but they 

 had gradually dwindled down to 12. 



I did not then know what was the 

 trouble, and did not think of foul 

 brood ; and for several days it did not 

 not occur to me that I was handling 

 that whi(;h has ]Moved such a scourge 

 to many, and. unless checked, is 

 bound to spread through the length 

 and breadth of the land, and prove it- 

 self to he one of the items on the 

 " other ■■ (or dark) " side "of bee-keep- 

 ing that Mr. Hutchinson has recently 

 been calling our attention to. It is ii 

 disease that was known and men- 

 tioned by ancient agricultural writers. 

 Its origin is said by some to be ow- 

 ing to the exposure of the brood to 

 cold, or cold and dampness ; by others, 

 to the lack of proper food and nour- 

 ishment ; and that, nnder certain con- 

 ditions, it will start from young brood 

 whose heads have been cut otf with 

 the uncapping knife, and pulled out 

 by the bees, and left to decay on the 

 bottom board of the hive. 



A writer on foul brood says ■' a poor 

 queen may be the cause ; the queen's 

 progeny being so weak as not to have 

 life enough to grow to maturity, but 

 die when they are five, six or "seven 

 days old." It is said by others that 

 none of these conditions will produce 

 the disease. 



At the Northeastern Convention, in 

 IHSl, Mr. Betsinger is reported as say- 

 ing, ■• No honey, plenty of foul brood ; 

 plenty of honey, no foul brood.'' Such 

 has not been the case with me. The 

 season of 1S82 was the best honey 

 season I everhad, and 1883 the poorest, 

 but foul brood was no worse with me 

 in 1888 than in 1882. 



It is said that l)acteria are the real 

 cause of the disease. If such is the 

 case, we have a very small specimen 

 of animal life to deal with, for it is 

 said they are about the nine-thou- 

 sandth part of a)i inch across, allow- 

 ing about 3,000.0(10 of them to be in 

 one layer on the bottom of a worker 

 cell. 



Prof. Cook, in his Manual of the 

 Apiary, says "it is the result of 



fungous or vegetable growth." Not 

 being a microscopist, I have not at- 

 tempted to ascertain whether its cause 

 is of a vegetable or animal nature, 

 and in curing the disease, I do not 

 care which it is. 



That it is contagious, and very 

 easily communicated by one colony 

 (or bee) to another colony, is well 

 known by those who have had to deal 

 with the malignant variety. It may 

 also be communicated by the apiarist 

 or an infected hive or implement, or 

 any thing that has been in contact 

 with the infected colony. 



At the Michigan State Convention 

 a member, whose name I did not 

 learn, was giving his experience with 

 foul brood, and stated in effect that 

 he thought it was produced by the 

 chilling of the brood : for he was in a 

 new country and the disease had never 

 been knowii to be in that region, and 

 he did not get it in buying bees or 

 queens. I asked him if he had ever 

 bought and used foundation. He said 

 he had. I then asked him if he had 

 tlie disease in his apiarj; before or 

 after getting the foundation, and he 

 said " after." Mr. D. A. Jones then 

 asked me if I did not know that the 

 heat necessary for melting wax and 

 making it into foundation killed the 

 disease. I said I did, but the founda- 

 tion may h.ave been handled by some 

 one that had been handling the dis- 

 ease. 



There are many ways in which it 

 may be spread, and that innocently 

 too, as regards some of those that aid 

 in spreading it. For instance, I make 

 my own foundation, and some for my 

 neighbors. To make that foundation 

 I have to buy wax. Now, suppose 

 some one or more bee-keepers have 

 lost their bees by foul brood, as many 

 have. They melt tlie old combs and 

 sell the wax. and are not careful about 

 handling the wax and hives ; some of 

 the disease may be on the wax I buy. 

 The last thing I do, perhaps, before 

 doing up some foundation, is to handle 

 that wax, and you can readily see 

 what might be the result. 



Some bee-keepers dread the disease 

 so much that when they purchase a 

 queen, they let her and the accom- 

 panying bees out of the shipping cage 

 and destroy all the bees, letting nona 

 escape ; put the queen in a new cage, 

 and burn or disinfect the old one. 

 Much more might be said of the dif- 

 ferent Ways of spreading the malady, 

 but it is not necessary to enumerate 

 further. 



A dwindling away of the affected 

 colony is sometimes given as the first 

 sign of the disease. In my experi- 

 ence, a colony must lie very badly 

 diseased before this occurs." In a 

 work on foul bifiod by Mr. Kohnke. it 

 is said: " Hefore foul brood makes 

 its actual appearance, certain signs 

 forestall the disease. The colony is 

 not as industrious as otliers of the 

 same mv.e and stamp ; the brood will 

 be found not to lie compact, but scat- 

 tered. On examining the colony, 

 after a few days, some cells will be 

 founil with small holes in the sealing, 

 which will also present a sunken 

 appearance.'" Such lias notbeen-my 

 experience. The flrst noticable dis- 



