CHAPTER XIT. 



DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF BEES. 



DIARRHEA AND DYSENTERY. 



In the chapter on wintering bees allusion has been made to certain 

 conditions which bring about diarrhea in bees. Not only will soured or 

 fermented honey produce this disease, but thin honey also, by requir- 

 ing too great exertion on the part of the bees to get rid of the surplus 

 moisture taken into their bodies, may indirectly cause the disease. 

 Repeated comj^laints have been made by those located near cider mills 

 that the apple juice collected by their bees was the cause of diarrhea 

 and dysentery. Aphidid secretions sometimes have the same effect. 

 Prolonged and intense cold in the interior of the hive, especially if the 

 stores are not of the best quality, causes distention and resulting 

 weakness and soiling of the hive and combs. Dampness and chilling 

 of individual bees frequently cause it. The effort some make to avoid 

 the dampness often results in the chilling, for the cover is removed, and 

 also some portion of the packing or the quilt or honey board to let the air 

 pass through to dry the interior. The true remedy is a cleansing flight 

 and warmth in the hive. Should the weather not be favorable for this 

 out of doors, the hive may be brought into a warm room and a cage of 

 wire cloth 2 or 3 feet square placed over the entrance. When thoroughly 

 warmed up the bees will fly in this and find their way back into the 

 hive. It is best to leave them in the warm room two or three days, 

 lowering the temperature gradually before returning the hive to its 

 outside stand. 



FOUL BROOD. 



This disease, being highly contagious, is dreaded most of all by the 

 bee keeper. It is due to the presence of minute vegetable organisms 

 in the body of the bee, the larva, or the egg, which prey upon its tissues. 

 These, as Prof. Frank Cheshire has shown, are bacilli, which, multiply- 

 ing with marvelous rapidity by division and also by spores, are carried 

 from hive to hive, until from a single infection the whole apiary is soon 

 ruined. The particular bacillus which is commonly known as foul brood 

 Professor Cheshire has described as Bacillus alvei, or hive bacillus, as it 

 affects not only the brood but also the adult bees. (See PL XI.) The 

 first symptoms noticeable in the hive are its lack of energy, then dead 

 larvae turned black m the cells, and finally sunken caps, some of them 

 perforated slightly over larvse and pupae. All of these symptoms may, 

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