AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



141 



youug hatching bees seem to be healthy 

 and all right, but as the disease advances 

 all of the unsealed brood dies, either 

 from the disease or starvation, and I am 

 unable to tell which ; but I am of the 

 opinion that it is for the lack of food, 

 for it seems that the nursing-bees are 

 unable to secrete or prepare food for 

 them. But when the disease reaches this 

 stgae, the old bees will be dying by the 

 thousand. Sometimes the whole colony 

 will die and leave the combs filled with 

 sealed honey, and a good supply of pol- 

 len ; at other times they will all die ex- 

 cept the queen and a mere handful of 

 young, downy workers. Then they get 

 well and build up to good colonies, with- 

 out any remedy, or any help whatever. 



I sent Prof. Cook a cage of sick bees, 

 describing the disease. His reply is as 

 follows : 



" I think this the worst form of a 

 bacterial or microbe malady that is be- 

 coming worse and worse. I think the 

 Government at Washington would take 

 it up. Suppose you send the enclosed 

 notes to Hon. Edwin Willits, Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. Tell him that I 

 say it is a microbe, and ask him if the 

 Bureau of Animal Diseases will take it 

 up if you will send diseased bees." 



I at once wrote to Mr. Willits what 

 Prof. Cook said, and here is a part of 

 his reply : 



"The Department apiarist, to whom 

 the matter was referred, thinks from 

 you'- description that Prof. Cook is quite 

 right in supposing it to be due to some 

 microbe. But, of course, only an ex- 

 tremely careful microscopical examina- 

 tion of freshly dissected bees would de- 

 termine which of the numerous microbes 

 known to produce disease in bees, this 

 one is, or whether it may not be a new 

 one not yet identified and figured. Such 

 an examination might be undertaken by 

 this Department, if you would send in 

 live specimens of the diseased bees, etc." 



This I did, but perhaps it would be 

 nothing but fair to state before giving 

 their reply, that all the worst cases had 

 got well or died before I could send 

 them any sick bees. So the ones I sent 

 were only slightly affected. Here is 

 their reply after receiving the last sam- 

 ple : 



" Your letter, and also- a cage of 

 worker bees, are received. No bacteria 

 were found in the tissues or juices taken 

 from these bees alive, and an effort was 

 made to obtain tuberculosis from these 

 by inocculation. But the tubes re- 

 mained perfectly clear, thus proving the 

 absence of bacteria, and hence no trace 

 of disease due to the latter. Material 



taken from the abdomens (which were 

 much swollen) of some of the workers 

 that arrived dead, showed under the 

 microscope numerous bacteria, none of 

 which, however, could be recognized as 

 bacillus alvei (foul brood) or bacillus 

 gaytoni (dipilis) the cause of the name- 

 less bee-disease. Probably they were 

 only such as usually develop in the dead 

 tissues of bees, or in the bowel contents 

 of dysentery specimens. In an exami- 

 nation of ;this kind it is necessary to 

 simplify the matter as much as possible 

 by removing all the other causes tend- 

 ing to produce diseased conditions, and 

 as in the case of the bees arriving dead, 

 indications of dysentery were present — 

 swelled abdomens and bowels filled with 

 a brownish liquid ; also cage soiled. It 

 seemed useless to experiment further 

 with them," etc. 



Further on in the same letter he says : 

 "As indicated in the answer to your 

 other letter, the remedy most likely to 

 prove effectual is that of replacing the 

 queens of the diseased colonies with 

 those of different blood." That I have 

 done, but all to no purpose. I now have 

 queens to breed from procured from 

 three different States, but it seems to 

 make no difference, all suffer alike with 

 the disease, and I shall call it " bee- 

 cholera " until I learn a better name for 

 it. L. B. Smith. 



lometa, Texas. 



Xlie ^intli Annual I^eeting^ 



of the Wisconsin State Bee-Keepers' 

 Association will be held at the Capitol, 

 at Madison, on Feb. 8th and 9th, 1893. 

 C. A. Hatch, of Ithaca, is President ; H. 

 Lathrop, of Browntown, Recording Sec- 

 retary ; and Dr. J. W. Vance, of Madi- 

 son, Corresponding Secretary. 



Annual Catalogfues or Price- 



Lists we have received from — 



Levering Bros., Wiota, Iowa— Bee- 

 Keepers' Supplies. 



E. T. Flanagan, Belleville, Ills.— Bees 

 Keepers' Supplies, Bees, Queens, etc. 



W. H. Norton, Skowhegan, Maine— 

 Bee-Keepers' Supplies, Bees and Queens. 



John Nebel & Son, High Hill, Mo.— 

 Bee-Keepers' Supplies, Italian Bees and 

 Queens. 



G. B. Lewis Co., Watertown, Wis. — 

 Bee-Hives, Shipping-Cases, Sections, 

 Frames, etc. 



