DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF BEES 



bees, who will in turn carry its infected honey 

 to healthy colonies, and in this way the disease 

 will spread with alarming rapidity. 



Sometimes a beginner will imagine he has 

 a case of foul brood because the bees in warm 

 weather will sometimes leave the cappings of 

 brood they are sealing in an unfinished shape, 

 so that there will be a small pinhole opening in 

 the centre of the cell, but if the larvae are nice 

 and white, there is no occasion for alarm. In 

 the case of foul brood the perforation will not 

 be regular and rounded, but will have ragged 

 edges, and this is due to the fact that the bees 

 seem to have an instinct that something is 

 wrong with the brood, since it fails to hatch, 

 and they tear away a part of the cappings to 

 determine what is the matter. 



The best preventive measure is to take 

 such good care of every colony that it is al- 

 ways strong, for bees are like human beings, 

 the stronger are better able to resist disease 

 in every form; and as a rule a strong colony 

 is seldom affected unless the spores are directly 



191 



