Aug. 13, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



519 



Left to themselves the bees will, of course, brn I all 

 through the spring, and will breed niore plentifully if they 

 are wealthy than if they are poor, provided they arc not 

 so crowded with honey as to have no room for brood ; but 

 the breeding will be still more enhanced if the colony is en- 

 couraged by feeding when there is nothing in the field. I 

 deprecate the feeding of a rich colony because there is dan- 

 ger of overcrowding their combs with honey, and for no 

 other reason. We have often, in the case of a rich colony, 

 practiced the uncapping of a few cells from time to time, 

 to induce them to feed and consume the honey. That has 

 about the same effect on a rich colony that a little feeding 

 has on the one that is more scantily supplied. 



Mr. Miller quotes my own words in Langstroth Revised 

 on that subject. Let me in turn quote him, the master him- 

 self, in a previous edition : 



"By judicious earlj- feeding a whole apiary may not 

 only be encouraged to breed much faster, but they will be 

 inspired with such vigor and enterprise as to increase their 

 stores with unusual rapidity." 



Mr. A. C. Miller will, of course, take objection to this 

 teaching. He has tried feeding in all sorts of ways, and 

 ■' always at a loss." Ergo, no one can succeed, Langstroth 

 and others to the contrary notwithstanding. 



Because I said that we should not feed when feeding 

 would induce bees to fiy out in weather cool enough to chill 

 them before their return, or when they found honey out-of- 

 doors, Mr. Miller concludes that when we can feed, we 

 should not, and when we should feed, we can not. This is 

 hardly good faith. There are plenty of times when there is 

 no honey in the fields and yet it is suitable weather for bees 

 to fly. At such times feeding encourages breeding. 



When I wrote the previous article, I stated that we were 

 then feeding some 60 colonies. It was about the last of 

 April, and we had been feeding already for some time. We 

 do not practice feeding every year, because it requires a 

 great deal of attention on the part of the apiarist, and I like 

 to look after this myself, and do not always have the time. 

 This year I had two reasons for doing it. The fields were 

 promising an immense crop of clover, and the weather was 

 so changeable, and the early blossoms so scanty, that the 

 bees were very irregular in their breeding. According to 

 Mr. Miller, I fed " at a loss." What of the results? Our 

 apiary foreman is acquainted with a number of apiarists in 

 the neighborhood, and he says: "There is not a single 

 apiary in the immediate vicinity that has such a crop as 

 your home apiary. Some colonies have yielded 400 pounds, 

 and the entire average at this date (about the end of the 

 clover crop) is about 300 pounds per colony." 



There are a number of readers of the American Bee 

 Journal in this place, and it is not difficult to verify this 

 statement. Of course, Mr. Miller can say that we would 

 have a still better crop if we had not fed the bees, or that 

 the result is due to other causes. For my. part, I am sure 

 that stimulative feeding had much to do with the results. 



Mr. Miller tells me that he is ahead of me on some of 

 the habits of the bee ; I'll grant this ; that the bees never 

 give food on the tongue. Whether this is so or not, it has 

 very little to do with the present discussion. I have seen 

 bees make a "show of tongues " — perhaps they were only 

 kissing. Feeding enchances breeding, because the bees 

 are stirred up by it and because the queen is offered food 

 more plentifully whether it be royal jelly or honey. 



Mr. Miller denies flatly the deference of bees for their 

 queen, and asks me to " look again." And would looking 

 again and failing to see it cancel the hundreds of instances 

 where I have seen and shown to visitors, even on the comb 

 held in the hands, the bees making an admiring circle 

 around their queen and getting out of her way at the least 

 move she makes ? They realize that she is indispensable, 

 and are ever ready to offer her food, if they have any to 

 offer, which is of course oftener the case when some fresh 

 supply is brought from the field or from the feeder. 



Of course, there is no such a thing as a " body-guard 

 liable to instant banishment from neglect of duty," criti- 

 cised by Cheshire, but this writer himself notices their at- 

 tentions to her welfare, and backing out of the way not to 

 impede her movements, with the constant offering of food 

 by the neighboring nurses. It is nothing but deference or 

 respect due to the knowledge of her importance in the hive, 

 call it in whatever terms you like. Hancock Co., 111. 



