46 : 
most frequently follows confinement to the hives for an undue length 
of time and under unfavorable conditions. Bees maintain the heat 
necessary for life by the consumption of honey. When the honey is 
deficient or low in the natural sugars, as when it is thin and unripe, or 
contains honeydew or an excess of pollen, they have to consume an 
undue amount to keep up the normal heat, and the system becomes 
overloaded with waste matter. Unless the weather permits the bees 
to fly occasionally, the matter is voided in the hives and the trouble 
is aggravated. 
Leaky or insufficiently ventilated hives will cause the bees extra 
effort to keep warm and so bring about the trouble, even though the 
honey is perfect for their purpose. A warm, sunny day will usually 
cure the trouble, but if combs are badly soiled, it may be necessary 
to give the bees a clean set of combs and a clean hive and feed them 
some warm sugar-syrup. . 
Moderate spotting of hives when bees fly in winter and spring 
need cause no alarm, but if the trouble seems excessive about any 
particular hive, it had better be opened and examined. 
Sacbrood is one of the diseases of bees which has 
Sacbrood been frequently mistaken for “pickled brood,” but 
the difference between the two diseases are dis- 
tinct. As described pickled brood is a fungous disease which attacks 
not only the larvae but also the pupae and the adult bees. According 
to Circular 169, issued January 18, 1918, by the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology, samples of sacbrood have been 
received from all of the states except three, while no samples have 
been received of bees affected by a fungous disease. 
Mention here is made of the sacbrood for there are several indi- 
cations of this disease in Tennessee. The following full description is 
given in Circular 169, above referred to: 6 
“There is a disease of the brood of bees that has attracted 
A disease of the considerable attention among beekeepers that is neither 
brood which is not American foul brood, European foul brood, pickled brood, 
foul brood chilled brood, nor starved brood. This disorder of the brood 
has for many years been recognized by beekeepers as being 
different from foul brood. Doolittle, of America, in 1881, wrote of a disease which he 
says is'similar to and called foul brood, but which is not foul brood. He writes that 
larvae die here and there throughout the comb and that the disease may disappear en- 
tirely or it may reappear the next season. Jones, of Canada, 1883, wrote also of a dis- 
ease which results in a dying of the brood, with appearances similar to foul brood; but 
he states that the disease is not foul brood. He says that the bees frequently remove 
the dead brood and that no further trouble ensues. Simmins, of England, in 1887, 
wrote of dead brood which he says is not foul brood and describes the difference in 
appearance between the brood dead of the disease and brood dead of foul brood. 
He states, furthermore, that the condition is different from chilled brood and that 
Cheshire did not find any microscopic evidence of disease in larvae dead of the 
disease. An editorial in one of the bee journals in 1892 is of particular interest 
at this point. The editor wrote that he had recently encountered dead brood which 
did not seem to be infectious and which lacked two decisive symptoms of the real 
foul brood, viz.: the ropiness and the glue-pot odor. 
“My own study of this dead brood, recognized by the beekeepers as being different 
from the foul brood, was begun in 1902. Eight samples labeled ‘pickled brood’ 
were received from the bee inspectors of New York State during 1902 and 1903. 
These samples were examined and were found to be practically free from micro- 
organsms. The result of these examinations were published in January, 1904. Burri, 
of Switzerland, in 1906, reported the results of the examination of 25 samples of 
brood material thought by the beekeepers to be diseased. He placed the results 
of his examinations under the following headings: ‘Sour brood,’ ‘stinking foul brood,’ 
‘nonstinking foul brood,’ and ‘dead brood free from bacteria.’ Four of the 25 
samples examined contained dead brood free from bacteria and unaccompanied by 
other diseases. Kursteiner, of Switzerland, in 1910, in classifying the results ob- 
tained from samples examined by him made the same classification as made by Burri. 
During the past six years 362 samples of this disease have been received by the Bureau 
of Entomology and diagnosed in its bacteriological laboratory.‘ 
“There is. therefore, a disorder attacking the brood -of bees in which brood 
dies, but in which there has not been demonstrated any microorganism to which the 
cause of the trouble could be attributed. For this disease the name of “‘sacbrood” 
is here suggested. 
