276 ENEMIES OF BEES. 



Germans call the dry, and the other, the moist or fmtid. 

 The dry appears to be only partial in its effects, and not con- 

 tagious ; the brood simply dying and drying up in certain 

 parts of the combs. The moist differs from the dry in this, 

 that the brood dies and speedily rots and softens, diffusing a 

 noisome stench through the hive. 



Queen bees are not subject to the dysentery, nor will a 

 queen taken from a colony infected with foul brood, communi- 

 cate the disease to a healthy colony or an artificial swarm. 



"A hive whichcontained a colony suffering from foul brood, 

 may retain the infectious matter for years, and communicate 

 the disease, and a healthy colony placed on the spot where 

 a diseased one stood, may catch the malady : yet it not un- 

 frequently happens that in the midst of a diseased colony, 

 a portion of the brood will be healthy and will mature 

 without injury." 



In Spring or Summer, when the weather is fine and pas- 

 turage abounds, the following cure for foul-brood is recom- 

 mended by a German Apiarian ; " Drive out the bees into 

 an old clean hive, and shut them up in a dark place without 

 food for twenty-four hours ; prepare for them a clean hive 

 properly fitted up with comb from healthy colonies, transfer 

 the bees into it, and feed them with pure honey for two days, 

 still keeping them confined. After this the hive may be 

 placed on its old stand, and the bees permitted to fly." If 

 any of my colonies were attacked by it, I should be tempted 

 to burn up the bees, combs, honey and even frames, from 

 every diseased hive ; and should then thoroughly scald and 

 smoke with sulphur, all such hives, and replenish them with 

 bees from a healthy stock. 



I have discovered that there is a peculiar kind of dysentery 

 which does not affect all the bees of a colony, but confines 

 its ravages to a few. In the early stages of this disease, 



