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AMERICAN BEE JOURJMAU 



you, but you don't tell why. You say, 

 "Some would be all O. K.," but you 

 don't say about the others. Please tell 

 us what was the matter with them. 



You say, " I think that queens that 

 are kept in their cells for some time 

 after they would go out, have more 

 vigror when hatched, and afterward." 

 Please say what makes you think so. 

 Don't you think there is some danger 

 that "by putting wax over the point of 

 the cell " you lessened the vigor of the 

 queens by preventing the bees from 

 feeding them ? For you know they 

 thrust out their tongues so the workers 

 can feed them. 



You say, "Try breaking the egg-shell 

 to let a chicken out, and see a pulled 

 chicken." Suppose you try fastening 

 the chicken in its shell after it is ready 

 to hatch. You see if your proposition 

 proves anything against pulled queens, 

 mine proves just as much against your 

 plan of fastening them in. But neither 

 of them proves anything. Bees are not 

 chickens. 



Marengo, 111. 



What Ails the Bees ?— What 

 Will Cure Them? 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY "NOVICE." 



I have been a subscriber to the Bee 

 Journal for a year, and have very 

 much enjoyed the opportunity afforded 

 of learning from its contributors, who 

 have had large experience in the fasci- 

 nating pursuit of apiculture. The sub- 

 ject of the diseases of bees is interesting 

 to me, and is, I presume, to all who are 

 engaged in the business. I have seen 

 allusions to the " nameless bee-disease," 

 and to the " bee-paralysis," and I wish 

 to ask who has had experience with this 

 disease, what is the trouble with ray 

 bees, and whether there is any cure. 



Last year I bought from a dealer in 

 South Carolina, a colony of Italians, 

 and placed them on a bench under shel- 

 ter, and between hives of Italians that 

 had been bred up by introducing Italian 

 queens purchased from dealers in other 

 States. A month or so after their ar- 

 rival, there was at least a gallon of dead 

 bees in front of the new colony. Then 

 the colony on each side became infected, 

 and the bees in them began to die, and 

 by winter all the colonies in the apiary 

 were attacked, except two. 



At times last fall the ground would be 

 thickly strewn with dead bees, and it 



seemed incredible that the most marvel- 

 lous rate of increase in numbers could 

 keep pace with the death rate. How- 

 ever, only one colony perished, but they 

 were all weak in the spring, and the 

 death rate was still high until summer 

 came, when the bees all seemed to get 

 well except one colony. This fall that 

 colony has been the focus of infection 

 whence the disease has spread again, 

 until a full fourth of my colonies have 

 got the disease again badly. 



The symptoms are as follows : First, 

 the guards on the alighting-board will 

 be seen surrounding a bee that perhaps 

 looks, to the naked eye, as well as any. 

 The guards will pull her about and ap- 

 pear to gnaw her, and finally try to fly 

 off with her. Presently bees will be 

 noted that are discolored more or less. 

 Some will have lost the light-colored 

 rings around the lower part of the ab- 

 domen, and show instead a solid black 

 color. Others will turn to a bluish- 

 black glossy hue that covers the entire 

 body except the two upper rings. These 

 bees will then begin to appear to be sick; 

 they clutch hold of the alighting-board 

 and shiver, and tremble all over. They 

 stagger about, until they finally fall to 

 the ground and perish. 



At last bees will be noticed that show 

 no discoloration at all, but shiver and 

 stagger about, and suddenly fall over. 

 Most of these are very much swelled, 

 and their abdomens very much elongated 

 and enlarged. Very rarely one will be 

 seen to discharge quite a large splotch 

 of a yellow-colored, thin feces. Multi- 

 tudes appear to die suddenly while on 

 the wing. They will be found dead on 

 the ground all around the apiary, and 

 even under the trees, that are in bloom. 

 When the disease is at its worst there is 

 often an unpleasant smell about the 

 colonies affected. 



All these symptoms were observed last 

 fall, and it seemed that every colony 

 but two would perish, but only one 

 actually died. The colonies worst af- 

 fected were isolated, and, after the 

 spring opened, the malady seemed to 

 abate gradually, until it almost entirely 

 disappeared from all the colonies except 

 one, which exhibited the worst symp- 

 toms continuously up to the present 

 time. From this as a focus, the disease 

 seems to spread on both sides, and I 

 fear that in a short time all my colonies 

 will again be infected. 



Now and then in the healthy colonies 

 a solitary bee will be observed with a 

 glossy, blue-black abdomen, with only 

 two of the yellow bands visible, and 

 they apparently much wider than usual. 



