This I believe:
"I would really like a hive to be a book but I am sure that it should remain almost always shut. Bees like solitude. Therefore opening the hive goes against the bees. It obliges them to make a continuous over exertion to re-warm the brood chamber. Modern methods, in other ways that I speak about in my book, also force the bees into harmful overwork. And overwork leads to weakening and weakening makes them more prone to contracting any disease. It is the same with bees as it is with people.
Diseases develop increasingly in modern apiaries, above all foulbrood, the awful foulbrood. People call in vain for visits by distinguished veterinarians, for remedies from knowledgeable chemists, for registrations and sacrifices from beekeepers. It is the cause that should be eliminated. Let us stop going against the instincts of bees. Let us stop ignoring her needs. Let us obtain healthy bees and, above all, let us not feed bees on sugar.
The writer, Caillas, condemned the People's Hive because it prevented in a way almost all application of modern methods which are the future of beekeeping. But I do not hesitate to point out that modern methods will lead beekeeping to destruction."
"The People's (Warre) Hive is criticized for almost completely preventing the application of modern methods which are the future of our beekeeping. But it is my opinion that these modern methods are the death of beekeeping. I emphasize the following facts:
The bee has survived for centuries in hives with fixed comb without suffering.
Things are no longer the same with the framed hive and modern methods. 'It is a certain fact', says Berlefech, 'that the invasion by foulbrood in Germany dates from the same time as the framed hive. Before this time there was very little manipulation of hives, foulbrood was hardly known about as it was so rare; but, since then, it is as well known as it is frequent’. Since this German’s cry of warning, we notice in magazines, in manuals, at apicultural events that beekeepers are having to fight against foulbrood more and more. And they talk of fighting against this disease by creating a costly official bureaucracy, which will be a danger because it will carry the disease from a sick colony to a healthy one.
Let us not go against the laws of nature. Let us leave the germs to accomplish their mission, which is to get rid of what is useless, and let us give our bees the strength to fight against these microbes. We see strong men untouched by tuberculosis germs, whereas weak men often give them favorable conditions for development. All in spite of having encountered tuberculosis germs in public places, on trams, carriages etc., in equal measure. Bees must be similar to men. And the People's Hive and its method strengthens the bees through continual selection, by natural food, by eliminating all overworking of the bees and by the very fact that it protects the bees from foulbrood. Prevention is better than cure.
I am convinced that modern methods, which tend towards the intensive, lead quite simply to the degeneration of the bee. Since we have forced hens to lay more eggs, there are illnesses in the hen house which were formerly unknown. It will be the same in the hives."
Abbe Emile Warre--Beekeeping for All.
Now, I don't think that the present condition of the honeybees of the world is any big secret. Maybe...just maybe...Warre was on to something. Modern methods of beekeeping continue to evolve (thoughbeit slowly), but the bees continue to decline rapidly.
Chris Harvey--Teakwood Organics
www.thewarrestore.com