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 1 . 
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 AVight 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 (1S68): 
“Bells’ 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.” 
