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.
One other malady has been occasionally noticed, viz., the swelling of the terminal segments of the antennæ. The occurrence of this mischief is too rare to need further remark, beyond the suggestion that it may be the result of microbe germs having made a lodgment in the tender organs affected.
There is a striking analogy in the results of insanitary conditions, and the propagation of zymotic disease among the human family and among bees. Unwholesome food, defective ventilation, the diffusion of poisonous germs, produce, among both orders of beings, similar disastrous effects; and this sketch of the diseases of one class of domesticated insects may serve to point a moral for the guidance of mankind in social economy. The same inexorable laws of health and sickness prevail in the highest and the inferior orders of animal existences, and with unvarying steadfastness is proclaimed the solemn warning "Be not deceived: God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap."
CHAPTER XVI.
THE ENEMIES OF BEES.
Birds—Mice—Moths—Braula cœca—Hornets and Wasps—Spiders—Toads—"Robber Bees"—Prevention of robbing.
It might well be imagined that creatures armed with such deadly weapons as bees, would have few enemies who would dare to contend with them. The fact is, however, that they are exposed to dangers from numerous sources. Various kinds of wild birds, domestic fowls, mice, certain species of moths, hornets, wasps, ants, spiders and toads, are more or less destructive to them.