28 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 425 



ever, there is no doubt that the present man-power shortage is 

 aggravating the disease problem. 



NOSEMA DISEASE 



Infection with Nosema apis, a disease of adult bees, was co- 

 incident with the total decimation of one 20-colony apiary in 

 Flathead County during the spring of 1944. This pathogen was also 

 associated in 1943 with spring dwindling of colonies in one outfit 

 brought from Idaho in May of that year. The Flathead infection 

 was confined to one apiary. Other apiaries within the distance of 

 one-quarter of a mile showed no serious affects. The only explana- 

 tion as to source of infection appeared to be a half barrel in the 

 apiary kept filled to constant level with an automatic water tap 

 for watering purposes. The barrel remained open to contamina- 

 tion by the cleansing flights of the bees and the water was not 

 changed during the spring period. Unfortunately the water in 

 the barrel was not examined. The above isolated cases stand out 

 because Nosema disease is not regarded as having serious conse- 

 quences in Montana, though the actual role of the pathogen is 

 not well understood. Most of the State Apiarist's efforts to find 

 the infection in Montana apiaries have had negative results. 



UTILIZATION OF HONEY PRODUCING RESOURCES 



The Montana bee industry has had what might be called a 

 small frontier until a very recent date. The unique position of the 

 State Apiarist has made it both possible and desirable to study 

 some of the areas where commercial honey production was un- 

 developed with the purpose of discovering new bee territories 

 and bringing them into ccmmercial production. As a result, in 

 the last three years some 12,000 colonies of bees have been placed 

 in sites believed to be productive. Information on new territory 

 has been freely offered to individuals seeking it. Though final 

 conclusions on the resources put to use and small areas still un- 

 used cannot be drawn, a report on this study is in order here. 



Because of the short Montana season migratory beekeeping is 

 considered impractical and little of it is practiced. Most colonies 

 stand on the same spot year after year. Hence, the criteria of an 

 apiary location should include both winter and spring require- 

 ments. Many of the criteria are not measurements but only rough 

 estimates on the part of the operators after examining the area of 

 proposed operations. However, some of the factors which limit 

 honey production are measurable and are a matter of record. They 

 are precipitation and other weather conditions, irrigation, legume 

 hay, seed crops, soil, and physiography of the land. Certain factors 

 are not of record, namely, amount of waste land, amount of volun- 



