BOOK IX. XIII. 1-4 



XIII. The next thing is that remedies are needed for Kemodies 

 those which are suffering from disease or pestilence, diseases of 

 The ruinous disease of pestilence ' is rare in bees, nor '''^®^- 

 can I find anything which ought to be done other 

 than what we have prescribed in the case of the other 

 animals (except that the hives should be moved 

 far away) ; but the causes of common ailments " in 

 bees are more easily diagnosed and remedies found 

 for them. The most serious is their annual distemper 2 

 at the beginning of spring, Avhen the spurge-bush 

 flowers and the elms put forth their bitter blossoms ; for 

 as by fresh apples, so are they allured by these early 

 flowers and eat greedily of them after their winter 

 hunger, such food not being hurtful when not eaten 

 beyond satiety, but when they have gorged them- 

 selves abundantly with it, they die from a flux of the 

 belly, unless help is quickly given. For spurge 

 produces looseness of the bowels in the larger 

 animals also, but elm has this effect particularly on 

 bees. This is the reason why bees rarely continue 

 numerous in the districts of Italy which are planted 

 with trees of this kind. And so at the beginning of 3 

 spring, if you supply them with medicated food, by 

 means of the same remedies it is possible both to 

 provide against their being troubled by plague * 

 of this kind and also to cure them when they are 

 already suffering from it. Now I myself do not 

 venture to insist on the treatment which Hyginus, 

 following ancient authorities, has recorded, since I have 

 not tried it ; but it is open to those who wish to do so 

 to test it. For his instructions are : when a plague of 4 

 this kind has attacked the bees, and the bodies are 

 found for dead in heaps under the honeycombs, lay 

 them aside in a dry place through the winter, and, at 



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