102 
the colony finally perishes. Many times it results from 
stinted stores, and being fed on some other food than 
honey. Bees will subsist upon almost any saccharine 
substance in liquid form, for a short time, but when 
obliged to live on any sweet a length of time, except 
honey, they sicken and die. Pure honey is the natural 
food of the bee, and if they must be fed on anything 
else, it should be that sweet that approaches nearest 
to the nectar of the flower, and even this when com- 
bined with too great a quantity of» water often sours in 
the cells from a lack of proper ventilation, and will 
produce the same effect on the bees as other inferior 
sweets. This disease seems to originate from these 
causes, and does not appear to be contagious, except to 
the inmates of their own hive, and here it usually 
proves fatal. It seems from the best information I can 
get from experience and inquiries, that it results from 
consuming sour honey, or by being fed on prepared 
syrups when short of pure honey, or on Southern honey. 
It should be remembered that Southern honey should 
never be eaten by persons, or fed to bees, without first 
bringing it to a boiling heat; this will evaporate the 
poisonous qualities that it frequently contains, and ren- 
ders it perfectly harmless. Proper ventilation in hives 
is very essential, that the watery particles that are 
collected with the honey may be evaporated as soon as 
possible, that the bees may seal it over and preserve it 
from acidity. Bees, when subjected to prolonged con- 
finement, being obliged to retain their fmces until they 
discharge them in the hive, thus create a carbonic 
acid gas that has a deleterious effect upon the inmates 
of the hive, and may result in dysentery. 
