8S8 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



hereafter. If the disease is infectious, at least 

 one-third of my colonies will get it, through the 

 agency of the robbers, who are now plundering 

 the diseased colony not transferred. I have 

 come to the same conclusion reached by you — 

 that bie paralysis is an affection resulting from 

 some intiiraity in the queen, or some hereditary 

 disease. Is it possible that it may result from 

 breeding from the same stocl<: for a long time? 

 When I began to Italianize my apiary I resolv- 

 ed to buy my queens from as many breeders as 

 I could conveniently, for ihe express purpose of 

 securing ultimately the strongest vitality in ray 

 new Slock by the admixture of many strains. I 

 do not know whether there is any thing in the 

 notion or not. 



1 believe the disease is not contagious or in- 

 fectious, and that it does not result from the 

 food the bees take. If I am mistakiii on these 

 points I shall probably lose most of my bees. I 

 would have removed the diseased colonies, but 

 I thought that the infection, if there was any. 

 would be carried by the stray bees that would 

 seek refuge in other colonies, their hive being 

 removed. T. S. Fokd. 



Columbia, Miss., Nov. 5. 



[We have never discovered that the disease is 

 contagious. It seems to be wholly hereditary, 

 and. so far as we can remember, we have put 

 healthy colonies into hives formerly occupied 

 by bees afJected with bee-paralysis, with no 

 subsequent bad results on the healthy bees. 

 However, it is possible that, in aggravated 

 caS' s. !-uch hives might transmit the disease, 

 and we hope our correspondent will keep us in- 

 formed as.to the result. We suggest, as a last 

 resort, that he remove the queen and introduce 

 a healthy one. If the trouble is wholly heredi- 

 tary, this ought to cure the trouble ; at least it 

 has done so in our own yards so far. 



Since writing the above, the following has 

 come to hand, giving the other side of the salt- 

 cure question.] 



THE SALT KEMEDY A SUCCESS. 



Friend RqcA: — Permit me to give my experi- 

 ence a-5 to what is supposed to be paralysis, as 

 stated in (Jleanings, page 817. I think it was 

 in the spring of 1889 that the disease first made 

 its appearance in my apiary, when I commenc- 

 ed to Italianize. T gave a statement through 

 Gleanings, page 845, 18U1, as to the salt cure, 

 which I then was fully persuaded was an ef- 

 ectual cure for the disease called bee paralysis. 

 I have continued to make use of a strong so- 

 lution of salt water ever since, by the use of a 

 toy squirt-gun, once a week during the season, 

 from spring till tall, through the entrance, all 

 over the bottom- boards, and no one could possi- 

 bly have had more healthy and beautiful leather- 

 colored bees than I had when the spring of 1892 

 appeared: and as the weather continued wet 

 and cold I decided to abandon the salt cure, and. 

 up to about the middle of May, not a bee that 

 I could see showed any signs of the so-called 

 paralysis, while others around this section had 

 nolici^d their bees somewhat affected. On Sun- 

 day morning, about May 15, at 8 o'clock I notic- 

 ed a wonderful commotion among the bees. 

 Tiiousands upon thousands scrambled from the 

 hives, and, after a few jumps up and down, 

 would be dead, and they seemed to be about a 

 half larger than their usual size. The sight 

 was so horrifying tome that I hastened to the 

 hous(^ to tell my good wife that all of our 

 bees were dying and that I was real sick at 

 heart, and didn't know what was the cause nor 

 what to do. I just felt like sending for the 

 physican, not for the bees, but for myself; but 

 just at this conclusion my wife had come in and 

 said. " Let us try to do something to save some 

 of them." She proposed to make some salt 



water and sprinkle the bees. " Good!" said I; 

 and we hastily warmed three gallons of water 

 with one teacupful of salt (chloride of sodium) 

 added thereto. Stripping the oilcloth fi'om the 

 hives, with dusting-brushes we thoroughly wet 

 combs, bees, and all, while the bees continued 

 to pass out and die. However, as soon as the 

 water began to drop tlu'ongh on the bottom- 

 boards we noticed hundreds of bees eagerly 

 sipping: and in one hour's time but compara- 

 tively few bees were passing out. I said to my 

 wife that I didn't believe there were any more 

 bees to come out; but on examining we found to 

 our surprise a fair showing of bees and lots of 

 brood in all stages down to eggs, and not a 

 queen. I am fully satisfied that, if the dead 

 bees had been gatliered up, a half-bushel would 

 not have held them. I know this may look 

 fishy, but such are facts. In three days another 

 sprinkling was given in a lighter form, as here 

 and there a bee was seen to drop: and we con- 

 tinued the remedy as stated, and to-day luy 

 bees are bright and beautiful, and no visible 

 symptoms can be noticed that paralysis ever 

 existed, if paralysis it was. Who can tell? 

 There was no time but that brood, capped and 

 uncapped, together with combs, all had a clean 

 and bright appearance, and no offensive odor 

 that I could ever discover. 



I want to state further, that bees both old 

 and young seemed to be affected alike. Now, 

 did the salt water check the disease or did*it 

 not? I jnost emphatically answer yes, in its 

 broadest sense. One of my brother bee-men 

 stated to me one day last week that he could 

 not see that it was of much benefit to his bees; 

 but such seems to be the evidence about the 

 cure of foul brood; so I am a firm believer in 

 the efficacy of the salt cure. J. A. Golden. 



Reinersville. O., Nov. 8. 



PRIOR RIGHTS TO A LOCATION. 



DR. C. C. MILLEK continues HIS CASE. 



" Of course there is no law whereby the bee- 

 keeper first in the field could secure the privi- 

 lege of that field all to himself. The only thing 

 he could do (and that is out of the question) 

 would be to buy up, say, five thousand acres 

 and allow no other bee-keeper to occupy that 

 land. He then has a proprietary right to the 

 whole field." That's what you say, Mr. Editor, 

 on page 802. I doubt whether any one will 

 raise any question as to the correctness of your 

 position. Taking it as standing-ground, let us 

 see if any thing can be built upon it. 



If I am not mistaken there are places in Cali- 

 fornia, or. at least, were in earlier days, with 

 plentiful pasturage for bees, but worthless for 

 other purposes. At any rate, it is not very dif- 

 ficult to imagine such a place. Now, suppose a 

 person should buy a tract of .5000 acres of such 

 land from the government, no one would dispute 

 his perpetual right to occupy it exclusively for 

 bees, at least so far as to locate colonies upon it. 

 But, as you hint, he could not afford the price 

 asked fcir it. He could say to the government, 

 '• It is absurd for you to ask me ••?1.25 an acre 

 for such land, for it is utterly worthless for 

 any purpose except bee-pasturage. No one 

 will buy it for any other purpose; and if you 

 hold it at such a high figure it will be occupied 

 by tjeekeeping -squatters, quarreling among 

 themselves as to possession. Better sell it to me 

 at 5 cts. an acie than to get nothing for it.'' 

 And if government is sensible it would reply, 

 "All right. As there seems to be no possible 

 chance that it will ever be good for any thing 

 else, we may as well have $2.50 for it as to give 

 it away, as we are now doing." 



