THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



19 



for tliat matter. I am a carpenter and get 

 $3.00 and board as the lowest price I work 

 for. Tlie statement that " Masons they 

 liave uo use for, as they don't build brick 

 or stone houses on account of earth- 

 quakes," is simply laughable. In San 

 Diego, Los Angeles and San Bernardino, 

 there are plenty of brick houses. 



It is true that many of the bee men are 

 living without women, " baching it," but 

 many more are not. The majority of set- 

 tlers here have wives and families, and 

 more would have if tiiey could get them 

 worth having. Good, mnrriageable white girls, 

 are not very plenty here. G. F. M., has 

 just called in and 1 read this to him. We 

 had quite a laugh over it. He confessed 

 that he had the blues when writing it and 

 probably wrote as he felt. He called my 

 attention to a communication from M. M. 

 Baldridge, in the July number of the 

 American Bee Journal, that bees in 

 Harbison hives could be bought for $2.50 

 per colony, etc. John Myers, a resident 

 of Los Angeles, while at ray house, told 

 me that he was offered a lot of bees for 

 that price in exchange for cows, and made 

 the rest of the statement as I gave it, I 

 supposed it true. It seems that the case 

 was an exception. 



One statement more of G. F. M.'s. 

 "They can't raise a thing here, farming," 

 etc. O. Oakes, at Bernardino, raised over 

 3,000 sacks of wheat and barley and a 

 large quantity of hay, how much I did 

 not enquire. Benus Sikes also raised a 

 large amount, and many others raised 

 grain, tliis year, and lots of grain is being 

 shipped from San Diego this year, and a 

 great deal was shipped away last year. 



We have no starvation here nor have we 

 been eaten out by grasshoppers as they 

 have in Kansas and other western States. 



Bernardino, Gal. W. J. Whitney. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



A Cliapter of Failures. 



Mr. Editor: — Many of your readers, 

 doubtless, remember, that two years ago I 

 wrote an article on the " Bees That 

 Were." Well, to-day I might appropri- 

 ately make a similar heading to this, for 

 my entire apiary of seventy-six stocks 

 have again gone to " that bourne from 

 which no traveller returns." The dif- 

 ference is only in the cause of their dis- 

 ease — namely, foul brood. 



I wish to give my experience with the 

 disease, hoping that bee-keepers may be 

 benefited thereby, but perhaps, only in a 

 small degree. 



The cause of the disease among my 

 bees remains to-day a mystery to me. But 

 perhaps the perusal of this article, by the 

 "head-lights" in bee-culture, may elicit a 

 solution. 



The only theory I can find — but I must 

 admit that to me it is quite unsatisfac- 



tory — is this: In the spring of 1874, my 

 bees did not leave their winter quarters in 

 a perfectly healthy condition. They 

 showed signs of dysenterj% doubtless,, 

 caused by dampness; my clamp was 

 built late in the fall, and hence it did not 

 dry out perfectly before putting in the- 

 bees, and the spring being cold and back- 

 ward, many of them died before the first; 

 honey tlow. I being absent, my brother 

 took charge of the bees at that time. Be- 

 ing desirous of increasing the bees as- 

 soon as possible, and believing that every 

 pleasant day would be the last of cold' 

 weather, it was already late, compared 

 with other seasons, he thought to increase 

 the brood by spreading it, and inserting 

 an empty comb. This, however, proved 

 disastrous, as the next cold snap chilled 

 the brood, and the result was the very re- 

 verse of what was desired — they de- 

 creased instead of increased in numbers, 



This is my theory, viz. : — that through 

 the chilled brood, atthat time, the disease 

 found its way into the hives ; although 

 the dead brood was all removed, as far as 

 I know. But the eft'ect of the disease re- 

 mained unnoticed; for they increased re- 

 markably after warm weather set in ; at 

 any rate, I doubled the number of stocks, 

 and obtained an average quantity of 

 honey, the season being hardly an aver- 

 age one. Now, this to me is a query. If 

 the disease came through the source men- 

 tioned, why did it not show its disastrous 

 effects ? 



Last spring my bees wintered excellent- 

 \y, if dryness and a large number of bees 

 are criterions. Out of sixty-one stocks I 

 found but one dead. 



The spring was again cold and back- 

 ward, but having learned a lesson the 

 spring previous, I did not feel disposed 

 to repeat the experiment of enlarging the 

 brood-nest, so I let them alone, except do- 

 ing such other work about them as was 

 found necessary. I noticed no dead 

 brood. When warm weather began in 

 earnest, I examined them all closely, and 

 found, perhaps, twelve in a rather weak 

 condition. One was queenless. I lost a 

 couple, the rest I assisted from other 

 stocks. They increased nicely, except 

 three, — this was, perhaps, June 1st, — these 

 had a slight sprinkle of dead brood. 

 Never having seen the disease, " foul 

 brood," I came to the conclusion that, in 

 consequence of the bees being few in 

 number, the brood chilled, the same as 

 the season before. I contracted the brood- 

 nest, and inserted a card of hatching- 

 brood. I was so confident of success in 

 this that I did not look at them for some- 

 time. At my next examination I found 

 that they had not increased, also dead- 

 brood was visible. I then examined the 

 queens, and to my surprise I found two of' 

 them crippled. Then my theorizing felt 

 at once upon these queens, but there re- 



