JANUARY 15, 1916 71 



THAT WESTERN BEE -DISEASE; THE SULPHUR TREATMENT HELPFUL 



BY M. W. HARVEY 



[Mr. Harvey has in the neighborhood of 700 colonies of bees. He was the subject of an article by 

 Wesley Foster, April 1, 1914, in his series " Beemen I have Known." — Ed.] 



I had six cases of the new western bee 

 disease in one yai'd and one in another, the 

 yards being three miles apart. 



The rirst to show the disease was my ten- 

 dollar golden breeder and two of her 

 daughters. I treated them with sulphur, 

 and the trouble was cheeked. I continued 

 to treat them for two months with sulphur 

 every two days; and when settled warm 

 weather came it disapi3eared. They then 

 built up and made two su^jers of honey 

 around. 



The other queens were one leather Italian, 

 one black and two hybrid. So it seems that 

 the disease is no respecter of race. They 

 were treated with sulphur for about a 

 month twice a week, and the disease seemed 

 checked ; but when I stopped treatment in a 

 week or ten days the bees would start dying 

 as badly as ever. Then I tried a physic, 

 but I suppose I did not get it strong 

 enough, as it had no apjjarent effect. So I 

 returned to the sulphur treatment, and kept 

 it up until the main honey-flow commenced. 

 Up to that time the two hybrid colonies 

 were getting strong, and the laees had about 

 quit dying. They had three and four frames 

 of brood, and plenty of bees to cover the 

 brood; so I left them alone for three weeks, 



and concluded they were safe to take care 

 of themselves; but what was my surprise 

 vt'hen I went back to them at the end of the 

 three weeks to find one dead and the other 

 with queen and a handful of bees! 



The leather Italian and black colonie- 

 got so weak by honey-flow time that I killed 

 the queens, gave each three frames of seal- 

 ed brood and young bees; then I gave a 

 golden queen to each. At the end of the 

 ser.son of 1915 they were as good as the 

 best colony in my yards. 



My conclusion is that it is a bad case of 

 paralysis. The actions of my bees were the 

 same as described by Mr. Ladd, of Oregon, 

 in Gleanings for Nov. 15, p. 922. 



I hardly tliink that weather conditions 

 have anything to do with it, as my bees are 

 at Eeno, Nevada, and we had a cold late 

 spring lasting until June 16; but the dis- 

 ease lasted into Julj^ after hot dry weather 

 had come. 



I feel sure it is the same disease that 

 weakened the bees so badly in Mason Val- 

 ley, Nevada, in 1914, that the honey crop 

 was practically lost, tho I did not hear of 

 the disease appearing there this year. But 

 if it makes me another visit I will find a 

 cure or kill the bees trying. 



Sebastopol, Cal. 



THE NEW BEE-DISEASE IN TEXAS ; BAD WEATHER ONE OF THE 



CAUSES 



BY ALFRED L. HARTL 



Four years ago in the spring my bees 

 bred up nicely, and at the approach of the 

 spring honey-flow they were very strong. 

 Just at the opening of the flow we had con- 

 siderable cool and rainy weather wliich kept 

 the bees in their hives for about two weeks. 

 After a few days of this weather I noticed 

 considerable dead bees at the entrance of a 

 few colonies, but didn't pay any attention 

 to it. Next day I again went among the 

 bees in my home apiary, and found that all 

 the colonies in the apiary were affected. Of 

 course some were worse than others, so I at 

 once examined the colonies and not only 

 found that the bees were dying but also the 

 brood. In a few colonies the entire brood 

 was rotten, and so of course I felt as if 1 

 were sitting in hot water. I then sent a 

 sample of brood to Washington, D. C, and 

 then went to my four other apiaries and 



found the very same disease there. Some 

 colonies had handfuls of dead bees at the 

 entrances and lots of dead brood, so I start- 

 ed to treat them as for American foul 

 brood, but without any good results. The 

 brood in the new combs was just as rotten 

 as in the original combs. 



Then I received an answer from Wash- 

 ington, saying it was sac brood. It seems 

 to me when a colony is badly affected with 

 this malady it loses its energy, and conse- 

 quently most of the brood will be starved, 

 which will rot in the combs till clear sun- 

 shine comes. 



I don't think there is another disease that 

 can crii^ple an apiary in a few days as this 

 does, for the bees die by the thousands, and 

 hardly any brood will hatch. Of my five 

 apiaries (560 colonies) I lost 13 colonies 

 outright, and got no surplus from three 



