THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



249 



masters, ever to encourage others to 

 enter a field already occupied V I have 

 been ground through this same mill 

 twice ; but after the smoke of the bat- 

 tle had cleared away, and I took a sur- 

 vey of the wreck and ruins, I was able 

 to "rejoice in a clear Held with no op- 

 position; and while my interests were 

 seriously affected, the intruder's in- 

 terest was a total wreck. There are 

 almost countless numbers of unoccu- 

 pied " bee-boxes"' laying about, rot- 

 ting, in almost every neighborhood. 

 Let this decide whether you will at- 

 tempt to enter another's "bee-ranch," 

 whose it is by " priority of location." 



Mr. Pond would have us believe 

 that the " bell wether," leaders in ap- 

 icultural improvements, are profess- 

 ional gentlemen. Well, I would agree 

 with him if he had said or meant— 

 professors in the science and art of 

 bee-keeping ; but he did not mean 

 that ; he meant professors in other 

 callings. True, much credit is due 

 some professional men for the great 

 benefit they have rendered the bee- 

 keeping world, but the specialist has 

 had by far the best opportunities with 

 all his practical experience, and all his 

 time and attention bent in the direc- 

 tion of making the business financ- 

 ially, a success ; and it is to this class 

 of men who have made money in the 

 business, and have shown others how 

 to do the same, to whom we especially 

 owe gratitude. As a rule, professional 

 men who study bee-culture, do so 

 simply for recreation, and do get well- 

 stocked with theory on the subject ; 

 but the practical part we get, and all 

 vre need, from the specialist whose 

 bread and butter is to be gotten out of 

 his occupation. 



ilr. Pond's citation to Kev. Langs- 

 troth and Dr. Dzierzon, proves 

 nothing. We are all familiar vvith the 

 fact that while these gentlemen were 

 actively engaged in the pursuit of 

 their respective callings, giving but 

 little time to bee-culture, they made 

 uo very rapid strides in apicultural 

 improvements. It was only when their 

 almost undivided attention became 

 enlisted in this fascinating pursuit, 

 that they succeeded, and brought out 

 such wonderful improvements. 



Holliday's Cove. W. Va. 



Kur the American Bee JoumaL 



The Cause of Bee-Diarrhoea. 



W. 31. WOODW^AKD. 



I believe Mr. Heddon was reported 

 as saying, at the Northwestern Con- 

 vention, last October, that " all our 

 losses were nothing to those caused by 

 diarrhoea.'" To this, I think, we 

 would all agree. 



There is, therefore, no other subject 

 which so imperatively demands the 

 attention of the bee-keeper, and yet 

 it almost eludes human sagacity, to 

 discover either its cause or cure. 



The subject has already been largely 

 discussed in the Bee Journal, va- 

 rious theories have been formeil, and 

 stoutly opposed and defended ; and 

 yet, while no conclusion has appar- 

 ently been arrived at, I think there 

 has been some good underbrushing 



done ; and yet it seems to me that 

 enough rubbish has been cleared 

 away, so that I can begin to under- 

 stau'd something of its true cause. I 

 would not condemn any man for his 

 theory on this matter, nor yet any 

 theory, in itself, unless it be that of 

 cold lir bacteria; if the latter is ever 

 advanced as a cause of bet-diarrhiea. 

 Cold, I am satisfied, when all else is 

 right, acts as a preventive rather than 

 a cause ; but may tend to aggravate 

 it, in connection with excessive damp- 

 ness, when already set in. There are 

 left, then, three views of the cause of 

 which I wish^to speak, viz : (1.) Exces- 

 sive moisture, etc., as set forth in 

 Mr. Cornell's recent article. (2.) The 

 l)ollen theory as represented by Mr. 

 II. ; and (3.)" Breeding out of season. 



I have no new theory to advance, 

 but wish to concentrate the light we 

 already have. It seems to me tiiat the 

 reason why there is so much differ- 

 erence of opinion, is not because our 

 experiences differ, but because no 

 one of the theories advanced is broad 

 enough to cover all of f)ur experience 

 with the disease. What is the cause '? 



