274 



August, 1914. 



American ^Bae Joarnal 



numerous times when their behavior 

 suggests either the absence of any 

 odor or their complete ignoring of it. 

 To avoid misunderstanding, let me 

 repeat that I believe each colony prob- 

 ably does have its individual odor 

 (there are exc options), and that it is 

 possible that each bee thereof may 

 possess and retain for a time such col- 

 ony odor, but what I do most positively 

 assert is that such odors do not play 

 anything like the important part in 

 practical bee-culture which has been 

 given to them, and that beekeepers are 

 blind to their own best interests when 

 they fail to lay aside prejudice and 

 blind belief and weigh fact against 

 fact. 



In conclusion, let me say that when 

 believing in the importance of odor as 

 a factor in bee behavior, and basing 

 my practices thereon, I had as much 

 labor and as many troubles as the rest 

 in carrying out the ordinary routine 

 of bee-culture. Since relegating odor 

 to the background and proceeding 

 along independent lines, I have ac- 

 complished much that is ordinarily 

 considered impracticable and have ma- 

 terially lessened the labor. 



Providence, R. I. 



very destructive to bee life, and it is to 

 be hoped that every effort will be taken 

 to prevent the introduction of the dis- 

 ease to America. 



I take this opportunity to enclose 

 one of my photographs of the remains 

 of a colony that had been destroyed by 

 this disease. It shows a comb taken 

 from a diseased hive with the queen 

 among the small cluster of dead bees. 



It is one of the characteristics of this 

 disease that the queen is the last to 

 survive, and from her position among 

 the cluster of dead bees, it is pretty 

 evident that her death was caused by 

 chill, rather than from the effects of the 

 disease. 



This photograph is one of a set of 

 original photographs recently exhib- 

 ited at the Conversazione of the British 

 Beekeepers' Association on this disease. 



Barrowdene, Kent, England. 



Isle of Wight Disease 



BY GEO. \V. JUDGE. 



(NOTICE that the so-called "Isle of 

 Wight Disease" (microsporidiosis) 

 which has made such havoc among 

 the bee population in this country, is 

 engaging theattention of the American 

 bee papers of late. I do not think it is 

 generally realized in America what a 

 menace this disease is to the industry. 

 In Great Britain, during the last few 

 years, it has spread rapidly all over the 

 country, and today there are very few 

 districts indeed that have not been 

 visited by it. In many localities every 

 colony has been destroyed; in fact, in 

 the comparatively small area of north- 

 west Kent (in which I reside) there is 

 not 5 percent of the colonies alive to- 

 day, that were in perfect condition 

 three years ago. 



The causative agent {Xosema cij^/s) is 



The Launch in Beekeeping 



BY GRANT ANDKRSON. 



THE season of 1014 has been an un- 

 usual one. The heavy rains in 

 winter started the honey plants 

 to growing, but later the weather 

 turned out dry and cool with fog on 

 warm mornings. The bees built up 

 slowly on heavy stores, and the result 

 was we were a full month later gettinR 

 our first honey out than we were last 

 spring. Swarming has also been later 

 and lighter. The honey is of fine 

 quality and the demand very good. We 

 have orders now for more than 10,000 

 pounds of honey. The season, while 

 late, promises to be a good orie ; boun- 

 tiful rains and warm sun will surely 

 bring the bloom. 



Our new baby yard that we started 

 this spring has attracted considerable 

 attention, located as it is on the very 

 bank of the Arroyo, in sight of people 

 passing in boats. 



I enclose a photograph of our big 

 launch Queen B, with a light load of 

 bees. The young man in the boat is 

 my baby boy 15 years old. My two 

 boys are my only helpers in the out- 

 apiaries. We have a house at our new 

 baby apiary, where the boys live most 



of the time and attend to the lowe 

 apiaries. Our launch, Annie Lee, will 

 take the boys to any of the lower api- 

 aries in a few minutes and carry a sup- 

 ply of hives and other fixtures for the 

 bees. 



As you will see, the Queen B is 

 strictly a work boat. We planned and 

 built this boat for this special purpose, 

 and after using her for several months 

 we are satisfied that it would be diffi- 

 cult to build a better one for the pur- 

 pose. While the Queen B is a work 

 boat, there are no boats on the Arroyo 

 that can outrun her or run in as shal- 

 low water as she with the same load. 



A good boat is the handiest thing for 

 hauling honey. Some may ihink that 

 lugging honey down and up hills to 

 and from the boat would not be pleas- 

 ant. We think so, too, but we don't 

 do it. We have wire cables stretched 

 from the top of the bank to the land- 

 ings, and wheel our honeyto the upper 

 end of the cable, and there a grab is 

 made for the purpose, grips the case, 

 svvings it up and rolls down the cable 

 with it and a man in the boat lowers it. 

 At the home landing we have a derrick 

 with which to lift the honey out of the 

 boat, swing it around on to a little 

 platform which is suspended from an- 

 other cable on which two rollers run, 

 and the honey is run up the cable to 

 the top of the bank and placed on the 

 truck ready for the depot or honey 

 house. This plan does away with most 

 of the heavy lifting and saves time. 



Our road is always good, rain or 

 shine. Some one may want to know 

 what I am doing while the boys look 

 after the lower apiaries. Well, I hap- 

 pen to be busy most of the time. I 

 have one honey yard and three queen 

 yards to work besides transporting the 

 hives and other supplies to the boys, 

 shipping queens and honey and look- 

 ing after the business generally. The 

 cost of running the Queen B is less 

 than the cost of feed for a team ; it is 

 less trouble and more satisfactory. 



For moving bees there is nothing as 

 good as a boat; we can move them 

 with safety the hottest weather we 

 have. We can move a good sized api- 

 ary at one trip. 

 San Benito, Tex. 



Grant Anderson's Launch Loaded with Bees. 



The Odor Theory 



BY H. Sl'UHLER. 



IT was with a keen interest that I read 

 the articles of Arthur C. Miller and 

 of Dr. Brunnich upon the introduc- 

 tion of queens and the odor theory. 



Without doubt the Miller method of 

 introduction is excellent as concerns 

 its simplicity and the results obtained. 

 But I am astonished as to his view 

 point concerning the role of odor in 

 the dom. stic economy of the hive. In 

 his last article Mr. Miller says: "I 

 admit that each colony may have its 

 individual 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 behavior 

 which governs her reception." To 

 prove this he cites the fact that field 

 workers, returning loaded from the 

 field, are accepted everywhere, and 



