46 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



bricks for winter stores, 1 had my doubts as 

 to its success at the North, but, as I had not 

 given it a trial, I held my peace. Here is 

 what Mr. Heddon has to say on the subject 

 in his last Quarterly. 



" President Abbott read an essay at the 

 late N. A. bee convention upon wintering, in 

 which he laid down very positive directions 

 for bringing our bees safely through the 

 long cold period of unnatural confinement. 

 It must surprise those who have read the 

 essay to find no mention of bee diarrhcsa, 

 the one cause of nearly all our losses in win- 

 ter and compared with which all other causes 

 are hardly worth mentioning. Mr. Abbott 

 tells us that sugar bricks are practical winter 

 food ; but they are not here. No kind of 

 candy or granulated sugar or even candied 

 honey is safe in this climate. He tells us 

 that the whole trouble comes from the stores 

 not being accessible to the bees, and if his 

 theory and explanation is correct we had 

 better dispense with all shallow frames, like 

 the Langstroth, and use deep frames or a 

 deep brood chamber with two sets of frames 

 like our own. But Mr. Abbott is not correct 

 in his conclusions and statements as we hap- 

 pen to know. Mr. Bingham and others who 

 have, winter after winter, successfully car- 

 ried their bees through upon frames not 

 deeper than i^.^ inches and two feet long, 

 will testify that these shallow hives sitting 

 beside those of deep frames have wintered 

 their colonies best. We have experienced 

 the same thing in our yards. We would 

 agree with Mr. Abbott in regard to the bees 

 undertaking to get honey out of the outside 

 combs of ten frame hives because their hives 

 are wider than the diameter of the cluster, 

 ten combs being too many and the bees can- 

 not string out after the outside honey, across 

 the frames, in many spells of cold weather 

 experienced in this latitude. When we used 

 the ten frame hives we had colonies starve in 

 them, with all of ten pounds of honey in the 

 outside frames, but Mr. Abbott's theory that 

 the bees will not move after their honey 

 Icngfhnnsc of the frames is not correct. 

 They do so move, and move in a body, they 

 do it readily and safely in the coldest weath- 

 er. Mr. Abbott says the heat of the colony 

 doesn't circulate sidewise, but always up- 

 wards. In shallow hives where the cluster is 

 close to the top, when the warm air reaches 

 the top and can't get out, where does Mr. 

 Abbott imagine it goes to V If it stopped 

 right there among the bees .or very close to 

 them that would be one good reason for using 

 shallow frames, but it dosen't, it glances 

 sidewise and consequently goes all about the 

 honey. But even if Mr. Abbott's theories 

 were correct then there would be no necessity 

 for going back to the miserable old deep 

 frames. Those using eight frame Langstroth 

 hives would only need to lift up the back end 

 to an angle of 15 degrees or more or they 

 could stand it up on end if they wished, and 

 they would then have a tall, narrow hive 

 most perfectly fitted to Mr. Abbott's mis- 

 taken theories. Only he who tells us how to 

 prevent bee diarrhcea will aid us by writing 

 upon the winter problem. We can remem- 



ber when more than half and possibly more 

 than three-fourths of all the bees in Mr. Ab- 

 bott's State ( Missouri) were swept away in a 

 single winter by this intestinal derange- 

 ment, which Mr. Abbott doesn't mention at 

 all." 



Causes and Treatment of Bee • Paralysis. 



It is evident that unless some practical 

 remedy for bee paralysis is discovered it will 

 soon make sad havoc in the warmer portions 

 of the country, and before the beginning of 

 another season it is advisable that we secure 

 all of the informatian possible on the sub- 

 ject. As a summing up of what is known in 

 regard to its cause and treatment I have seen 

 nothing better than the following from the 

 pen of Adrian Getaz, of Tenn., and pub- 

 lished in a late issue of the American Bee 

 Journal. 



" Before beginning our next campaign in 

 bee-keeping, let us take a good, full look at 

 our enemy, the now famous bee paralysis. 



As to a description of the disease, I shall 

 refer to my two contributions on the subject 

 in the American Bee Journal, in 1894, and 

 also to an excellent article written by a cor- 

 respondent who signed himself 'Novice.' 

 Also to the description given by Cheshire, in 

 his books, and if Gleanings and the Review 

 are at hand, the articles they have published 

 on the subject, especially those written by 

 Messrs. Ford and Dayton. 



That the disease is produced by a bacillus, 

 as described by Cheshire, is now almost in- 

 contestible, and can be safely admitted. 

 That it is exceedingly contagious is also cer- 

 tain, but how it is transmitted from one bee 

 to another is the first point to investigate. 



In foul brood, the bacillus multiplies ex- 

 ceedingly rapidly, and when the brood is 

 dead, and the nutriment thereby exhausted, 

 turns into spores by the millions. These 

 spores escajie, and are carried all over the 

 hives by the bees themselves, as the spores 

 may stick to their bodies by the honey when- 

 ever any spores happen to be deposited on 

 it, and perhaps also by the wind, as the spores 

 are so light that they fioat freely in the air, 

 until they come in contact with something 

 or other to which they adhere. 



Among tlm human diseases, none is com- 

 municated directly by contact. In case of 

 consumption, fjome of the l>acilli produced 

 in the diseased lungs are thrown out by 

 coughing with the matter expectorated, 

 transformed into spores, and escape, and are 

 carried by thti air into somebody else's lungs, 

 where they develop. With the fevers, the 

 bacilli are found also in the dejections of the 

 patient, wIu'k^ they develop into spores as 

 these dejections dry, and from there either 

 float into tfn air, or are carried by the water, 

 and eventually find their way into somebody 

 else's digestive apparatus, where they multi- 

 ply and develop again another case of fever. 



The bacillus producing the silkworm dis- 

 ease has already been referred to in my for 



