626 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. I, 



vines, or around the wine-press, millions of small brown gnats, 

 the same as you find around cider or vinegar barrels. We call 

 them "vinegar gnats." As soon as grapes are punctured or 

 cracked, these gnats appear. They lay eggs upon the pulp, 

 and within 24 or 48 hours the berry is full ofjittle grubs just 

 large enough to be seen with the eye. They hatch and repro- 

 duce so plentifully that in a few days they darken the air in 

 the vicinity. 



We are to-day making wine. The beams of our press- 

 house, above the press and the wine vats, are literally black 

 with these little gnats. Would it not be better if the bees 

 could take up all this juice, when the berries are damaged, 

 than to have a nuisance like these gnats hatched and reared 

 at the expense of the grape-grower ? 



But suppose neither bees nor gnats worked upon the fruit 

 after it is cracked, what then ? Within 48 hours the juice, 

 exposed to the air, has begun fermenting, the fermentation is 

 first alcoholic, then acetic, and you have sweet grape-juice, 

 wine, and vinegar all upon the same bunch. Tell me, what 

 are you going to do with that kind of mixture? Had it not 

 been better if the bees had taken all that threatened to spoil ? 



But here is another trouble, and the worst of all for the 

 apiarist. Those juices — grape-juice, apple-juice, etc. — are not 

 capable of being changed to honey. If the bee harvests them 

 in any quantity, so much the wors3 for her, for they will sour 

 on her stomach during the long nights of winter. Better, far 

 better for our bees, if we could keep them out of the wine- 

 growers' domain. Happily, there is honey to be gathered 

 usually, when the grapes ripen, and it is not more than one 

 year out of ten that the bees may be seen upon the damaged 

 grapes. But it is at least evident that the grape-grower and 

 the bee-keeper are brothers, that their interests are identical, 

 and it is to be regretted that they do not always see it in that 

 light. Hamilton, 111. 



Is it Bee-Paralysis? — Description of that 

 Disease. 



BY ADRIAN GETAZ. 



On page 518, P. S. H. asks what is the cause of some 

 dead brood, observed in some of his colonies. 



I would like to know whether P. H. S.'s bees are affected 

 with bee-paralysis or not. As the American Bee Journal 

 readers know, the disease exists in my locality and in my api- 

 aries; I have several times seen some brood thrown out of the 

 hives for which I could not accouut, and I strongly suspect 

 that it was caused by that disease. Similar cases have been 

 reported several times and described almost exactly like the 

 one reported by P. H. S. The most general and most exten- 

 sive were observed in California some three or four years ago. 

 As tee-paralysis was also present, some attributed it to that 

 disease, others to starvation of the brood, and a few went as 

 far as saying that both bee-paralysis and the observed dead 

 brood were due to starvation, but no scientific investigation 

 was made, so the matter remained unsettled. 



Bee-paralysis is more apparent in the early spring than at 

 any other time of the year. All, or nearly all, the bees of the 

 affected colonies are almost completely hairless, and look as if 

 they had been polished. They are also more or less stiff, and 

 move as if they were partially paralyzed. If the colony is not 

 too far gone, they succeed in rearing enough brood to take 

 their place. 



As the season advances, the comparatively healthy young 

 bees become old enough and numerous enough to take the 

 lead in the management of the colony, and eventually they 

 throw out all the old, diseased bees. During the operation, 

 the appearances are almost like a case of robbing. After that 

 the colony seems to have recovered, or almost so. But sooner 

 or later it reappears, but in a different way. The first symp- 



toms are a peculiar twitching and twisting of the body and 

 wings. As the diseased bees grow older, this twisting de- 

 creases and is replaced by an increasing stiffness, and finally 

 by the hairless stage of the disease. During the honey season 

 this last stage is rarely reached, partly on account of the 

 natural causes which shorten the life of bees ; partly because 

 the decidedly sick bees are expelled by the comparatively 

 healthy ones. 



Toward the fall less young brood is reared to take the 

 place of the old bees, and the disease increases, more hairless 

 bees are seen, and, finally, after they have wintered over and 

 lived some six months or more, they all have reached the 

 hairless and last stage of the disease. 



The above refers to what might be called moderate cases 

 of the disease. In extreme cases hairless bees can be seen 

 during the whole year ; young bees only a few days old already 

 show signs of the disease, and fail to expel the older ones. The 

 whole colony appears listless and inactive, and sometimes 

 hangs outside of the hive instead of working, just about like 

 a colony ready to swarm. 



In the above I spoke of bees comparatively healthy. The 

 fact is, that bee-paralysis is a slow developing di.-iease, and it 

 Is probable that a part of these young bees, if not all, are 

 already affected, but not enough yet to show it. I am now 

 fully satisfied that the disease is not only contagious, but also 

 inherited from the queen, and I do not see any reason what- 

 ever why the brood should not contract the disease. If no 

 brood, or but very little, dies, it is because the disease does 

 not develop itself fast enough to kill them before they reach 

 the winged state, at least in the majority of cases. 



Some say that bees affected with bee-paralysis are swollen 

 and show more or less the symptoms of dysentery. Others 

 say that they are shriveled. Both are correct. In the spring, 

 or after a few days of confinement, they look as if they had 

 the dysentery, but when flying freely they do not. Those 

 crawling on the ground after being expelled, always look 

 shriveled, and eventually die of starvation. 



Knoxvllle, Tenn. 



Poisonous Mountain Laurel Honey in Mexico. 



BY DR. W. M. 8TBLL. 



After reading the articles in the American Bee Journal 

 about mountain laurel, I decided to make an experiment for 

 my own satisfaction, and seeing a great n^any goats here eat- 

 ing the leaves of this plant, a thought struck me about its 

 poisonous effects on goats' milk, for this is the recourse that 

 we have for obtaining milk here, as the mountains are so high 

 and broken that it is impossible to have cows. 



Now, the great question : Is the honey poisonous that the 

 bees gather from laurel ? and is the milk poisonous from goats 

 that feed on laurel ? 



After watching the goats nibbling so ravenously on this 

 bush, I asked the herder if he did not know that this plant 

 was poisonous. He said no, to the contrary, that they often 

 drove the goats to them, and besides that it was a great med- 

 ical plant — for nervous headache they would bruise a leaf 

 and bind it to the temples; for all kinds of ulcerating sores 

 they would treat likewise. I asked if he ever took any in- 

 wardly, and he said that he had, but it produced pain and 

 vomiting, also stated that burros and mules would not eat it. 



I, at once, gathered some flowers and leaves to perform 

 an experiment upon the hooey-bee, as the opinion seemed to 

 differ very much in regard to the poisonous honey. In read- 

 ing those articles I failed to see any direct experiment per- 

 formed by the writers to prove that honey is or is not poison- 

 ous when gathered from mountain laurel, though some stated 

 that the hills were covered with this plant, and they never 



