American Hm Jonrnal 



clear that the disease is not confined 

 to any one spot, but has existed all 

 over the British Isles from time to 

 time. 



A very lengthy and scientific descrip- 

 tion is made of Nosema apis in its dif- 

 ferent stages, as the authors are of the 

 opinion that this parasite is at the base 

 of the trouble. They say that a fatal 

 infection may be produced in a number 

 of cases by feeding the spores to 

 healthy bees. However, they acknowl- 

 edge that some bees may be fed on 

 honey containing thousands of spores 

 of Nosema and yet be unaffected by 

 them. They infer that some bees are 

 naturally immune to disease from this 

 parasite. This would explain why our 

 investigators at Washington were un- 

 able to produce the disease by feeding 

 the spores. It possibly requires spe- 

 cial conditions. 



It is further held in this pamphlet 

 that Nosema has been endemic in parts 

 of the country for many years. " Bees 

 of a healthy apiary, in Scotland, which 

 had always been free of disease, were 

 found to be contaminated with Nosema 

 spores in small numbers." The book 

 also quotes the eminent German scien- 

 tists who have made a study of the 

 subject, and reports Maassen as saying 

 that in Germany there are very few 

 apiaries which are entirely free of 

 Nosema, apparently even when there is 

 no disease. But the same writer says 

 that he has never found a case of dys- 

 entery without Nosema. 



From all this what are we to con- 

 clude ? That cold, wet, unfavorable 

 weather, coupled with watery honey, 

 may induce conditions favorable enough 

 to the multiplication of this parasite to 

 constitute an epidemic ? That some 

 colonies are more prone to suffer from 

 it than others, on account of being less 

 immune .■' 



A portion of the pamphlet is devoted 

 to a description of the different ways 

 in which the disease may spread, by 

 water, nectar, pollen ; by robbing, by 

 interchange of adult bees entering the 

 wrong hive; through parasite-carriers 

 or bees which are immune to disease, 

 but yet carry spores; by swarms being 

 located in hives which have contained 

 disease, etc. 



The immense amount of research 

 shown is much to the credit of the 

 writers. This work will form a basis 

 for further researches, and we hope 

 that soon some methods of prevention 

 or cure will be given other than the 

 isolation of the colonies. 



A remedy was employed some years 

 ago by (1. O. Poppleton, of Florida, 

 who sprinkled the bees and the combs 

 with powdered sulphur. The sulphur 

 kills all the diseased bees, and the sick- 

 ness is said to disappear. The brood 

 must be removed, as the sulphur would 

 destroy all the unsealed larvae. 



The Italians reported a similar 

 scourge, a few years ago, in the Prov- 

 ince of Ancona. They called it by the 

 old name of Mai di Maggio. The rem- 

 edy there recommended, rather as a 

 preventive than a cure, was the feeding 

 of colonies with a strong tonic tea, 

 made of a solution of lavender, ginger, 

 rosemary, etc., mixed with honey heat- 

 ed to the proper degree. 



In our experience, the disease has 

 been very infrequent, confined to a few 

 colonies in cold, wet springs. The 



bees have, in most cases, overcome it 

 successfully without treatment, and we 

 consider it more as an epidemic than 

 a contagion. 



Comb or Extracted Honey? 



It is a common thing for a beginner 

 to ask the question, " Which is more 

 profitable to produce, comb or ex- 

 tracted boney ?" Then the querist is 

 disappointed because he does not 

 promptly receive a positive answer one 

 way or the other. 'I'he truth is that in 

 the great majority of cases no one can 

 answer the question in advance, and 

 the beekeeper must find out for him- 

 self. To be sure, there may be locali- 

 ties where the character of the honey 

 does much toward answering the ques- 

 tion. For instance, if there is a pre- 

 dominance of honey of dark color and 

 strong flavor, then it is pretty safe to 

 give extracted honey the preference. 



Editor Pender gives this advice in 

 the Australasian Bee-Keeper: 



" Unless the honey-fiow is good the comb 

 built in the sections is of a starved appear- 

 ance, not drawn out fully and evenly and 

 unattached at the bottom, and probably 

 partly at the sides. Unless the season is 

 good and favorable for rapid comb building, 

 the honey of a light color, and the colonies 

 strong in bees— unless you have all these, 

 my advice is. (/cwV atteml't to produce sec- 

 tions or you will be disappointed. The same 

 quantity or crop of comb honey can not be 

 taken as extracted. In an indifferent sea- 

 son I should place comb honey at about a 

 quarter of an extracted honey crop, whereas 

 in a very good season quite three-quarters 

 of an extracted honey crop would be taken 

 in section comb honey. So. before going 

 into section honey-production largely, study 

 your locality and the season you are likely 

 to have." 



