May 9, 1907 



397 



Anu^rican liee Journal 



know whether it is catching or not, but I 

 would have one hive affected here, and 

 another over there, and they would die. 



A Member — I would like to call your 

 attention to the fact that Mr. Jones has 

 said that he sprinkled sulphur, and that 

 he killed the bees. Is it not possible 

 you killed the bees that would have 

 died any way? 



Mr. Jones — I don't know. After that 

 the dying ceased, and the next spring 

 the disease did not show up on those 

 colonies. 



Mr. Anderson — I believe my bees had 

 that disease in Utah as well as any- 

 where else. At one time I went into 

 my apiary with a Southern bee-keeper 

 of much experience, and we noticed in 

 the front of a colony dead bees strung 

 out for some distance. He said: "What 

 is the matter?" We found 3 colonies in 

 an apiary of over 100 in just that con- 

 dition. He said ; "I wish you would 

 go right to town and see if anyone is 

 spraying trees, and ascertain what it 

 is with." I did so, and I did not find 

 anyone spraying. I said, "I am going 

 to get right on a horse and go to see 

 Mr. R., who is our county inspector." 

 He said, "It is simply a revolution go- 

 ing on, and when they get that conflict 

 finished they will be all right." I went 

 home and inspected my bees, and was 

 convinced that there was a fight on. 

 This may be a mistake, but I have never 

 seen anything like it since. 



Pres. Dadant — I think it will be neces- 

 sary for me to say that this is out of 

 the question. They are not fighting, 

 the other bees are carrying them off. 

 This has nothing to do with bee-par- 

 alysis, or "May Disease," as the Euro- 

 peans call it, and I would like to hear 

 more about it. 



Mr. Stone — Is it not a settled fact 

 that medical men can not cure paraly- 

 sis? The reason I say this is that if it 

 can not be cured, why try to cure the 

 disease, but just prevent the spread of 

 it? I know a case where there was a 

 doctor who had a daughter that was 

 paralyzed ; he went to an osteopathist 

 and said, "I have a daughter in the 

 same condition that I lost one two 

 years ago; you can cure her." And the 

 osteopathist did cure here. 



Pres. Dadant — Now, we are od the 

 subject again. We called up the sub- 

 ject of bee-paralysis. The gentleman 

 said it was not a nervous disease, but a 

 disease of the digestive organs, al- 

 though we call it bee-paralysis. 



Mr. Parsons — I have had a little ob- 

 servation along the line of paralysis 

 for more than 25 years, and a short 

 while ago I was looking over my jour- ■ 

 nal, and I found a great many instances 

 where colonies had been affected with 

 it. It appears in colony No. 4, and 

 the record stated that it was not 

 thought worth moving, and some 4 to 

 6 weeks later it cast a swarm ; it had 

 built up sufficiently to cast a swarm and 

 that swarm I found was entirely clear 

 of paralysis. I had such a case, and 

 kept that colony built up, and I had no 

 return of the disease during the next 

 season. It was our custom for a num- 

 ber of years, that when a colony was 

 affected with what we call paralysis, I 

 would take the hives otif and fumigate 



them with sul|)linr, put the combs in a 

 honey-house, disiribute the brood, some- 

 times among tla: other colonies, and I 

 would see no evil effects of it. But of 

 late years, when I see a colony affected 

 with it, I have lo be more barbarous, 

 so I simply ciirr it by fumigating the 

 bees; but it is 111, opinion that it is not 

 spread by an int Mchange of combs, and 

 I know that it iloes get well, and re- 

 mains well for OIK- season. I have had 

 in my yards, col inies affected with it 

 for 3 years, and they never would build 

 up so as to gather any surplus honey. 

 I have tried a good many treatments — 

 nearly everything that I read in the bee- 

 paper.s — but if I have ever found any- 

 thing that was good, I don't know of it. 



Pres. Dadant — Mr. France has called 

 our attention to the fact that bee-dis- 

 eases would be discussed Monday, and 

 I will now call for the next question. 



Dr. Bohrer — I want to make myself 

 better understood. It is definitely 

 known that there is a kind of paralysis 

 that comes from the digestive organs. 



Smoker-Fuel. 



■'Are dry rags and old bones good for 

 smoker- fuel?" 



Mr. Aten — I read in a paper that 

 some suggest old bones and dry rags 

 for fuel. 



Mr. Holekamp — I suggested dry 

 leaves. 



Moths and Pollenless Combs. 



"Will moth-worms destroy comb 

 where there is no pollen?" 



