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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



April 20, 



THOMAS C. NEWMAN. 



Editor and Proprietor. 



CHICAGO, ILL., APRIL 20, 1881. 



Mr. Frank Benton's Javan Mission. 



The following letters from Mr. Frank 

 Benton to Mr. Jones, will be read with 



interest : 



Batavia, Java, Feb, 14. 1881. 

 I)EAU Mr. Jones:— I arrived here 

 with the bees all right, though some 

 colonies are weak. I will try to save 

 them all. I have, after much work. 

 finally got on the right track and on 

 the right side of some of these Dutch 

 officials, anil fully expect to sell the lot 

 of hives— as many as I can put in order 

 —at £."> each. I thought Ceylon a pretty 

 hard place to accomplish anything in- 

 much harder than Cyprus or Palestine ; 

 but it is " not a circumstance " to this. 

 There are no interpreters here ; no na- 

 tives can speak English, German or 

 French, and only those who have fine 

 government positions can speak Dutch. 

 Having gotten hold of some good men 

 now. I think I will obtain help to secure 

 wild bees, but since they have, every 

 one of them, to be gotten from the for- 

 ests — to be hunted up yet, and then se- 

 cured. I do not believe I can get a large 

 number; but I think I shall not meet 

 with losses on the return. Benton. 



Beutenyorg, Java, Feb. 15, 1881. 



Friend Jones : — I scribbled this 

 note yesterday with a pencil, but came 

 away without mailing it in Batavia. 

 The matter of selling the bees is more 

 certain now. I brought them a day or 

 two ago to this place by rail, and am 

 fixing them np as best I can, and as soon 

 as the sale is completed will remove 

 them to the Government Agricultural 

 School, which is near the hotel where I 

 am stopping. The queens are all right, 

 but in some hives there are but a hand- 

 ful of bees, and in the strongest only 3 

 combs. They are brood rearing and I 

 shall keep it up by feeding all they will 

 take, and equalizing brood ; then I will 

 leave instructions about continued 

 feeding. The government wants to 

 make a thorough test of the matter of 

 introducing Europern bees here. The 

 bees Mr. ltykens took from Europe, 24 

 colonies, nearly all died before he 

 reached Port Said. Five colonies in 

 very weak condition arrived here and 

 have since died. Mr. Hykens is now in 

 Europe sick, but they expect him to re- 

 turn sometime. 



The head of the Government De- 

 partment of Agriculture has instructed 

 one of the officers of the Government 



Agricultural School to furnish me aid 

 in securing some of the wild bees — Apis 

 dorsata. BO as soon as I have gotten 

 the colonies I brought, in fair condi- 

 tion, I will start out after them. I have 

 not yet seen a bee of this race, but have 

 seen two combs of these bees, which 

 are 3 feet by J! 1 ., feet, and arc P., inch 

 thick where brood was reared, about lib 

 cells to the square inch ; the bees must 

 lie ?-„ of an inch long. The combs are 

 never built horizontally— could not be, 

 but are perpendicularly placed on thi' 

 branches of the trees. The natives 

 get the honey and wax from them, al- 

 though I was told this morning, by a 

 gentleman who has lived here for .1(1 

 years, that they "sting fearfully ;" of 

 course too much dependence must not 

 be placed upon such a statement. Many 

 who are not bee-keepers would say the 

 same of our honey bees. 



I cannot now tell how much money I 

 will have when I get back to Cyprus, 

 for I do not know what I must pay out 

 yet; the very cheapest management I 

 can adopt is still costly. Every move 

 made by an American or European 

 costs " like sixty " here. There is no 

 choice, the money must be " forked 

 over" or nothing can be done; they 

 bleed everybody who comes,else he goes 

 away without having accomplished 

 anything. I hope to leave here March 



4, for Singapore, and take the steamer 

 which should meet me there for Ceylon. 

 I have promised to arrange the bees I 

 have left there, some colonies of which 

 an- now in Point de (ialle, and for 

 which I was to be paid upon their de- 

 livery in Colombo. I expect to get col- 

 onies of Apis dorsata there, now that I 

 have learned more of the matter and 

 know where they are actually plentiful. 

 From Ceylon I will sail about March 27, 

 arriving in I'ort Said about -April 18 ; 

 then to Cyprus as soon aspossible there- 

 after, where I expect to receive further 

 instructions as to future operations. 

 Frank Benton. 



What Causes Dysentery? 



In cleaning out some hives where the 

 bees have died, my observations have 

 confirmed me in the opinion I formed 

 last summer, which is that dysentery is 

 caused by starvation. I suppose that 

 many will laugh, but that makes no dif- 

 ference ; I look at the reasons they give 

 for their opinions and not their opinions, 

 and hope others will do the same by me. 

 Last summer I divided my bees as usual, 

 when there came on a rain that lasted 

 some time ; there was no getting honey 

 outside of the hive, yet it was not com 

 enough to prevent their coming out. I 

 noticed that the hives in which I had 

 placed my new swarms were several of 

 them being spotted up the same as they 

 are sometimes when bees come out in 

 winter. I knew something was wrong. 

