1873.] 



TIIE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



155 



in a very cold cellar. His cellar don't freeze 

 potatoes. A neighbor, who kept his bees in a 

 freezing: cellar, lost all of them. 



Mr. Southworth of 111., asked. Did he confine 

 his bees to the hive? 



Mr. Hosmer. No, he left the top off. 



Br. Lucas. Used Bromo chloralum as a disin- 

 fectant, which purified the hives and removed 

 the bad smell. One part Bromo chloralum to nine 

 of water, and sprayed it on the comb with an 

 atomizer. 



Mr. Moon. Had his mind made np for several 

 years. Every swarm that he feed with sugar 

 syrup lived. All that were not feed, but used 

 their own honey in wintering, died. The cause 

 is in the honey. If they could fly out once in 

 three weeks, they would not die. Those on 

 their summer stands, suffered less than those in 

 the house. Where bees get good honey, there 

 is no danger. 



J. Z. Smith. Why should one swarm die out, 

 that sets by the side of another that survives? 



Mr. Moon. Had two hives set side by side, 

 that gathered very different honey, one was 

 white and the other dark. Eai h colony was re- 

 sorting to a different kind of flowers. 



Br. Hamlin, Tenn. The honey of one hive 

 will frequently differ from the honey of others, 

 gathered at the same time. Knew of an instance 

 the past season, where one colony among a num- 

 ber gathered good molasses— hardly good molas- 

 ses— while all the others gathered good honey. 



Mr. Zimmerman confirmed the statements of 

 Mr. Moon and Dr. Hamlin ; had some to gather 

 basswood while others gathered clover honey. 



Mrs. Tapper had no disease among her own 

 bees last winter, but she examined more than 

 500 colonies of dead bees, and in nearly every 

 instance there was too much honey and too few 

 bees in the hive. They were solid with honey, 

 but no bees. Did not think the honey was to 

 blame, as she had known the honey to be given 

 to other bees without injury, showing that the 

 honey was not poisonous. The brooding stopped 

 from some cause before the honey gathering 

 did, so that there were no young bees. 



Mr. Moon. It is evident that the bees exam- 

 ined by Mrs. Tupper did not die from the dis- 

 ease but from a condition of things that pre- 

 vented them from keeping strong. 



E. S. Pope of Blue Grass, 111. His bees died 

 with plenty of bees as well as honey in the hive. 



N. C. Mitchell, Indianapolis, la. Thought 

 it a most important subject for investigation. 

 His observations led him to the conclusion that 

 there were two leading causes inducing the dis- 

 ease. The first was bad honey or honey that 

 contained something unhealthful to the bees, 

 which was not fatal, however, where the bees 

 were in a condition to resist it. The second 

 was too much ventilation which so aggravated 

 the disease as to produce mortality. Among 

 the numerous hives he examined he found in 

 every instance, where there were holes in the 

 tops of the hives for ventilation, all the bees 

 were dead, while others in the same apiary that 

 had no upward ventilation were safe. He ad- 

 vised to stop all upward ventilation and leave 

 openings only below. When bees have their 



own Way, they always stop every crack or crev- 

 ice through which an upward current or draft 

 could be produced. 



T. Hulmnn. Terre Haute, la. Pat eighty 

 colonies in cellar. All that he saved were some 

 he covered with paper sacks. He lost all he had 

 in 1868, and was of opinion that it was caused 

 by bad honey. 



Aaron Benedict of Ohio. Had come to the 

 conclusion that it was a disease in the bee, and 

 'not attributable to bad honey or improper venti- 

 lation. Had seen a hive on its summer stand 

 that was split from bottom to top, the crack 

 wide enough to let a rat run in, that wintered 

 well while others that had no such ventilation 

 died near it. 



S. P. Shipley, Olena, Ohio. Wintered his bees 

 out doors, with upward ventilation to some ami 

 downward to others, and found both to do well. 

 Had protected some by covering with cloth and 

 left others without protection, and had never 

 had the disease among his bees, he was satisfied 

 that ventilation had nothing to do with it, and 

 agreed with Mr. Benedict, that it was a dis- 

 ease of the bee. 



B. A. Southworth of 111. Thought ventilation 

 had nothing to do with it, as one of his neigh- 

 bors had hives badly constructed, of all kinds 

 of scraps and pieces of old lumber, that were 

 very open, many of them leaving the bees 

 almost unprotected, and they came out in good 

 condition. 



Mr. Ken yon, la. There was no doubt a 

 cause that produced the disease, but what it is, 

 is the question. It was not the long winters, 

 for he lived north of this, where there is now 

 good sleighing, and his bees were not affected. 

 He believed it was something in the food of 

 the bees. He obtained last spring some comb 

 from a neighbor, who had lost his bees and used 

 it in setting up two nuclei. The comb had no 

 honey it, but plenty of bee bread. The bees 

 soon died out. He re-stocked them several 

 times, with the same result every time. The 

 cause was, in his opinion, in the bee bread. 

 Ventilation had no effect. All his bees were 

 ventilated. 



N. E. Prentice, of Castalia, Ohio. Was satis- 

 fied it was not the long winters, nor ventilation. 

 Lives on Lake Erie. Wintered out-doors last 

 winter, some with straw over them, and others 

 without protection. Had no disease, among his 

 bees. Thought it was disease, perhaps the 

 epizootic. 



Dr. T. B. Hamlin of Tennessee, said there 

 was great mortality among bees in Tennessee, 

 three years ago. Was of the opinion, that it 

 was on account of too much honey. The cells 

 were filled up, and in cold spells of weather, the 

 bees had no place to cluster compactly together 

 so as to keep up sufficient animal heat. 



SeOi Hoagland of Pennsylvania May it not 

 be that our bees are diseased like our horses, 

 and no one can tell why ? 



President Clarke said this discussion had re- 

 minded him very forcibly of a story he had 

 heard concerning a certain quack doctor, who 

 was called on to diagnose and prescribe for a 

 disease with which a certain old lady was af- 



