May 23, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



315 



cult to see how it could be free from them. The spores might 

 also he introduced by giving combs containing the disease brood, 

 or which had previously contained it, to the bees, and so now 

 would have the dormant bacilli or spores. Undoubtedly foul 

 brood is usually first introduced through the honey, while it is 

 often spread rapidly by an exchange of combs in an apiary where 

 only a few of the colonies are affected. While the bacillus cannot 

 develop in the honey, very likely the honey serves admirably to 

 hold and preserve the spores. When the larval bee is once 

 affected, it is disturbed, lies differently in the cell from the 

 healthy larva, soon turns yellow or straw color, then to brown, 

 while the skin Feems loose and flabby. Later the mass becomes 

 thick and viscid, and turns dark brown, the color of coffee before 

 any cream is added to it. It now dries up, and at last forms a 

 thin layer over the bottom of the cell. While in the putrid 

 coffee-colored state, if drawn out from the cell by inserting into 

 it a pin-head, it is stringy ; and if it fails to hold to the pin, it will 

 fly back. This brown, stringy, elastic mass, with no resemblance 

 to a larva or pupa, is a sure proof of the presence of the dread 

 malady. The larva may never be capped over, but, if attacked 

 late in its development, it usually will be. This cap, however, 

 will appear sunken or concave, instead of being convex or round- 

 ing out, as the cappings of brood always do when the brood is 

 healthy. These sunken caps are always suspicious, and should 

 always lead to close investigation. Little irregular holes in the 

 cappings are often seen, which also should awaken suspicion. 

 Another indication not always' marked in the early stages is a 

 rank smell, which has been compared to the odor of old glue, and 

 which is not very unlike the odor of decaying brood that has been 

 chilled. Often this odor, in severe cases, is very marked, and can 

 be detected while the hive is closed, and several feet from the one 

 perceiving it. Mr. Cheshire thinks that the mature queen, work- 

 ers and drones, are also subject to attack, and frequently succumb 

 to the disease. For the remedies we must refer to the bulletin 

 itself. 



— Within the past few years much complaint has been made by 

 bee-keepers of a disease among bees which not only depleted the 

 colony, but was made manifest by the appearance of the diseased 

 bees. They look black because of loss of hair, much as do robber 

 bees, or old bees in spring, and frequently make strange motions 

 in front of the hives, as though dancing or in convulsions. They 

 are frequently dragged out of the hives by the other bees. This, 

 like foul brood, is supposed, says Professor A. J. Cook, to be due 

 to fungoid attack. In this, only the mature bees seem to become 

 victims, though the inoculation appears to come through the 

 queen. Thus it is found that superseding the queen with a 

 healthy one cures the malady. It is also reported that abundance 

 of salt water placed close by the hives, where the bees can gain 

 ready access to it, will cure this "nameless bee-disease." It 

 would seem that this malady is the same that has received atten- 

 tion in Europe, and which jMi-. Cheshire has said was due to the 

 attack of Bacillus Gaytoni. 



— The March bulletin of the Agricultural Experiment Station 

 of Cornell University is devoted to "Growing Corn for Fodder 

 and Ensilage," by Messrs. I. P. Roberts and Henry H. Wing. 

 Not all the points given below are based upon the experiments 

 detailed in the bulletin. Some are drawn from work done else- 

 where, and some from unpublished results of their own. First, 

 they wish to emphatically repeat the recommendation of last .\ ear, 

 that, in growing corn for ensilage, care should be taken to select 

 the largest variety that will fully mature before frost in the locality 

 where grown. Special attention is called to the fact that hereto- 

 fore it has been a common practice to sow or plant corn for fodder 

 and ensilaging entirely too thick. Starch and sugar are not fully 

 developed without an abundance of sunlight. Immature plants 

 are likely to contain a very large per cent of water. It will readily 

 be seen that twenty-five tons of green corn, containing ninety per 

 cent of water, gives but five thousand pounds of dry matter; 

