AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. ' 599 



procured mine, did not recover. Upon close examination I found two colonies 

 among the 20 in the apiary, which had abandoned honey, and neither showed any 

 sign of the disease. Thus I have wondered if this disease were not owing to a sort 

 of partial starvation. If bees have not sufficient stores to properly feed and breed, 

 we can readily see that many immature bees might fail to develop. I am inclined 

 to bejieve that our recent trouble came wholly from this condition. We have never 

 heard of any such disease in Sunny Italy, or previously in our own country. We 

 have rarely had such an utter honey-dearth in Southern California. In many api- 

 aries, those well-cared-for, when stores are abundant, there has been no show of 

 the disease. All of these facts, together with my own observations and experiments, 

 lead me to conclude that scant stores, too meager nourishment, and, consequently. 

 Imperfect nutrition, caused the mortality so much commented upon the past few 

 weeks. The obvious suggestions are, more care and attention, more honey left in 

 the hives at the close of the season, and careful attention, and, if necessary, feeding 

 in such years of honey-dearth as the present has been. 



Bee-Paralysis. — This is also called the "nameless bee-disease," and has at- 

 tracted much attention the last few years, not only in California, but in several 

 States. In this disease the imago, or immature bees, are the ones that die. The 

 dead or enfeebled bees are carried by other bees outside, and thus the ground in 

 front of the hives has constantly a mound of dead bees. Usually the colony does 

 not wholly succumb, but it is so weakened that it produced little or no honey. 

 Generally the colony recovers after a time, usually after the bees have replaced the 

 queen with a young one. This disease has worked considerable havoc in some parts 

 of this State the present season ; I think in some cases the loss has been as much 

 from the "new bee-disease," already described, as from the "bee-paralysis." 



I am much inclined to the opinion that partial starvation may cause weak 

 mature bees as well as enfeebled larvse, and so it is quite possible that, in some 

 cases, the " nameless bee-disease " may have been credited with harm due to insuffi- 

 cient stores. From my own observation, and from what I can learn from others, I 

 think this last disease comes from some constitutional weakness of the queen, which 

 shows itself in debility of her progeny, the worker-bees. I have known, in several 

 cases, the disease to soon disappear after the queen was superseded ; and in other 

 cases, where the bees replaced their queen with a young, healthy one, the disease 

 soon vanished. It is quite possible that those who claim to have cured the evil by 

 some treatment, as giving the bees salt, or salt water, gave their treatment just 

 after the bees had superseded their queen. Others who were unsuccessful with the 

 same remedies, were less fortunate in the date of application. The best advice 

 which can be given, in case the old bees die off too rapidly, is to see that the bees 

 have abundance of food, and in case that fails to bring relief, try re-queening of all 



affected colonies. 



(Concluded next week.) 



VARIOUS NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



" Smelly" Cistern. — I have to thank more than one of the friends for suggest- 

 ing that a " smelly " cistern may be cured by putting in a bucket pump. It seems 

 that when the water is allowed to stand still for a long time it sort o' decays, and 

 the backet pump stirs it up. I wonder how much stirring up some lazy people 

 would need, to keep them from having dry rot. 



