THE AMERICANS BEJfl JOUENAL. 



551 



cause speedy death. If the bees are 

 young and vigorous they may resist 

 the ravages of the infection, yielding 

 only after the organism is riddled 

 with the bacteria, but if the bees are 

 old and low in vitality, the infection, 

 if left to itself, brings speedy ruin. 

 In the spring of the year I have 

 dissected bees which had passed the 

 winter in a colony in which this 

 disease was present when the bees 

 were put away in winter quarters the 

 fall before. Their bodies had been 

 completely honey combed by bacteria. 



The fact that if a diseased colony is 

 removed from the Infested combs and 

 hive, and placed in an empty hive or 

 in a hive with frames supplied with 

 comb foundation, even if the new 

 hive be at once placed on the old 

 location and the old hive and infested 

 combs be burned and the bees at once 

 liberated, the disease commonly dis- 

 appears, seems also to furnish addi- 

 tional proof that the contagion is 

 usually carried into the hive in the 

 pollen, and, further, that the "disease 

 germs" do not long retain their 

 virility if exposed to the rain and 

 rays of the sun ; otherwise the bees 

 would continue to carry in the infec- 

 tion. The bees being compelled to 

 consume the contents of their honey- 

 sacs in building new combs, none of 

 the germs remain to be regurgitated 

 in the new cells ; but by this practice 

 the bees are left to the tender mercies 

 of the bacteria, unless they be treated 

 with an antidote. For obvious rea- 

 sons the queens in such colonies 

 should in any event be superseded as 

 soon as possible. This method of 

 treatment also contemplates the de- 

 struction or renovation of all hives 

 and frames, the destruction of all 

 brood, and the melting of all combs ; 

 a large percentage of the capital in 

 honey-producing. 



Another reason for believing that, 

 except in rare cases, the disease is 

 introduced by pollen is found in the 

 fact that the larvffi rarely ever exhibit 

 any symptoms of disease until about 

 the time when the process of weaning 

 begins, at which time the character of 

 the food is changed from the glandu- 

 lar secretion, the pap, to the partially 

 digested and undigested food. Live 

 pollen is then added to the larval 

 food, and with the bacteria in greater 

 or less numbers ; growth is arrested ; 

 death ensues ; putrefication follows, 

 and the soft pulp, of a grayish-brown 

 color, settles to the lower side of the 

 cell. As the mass dries up it becomes 

 glutinous and stringy and reddish- 

 brown in color and emits an offensive 

 odor. Some of the larvce will be par- 

 tially capped, some completely capped 

 and some left uncapped, the condition 

 in which the brood is left depending, 

 I believe, upon the virulence with 

 which the disease attacks both bees 

 and brood. The remedies prescribed 

 appear to destroy the bacteria and 

 cure the bees of the contagion and re- 

 store them to natural vigor. The 

 worker bees then cleanse the hive of 

 dead bees and brood and clean out 

 and renovate the cells, and the colony 

 resumes its normal condition. 



That the contagion may sometimes 

 be borne from hive to hive by the 



wind appears to be true, as it was ob- 

 served in one of the apiaries which I 

 treated for this disease during the 

 past summer, that of a large number 

 of diseased colonies in the apiary, 

 with the exception of iwo colonies, all 

 were located to the northeast of the 

 colony in which the disease first ap- 

 peared. The prevailing wind had been 

 from the southwest. 



That the disease-germs may be 

 carried upon the clothing and hands 

 appears probable, from the fact that 

 in one neighborhood the disease ap- 

 peared in only two apiaries, the own- 

 ers of which had spent some time 

 working among diseased colonies at 

 some distance from home, while other 

 apiarists in that locality who had kept 

 away from the contagion had no 

 trouble from foul-brood. 



Aurora, 5 111., Dec. 31, 1886. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



"Honey" ys, Extracteil Honey. 



MISS DEJIA BENNETT. 



The editor seems to be in favor of 

 using the word " honey" in place of 

 " extracted honey," so as " to have 

 something that is entirely correct, and 

 would not have to be explained." 

 While I concede the first point, I 

 cannot the last, for of all the words 

 mentioned so far, I think that the 

 word " honey" as applied to honey out 

 of the comb, would require more ex- 

 planation than any of the others. 



