26 



January, 1913. 



American Vae Journal 



swept across the country. Unfortu- 

 nately modern methods of bee-keeping 

 materially assisted the present epidemic. 



Under the old system, islands of 

 healthy bees were left by the disease 

 which passed around them. In 1911, 

 healthy apiaries still existed on the 

 Isle of Wight. Such apiaries quickly 

 restock a district in favorable seasons, 

 but under the modern system, bees are 

 imported into a dwindling apiary, and 

 the disease is kept going until the api- 

 aries which escape the first wave of 

 contagion are also involved. 



Microscopic examination of a crawl- 

 ing bee shows that the cells lining the 

 stomach are being destroyed by a para- 

 site. These parasites, which are in the 

 cells, are believed to be the young 

 stages of Xosema ap/s, a protozoon 

 first described by Zander in 1907. The 

 protozoa bear the same relationship to 

 animal life that the bacteria bear to 

 vegetable life. Unfortunately the life 

 history of nosema cannot be studied 

 apart from the living bee, but it is 

 thought that these young forms, after 

 changing into spores, escape into the 

 bowel and are voided during cleansing 

 flights. Bees so infected must be a 

 potent source of infection in wet sea- 

 sons when much of the water used in 

 the hives is obtained from paths and 

 foliage in or near the apiary. Fresh 

 apiaries become involved through the 

 straying of bees and swarms. 



There is good evidence that affected 

 bees sometimes do good work in a 

 favorable season, butthe stock is liable 

 to die suddenly after being packed 

 down for the winter. In other cases 

 they come through winter and then 

 dwindle badly in the spring. A heavy 

 loss of bees is the only symptom. 



Nosema disease has been called ma- 

 lignant dysentery, but there is no evi- 

 dence on this side that dysentery is an 

 invariable accompaniment of the trou- 

 ble. That the unhealthy condition of 

 the bee is conducive to dysentery I 

 feel well assured. My own personal 

 experience is that dysentery is asso- 

 ciated with the presence of yeasts 

 which I have always found in large 

 numbers in dysenteric matter. 



From all countries where bee-keep- 

 ing is practiced we get accounts of 

 troubles which are suspiciously like 

 nosema disease, and I think there is 

 great danger of this malady being 

 spread through its real nature not be- 

 ing understood. Wholesale losses of 

 colonies are attributed to the bees be- 

 ing old, and never to the bees being 

 sick. 



Spring dwindling is sharply marked 

 off from paralysis, although it cannot 

 matter much whether the bee is unable 

 to fly away from the hive or unable to 

 fly back to it. Losses are attributed to 

 the use of poisonous sprays on fruit 

 trees, and although arsenic is bad for 

 bees, I cannot forget that before the 

 days of fruit spraying, poisonous nectar 

 or frozen pollen was postulated to ac- 

 count for " poisoned " bees. The pos- 

 sibility that losses were due to the ma- 

 lignancy of a neighbor has not been 

 overlooked. 



As to plants, a list that included all 



those which have been suspected at 

 one time or another of poisoning bees, 

 would include most plants that yield 

 nectar. The fact that a large number 

 of colonies are attacked at about the 

 same time seems to be the foundation 

 for these statements. 



A feature which was supposed to dis- 

 tinguish the Isle of Wight disease 

 from all other diseases was the rapidity 

 with which it spread through an api- 

 ary or a district. Thetrue explanation 

 of this seems to be that the early cases 

 attracted no attention. These, how- 

 ever, caused a general infection, and 

 with the advent of conditions unfavor- 

 able to the bee, the disease rapidly 

 manifested itself in the affected colo- 

 nies. The destruction of the first col- 

 ony that shows signs of paralysis is 

 also of little use, as the ground is 

 soiled, and some of the sick bees have 

 probably been attracted to other hives. 



Little is to be gained by the hap- 

 hazard use of drugs. We know practi- 

 cally nothing of their action on the 

 bee, and the impossibility of adminis- 

 tering them in definite quantities ren- 

 ders the bee an unsatisfactory patient. 