I think Mr. II. is somewhere re- 

 ported as saying, that "bees almost 

 never have dysentery without brood- 

 rearing." Would it not be the truth 

 to drop " almost," and say never ? As 

 that agrees with my experience, I will 

 give a little of it. Last year I put 7 

 colonies into winter quarters ; they 

 were well supplied with bees and 

 honey. Five out of the 7 died of 

 diarrhcea, and were the only cases I 

 had out of 33 colonies. Three out of 

 the 5 were known to me to be breed- 

 ing all winter ; and when the other 

 hives were emptied, brood was found 

 in all stages of development. There 

 was no reason to suppose that the .5 

 had more pollen than many others, 

 nor that they suffered worse with 

 moisture, or cold. Now, what was it V 



I also had 9 colonies wintering with 

 honej'- boards and everything off clean, 

 and the frames all opening ^ inch 

 wide up into the caps, which were 

 large, and tight as a good workman 

 could make them ; and, although, one 

 of tlie 9 was queenless in the ifall, all 

 wintered well without disease ; and, 

 moreover, they consumed but little 

 honey ; no one of them reaching the 

 top of a li!-inch frame, by 2 inches, 

 until warm weather came. Now, why 

 was it '? The only protection given, 

 in either case, was a little hay packed 

 loosely around the body of the hive 

 up to the cap, and a board leaned up 

 before the entrance. I leave the 

 reader to draw his own inferences 

 from these facts. 



But what is tlie relation which the 

 several theories sustain tothediseaseV 

 Brood-rearing is almost, if not an in- 

 variable accompaniment of diarrhoea. 

 Is it secondary to the disease V In 

 other words, bees are at first in a 

 normal condition at the close of the 

 honey season ; and iri a fatally ab- 

 normal one shortly after — dying with 

 diarrhcea. Brood-rearing is also a 

 normal condition, in warm weather. 

 Is it abnormal in cold weather '? If 

 so, why V Is it to l>e supposed that 

 the normal condition, i. e. health, be- 

 gets the abnormal, direct? In other 



words, do bees pass directly from a 

 state of health to a living death ; and 

 is their disease the cause of their at- 

 tempt at self- propagation y Do bees 

 raise brood because they are dying 

 with diarrluea 'i* I think 'not. 



What causes brood-rearing in mid- 

 winter V What causes it any time of 

 the year V It is true that a large 

 niunber of nurse-bees may begin the 

 work by over-feeding the queen, just 

 the same as we may by stimulative 

 feedinff. It is also true that the pres- 

 ence of pollen may serve as a tempta- 

 tion. ]?ut is it the cause ';* 



The pollen theory has some truth in 

 it. Its advocates are one step in the 

 right direction, by excluding it; not 

 because it causes diarrhoea, but be- 

 cause it is made use of to get up a 

 state which other means serve to 

 abort, I might say, and thus cause 

 disease. I am satisfied that brood- 

 rearing is not, other things favorable, 

 a cause of disease ; neither is eating 

 of pollen a preventive of starvation. 



Confinement must now be consid- 

 ered in its relation to the disease. All 

 agree that, when in a healthy condi- 

 tion, bees can stand confinement for a 

 very long time. The difticulty arises 

 when other conditions are not favor- 

 able. Bees are sometimes healthily 

 wintered without a flight for 3 or 4 

 months. Confinement is not, there- 

 fore, a cause of disease, except to 

 aggravate some abnormal process al- 

 ready set in. But confinement and 

 brood-rearin": cannot go on together 

 for any length of time,without disease. 



No one single cause ever produces 

 diarrho'a, (not even sour honey) ; but 

 a chain of causes, each of whose links 

 constitute some one's theory of the 

 disease. I wall name the links of this 

 chain, viz : brood-rearino; in confine- 

 ment, in damp hives, and cold weath- 

 er. These, when taken together, are 

 all abnormal and unhealthy. 



Cold we must have, but why heat 

 up our hives inside, or suffer the bees 

 to do so, to generate steam to cover 

 combs and hives with frost ; and to 

 induce the rearing of " brood out of 

 season," which, I aver, is the first on 

 the list of causes of diarrluea. Pro- 

 tect the bodies of the hives just 

 enough to keep frost from forming on 

 tliem ; but open thorough ventilation 

 into a large cap made to serve as a 

 movable condensing-chamber, and 

 when frost forms in it, and is in dan- 

 ger of melting, lift the cap and scrape 

 or brush it ovit ; replace the cap again, 

 cold or hot, and I know there will be 

 less complaint about dampness and 

 diarrhcea. The prime first-cause lies 

 in over- heating within the hive ; thus 

 causing brood-rearing when it is too 

 cold for a flight without. This causes 

 a state of matters in January which 

 should take place in April. 



I believe that there are two ways to 

 avoid winter-breeding, and all this 

 train of evils : (1.) By keeping them 

 cool enough to-be quiet, slightly numb 

 with dry cold air, which is easy 

 enough to get at any time ; or, (2.) 

 Winter by "high pressure," exclud- 

 ing pollen and dampness from the 

 hive ; thus making extensive brood- 

 rearing impossible. 



Custer, 111. 



