99fl 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



I have had the fever for twenty-five years. 



A SMALL BUT PROSPEROUS APIARY 



BY JOHN J. LENERT 



Twenty-five years ago, while I was lool^- 

 iug' at some bees owned by a friend, one of 

 the pesky things stung me under the eye. 

 From that time I had the bee fever. A 

 short while after that my father purchased 

 a colony for me, and I have been a small 

 beekeeper ever since. 



I have had as many as twenty colonies 



and as few as two. My bes. yield was 300 

 lbs. of comb honey from eight colonies. My 

 best crop of extracted honey was 750 lbs. 

 from seven colonies. One colony gave me 

 twenty-seven full Langstroth frames in 

 1913. Last year I took off 200 lbs., but had 

 to feed it all. back again in the fall. 

 Elmwood Place, Ohio. 



WHAT IS IT— NOSE MA APIS, BEE PARALYSIS, OR WHAT 



BY M. Y. CALCUTT 



It is Nosema apis. There can be no doubt 

 that the disease that has scourged the bees 

 in this section of the country is nothing- 

 else than Nosema apis, otherwise known as 

 the Isle of Wight disease. On August 28 

 I sent samples of both brood and bees to 

 Dr. E. F. Phillips, in charge bee culture 

 investigations, Washington, D. C, and re- 

 ceived the following in response : 



No disease has been found in any of it. The 

 comb consists of advanced puppe and bees readv to 

 emerge, and these do not seem to be at all affected. 

 No cause for trouble has been found in the adult 

 bees. E. P. Phillips. 



Before I received the above letter from 

 Dr. Phillips I had a long talk with Prof. 

 Trevoe Kincaid, and he informed me that 

 he had discovered the germ that was caus- 



ing all the trouble with our bees. After a' 

 careful examination with the microscope he 

 had discovered and identified it as Nosema 

 apis. The first few bees examined by him 

 did not show the disease, or, to be more 

 exact, he did not discover Nosema apis, be- 

 cause he was not looking in the right place. 

 Once he had discovered the bacillus (in the 

 alimentary canal) he had no trouble what- 

 ever in finding it thereafter. It would seem 

 froiB this that Dr. Phillips in some manner 

 must have overlooked Nosema apis in the 

 sample that I had forwarded to him. 



The sample adult bees were caged from 

 tliose crawling in front of the hive, and 

 placed in a queen-cage over night. Next 

 morning all were dead. 



