1032 



Dec. 20, 1906 



American Itee Journal 



and he maintained this business long after he 

 ceased to be an active clergyman. He would 

 have been called a queen-breeder specialist in 

 this country, and he was a very able one, 

 without a doubt. He was a very prolific writer 

 on apicultural subjects, both in journals and 

 books. As a practical bee-keeper he pos- 

 sessed the keenest acumen coupled with in- 

 tense observation powers, so that he was a 

 wise guide to those in need of advice concern- 

 ing bee-keeping operations. He also pos- 

 sessed the power of bringing people around 

 to his way of thinking, and compelling them 

 to adopt improvements. These attributes were 

 necessary in him, living as he did among a 

 people who were intensely conservative, and 

 suspicious of all improvements to a degree 

 that Americans can not understand. 



Thousands of our fellow bee-keepers in Eu- 

 rope will mourn the death of their great leader, 

 and American followers of the craft will sym- 

 pathize very sincerely with them in their loss, 



Dziekzon's Home for 95 Years at Lowko- 



witz, Upper Silesia, Germany. 

 — From GravenhorsVs Practical Bee-Keeper, 



a near-by town, and, as a pastime, to the art 

 of bee-keeping, and in due season became the 

 chiefest of bee-keepers in the two great em- 

 pires of Germany and Austria-Hungary. 



Some too enthusiastic followers have claimed 

 for Dr. Dzierzon honors whih he himself never 

 laid claim to — the invention of movable frames. 

 In his "Rational Bee-Keeping, " published in 

 1878, he strongly approves frames and fix- 

 tures far inferior to those shown in Lang- 

 stroth's book published in 1852, and inferior 

 to Huber's hive invented in the 18th cen- 

 tury. Dr. Dzierzon was also strongly op- 



The Dzierzon Hive. 



— From GravenhorsVs Book. 



posed to movable roofs, one of the most im- 

 portant features of Langst roth's hives. But, 

 nevertheless, he worked, out a system of bee- 

 keeping which achieved great results in Ger- 

 many and Austria-Hungary. 



Dr. Dzierzon was the chief agent in dis- 

 covering parthenogenesis as applied to bees, 

 and it is on this that his fame, I think, will 

 rest — at least we on this side of the Atlantic 

 will so regard it. He had great assistance, 

 however, from Professors Leuckart and von 

 Siebold in proving the theory to be true ; in 

 fact, their part of the work called for greater 

 skill than his. He was a great believer in the 

 utility of the Italian bee, and bred and sold 

 thousands of colonies during his long career; 



which is a bereavement to a worldwide com- 

 pany of bee-keepers. \V. K. Morrison. 



Dzierzon introduced in his country the 

 system of movable combs. His hives 

 did not have frames, but only top-bars, 

 and the combs were removed by cut- 

 ting them loose from the side-walls at 

 each visit. In spite of the difficulties 

 of this method he made many impor- 

 tant observations on bee-culture. 



Thus passes from the field of agricul- 

 ture another one of the great leaders. 

 Langstroth and Dzierzon — two never- 

 to-be-forgotten names in the list of those 

 who have helped to make bee-keeping a 

 pleasant and profitable business. 



™» 



omriDinea 

 ^ Articles 



A Consideration of Bee- 

 Diseases 



BY ADRIAN GETAZ. 



On page 704, Mr. L. B. Smith relates 

 some experiences and calls for ex- 

 perts ( ?) to explain. The third one is 

 easily accounted for. The swarm fol- 

 lowed one of the young queens that 

 were out to mate. The queen mated 

 and went back home. The swarm find- 

 ing itself "left" could not do otherwise 

 than to go back home, also. The destruc- 

 tion of tht queen-cells is easily account- 

 ed for. Soon after the swarm issued, 

 Mrs. Smith put the queen back. As 

 most of the bees were out, the queen- 

 cells were not well protected, and the 

 old queen succeeded in destroying them 

 during the 20 or 30 minutes that elapsed 

 before the swarm returned. I have had 

 similar cases a number of times. As to 

 the other "experiences," I can not an- 

 swer, but, after looking all over my 

 books and papers to find something, I 

 concluded that the following may pos- 

 sibly help toward reaching a solution: 



A Peculiar Disease. 



A new disease was observed by sev- 

 eral bee-keepers in a section of Ger- 

 many some 10 years ago. Young bees 

 unable to fly came out and died in heaps, 

 and much of the brood was dried up, 

 retaining its form. Specimens of the 

 bees and brood were sent to Pastor 

 Schonfeld. He found the bees entirely 

 devoid of moisture. They could not be 

 cut with a knife, but flew to pieces when 

 a strong pressure was applied. The 

 cause was found to be a fungus in the 

 alimentary canal. Death ensued when- 

 ever it had developed sufficiently to ef- 

 fect a stoppage. The hard larvjewere com- 

 posed almost entirely of fungus, which 

 even pierced the tender skin between 

 the rings and showed upon the outside of 

 the body. At first, Schonfeld thought it 

 the fungus known as Oidium Lcuckarti, 

 first described by Prof. Leuckart, in 



1857, which causes injurious but not dis- 

 astrous effects in the intestines of the 

 bees ; but a culture in sugar and gelatin 

 showed it to be a new and different spe- 

 cies. It is closely related to the Oidium 

 Lcuckarti, but still more to the Oidium 

 albicans which attacks the mouths of in- 

 fants. A few similar cases have been 

 reported more recently in Germany. 



Queens Disappearing. 



When a colony has the pickled-brood 

 disease, the queen invariably dies or dis- 

 appears in some way. She probably 

 takes the disease, and dies. This 

 supposition is well justified by the fact 

 that she receives from the bees the same 

 kind of food as the larvae. According 

 to Dr. Howard the disease is caused 

 by a kind of mold or fungus that propa- 

 gates itself in the pollen as well as in 

 the bodies of the larva?. When the dis- 

 ease has reached a certain point, the 

 bees cease to bring in pollen, and also 

 cease to rear brood. Eventually the 

 queen disappears, what brood is sound 

 hatches out, and the dead brood dries 

 and is carried out by the bees. And 

 when the bee-keeper visits the colony, 

 he finds it queenless and no sign of 

 queen-cells or any attempt at rearing 

 one. That has invariably been my ex- 

 perience. 



Recent Developments. 



The question of foul brood and other 

 similar diseases is now on top again. 

 The assertions made lately by some 

 prominent writers seem to be somewhat 

 premature. 



Foul brood has been known for quite 

 a long time and has been confounded 

 with several other diseases that affect 

 the bees. The first serious study of it 

 was made in Germany in 1873 or 1S74. 

 Ten years later Cheshire and Cheyne 

 made a complete investigation, and de- 

 scribed accurately the disease and the 

 bacillus that produces it. The experi- 

 ments made leave no doubt as to the 

 correctness, of their observations. Ten 



