APRIL 15, 1915 



I he e\ei'iirecMi, is a (iovcnuucMil aueinoineler. 

 Illootric wiies run from this to the buiUlinji' 

 where records are taken of the velocity of 

 wind, because tliis has a jireat deal to do 

 with the winterino; jiroblem and with tlie 

 internal teniperature and external tempera- 

 ture, as well as with the temperature sur- 

 roundinji' the cluster of a colony of bees. 



The little latticed structure shown in tlio 

 riirht foreground is what is called a "wcatli- 

 ei-l)uiean shelter." Its purpose is to i)ro- 



tcct wealliei-buieau insLruiueiits from sun 

 and rain, and at the same time leave them 

 subject to direct atmospheric changes. One 

 of the instruments is a thermograph for re- 

 cording temperatures, and the other a hy- 

 gTOgraph for recording humidity. These 

 outside Aveather conditions are used for 

 comparison with the internal cluster tem- 

 peratures as taken thioug'h the cables to 

 the hives and recorded inside the office. 



THE ISLE-OF-WIGHT DISEASE; HOW IT MAY BE HELD IN CHECK 



BY A. H. BO WEN 



There are few Mnglisii counties in whicli 

 the dreaded Isle-of- Wight disease has not 

 n]ipeaied and si)read with unabated vigor, 

 and fewer still are the hives it has left 

 intact after its deadly course has been run. 

 Moreover, it takes all the skill and energy 

 of the large hive-owner to keep on keeping 

 bees in spite of it. It seems useless to wait 

 patiently for the perfectly immune bee to 

 turn up; for while this is being done the 

 malady is getting ahead of beekeepers, and 

 devastating their apiaries right and left. 



There is little hope of a permanent cui-e 

 being established, for the simple reason that 

 no one knows he has the disease until the 

 bees are flopping about on the gi"ound and 

 dying rapidly in front of their hive. Stocks 

 in such condition are bej-ond any possible 

 treatment, and few there are indeed who 

 can detect the trouble in any earlier stage 

 than this. Usually the strongest and best 

 colonies succumb first, owing, no doubt, to 

 the greater amount of diseased honey that 

 is brought home; and the apiarist who is 

 well informed on diseases could, by watch- 

 ing carefully the first few crawlers, with 

 abdomens swollen and wings split, collect 

 enough evidence to prove the case without 

 waiting for the bees to die by the hundreds 

 before the colony is destroyed. 



It would seem that the greatest move that 

 can be taken in checking the spread of dis- 

 ease is to tackle the means by which it is 

 conveyed from hive to hive and apiary to 

 apiary. Beebooks tell ns that the Isle-of- 

 Wight malady is spread bj' the water in 

 IK>ols and other drinking-places where 

 healthy and disea.sed bees are wont to visit ; 

 by the passage of drones from infected to 

 clean colonies by the carelessness of the 

 owner in not keeping himself or his tools 

 thoroughly disinfected; and also by rob- 

 bing. For myself I have enough evidence 

 to convince me that robbing is respon.sible 

 first, last, and every time. 



Since the days of the old straw skep the 

 keeping of bees has increased fourfold. 

 Both hives and apiaries are more numerous 

 than ever; and in favorable localities they 

 follow each other in a continual chain run- 

 ning for miles. When the Isle-of- Wight 

 disease appears it soon spreads from one to 

 the other, and in a manner that shows 

 plainly that robbing is responsible. 



As soon as a colony is first attacked by 

 the Isle-of- Wight disease a general disin- 

 clination to work becomes noticeable. The 

 bees loiter about on the alighting-board, and 

 the hive is no longer the scene of activity it 

 formerly was. Soon the colony dwindles, 

 at first slowly and then more rapidly, until 

 none but the youngest bees are left. 



The combs are generally full of stores, 

 and a hive in this condition contains enough 

 disease germs to infect a county. Frequent- 

 ly the unsuspecting owner sees nothing 

 amiss until the stock is set upon and robbed 

 out completely. Sometimes the trouble is 

 noticed; but the . beeman — loth to destroy 

 the few hundred bees that remain — leaves 

 the stock alone, hoping the bees will pull 

 round; and so the robbers do tlie work that 

 he himself should caiTy out. Quick action 

 is what is needed most. When a hive shows 

 the first symptoms of disease the bees 

 should be destroyed, and the entrance closed 

 securely until the interior can be dealt with 

 proper]}'. 



This can be done with cyanide of potas- 

 sium, or by a charge of lighted sulphur 

 burned under the frames. It might be w^orth 

 while to use sulphur and so save the honey, 

 as cyanide renders it poisonous. The combs 

 can be rendered into wax; but the dead 

 bees, quilts, frames, etc., must be burned. 

 and the hive llioroughly disinfected. 



The chief means of infection is thus quick- 

 ly removed before hami follows, and it may 

 be I hat this will end the trouble — if not 

 permanently, at least for some time. As 



