42 DISEASES OF BEES, 



venience, he has given them up as not being worth the- 

 trouble of carrying about. On one occasion it happened 

 that part of a swarm which the writer was hiving on a cold 

 morning crept unnoticed, for the sake of warmth, between 

 his shirt and vest, and on his standing up a great number of 

 them stung him through the shirt, just over the region of the 

 heart. Fortunately, on drawing the shirt away, the stings 

 were brought with it, and no inconvenience followed, be- 

 yond a temporary acceleration of the heart's action, but 

 should this happen to one not so well used to being stung, 

 he should lie down as soon as possible, a wet cloth should 

 be placed over the part stung, and in the course of an hour 

 he will be all right. This case is mentioned as an extra- 

 ordinary one, such as might not happen once in a lifetime. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



In this country bees are only subject to two diseases, 

 dysentry and foul brood, the latter being very destructive, 

 infectious, and difficult to cure. The first is brought on by 

 giving the bees too watery food to winter on, by dampness in 

 the hive while wintering, and by too long confinement to the 

 hive by bad weather. 



A stock of bees stricken with dysentry gives off a peculiar 

 odour, and on looking into the hive, the floor-board will be 

 seen covered with dead bees, while the combs are soiled with 

 their excretions. The cure for dysentry is very simple, and 

 consists in taking the soiled combs away and giving clean 

 ones instead, and one containing sealed food. The stock 

 should be transferred to a clean, dry hive, with warm quilts. 

 When this is done the bees speedily recover, and are, gene- 

 rally speaking, little the worse of the attack. 



Foul brood attacks the maturing bee while in the second 

 or larval state of growth, and an outbreak of it is beyond 

 question the most serious calamity which can happen in an 

 apiary. So destructive is it that when it appeared in the 

 apiary of the great Dzierzon, out of 500 stocks he lost all 

 but 10. If the combs of a foul broody stock are closely ex- 

 amined it will be noticed that many of the brood cappings, 

 instead of slightly projecting beyond the face of the comb. 



