August, igio. 



/^ ^y^^ ^ 



American Hee JonrnalJ 



tion concerning tlie malady, but noth- 



(ing definite was proven. It is mucli to 

 be hoped that Dr. Zander is right. If 

 we can once put our finger on the 

 cause of the trouble, the remedy will 

 be more easily secured. 



Dysentery, or more properly diar- 

 rhea, and the May disease, are quite 

 different in their conditions, although 

 in some cases the latter may have re- 

 sulted from the former. In dysentery, 

 the bees having been confined to the 

 hive in cold weather on improper food, 

 are unable to retain the fecal matter 

 contained in their bowels, and instead 

 of waiting till a warm day to eject it as 

 usual in the open air on the wing, they 

 discharge it at the entrance, and often 

 even on the inside among the cluster. 

 They soil each other in this manner, 

 crawl out or scatter about the hive, get 

 chilled, and die. It does not matter 

 whether the food consists of too thin 

 or watery honey, or honey containing 

 a large percent of pollen or of honey- 

 dew, fruit juices, or even the product of 

 sorghum mills, and perhaps sometimes 

 of watery sugar syrup of low quality. 

 Long confinement and poor food com- 

 bined often produce this result. 



In mild cases where only a portion 

 of the bees suffer, or when the con- 

 finement is not of siffficient duration to 

 compel them to discharge themselves 

 in the hive, the bees, after a good flight, 

 may become healthy again. Evidently 

 there are different degrees of the dis- 

 ease. After confinement bees always 

 discharge a certain amount of fecal 

 matter, but out-of-doors and on the 

 wing, and in healthy conditions, this 

 matter is nearly solid, and there is no 

 trace of diarrhea. 



It is not only in cold weather and 

 under the above-mentioned conditions 

 that such a disease may cause havoc 

 and ruin. The confinement of a colony 

 to the hive with fresh honey in hot 

 weather, without sufficient ventilation, 

 may produce a similar result within a 

 very few hours. Years ago Mr. Lang- 

 stroth noticed this fact, which he re- 

 lated in the following words : 



" When bees are confined to a close atmos- 

 phere, especially if dampness is added to its 

 injurious influences, they are sure to be- 

 come diseased, and large numbers, if not 

 the whole colony, perish from dysentery. Is 

 it not under circumstances precisely similar 

 tliat cholera and dysentery prove most fatal 

 to human beings? * * « I examined last 

 summer (1852) the bees of a new swarm 

 which had been suffocated for want of air. 

 and found their bodies distended with a 

 yellow and noisome substance, just as 

 though they had perished from dysentery. 

 A few were still alive, and instead of honey 

 their bodies were filled with this same dis- 

 gusting fluid; though the bees had not been 

 shut up more than two hours." 



Since the above was written by Mr. 

 Langstroth, the same remark has been 

 made by myself and many others. 



The May disease is very different 

 from diarrhea or dysentery. It is true 

 that in this malady the abdomen of the 

 bees is distended also with nauseating 

 fecal matter, but it should be called 

 constipation rather than dysentery, for 

 in nearly every instance the bees are 

 unable to discharge this matter from 

 the abdomen. It causes them to drag 

 themselves about in great misery, mov- 

 ing their limbs with difficulty, and for 

 that reason many persons denominate 

 this sickness " paralysis" or "vertigo.'' 

 In mild countries the disease has so 

 often appeared in spring at the opening 



of warm weather that thev have de- 

 nominated it '• May disease ;" in French, 

 " Mal-de-mai ;" in Italian, " Mal-di-mag- 

 gio," etc. 



Sunny Florida, warm Southern Cali- 

 fornia, the province of Ancona, in Italy, 

 on the Adriatic, to the south of Venice 

 (which are all countries with very mild 

 winters), suffer quite often, though 

 irregularly, from the May disease, and 

 the description is everywhere the same 

 —bees crawling about as if in great 

 misery, with more or less distended 

 abdomens, incapacity to evacuate (the 

 reverse of dysentery), their bodies 

 shining because of loss of hairs, and 

 the queen herself sometimes contami- 

 nated with the same trouble. The dis- 

 ease has been charged to different 

 causes. In Italy many apiarists strenu- 

 ously blame its appearance to the blos- 

 soms of the hawthorne and other early 

 shrubs (Dubini, L'Ape, page 192), but 

 the disease appears in countries where 

 no such blossoms are found. 



Can it be that this disease and ordi- 

 nary diarrhea are chargeable to the 

 same cause, the Nosema ? When we 

 remove the cause of ordinary dysen- 

 tery, it ceases at once, but the May dis- 

 ease is an epidemic, which, although 

 usually of slight importance, some- 

 tirnes destroys many bees and impov- 

 erishes large apiaries. These matters 

 need further investigation before posi- 

 tive assertions may be made concern- 

 ing them. 