 while twelve tons, containing seventy-five per cent of water, gives 

 six thousand pounds of dry matter. In the latter case a thousand 

 pounds more dry matter is obtained, and less than half the weight 

 of gross material has to be handled and stored ; while the corn 



will still have sufficient moisture to give the resulting silage that 

 succulence upon which its value for feeding as compared with dry 

 forage largely depends. While the percentage of nitrogen grows 

 less as the plant approaches maturity, a much larger proportion 

 of the nitrogen in the unripe material is in the less valuable form 

 of amides tban in the mature plant, so that the less percentage 

 of nitrogen in the riper product is compensated for in its increased 

 nutritive value. So far, all the experiments go to show that the 

 effort should be made to raise the largest yield of grain irrespec- 

 tive of stalks, no matter what purpose it is intended for. If one 

 variety gives an equal yield of grain and a greater amount of 

 stalks and blades, then of course it should be preferred, for fodder 

 and ensilage purposes, to the variety that gives the less stalk and 

 blade; but it will be found that as a rule the larger the yield of 

 grain, the larger will be the yield of stover. Finally, the fact 

 should not be lost sight of, that wood and water alone are not 

 good foods for animals, and that they are expensive products to 

 handle. 



— The May bulletin of the Michigan Agricultural Experiment 

 Station is an essay on the English sparrow, by C. B" Cook. 

 Seven States legislate against the English sparrow. Of these, four 

 simply except it from the protection afforded other birds. New 

 York makes it a misdemeanor to harbor or protect them, while 

 Michigan pays a bounty of three cents for each sparrow's head. 

 Over twenty of the remaining States give the English sparrow the 

 same pi'otection that is offered to other birds. The remaining 

 States have no laws on the subject. The first thing that should 

 be done to check the sparrows' increase, says Professor Cook, is 

 the repeal of all laws offering them protection. Doubtless many 

 who would turn their hands against the sparrow are prevented from 

 doing so by bird-laws. As recommended by Mr. Bariows, it may 

 be best that one able man should be employed in every town and 

 city to superintend a systematic warfare against the English spar- 

 row. No matter how much farmers and gardeners desire to de- 

 stroy these birds, it will be of comparatively little avail so long as 

 the sparrows are permitted to stay in their great breeding-haunts, 

 the cities, unmolested. The alarming rate at which the sparrows 

 have increased during the past few years shows only too clearly 

 that some action is necessary. No doubt a bounty helps to lessen 

 their numbers; but it is a question if this is the best way to exter- 

 minate the English sparrow. This method has been employed in 

 Michigan since 1887, and has been found an expensive method of 

 lessening their number. The greatest objeciion— that other spe- 

 cies of birds are killed by careless persons for English sparrows — 

 would apply as well to any other means of destruction. The 

 scheme for offering liberal prizes for the greatest number of birds 

 killed in any given territory is worth considering. If the prizes 

 are sufficiently large, many persons will compete, and great de- 

 struction to the sparrows would result. Whatever means are 

 employed, it is of the greatest importance that all States and 

 Territories infested be united in their efforts, and all employ some 

 good means of eradication. One or two States alone can accom- 

 plish but little, as the sparrows are spreading so rapidly that the 

 birds would migrate from other States near by as fast as those 

 within the State limits were destroyed. No one should receive 

 sparrows on a bounty or pi-ize that has not thoroughly studied th 

 bird. Far too many of the town clerks in Michigan do not know 

 the English sparrow's head from that of a linnet or thrush. As a 

 result, a great many birds that have been sent in for a bounty are 

 the most beneficial birds. Thus many heads have been sent to 

 this station, on which a bounty was claimed, of such valuable 

 birds as the song-sparrow, red-polled linnet, and evening gross- 

 beak, — birds that the laws protect by a fine of five dollars against 

 their slaughter. Michigan has a good law against destroying native 

 birds, and every person presenting such a bird to the town clerk's 

 office should pay the penalty, which is a fine of five dollars. 



— The picture of Ruwenzori (identified by Stanley with the 

 Mountains of the Moon), which will appear in the June Scribner, 

 was drawn from Stanley's own sketch made at the time of the 

 discover}'. The race of pygmies discovered by Stanley in Africa 

 were photographed by him, and one of the pictures will be repro- 

 duced in his article. 



