March, 1919 



O LEANINGS IN BEE CULT IT RE 



little. He say two men can fill, seal, ami 

 case nearly fifty dozen an hour. By experi- 

 ence lie has t'onnil there is much less danger 

 of granulation -when put into fiber cups at 

 a temperature of 130 degrees than when put 

 in warmed glass at a temperature of 160. 

 Further, he states that these containers cost, 

 as a rule, less than half as much as glass 

 containers of the same size, which, with the 

 saving in freight, makes the cost of using 

 fiber containers two or three to five cents 

 per pound less than the cost of glass. The 

 only objection he has to the fiber contain- 

 er is that many people are unwilling to buy 

 honey they can not see. The editor suggests 

 that the only remedy for this is for each 

 bottler to have his own trademark and see 

 that nothing but one certain grade and 

 flavor ever gets into a container with the 

 given trademark. 



s * * 

 CORK PACKING. 



The value of cork for packing double- 

 walled hives is again discussed by Mr. Dunn 

 in the January Canadian Horticulturist; but 

 D. Anguish, in the same issue, says cork is 

 no better than forest leaves. We have al- 

 ways considered cork a good packing ma- 

 terial, since it contains many air-spaces and 

 does not hold moisture. Still, we doubt if 

 we would rate it as high as Mr. Dunn does. 

 It may be of interest to note the following 

 statement made by Dr. E. F. Phillips and 

 George S. Demuth in ' ' The Preparation of 

 Bees for Outdoor Wintering'': 



' ' Exaggerated claims have been made by 

 some beekeepers for such material as broken 

 cork or certain commercial insulating ma- 

 terials; but it is safe to say that there is not 

 25 per cent difference between the poorest 

 and the best of available insulating mate- 

 rials, providing, of course, that obviously 

 poor things such as corn fodder and straw 



be eliminated. ' ' 



* * * 



ISLE OF WIGHT BEE DISEASE. 



The Isle of Wight disease which so close- 

 ly resembles what in this country is called 

 ''disappearing" disease, is discussed quite 

 fully in a series of articles by Joseph Tin- 

 sley in the August, September, and October 

 issues of the South African Poultry Maga- 

 zine. Because of our lack of knowledge 

 concerning the ' ' disappearing ' ' disease, 

 w^hich is more serious and more prevalent 

 than many beekeepers dream of, and be- 

 cause of the similarity of this disease to 

 Isle of Wight, a review of these articles 

 may be worth while. 



Mr. Tinsley considers the Isle of Wight a 

 highly contagious and deadly malady affect- 

 ing bees and probably wasps. It first ap- 

 peared in Britain in 1904 — the same year it 

 appeared in the Isle of Wight, from which 

 it took its name. Four years later the colo- 

 nies of Britain were reduced to a mere hand- 

 ful, and the next year in many districts of 

 Scotland not a colony escaped. 



Cause of the Disease. — In 1907 the Jour- 

 nal of the Board of Agriculture published 



the first scientific report of A. D. Simnis con- 

 cerning the cause of the disease, and two 

 years later the second report by Dr. Maiden, 

 who ascribed the cause of the disease to a, 

 bacillus (lidcilliis pestifonni.s apis). The 

 third report was made by Drs. Graham 

 Smith, Fantham, Porter, Madden, and J. W. 

 Ballamore a few years later in two different 

 issues of the same journal. In this rejioi't 

 the disease was definitely stated to be due 

 to a parasite protozoan (NofieiiKi apis). It 

 is there stated that bacteria may play a 

 secondary part in producing the symptoms, 

 but no bacteria are found constantly asso- 

 ciated with the disease. More recently the 

 disease has been investigated by Dr. J. Ren- 

 nie and J. Anderson. They believe Nosenui 

 apis is not the cause, but that the real 

 source of trouble has not yet been found. 

 Mr. Tinsley does not believe Nnsemu apis 

 the cause, since he has rarely found it pres- 

 ent. He has, however, on examination of the 

 stomach contents and excrement, found 

 masses of bacteria which he believes of sig- 

 nificance. 



Spread of Disease. — He believes the dis- 

 ease is spread by importation, by moving 

 apiaries, by purchase of queens with at- 

 tendants, by robbing, and by bees accident- 

 ally entering wrong hives. 



Symptoms. — The bees become listless and 

 lazy; the fore and hind wings are not held 

 together as usual, and the i^osterior legs are 

 rubbed over the abdomen. As the disease 

 advances, the crawling symptoms are no- 

 ticed, and many of the bees lose the power 

 of flight, and cluster on the ground, crawl- 

 ing up stems of grass, and dying in great 

 numbers. These crawling bees have distend- 

 ed abdomens, and appear to have dysentery, 

 altho the writer believes this has no rela- 

 tion to the Isle of Wight disease. The bees 

 die so rapidly that part of the brood perish 

 from lack of heat. The queen is usually 

 about the last to die. A colony may go into 

 winter quarters in good condition, and then 

 may die out during the winter from this 

 disease. Bees that have died from this 

 cause usually give off a very foul odor be- 

 cause of the fluid contents of the intestines, 

 the fluid condition sometimes remaining for 

 as long as six months. 



Experiments Concerning Infection — Var- 

 ious interesting experiments were tried to 

 determine the means of infection. The li- 

 quid contents of the intestines were mixed 

 with sugar syrup and fed to healthy bees 

 that contracted the disease in from three to 

 six w'eeks. Affected colonies were united 

 to healthy ones by placing such bees, brood, 

 combs, etc., in an additional brood-chamber 

 above a healthy colony. The disease was 

 contracted in from four to six weeks. 



An extract made from diseased comb and 

 sugar syrup was fed to healthy colonies. The 

 disease appeared in from eight to ten weeks. 

 The debris and fecal matter of hives from 

 which the bees had died were mixed with 

 water, and fed with sugar syrup to healthy 

 colonies. The disease did not appear. This 

 (Continued on page 191.) 



