^7)78 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 

 E. E. Hasty's writings are conspicuous 

 for their absence in the Old Reliable. 



Mr. R. A. Burnett, the well-known com- 

 mission merchant of Chicago, will be at 

 the Denver meeting. 



\b 



A Canadian writer says good vinegar 

 will afford almost instant relief from bee- 

 stings. Mr. York suggests that honey vin- 

 egar be used. 



In speaking of selling honey on commis- 

 sion, Mr. H. R. Wright says, "I have sold 

 honey extensively for the past 30 years on 

 commission. From my knowledge of the 

 business, and observation of the marketing 

 of honey, if I were a bee-keeper I would 

 place my product in the hands of a commis- 

 sion merchant in preference to trying to 

 sell to the bargain-hunters." 

 \\i 



Mr. S. A. Niver protests against market 

 quotations of honey for July 24 under date 

 of March 6. Mr. York explains it by say- 

 ing that the quotations are good as quoted, 

 and that no change in price has been made 

 since the date given. Very often those who 

 quote for Gleanings simply say, "No 

 change," in which case we date the quota- 

 tion as near the day of publication as pos- 

 sible. Regardless of the date, I think the 

 quotations are about right in either case. 



PARALYSIS AMONG THE BEES. 



"Good afternoon, Mr. Doolittle. How is 

 the honey crop this year?" 



"Very light indeed, so far. We have 

 really had only three days when nectar was 

 brought into the hives more than about what 

 was needed to support the bees. July 2, 4, 

 and 6, it did not rain, and the atmosphere 

 was just right for the secretion of nectar in 

 the clover-blossoms, and the bees worked 

 with a will. In fact, those days seemed 

 like a flow from basswood, and the bees 

 went into the sections, drew out the founda- 

 tion very rapidly, and I had hopes of quite 

 a yield of section honey, even though it had 

 rained 28 out of the 30 days of June. But 

 it came on rainy again, so the bees could 

 not get out of the hives till the 11th, when 

 a north and east wind sprang up, which is 

 always unfavorable to nectar secretion, es- 

 pecially with clover, and that was the last 

 of our white honey." 



"Do you think you will have any sections 

 completed?" 



"From the little I have examined I think 

 the most of the bait sections are nearly cap- 

 ped over, so that there will probably be 

 from six to eight sections to the hive. But 

 it has been so slow in capping that there 

 will be little that will class as even No. 1 

 honey." 



"Sorry you did not have a better crop. 

 But that was not the real reason for my 

 coming (by letter) to see you. I fear my 

 bees have paralysis. At some of the hives 

 many bees seem to be swollen up, and seem 

 to shake as if they had the ague, some of 

 them being smooth and shiny. There is 

 lots of brood in these hives, but in some of 

 them the bees are apparentlj^ dying faster 

 than they are replaced with the emerging 

 brood. In front of two hives the bees lie 

 dead in heaps. Do you think the trouble is 

 paralysis?" 



"From your description I think there is 

 little doubt that your bees have paraly- 

 sis." 



"How long has this disease been known? " 



"I do not remember hearing anything 

 about it previous to the earlier eighties; and 

 when it was first heard of it was under the 

 name of 'the nameless bee-disease,' if that 

 can be called a name. For a time it made 

 very rapid strides, till there were very few 

 apiarists who were not familiar with it, ei- 

 ther in their own apiary or in that of some 

 neighbor, during the nineties. But since 

 the ushering in of the twentieth century, 

 the disease seems to be on the wane, or, at 

 least, very little is said about it now." 



"What is the cause of this trouble?" 



"That was the }^reat question in the 

 minds of all those who had it in their api- 

 aries; for where the cause can be fully un- 

 derstood, a remed}' is always soon found; 

 but, unless I have been remiss in my read- 

 ing, no one seems to be sure that he knows 

 what the cause is. Many guesses have been 

 made; but as the j^ears have rolled by they 

 have proved to be only guesses, and I doubt 

 our having any thing reliable as to the 

 cause of this plague to the bees." 



"But can you not tell me what I can do 

 to help these colonies?" 



"Such telling would belittle more than 

 guesswork. When the disease first made 

 its appearance some of the knowing ones 

 told us the whole trouble came from not let- 

 ting the bees have access to all of the salt 

 they wanted, and from this it was said that, 

 if a strong brine was made and sprinkled 

 over the bees and combs, it was a certain 

 cure." 



" Did you try it? " 



"Yes, I tried it, and it was tried by bee- 

 keepers quite generally ; but it was soon 

 apparent that it was of no use as a general 

 remedy. Then salicylic 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 practical side of bee culture, the ver- 

 dict was, 'had little or no effect.' There- 

 fore, so far as I know, ' what can I do to 



