88 STATE BOAED OF AGEICULTCRE. 



is my belief that as deep, if not deeper, mysterie.; rcmaiu to be unfolded. In 

 what I have already said, I have presented bee-keeijing in its best aspects ; I 

 would that I could stop here. But you would not be satisfied were I not to 

 answer the question, AVhat are its drawbacks? T\'hy cannot every one realize to 

 the fullest extent its i)leasurcs and profits ? What are the hindrances that the 

 bee-keeper has got to meet, whether he will or not? 



1st. Bees are armed and equipped as the law directs, and ready at all times 

 for defensive and offensive war. It needs no detested conscrij^tion to drag them 

 reluctantly to the fray, and when, for any cause, offended, they are more to be 

 dreaded than the fabled Furies. To some, a bee-sting is a very serious matter, 

 and a single sting has sometimes produced convulsions, and even death. And 

 with the most exj^erienced bee-keepers, accidents will happen which makes it 

 very difficult and dangerous to manage them. Unless bees are kept well out of 

 the way there is always danger. A sweaty horse is very offensive to them, and 

 there are many instances where valuable horses have been stung to death. The 

 greatest care is always necessary in handling them, for if once offended they 

 remember it for a long time. 



2d. The bee moth. This is a winged insect, the lavx-x of which lives in the 

 combs, and consumes the wax ; and when in sulficient numbers, destroys the 

 colony. The moth is always present. There is no getting rid of it entirely. 

 The bee-master must exercise unceasing watchfulness, or his bees vail bo ruined. 

 It is like a besetting sin, ever ready to take advantage of any Aveakness on the 

 part of the bees, or neglect of their owners. Although the skillful bee-master 

 can keep them in check, still they must ever be considered a formidable enemy. 



3d. Foul brood. This is a disease peculiar to bees, and, so far as I am aware, 

 is incurable. Some may think that I need not refer to this disease, as it has 

 never yet prevailed in this State so far as I know.* But it exists in other States, 

 and with the present recklessness of bee-keepers in buying and 'selling queens 

 and bees, it is liable to be introduced into any apiary ; there is no help for it, 

 except by fire and brimstone. It is one of the risks that must be taken into the 

 account in investing in bees. 



And 4th. All of the drawbacks that I have named dwindle into insijjnificance 

 when compared with the overshadowing calamity now upon us, and which, for 

 want of a better name, we call the dysentery. 



This has prevailed only a few years, yet it has spread all through the northern 

 ■States, and I think I am safe in sadng that over fifty per cent of all our bees 

 perish every winter and spring with this disease. Oftentimes large and prosper- 

 ous apiaries are destroyed by it. As yet there is no remedy. So fatal is it that 

 Mr. T. F. Bingham, one of our most skillful apiarians, has incurred the heavy 

 expense of moving all his bees to the State of Tennessee, hoping thereby to 

 escape. All of our bees that do not perish, no matter how wintered, come out 

 ill the spring so weakened that it requires the utmost skill on the part of the bee- 

 keeper to bring them up into working condition. Of the fifteen swarms that I 

 had left last spring, over half failed to be prosperous for the whole season, and 

 }delded no surplus honey. I think I do not err when I say that of those who 

 had bees five years ago, seventy-five per cent novv* have none. If no sure remedy 

 for this disease is found, we may as well give up in despair. 



There are other drawbacks, such as parasites, loss of queen, excessive swarm- 

 ing, king-birds, toads, etc. ; but I will not dvrell further on the drawbacks to 



* Since reading the aboTC, Prof. Cook informs me that it lias prevailed in this State, doing 

 heayy damage. 



