JUNK 1. 1915 



disease in 1911, by black circles. Tlie ajti- 

 arios marked as concentric circles were ap- 

 jiarently healthy in 1011, and four were 

 removed from the district. Of the remain- 

 injj eleven apiaries ten developed disease in 

 1912. 



Bees wiiich wander to other hives are 

 probably the chief agents in spreading the 

 (rouble. Stocks in high trees, roofs, etc., 

 being out of the line of flight of stranger 

 bees often escape for a time. It will be 

 seen by the map that stocks in the open 

 suffered before those surrounded by fir- 

 trees. Bees are more likely (o fly around 

 a wood than through it. 



Some facts tend to disprove the view that 

 frames and hives carry the disease. But 

 it is impossible to imagine that an organism 

 that is passed from bee to bee is not some- 

 times transferred indirectly by the agency 

 of combs, etc. The explanation ma}^ be that, 

 when parted from its host, the causal or- 

 ganism quickly loses its virulence or even 

 its vitality. 



Drug treatment is a waste of money; but, 

 owing to the fluctuations of the disease, 

 any quack remedy can obtain testimonials. 



Stocks of foreign origin sometimes sur- 

 vive when the native bees die off rapidly. 

 This tolerance or immunity is not absolute; 

 and on the Isle of Wight, where the disease 

 menace was constantly present, Italian and 

 other foreign races died. To what extent 

 this seeming immunity can be utilized for 

 restocking is not yet known. In my own 

 apiary all native blacks died out. and the 



sole survivor of I hem was an Italian stock. 

 Beekeejiing can still be carried on, but 

 will be in the future a matter of experience 

 rather tlian dogma. It is too late now to 

 aKemjit to stamp out the trouble. Owing 

 to the manner in which the disease pro- 

 gresses before showing itself it would be 

 necessary to destroy the stocks for several 

 miles round any outbreak, with the result 

 that tliese denuded areas would overlap and 

 cover practically all beekeeping districts. 



Statements regarding Isle of Wight dis- 

 ease made in Gleanings for controversial 

 l^urposes should be received with reserve. 

 Jolni Smallwood (1914, p. 56) suggests that 

 tlie di.sease is abating in Oxfordshire. The 

 season of 1913 was there marked bj' heavy 

 losses; and when his article appeared Ox- 

 ford and district was practically cleared of 

 bees. W. Herrod, p. 58, 1914, says, " Nei- 

 them queen nor brood is affected, because 

 their food . . . does not contain the germs 

 of microsporidiosis." This is the scientific 

 name for the nosema disease, because nose- 

 ma is a protozoon belonging to the Micro- 

 spoiidia. Nosema has been found in queen 

 bees by both Zander and Maassen in Bava- 

 ria, by Nussbaumer in Switzerland, and by 

 Dr. Graham-Smith and others in England, 

 as stated in the Report of the Board of 

 Agriculture. If infected food is necessary 

 to produce infection in queens, then I fear 

 there is no alternative but to consider that 

 digested food may contain " the germs of 

 microsporidiosis." 



Albury, Herts, England. 



A NEW COLONY-RECORD SYSTEM 



BY W. E. WOODRUFF 



Like most beekeepers who run outyards 

 I have found it difficult to keep tab on the 

 condition of ray hives and to remember 

 what each needs. The card-index and note- 

 book systems are too fussy for extensive 

 work, while pla'^ing brickbats and other 

 signals in certain ways on the hives is out 

 of the (|uestion Avhere one handles a number 

 of colonies. 



It occurs to me that a simple device, 

 and one that would prove to be both inex- 

 pensive and permanent, would consist of an 

 aluminum strip made in a semi-circular 

 form and bearing numbers up to, say, ten, 

 or, bettor still, having raised letters or 

 words on it indicating the condition of the 

 colony wlien last inspected. The following 

 sketch will better suggest my idea. A point- 

 er, or possibly two, should be tacked at a 



point where they could be moved to the 

 word or figure indicating the condition of 

 the hive. In case numbers were used, the 



apiarist would, of coui-se. have to memorize 

 a " key," so they would be intelligible. 

 Cottonwood, Ariz. 



