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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 



Their escape itself could be made with a 

 double exit, without materially increasing the 

 expense, and I feel quite sure they would be 

 willing to make them so, if they were fully de- 

 cided in their own minds that such a change 

 would be an advantage. 



Perhaps it might be well to state that Mr. 

 Reddish's escape is based on the principle of 

 the Porter, and would, therefore, be an infringe- 

 ment; but I feel very sure the Porters would 

 not make any objection to a few being tried, 

 provided they were not offered for sale, nor 

 made in any considerable numbers for private 

 use.— Ed.] 



BEE -PARALYSIS. 



Question.— I fear my bees have what is known 

 as "bee-paralysis." At one hive the bees seem 

 to be swollen up, many of them, and have a 

 shaking motion, and the well bees are dragging 

 off those the nearest to lifeless, while the dead 

 are quite thickly strewn about the hive-en- 

 trance. On opening the hive I find many of 

 these bloated, shaking bees near the ends of 

 the frames, in and about the rabbets of the 

 hive, and in out-of-the-way places. The queen 

 seems to be very prolific; but these trembling, 

 dying bees seem to take the disorder rather 

 faster than young bees emerge from the cells; 

 hence, instead of gaining in numbers, as are 

 my other colonies, this colony is dwindling. 

 What is the cause of this trouble, and what 

 can I do to help them? Does the trouble come 

 from the queen, and will a change of queens 

 cure it? The queen is a daughter of one I pur- 

 chased a year ago, but the bees from the moth- 

 er and those from sisters are all right so far. 



Answer.— 1 think from the description given 

 that there is no doubt that our questioner's bees 

 have what is now called "bee-paralysis," but 

 what was formerly known as "the nameless 

 bee disease." This disease was not known, nor 

 any attention called to it, at least previous to 

 the eighties, if I am correct; but since its first 

 appearance it has made rapid strides, so that 

 to-day there are few apiarists who have not 

 seen something of it, either in their own apiary 

 or that of some other person. What the out- 

 come is going to be, no one can at present tell; 

 but so far the disease seems to be gaining 

 ground, in the United States at least. 



In the question, " What is the cause of this 

 trouble?" we have the great question; for if 

 we fully understood the cause, the remedy 

 would soon be found; but so far, unless I have 

 been remiss in my studies, no one is sure that 

 he knows what is the cause. Guesses many 

 have been made; but as the years roll by it 

 soon becomes apparent that said guesses did 

 not hold good, and I doubt our having any 



thing reliable as to the cause of this plague to 

 the bees and the bee-fraternity. There being 

 nothing at all certain about the cause, to an- 

 swer the question " What can I do to help 

 them ? " would be little more than guesswork 

 also. When the disease first made its appear- 

 ance, a few of the knowing ones told us the 

 whole trouble came from not letting the bees 

 have access to all of the salt they wanted; so it 

 was said that, if a strong brine were made, as 

 strong as that made for pickling meat, and this 

 brine poured or sprayed over the bees and 

 combs, it was a certain cure, as those recom- 

 mending said cure had tried it, and were sure 

 it was a positwe remedy. But when this posi- 

 tive remedy was tried by bee-keepers in general, 

 it soon became apparent that it was of no use 

 as a general remedy. Then salicylic acid and 

 carbolic acid were recommended, not only as a 

 cure for the disease, but as a preventive as well : 

 but when the general public came to use them, 

 and apiarists, whose knowledge was the prac- 

 tical side of bee culture, the verdict rendered 

 has been, " With no effect." Thus, so far as I 

 know, " what can I do to help them ? " remains 

 an unanswered problem. 



Next we have, " Does the trouble come from 

 the queen, and will a change of queens cure 

 it?" In reply to this I must say as I did of the 

 other remedies, that there were those, years 

 ago, who told us the whole trouble came 

 through the queen, and that, if the queen was 

 killed and another given in her place, then, as 

 soon as the bees hatched from the new queen, 

 the disease would begin to grow less and less; 

 and when all of the bees from the original 

 queen had died the colony would be free from 

 the disease. This statement took hold of bee- 

 keepers to a greater extent than any of the 

 others, and hundreds have tried a change of 

 queens, only to find that it had no effect what- 

 ever. 



Last year the alarm over the rapid strides of 

 the disease in the South became so great that 

 the editor of Gleanings thought it best to 

 pledge all queen- breeders to certain stringent 

 rules regarding destroying all colonies found 

 having the disease, etc., and nearly all of the 

 queen-raisers of this country subscribed to the 

 same. When these rules were published I knew 

 that I had a colony showing signs of the dis- 

 ease; and as I wished to conduct some experi- 

 ments with the same I did not subscribe to the 

 conditions, and I presume it was wondered at 

 by some that Doolittle's name did not appear 

 with the rest. Without going into minute de- 

 tails, I will say that this colony proved to be 

 the worst of any thing I ever saw (I having had 

 two cases of the kind some years ago, as report- 

 ed through the bee-papers); and when fall 

 came there were perhaps five hundred shaking 

 bees remaining in the hive, with a little brood 

 in one comb, as a result from one of the most 



