118 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER, 



June 



FRICTIOX OF THE FACTIONS. 



Hook, Hampshire, England, April 

 18. 1905. 



American Bee-Keeper: 



In your number for March you print 

 a .short article headed "Factions in tlie 

 Craft," which 1 hope you will i)ardon 

 my saying- gives a misleading view of 

 the position of affairs over here with 

 regard to foul brood legislation. 



The bee-keeping industi-y both in 

 England and Ireland is a minor one, 

 and outside a very small number of 

 persons there is no practical interest 

 taken in It; therefore it is futile 

 to attempt to obtain legislation except 

 through the aid of the (Government De- 

 partments concerned with Agricultur- 

 al Industries. In p]ngland we have 

 the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries 

 with Avhom the British Bee-Keepers 

 Asvsociation are working in thorough 

 accord: in Ireland there is the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture and Technical 

 Instruction; but. unfortunately the 

 Irish Bee-Keepers Association, a^s evi- 

 denced by their own .iournal, are utter- 

 ly at variance with their Department. 

 Now you say, "Ireland" desires cordial 

 co-operation (for Ireland please reatl 

 "Irish Bee Journal") but what co- 

 operation is possible between onr so- 

 ciety whose policy is to work in 

 harmony with the governing bodies in 

 the country, and the Irish society, 

 split up as it is by internal quarrels 

 and whose policy towaixls their depart- 

 ment is one of won-y. bluster and 

 whine? Each society has ample scope 

 for its energies in its own country and 

 can. without detriment, work inde- 

 pendently toward^s the same end, 1. e., 

 pressing upon the government depart- 

 ments concerned, the need of legisla- 

 tion to check the spread of foul brood. 



The "Bill" put forward by fhe 

 Bee-Keepers' As,sociation contains no 

 word to exclude Ii-eland, and, if passed 

 in its pi'esent form, would give the 

 Irish bee-keepers the same provi-sions 



as his Scotch or English brother bee 

 keeper. 



The April ninuber of the Irish Be^ 

 Journal, contains the report of 

 Irish Bee-Keepers Association, fr 

 which it appears that their total 

 ceipts were 19 pounds, 13 shillings 

 pence and expenditures on printi 

 advertising in Irish Bee-Jourijal 

 stationery and postage were six 

 liounds. 14 shillings and one pence 

 the only item of the societies' vlori 

 mentioned in the report was a deputa^ 

 tion to the Government Departmefit ii 

 Dublin. ( 



Hoping you may be able to to« 

 room for tliis statement, I am. 

 Yours faithfully, 



Thos. I. Weston. 



We "don't know," and doubt if D 

 Miller himself could do any better ; 

 answering this question. Perhai 

 the.y had been working on "Lw 

 weed," which gnoiws so abundantly i 

 our correspondent's vicinity. That 

 to sa.v, bees tJiat were in good coi 

 dition and would for,sake good hivi 

 abundantly supplietl with stores at 

 healthy brood, "must be crazy." TI 

 act seems about as freakish as son 

 other peculiarities which we have noF 

 iced in Cyprian cro-sses in Southeij' 

 California. If the strain of stock can 



BEES' MYSTERIOUS ACTION. 



Etiwanda, Cal., April 7, 190^ 

 Editor American Bee-Keeper: 



Bee-men in this vicinity had ver 

 poor luck bringing their bees throng 

 this spring. One man reports 2 

 w)lonies left out of 20O. Another, r< 

 ports IG left out of 38, and numeror 

 other reports show from 40 to 75 p( 

 cent. loss. The bees would leave tt 

 hives, leaving combs full of brood an 

 and honey all in a healthy conditio 

 aii]iarentl.v. Some were caught ar 

 returned but only could be made 

 stay by using an entrance guarn 

 Cause for this unknown as bees ha^fil 

 plenty of stores and were in goc 

 hives. Can any one give us a reasc 

 why they decamped and hiow to pr 

 vent its reoccurrence? What are IC' 

 seem to be doing fine and building f 

 fast. We had considerable cold, rair 

 weather during this time. Would thii 

 effect the bees ^so as to make them c 

 this? 



O. F. M. 



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