 I examined, and found every one that 

 showed signs of dysentery were entirely 

 destitute of honey, and one was much 

 reduced in numbers by starvation. 1 

 put in frames of honey, and all recov- 

 ered and became good colonies. Now. 

 what but starvation could have prod need 

 dysentery in these hives V They had no 

 long confinement, no little poison parti- 

 cles in the honey, for they had no honev; 

 had not been eating an excess of old 

 pollen, for the combs were full of brood 

 except the upper corners, where bees 

 seldom deposit pollen. From this ob- 

 servation I conclude that starvation will 

 produce dysentery. 



Is that all the cause ? Perhaps not. 

 But I must say that I never saw or heard 

 of a case that I could not account for in 

 that way. But, some will say, my bees 

 have the dysentery with plenty of honey 

 in the hive. It is well known that in 

 cold weather bees are very stupid, anil 

 those on the outside of the bunch nearly 

 lifeless. Open the hive in cold weather 

 and those on the outer edge of the clus- 

 ter will only stick up their hind end at 

 you. while those inside come out lively 

 to defend their home. It is my opinion 

 that these stupid bees in long confine- 

 ment starve, and before they die crawl 

 over the frames and discharge their 

 feces. It will be noticed that bees that 

 starve have the abdomen always full of 

 dysentery feces. 



I have lost S3 colonies out of 113 that 

 I packed up last fall. All died of hun- 

 ger. When I pack my bees in the fall I 

 intend to put in honey enough to last 

 them until tlie warm days in March, and 

 no more. I do this because they have 

 less room to keep warm, and I think 

 they are less apt to breed when they 

 have a small amount of honey. I ex- 

 pert to look over my bees in January or 

 February and give "them more honey if 

 they net d it, and for that purpose I laid 

 away nearly 300 frames of honey; but 

 I had no chance to examine till in March 

 when they were dead. The live ones I 

 gave more honey, and I think they are 

 all right now. 



I might say something complimentary 

 to the Weekly Bee Journal, but " the 

 rose that all are praising" needs no 

 praise from me. 



E. Ii. Soutiiwick. 



Mendon, Mich., April 7. 1881. 



We have published scores of letters 

 stating bees had died with dysentery 

 when there was plenty of honey in the 

 hive ; other letters state the bees had 

 dysentery badly, but they enjoyed a pu- 

 rifying flight, and are now quiet and 

 contented, while two letters speak of 

 improvising house-flights, and thereby 

 checking the malady. If the trouble arise 

 from starvation, why not starve as well 



3 or 4 weeks after a flight, provided the 

 weather be extremely cold or changea- 

 ble, as 4 or 5 months after a High t . Du- 

 ring ordinary winters, when (lights are 

 more frequent, although stores are pro- 

 portionately no larger, dysentery is not 

 of such frequent occurrence as during 

 protracted cold weather, when frost is 

 more accessible to the bees. Again, we 

 have known bees to become bloated with 

 their feces in summer, after several 

 days' confinement, when in transit over 

 rough roads, then standing 2 or 3 days 

 in the shade before being released for a 

 flight : and this with plenty of honey in 

 the hive. We have opened many cages 

 in which queens and bees had been im- 

 ported from Italy, to find them all dead, 

 not one-fourth of the honey consumed, 

 but all covered with stinkingexerement. 

 They may have starved, but only after 

 having rendered their food unfit to be 

 consumed. 



The case cited in the first paragraph 

 of the above communication, is rather 

 a disproof of the Doctor's argument : 

 He divided his bees as usual, the excite- 

 ment incident to division caused them 

 to consume their stores and become 

 gorged, raining weather set in to pre- 

 vent timely and necessary flight, and 

 a first-class case of dysentery was rap- 

 idly developed as a result. We are 

 sorry to disagree with Dr. Southwick 

 in his conclusions, but cannot indorse 

 his belief. 



Foul Brood. 



In the Journal for March 30, page 

 102, Dr. Wilson calls attention to Mr. 

 Jeffrey's article on " Foul Brood," be- 

 cause it so fully expresses his views on 

 the subject. I know the Dr. is fully 

 competent to express his views, and I 

 wish he would do so and tell us what 

 he knows on the subject and say 

 whether he considers the disease con- 

 tagious or not. 



On page 68 of the American Bee 

 Journal, same date as above, Dr. W. 

 says on the same subject: " but for 10 

 years this (Mr. Jeffrey's belief) has 

 been my opinion,". . . ." but I refrained 

 from writing my sentiments because 

 all who wrote about it seemed to think 

 that foul brood was a disease to which 

 bees were subject," etc. I am sorry 

 that Dr. W. has not accepted his own 

 advice as given in the last words of his 

 article and given his sentiments in re- 

 gard to foul brood years ago, and I 

 earnestly hope that he will respond to 

 the editor's request to " let us have the 

 facts and experiences." 1 have no foul 

 brood among my own bees, but have 

 the care of some colonies that have it, 

 and every apiary in this region that I 

 have examined has what, according to 

 the descriptions given by our best au- 

 thorities, is called foul brood, but if Dr. 

