1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNALo 



467 



ter, and Invariably with the above results. As a rule, I do not 

 use It in the summer, because it gives the honey a sHght taste 

 and odor, enough to spoil the sale of it. 



Sulphur is not good. In light doses it has no effect ; In 

 strong doses it kills a number of beei. The sick ones being 

 the weakest are sure to die, and then the operator not seeing 

 any more shiny bees. Imagines that he has cured the disease. 



Changing queens, introducing young bees, etc., all have 

 the eflfect of increasing the number of young and compara- 

 tively healthy bees, and hastening the expelling of the old 

 ones. At any rate, no queen should be allowed to get old 

 enough to become seriously diseased herself, and a yearly re- 

 queening is considerable advantage. 



It is not necessary to send for outside queens. The queen 

 bought elsewhere will contract the disease before long, and 

 will be disabled nearly as soon as one reared in the apiary. 



Knox Co., Tenn. 



Tobacco Smoke for Bee-Paralysis. 



BY D. W. LIGHT. 



On page 376 apiarists are askt to give their experience 

 with bee-paralysis. I divided a colony about the last of May, 

 last year, and in about two weeks afterward they began to 

 die — first the old bees and then the younger ones, until in 

 front of the hive there would be a handful or more every day. 

 Finally I called an old bee-keeper's attention to them, who 

 said It was the worst case he ever saw, and advised me to 

 sprinkle the bees and comb with salt water. I applied the 

 salt water about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. That night they 

 were all over the ground for a rod or more around the hive, 

 making a terrible noise. The next morning it lookt as if they 

 were all dead. The queens were very prolific, and there was 

 plenty of nectar. 



I waited two or three days, and the disease did not abate. 

 Then I thought to experiment. I fixt up the smoker, put in 

 plenty of leaf tobacco, and took out the frames one at a time, 

 and held them in the air and sun for one minute each, and 

 smoked them thoroughly once a day for a week, when it had 

 entirely disappeared. 



This last treatment began to check the disease from the 

 start. I do not know which one did the work, or whether all 

 were necessary. The next time I will try each one separately 

 and be satisfied as to which to ascribe the curative properties. 



I have noticed in the Bee .Journal that the only remedy 

 bee-men mention for the disease is to give a new queen. I 

 think it would be wrong, as you would weaken the colony, 

 and the queens never show any symptoms of the disease. The 

 two cases I treated are as strong colonies as I have in my yard 

 of 11 ; they are all doing finely, with a good flow of honey. 



Neosho Co., Kan., June 16. 



Lime and Salt-Water Cure for Bee-Paralysis. 



BY J. A. GOLDEN. 



On page 376 Prof. Cook asks for information on the 

 treatment of bee-paralysis. 



A few years ago I had an experience with the so-called 

 " bee-paralysis " which I will never forget. That experience 

 was publisht in Gleanings in 1893. I predicted that the time 

 was near at hand, if the disease were not checkt in its spread, 

 bee-keepers would have cause to look for other occupations. 

 That prediction is being verified throughout the milder cli- 

 mates, and Is experienced to some extent in the colder as well. 



I have never been able to give more than a guess, or sup- 

 position, as to the cause of the so-called bee-paralysis, and I 

 have been successful in curing every colony treated by the 

 chloride of sodium method, while others report a failure by this 

 method. As it happens, I have two cases in hand that may 

 have some bearing on the question, and for the information of 

 others, I will give it here. 



Having a queenless colony early In the spring, I sent 

 South and procured a queen. Introduced her, and in due time 

 the colony became strong numerically. It may seem strange 

 to the reader, but nevertheless true. I was glad to find those 

 bees badly Infected with bee-paralysis, many of the bees hav- 

 ing a dirty, black, greasy, starved look. (What next?) Well, 

 I just let them alone till hundreds were being dragged out of 

 the hive by the bees, and then what did I do ? Well, I want 

 to say to Prof. Cook, that I lifted all those frames out and 

 gave that hive a complete scrubbing with a strong brine ; 

 then, while damp, I put a handful of air-slackt lime in the 

 smoker and gave the inside of that hive a complete dusting. 

