PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE W T FALCONER MANFG CO 



VOL. VII. 



/V\f\Y, 1897. 



NO. 5. 



Paralysis and its Treatment. 



BY H. E. HILL. 



Regarding the cause of bee paralysis 

 there is a diversity of opinion even 

 among our most advanced apicultural 

 writers. Our experience inclines us 

 to the belief that as many ailments, 

 widely different in character though 

 in some respects similat, are thought 

 to be paralysis, hence the various 

 opinions as to its cause and treatment. 

 The symptoms of the type most prev- 

 alent are, old, worn out looking, trem- 

 bling, shiny bees, more or less, some 

 wholly devoid of the usual light col- 

 ored hair upon the throax and abdo- 

 men ; usually to be seen about the 

 entrance and dying in great numbers 

 upon the ground in front of the hive. 

 Generally a colony thus effected will 

 attack and eat quantities of larva of 

 about the sixth or eighth day and the 

 portions yet unconsumed may be seen 

 here and there in the brood nest. 

 With a prolific queen the colony may 

 exist in a weak condition for years, or 

 become so depopulated as to fall a 

 prey to the moth. Though others re- 

 port the periodical appearance and 

 disappearance of the disease without 

 treatment, in our experience if left 



to itself complete destruction is the 

 final outcome sooner or later. 



In a recent number of the Austral- 

 ian Bee Bulletin A. F. Burbank has 

 this to say regarding his experience 

 with the malady: "Bee paralysis must 

 be caused by bad honey. I had some 

 hives badly effected about two years 

 ago and I never got lid of the pest 

 until I extracted every drop of their 

 honey, and in some cases had to do it 

 twice. When the bees got new honey 

 they were all right." This was doubt- 

 less a case of poison honey — similar 

 to the instances frequensly reported 

 by bee keepers in localities where yel- 

 low jasmine affords honey in our own 

 country. 



Mr. O. 0. Poppleton, of Florida, 

 one of America's most thorough and 

 observing bee keepers, has for years 

 successfully treated paralysis with 

 sulphur. In reply to a request for a 

 brief statement of his method of 

 treatment Mr. Poppleton wrote as fol- 

 lows: " I choose a time when nearly 

 all bees are in hive, then dust sulphur 

 so as to have a little touch all or 

 nearly all the bees and the combs. I 

 take each frame out in its turn, then 

 throw a pinch of flour of sulphur over 

 all. Do the same in succession with 



