466 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 28. 



out " altogether ; that is, she has really hardly any cells in 

 whioh to deposit her eggs. At the end of the season such a 

 colony will contain a large quantity of honey, and a small lot 

 of bees, most of them being then too old for many to be left 

 for spring work. It is therefore of great advantage to give 

 supers, for tho they do not at all times prevent swarming, the 

 carrying of surplus above ensures that the combs in the brood- 

 chamber are left for the use of the queen ; consequently, the 

 conditions enumerated above are reverst. The brood-chamber 

 contains little honey, but a large colony of bees, most of which 

 will be young ones, and just what are required for successful 

 wintering and satisfactory work in the spring. 



It is most desirable, if swarming is to be prevented, that 

 laying-room should always be provided for the queen. This 

 is usually secured by the giving of supers at the commence- 

 ment of the honey-flow, so that the surplus honey is not stored 

 in the brood-combs below. But if, after this precaution, 

 swarms do issue, it is invariably due to the fact either that the 

 formation of queen-cells in preparation for swarming luid 

 been commenced before the super was given ; or that, tho the 

 bees may have commenced to store honey in the super, they 

 have been compelled hy a change of weather to leave the super 

 and crowd in the brood-chamber, thus producing the generally 

 acknowledged cause of swarming. Certain it is that if from 

 either of these causes crowding in the brood-chamber occurs 

 either before or after the super has been given, the issue of 

 the swarm is seldom prevented. If an increase of colonies is 

 not desired, a thorough examination of the combs should be 

 made, and the queen-cells, if any, removed. At the same time 

 the exchange of combs for sheets of foundation may stop the 

 inclination to swarm while the honey-flow commences, or until 

 there is a recurrence of fine weather. 



When an undesirable swarm has issued it should be hived 

 and left until the evening, and then returned to the hive 

 where, during the interval, a rearrangement of the brood- 

 chami^er has taken place, and additional supers if necessary 

 have been added. 



HIVING SWARMS. 



Swarms settle in various places from which they are some- 

 times with ease dislodged, while on other occasions a little 

 skill and some ingenuity must be exercised before they are 

 safely settled in the hive. 



All swarms should first be put into a clean straw skep. H 

 a swarm has settled on the branch of a tree a sharp jerk will 

 be sufificient to cause the cluster to fall into a skep held be- 

 neath. The bulk of the bees will fall into the skep, which 

 must then be turned gently over and set on tbe ground, one 

 side being raised by a brick, or something about that size. A 

 good entrance will thus be given, and it is necessary, because 

 at swarming-time the heat of the cluster is very great, and 

 ample ventilation is essential. 



Great care must be exercised in hiving, so as to avoid 

 crushing a bee, for if the queen be killed the bees will return 

 to the hive from which they issued, while if a worker be 

 crusht, and the poison-bag ruptured, the smell of the poison 

 will irritate the other bees, and cause them to sting. Some- 

 times after being put in the skep the bees again leave and re- 

 turn to the spot where they had clustered. In all probability 

 this is due to the queen not being shaken with the bees into 

 the skep. She may be remaining behind, or have dropt on 

 the ground; if the latter, her presence will soon be ascer- 

 tained by several bees clustering on the ground around her. 

 If she is not on the ground, hiving must be repeated. Another 

 reason for swarms deserting hives is that they are left in the 

 sun. Being naturally in a high temperature, when under 

 such excitement, they are unable to bear the great heat their 

 exposure to the sun causes. 



When a swarm has been hived the skep should be set 

 down on the shady side of the tree upon which the hive clus- 

 tered, or if that is not possible a white sheet should be thrown 

 over it. 



The hive may be moved as soon as the bees have clustered 

 inside, to the spot where the swarm will remain for the rest of 

 the season. Re-hiving — that is. the turning out of the swarm 

 from the skep and running the bees into the hive they are 

 permanently to occupy — had better take place later in the 

 day ; because if disturbed while the sun is hot they may refuse 

 to enter the other hive, and fly away altogether. 



Old-fashioned bee-keepers daub the inside of the skep, be- 

 fore hiving the swarm, with a vile concoction of beer and 

 sugar, or some other sweet, sticky substance, with the idea of 

 keeping the bees in the hive. Such an uncomfortable plan is 

 more likely to cause the bees to desert the hive, as when 

 they are shaken in their wings become sticky and many lives 

 are sacrificed. Such a practice should be discontinued. 

 IContinued next week.] 



Bee-Paralysis — Attempts at Curing It. 



