70 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



mistake. Everytliing has been tried in this 

 country as a cure, without sukgss u;) In 

 the present. Therefore the only means of 

 cheeking or eradicating the disease is to 

 destroy at once any colony showing the 

 well-known sym^Dtoms. If this had been 

 done in Great Britain at the first, the ter- 

 rific loss which we have sustained would 

 not have occurred. Our most practical and 

 thoro beekeepers are helpless in the face of 

 this disease. When an apiary is attacked, 

 the owner is in the same position as a man 

 whose house is on fire and no water avail- 

 able to put it out within a couple of miles. 

 The disease is not unknown in America. I 

 am speaking from memory as to the date 

 of issue in Gleanings, but think it was in 

 1885 when some one wrote a letter descrip- 



tive of a mysterious outbreak of disease in 

 ll:e Utah Valley where thousands of colo- 

 nies were lost. That letter might have been 

 a descriptive one written by a Britisher on 

 the symptoms of Isle of Wight disease in 

 his apiary. Knowing as I do the serious 

 consequences of this disease, as I have ex- 

 perienced in my own apiary, where all 

 the 126 colonies were lost, I again urge 

 upon my American brother beekeepers to 

 destroy ruthlessly all affected colonies and 

 their combs; thoroly disinfect the hive, not 

 only for their own sake, but also for the 

 sake of their neighbor beekeepers, as rob- 

 bing and the soiling with excreta of the 

 drinking-plaee are the chief sources of con- 

 tamination. 



London, England. 



THE NEW BEE-DISEASE NOT AFFECTING THE BROOD 



BY C. H. BOCOCK 



I have been much interested in accounts 

 that have from time to time appeared in 

 Gleanings of wholesale mortality among 

 bees in the United States, and particularly 

 so in that on page 784, Oct. 1. Bees hop- 

 ping about in the gTass, and collecting in 

 bunches on the ground, is what occurs in 

 cases of Microsporidiosis (the so-called Isle 

 of Wight disease), which is yearly making 

 larger and larger inroads into the number 

 of stocks in Great Britain, until a bee 

 threatens to become a rara avis. Inciden- 

 tally I may mention that my own losses 

 have been 260 colonies. 



If the disease around Seattle is Micro- 

 sporuMosis, Prof. Kincaid is either in error 

 or has been incorrectly reported in saying 

 that the bees' heads are full of spores. 

 ISTosema spores occur only in the gut and 

 the gut-contents of infected bees. 



In regard to the dead brood, I agree with 

 you. Altho larvae may be, and are, infected 

 with Nosema apis at an early stage of their 

 existence, there is no microscopic evidence 

 of disease, and the death of the brood is to 

 be attributed to the adult bees of the colo- 

 ny being so diminished in numbers, and 

 the survivors so unhealthy, that they are no 

 longer able to feed the larvae or maintain 

 the temperature of the brood-nest. Taking 

 away all brood and feeding the bees fre- 

 quently effects a temporary improvement, 

 but a temporary improvement only. Nose- 

 ma is still present in the gut, and the colo- 



ny ultimately succumbs — usually during the 

 following winter. 



The reluctance of sick bees to put up a 

 fight in defense of their stores has been a 

 very marked feature here this autumn — 

 stocks suffering only slightly from the dis- 

 ease and strong in numbers allowing wasps 

 to carry off their honey with scarcely a 

 protest. One consolation is that the wasps 

 carry away the germs of disease, and them- 

 selves perish. 



If any one in America whose apiary is 

 suffering from a scourge like that described 

 as raging around Seattle, Wash., would 

 send me bees for microscopic examination, 

 packed in such a way that they reach me 

 alive, they would be gratefully received; 

 and if you could put me in communication 

 with any one whose apiary is so affected I 

 should be doubly grateful. I suppose that, 

 during the winter months which are now 

 upon us, it would be impossible to avoid the 

 bees perishing on the journey, and dead 

 bees would be of no use for diagnosis. The 

 bees sent should be taken from the hive. 

 Crawlers picked up off the ground shouW 

 on no account be sent, as these would in- 

 evitably perish en route at any period of 

 the year. But during the warmer months I 

 should think that it would be quite possible 

 to get bees thru in good condition. 



I should be pleased to report to the send- 

 ers of bees the results of the examination. 



The Elms, Ashley, Newmarket, England. 



