268 SUMMEB. 



THE CAUSE UNCERTAIlf. 



But when I attempted the next link in the chain, 

 (to wit,) "What caused the death of this brood just at 

 this stage of development ? I was obliged to stop, 

 Not the least satisfaction could be obtained. All in- 

 quiries among the bee-keepers of my acquaintance 

 were met with profound ignorance. They had "never 

 heard of it !" No work on bees that I consulted ever 

 mentioned it. 



Subsequently, I had more stocks in the same situ- 

 ation. I found, whenever the disease existed to any 

 extent, that the few bees matured were insufficient to 

 replace those that were lost ; that the colony rapidly 

 declined, and never afterwards cast a swarm ! 



REMEDIAL EXPERIMENTS. 



As for remedies, I tried pruning out all those combs 

 containing brood, leaving only such as contained 

 honey, and let the bees construct new for breeding. 

 It was " no use," these new combs were invariably, 

 filled with diseased brood! The only thing effectual 

 was to drive out the bees, into an empty hive. In 

 this way, when done in season, I generally succeeded 

 in rearing a healthy stock. But here was a loss of all 

 surplus honey, and a swarm or two that might have 

 been obtained from a healthy one 



PUBLIC INQUIRY AND ANSWERS. 



I had so many cases of the kind, that I became 

 somewhat alarmed, and made inquiry through the 

 Cultivator, (an agricultural paper,)-as to a cause, and 

 remedy, offering a " reward for one that would not 