Hamilton, 111. 



Can I Nake a Living with Bees? 



BY J. C. FR.\NK. 



It depends upon the man or woman 

 who is back of the venture, and how 

 much is required for a living. To the 

 person with ordinary intelligence mixed 

 with good, hard common-sense, not 

 afraid to work, and who has the quality 

 of stick-to-it-iveness that is necessary 

 for success in any line of business, 

 there is no question but what a sub- 

 stantial living can be made with bees, 

 and some money be laid up besides. 

 That is, taking into consideration that 

 the family is not of the over-extrava- 

 gant kind, and can live within a rea- 

 sonable limit. 



There is no business today that pro- 

 duces quicker returns than bees, or a 

 greater percentage of profit for the 

 money invested. Nothing on the face 

 of the earth is so full of business as 

 the busy little bee. She is more indus- 

 trious and earns more in proportion to 

 her weight than the human being. 

 Give her a fair chance and she will 

 prove to be a savings bank, yielding 

 daily dividends. 



The reason there are so many un- 

 successful attempts in the bee-business 

 is, that people who have made a failure 

 in life at some other pursuit finally 

 take up bee-keeping. Nothing could 

 be more absurd; one incapable of 

 making a living in other lines is not 

 very likely to succeed with bees. Then, 

 too, many plunge into bee-keeping on 

 too large a scale, without any previous 

 knowledge or experience. 



Did you ever know a man who has 

 lived on a farm all his life, made farm- 

 ing a life study, and without any pre- 

 vious knowledge or experience under- 



take to practice law or medicine ? Or, 

 in fact, any other profession ? If you 

 do, you certainly don't know of any 

 one who has made a success of it, do 

 you? One is just as reasonable as the 

 other— it requires just as much expe- 

 rience to manage successfully a large 

 apiary with a profit as it does any 

 other business or profession, yet there 

 are thousands of bright and intelligent 

 men any women who deliberately un- 

 dertake bee-keeping on too large a 

 scale, without any knowledge or ex- 

 perience, and anticipate quick returns 

 and large profits. These same men 

 would no doubt advise you very 

 fatherly not to undertake manufacturing 

 or any kind of mercantile business un- 

 less you had first gained sufficient ex- 

 perience. 



To the novice who desires to embark 

 in the bee-business, a brief outline of 

 the surest plan may prove helpful. 



First of all, do not plunge. A 

 plunger rarely succeeds unless he has 

 considerable experience. The better 

 way is to handle a few colonies as a 

 side-issue, or work as a helper in a 

 large and practical apiary. Profit by 

 the other fellow's experience. Read, 

 study and observe. Increase your api- 

 ary as you gain experience, and suc- 

 cess warrants it. By going slowly and 

 carefully while learning, your mistakes 

 will cost you very little. 



Location is the foundation of suc- 

 cess. A great deal depends upon the 

 locality. Start right, be sure to secure 

 a well sheltered location. This is ab- 

 solutely necessary. 



When conducted along legitimate 

 business lines, and with proper knowl- 

 edge of the req^airements of the busi- 

 ness, there is no line any more profit- 

 able, in proportion to the amount in- 

 vested, than that of bee-keeping. 



Of course, the first requirement is a 

 knowledge of the business. The sec- 

 ond requirement is scarcely less im- 

 portant, and that is, good, energetic 

 stock. Scrubs or hybrids are not 

 profitable in any sense of the word. 



Where these requirements are ob- 

 served there is no industry on a more 

 stable foundation than the bee-business, 

 and there is no industry that is leaping 

 up in popularity faster. 



The United States Secretary of Agri- 

 culture showed by his last report that 

 the bee-industry amounted to more 

 dollars and cents than any other indus- 

 try, in proportion. 



In all you do, profit by your mis- 

 takes, stick to it, and don't become dis- 

 couraged. A half-hearted individual 

 never won success in any undertaking. 

 Get after it with a determination. A 

 living from bee-keeping is easyenough ! 

 Not that alone, but it is the most pleas- 

 ant and independent business you could 

 engage in. Thousands are making a 

 living from bee-keeping, and paying 

 for nice, comfortable homes. You can 

 be one of them, if you only try. 

 Dodge City, Kan. 



Aids to Swarm Prevention 



BY D. M. M.\CD0NAL1). 



Last month's article reviewed some 

 of the more patent causes for swarm- 

 ing. It may be of interest now to 

 record various means employed for 