 Reported cures must be received with 

 caution, as enquiry may show that the 

 colonies to which the testimonial re- 

 lates died out after it was given. The 

 only satisfactory procedure appears to 

 be the clearing out of the apiary, and 

 the restocking it with healthy bees 

 after disinfecting hives and appliances. 

 If the apiary can be started on a fresh 

 site so much the better. If this is not 

 possible, the site should be kept clear 

 of bees as long as possible, and might 

 be dug over with advantage. Then if 

 your neighbor does not insist on keep- 

 ing up a dwindling apiary, success as a 

 bee-keeper may again be possible. 



Some of the early cases of Isle of 

 Wight disease were diagnosed as 

 paralysis or maikrankheit. Paralysis 

 is said to be a disease of warm cli- 

 mates, but its ravages in Florida and 

 California may have some relationship 

 to rainy seasons and swampy ground. 

 It is hoped that observations may be 

 made from this standpoint. If this dis- 

 ease is specifically distinct from the 

 Isle of Wight disease, some definite 

 means of distinguishing the one from 

 the other is badly wanted. 



Albury, Herts, England. 



[Is it not probable that the different 

 names. May disease, mal-de-maggio, 

 maikrankheit, paralysis, vertigo, and 

 the so-called constipation, are different 

 names for the same malady, in perhaps 

 more or less virulent stages ? 



L'Apicoltore, of Milan, a few years 

 ago, gave out reports concerning this 

 disease, showing it to be very destruc- 

 tive in the province of Ancona. Hamet, 

 in his CoursD'Apiculture, reported the 

 same disease, under the name of verti- 

 go, as very damaging in northern 

 France, between 18.50 and 1865. In both 

 cases, some kinds of blossoms were 

 blamed for the trouble. But the ap- 

 parition of the same disease both in 



Florida and California, where the 

 floras are entirely different, and its ex- 

 istence in our northern States, occa- 

 sionally in spring, would indicate that 

 we must seek the original spread of 

 the trouble more in peculiar atmos- 

 pheric conditions than in the nature of 

 the blossoms which furnish the stores. 



Bevan, himself, whom our corres- 

 pondent quotes, mentions the name of 

 "vertigo "to describe a trouble much 

 resembling the Isle of Wight disease : 

 " This disorder is said to occur more 

 between the end of May and the end 

 of June, and to be marked by a loss of 

 power in the hind quarters, by a dizzy 

 manner of flying, and by irregular mo- 

 tions, such as starting, falling down, 

 etc." 



The fact that Xosema aj'i's has been 

 fed to colonies, in some cases, without 

 producing the disease indicates that 

 conditions must be favorable to its 

 spread before the disease becomes 

 dangerous. — Editor.] 



Use of the Bee-Escape for Ex- 

 tracting Honey 



Read at the Illinois State Meetiiie 

 BY L. C. DADANT. 



To the enthusiastic bee-keeper, work 

 about the apiary has its fascinations as 

 well as its drawbacks. In my judgment 

 the most fascinating is putting on su- 

 pers when the flow is on, and when the 

 bees are fairly rolling in the honey. 

 The most disheartening is feeding in 

 June, when all colonies are on the 

 point of starvation, and seem likely to 

 starve for the rest of the summer. But 

 the hardest and most trying work is 

 taking off honey by brushing bees 

 after the crop is over and every bee is 

 intent on doing all the mischief it can. 



Through the columns of the bee 

 journals, and at various convention 

 meetings, noted and practical bee- 

 keepers have made the assertion that 

 they would rather take off honey by 

 brushing than by using bee-escapes. I 

 believe the conditions under which 

 these men work must differ markedly 

 from the conditions with us. Very 

 probably they take off their honey at a 

 time when there is still a light flow, 

 and it may be that their super combs 

 are well sealed throughout. Then the 

 bees are more easily removed or 

 smoked down than when there are 

 empty, or partly empty, combs in the 

 supers. Even with combs well sealed 

 there is bound to be trouble. 



When bees are crowded for room 

 they nearly always build bur or brace 

 combs and fill them with honey. Tak- 

 ing out the frames from every super to 

 brush the bees, or even taking the su- 

 pers apart is bound to tear up some 

 comb, make the honey run, daub, up 

 some bees, and very quickly start 

 robbing. No sooner is robbing started 



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