JUIA' 15. 1910 



583 



ularly to honey, may have a tendency to 

 offset the effect of a big crop. The general 

 advance in all food products will have a 

 decidedly strong tendency to hold honey up 

 to its present level. But the probabilities 

 are that along in September and October, 

 particularly toward November, the prices 

 on ejHractcd clover will be somewhat lower 

 than at present. Producers who have hon- 

 ey to sell would do well to get it on the 

 market early; for when the laggards begin 

 to dump their product prices may sag. 



The supplj' of comb honey from last year 

 is still large, and there is no question but 

 that prices on comb honey are going to be 

 easier than last year. A good many mis- 

 interpreted our advice to produce extracted 

 instead of comb this season ; but if they 

 kncAv the actual market supply, so far as 

 comb honej^ is concerned they would not be 

 inclined to question our statements. 



Taldng it all in all, the reader should 

 understand that it is still early to make any 

 positive statement concerning the probable 

 yield of clover honey thruout the United 

 States. Weather conditions from now on 

 may be unfavorable, with the result that the 

 crop will be only half what indications now 

 promise. At one of our outyards, where 

 there has been a good deal of cutting of 

 alsike, we are noticing a decrease in the 

 flow of nectar, and the bees are getting a 

 little cross, just as they always do when 

 the flow begins to check up. While white 

 clover is abundant, it is apparent it is not 

 yielding as heavily as alsike. However, this 

 applies only to our own locality. See an- 

 other editorial on this subject. 



A Representative from Great Britain 

 Investigating Bee Paralysis in the 

 United States 



There have been reports of bee paralysis 

 again this year; but so far nothing serious 

 has developed in the northern states. Mr. C. 

 H. Rocock, of Newmarket, England, is now 

 in this country under the direction of the 

 Department of AgTiculture of Great Britain 

 to studj' the trembling bee disease or what 

 showed itself in various places. He comes 

 here for the sole purpose of ascertaining 

 whether there is any relationship between 

 the disease of Great Britain and something 

 similar tlmt lias been making various out- 

 breaks in this country. He is at present 

 working with Dr. Burton N. Gates at Am- 

 herst, Mass. He has found the Nosemn 

 apis, supposed to be the exciting cause of 

 the Tsle of Wight disease in some American 

 bees. While it has been determined that 



this parasite is present in healthy bees, it is 

 supposed tliat, under favorable environment 

 and in some strains, it may develop some- 

 tliing serious. 



Mr. F. R. Beuhne, of Tooberac, Austra- 

 lia, had a very severe attack of what he 

 believed to be bee paralysis. He finally 

 developed a strain immune to the disease. 

 With this strain he had nofurtlier trouble; 

 but when he introduced another strain, bee 

 paralysis broke out in all its fury. He 

 naturally concluded that the exciting cause 

 was present all the time, and that, when 

 favorable subjects were introduced, they fell 

 easy victims. 



Mr. Bocock expects to go to Washington, 

 D. C, and, later, to Medina. In the mean 

 time he is examining specimens of paralytic 

 bees or other bees that seem to die for no 

 apparent reason. 



In some cases the Isle of Wight disease 

 shows no outward symptoms, except that 

 bees aie dying in great numbers. Usually 

 the affected bees will be found at the en- 

 trance, unable to fly, dragging their bodies 

 on the gi'ound as tho they were scarcely 

 able to walk. In some specimens one or 

 more wings will be out of joint. There may 

 or may not be a distension of the abdomen, 

 and there may or may not be any discolora- 

 tion. Usually there is associated with bee 

 paralysis black and shiny bees with dis- 

 tended abdomens; but even bee paralysis 

 does not, in its early stages, show such bees. 

 About the first symptom is a few trembling 

 bees. TJiey seem to be itching all over, and 

 scratching their bodies as if distressed. 

 Other healthy bees keep pulling at them as 

 if to get them away from the entrance. As 

 the disease develops, some bees will become 

 black and shiny. The symptoms thus given 

 seem to tally very closely with the Isle of 

 Wight disease, except that with this disease 

 the bees will be dying in large numbers, and 

 congregated in bunches at the entrance of 

 the hives, or even in the hive itself. 



If we Iiave Tsle of Wight disease in 

 America, the sooner we know it the better. 

 We do not expect anything very serious, 

 however, even if we do find it heue, as the 

 conditions in most places in this country 

 are unfavorable for its development. It 

 needs cool, moist, chilly rainy weather; aad 

 that is the reason why so much bee paral- 

 ysis (which is like the Isle of Wight dis- 

 ease) showed itself in so many places last 

 season in this country, and particularly 

 around Portland, Oregon, where conditions 

 are much the same as they are in Great 

 Britain. There are so many symptoms in 

 the Isle of Wight disease and bee paralysis 

 that are identical that it is hard to escape 



