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Public Inquiry And Answers

Categories: DISEASED BROOD.
Bee Keeping: Mysteries Of Bee-keeping Explained

I had so many cases of the kind, that I became somewhat alarmed, and

made inquiry through the Cultivator, (an agricultural paper,) as to a

cause, and remedy, offering a "reward for one that would not fail when

thoroughly tested," &c. Mr. Weeks, in answer, said, "that cold weather

in spring chilling the brood was the cause." (This was several years

prior to his article in the N.E. Farmer.) Another gentleman said, "dead

ees and filth that accumulated during winter, when suffered to remain

in the spring, was the cause." A few years after, another correspondent

appeared in the Cultivator, giving particulars of his experience,

proving very conclusively to himself and many others, that cold was the

cause. Having mislaid the paper containing his article, I will endeavor

to quote correctly from memory. He had "three swarms issue in one day;

the weather during the day changed from very hot to the other extreme,

producing frost in many places the next morning. These swarms had left

but few bees in the old stocks, and the cold forced them up among the

combs for mutual warmth; the brood near the bottom, thus left without

bees to protect it with animal heat, became chilled, and the

consequence was diseased larvae." He then reasoned thus: "If the eggs of

a fowl, at any time near the end of incubation, become chilled from any

cause, it stops all further development. Bees are developed by

continued heat, on the same principle, and a chill produces the same

effect, &c.; afterwards, other swarms issued under precisely similar

circumstances; but these old stocks were covered with a blanket through

the night, which enabled the bees to keep at the bottom of the hive. In

a few days, enough were hatched to render this trouble unnecessary.

These last remained healthy." He further says, that "last spring was

the first time I ever knew them to become diseased before swarming had

thinned the population. The weather was remarkably pleasant through

April. The bees obtained great quantities of pollen and honey, and by

this means extended their brood further than usual at this season.

Subsequent chilly weather in May, caused the bees to desert a portion

of brood, which were destroyed by the chill."



Now this is reasoning from cause to effect very consistently.



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