DISEASED BKOOD. 273 
spreading, whether we have its origin or not. We will 
now see if we can trace it through, if there is any con- 
sistency in its transfer from one stock to another. 
CAUSE OF ITS SPREADING. 
Suppose one stock has caught the infection, but a 
small portion of the brood is dead. In the heat of the 
hive, it soon becomes putrid ; other cells adjoining 
with larvae of the right age are soon in the same con- 
dition. All the breeding combs in the hive become 
one putrid mass, with an exception, perhaps, of one in 
ten, twenty or a hundred, that may perfect a bee. 
Thus the increase of bees is not enough to replace the 
old ones that are continually dying off. It is plain, 
therefore, that this stock must soon dwindle down to 
a very small family. Now let a scarcity of honey oc- 
cur in the fields, this poor stock cannot be properly 
guarded, and is easily plundered of its contents by 
the others. Honey is taken that is in close proximity 
to dead bodies, corrupting by thousands, creating a 
pestilential vapor, of which it has probably absorbed 
a portion. The seeds of destruction are by this means 
carried into healthy stocks. In a short time, these in 
turn fall victims to the scourge ; and soon dwindle 
away, when some other strong stock is able to carry 
off their stores ; and only stop, perhaps, at the last 
stock ! The moth is ever ready with her burden of 
eggs, which she now without hindrance deposits di- 
rectly on the combs. In a short time the worms finish 
up the whole business, and are judged guilty of the 
12 * 
