1882 



gleani:ngs in bee culture. 



the chemist wishes to know is, what is the last ef- 

 fect next to the destruction, that we may properly 

 call the direct cause of that iiestruction? He 

 searched, as only the scientilic .search, and he found 

 a living: germ, so small it puzzled him to tell whether 

 of animal or vegetable life.* Now that he had dis- 

 covered the direct cause, he said, "I have further 

 discovered that a degree of heat that boils water, 

 will destroy this form of life; and now, if you wish 

 to keep fruit all through the jear, boil it, and, while 

 hot, exclude the air, and you destroy the bacteria, 

 and your object is accomplished." A knowledge of 

 the cause nearest the effect is the one of most worth 

 to us. 



When I put up my bees for winter, I felt sure that 

 all had plenty of honey. Yesterday I found a colony 

 starved. I am of the opinion, that they were slowly 

 and quietly robbed, after we left the apiary for the 

 winter. I think there is more of this kind of rob- 

 bing going on unnoticed than we know of or believe 

 in, generally. But the point T wish to make is, that 

 not one speck of dysentery was to be sceu. Careful 

 examination showed great scarcity of pollen in the 

 combs. Had there been plentj' of pollen, my opin- 

 ion is, that the bees would, as a last resorr, have 

 taken to eating it, and then one might have seen 

 signs of dysentery, and said, "Starvation is the 

 cause." I get a great many private letters from ex- 

 perienced apiarists who do not write for publication, 

 stating that their observation of the disease has con- 

 vinced them of the truth of "the Pollen theory." 

 Others believe, as stated by Messrs. Jones. Harring- 

 ton, and others, that fermentation of the honey, be- 

 fore and after gathering, is the cause; others, that 

 the fermentation of the pollen is the cause. Mr. 

 Jones dwelt to some extent on dampness being the 

 cause (through its fermenting influence on the hon- 

 ey or pollen, or both, I presume he meant), while 

 Mr. Harrington, of your county, stated that a cer- 

 tain plant produces fermented honey that froths in 

 the nectary, and, when gathered by the bees, "pro- 

 duces dysentery every time." Charles Dadant holds 

 to the idea, that fermenting honey is the greatest 

 cause, if I understand him correctly. As all fer- 

 mentation (whether of pollen, honey, or anything 

 else) is bacteria, all these men agree with that theo- 

 ry. It may be that liacterious honey, or pollen 

 either, produces the disease, and that inert vegeta- 

 ble matter, if taken into their systems in any con- 

 siderable cuantities, is also a cause. An over- 

 amount may be taken from the pollen-cells under 

 certain circumstances, or during certain seasons; 

 or in all seasons, in some localities, in some varieties 

 of blossoms, the nectar may contain sufBcient quan- 

 tities of floating pollen to produce the disease, where 

 the bees are, from cold, forced to partake of large 

 quantities of honey, without the opportunity of cur- 

 ing the disease as fast as it presents itself, by fre- 

 quent chances to void the accumulations. 



If it turns out that this disease has two cavises or 

 more, I believe that one cause will be found to be 

 the main cause; and if bacteria is that cause, then, 

 whether it exists in the pollen or honey, or both, 

 the golden rule for winter will be, " Keep your colo- 

 nies dry." 



Mr. Delia Torre say?, "Keep your pollen dry;" but 

 perhaps that does not cover quite enough ground. 

 Dadant, Harrington, and others, would saj', "No; 

 keep your lirmey dry." Dampness (with a moderate 



* It i^ now (lecidfd to be vegetable. 



degree of warmth) is necessary to the development 

 of bacteria. I think we are going to get at the true 

 cause ere long. Let us resolve now to improve all 

 the opportunities for careful observations that the 

 next f(nir months present to us. I have thrown out 

 my honest opinions, forced upon me by my observa- 

 tion and reasoning; and surel3', if they are of no 

 aid to any one they can not hurt the feelings or op- 

 portunities of any good or intelligent bee-keeper. 

 Dowagiac, Mich., Jan. 7, 1SS3. 



- 9»™— 



AN APIAIKY IN SICIIiY. 



ALSO SOMETIIIXG ABOUT PnEMIU.MS FOR SUB- 

 SCKXHERS. 



MANN, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, has just 

 Q been sent out by mo to establish an apiary 



" -" ~" among the orange groves of Sicily. It is 

 a purelj' commercial speculation by a mercantile 

 gentleman, and so far is an outcome of Gleanings; 

 will probably, within a year or two, be the largest 

 apiary in Europe; intended to be run for extracted 

 honey only. T could have had the above three cop- 

 ies sent to myself, and other two copies to make up 

 a Waterbury- watch club. I shfill likely have other 

 names soon. But I cannot get over the meanness of 

 the thing. You must either have made a great 

 mistake in giving that offer, or you get your watches 

 uncommonly cheap, or yoii are doing an injustice to 

 all other subscribers. Anyhow, I want one of those 

 watches mailed to me, and charged against me in the 

 regular manner. After I see how the thing works, 

 I may get a dnzcn or two for sale. Wm. IIaitt. 



Beecroft, Bl.iirgowrie, Scotland, Dec. 20, 1881. 



I am truly glad to hear you are to be the 

 director of such an important enterprise, 

 good friend Raitt ; but I am a little sur- 

 prised to liud you have not a little more 

 charity for your old friends over on this side 

 of the water. Listen a minute, and see if I 

 can not throw some light on the watch and 

 subscriber business : It takes a good sum of 

 money to advertise a journal to get it going. 

 I think I have paid out as high as $500 iir a 

 single year to get GlexVnixgs before the 

 people, when my whole receipts for it were 

 not over ?2000. Well, after paying this 

 large sum to newspapers, I decided it best 

 to give it to my bee-friend subscribers, to 

 induce them to show the journal around to 

 their neighbors who kept bees. That they 

 might afford to take time to do this, and do 

 it well, J gave them 2-5 cents out of the dol- 

 lar for the service. This worked very well, 

 until subscription agents, noticing this mar- 

 gin, sent around to all my old subscribers, 

 and offered Gleanings for 85 cents, or such 

 a matter, which broke down the established 

 price of SI. 00, and defeated my plan. To 

 correct this, we were obliged to raise the 

 price to 90 cents, and this cut off our bee 

 friends again. Well, the Watevbury watch- 

 factory started, and they were very anxious 

 to get their watches into the hands of the 

 people, exactly as 1 am anxious to get Glean- 

 ings into the hands of the people. They 

 found out how Gleanings had made its 

 way, even off into foreignlands, and into the 

 hands of good kind people like yourself. 

 AVell, they too decided that, instead of 



