OCTOBER 15, 1913 



723 



Here it is: Place the prepared hive ■^itli 

 the starters in the frames on top of the dis- 

 eased hive after removing- the top board 

 quietly, and puff considerable smoke in the 

 hive entrance of the diseased colony. At 

 the same time use a little hammer, and the 

 bees are so frightened that they make a 

 I'ush for the top of the hive without stop- 

 ping to gorge themselves with the infected 

 honey. After the first attack, I use less 

 smoke, but keep pretty busy with the ham- 

 mer. Within ten minutes every bee that 

 can crawl is in the upper hive. 



Remove the diseased hive to a' new stand 

 and place the driven colony on the old 

 stand; and after 24 hours give the bees 

 either full sheets of wired foundation or 

 empty combs, and the work is complete. If 

 there is sealed brood enough to warrant, 

 one should leave enough bees in the diseased 

 hive to keep the unhatched brood warm. At 

 the end of 21 days repeat the drive; and by 

 giving them a laying fiueen this second or 

 after-drive will build up into a good strong- 

 colony by fall. 



Under the treatment described above, the 

 cure has been perfect ; and from the seven 

 diseased colonies I now have ten good ones. 

 With this treatment, too, one does not ex- 

 pose any combs or honey to the robber ; has 

 no lifting, shaking, nor brushing of bees, 

 and it is quickly over. I regret the loss of 

 some honey and combs, but do not dread 

 American foul brood any more. 



Southport, Ind. 



CURING BEE PARALYSIS BY ALLOWING THE 

 COLONY TO REAR A NEW QUEEN 



The Suspension of Brood-rearing Brings About the 

 Cure 



BY X. L. STAPLETOX 



I was very much interested in P. C. Chad- 

 wick's account, May 15, page 331, of his 

 treatment of two paralytic colonies, and also 

 in B. L. Fisher's account of the trouble he 

 is having with his bees which I have just 

 noticed, June 1, page 387. In my opinion 

 there is no question but that Mr. Fisher's 

 trouble is paralysis, and I think I can give 

 Mr. Chadwick the secret of his success in 

 the treatment he gave his diseased colonies. 



I have never heard of any foul brood of 

 any kind in Georgia; but bee paralysis is a 

 constant source of trouble to all beekeepers 

 in this section. Four years ago I introduc- 

 ed the first modern hives and the first Ital- 

 ian .bees in this section of the State, and 

 now have 95 colonies, consisting of botli 

 three-band and golden Italians. But before 

 T started my apiary I used to notice among 



Test hive on scales. 



the farmers who used box hives, in practi- 

 cally evei'y beeyard one or more colonies 

 with a large number of dead bees in front, 

 and disabled bees crawling around on the 

 ground. The owner always explained that 

 the bees had been robbing this colony, or 

 that the web worms were killing it out. I 

 still see the same thing over the countrv% 

 and now know that the trouble is paralysis. 



Soon after I began keeping bees, two of 

 my strongest colonies developed this trou- 

 ble, one of them being a colony which I had 

 received by express together with a very 

 fine queen, and I have had more or less of it 

 in my yard every year until the present 

 time. I read every thing I could find on 

 the subject, and about all I found was sum- 

 med up in the advice to requeen. I also 

 wrote to J. J. Wilder, of Cordele, Ga., with 

 whom I had been in college some years be- 

 fore, but he gave me the same advice. By 

 experimenting I found that requeening 

 would usually remedy the trouble ; but twice 

 it did not do so, and I had to requeen the 

 second time in each of these cases in order 

 to effect a cure. Here I desire to note two 

 observations: The colonies affected have 

 nearly always been my strongest ones, usu- 

 ally containing expensive queens which I 

 hated to kill, and so far I have seen but two 

 colonies recover wnthout treatment; and 

 these two which will be refen-ed to had 

 what amounted to the same thing — a sus- 

 pension of brood-rearing. 



The second spring after I entered the bee 

 business I began experimenting, witli a 

 view to finding a simple treatment, and 



