156 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For the American Bee Journal] 



That Bee Disease. 



Mr. Editor : — I see from an article in the 

 Journal by C. E. Thome, of Selma, Ohio, 

 that there is some disease among his bees. The 

 same disease (if it he a disease) is prevalent 

 here to a great extent. In this and the adjoining 

 counties I have heard of half a dozen more men 

 who have lost their whole apiaries of from thirty 

 to forty stands each. The bees die, leaving the 

 hives full of honey. Some have bee-bread or 

 pollen, aud some have none. All I have heard 

 of dying are black bees. 



Is it a dsease, or is it old age f Bees in this 

 section ceased to gather any honey after the 1st 

 or 10th of July, except the Italians, which 

 gathered considerable from wild flowers, mostly 

 the lady-slipper, (I do not know its botanical 

 name,) a weed that resembles smart-weed. 

 When they ceased gathering honey they ceased 

 breeding, and as breeding ceased about the 1st 

 of July, the bees are now over four months old. 

 Is not that their natural term of life. 



My bees are all Italians or hybrids, and ap- 

 pear healthy and in good condition for winter. 

 They stored about two pounds surplus honey per 

 hive, forty hives. 



Please send me the November number of the 

 Journal. I failed to get that number, and as 

 I consider each nnmber worth two dollars to 

 me, I do not want to have my file broken. 



H. Nesbit. 



Cynthiana, Ky. 



[For the American Bee Journal ] 



The Bee Disease. 



Mr. Editor: — I see in the December num- 

 ber of the Bee Journal, an account of a new 

 disease among bees. 



On the 8th of October last my strongest Italian 

 stock was taken in a similar manner, and al- 

 though the disease did not last three days, it re- 

 duced the stock from a powerful swarm to a mere 

 nucleus. The bees seemed to drop in a stupifled 

 state on the bottom board and crawled slowly 

 to the entrance, then out on the alighting board, 

 from which they dropped into the grass. They 

 seemed to want to get as far from the hive as 

 possible before dying. 



I supposed my bees had been poisoned, as I 

 knew they had been rather mischievous — hav- 

 ing even entered the hives of my neighbors, 

 carrying off the winter stores without permis- 

 sion. In one instance they took possession of a 

 dining hall, and drove the family from the 

 breakfast table on which there was honey. I 

 was told they even came through the keyhole 

 to hold possession. Now some of the knowing 

 ones claim that they can poison bees, when they 

 attempt to rob others. How that is I do not 

 pretend to know. I have come to the conclu- 

 sion that my bees were not poisoned inten- 

 tionally. 



I have tried various experiments with the dead 

 and the dying bees, but with no satisfactory re- 



sult. I yet believe that my bees had been work- 

 ing on some poisonous substance ; but that it 

 was so far from my apiary that, as the weather 

 came off cold, the bees could not keep up the 

 line of communication, and that those that 

 found the forbidden fruit died before they could 

 lead others into fatal temptation. 



Now I do not believe that bees naturally 

 would forage on poisonous substances; but that 

 in some cases, as in the extreme excitement of 

 robbing, they may partake of substances 

 which, under other circumstances, they would 

 not notice. 



May not some such disease as Mr. Thorne de- 

 scribes be the cause of the sudden disappearance 

 of the bees in the neighborhood of Lexington, 

 (Ky.,) the beekeepers not noticing the hives 

 till the bees were all gone ? 



John T. Rose. 



Petersburg, Mich. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



More About That Bee Disease. 



Will some of your old bee friends please 

 answer the following, for, in all probability, in 

 their experience, they may have met just such 

 cases. 



First. This has been the most fatal season to 

 the interests of the apiarian that has probably 

 ever visited them, at least in this section — 

 very little honey being gathered in any one's 

 apiary. 



Second. In most locations no swarms issued 

 from any of the old colonies — notwithstanding 

 they lay out on the sides of their hives in great 

 numbers. 



Third. Where a swarm came from an old 

 hive, that hive invariably, I may say so, died. 

 In all my inquiries among bee-men I know of 

 but one instance to the contrary — and I expect 

 that will die. 



Fourth. Where they have died, they have 

 invariably left large quantities of honey. And, 

 what is stranger still, in not more than one case 

 in ten is there any bee-bread. So universal is 

 this lack of bee-bread, that it has been remarked 

 by every one, and I have been at great pains to 

 inquire ol all the old bee-men living in the 

 country. Besides this, so far as I can learn, all 

 the swarms of this year have also died. The 

 bees do not starve and fall down in the 

 hive; for, in opening a hive, there may often be 

 found a dozen or so, and often not one. 



Now, we would like to have some informa- 

 tion on this subject; and, if there is a remedy, 

 should be pleased to have it made known. 

 Why is it that it is those casting swarms that 

 invariably die ? And why is there no bee- 

 bread ? 



Clayton. 

 Bloomington, Ind. 



When in natural swarming the bees fly too 

 high, they are made to descend lower and dis- 

 posed to settle, by throwing among them hand- 

 fuls of sand or dust; probably the bees mistake 

 this for rain. — Wildman. 



