January, 1913. 



25 



American ^ee Journal j 



AROUND His Modern. WellPainted Hives He Puts Protective Packing Boxes.' -Photographed by Edward F. Bigelow.) 



temptation and danger, unless he will 

 do as Mr. E. Vanderwerken, of Stam- 

 ford, Conn., does— put more work and 

 thought into the bees themselves. In 

 number of colonies, do not exceed the 

 limit that can receive careful and con- 

 tinuous attention. 



Mr. Vanderwerken's apiary of 22 col- 

 onies is the most efficient honey-pro- 

 ducer for that number that I have ever 

 seen. He has strong colonies, some of 

 them 3 and 4 stories, full 10-frame dove- 

 tail hives. He has achieved success; 

 first, by hard and persistent work, and 

 secondly, by keeping the bees warm. 

 His apiary is undoubtedly not intended 

 as an example of spotless whiteness 

 and neatness, but as an example of 

 efficiency. Around his modern, well- 

 painted hives he puts protective pack- 

 ing boxes, with leaves and paper clip- 

 pings between the walls of the box 

 and those of the hive. To cover the 

 topmost hive he uses the ordinary >^- 

 inch covering board ; on that he piles a 

 liberal heap of old carpets and bed- 

 quilts, and over these puts a roof on 

 which he has tacked tar paper. He 

 keeps the bees as carefully protected in 

 the hottest weather as in the coldest 

 winter. 



Here, then, are two valuable sugges- 

 tions: Put more work into your colo- 

 nies, and keep the bees thoroughly 

 warm during every minute in the year. 



Arcadia, Sound Beach, Conn. 



Isle of Wight Disease— A New 

 Name for an Old Trouble 



BY GEO. W. BULLAMORE. 



The literature of bee-keeping in Eng- 

 land shows that, from time to time, 

 this country has been swept almost 

 clear of bees. Writing in 1827, Bevan, 

 in "The Honey-Bee," said: 



"In the winter of 1782 -3, a general 

 mortality took place among the bees in 

 this country, which was attributed to 

 various causes; want of honey was not 

 one of them ; for in some hives consid- 

 erable store was found, after the bees 

 were gone. Some were of opinion 

 that it arose from the preceding being 

 a bad breeding year, and thought the 

 bees died of old age. Others attributed 

 it to the moistness of the spring of 

 1783, which rendered the providing of 

 pollen difficult, for without pollen no 

 brood can be reared. The difficulty of 

 collecting pollen was ascribed to the 

 continual closing of the flowers over 

 the anthers, the want of sun to burst 

 the anthers, and the washing away of 

 the pollen by the frequent showers 

 after they did burst. The fatal influence 

 ascribed to the wetness of the spring 

 of 1783 seems to be improbable; though 

 the wet might have afifected the quan- 

 tity of bees bred, it was not likely to 

 put a stop to their breeding altogether, 

 and the young bees ought at any rate 

 to have escaped the desolating evil, if 



it were old age alone ; yet wherever the 

 mortality once made its appearance 

 every bee became its victim." 



Modern bee-keeping commenced with 

 the introduction of the frame hive in 

 1860, and the first few seasons were 

 wet and cold. We find the bee-keepers 

 of that period relating their experi- 

 ences in the columns of periodicals, 

 and using the language of the modern 

 bee-keeper who describes his losses 

 from Isle of Wight disease. The most 

 noticeable feature seems to have been 

 crawling bees, but the bees also dwin- 

 dled or were found dead in a heap, on 

 the floor-board. 



There were serious losses during a 

 run of wet years that terminated in 

 1883, and during the abnormal bee- 

 seasons that have been experienced in 

 the present century similar troubles 

 have afflicted the bee-keeper. The bee- 

 keepers of the Isle of Wight were the 

 first to succeed in calling attention to 

 the deadly nature of the malady, and 

 have therefore been credited with hav- 

 ing originated it. 



According to systematic meteoro- 

 logical observations we get long irreg- 

 ular spells in which wet years predomi- 

 nate, alternating with similar spells in 

 which dry years predominate. Bee- 

 keeping is boomed in the dry years, 

 and troubles other than foul brood are 

 kept in the background during the wet 

 spell. The -Isle of Wight disease has 

 always been with us and, favored by 

 wet weather, has from time to time 



