236 



Jiiiy, 1914. 



American l^ee Journal 



Large St. Bernard dogs are hitched to 

 small wagons and help deliver produce 

 or goods. The dog faithfully waits at 

 the curb while his master is handing a 



package or a quart of milk to the 

 housekeeper. 



Zug, Mettmenstetten and Zurich were 

 our next stopping places. 



M. Mahon at Courfaivre examining his bees. First prize for best liept apiary in 1002. 



Contributed 



Articles-- 



The Odor of Foul Brood 



BY E. (J. I ARR, 



.'l/'hifi ///i/'i-i lor lor Xnv Jersey. 



THE disagreement of those undoubt- 

 edly well acquainted with both 

 American and European f oulbrood 

 regarding the odor from colonies af- 

 fected with either of these diseases has 

 been the source of much surprise, and 

 no little difficulty has been experienced 

 by those attempting to differentiate the 

 two diseases by the odor symptom 

 alone, or relying on this as the deter- 

 mining factor. 



The odor of American foulbrood is 

 usually described as being like that 

 from poor glue when heated, and is 

 very pronounced ; that is, it is more 

 noticeable than the odor from luiro- 

 pean foulbrood, while the latter is de- 

 scribed as a sour smell, and in some 

 cases scarcely noticeable. One having 

 his first experience with foulbrood is 

 often unable to make the description 

 fit the case. 



There are two explanations for this 

 seeming disagreement. The first is 

 that possibly the organisms causing 

 decay may differ with the locality and 

 under different climatic conditions, so 

 that in some cases the gases given off 

 are more abundant, thus giving more 

 odor. The second is that samples de- 

 scribed may have been examined in 



the apiary in the one case and in the 

 laboratory in the other; or, in other 

 words, one sample was fresher than 

 the other. 



Two seasons' work in New Jersey, 

 giving opportunity to examine plenty 

 of both forms of the disease has shown 

 that, in this State at least, the odor from 

 European foulbrood when examined 

 in the apiary is much more pronounced 

 than that from the American form; in 

 a great number of cases it being only 

 necessary to lift the hive cover to de- 

 tect the presence of disease, and in 

 many cases the odor was very notice- 

 able at a distance of several feet from 

 the affected colony. 



Samples of this form of foulbrood, 

 when taken from the hive, have rapidly 

 lost a large part of the odor. No case 

 of American foulbrood examined by 

 the writer has given such a strong or 

 disagreeable odor as the luiropean, 

 when comparing colonies of about the 

 same degree of infection, and no case 

 of American has been found where 

 the odor was noticeable a few feet 

 from the hive. On the other hand, 

 samples of the American form when 

 taken from tlie hive have for a certain 

 length of time increased in odor. 



Since there exists this seeming dis- 

 agreement, it is best that the odor 

 symptom be not relied upon as a sole 

 determining factor in differentiating 

 these two diseases. Fortunately there 



is a system which is fairly constant, 

 and upon which it seems safe to rely. 

 This is the position of the dead larvre 

 in the cells. A study of the cuts in 

 Farmers' Bulletin No. 442, shows that 

 a majority if not all of the dead larvs 

 of American foulbrood lie onthe lower 

 cell wall while those of the European 

 are found in every conceivable position 

 in the cells. This symptom the writer 

 has found reliable in practically all of 

 the 8t)7 infected colonies found in two 

 seasons' inspection work in New Jersey. 

 New Egypt, N. Y. 



-^^^m- 



Colony Odor 



BY BYRON S. HASTINGS. 



ON page 168 of the American Bee 

 Journal for May, Mr. Arthur C. 

 Miller says some things that I 

 don't agree with. He says: "I admit 

 that each colony may have its individ- 

 ual odor, but I deny that a bee after 

 a long foraging trip will retain enough 

 of it to affect her reception by an alien 

 colony. On the contrary, every (?) 

 observation indicates that it is wholly 

 the individual bee's beliavior which 

 governs her reception. 



"Here are some facts which go far 

 to disprove the theory of the individual 

 odor affecting a bee's reception. A 

 worker returning laden from the field 

 may enter anywhere." (?) 



" Queenless bees will join a near-by 

 colony with a queen, and no sign can 

 we see that the receiving colony no- 

 tices them as strangers." (?) (Ques- 

 tion marks are my own.) 



I have seen laden workers alight on 

 the alighting-board and start into the 

 hive just the same as any of the rest of 

 the workers. But the guards would 

 stop them, take their load of nectar and 

 kill them without much resistance on 

 the part of the strange bees, if strange 

 they were. 



A few times I have seen bees loaded 

 with pollen alight on the alighting- 

 board of a hive and start to enter and 

 then leave and enter another hive. 

 Why? 



I have my queens' wings clipped. 

 When the bees swarm, in returning, 

 many try to enter adjoining hives and 

 are killed. The bees are heavily laden 

 with honey. Why are they not ac- 

 cepted if a laden bee may enter any- 

 where ? 



Last spring (1913) I had a queenless 

 colony. The hives were arranged like 

 this: No. 1 was weak, but had a queen. 

 No. 3 was strong, but queenless. I had 

 requeened No. 3 the year before, and the 

 bees were much yellower than the rest 

 of my bees. During a cool spell I set 

 No. 3 on No. 1 with paper between. I 

 took everything away from where No. 

 3 had been. The first warm day some 

 of the bees, probably about 10 percent, 

 came in loaded with pollen and nectar 

 and made 2 or 3 circles, and landed at 

 No. 4. Did No. 4 accept them ? Well, 

 if you could have seen the murdering 

 going on there — that is all that one 

 could call it, for the strangers were 

 loaded too much, and were too tired 

 to offer any resistance — you would not 

 say that a laden worker could enter 

 aiiyu'/ifie .' Of course, I will adniit 

 that bees in an apiary mix; but I think 

 the most of it is done by the young 



