176 



EaKings in bee culture. 



Oct. 1. 



prefer) find a lodgment with a hive crowded 

 close together, if you want to see bees die and 

 the apiarist get the blues. 



The disease which friend D. encountered, 

 and which I have met in Indiana. Texas, and 

 badly in California, is, in my judgment— 



1. Of bacillic origin. 



2. Contagious. 



3. Does notattaclc the young bees before they 

 emerge from the cell. 



4. Rarely if ever attacks bees after they have 

 been in the fields for a week or ten days. 



.5. Primarily attacks the nurse-bees in the 

 second week after hatching, and is communi- 

 cated by them to the young tield-bees, to young- 

 er nurse-bees, to the drones, and. lastly, to the 

 queen, in the order above mentioned. The 

 queen and drones generally escape the malady, 

 and the old field-bees always escape. When 

 the queen dies tlie bees will rear another, some,- 

 times two or three from the eggs or larvie in 

 the hive. The symptoms are: 



1. Lassitude. 



3. Enfeebled power of motion. 



3. Inability or unwillingness to sting.* 



4. Paralysis — first, hind legs; second, of wings 

 and abdominal muscles; third, of the second 

 pair of legs, death being simultaneous with the 

 complete paralysis of forelegs and antennae. 

 Paralysis of the muscles used to work the sting 

 is, I think, the reason they can not be made to 

 sting. Dissection shows the alimentary canal 

 to be loaded with thick but not dry feculent 

 matter, revealing that either paralysis or con- 

 stipation had occurred at the outset of the dis- 

 ease. 



A bee afflicted as above described rarely lives 

 for two days, frequently dying in a few hours. 

 I have seen them fall by the wayside after get- 

 ting a load in the field. Others would reach 

 the alighting-board with their pollen-baskets 

 full, and be unable to enter, and thus die, as it 

 were, on the doorstep. The odor emanating 

 from bees dead with this disease is almost 

 identical with that from the dissecting-room of 

 a medical college. Bees with this malady do 

 not become bald or hairless, nor have the trem- 

 bling motion. This disease never attacks 

 queenless or broodless colonies. Next in order 

 of escape are those with very little bi'ood, and 

 therefore few bees under 30 days old. 



In my apiary of 130 colonies last spring, 125 

 liad the disease; .5 were queenless, and so es- 

 caped; 3 other queenless stocks to which I had 

 given brood escaped until the young bees were 

 about ten days old. Stocks that were prepar- 

 ing to swarm lost fully two-thirds of their bees 

 in two or three weeks. It was interestins to 

 watch these colonies two or three weeks after 

 the appearance of the malady, and see that 

 three-fourths of the field-bees were old, gray, 

 and bald-headed fellows. 



The malady lasted for about two months 

 from its first appearance until it was of no ap- 

 preciable consequence, although it was over 

 three months before it took its final leave. I 

 lost only two colonies, but it effectually pre- 

 vented swarming. It is the best non-swarming 

 device of any; but don't try it if you can help 

 yourself. 



I have no doubt but that the real cause is of 

 microbic origin, assisted by cold and damp, 

 especially damp chilling winds; therefore give 

 good protection, especially in the spring. The 

 malady showed itself in my apiary this spring 

 in two days after a cold northwest wind that 

 kept the bees at home for most of two days; but 

 it had made its appearance in Mr. Cheadle's 



*I liave never been able to induce a bee so afflict- 

 ed to attempt to sting- \iy iiincliing, rolling- between 

 my thumb and finger, or taking- a few in my hand 

 and gently squeezing- them. 



apiary, only about a mile distant, some time 

 before, but also aft(U' a cold chilly wind. I 

 think the bacillus was present; and when the 

 cold winds came, the bees, in trying to protect 

 the brood, gorged themselves with honey and 

 pollen to increase the heat, and did not gather 

 in a compact cluster as broodless stock would 

 do, and so were chilled and enfeebled, and thus 

 furnished a fruitful field for the propagation of 

 the bacteria. That it is not caused by cold 

 alone is proven by its not appearing every 

 spring after cold spells when the bees are in 

 like condition as to brood. That they have 

 consumed much pollen is demonstrated by the 

 composition of the contents of their intestinal 

 tube. 



When you see a few bees moving sluggishly 

 over the alighting-board, or lying as if they 

 were sunning themselves, and, when disturbed, 

 move their hind legs with difficulty, take a few 

 of them between your fingers and thumb, and, 

 if they will not attempt to sting, be sure you 

 have a colony that is afflicted with a very grave 

 malady. Bees thus afflicted do not curl up like 

 those that have been stung, although a bee 

 that has received the barbed javelin of his en- 

 emy never tries to sting, but uses his strength 

 to get away from the swarm to die. 



I fancy the disease above spoken of is produc- 

 ed in the bees by a cause somewhat similar to 

 that which produces the grip in tlie " human 

 insect," and would therefore suggest Apis la 

 grippe as a name, although Apis paralyUcns 

 would be more appropriate. 



Perhaps spirits of turpentine, rubbed up with 

 sugar, one part to 10, or mixed with honey, one 

 part to 30 or 40, will be found of value; but re- 

 member that any remedy for a disease that 

 often eventuates in recovery may be overesti- 

 mated. Remember, too, that a bee that is once 

 afflicted with this malady never recovers, al- 

 though the colony generally survives it. 



Los Berros, Cal., Sept. 11. E. S. Akwine. 



ARE WE DRIFTING FROM OUR MOORINGS? 



FEAV OK MANY COLONIES— WHICH ? 



Under the above heading, in the last issue of 

 Gleaxin(;s I spoke of what seemed to me to be 

 a mistake that was creeping in among the 

 br(>thren of to-day in regard to •' handling hives 

 instead of frames,"' and spoke of the matter 

 along the line of the necessary change in hives 

 which must be brougiit about, according to the 

 notions of those advocating this theory of 

 handling hives to accomplisli the looked-for 

 results. In this I will speak of the bearing 

 "the field " will have in this matter; for if the 

 liandling of hives instead of frames means any 

 thing, it means that the apiarist is to gain time 

 in this handling of hives, so that he can keep 

 more colonies of bees, and thus secure a larger 

 crop of honey from this increased number of 

 bees than he did before with a less numl^er and 

 more time spent in the manipulation of frames. 

 In this matter of increasing the number of col- 

 onies, the field, or location, plays a very impor- 

 tant part; and it seems to me that here is an 

 item which those jjushiusi tliis matter of han- 

 dling hives have overlooked. It is well for all 

 of us to look any matter over carefully; and if 

 we are on the wrong track, get right. If any of 

 the readers think I am on the wrong track, I 

 wisli they would speak right otit; for liy a 

 friendly talk ovei- these matters we shall all be 

 benefited, and no retarded growth of Glean- 

 ings will result. 



After carefully looking the matter over I be- 

 lieve that there is one item, and that item is 

 the one hinted at above, which is great enough 



