766 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



The exhibit of G. Frank Pease as it appeared at the Kalamazoo fair. 



I sent some of the specimens to Dr. Phil- 

 lips, who replied, " No bacteria; know noth- 

 ing about it," ov words to that eifect. 



Now, Mr. Editor, if it was poisonous hon- 

 ey that killed the bees, old or young, worker 

 or queen, what ailed the youngsters, sealed 

 in their cells, before the poison showed upf 

 Why their winglessness or " this thusness," 

 as Artemus Ward used to put it ? 



There was no particular odor noticed 

 until the dead bees began to decay; and as 

 the malady subsided in about a month we 

 concluded to say nothing about it, hoping 

 it would prove only local, and due to the 

 drouth, which would not occur next year 

 when the big rain came. (Those big rains 

 are all next year here in California, you 

 know.) 



Then here comes in that Mr. Webber, 

 from Colorado, with his experience along 

 the same line, and away goes our theory of 

 the trouble being local and temporary. 



Brother Webber, is there any buckeye, 

 blasted or otherwise, in your locality? 



Now turn over the page and read Avhat 

 C. W. Arnett says, p. 548, about losing 

 colony odor, due (I guess) to Himalaya 

 blackberry bloom. It is the same here, with 

 not a blackberry; but the results! When 

 all bees have the same colony odor, and no 

 guard bee knows friend from foe, absolute- 

 ly refusing to put up a scrap to defend 

 stores, it puts things " on the blink." Tt 

 becomes a go-as-you-please rare, Avhen bees 

 rob indiscriminately, regardless of " race, 

 color, oi' previous condition of .servitude." 

 In one instance some goldens were lugging 



tlie honey from two hives of hybrids, and 

 the gray Carniolans taking it from the 

 goldens. A robber seemed just as welcome 

 as the rightful inhabitant ; and a colony 

 robbed out .completely would show up strong 

 in bees, with a good queen and nice brood, 

 but not a drop of honey. 



This state of affairs has kept us on the 

 jump, night and day, for a month; and the 

 description of the schemes we have tried 

 would be too long for Gleanings, so I will 

 simmer down to the finale, which was to 

 scatter them out over 25 miles of territory, 

 and keep moving the robbers and feeding 

 the destitute. My partner rei^orts a few 

 cases where guards ai'e putting up a fight, 

 so there may come a let-up eventually. 



What do you think of bees, shut up tight- 

 ly in their hives, passing stores through the 

 ventilator wire cloth to robbers on the out- 

 side? Our loss to date is just about 50 per 

 rent from malady and robbing. 



Jamesburg, Cal., Aug. 25. 



[We are at a loss to explain what may be 

 1 he cause of this peculiar malady. We might 

 suggest poison of some sort as being re- 

 sponsible; but that hardly seems tenable in 

 view of all the facts presented. No partic- 

 ular source of honey can be ascribed to it. 

 We shall be glad to hear from more of our 

 subscribers who may have obsei'ved some- 

 thing similar in their respective localities. 

 If it is a new disease or malady, and if it be 

 seriously contagious, we ought to take a 

 stitch in time. We feel satisfied that Dr. 

 Phillips, at the Bureau of Entomology, Avill 



