1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



55 



■every year since obtaining my first Italians, in 

 1878, there have been but few cases of sufficient 

 •severity to require special attention. In the 

 winter of 188'.' I had .52 colonies in a temporary 

 -cellar, made expressly for wintering the bees. 

 Two of the strongest of these colonies became 

 j'estless early in the winter, and continued so 

 until set out in the spring, at which time both 

 of them were affected with paralysis. As the 

 spring advanced, the disease grew worse; so 

 that, when the flowers began to yield nectar, 

 they were only about half the strength of aver- 

 -age colonies. But at this time they began to 

 recover, and the disease soon disappeared. 



The winter of 1884 being very severe, I lost 

 juost of my bees; and, having no better place 

 to put the hives and combs from dead colonies, 

 they were stacked up in the yard, and closed up 

 to keep out robbers and moths. After the 

 weather had become quite warm, I discovered 

 that what I considered my best colony was rob- 

 bing from the combs from dead colonies. This 

 •colony persisted in robbing these combs until I 

 had them occupied with other bees. During 

 this time they became affected with paralysis, 

 and began to dwindle away. I removed their 

 •queen and gave them another. But by the 

 time they were compelled to turn their atten- 

 tion to the flowers for subsistence they were too 

 weak to be profitable for honey-gathering. At 

 this time they began to recover, and became a 

 fair colony before the season closed. 



In 1893 one of my most promising colonies be- 

 •came suddenly aflected with this disease. 

 Soon after discovering their condition 1 remov- 

 ed the queen, intending to give them another; 

 but the bees died oft so rapidly that the colony 

 soon perished outright. A part of their combs 

 were given to other colonies, and these were re- 

 placed wiih combs containing bees and brood, 

 thus restocking the liive, and without any no- 

 ticeable ill effects. 



Quite a number of other cases have appeared 

 in my apiary from time to time, but not of suf- 

 .ficient severity to materially affect the working 

 strength of the colonies. If the disease were 

 infectious, my apiary would surely have been 

 ruined by it several years ago. As it is, my 

 bees, so far as 1 can see, are as active and 

 Jbealthy to-day as they ever have been. 



From my observations I have concluded that, 

 in some instances, this disease is the result of a 

 poisoned condition of the honey, and that the 

 poisoning results from incipient fermentation — 

 not that all honey with a slight tendency to 

 ferment is injurious to bees, but that honey in 

 this condition will readily absorb th(! poisonous 

 •eltiuvia from dead and decaying bees or other 

 decaying matter in the hives. Then, too, 1 be- 

 lieve that, in many instances, the honey be- 

 comes actually sour enough to cause the 

 disease; and I fear that this is the trouble in 

 warm climates such as that of California and 

 the Southern States. 



It is no uncommon thing for me to find sour 

 honey in a few hives at extracting time, except 

 in very dry seasons. In several instances fer- 

 mentation had proceeded far enough to cause 

 great blisters in the cappings of well-sealed 

 combs. Colonies that produce honey of this 

 nature are the ones that have paralysis. 



Here is where the many contingencies men- 

 tioned above present themselves; and a number 

 of questions naturally arise, of which the two 

 following are, perhaps, of most importance: 



What sours the honey ? 



Why is the honey in one hive sour, and that 

 in a dozen, twenty, fifty, or more, in the same 

 apiary, and gathered at the same time, in good 

 condition ? 



The answer to these questions is found in the 

 fact that an occasional colony is found, that, 

 for some cause, unknown, I think, to apicul- 

 tural science, does not possess the ability to 

 properly ripen their honey in average honey 

 weather— especially if the nectar is very thin. 

 As the temperature increases, this weakness 

 becomes more apparent; so that, with a tem- 

 perature up in the 90's, with an excessively 

 humid atmosphere, such colonies are really 

 worthless; and in a large apiary, at such times, 

 several colonies may show this weakness in a 

 less degree. 



Here, I think, is the sequel to the cause of 

 paralysis in warm climates. If the source 

 from which the nectar is obtained is one 

 that naturally produces an inferior quality of 

 honey, and the ingathering is at a time when 

 the atmospheric conditions are such as are 

 mentioned above, a careful examination of the 

 combs will reveal the fact that, in a large per 

 cent of the hives, numerous minute gas-bub- 

 bles exist in the honey. If allowed to do so, the 

 bees will seal this honey up; and, although it 

 maybe left in the hives several days or even 

 weeks, its condition grows worse, as is shown 

 by the gas- bubbles which become more numer- 

 ous and larger; and when this honey is thrown 

 from the combs by the extractor it presents a 

 frothy appearance. 



During the past fifteen years I have experi- 

 enced two seasons that gave me considerable 

 trouble with this kind of honey. Bees reared 

 from food of this nature show a decided tend- 

 ency to the disease in question, even here in 

 Central Illinois; and the longer these condi- 

 tions exist, the worse the disease becomes, ow- 

 ing to the increased deterioration of the food 

 and the weakened condition of the nurse-bees. 

 This condition continues until the colony per- 

 ishes; or if a fresh supply of healthy food is ob- 

 tained, it shows signs of recovery with the first 

 generation of brood thereafter. 



Liverpool, 111. 



[I admit that there are a good many contingen- 

 cies in matters of this kind, and that there is 

 much room for error; but it seems to me you 

 have overlooked a very important factor — local- 



