76 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



plentiful, that cells were started for 

 swarming; and, had this state of things 

 continued, I do not think we would have 

 known any thing about it for the past 

 season, at least. To me it seemed, at the 

 early stage, as though it was simply low 

 vitality of the larvae, caused by scarcity 

 of honey; and the results of the past sea- 

 son tends to show that when honey is 

 coming in freely it apparently disappears. 

 It appears in all places as if wafted 

 broadcast by the winds. It is not distrib- 

 uted the same as foul brood; apiaries 

 nules apart, between which there 

 has been no intercourse whatever, will 

 show the same brood disease. I first 

 thought that I had brought it from the 

 East, and tried isolation. I had bought 

 about twenty colonies a few miles from 

 home, and it cropped out as freely 

 in those as in any, as soon as the honey 

 flow ceased. In the yard that I had isola- 

 ted were a few pure blacks, and they had 

 it worse than those mixed with Italian 

 blood. In extracting I found a colony 

 having a quantity of nice cells about to 

 hatch. In each colony of blacks, that 

 showed traces of diseased brood, I remov- 

 ed the old queen and introduced a cell. 

 To my intense satisfaction, each one was 

 received and allowed to hatch: and, upon 

 preparing those for winter, I found good 

 Italian stock, and all traces of the disease 

 had disappeared. This was helped by the 

 abundant flo\\f of honey from the buck- 

 wheat; which probably encouraged the 

 bees to overcome and clean it out for the 

 time, perhaps. 



It crops out the most prominent among 

 weak colonies, and among the native 

 blacks. Before the Italians came, in times 

 of scarcity of food and I should call it a 

 poverty disease. I suppose there is a bac- 

 illi back of it but it is not Bacillus Alvei. 

 There is no foul brood about it. I was sat- 

 isfied of that from the first. The same 

 treatment will in no wav answer for the 

 two kinds. You may shake the bees ofT 

 ( which is a positive remed\^ for foul 

 brood ) and in a short time again you see 

 the same disease ( black brood ) appear- 



ing. It's in the air; it's everywhere — and 

 the only hope we can have, so far as I 

 can see, is to keep the colonies strong; 

 and hope for another good, continuous 

 honey year; when the bees may over- 

 come or eradicate it. 



Towards fall it attacks the imago form 

 more;and in many cases the bees with 

 black heads would be trying and work- 

 ing, much as an unhealth\- chicken would 

 in trying to work itself out of the egg, 

 and finally would succeed in getting out 

 of the cell. The past summer it has not 

 affected the working force of my yards; 

 many colonies showing no signs of it 

 whatever; in no case enough to injure 

 the working force of the colony. We will 

 know more about it the coming summer; 

 and, if my friends inform me rightly, 

 Ferris will go out of the bee business for 

 a time. 



So. CoLUMBi.\,- N. Y. Feb. i8, 1900. 



^;[:;?r-p::>^HE EXPERIMENT TO PROYE 

 THE AGE OF LARY^^i) CHOS- 

 EN FOR QUEENS. BY C. C. 

 MILLER. 



The first thought that 

 comes to me, Bro. Taylor, on reading 

 your article on page 16, is that I heartily 

 wish that you 

 might have been 

 with me to help 

 direct me in ex- 

 perimenting; and 

 I sincerely hope 

 you ma\' do some 

 experimenting 

 yourself next sum- 

 mer. With your 

 fine al)ility as an 

 experimenter, and 

 with your broad 

 experience in that line, you are likely to 

 think of things that ordinary observers 

 would -;ot. In my judgment it was a sad 

 day for bee-keepers when you ceased to 

 be a professional experimenter. 