The Premiums offered this week are well worth working 

 for. Look at them. 



Bacillus Alvei and Mesentericus. 



DR. LAMFiOTTE awakcii.'d serious fears that the ralcrobo 

 of foul brood was notliiii<; more nor less than one of the 



commonest bacilli, to ho found everywhere, only awaiting 

 sufficiontly favorablo conditions to start a case of foul brood. 

 It Is comforting to know that authorties whose opinions are 

 entitled to rospect do not accopt as sufficient the proofs that 

 Dr. Lambotto has given. I'rof. Harrison, a man of whom our 

 Kanuck friends ought to bo proud, seems to have given the 

 matter very careful consideration, and still thinks B. alvei 

 distinct from B. mesentericus. 



Now comes a man whose word always counts, Thos. \Vm. 

 Cowan, and after reading what ho says, one hardly need lose 

 sleep over Dr. Lambotte's investigations. Mr. Cowan says 

 among other things, in the British Bee Journal : 



An examination of Dr. Lambotte's paper will at once 

 convince the unprejudiced mind that there is very little to be 

 alarmed about. It is quite true that Dr. Lambotte says bacil- 

 lus alvei and bacillus mesentericus vulgaris are one and the 

 same, and that all previous investigators have made a mis- 

 take, but it is not necessarily true because he says so. 



That the products of both have a ropy and viscous char- 

 acter does not necessarily make them identical, and even if 

 they were they might be produced by different bacilli. Much 

 importance is given to an assumption that the harmless B. 

 mesentericus can be, under certain conditions, made to pro- 

 duce disease, and upon this hypothesis— not generally accepted 

 — Dr. Lambotte bases all his conclusions. He is unfortunate 

 in his illustration, for he does not prove that " flacherie" in 

 silkworms is not produced by a specific germ, but only thinks 

 that " If the investigation were again taken up with the pres- 

 ent knowledge it would be found that at least one of the forms 

 of this malady would be traced to microbes of the mesenteri- 

 cus family." There is not a shadow of evidence in support of 

 this theory, or that mesentericus has anything to do with the 

 disease, and even if it did it would prove nothing in regard to 

 foul brood. We certainly can not understand Dr. Lambotte 

 trying to maintain his theory in the face of his experiments. 

 He failed entirely to produce foul brood with a cultivation of 

 B. mesentericus spread over the brood. Some of the larvas 

 were killed and surrounded with infecting material, but after 

 three days the bees had cleaned out the cells, and there was 

 no further damage. Although this experiment was repeated 

 a number of times, it failed in every instance to produce the 

 disease. We know perfectly well from long experience that 

 such an experiment with B. alvei would have produced foul 

 brood in a virulent form in the strongest colony. 



Bacillus mesentericus is found almost everywhere, and 

 were it the cause of foul brood we should also hear of this dis- 

 ease wherever bees were kept, but there are many districts 

 where foul brood has not been known to exist, and in every 

 case of an outbreak where investigation has been made, It 

 was found that it had existed there before, or had been by 

 some means introduced. 



Without going more deeply into the matter it need only be 

 said that we can not accept Dr. Lambotte's explanation, 

 knowing as we do how rapidly foul brood spreads even when 

 colonies are in the best condition. On the other hand, we also 

 know that when certain means are employed the disease can 

 be got rid of, so that with the present knowledge available we 

 need only follow out the practices usually advocated in order 

 to obtain the best results. 



Honey as a Health-Food is the name of a 16- 

 page leaflet (3)4x6 inches) which is designed to help in- 

 crease the demand and sale of honey. The first part is 

 devoted to a consideration of " Honey as Food," written 

 by Dr. C. C. Miller. The last part contains " Honey-Cook- 

 ing Recipes " and " Remedies Using Honey." It should be 

 widely circulated by every one who has honey for sale. It 

 is almost certain to make good customers for honey. We 

 know, for we are using it ourselves. 



Prices, prepaid— Sample copy free; 10 for 20 cts.; 25 

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 for $4.00; 1000 for $7.50. Your business card printed free 

 at the bottom of the front page, on all orders for 100 or 

 more copies. Send all orders to the Bee Journal oflice. 



