ENEMIES OF BEES. 275 



they had no enemies, ever vigilant, to watch for their halting. 

 As Nations, which are both rich and feeble, invite attaclc, as 

 well as unfit themselves for vigorous resistance, just so a 

 commonwealth of bees, unless amply guarded by thousands 

 ready to die in its defence, is ever liable t-o fall a prey to some 

 one of its many enemies, which are all agreed in this one 

 opinion, at least, that stolen honey is much more sweet than 

 the slower accumulations of patient industry. 



In the Chapters on Protection and Ventilation, I have 

 spoken of the fatal effects of dysentery. This disease may 

 be prevented by suitable precautions on the part of the bee- 

 keeper. Let him be careful not to feed his bees, late in the 

 season, on liquid honey, (see Chapter on Feeding,) and to 

 keep them in dry and thoroughly protected hives. 



There is one disease, called by the Germans, " foul brood," 

 of which I know nothing by my own observation, but which 

 is, of all others, the most fatal in its effects. The brood ap- 

 pear to die in the cells, after being sealed over by the bees, 

 and the stench from their decaying bodies infects the hive, 

 and paralyzes the bees. This disease is, in two instances, 

 attributed by Dzierzon, to feeding bees on "American Hon- 

 ey," or, as we call it. Southern Honey, which is brought 

 from Cuba, and other West India Islands. That such honey 

 is not ordinarily poisonous, is well known : probably that used 

 by him, was taken from diseased colonies. It is well known 

 that if any honey or combs are taken from a hive in which 

 this pestilence is raging, it will most surely infect the colonies 

 to which they may be given. No foreign honey ought there- 

 fore to be extensively used, until its quality has been 

 thoroughly tested. The extreme virulence of this disease 

 may be inferred from the fact, that Dzierzon in one season, 

 lost by it, between four and five hundred colonies I 



There are two kinds of foul-brood, one of which the 



