236 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 



Honey was given to us at break- 

 fast when we were infants in Je- 

 rusalem, and we have not yet be- 

 come tired of it. but take it once or 

 twice daily now, and the grown-up 

 girls enjoy it greatly. 



Nice, France. 



An Open Letter to F. Dundas 

 Todd 



By A. C. Ames 



I HAVE carefully read your arti- 

 cle in May issue of American Bee 

 Journal. As you used my name, 

 I feel free to reply to you. However, 

 you placed me in Iowa, which is an 

 error. I have been on the apiary in- 

 spection force of this State (Ohio) 

 for five years. 



I believe, Mr. Todd, if you were on 

 the inspection force of some of our 

 eastern States you would have a dif- 

 ferent idea in regard to the handling 

 of the bee diseases than you have. 

 One of the few things that are estab- 

 lished in bee culture is that different 

 localities require different methods 

 of management. 



Your method of treatment, or 

 rather eradication of bee diseases, 

 will be successful if you do not have 

 the following conditions to contend 

 with. In a State the size of Ohio it 

 would take one hundred to one hun- 

 dred and fifty men working the en- 

 tire summer to inspect every colony 

 in the State. You will admit that it 

 is necessary to have trained men for 

 this work. Where are we to get the 

 men? We have trouble obtaining 

 satisfactory men with only three on 

 the force. Is there any State in the 

 United States or Province of Canada 

 that will furnish one to two hundred 

 thousand dollars to do this work, 

 and continue it one year after an- 

 other? No. The beekeeping indus- 

 try is not important enough to justi- 

 fy such an expenditure. We, of 

 course, do not consider beekeeping 

 of minor importance, but the general 

 public does, and it does not compare 

 with other things agricultural — either 

 in value of output, number of men 

 employed or of capital invested. 



Another thing — what are you going 

 to do with bees that cannot be 

 reached? I believe you will admit 

 that there is no difference between 

 our so-called domesticated bees and 

 wild bees. I believe there are as 

 many bees in trees, houses, etc., in 

 Ohio, as there are in hives. I know 

 of one wood lot of 2;/ acres that was 

 cleared and contained thirty-five bee 

 trees. 



This probably is an exception, but 

 with careful search I feel certain 

 that bee trees can be found in nearly 

 every wood lot in Ohio Bee trees 

 harbor disease I have found it there, 

 and have had beekeepers that I have 

 made clean up prove it to me and 

 ask me: "What arc you going to do 

 about it?" 



Another thing — you have no large 

 cities in your territory, or at least 

 none that receive honey from all 



points of the compass. Around all 

 our large cities, such as Cleveland, 

 Cincinnati, Toledo, Columbus, etc., we 

 have continual outbreaks of disease. 

 Why? Because the empty sections 

 and containers are thrown out and 

 bees usually clean them up. That is 

 well and good, but if the honey came 

 from a diseased apiary, what then? 

 You would soon have every bee- 

 keeper in or near our cities burned 

 out of business. 



We in Ohio do make an honest ef- 

 fort to compel our queen-breeders to 

 keep their yards free from disease, 

 and, what is more, we usually suc- 

 ceed. Our queen-breeders never 

 know when to expect us, and they 

 also know that if we find disease 

 they will be placed under a rigid 

 quarantine. That is not a nice posi- 

 tion to be placed in — with orders to 

 be filled and general queen-breeding 

 operations under way. When this 

 happens it usually makes a break 

 that pretty nearly spoils a breeder's 

 whole season. As a result, our breed- 

 ers are careful. To do them justice, 

 however, I believe they would be 

 careful anyhow from a business point 

 of view. They are a pretty good 

 sort of men. 



Now, I want to tell you about my 

 own yards. In 1916 I had the worst 

 attack of adult bee-trouble I ever 

 saw. What it was I do not know. 