Taking the Bee Jottrnal of Aug. 

 10, to illustrate, in the index we find 

 " Basswood honey," " Honey and 

 beeswax market," " Honey crop and 

 prices," "Labels for honey," "No 

 honey" and " Very little honey." On 

 page 499, Mr. S. F. Newman writes 

 that the honey crop is almost an 

 entire failure ; and the editor says : 

 " Do not sell any honey until the end 

 of September, etc." On page 503, 

 Charles Walker writes of "paying 

 taxes on bees, and no honey to do it 

 with." On page 505, A. F. Stauffer 

 says, " The surplus honey crop this 

 season will be very short." On page 

 507, H. J. Rogers says, "I shall hold 

 what honey I have for an advance." 

 On page 510, in the advertisements, 

 we see" Bees and honey," by Thomas 

 G. Newman ; How to produce the 

 most honey in its best and most at- 

 tractive condition." In all of the 

 foregoing instances I do not think 

 that the most expert honey-producer 

 could tell whether it were intended to 

 speak of either comb or extracted, 

 namely, combless honey, or of both. 



As I understand it, " honey" is a 

 general term for the sweet fluid of 

 the flowers which has been gathered 

 by the bees, no matter whether ripe 

 or unripe, liquid or granulated, comb 

 or combless. The same as sugar is 

 the name of crystallized sweets, as 

 maple, cane, sorghum, beet, grape, 

 etc.; or wheat, for the entire crop of 

 that cereal, be it red or white, bald or 

 bearded, spring or winter wheat. 



You ask a groceryman if he keeps 

 sugar for sale ; he would say, " Yes, 

 what kind do you wish V" If you 



asked for honey, he would answer in 

 the same manner. I do not believe 

 that there is a single apiarist or 

 groceryman in the United States that 

 would feel right to fill an order for 

 "honey," with extracted honey, with- 

 out inquiry, unless there had been 

 previous dealings with the customer, 

 and the manner of using the term ex- 

 plained. 



Mr. J. B. Hains, of this place, who 

 has seven different apiaries, tells me 

 that out of seven different persons 

 who called yesterday for honey, one 

 asked for extracted, and the other six 

 simply asked for honey, when wanting 

 comb-honey. 



I think a large majority of people 

 use the word honey as applied to 

 comb-honey. 



I have often noticed persons passing 

 by cases of honey in sections (in 

 groceries), say : " How nice that 

 honey looks; I must have some." 

 But if it were jars of extracted, they 

 would always put the descriptive 

 prefix, as " extracted" or " strained," 

 before the word honey. 



It is easier to learn entirely new 

 forms of speech, than to unlearn old 

 ones, and substitute others in their 

 places. 



While nothing can be urged against 

 the use of the word as the editor pro- 

 poses, on the ground of incorrect 

 language, still it can but be inexpedi- 

 ent to try and change the custom of 

 ages. 



Over 3,000 years ago Samson took 

 honey in his hands, and went on eat- 

 ing and came to his father and mother, 

 and he gave them and they did eat. 

 Who doubts that it was comb-honey ? 



Bedford, 6 0. 



[Our correspondent labors under 

 the impression that we have proposed 

 a change of name for extracted honey. 

 We have done nothing of the sort. 

 We have simply said that if we must 

 have a change, it should be an im- 

 provement and not merely a change. 

 The whole matter is now referred to 

 the Convention this fall, at Chicago- 

 till then let it rest.— Ed.] 



Literary WorM. 



Bees and Bee-Keeping in Poetry. 



S. V. COLE. 



Of the little folk of nature the bees 

 are among the most interesting. 

 They shine not only in the field of 

 flowers, but in the field of letters. 

 They supply the husbandman with 

 food and the poet with simile and 

 metaphor. This was especially true 

 of the ancient poets. The Muse, in 

 coming hither from the Golden Age 

 of Saturn, started like the linden in 

 Tennyson's " Amphion," 



With all her bees behind her. 



If we ask what has made the bees so 

 interesting, we find, among other 

 causes, that they are creatures with 

 whom order seems to be the first law. 

 The sluggard may go to the ant for 

 lessons in the arts of perseverance, 



