OCTOBER 1, 1915 



785 



UONEYBEES OF NORTHWEST ARE MEETING DEATH; 

 STRANGE MALADV, THAT IS ATTACKING NOTED 



7:ooi.ogist's hives, is wiping our colonies in 



SEATTLE. 



Jeopardizing the entire 1916 fruit crop of the 

 Pacific Northwest, a mysterious scourge, so far baf- 

 fliug to specialists, has already decimated fully fifty 

 per cent of the bees in this state, and is threaten- 

 ing, unless some rtnif-dy is found, to destroy com- 

 pletely the bee industry in Washington. 



Trofessor Trevor Kineaid, zoologist of the Univer- 

 sity of Washington, und one of the best-informed 

 entomologists in the United States, has lost more 

 than half of his own bees, and has received a num- 

 ber of letters from all over the state informing him 

 that the honey-making insects are dying by the thou- 

 sands. 



He belie\«s that practically half of the honey- 

 producers in the state are already dead; and as 

 these insects are largely instrumental in pollenizing 

 the fruit-trees, the growers will face a serious prob- 

 lem next year if the ravages of the mysterious dis- 

 ease are not halted. 



" T thought at first that the disease was bee pa- 

 ralysis,' said Professor Kineaid; "but further in- 

 vestigation lias convinced me that it is a complaint 

 that is analogous to malaria or sleeping sickness in 

 the human fainily. I have expectations of being 

 able to work out a cure. It may be that the disease 

 is being spread by bumble-bees. 



" Orflinarily a bee is a fierce fighter, and is well 

 q-ialified to take care of itself; but since the disea>-e 

 has appeared among them they have become easy prey 

 to their entiuies. Yellow-jacket wasps, which ordi- 

 narily will not tackle a bee, are hovering around 

 the hives in hundreds. They attack the bees, and 

 the latter are unable to retaliate. 



" I have been unable to find any information on 

 this disease in the text-books, ;ind have communicat- 

 ed with the Department of Agriculture. The entire 

 Northwest is involved: and unless the disease is 

 eradicated it is going to have a very serious effect 

 on the fruit crop next year. This year's crop will 

 not be affected, as most of the trees have either 

 borne fruit or are in bud." 



Xo one else has before mentioned thai the 

 malady has any efTeet on the brood. In the 

 Seattle case we should assume that there 

 was such a rapid decimation of bees that 

 the brood, by reason of neglect, simply dies. 

 It is our opinion, therefore, that, so far as 

 tlie brood is concerned, it is only a case of 

 neglected or starved brood. 



Every year, for the last 25 or 30 years 

 at least, we have seen dead and dying bees 

 in the fields; but the number was so small 

 as to attract very little attention. Practi- 

 cally every beekeeper, if he has any consid- 

 erable number of colonies, has noticed the 

 same thing; but it was not until this year 

 that it has broken out in such a virulent 

 form. Tlie presumption is that the peculiar 

 season — cold, rainy, and wet — has had 

 something to do with it. If it is nosema 

 apis, it seems to like a luimid atmosphere, 

 such as is found in Cneat Britain and in 

 (.^regon and Washington of our own coun- 

 try. We have never heard of nosema apis 

 ill this country, unless it was what we call 

 bee paralysis, until this jear. 



We talked with Dr. E. F. Phillips, of the 

 Department of Agriculture, about the gen- 

 eral aspects of this malady. We asked him 

 if he knew anything about it. " Only the 

 syin])toms, wliich are by no means uniform, 

 and nothing about the cause and cure," he 

 replied. The foul-brood inspectors of Cen- 

 tral United States have seen much of it. 



It may be reasonably assumed that Dr. 

 Phillips will do all ho can to get all the 

 reliable information he can concerning this 

 new disease. Possibly it is not a disease at 

 all, but a malady due to climatic conditions. 



Some New Uses of Honey in the Home 



We are rather proud of the magnificent 

 way in Avhich our subscribers have respond- 

 ed in furnishing recipes for using lioney 

 for this special number on the use of 

 honey in cooking. At one time it looked as 

 though we should have to make this number 

 about twice its usual size in order to use all 

 of the good recipes that were sent us. How- 

 e\ev, by doing a little crowding we have 

 succeeded in getting them in. 



To the best of our knowledge none of 

 these recipes, except as otherwise noted, 

 have ever appeared in any other publica- 

 tion. Of course, some of them might have 

 been copied from some other papers, but 

 most of them, we believe, are original with 

 the persons who sent them in. 



It is, perhaps, proper at this point to 

 remark tliat we have tested quite a number 

 of these recipes — not all of them, to be sure, 

 for that would be a task indeed. Perhaps 

 it would be a little nearer the truth to say 

 we have tested them " by proxy," the prox- 

 ies being Mrs. E. R. Root, Mrs. H. H. Root, 

 Mrs. J. T. Calvert, Mrs. Neal Kellogg, Mrs. 

 L. W. Boyden, and Ruth Boyden. Some 

 of the results of their work are shown on 

 cur cover and also on the interior pages of 

 this issue. One or two recipes were voted 

 a failure; but in the majority of instances 

 every one who had the privilege of eating 

 some of the cakes, pies, or cookies in ques- 

 tion pronounced them excellent. 



Hone3^ certainly makes a great difference 

 in a recijDe, provided ihe recipe in question 

 is well balanced and all proportions right. 

 As we have mentioned many times before, 

 the mere substitution of honey for sugar 

 seldom results in success, for honey and 

 sugar do not iiave the same physical char- 

 acteristics. However, with distinctly pleas- 

 ing results, honey may often be used in- 

 stead of molasses or the so-called "corn 

 syrup," without further change in the 

 recipe. 



