1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



845 



without smoke, wliich was just the right thing 

 to keep us at a distance, and I could not enjoy 

 the pleasure of seeing the queen. Since I came 

 back the queens have mated, and I received 

 one here which is developing nicely, with very 

 nervous bees. Mr. D. has sold all his bees to 

 Mr. L.. who started with them to Egypt, and he 

 himself will leave the island, thus leaving no- 

 body to care for Cyprian queens or bar-frame 

 hives. He had a beautiful arrangement for 

 silkworm raising. The moths were actively 

 engaged laying eggs, while he had a nice white 

 funnel through which the eggs were dropping 

 into little sacks. Mr. D. pretends to have a 

 method of raising healthy insects, peculiar to 

 himself, and tries to beat the Fi'ench market. 

 He will not divulge his secret, but keeps it to 

 himself. He has dropped bee-keeping alto- 

 gether, as he does not believe in I'eturns from 

 this business. It certainly is a poor place for 

 honey: and as he coiild not depend upon queen 

 sales, from different causes, he has made up 

 his mind to give up bees which give no honey, 

 and the island altogether, as the climate has 

 ruined his health and the islanders his feelings. 

 He had given a man a few hives a year ago; 

 and when he invited me to take a look at them, 

 the superstitious Cypriote objected, fearing the 

 effect of the evil eye. After demonstrations, 

 dickerings, and threatenings the man at length 

 gave way, and we proceeded to the clay-cylin- 

 der apiary. P. H. Baldenspergkr. 

 Jaffa, Syria, Oct.. 1891. 



To he contmncd. 



BEE-PARALYSIS. 



MORE PROOF OF THE SALT CURE. 



Editor Olednings: — In a recent issue of your 

 journal you request those having had experi- 

 ence with the new bee-disease, and the use of 

 salt as a remedy for it. to report their siiccess. 

 In '89 we had two colonies affected. We chang- 

 ed queens, which seemed for a time to mend 

 matters; but in the spring of 1890 these same 

 two. and five other stocks, were badly diseased. 

 Not knowing what to do we left them alone. 

 Having young and prolific queens they manag- 

 ed to exist through tiie summer and winter fol- 

 lowing; but when spring opened again, and the 

 bees could fly out, we found 24 colonies very 

 sick. Theiralighting-boards were covered with 

 dead and dying bees. They were black and 

 shiny and trembling, seeming to sitffer very 

 much. We felt nou' that something had to be 

 done or we should have to give up the business; 

 so we concluded to ti'y the salt citre, recom- 

 mended by the editor of the Ameriatn Apicul- 

 tw'ist. We promptly mixed enough in the right 

 proportion to doctor the whole 34 stocks. I used 

 it twice in three or four hives worst affected. It 

 was not moi'e than two days afterward when we 

 noticed a chang(\ and In a week they were ap- 

 parently well — building up remarkably strong, 

 and remaining healthy all summer. Half of 

 our apiary was not affected, to our knowledge. 

 These we moved out of their hives into hives 

 washed with salt water; and in this way we 

 prepared hives for n(>w swarms. It is a simple 

 remedy, yet not to be despised. We must not re- 

 ject the small things of the earth. I know very 

 little of the science of the disease ; but I do 

 know that, unless something had helped, oui' 

 harvest of honey would have been far worse 

 than it has been this year; and I do hope that 

 this simple remedy may be as effectual else- 

 where and hereafter vvith us, if we should ever 

 have such an awful death-rate among our bees 

 again. Mrs. Milton Coxe. 



Kansas City, Mo.. Oct. 12. 



[You have given valuable testimony. Come 

 to think of it, we haven't had a case of bee- 

 paralysis in our home yard since we have kept 

 down the grass at the entrances of the hives 

 with salt. At our out-yard, where we used no 

 salt at the entrances, we had two cases of bee- 

 paralysis. These facts are significant.] 



BEE-PARALYSIS ; SALT CURE SURE AND EF- 

 FECTIVE. 



I notice in Oct. 15th Gleanings several items 

 referring to the sodium remedy as a cure for 

 bee-paralysis: and from observation and vari- 

 ous reports from diffenmt sections I see that 

 this disease is becoming general, and, if not 

 checked, may eVentually become fatal, similar 

 to foul brood. Some three years ago this fall I 

 got a queen from you, and the following season 

 her progeny were, as nearly as I could judge, 

 black, shiny, and, as I thought, the most pecu- 

 liarly marked bees that I ever saw; and not 

 having had any experience with what was then 

 called the nameless disease I began to mistrust, 

 from what I had read in the different journals, 

 that I had in my apiary the above disease, or a 

 new strain of bees, and at once I sent you a few 

 of the bees, and requested your judgment as to 

 what kind they were. I gave a full statement 

 as to the bees. Perhaps E. R. may remember 

 the above, as I believe you were on your Cali- 

 foi'uia trip at the time. However, I received a 

 report stating that the bees i-esemhlcd bees that 

 had the above disease; also that they indicated 

 robber bees; also referring me to the sodium 

 (salt) as a cure. I at once prepared some and 

 sprayed these bees, and all other colonies that I 

 had, once a week, with moderately strong salt 

 brine. The following season I had none of those 

 shiny, hairless, varnished bees. I continued 

 the salt spraying once a week during the early 

 spring till October, and I am ready to challenge 

 all beedom to show up more hearty, bright, 

 and beautiful bees, both imported and Ameri- 

 can stock; and from my experience along this 

 line I would advise all apiarists to use the salt 

 spraying once a week, and the bee-paralysis 

 will be known only in the past. J. A. Golden. 



Reinersville. O., Oct. 20. 



[We do not remember, friend G., the circum- 

 stance of writing to you, but we presume we 

 did. As to the salt remedy, you must have got 

 this from some other source, because at that 

 time we did not know of its use for this disease. 

 Now we have plenty of testimony to the effect 

 that salt is an effectual cure. Are there any 

 who have tried it and found it to fail ? We do 

 not wish to take up very much more space, but 

 we wish to get the truth pro or con. The idea 

 of salt curing bee-paralysis, in the language of 

 the school girl, seems too ridiculous for any 

 thing; but if any one had told us that chloride 

 of sodium would be a sure cure, we should have 

 believed it at once.] E. R. 



A REAL LETTER FROM HELEN KELLER 

 HERSELF. 



SHE SENDS KIND WORDS TO UNCLE AMOS AND 

 TO THE HOME OF THE HONEY-BEES. 



TusfUMBiA. Alabama. Oct. 14, 1891. 



My Dear Mr. Root: 



I hope you will excuse me for not answering 

 your kind letters before, and I think you will, 

 when I tell you that I have a great many let- 

 ters to write during school-time, and my friends 

 do not like to have me write in vacation; for 

 you see I can not help getting tired sometimes. 

 But I was very glad indeed to get your letters, 

 and very grateful for the money that you sent 