 Dr. Phillips, E. R. Root, Mr. Bocock 

 from England and others visited my 

 apiary. Xone could offer any real 

 advice. All, however, advised to re- 

 queen, which I did. The disease 

 gradually abated and by late fall very 

 little could be found. It cost me sev- 

 eral thousand pounds of honey, but 

 as a result of the re-queening I had 

 all my bees in good condition for 

 1917. I, however, raised my queens 

 from an Italian strain that was not 

 resistant to European foulbrood. I 

 did not give this disease any thought, 

 because, so far as I knew, there was 

 none of it nearer than fifty miles. 

 Imagine my surprise to find Euro- 

 pean foulbrood late in May, 1917. 

 This required re-queening again, and 

 a careful watching of the brood- 

 chambers. When I first discovered 

 this disease I found three cases at 

 home and two at the outyard. Over 

 50 per cent of my bees were dis- 

 eased at some time or another 

 through the season. I re-queened 

 everything, but I took 100 pounds av- 

 erage extracted honey, although the 

 season was generally considered a 

 failure. You do not state as to your 

 method of handling European foul- 

 brood, but if you handled it as you 

 do the American you would have to 

 the diseased yard every few 

 weeks all summer, and you would 

 make no headway, for it can only be 

 controlled bj a resistant strain. 



Many of our best beekeepers in 

 both Canada and the States consider 

 it a greater plague than the Ameri- 

 can. 



I hi.; spring 1 ha\; 130 colonics in 

 tin best condition I have ever seen 

 bees at this time of the season. My 

 winter loss was about 5 per cent — 

 mostly due to starvation, as the bees 



were under 6 to 8 feet of snow for 

 about eight weeks, and while under 

 the snow started brood-rearing, 

 which exhausted their stores. I win- 

 ter in four-colony cases. This spring 

 I have so far found twenty cases of 

 American foulbrood, but no Euro- 

 pean foulbrood. I expect it to show 

 up, though. The wonder to me is 

 that none is in evidence yet. It may 

 be due to the fact that I did not al- 

 low a single colony to become badly 

 diseased last season, as T examined 

 every brood-nest every seven to ten 

 days throughout the season. 



But to return to the American foul- 

 brood I have this season. To treat 

 that by your method of eradication 

 we would burn those colonies. There 

 is not a colony in the lot in which a 

 dozen diseased cells can be found, 

 and the colonies will average seven 

 combs of brood today, with the 

 clover flow thirty days off. The most 

 of those colonies are carrying su- 

 pers today, or they would swarm out 

 during the fruit bloom, which is now 

 on. To burn those colonies would 

 mean the burning or destroying of— 

 if we have a good season— 3.000 

 pounds of honey and the loss to 

 me of a round $500, and this at a 

 time when we need every last ounce 

 of food possible to obtain. I should 

 resist the burning of those colonies 

 by every means in my power. 



I am not saying that it will not 

 work with you, for under your condi- 

 tions it probably will. But I do con- 

 tend that under conditions as they 

 exist in Ohio, your plan will not 

 work, and I do believe you are mak- 

 ing a mistake in advocating such a 

 plan for universal use. One of the 

 greatest faults I have to find with 

 our bee journals is the publishing of 

 plans of different sorts that for their 

 success demand a condition that is 

 not universal. It may be permissi- 

 ble to publish these plans, but quali- 

 fying statements should be made. 



To refer again to my bees. I am 

 certain that my outfit is in far bet- 

 ter condition because of my having 

 had the diseases, than it would have 

 been had I not had the diseases. The 

 disease made me do things that I 

 knew ought to have been done that 

 I probably would have neglected. In 

 other words, it made me give my 

 bees close attention and do the 

 things that you and I and other 

 apiary inspectors are advising bee- 

 keepers to do, that we do not do our- 

 selves. 



I do not believe there is any apiary 

 inspector who can examine a large 

 apiary known to be diseased and dis- 

 cover everj r case of disease present 

 on one inspection. I have examined 

 my yards three times this spring and 

 each time I have found additional 

 eases, and I expect to find more, and 

 I have had no robbing. 



For several years I have held that 

 with us it was too much to hope that 

 we can ever eradicate bee disease. 

 1: mi we can teach our beekeepers 

 how to handle the disease, and that 

 is what we are trying to do. 



Weston, Ohio. 



