The book of bee-keeping : a practical and complete manual on the proper management of bees ... / by W. B. Webster.

  • Webster, W. B.
Date:
[1901]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The book of bee-keeping : a practical and complete manual on the proper management of bees ... / by W. B. Webster. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    98/128 (page 90)
    go ancient writers speak of the loss of their bees by disease, even as far back as Virgil, and Dryden in more recent times. A district in our own county, Berks, was celebrated some half century ago for the number of its bee-keepers, but through disease has ceased to be so, it now being quite the exception to find a bee- keeper in the district. Foul brood is the bee-keeper’s bane. No good will accrue from inquiring into its source; it is here ! Let it be stamped out! The ap- pearance presented by this disease is only to be observed in the combs. As its name implies, it is a disease of the lirvm or pupae, although it can be microscopically traced in the imago stage. Remove a frame from a hive affected with this disease; the first object that meets the eye is that some patches of cappings are very much darker than the surrounding ones, and these, instead of being convex, as healthy ones are, are irregularly concave. In some of these cappings there are punctures, as though the bees had commenced to remove them, but had been driven away by the unpleasant contents. Remove the cappings from one of these cells, and insert the end of a lucifer match ; withdraw it, and a dark brown, semi-liquid material will be brought forth, adhering to the end, which can be drawn out into a thin line, as can be done with treacle or partially dr)' varnish ; the smell of this is most offensive, reminding one of putrid fish. In many of the uncapped cells the larvae are in abnormal positions ; in others, all that remains of them are masses of dark grey or dirty yellow substances. These have the same nauseous smell as before described. In a healthy comb— as top row of cells in illustration—the larvae are always curled round in the cell; this position is rarely seen with diseased larvae after the disease has commenced to attack them. All the larvae of a healthy colony are pearly white, but the diseased are yellowish grey. Owing to the destruction of the larvae, the colony gradually dwindles, and ultimately becomes a mass of rotting brood ; at this time the disease can be detected by the smell which emanates from the entrance, at some distance away from the hive. A colony slightly affected has the same smell, but this is only noticeable on removal of quilts from top of frames, and can x'arely be smelt at the entrance. Another fonn of “foul brood ” is frequently met with, in which all the vai'ious symptoms of the former virulent kind are seen, but with little or no sxixell. Foul Brood, with Row of Healthy Lance on Top.