Mr. Hyde — I dropped that question 

 in. I thought I would like to hear 

 some of the bee - keepers talk on 

 It. I can give my experience in a few 

 words. Where there is no pollen there 

 will be no moth-worm. 



Dr. Phillips — I have seen it in comb 

 foundation. 



Mr. Victor — Combs with pollen are 

 much worse than combs without pol- 

 len. 



Wm. Atchley — I wish to differ from 

 Mr. Hyde very much, as I have had 

 them to eat up combs with no pollen 

 in them, and have had them to de- 

 stroy solid cakes of beeswax. 



Mr. Hyde — In that case, was there 

 not some comb near by, or did they 

 degenerate? 



Wm. Atchley— Why, I don't think 

 there was any empty comb there. 



Mr. Wurth — I have had the same 

 experience as Mr. Atchley, in regard 

 to destroying combs with no pollen in 

 them ; they will destroy them. 



Mr. Stone — My experience has been 

 like tlie one who asked the question. 

 I have never known the moth to be 

 in any of the extracting frames in 

 my honey-house, and I have always 

 attributed it to the fact that there was 

 no pollen in the fr.-.mes. 



Mr. France — As ;; partial explanation 

 of moth-worms jerking on wax, in 

 many places in our State, it is the 

 combs with apparently no pollen that 

 are rendered into wax; and when- that 

 wax is settled, you would be surprised 

 to see the amount of pollen in it. It 

 is the same way with foundation. More 

 or less pollen is in it. as in the wax. I 

 seldom see them in new combs. 



Mr. White- 1 want to give an ex- 

 perience I had last spring with the 

 worms. During our convention in 

 North Texas, we had a little discus- 

 sion about the moth-worm. Some asked 

 me to bring in a dry comb. As near as 

 I could tell it was clean, smooth, nice 

 comb, and after the convention was 

 over I just set it back in the corner 

 of the office, and it was left there for a 

 few weeks ; 1 did not move it, and 

 I thought one day that I would put it 

 away. The moth-worms had eaten it 

 up, while, according to my judgment, 

 there was no pollen in it ; if any was 

 there it was very little, and I thought 

 then that the particles had fallen out on 

 the floor. I had learned a lesson. I 

 believe worms will get into combs 

 where there is no pollen. 



Pres. Dadant — I wish to correct an 

 impression, which I consider is a mis- 

 take, given by Mr. France, that foun- 

 dation contain a great deal of pollen. 



Mr. France — You are mistaken : I 

 did not say that. 



Pres. Dadant — Did you not say that 

 melted wax contained pollen? 



Mr. France — I was speaking of old 

 wax. 



Mr. Jones — I have had a good deal 

 of experience with combs and moth- 

 worms. I have a honey-house that I 

 put away my combs in. and I some 

 way favor Mr. Hyde's idea. In put- 

 ting away those combs I was very 

 careful that no pollen whatever got 

 in, but I can not say absolutely that 

 it did not get in there. I have noticed 

 that if there was a little brood they 

 are just as bad to commence on it, and 

 when I looked over my combs the moth- 

 worm had commenced there. 



Perfect Packages for Shipping Honey. 



"Is there a way to educate the bee- 

 keepers to use perfect packages for 

 shipping honey. 



Mr. Muth — It was I who put that 

 question in. The majority of bee-keep- 

 ers ship their honey to market in sec- 

 ond-hand molasses barrels, and second- 

 hand tin cans, and it is only those per- 

 fect packages from the West that come 

 through without loss. Imperfect pack- 

 ages make high rates on freight, and un- 

 pleasant business relations, and if they 

 can get down to new packages — if honey 

 is worth anything at all, it would be 

 a good idea to educate them a little on 

 this point. As it is now, most of the 

 small shippers ship their honey in a very 

 careless manner. The bee-papers could 

 do a whole lot more on that subject, but 

 they don't. 



Mr. Hyde — I thought that we bee- 

 keepers in Texas were doing pretty well 

 along that line the last few years. In 

 1902 and 1903 we had a good deal of 

 trouble in the packages for shipping — 

 a great deal of loss in the transit — and 

 all sized cans and packages that could 

 be thought of ; but we bee-keepers of 

 Texas saw that we needed some pack- 

 ages of the proper size, and not too 

 many of them, so at College Station in 

 our meeting this year, we passed upon 

 it that a certain sized package be used, 

 and we also recommended a heavier 

 case. We put this before the railroad 

 companies, and they accepted our speci- 



