JANUARY 15, 1914 





Colony killiil liy Isledf Wiyht disease. 



unquestionably the colonies compare favor- 

 ably with the two previous years. 



And 1 have other interesting evidence. 

 When the pestilence was at its height, every 

 morning the Bi\tish Bee Journal received 

 quite a consignment of samples of dead bees 

 on which to adjudicate the cause of their 

 demise — a kind of coroner's inquest. Now, 

 the Bee Journal informs me, very few are 

 sent ; further, callers and correspondents 

 from all parts of the kingdom write and 

 speak of the abatement of the disease and 

 the marked improvement. I think, there- 

 fore, we may comfort ourselves very reason- 

 ably with the hope that we are through with 

 one of those cycles of years in which tins 

 disease appears. In no way is your corres- 

 pondent's statement true, that it shows no 

 sign of abating. 



London, Eng. 



MORE ABOUT THE ISLE-OF-WIGHT DISEASE 



BY W. HERKOD 

 Junior Editor British Bee Jovrnal 



I notice on p. 647, Sept. 15, an article on 

 the above by Joseph Tinsely which is most 

 misleading. It is a pity that such canards 

 should get into a i:)aper of Gleanings' 

 standard. Your correspondent is a little 

 careless in what he says, nor does he take 



the trouble to verify 

 the statements made 

 to him by others. 



In the first place, 

 Ids statement that 

 " the disease shows 

 no sign of abating " 

 is entirely wrong. 

 In my capacity as 

 junior editor of the 

 British Bee Journal 

 1 claim to have the 

 best opportunity of 

 any one in Great 

 Britain for judging 

 this, and I can assure 

 you it is abating. In 

 some districts it has 

 disappeared altogeth- 

 er. Take, as an in- 

 stance, the apiary at 

 Swanley, which he 

 mentions. This was 

 attacked in 1910, but 

 there has been no 

 outbreak since then. 

 Right from the 

 commencement of the 

 disease, bees have 

 succumbed from it in 

 winter as well as summer. He speaks of the 

 bees " seizing small pieces of grass and 

 weeds to raise themselves higher where they 

 clustered in knots." Can anybody under- 

 stand what he means'? Fancy a knot of bees 

 clustering on a blade of grass ! What really 

 happens is that the bees cluster in knots on 

 the alighting-board and on the ground. His 

 illustrations of dead bees, etc., are mislead- 

 ing. Similar ones could be taken at any time 

 by any beekeeper. The pictures I send show 

 diseased bees actually clustering on the 

 alighting-board; a colony dead, and the 

 staining of the outside of the hive, which 

 occurs far more frequently than staining 

 inside. 



There is no conflict of opinion as to cures. 

 A number of beekeepers are trying hard to 

 find a remedy, and the rest are praying that 

 they may be successful. 



If your correspondent knew as I do the 

 tremendous amount of work done by the 

 Board of Agriculture he would not make the 

 remarks he does. One thing they have prov- 

 ed conclusively is. that the disease has been 

 spread by careless and unscrupulous bee- 

 keepers, and they state it is impossible to 

 stamp it out until a " Disease of Bees Act " 

 is obtained. Your correspondent is one of 

 those fighting against this being obtained, 

 as will be seen from the following under his 