Pretty sound advice, but not so easy 

 to carry out in all cases. With a con- 

 siderable number of colonies on hand, 

 it is generally advisable to have the 

 sections prepared early in the spring if 

 not during the winter, when it is im- 

 possible to forecast the season. In- 

 deed, it has happened in the e.Kperience 

 of the writer that at the time supers 

 were put on the hives prospects were 



favorable, and yet the season proved 

 exceedingly poor. 



If all the bee-keepers in a given 

 locality are running for one kind or 

 the other, it is a pretty safe thing for 

 the beginner to follow their example 

 until by experimenting on a small scale 

 he may decide it advisable to follow a 

 different course. Many factors have a 

 bearing on the case, such as kind of 

 market and distance from market. 

 Moreover, producing section honey is 

 a separate trade from producing ex- 

 tracted, and it may happen that on the 

 very spot where one man does better 

 with extracted another may do better 

 with comb. The problem is one gen- 

 erally to be worked out by the begin- 

 ner himself. 



Crops and Prospects 



We are in receipt of the crop report 

 of the California State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association. We quote their conclu- 

 sions given after the condensed re- 

 ports from the different States June 1: 



The California crop will be much below 

 normal, and. so far as I can figure it out. the 

 same applies to the country as a whole. This 

 being the case, there is no use in forcing the 

 little early honey we have on the market 

 which is not ready to buy. The eastern 

 buyers want to be sure of what the condi- 

 tions are beforeordering; there is no settled 

 price, and I strongly urge the producer to 

 be as independent as the buyer for the 

 present. There was no great quantity of 

 honey held over, and I firmly believe these 

 reports to be honest statements of the bee- 

 men themselves, whom we can trust to 

 know the conditions better than any one 

 else. Extracted orange honey is selling to 

 the grocer at 7',i cents per pound. The old 

 crop of comb is clearing up at various 

 prices; no new honey is being offered, and 

 nocarload lots of any kind moving. 



Geo. L. Emerson. 



Report Manager. 



From their July reoort we judge that 

 the prospect is unchanged, and that 

 honey will be scarce. In Illinois, al- 

 though the flowers have yielded fairly, 

 especially basswood, the weak condi- 

 tion of the bees in spring, and the ten- 

 dency to retrieve losses by increase of 

 colonies are likely to cause a very light 

 harvest of surplus. Very little white 

 clover honey has been gathered. 



Miscellaneous ^ News Items 



Bees and Early Fertilization. — In 



Prakt. Wegweiser attention is called to 

 the fact that although much is said 

 about bees as important carriers of 

 pollen, seldom is mention made of their 

 being earlier than most other insects 

 that fertilize plants. Take fruit-bloom, 

 a bumble-bee may do as good work on 

 apple-blossoms as a honey-bee. But at 

 the time an apple tree is in blossom 

 there are no bumble-bees to speak of — 

 only the queen of each colony. If 

 from each hive in an apiary, instead of 

 several- thousand workers, only the 

 queen were to sally forth to visit the 

 apple trees, there would no doubt be a 

 failure of the apple crop. Beside fruit- 

 trees, there are many other plants 

 which bloom before the season is far 

 advanced, and many other insects be- 

 side bumble-bees are found in plenty 



only after the season is well advanced. 

 So if bees were no better than other 

 blossom-fertilizers in other respects, 

 the mere fact of their earliness makes 

 them of so much marked value as to 

 be well worth emphasizing. 



Colorado Honey Grading Rules At 



the request of ^Ir. Frank Rauchfuss, 

 Secretary of the Colorado Honey-Pro- 

 ducers' Association, we herewith pub- 

 lish the new honey grading rules adopt- 

 ed last December by the Colorado 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association. We 

 call the producers' attention to the fact 

 that they do not include in any of these 

 grades sections that contain more than 

 .'JO uncapped cells altogether. A much 

 better price would be secured for honey 

 in sections, on all markets, if some 

 such rule were followed by the major- 



