60 Bee Disease 



hundred bees that have accompanied queen bees sent to this country by post. 

 But if the mite is the cause of a serious disease its occurrence in such bees 

 would be rare. It is in the dwindling and unprofitable apiaries of other 

 countries that search must be made, and until we get definite statements 

 from foreign workers that the mite cannot be found in any of the troubles 

 classed together as paralysis, the chances are in favour of its occurrence. 



As to the long duration of Isle of Wight disease as compared with any 

 other epidemic, we have no knowledge as to the number of years that apiaries 

 have been re-stocked where paralysis is causing annual losses. In this country 

 steady losses were formerly confined to districts. That such losses now occur 

 all over the country is due to the altered method of beekeeping. And is it 

 safe to assume that such losses have always been due to the same cause for 

 the last seventeen years in this country and to some other cause in the various 

 countries from which we have imported bees? Since Isle of Wight disease 

 was first reported nearly all the bees of this country have disappeared. Their 

 places have been taken by foreign bees, many of which have also died and the 

 present bees of this country are mainly the descendants of recent importations 

 from various parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. 



The German epidemic of 1859 followed the importation of foreign bees. 



Our own losses in the early sixties of the last century came shortly after 

 we commenced to import foreign bees and had started a crusade against the 

 sulphuring of weak and redundant stocks. Prior to the starting of the epidemic 

 in the Isle of Wight that island was a beekeepers' paradise, where the bees 

 increased and gave surplus with little or no assistance from their owners. 

 Nearly every village contained a number of skep beekeepers whose surplus 

 colonies were sulphured in the autumn or exported as driven bees. With 

 modern methods a steady importation of foreign bees took place. From 1898 

 to 1904 stocks and queens of foreign races were imported into the district 

 where the disease is supposed to have originated. All the bees in that district 

 were destroyed and the epidemic advanced across the island. Imms (1907) 

 states that he was informed that the disease was so virulent that healthy 

 swarms imported from the mainland were badly diseased within a week^. 



Importations of foreign bees have been so heavy and continuous that it is 

 difficult to believe that no diseases have been introduced with these bees 

 during the present century. In reviewing the work that has been done on Isle 

 of Wight disease in Scotland, the possibility suggests itself that at one time 



1 The danger from trading and consequent intermixing appears to have been thoroughly 

 grasped by our forefathers who recognised that it was unlucky to trade in bees. 



The monks were great beekeepers and their migrations with their bees appear to have 

 brought much bad luck. The traditional ceremonies that have been handed down among peasant 

 beekeepers are often of pagan origin. The connection between Christianity and lack of honey 

 is well shown in an old German adage given by Langstroth (1868): 

 " BeUs' ding-dong and choral song 

 Deter the bee from industry; 

 But hoot of owl and wolf's long howl 

 Incite to moil and steady toil." 



