44 
swelling up of their bodies. The diseased bees, often set upon by 
other workers, lose the hairy covering of their bodies, and, black and 
shiny in appearance, may often be seen wriggling away from their 
hives to die. In such cases the working force of the affected colony 
frequently becomes so greatly reduced as to preclude any return in 
the form of honey or swarms during the given season. The source 
from which the bees obtain the original infection is unknown, but, 
once in the apiary, it is spread mainly by the entrance of affected 
workers into healthy colonies, and probably also by the visits which 
bees from healthy colonies make to the diseased ones, the latter often 
being so weakened in numbers as to be unable to protect their stores 
from healthy bees out on robbing expeditions. 
Ordinary paralysis may generally be cured by strewing powdered 
sulphur over the combs, bees, and along the top bars of the frames, 
the precaution first having been taken of removing all unsealed brood. 
This brood would be killed by the application of sulphur, but as there 
is no danger whatever of spreading the disease by the transfer of brood 
or honey from one hive to another, provided absolutely every one of 
the adult bees has first been shaken or brushed from the combs, the 
latter may be given to healthy colonies which need strengthening. 
Another simple plan for getting rid of the disease and yet utilizing 
the available strength of the affected colonies is to close their hives at 
night and move them a mile or more, locating them, if possible, 
outside of the range of other bees. As the brood in these colonies 
remains healthy all that is sealed or even well advanced in the larval 
stage may have the bees shaken from it and be distributed among the 
remaining colonies of the apiary. The bees of the diseased colonies 
thus become rapidly reduced in numbers, and several of the colonies 
themselves may soon be combined, the best queen being selected to 
continue egg deposition. Eventually the diseased apiary becomes, by 
the removal of the developing brood and the death of the old bees, 
reduced to nothing. None of the queens should be saved nor should — 
any of the adult workers be returned to the healthy apiary. 
A combination of the sulphur cure with the last plan mentioned— 
that of getting rid of the disease through the removal of brood combs 
from affected colonies—is really, all in all, the best procedure. When 
a fairly strong colony has been made up by shaking the adult bees of 
two or more together and this removed to an isolated locality, the 
application of sulphur may be made before any brood has been started. 
It is well, also, to replace the queen with a vigorous one from stock 
entirely unrelated to the diseased bees. Should any signs of the dis- 
ease reappear, constant removal of the brood should be followed, as 
mentioned in the preceding paragraph. 
Other bacterial diseases, though existing, have developed only very 
locally or have been too limited in the amount of injury inflicted to 
require special mention here. 
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