Page:Bee-Culture Hopkins 2nd ed revised Dec 1907.pdf/26



The hive-bee (Apis mellifera), like all other animals, especially those under domestication, is subject to several diseases, some fortunately of minor importance. The most injurious are those which attack and destroy the brood, thus preventing the normal development of young bees, and of which, when allowed to run their course, the inevitable result is the rapid decline and ultimate extermination of the colonies affected.

The most pernicious of bee-diseases is what we know as ‘‘foul-brood” (Bacillus alvei), a germ disease of a very infectious nature, and only too familiar to the majority of beekeepers. It is, without doubt, the greatest drawback to successful bee-culture known at the present time, and seems to be prevalent in all countries where bee-culture is followed.

Without delving into the history of foul-brood deeply, it may be mentioned that Aristotle mentions some bee-disorders in his works on husbandry, and it is quite likely that he was familiar with this disease. Schirach seems to have known it well, for in his “History of Bees” (1769) he gave it the name of “foul-brood” (“Bacteria of the Apiary”). It has occupied the attention of a number of investigators at different times, with the view of discovering its cause and cure, but hitherto with comparatively small results, though some headway has been made of late in checking and curing it by careful treatment. It is quite possible that the disease was not so troublesome in former times as now, as the facilities for its spreading were few compared with what they have been during the last thirty years. The trade in bees and queens that has accompanied the expansion of modern bee-culture, and their consequent transportation from district to district, and from country to country, is accountable, no doubt, for the universal extent of its ravages at the present time. When or where it first made its appearance in New Zealand is not known so far as I am aware, but I do know that foul-brood was very prevalent in some districts—notably in Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, and Poverty Bay—before 1880.