The honey-bee: its nature, homes and productsHarris, William Hetherington
Science
The honey-bee: its nature, homes and products
Harris, William Hetherington
Bee culture; Bees
The late Mr. Woodbury, whose name is "a household word" among
bee-keepers, was unfortunate enough to have this disease among his
hives in the spring and summer of 1863. He published a graphic account
of his trouble in the _Journal of Horticulture_ of July 21st, 1863,
entitled, "A Dwindling Apiary." By very vigorous measures he was able
to get rid of the pest; but the conclusions to which he came were
the following: "First let me endorse the opinions of both Dzierzon
and Rothe, that, except under very especial circumstances, it is
unadvisable to attempt the cure of a foul-broody stock: better, far
better, to consign its inhabitants to the brimstone-pit: the hive
itself, if a straw one, to the flames: the comb to the melting-pot: and
appropriate the honey to any purpose except that of feeding bees."
It is now known that this treatment is by no means always successful
when the _bacilli_ have reached the "resting" or "spore" stage.
The detection of signs of the disease is not very difficult, especially
in hives with movable frames. If, during the working season, a stock
seems not only not to increase, but to diminish in numbers; if fewer
and fewer bees appear active about the entrance; and if, above all,
a peculiarly disagreeable odour is perceptible, at even one or two
feet from the entrance, it is time to look to the condition of the
interior. An infected comb, on examination, is seen to be dark and
unwholesome-looking. If the caps covering the brood be distinctly
sunk, so as to show a concave surface, the existence of the disease is
almost a certainty; and if the covering of one or more of these cells
be removed, there will be found dark coffee-coloured, slimy liquid, the
remains of the larvæ destroyed by the _bacillus_.
From what we have said of this disease it will be seen that it is
most important for any one about to commence bee-keeping to be sure
the stocks he may purchase are not only themselves free from disease,
but come from an apiary absolutely uninfected by it. Many a beginner
in apiculture has been so disheartened, and has suffered such severe
loss from foul-brood in his hives, that he has given up bee-keeping
in disgust. We need hardly say that any man who knowingly sold hives
with foul-brood in them, would deserve to be visited with penalties
for damages, which we have no doubt his victim could obtain by legal
process.
Some writers enumerate _vertigo_, or giddiness and staggering, among
the diseases of bees. We incline to the belief that cases of the kind
observed were due to the individuals having been stung in fighting,
though it is possible that mistakes in pasturage _may_ occasionally be
made, and that the nectar of certain flowers may induce disorder in the
bee-constitution. We, however, doubt the likelihood of the quick senses
of the insect being at fault with regard to food which will prove
hurtful.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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