THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



393 



ing the example of the bees in gath- 

 ing the grapes before further violence, 

 or the action of the elements, rendered 

 them worthless. 



After grapes have been subjected to 

 such violence, or have so far burst 

 open and decayed as to make it pos- 

 sible for bees to injure them, and the 

 circumstances are so exceptional as to 

 lead the bees to seek such food, unless 

 they are speedily gathered they would 

 soon become wortnless if unmolested. 

 During the past season I made many 

 visits to vineyards, one located near 

 the apiary I visited every day, and my 

 observations and experience with bees 

 in confluement, and those having free 

 access to the vineyards furnishes 

 abundant proof to convince me that 

 bees do not and cannot under any 

 circumstances injure sound fruit. If 

 from any cause the pulp is exposed, 

 such as the attack of birds or wasps — 

 the most common source of injury — 

 or from the ovipositing of insects, or 

 bursting of the berry from over-ripe- 

 ness, and if no other resources are 

 available, the bees appropriate and 

 carry away the juice, and the extent 

 of the injury depends upon the degree 

 to which the pulp is exposed, the 

 sweetness of the juice, and the num- 

 ber and necessities of the bees. 



Florida Dispatch. 



Apicnltural Ontloolt in Florida, 



JOHN Y. DETWILER. 



The outlook for the future of api- 

 culture in this vicinity is more en- 

 couraging. The past year has been 

 one of discouragement to all whose 

 previous interest had centered in api- 

 culture. From present indications 

 the black mangrove will yield sufB- 

 cient bloom from the growth obtained 

 since the frost to subsist the colonies 

 for the coming season, provided the 

 buds now visible secrete nectar when 

 in bloom. ■' Hope deferred maketh 

 the heart sick," is an old-time pro- 

 verb, and no where has it been more 

 apparent than in this locality among 

 the apiarists ; as all things both good 

 and bad must have an ending, so we 

 have every reason to expect the un- 

 fortunate result of the freeze to our 

 apicultural interest will soon be a 

 thing of the past. 



From authentic reports of apiarists 

 in the vicinity of Oak Hill, Eldora, 

 Hawk's Park, and New Smyrna, the 

 prevailing opinion is that a small sur- 

 plus may be harvested, providing the 

 colonies are in a condition to take 

 advantage of it. Climatic influences 

 may prevent the secretion of nectar 

 in the buds grown on new wood, and 

 in this matter our hopes are blasted. 

 It is not always best to predict 

 trouble, though it is often well to 

 anticipate it, should past experience 

 warrant us in so doing. Having in 

 previous communications given some j 

 most discouraging reports regarding 

 the situations which 1 had reason to j 

 believe should not be concealed, I j 

 now feel the time is not far distant t 

 (next season at the most) that it will I 

 be in a great measure prolitable to I 

 come to New Smyrna and vicinity to 



engage in apiculture, providing the 

 climatic influences in relation to 

 honey-production in Florida be taken 

 into consideratiiiu. 



" Smart Alecks," and those who 

 know it all, are just as welcome in 

 our ranks as any. and after they pass 

 a season or two and gain experience 

 in our methods, are as good citizens 

 and neighbors as those who come pre- 

 pared to profit by the experience of 

 those who are competent to advise. 



New Smyrna,© Fla. 



For tDo American Bee Jouma*^ 



TlieSyDiDtoms Of Foul Brood. 



GEO. H. HOYLE. 



When I wrote on this subject, on 

 page 601 of the Bee Journal for 

 1886, it was my intention to follow the 

 article with others throwing more 

 light on this much-disputed question. 

 It so happened that I could not spare 

 the time, and instead of doing as I 

 intended, it has been nearly a year 

 since I have written anything on the 

 subject. In that time there has been 

 a great deal written that I wished 

 (but I lacked the time) to reply to. I 

 expect to do so in the near future. 



IJefore commencing on the part of 

 the subject I wished to write about 

 now, I want to contradict an asser- 

 tion I saw somewhere in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal something like 

 this : " We all know that it has been 

 proven by scientists that foul brood 

 is caused by bacteria." I say, we do 

 not know anything of the kind. If 

 we did, I am sure I would not have 

 written what I have. If the reader 

 would like to know how far it has 

 been proven, let him look first on page 

 741 of the American Bee Journal 

 for 1884. and he will see that Mr. 