BY ADRIAN GETAZ. 



In answer to Prof. Cook's Inquiry on page 3TG, I will give 

 a brief description of the result of my attempts at curing bee- 

 paralysis. 



In the first place, I want to state some of the peculiarities 

 of the disease. Considering the individual bees, the disease 

 develops very slowly ; the first symptoms are the peculiar 

 twitching so often mentioned, then a sort of slowness of 

 movements. This increases gradually. By that time the 

 affected bee begins to lose its hair, and finally becomes com- 

 pletely hairless and shiny, the stiffness gradually increasing 

 until the affected bee leaves the hive, to drag itself on the 

 ground until death terminates its existence. I will add that 

 the twitching ceases about the time the falling of the hair be- 

 gins. As to the duration of the disease, I cannot tell, it depends 

 how badly the bee may be affected, and at what time of its 

 life the disease was contracted. We may say, however, that 

 several weeks elapse during the evolution of the disease. 



As to tbe colony itself, it also depends how badly It is 

 affected. The disease develops worse during the winter, and 

 when the spring comes the majority of the bees composing the 

 colony will have reacht the hairless stage. In consequence of 

 the weakness of the diseased bees, more or less spring dwind- 

 ling follows. Nevertheless, In most cases a start at brood- 

 rearing Is made, and by and by young, healthy, or at least 

 comparatively healthy, young bees appear In the hive and 

 gradually take charge of the institution. Eventually they see 

 that something Is wrong with the old bees, and expel them. 

 By that time the apiarist, not seeing any more shiny bees, 

 thinks the disease is cured. Nevertheless it is not. A close 

 inspection will reveal here and there a twitching bee, and 

 now and then some sick bees expelled by the others. These 

 are Invariably thought to be robbers, unless the apiarist Is 

 fully posted. There is, however, a difference between the ap- 

 pearance and the quick movements of a robber-bee and those 

 of a diseased bee. 



During the summer very few bees, if any at all, reach the 

 hairless stage, either because they are expelled before reach- 

 ing that stage of the disease, or because they die of natural 

 causes before the disease has fully developt. 



In badly affected colonies it may happen that the young 

 bees contract the disease so rapidly that they fail to expel the 

 old ones, and carry out brood-rearing and other work. Such 

 colony, as a rule, dies in the course of the year or during the 

 following winter. 



The queen does not seem to contract the disease very 

 early in her life. The first effect seems to be a diminution of 

 her laying powers ; this leads to her superseding, which 

 almost invariably occurs during the second year of her laying. 

 If, however, the season is bad, and very little brood can be 

 reared, she may become so diseased as to lay infected eggs. In 

 such case trembling and twitching bees can be seen hardly 

 more than a few days old. In the absence of a microscopic 

 Investigation, I cannot prove that the queen lays infected 

 eggs, but the following case seem? to show It conclusively : 



I had a colony in that fix, that is, showing the disease in 

 very young bees. The colony was pretty strong yet, the 

 honey-flow and temperature favorable, so, as an experiment, 

 I replaced the queen. Nothing else was done. By and by 

 the progeny of the new queen hatcht, but did not show the 

 disease at all at the beginning. Eventually the young bees 

 were numerous enough to expel all the old ones, and now the 

 colony is neither worse nor better than the others. 



I first tried to feed salicylic acid, but I could not feed it 

 long enough to get satisfactory results. During a honey-flow 

 the bees will not take it ; during a dearth it Is difficult to feed 

 without starting robbing. I did not want any to go in the 

 surplus. I thought of fumigating, and then of putting some 

 medicated substances easily evaporated in the hive, so as to 

 make the fumigation automatic. 



I tried carbolic acid and camphor. I put them in the 

 hives In the fall, and renewed them two or three times during 

 the winter. The effect was marvelous. When the spring 

 came not a shiny bee could be seen, and the colonies were 

 strong and healthy. The diseased bees that went Into winter 

 quarters were probably dead. But to my sorrow, the diseased, 

 twitching bees began to reappear about six or eight weeks 

 after the use of the camphor or carbolic acid was discontinued. 

 Applied in summer time the effect was the same. While the 

 camphor is there the disease will not show Itself, but will in- 

 variably reappear six or eight weeks after Its use is discon- 

 tinued. The Inference is natural, that the fumes of the cam- 

 phor or carbolic acid are strong enough to prevent the devel- 

 opment of the spores of the disease, but not to destroy them. 



During the last five years I have used camphor every win- 



