1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



665 



in the production of hone}-, and for the per- 

 fect org^anization of bee-keepers in that isl- 

 and. Some of tliese shows are in connec- 

 tion with aj^ricultural exhbiitions. The 

 dense population of England, equal to half 

 the United States squeezed into the one 

 State of Illinois, renders the production of 

 an}' article of food of great interest. 

 \ii 



Concerning the spread of foul brood keep- 

 ing place with the introduction of frame 

 hives, Mr. L. S. Crawshaw says: 



It is seriously argued that disease is more rampant 

 now than in the old skepdays, owing to its more ready 

 propagation by contagion, and the loss of the check 

 undoubtedly exercised upon it by the annual destruc- 

 tion of combs. But are these the full facts? What 

 complete knowledge have we of the lange of the dis 

 ease in skeps? How was it ever possible to judge of 

 this accurately, or to estimate it at this daj-' Is the 

 testimony of the skeppist upoTi the point reliable? 

 Most emphatically not I Ask to-day one of this school 

 — whether the possessor of frame hives or not — if he 

 has foul brood, and he will most likely assure and le- 

 assure the negative, while an examination may show 

 his back garden to be a hotbed of the disea-e. Does 

 he know it? Probably not. and here is half the trou 

 ble, for his bee-keeping is built upon a foundation of 

 ignorance and superstition which the sV:ep hive does 

 much to foster and protect. " But the disease has 

 spread." That may be possible, only do not mistake 

 better statistics for increase of the complaint. It may 

 have spread. It must in the nature of things, do so; 

 but it remains to be proved that the spread is greater 

 than would otherwise ha%-e been, and that it is still 

 spreading more rapidly in spite of all associated effort 

 to reduce it. 



IRISH BEE JOURNAL. 

 Concerning foul brood a writer says: 

 " We know that the microbes causing foul brood 

 retain their vitality in honey for some time, but 

 just how long we do not know. That the spores of 

 Bacillus mesenteric us v;\\\ gerrainUe after being steep- 

 ed in honey for over a year. I have very great doubis; 

 and if a few years' imjnersion in concentrated honey 

 is fatal to them, we have a clue t ■ the reason why bees 

 store, and ktep in store, lirge quan itits of h ney " . 

 . . ■' If the microbes causing fo> 1 brood couM he ex- 

 terminated there would be no bee-keeping — the t ees 

 would not store houey enough to make it an object " 



BEES DE.STROYED BY MOTH-WORMS. 



" Good morning, Mr. Doolittle. I am a 

 beginner at bee-keeping, and come down 

 from Maine to have a little talk with you 

 about moth worms. You . know what I 

 mean?" 



" Yes, Mr. Jones, I know the larva of the 

 wax-moth when I see one. But what did 

 you wish to know about these larv;u?" 



"Going out among my bees the other 

 morning I saw two worms at the front of 

 one hive and five at another. I told a neigh- 

 bor of this, and he said I would have to 

 look out for these worms or they would de- 

 stroy my bees, as he used to lose more or 



less by them j'ears ago when he kept bees. 

 Will these worms destroy bees?" 



'* A good colon}' of bees is never destroyed 

 by the larva of the wax-moth in this local- 

 it}', and I doubt if such is the case in 

 Maine or any other part of the world. 

 Such expressions as your neighbor gave 

 voice to shows his ignorance, as no person 

 would make the assertion that he had lost 

 bees from moth-worms unless he was ig- 

 norant or careless, or both." 



" Why do you say careless?" 



' ' Because the carelessness of people 

 making such assertions is shown in that 

 they do not discover that their bees are 

 gone till the combs are destroyed by worms; 

 and they also show their ignorance, be- 

 cause, if well posted in all that is going on 

 inside the hive, at all times, they would 

 know better. In most localities where bees 

 can live, if the combs are not occupied with 

 bees, and have not been exposed to a de- 

 gree of cold as low as zero, when vrarm 

 weather comes in the summer we always 

 find the larva; of the wax-moth upon these 

 combs, and more abundant on those which 

 have pollen in them, or have had many gen- 

 erations of brood reared in them. When 

 once under headway it takes but a short 

 time for these larva; to reduce the combs in 

 a whole hive to a mass of webs." 



"Can not the worms do this while the 

 bees are on the combs?" 



"No. The worms, or larvae, can not 

 come into full possession of these combs so 

 long as there are bees upon them, although 

 we find here and there a larva which may 

 have eluded the vigilance of the bees by 

 getting in the septum of the comb, under 

 the brood, or by being under the capping, 

 over the heads of the immature bees. But 

 even here they are secure for no certain 

 length of time; for before they reach ma- 

 turity they are ferreted out and cast from 

 the hive like those you saw at the entrance 

 of your hives. The Italian bees keep these 

 worms out much better than the hybrids or 

 blacks. W^hich do you keep?" 



" I have only black bees; but if the Ital- 

 ians will keep these worms away I shall 

 have some. Will a small colony of Italians 

 protect their combs from these worms?" 



" Yes. I have known only a mere hand- 

 ful of these bees to protect a whole hive of 

 combs fully, the worins being kept in sub- 

 jection so long as a few score remained." 



"Then you think my neighbor's died 

 from some other cause than worms, do 

 you?" 



' ' Yes. If from any cause a colony be- 

 comes hopelessly queenless, the bees all 

 died of old age in from fifty to sixty days 

 from the time the last bee emerges from its 

 cell, if in summer; and as soon as the bees 

 are gone there is no restraint on the worms, 

 thus giving them full sway, and in a short 

 time the combs are ruined." 



" Why should bees ever become hopeless- 

 ly queenless?" 



" If from any cause the queen dies while 

 there are no eggs or larva; in the combs, 