 I then took the atomizer and thoroughly sprayed the bees, 



combs and all with a solution of salt water, tasting quite a 

 little salty. I replaced the combs and bees, and in three days 

 gave them another spraying, this time by lifting off the cover 

 and spraying down between the combs. In five days I gave 

 another spraying, this being June 18. That colony now has 

 a super of 2-4 sections of honey nearly ready to come off, and 

 1 defy any bee-critic in this broad land to discover a bee in 

 that colony Infected with paralysis, or any signs that it ever 

 had been infected. 



The other case was a colony placed next to the colony 

 above described, which was treated likewise, and bears the 

 same recommendations. Those are the only cases in which 

 the lime was used in connection with the brine — that is why I 

 was glad, so as to test the lime In connection with the brine. 



Morgan Co., Ohio, June 20. 



A Rejoinder on Facing Comb Honey. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



I have been much amused and somewhat surprised at the 

 apparent general desire to " roast " Doollttle on the " gridiron 

 of Christian opinion " regarding what he said on pages 174 

 and 175 of Gleanings for March 1, 1898, relative to facing 

 comb honey. I have askt myself over and over again, why 

 those quoting from that article withheld from the public the 

 way Doolittle did crate honey, and advised others to crate it; 

 also what he said or intimated would be the result if I crated 

 in any other way, or by any other plan than the one given in 

 that article. 



It would be as easy to prove by the Bible that any and all 

 men and women should hang themselves, as it was to prove 

 that Doolittle believed in facing cases with fancy honey, white 

 honey, and then fill up the center of each case with off grades 

 of white or buckwheat honey. And yet the way it was put to 

 the commission-men, and the way the quotation has been sent 

 out before the world, would lead any reader of the matter 

 who had not read the article in which it appeared in Glean- 

 ings, to think that Doolittle really did advise putting up comb 

 honey in accord with the quotation, when the whole import of 

 the article shows otherwise. 



To be sure, I said it would not be '^ dishonest" to put up 

 honey where it was sent on commission, with white facers and 

 dark inside, and I note that only two out of the twelve com- 

 mission-men who reply, attempt to make any claim to dis- 

 honesty, and one of the two does not say that he thinks such 

 would be dishonest, but that some of his customers to whom 

 he sold such honey as m/tite honey " considered it dishonest," 

 and that is Just the claim I have made under like circum- 

 stances. Some of the commission-men took pains to say that 

 such packing as the paragraph quoted allows, would be 

 " right," and could not be considered " dishonest," thus per- 

 fectly agreeing with the position 1 took, and in ail the discus- 

 sion brought forth I have failed to find a single word of proof 

 that would shake the position I took. Hildreth Bros. & Segel- 

 ken come out frankly and say, "We admit that any bee- 

 keeper has the right to crate his honey, face or mix it, just as 

 he chooses," and it is conceded by all, that what any person 

 has a riflht to do, cannot be dishonest, lor there is nothing 

 right in dishonesty. 



Then these same commlsslon-men hint at the great under- 

 lying point in the whole matter, where they say that people 

 were not so much acquainted with comb honey a quarter of a 

 century ago as they are to-day, in which they really admit that 

 what might be considered by some dishonest to-day might not 

 have been so considered when the older bee-keepers first be- 

 gan the pursuit and sold their crop as 3.iohole,ox just as it 

 " came off the hives," as is so aptly put by R. A. Burnett «fe 

 Co. And if it was not dishonest to put up honey just as it 

 came from the hives 20 to 25 years ago, when did It cease to 

 be honest and begin to be dishonest ? This reminds me of 

 some saintly persons who think it perfectly right to play cro- 

 quet, but hold up their hands In holy horror where the same 

 parties engage in a game of cards. 



But on one point we all agree, and had the very next sen- 

 tence of my Gleanings article been quoted there would have 

 been no discussion, for immediately following the last words 

 of the quotation — "and the producer thought it to his interest 

 to do." As found on page 371, American Bee Journal, I tell 

 every reader of that article that '■ 1 should doubt the wisdom 

 of such a course ;" which was tho same as saying that It 

 would not be desirable, financially or otherwise, for a man to 

 ship his honey with No. 1 facers, and fill in the center with 

 dark honey. In no way, except along the lines of honesty, 

 when sent on commission, did I "defend facing or improper 

 grading," as one party claims I did, and should never have 



