THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



299 



Amount of Damage. 

 In Bags. Without bags. 



Agawani none none 



]}righton none little 



Delaware much less 



Diamond little little 



Duchess much less 



Eaton none none 



Eumelau none none 



lona no'ie none 



Jefferson very little very little 



Lindley none none 



Niagara none none 



Salem much less 



Ulster none none 



In the case of the three kinds much in- 

 jured it became constantly more evident 

 that the damage to those in the bags was 

 greater than to those to which the bees had 

 access. This was especially true of the 

 Duchess and the Delaware. So evide t was 

 it that the reason of this lay in the fact that 

 the juice oozing from cracked grapes in the 

 bags was commniucated to neighboring 

 grapes causing incipent decay, a weakness of 

 skin and cracking where otherwise cracking 

 would not have occurred, that by the middle 

 of the mouth I hastened to remove the bags 

 from these varieties that the bees might 

 gather the juice from the broken grapes. 



To my mind the conclusioti is inevitable 

 that not only do bees not injure grapes but 

 that by gathering the juices of cracked ones 

 they prevent decay and thereby the destruc- 

 tion of sound grapes. 



Lapeeb, Mich. Sept. 24, ISDG. 



Degeneracy of the Honey Bee. 



L. A. ASPINWALL. 



IJTI N examination 

 I\ of the animal 

 and vegetable 

 world as found in 

 Nature will reveal 

 a condition of per- 

 fect health, and a 

 constitution per- 

 fectly adapted to 

 their respective 

 latitudes. Who of 

 us ever saw other 

 than uniformly 

 marked birds in a flock of wild piegons, 

 ducks or geese; or other than healthy ani- 



mals in the herds of buffalo, and among 

 the deer which have their home in the for- 

 ests. 



Notwithstanding all life must and does 

 come to an end, still it may be without dis- 

 ease. With advanced age the birds and 

 wild animales become weakened and so fall 

 prey to those which feed upon them. Nat- 

 ural death seldom occurs in the animal 

 world. And in considering this fact we 

 cannot fail to note that man is Divinely 

 favored in this as well as in many other re- 

 spects. 



The same is true of the vegetable world 

 in that disease manifests itself proportional- 

 ly with culture. The potato rot followed 

 improvement in the size and texture of the 

 tubers. It is a recognized fact in fruit 

 culture, that in proportion as we improve 

 the fruit we weaken the stock. 



When we note the numerous diseases our 

 domestic animals are subject to, our eyes 

 must be opened to the fact that something 

 is wrong. Let us briefly consider disease 

 and its cause. I do not believe the Al- 

 mighty created disease. Still, certain germs 

 were created which, when the conditions of 

 animal life become changed by reason of 

 improper living or otherwise, tind therein a 

 food supply. It seems to be the order of 

 creation that when degeneracy takes place, 

 the germs are at hand to feed and repro- 

 duce themselves — and this lodgement and 

 feeding constitutes the disease. In perfect 

 health there are no conditions favorable to 

 a lodgement of the numerous bacilli con- 

 tained in our atmosphere, and possibly, 

 much of the food we eat. However, under 

 the circumstances of advanced civilization 

 we occasionally find those in apparent 

 health overtaken by disease — but, we must 

 note that apparent health may exist even 

 with a degenerate constitution : and, that 

 through degeneracy all life becomes suscep- 

 tible to diseape. 



Let us apply the logical deductions to 

 animal life as found in the honey bee. 

 Although previous to the introduction of the 

 Italian bee in 1860, no improvement of the 

 black or brown bees had been attempted 

 that I know of, still we find them subject to 

 the disease known as foul brood. ( Bacillus 

 Alvei ). 



If we recall the method of obtaining 

 honey during the dark ages of bee keeping, 

 one cause of degeneration will be apparent. 

 In the autumn the heaviest and lightest 