 W's. belief " that it is not contagious" 

 is correct, then what we have here is 

 not foul brood, and if they (Mr. Jeffrey 

 and Dr. Wilson) are right as to its 

 cause. I believe he is right in saying 

 that it is not contagious. I have been 

 keeping some bees in my cellar the past 

 winter for other parties, and some of 

 them have this same disease, and it has 

 not come from chilled brood either, for 

 the disease is in the centre of the brood 

 nest, and the colonies have been in a 

 temperature of about 45° all winter. 



I gave a brief description of the dis- 

 ease we have here, in the American 

 Bee Journal last July, and before I 

 received the Journal that had my ar- 

 ticle in I received a letter from Col. 

 Whiting, of East Saginaw, Mich., who 

 had seen my description, stating that 

 what I had described was foul brood, 

 and he enclosed a postal card that he 

 had received from a Mr. Walker, giv- 

 ing his method of cure. I have mislaid 

 the Col's, letter, but think that he sug- 

 gested to Mr. Walker the course to 

 pursue to cure his colonies, and he 

 writes Col. W., " I am happy to say 

 that it has proved a complete success." 



I am glad that this disease is attract- 

 ing so much attention for it is certainly 

 i a terrible thing in the apiary. A neigh- 

 bor who had expected great things 

 from a good sized apiary last season, 

 found the disease so bad in his colonies 

 that he has given up all hoi.es of doing 

 anything with them, and did not pre- 

 pare them for winter as he had been ac- 

 customed to do. 



I certainly hope that Mr. J. and those 

 that think as he does in regard to the 

 cause of the disease are right, and that 

 it is not contagious, but I am very 

 strongly of the opinion that they are 

 mistaken. Certainly the disease we 

 have here is not caused by the brood be- 

 ing chilled, and it is contagious. 



Mr. Editor. I wrote you once that at 

 first I did not like the change from the 

 Monthly American Beet Journal to 

 a Weekly, hut I like it better and bet- 

 ter, and look for its weekly visits as 

 anxiously as I do for my daily paper, 

 and would as willingly do without the 

 latter as I would without the Weekly 

 American Bee Journal, especially 

 if it keeps on improving as rapidly as it 

 has since it changed to a Weekly. 



Bee. 



It is certainly gratifying to observe 

 the interest being awakened on thesub- 

 ject of foul brood, among those who 

 are perhaps as well qualified to solve 

 the difficult problem as any. That there 

 are conflicting opinions regarding it is 

 not a matter of surprise, when we take 

 into consideration that locality and cir- 

 cumstances may develop contagions and 

 epidemics differently, and frequently 

 confuse scientists into the belief that 

 different disorders are identical; per- 

 haps initial symptoms which at times 

 would result only in epidemics, might 

 under other influences develop calamit- 

 ous contagions. Hence Mr. Betsinger, 

 when he says " Plenty of honey, no foul 

 brood — no honey, then foul brood," may 

 be right, while Mr. Muth. after years 

 of scientific investigation may also have 

 correctly pronounced it contagious, 

 and Mr. Jeffrey, through his interesting 

 observations, may have arrived at n» 

 less correct conclusions in attributing 

 its origin to chilled and putrefying 

 brood. Paradoxical though it may ap- 

 pear, all may be partly right and all 

 equally wrong. Many disorders in the 

 human family have for centuries divided 

 the opinions of medical experts quite as 

 much as bee-keepers are divided upon 

 foul brood. We hope scientific investi- 

 gation will not cease till a complete 

 knowledge of itscanse.cour.se and cure 

 is obtained, and will second any efforts 

 with this end in view. 



gTMr. H. M. Argo. Lowell, Ky., 

 writes as follows concerning his experi- 

 ence with the Bee Journal as am ad- 

 vertising medium : " My small adver- 

 tisement in the Weekly Bee Journal. 

 has done me more good than any adver- 

 tisement I ever put in any paper. I 

 have already sold all the bees I have to- 

 spare." Those who have anything to 

 sell should use the Bee Journal for 

 advertising, if they wish to do much 

 business. The large circulation of the 

 Weekly gives advertisers an advantage 

 they can get nowhere else. 



81T Our attention has been called to 

 the fact that we failed to state in the 

 Bee Journal that the Van Deusen 

 flat-bottomed and wired comb founda- 

 tion received the 1st and 2d prizes in 

 class 2.5 at the Royal Agricultural So- 

 ciety's Show in London, last July. 



^" It is no doubt a great advantage 

 in Germany that practically one size of 

 frame is adopted by all bee-keepers in 

 all parts of that country. 



