828 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1. 



THE NEW BEE -DISEASE OF CALIFORNIA. 



starvation, and the difference between 



"well-sui'plied" and "'constantly 



fed" colonies. 



By C. W. Dayton. 



I have watched, since early spring, 2.50 or 

 more colonies having this disease, and, like 

 others, I find it in sopie well-supplied colonies, 

 but I do not find it to continue in constantly 

 fed colonies. It was understood that Prof. Cook's 

 cure was by constant feeding, so that the bees 

 would be carrying honey about the hive every 

 day; but where colonies are fed ten pounds 

 to-day, and then no more for ten days or more, 

 in six hours the feed will be deposited in the 

 cells; and some colonies seem to be so miserly 

 as not to remove it, even to save brood from 

 starvation; or else such a method of feeding 

 fails to cure them of their disheartened condi- 

 tion. But it seems to me possible to bring on a 

 second attack, as hereafter suggested. 



It is my opinion, that the larvaj do not always 

 die because there is 7io honey to feed with, but 

 because the bees neglect to feed it. They ap- 

 pear to be lazy or disheartened. It is plainly 

 apparent, that, after a larva dies, the cell is not 

 cleaned as it should be; but the dead larva 

 dries down and remains in the cell, and, possi- 

 bly, is the cause of the death of the next larva 

 reared in that particular cell. It is noticeable 

 that the larvae live while there is plenty of 

 food In the cell, but die about the time the food 

 is exhausted— causing them to straighten out 

 a little prematurely. In industrious colonies it 

 disappeared when a flow of honey came; but in 

 others, which were averse to storing honey 

 under any circumstances, the disease existed in 

 full force throughout the season. The ex- 

 change of brood-combs, with the industrious 

 and the less industrious colonies, did not spread 

 the disease. In giving a diseased (and at the 

 same time a scantily fed or supplied) colony a 

 new comb, in the first filling with brood many 

 dead larviB appeared. Then in feeding suffi- 

 ciently to produce new combs, no dead brood 

 appeared in the new comb, although it was 

 situated between two old combs which contain- 

 ed a dead and rotten mass. There appeared to 

 be this difference in the fed and unfed and new 

 and old comb, and at difl'erent times. 



Again, several queens of industrious colonies 

 were exchanged for queens of the most diseased 

 colonies; and now, after four months (time to 

 change the bees), the disease is transferred— the 

 diseased are now healthy, and the formerly 

 healthy have become diseased. In other years 

 I have known colonies to starve by the score; 

 but while only one colony starved outright this 

 season, T.') colonies lived ',I0 days with scarcely 

 six ounces of honey in any hive at any one time. 



BEE-PARALYSIS IN CALIFORNIA HEREDITARY 

 FROM THE QUEEN. 



Mr. McEvoy's advice, a short time ago, to 



keep honey uncapped as a cure for the disease, 

 accords with my observation and practice; but 

 I do not agree that starvation is also the cause 

 of paralysis. Neither do I think phenol a cure 

 for either disease. A neighbor having 104 col- 

 onies afillcted with the new disease tried phenol 

 in various ways, with no perceptible effect. I 

 assisted in the operation. By this I do not 

 mean that I visited his apiary and saw phenol 

 used once, but I was there from a half to a 

 whole day, for about 25 different times. It is 

 sometimes remarked of horses that they lack or 

 possess "horse sense;" likewise, I ascribe the 

 cause of this new disease to the bees lacking 

 bee sense. During all the season there have 

 been colonies which were strong in number of 

 bees, and in apparent good condition for storing 

 honey; and, though I opened their hives often, 

 they had not a pound of honey at any time, 

 while other colonies near by stored above 100 

 lbs. in 1-lb. sections. It was wondered that 

 they would swarm or rear queens at all, but 

 they did both. Queens reared by such colonies 

 invariably produced bees which tolerated the 

 disease. A set of 12 queens, reared by such a 

 colony by the Doolittle method, by the side 

 of 14 reared by an industrious colony, are a 

 shade darker in color. Some are perfect dupli- 

 cates of the five-banded mother, while the oth- 

 ers are exceedingly pale yellow, with a bluish 

 tinge. 



My neighbor has kept bees in California 25 

 years — 5 years with Harbison — and "canned 

 up" honey (as Californians put it) by the car- 

 load, and he tells me that, in some apiaries, 

 even in good years, he has seen from one- third 

 to one-half of the colonies of this sluggish, un- 

 available kind of bees. I have thought, that 

 often the large yields we hear of may have been 

 due to the accidental gathering-together of a 

 number of particularly good working colonies, 

 instead of locality or management; and if there 

 is such a vast difference in good seasons, how 

 much difference must there be in starvation 

 years like the present! 



Then, again, suppose an apiary should hap- 

 en to be all of such poor working bees. Such an 

 apiary would not be worth the time taken to 

 count the hives. As well accept a herd of 

 lame, blind, poor, and old horses while fodder 

 is ?25 per ton; and the prospective and inexperi- 

 enced apiarist buys them up and thinks he has 

 a bonanza. 



Several of Ifarbison's old assistants tell me 

 that paralysis existed here early in the '70"s, 

 and that their cure was to change the old queen 

 for a new one. 



Florence, Cal., Sept. 2.5. 



[Your explanation of the difference between 

 well-supplied and constantly fed colonies seems 

 to explain why starvation may not apparently 

 but in reality be the cause of this dead brood. 

 I hope it is the solution of the mystery, and 

 why Prof. Cook's experience should be different 

 from ours. With regard to bee-paralysis, I 



