222 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



April, 1922 



data for Michigan, tlie project being under 

 tlie joint control of tlie Departments of En- 

 tomology and Farm Management. Michi- 

 gan beekeepers who are willing to assist in 

 this can secure from the college at East 

 Lansing, a pad of accounting sheets and in- 

 ventory blanks, which are designed to sim- 

 plify the beekeepers' cost-accounting. 



SINCE the discovery of the cause of the 



Isle of Wight disease by Dr. John Eennie 



and his associ- 



Prohibiting 



Importation of 



Bees and Queens. 



ates, as announced 

 late in 1920, cer- 

 tain things have 

 developed to 

 cause American beekeepers considerable 

 concern. 



Last summer the Bureau of Entomology 

 called for samples of sick bees which might 

 be suspected of having this malady. Samples 

 were sent from all parts of the country, but 

 none of them were infested with the para- 

 sitic mite which causes the Isle of Wight 

 disease* While this does not prove that 

 these mites do not exist in tliis country, it 

 certainly is strong evidence that they do 

 not. 



Last summer a sample of live bees, taken 

 from a colony suffering from Isle of Wight 

 disease in Scotland, was sent to the Bureau 

 of ■ Entomology at Washington. The mites 

 were alive Avhen these bees were received 

 at the Bee Culture Laboratory, thus demon- 

 strating tliat these parasitic mites can eas- 

 ily be transported by bees shipped into this 

 country from Europe. 



While Isle of Wight disease was originally 

 supposed to be confined to the British Isles, 

 it has recently been discovered in the 

 Erench Alps. Eemembering the rapid spread 

 of this disease from the Isle of Wight, where 

 it was first observed in 1904, to all parts of 

 Great Britain, its discovery now in the 

 French Alps is certainlj^ cause for alarm. In 

 the light of these developments the subject 

 was taken up at the meeting of the Apicul- 

 ture Section of the Association of Economic 

 Entomology, held in Toronto in December. 

 A committee was appointed to plan some 

 measure to prevent the introduction of this 

 disease into the United States and Canada, 

 this committee being composed of Dr. S. B. 

 Fraeker, State Entomologist of Wisconsin; 

 Prof. Geo. H. Rea, Pennsylvania State Col- 

 lege; and C. B. Gooderman, Dominion Api- 

 arist of Canada. A conference of entomolo- 

 gists and inspectors was called by Dr. 

 Fraeker on March 9 at the Bee Culture Lab- 

 oratory of the Bureau of Entomology at 

 Washington, where it was decided inadvis- 

 able to apply any means of regulation as to 

 the importation of bees and queens and that 

 nothing short of absolute prohibition of fur- 

 ther importations would meet the situation. 



Following is a report of the action taken 

 at this meeting: 



Serious ravages causing almost complete destruc- 

 tion of the beekeeping industry in portions of 

 Europe by the "Isle of Wight" disease have start- 



ed determined action by American beekeepers to 

 save their business from similar losses. 



"Isle of Wight'' disease is caused by a para- 

 sitic mite in adult bees and is easily transported 

 by bees shipped from Europe to America, as was 

 proved during the past summer when live bees 

 carrying living mites arrived in Washington from 

 Scotland. Should this disease become established 

 in America, beekeepers, queen-breeders and manu- 

 facturers of bee supplies would quickly be ruined 

 and horticultural interests would be seriously dam- 

 aged. 



A meeting was called at the Bee Culture Labor- 

 atory in charge of Dr. E. F. Phillips of the Bu- 

 reau of Entomology at Washington, D. C, March 

 9, which was attended by specialists from several 

 states and Canada who are interested in measures 

 to prevent the introduction of the "Isle of Wight" 

 disease into the United States and Canada. 



Among those at the meeting were Dr. L. O. How- 

 ard and Dr. C. L. Marlatt, Chief and Assistant 

 Chief of the U. S. Bureau of Entomology; Dr. E. 

 F. Phillips, Government Apiarist; Prof. F. E. Mil- 

 len, Apiary Inspector for Ontario, Canada; Prof. 

 Geo. H. Rea, Pennsylvania State College; E. G. j 

 Carr, Apiary Inspector of New Jersey; J. G. San- I 

 ders, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, President of the ' 

 American Association of Economic Entomologists ; 

 Prof. N. E. Phillips, Massachusetts Agricultural 

 College; and Dr. H. E. Ewing, Expert on Mites, 

 of the U. S. Bureau of Entomology. 



The meeting decided to recommend that the 

 U. S. Post Office Department shall at once pro- 

 hibit the introduction of queen bees through the 

 mails from all foreign countries except Canada, 

 and that a bill be introduced into Congress to 

 prohibit the introduction of adult bees into the 

 United States except, for experimental and scien- 

 tific purposes by the U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture. Since there is no known Isle of Wight 

 disease in Canada, and since it is hoped and ex- 

 pected that the Dominion of Canada will establish 

 the same safeguards to the beekeeping industry, 

 it is planned not to establish any quarantines or 

 prohibitions against shipments of bees from and 

 to Canada. 



It was the opinion of those in attendance that 

 the Isle of Wight disease is such a serious men- 

 ace to beekeeping on this continent, that every 

 possible step should be taken to prevent its in- 

 troduction, and that all importations of queen 

 bees should be stopped. Pending full legislation 

 in this matter, it is hoped that beekeepers through 

 the continent will co-operate, to the fullest degree, 

 by making no attempts to introduce adult bees into 

 the country. Any queen-breeder who introduced 

 this disease into the country would be doing a 

 great damage to the beekeeping industry, and it 

 would be a serious drawback to his future busi- 

 ness. 



The committee urges that beekeepers who see 

 any outbreak of any disease of adult bees shall 

 at once send samples for examination and diag- 

 nosis to the Bureau of Entomology, Washington, 

 D. C. More detailed information concerning this 

 disease will be presented in a future issue of this 

 journal and in the meantime information may be 

 obtained by writing to the Department of Agri- 

 culture, Washington, D. C, for a copy of Depart- 

 ment Circiilar 218, entitled, "The Occurrence of 

 Diseases of Adult Bees," which circular is for 

 free distribution. 



Signed by Committee. 



J. G. Sanders, Harrisburg. Pa., Chairman. 



E. G. Carr, New Jersey. 



F. Eric Millen, Guelph, Canada. 



Those who have im])orted any bees or 

 queens from Italy or from any other for- 

 eign country, should watch their colonies for 

 any indications of this disease, and, if any 

 such are found, samples of sick bees should 

 be sent to the Bureau of Entomology at 

 Washington for' examination. If it should 

 be discovered that the Isle of Wight disease 

 lias already been brought to this country, 

 the colonies should be found and immedi- 

 ately destroyed. No chances should be tak- 

 en in such an important matter. 



