JANUARY 15, 1916 



20, is about as hard on unprotected bees as 

 a zero atmosiihere without wind. However, 

 when colonies are well packed and screened 

 by windbreaks, as they always ought to be, 

 these high winds do no particular harm. 



Taking the winter over the northern 

 states for two months, so far it has been 

 favorable for bees well packed and screened 

 by windbreaks, but it has been a little hard 

 on bees in singie-walled 1 lives out in the 

 open. 



It has been noted many times before that 

 when a winter starts in cool and cold rather 

 early as it did this winter that there is no 

 likelihood of there being any severe cold 

 during mid-winter. When, however, the fall 

 is very mild and warm, and the weather 

 continues clear up to Christmas, severe cold 

 is likely to follow, as it did three years ago 

 today, Jan. 5, 1913. 



Tlie weather maps also show that the 

 lines of heat and cold this winter pay very 

 little attention to the parallel lines of lati- 

 tude. While it is true that the cold does 

 not remain long in the southern states, yet 

 this winter, on occasion, it has been just as 

 cold in the extreme southern states as in the 

 northern. For instance, on Jan. 3 it was 30 

 on the coast of Maine, and the same tem- 

 perature in Texas, and a few miles north 

 of Phoenix, Arizona; and Yuma, for in- 

 stance, the hottest spot in the United States, 

 had a temperature as low as 40. In south- 

 ern Colorado it was down to zero. 



According to the map there has not been 

 a large amount of snow. Thei"e has been 

 more precipitation in the southern states. 

 There seems, however, to have been consid- 

 erable snowfall in the regions just north of 

 us in Canada. 



The New or Old Bee-disease ; Isle of 

 Wight Disease and Bee Paralysis 

 Probably the Same 



Elsewhere in this issue, page 69, we 

 publish a symposium of reports in response 

 to our request on page 922 for a statement 

 of experience detailing the amount of de- 

 struction caused by the new disease, its ex- 

 act symptoms, and a cure, if any. We have 

 received a good many responses, only a part 

 of which we are able to i^ublsh ; but those 

 we do give are representative of some of 

 those we do not publish. 



The general evidence so far submitted 

 would seem to lead to the belief that the 

 Isle of Wight, or new disease, and the old 

 bee paralysis of bygone days, of Florida 

 and California, are one and the same. The 

 differences, if any, we verily believe, can be 



charged to environment and seasonal con- 

 ditions. Let us comj^are the symptoms of 

 bee paralysis, and then those of the malady 

 that has shown itself in the Northwest and 

 in the Mississippi Valley. 



SYMPTOMS OF BEE PARALYSIS. 



The disease seems to be confined mainly 

 to the bees themselves. The first sign of it 

 is a few black shiny bees, often with swol- 

 len abdomens, crawling around aimlessly 

 in front of the hive entrances. A few scat- 

 tered ones will be found in the hive. In 

 the more advanced stages the whole colony 

 seems to be demoralized, and the individu- 

 als will apparently be struggling against 

 each other, and tugging at their own bodies, 

 as if in distress. It is very seldom that we 

 find bee paralysis in its advanced stages in 

 the northern states; and when it does occur, 

 not more than one or two colonies having 

 it can be found in the yard. 



Some twenty years ago bee paralysis was 

 very destructive in Florida and California. 

 The general symptoms were about the same 

 as we have reported, excej^t that whole 

 apiaries wasted away. But in later years 

 it. seems to have worn itself out, both in 

 Florida and California. 



A few years ago (1904) we began to hear 

 about the Isle of Wight disease that spread 

 all over England. At the time, it was ob- 

 served that it was quite like our bee paral- 

 ysis, and was so reported in Gleanikgs. 

 Last summer we began to get reports of a 

 similar if not the same malady, that was 

 killing bees by the thousands in Oregon and 

 Washington, and we heard of it also down 

 in the Mississippi Valley and in parts of 

 Texas. In some localities it appeared to be 

 ver}' serious. The reported symptoms did 

 not, however, exactly tally with those of bee 

 paralysis. The colonies simply wasted away 

 until the brood began to die. The symptoms 

 in the Northwest part of the country were 

 about the same as in Isle of Wight disease 

 in England. The bees would be seen crawl- 

 ing out in bunches around the entrances of 

 the hives, not always shiny and black, ap- 

 parently nothing the matter with them ex- 

 cept that when they attempted to fly they 

 could not. Some bees would lie on their 

 backs. All of them showed more or less 

 trembling of legs and wings. Some report- 

 ed that the bees were black and shiny, and 

 others said that they did see it. In this 

 respect the malady in the Northwest was 

 not quite the same as bee paralysis, and 

 the difference between the two diseases 

 could be accounted for by environment be- 

 cause there were several reasons that point- 

 ed to the same disease. Let us see what the 

 points of similarity are : 



