s
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.

ANSWERS NOT SATISFACTORY.

Had I no experience further than this, I should, perhaps, rest
satisfied as to the cause, and should endeavor to apply the remedy.
Several other writers have appeared in different papers, on this
subject, and nearly all who assign a cause have given this one as the
most probable. Now I have known the chrysalis in a few stocks to be
chilled and destroyed by a sudden turn of cold weather, yet these were
removed by the bees soon after, and the stocks remained healthy. To me
the cause assigned appears inadequate to produce _all_ the results with
the larvae. After close, patient observation of fifteen years, I have
never yet been wholly satisfied that any one instance among my bees,
was thus produced.

A CAUSE SUGGESTED.

We are all familiar to some extent with the contagious diseases of the
human family, such as small-pox, whooping-cough, and measles, and their
rapid spread from a given point, &c. We must also admit that some cause
or causes, adequate to the effect, must have produced the first case.
To contagion, then, I would attribute the spread of this disease of our
bees, at least nineteen cases in twenty. I will admit, if you please,
that one stock in twenty or fifty may be somewhat affected by a chill
to a small extent. It is only a portion of the brood that is in
danger--only such as have been sealed over, and before they have
progressed to the chrysalis state, are attacked. How many then can
there be in a hive at any one time, in just the right stage of
development to receive the fatal chill? Of course there will be some;
but they should be confined to the cells near the bottom, where the
bees had left them exposed. These should be all; and these few would
never seriously damage the stock. Why then does this disease, when
thoroughly started, spread so rapidly throughout all the combs in the
hive? Will it be said that the chill is repeated every few days through
the summer? Or will it be admitted that something else may continue i