 Frank Cheshire is using the best 

 means known to settle the question. 

 As to whether he was successful. I 

 will refer the reader to the British Bee 

 Journal for May 13, 1886. As I was 

 not taking that paper in 1885, 1 do not 

 know how Mr. Cheshire explains his 

 failure ; but failed he must, as any 

 one can see by looking up the paper 

 to which I referred. There are a 

 great many experiences recorded by 

 practical apiarists that contradict the 

 assertion quoted above ; but it is not 

 the object of this article to enter any 

 further into that branch of the subject. 



On page 616 of the American Bee 

 Journal for 18S6, Mr. T, F. Bing- 

 ham writes of Prof. McLain's article 

 on page -584, thus : " It will be noticed 

 that while all the older writers on 

 bee-diseases have regarded foul brood 

 as its name implies, viz : a disease of 

 the brood, and not of the older and 

 mature bees ; while the article above 

 referred to avers ' that bees crawled 

 out of the hives to die by tens of 

 thousands;'" and further, " It is of 

 importance to bee-keepers that we 

 have just such descriptions of any 

 malady which may in a single apiary 

 occur." I have kiinwn for nearly two 

 years that old bees, as well as the 

 larvifi, would be diseased. 1 noticed 

 the disease in the adult bee just by 



mashing one which had stung me ; 

 and the excrement, instead of being a 

 yellowish color, was black ; and after- 

 wards I noticed that where they were 

 disturbed, and inconsequence spotted 

 their hives, the spots were black. 



But the old bees having the disease 

 is not the cause of so many bees leav- 

 ing the hives to die ; for they are, as 

 the Professor has probably noticed, 

 young bees leaving the hive for the 

 first time, and the last being deformed 

 and useless in the hive they leave it. 

 I believe the old bee to be short-lived 

 in such cases ; and some must of 

 course be slightly deformed, as will 

 be seen presently, but not enough 

 probably to unfit them for their duties, 

 but it may cause them to die sooner 

 than sound and healthy bees, though 

 they were fed healthy food instead of 

 the stuff which made them sick while 

 in the larval state. 



Now as to why the bees are de- 

 formed and how, I will explain to the 

 best of my ability : I go to a diseased 

 hive, lift out a new comb filled with 

 unsealed larvae, hold it up to the light, 

 and I cannot find a larva but what 

 has the disease, though some have it 

 worse than others. I put the frame 

 back, and wait to see how they hatch 

 out. We will suppose it is a pretty 

 bad case, and will say 10 per cent, did 

 not hatch, and 5 per cent, were re- 

 moved before they were sealed up. 

 Well, as there is there are more 

 stages of the disease than one can im- 

 agine, of course these unhatched 

 larvae die in every stage of growth, 

 from the time they are sealed until 

 they hatch out. Some die in the act 

 of biting the caps of their cells ; some 

 hatch and have not life enough to get 

 out of the hive, and are dragged out. 

 Some hatch with no wings, some with 

 one wing. The majority that leave 

 the hive look all right, but of course 

 something is the matter with them, 

 or they would not leave. 



Sometimes bees do not seal larvae, 

 but let them grow until they fill their 

 cells, then elongate the cells. I never 

 knew a bee to hatch from such a cell 

 that was of any value ; and they are 

 seldom able to come out of their cells. 

 As so many bee-keepers have wit- 

 nessed these elongated cells, who 

 " never saw a case of the disease " (?), 

 I am likely to have no little opposi- 

 tion on this particular point if I call 

 it a symptom of foul brood ; I call it 

 that, nevertheless. Though there are 

 some diseased colonies where the bees 

 do not make elongated cells over dis- 

 eased larvai, it never occurs where 

 there is no disease.. 



It will be seen from the above that 

 a bee-keeper can have the disease in 

 his apiary every year, it not being 

 severe enough to kill many larvae, and 

 he never notices it. If he does notice 

 it he would think nothing of it, as he 

 is not looking for the disease to ap- 

 pear in discolored larvae— he is looking 

 for sunken caps with a small hole in 

 the top. It may not make its appear- 

 ance in the last-mentioned way — the 

 causes may have disappeared before 

 it has so far progressed. But whether 

 it does appear that way or not, the 

 soonest way to discover the disease is 

 by the discolored larvae, by which 



