SELECTING AND MOVING BEES. 
37 
If the surfaces of the combs, the frames, or the inner walls of the hive- 
are spotted with a brown, crumbly looking substance it is an evidence 
that the bees have bad diarrhea during the winter or spring, and if they 
have been badly affected not only will the combs and the whole interior 
of the hive be soiled, the former perhaps 
so as to be rendered almost worthless, but 
the bees will lack vitality, and will soon 
dwindle in numbers, not being able to sur- 
vive the first arduous labors of the open- 
ing of the season. It is not always easy 
to determine whether a stock in a box hive 
is affected with foul brood or not, for the 
odor of decaying brood is not of itself 
sufficient to warrant such a conclusion, 
although it is well to reject any hive hav- 
ing any putrid odor about it. The natural 
odor of the hive, produced as it is largely 
by honey, wax, pollen, and propolis, is not Fig. 18.— Box hive prepared for trana- 
" , , ,, ,, portation. (Original.) 
unpleasant to most people, so that the 
presence of any disagreeable odor should arouse suspicion. If larvae 
that have turned black are seen in the cells, and the capping of the 
sealed brood is sunken and in some instances perforated, showing- 
brown and ropy contents in the bottoms of the cells, and the putrid 
odor is present, the existence of foul brood (Bacillus alvei Cheshire) is 
pretty certain. This is a scourge much to be dreaded. Not only 
should no hives or colonies be purchased from the same apiary, but 
none in the vicinity of an 
apiary so affected. 
MOVING BEES. 
In moving bees the box 
hives should be turned bot- 
tom upward, the bees driven 
back by blowing a little 
smoke on them, and a few 
loose rolls of rags laid aci 
the lower edges of the combs 
in such a manner that a 
piece of sheeting, sacking. 
or preferably cheese cloth or 
other open material may be 
tied over the whole lower end and drawn tightly, so as to press 
the rolls against the combs and hold them in place. It is even 
well to tack strips of lath outside of the covering, so placed that 
they will cross the rolls of rags and press the latter more firmly against 
the lower edges of the combs. Strips may also be tacked around the 
Fig. 19.— Frame hive prepared lor transportation. (Orig.) 
