1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



229 



fed in cold weather, should be taken into a small 

 room, with but one window, place the entrance of 

 the hive level with the window sill, so that the bees 

 can return to the hive, which most will by letting the 

 room gradually cool. If the combs are much soiled, 

 give them other clean ones instead. By observing the 

 above hints, I have saved many colonies that other- 

 wise would have perished. In respect to the disease 

 among bees called "bee disease," or "cholera," I 

 will say that I consider it altogether different from 

 the disease or dysentery I have mentioned. In the 

 latter part of the winter of 1868-69, at the time of 

 the great mortality of bees in Indiana, Kentucky, 

 and parts of Ohio, I was at Plainfield, Indiana. On 

 learning that bees were dying in that locality, I called 

 on several bee-keepers in hopes I could ascertain the 

 cause of the malady. They informed me that the 

 bees had entirely decamped from hives containing 

 plenty of honey in the fall, before cold weather set 

 in, others had dwindled away until there were so 

 few bees left, that as soon as severe cold set in they 

 perished. In this latter case, the bees generally 

 soiled their combs, showing proof of dysentery. 

 but where all left before cold weather there were no 

 signs of dysentery, the combs were left bright and 

 clean. 



Strange as it may seem, whilst examining those 

 hives and bees at that time, I found a few colonies 

 apparently all right. They appeared to have 

 plenty of bees, and I could detect nothing wrong 

 about them, either by looks or smell, whilst at 

 the same time bees had died, in some instances both 

 sides of them, on the same bench. I came to the 

 conclusion at that time that it was a disease of the 

 bees themselves, and from the information since 

 received I have more fully become convinced that my 

 conclusions were correct. I believe it to be a disease 

 epidemic, if not actually contagious in its nature, 

 and peculiar to the honey bees themselves. Why 

 should not the bees be subject to disease as well as 

 domestic animals or poultry? One farmer's stock 

 or poultry die or become diseased, while another's 

 near by are entirely free from disease. I believe it 

 to be the same with bees. Bees in one district or 

 apiary may be dying with disease, while others near 

 by are apparently free from disease. I can recollect, 

 when I was a small boy, of my father losing nearly 

 all his bees in one winter. I remember hearing him 

 say that he could not contrive what ailed them, as 

 there was plenty of honey in the hives. I have no 

 doubt but it was the same disease that killed my 

 father's bees, as that which has destroyed so many 

 bees the past three or four years in different sections 

 of the country. In conclusion I will say that I do 

 not believe this disease originates from too much (or 

 impure honey,) or from the want of young bees to 

 winter, as some believe. I have had colonies become 

 queenless at s warming-time, and yet enougli bees 

 would live over to the following spring to make good 

 colonies by giving them a fertile queen. My exper- 

 ience is, that young bees die as rapidly in winter as 

 old ones. 



To prevent disease, keep a little fine salt scattered 

 about the bottom and entrance of the hive, from 

 early spring until late in the fall. If bees show 

 signs of disease or dysentery, I know of no better 

 way to do than to let them have a good fly, place 

 them in a clean hive, and feed either good honey or 



syrup made of clarified sugar. If they lack pollen, 

 sprinkle a little flour on the bees. 



Aaron Benedict. 

 Bennington, Ohio. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Transferring. 



My plan is about likeSessaye's, page 275, vol. VII, 

 except that the frame, with two or three strips about 

 three-sixteenths wide and one-sixteenth thick, is laid 

 flat on a transferring board, and when filled with 

 comb, large or small pieces, enough strips are put on 

 to hold the comb and fastened with three or four 

 ounce tacks, driven in with a hammer. 



The thought occurs to me since reading Sessaye' s 

 careful way, that the jar caused by driving the tacks 

 caused the death of the young bees spoken of on 

 page 47, vol. VII. 



A. W. Davis. 



Walworth, Wis. 



P. S. — I wish to raise queens and Italianize my 

 stock of black bees after the white clover honey har- 

 vest, (as I shall not be at home to attend to it before 

 the middle of July.) I, and doubtless many others, 

 would be much obliged if Mr. Alley would inform us 

 how to get drone eggs deposited by a young queen, 

 after the honey harvest, as mentioned on page 100, 

 vol. VII. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Information Wanted. 



Some seven or eight years since I saw a communi- 

 cation to N. Y. Farmers' Club, about what the writer 

 (a York State farmer,) called Merino Buckwheat. 

 He had got sixty-two bushels per acre, good for 

 feeding, but flour from it was a little bitter. One 

 peculiarity was that hot weather did not affect the 

 yield as it does the common variety. Another, 

 the blossoms are so near the color of stalk and 

 leaf that they do not make much show. If bees 

 gather honey from it, as they do the other variety, 

 will it not be very valuable for midsummer bee pasture 

 and crop ? Who knows ? Please report. 



A. W. Davis. 



Walworth, Wis. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



A Complaint. 



Mr. Editor. — I do not believe in having any rights 

 invaded without entering a protest. I paid two 

 dollars for the American Bee Journal, with the 

 expectation of having as good a journal as could be 

 made for that money. I paid it cheerfully, and if 

 more had been asked, I should have paid more. I 

 think it has been worth more than I paid ; indeed I 

 would not do without it for double the price ; but 

 still I expected the Journal just as good as it could 

 be, and I know it isn't, and I'll tell you how I know. 

 An editor, to do his best, should have a clear head, 

 untroubled by petty annoyances, with a cheerful 

 atmosphere surrounding him. Now, from hints I get 

 in the Journal, I am sure that, in one respect, its 

 editor is not so well situated as he might be, and con- 

 sequently does not do as good work as he might. I 

 refer to the annoyance caused by lack of promptness 



