APRIL 1, 1916 



first being' very fatal, and, so far as my 

 experience goes, impossible to cure. In the 

 second, the bees in some cases appear to 

 recover without any external aid. 



I will now proceed to describe the two 

 forms. In the first, the abdomens of the 

 bees are not distended ; in fact, they are 

 somewhat shrunken, and have a smooth 

 sticky appearance, and are darker in color 

 than healthy bees, and have the characteris- 

 tic quivering of the wing-s and legs, but are 

 able to fly to a certain extent. In conse- 

 quence of this, the number of bees seen 

 dead in front of the hives, and clustering 

 on the gi'ass, is not as gi-eat as in the second 

 form, as the majority of the bees fly for a 

 short distance before collapsing. In this 

 form the drones are very often attacked, 

 and sometimes, but rarely, the queen. In 

 the second form, the bees' abdomens are 

 greatly distended by accumulated feces. 

 Their coloring and appearance, other than 

 that of the trembling of the wings and legs, 

 do not differ from that of a healthy bee. 

 None of the bees are able to fly and crawj 

 out of the hive and fall to the ground. In 

 bad cases they cluster in bunches of from 

 ten to thirty. 



In neither form is there any sign of 

 dysenteiy. Both these forms of disease have 

 existed in Jamaica for a sufficient leng^th 

 of time for the native bees to have become 

 to a very great extent immune ; whereas the 

 progeny of imported queens are generally 



more or less susceptible. I am not able to 

 say whether this disease is caused by the 

 ]>arasite Nosema apis or not, as I have not 

 been able to have any bees examined, up to 

 the present, but intend doing so as soon as 

 possible. 



As Nosema apis is known to affect bees 

 in Brazil and the northern parts of South 

 America, and the West India Islands, the 

 probabilities are that Nosema apis is re- 

 sponsible for bee paralysis in Jamaica. 

 There is, so far as I know, no cure. 



In the second form of the disease men- 

 tioned in a former paragraph, where an 

 apparent cure has been effected by the bees, 

 it invariably breaks out again, and the colo- 

 ny eventually dies. Most commonly both 

 forms are found in the same hive. It ap- 

 pears the only further help I can offer is 

 to refer enquirers to the former article writ- 

 ten by me. My subsequent experience since 

 that article was written has justified my 

 still adhering to my statement that the only 

 cure for bee paralysis is to select and breed 

 immune stock. 



Half Way Tree, Jamaica, B. W. I. 



[Instead of there being two forms of bee 

 paralysis, we are inclined to think it is all 

 one and the same disease under different 

 stages of development. Possibly environ- 

 ment has a tendency to modify the form 

 and the symptoms. See answer to Mr. Cox 

 in this issue. — Ed.] 



THE NEW BEE DISEASE AND AN ALLEGED SURE CURE FOR IT 



BY ADAM A. CLARKE 



I have been reading all the descriptions 

 of what you call the new bee disease, in 

 Gleanings for Jan. 15. I have also read 

 the editor's comments on it, and will say 

 that, in my opinion, he has not missed it far 

 when he says it is only paralysis. I have 

 had a good many cases of this disease the 

 past ten years, and, like all the rest of the 

 beekeepers who give a description of it, 

 have found it hard to cure, for, if not treat- 

 ed successfully in the first stages, it will 

 soon cause severe loss, for it not only de- 

 stroys the colony but your chance for se- 

 curing a crop of honey is at stake also. 



I notice that our oldest experts in the 

 business are at a loss to find or give a cure 

 for it, but say that it will disappear with 

 the advent of warm weather. This is part- 

 ly true ; but a good many colonies will also 

 disappear before it warms up. I have no 

 fear of it any more. I can treat it success- 

 fullv, after trving evervthing recommend- 



ed in all the bee literature I could get hold 

 of, and, not getting any satisfactory re- 

 sults, I experimented according to my own 

 ideas, and have hit the nail square on the 

 head. It costs next to nothing to stop it. 

 Tliis is the cure : 



As soon as you see the effects showing 

 up in any colony, take common lime fresh 

 slaked, and kee]i this all around the en- 

 trance of the affected colony, using some 

 (fresh) every day. Be sure to get it on all 

 the bunches of bees that get some distance 

 away from the hive. Do not use too much 

 lime at one time — just enough to kill all 

 the sick bees and keep the entrance of the 

 hive disinfected. In a few days there will 

 be no more dead bees around the hive. Then 

 I open the hive and note the conditions in- 

 side. If only a few bees and the queen are 

 left I take them with the combs they are 

 on, putting them in a fresh hive, leave them 

 in the same place, at the same time giving 



