226 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 



^,/^fSRICAJKf 



Bee Journal 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT 



First Nat'l Bank Bldg., Hamilton, 111. 



Entered as second-class matter at the 

 Hamilton, Illinois, Postoffice. 



C. P. Dadant, Editor. 



Dr. C. C. Miller, Associate Editor. 



Frank C. Pellett, Staff Correspondent. 



IMPORTANT NOTICE 



THE SUBSCRIPTION PRICE of this Jour- 

 nal is $1.00 per year in the United States of 

 America and Mexico; 3 years, $2.50; 5 years, 

 $4.00; in Canada, 15c extra, and in all other 

 countries in the Postal Union, 25 cents a year 

 extra for postage. Sample copy free. 



THE WRAPPER LABEL DATE indicates 

 the end of the month to which subscription is 

 paid. For instance, "decl8" on your label 

 shows that it is paid to the end of December, 

 1918. 



SUBSCRIPTION RECEIPTS— We do not 

 send a receipt for money sent us to pay sub- 

 scription, but change the date on your ad- 

 dress, which shows that the money has been 

 received and credited. In case of errors, please 

 write us. 



(Copyright: 1917, by C P. Dadant.) 



THE EDITOR'S VIEWPOINT 



Foulbrood 

 Kill or Cure 



Through carelessness on the part 

 of the printer, 3 lines were dropped 

 out of the editorial in the May num- 

 ber. It made a part of the editorial 

 unintelligible. Alas, that printers are 

 not perfect. Meanwhile we received 

 a very interesting letter on the same 

 subject from an Ohio inspector, Mr. 

 A. C. Ames. The reader will find it 

 in this number. It is worth perus- 

 ing, for it tells things about inspec- 

 tion which the average beekeeper 

 does not know. 



How to Keep Bees 



We are in receipt of a second edi- 

 tion of a bulletin with the above title, 

 written by the well-known and ex- 

 perienced apiarist. Arthur C. Miller, 

 and published under the auspices of 

 the Rhode Island State Board of Ag- 

 riculture. The book contains 50 pages 

 and a number of illustrations. In so 

 short a space one cannot expect a 

 full treatise. But the directions 

 given are certainly the most import- 

 ant for the beginner in beekeeping. 

 The book may be secured from the 

 State Board of Agriculture at Provi- 

 dence, Rhode Island. 



Diet and Disease 



J. L. Rentoul, in the British Bee 

 rournal, suggests, May 2, that "Isle 

 of Wight" disease, which is quite 

 similar to our "constipation" or "par- 

 alysis" or "May disease," i-* a bowel 

 trouble and that its cause and cure 

 I a great deal upon the diet. 

 No doubt he is right, as most of the 

 authorities recognize that these dis- 

 eases begin when the weather is 

 damp and chilly and the pollen or 



honey harvested is probablj of | ' 



quality. But when he suggests that 



sugar feeding may be responsible for 

 the disease, we believe he is mis- 

 taken, for we have seen the disease 

 where the colonies had never been fed 

 on syrup. We must hunt for the 

 cause elsewhere. However, it is quite 

 probable that sugar is not a desirable 

 food for bees in any event and it 

 should not be used whenever good 

 honev is available. 



Wastefulness and the High Cost of 

 Living Versus Foulbrood 



An editorial appeal against public 

 and private wastefulness was pub- 

 lished in the American Bee Journal 

 for June, 1913, five years ago, when 

 no one foresaw the dreadful destruc- 

 tion of human life and human prod- 

 ucts which is now taking place. 

 Wastefulness and its connection with 

 the possible spread of foulbrood 

 were pointed out. But the urgent 

 need of economy in all lines was not 

 yet felt. The reprint of this editorial 

 will give an interesting illustration 

 of the progress achieved in this di- 

 rection during the past 4 years, for 

 much of the reform then suggested 

 has been accomplished. 



The writer one day noticed a lit- 

 tle cluster of excited bees on the 

 ground in a poultry enclosure. Upon 

 examination, he discovered that they 

 were bent upon gathering a lump of 

 granulated honey, which had been 

 thrown there with the other table 

 waste The chickens had eaten every- 

 thing but the wasted honey, butter 

 and bones. 



We complain of the high cost of 

 living and seek a remedy in every 

 direction but the right one. The 

 American way is to waste, waste in 

 all directions. We wasted our for- 

 . i under the plea that it was 

 more profitable to burn them off 

 than to save them. We waste our 



coal at the mines, in many places, al- 



the slack to consume itself 



by spontaneous combustion, or by 



contact with the air. We waste our 

 land, leaving innumerable spots un- 

 cultivated, even in the heart of civ- 

 ilization. We waste our manures, 

 often even contaminating our 

 streams by using them to wash away 

 useful fertilizers. But above all 

 things we waste our food. 



This reproof is not intended for 

 the foreigner who has been raised 

 on economical methods in a thickly 

 settled country. In all probability, 

 the foreign-born American who reads 

 this has been taught, in his young 

 days, to consider bread and meat as 

 sacred under the plausible plea that 

 he might starve some day, for want 

 of such food as he proposes to throw 

 away, and also because so many mil- 

 lions in the world do not get as 

 much as they want to eat. But our 

 American education is different. 

 Many a bright, neat, sensible and 

 educated American mother thinks 

 nothing of teaching her children 

 to take a heaping plate-full of all 

 kinds of food, leaving half of it un- 

 consumed, in a disgusting heap, made 

 of a mixture of all the dainty dishes 

 served upon the table. Nay, in many 

 cases, children are taught that it is 

 good manners to accept or take more 

 of one dish than you can possibly 

 use and leave two-thirds of this upon 

 your plate. Thus meat, gravy, bread, 

 potatoes and other vegetables, fish, 

 butter, jellies, pie and honey are 

 carried to the back yard, or thrown 

 into the slop-pail. 



When this waste takes place upon 

 the farm, it is but half wasted, for the 

 hogs and chickens consume most of 

 the remnants, so however expensive 

 it may be to feed bread, cakes, jellies 

 or honey to the hogs, the food is not 

 altogether wasted. But what of the 

 cities? How much of this willful and 

 unnecessary waste is made to clog 

 the sewers or sour and rot in the 

 refuse can in the back lot? 



What has this to do with bee cul- 

 ture? Why should a bee journal 

 take notice of this bad custom and 

 sound a note of warning? Because, 

 as far as honey is concerned, the 

 waste constitutes a danger. Because 

 if one-fifth, or even only a tenth, of 

 the honey served upon the tables is 

 thrown away, there is a chance in 

 many instances, of the bees getting 

 at this second-hand, and bringing to 

 the hive, with it. undesirable bacteria. 

 The very best honey may contain in 

 it germs which, absolutely harmless 

 to human beings, mean ruin to the 

 brood. 



Why are brood diseases almost 

 permanent around many large cities 

 in this country, if it is not owing to 

 the fact that some of the honey 

 shipped from all parts of the country 

 is, to a large extent, exposed where 

 bees can reach it? 



One will say that, in most cases, 

 the honey is healthy for the bees 

 and entirely free from germs. True. 

 But we know that in a case of con- 

 tamination, the microscopic germ 

 which causes brood diseases is so 

 small and so sparingly Scattered in 

 the honey that scientific examination 

 lias usually proven inadequate to find 

 it. In other words, those germs of 



