396 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1 



BEE-PARALVSIS; IS SULPHUR AN APPARENT 

 OR REAL CURE? 



I believe bee-paralysis is just as conta- 

 g-ious in the South as foul brood in the 

 North. I first noticed the disease in my 

 yard in July, 1902. It reduced the one col- 

 ony to a mere nothing-, which I placed with 

 another colony for winter, when the trouble 

 stopped until this spring. When young 

 bees began to hatch, the disease promptly 

 broke out in 14 out of 30 colonies, many of 

 which at this date are weaker than they 

 were in January, while colonies not affect- 

 ed have begun swarming. 



I read Mr. C. H. Pierce's article in 

 Gleanings for Feb. 15, page 160, recom- 

 mending sulphur as a cure for paralysis, 

 which he claims he obtained through 

 Gleanings by Mrs. Hawkins. He (bj^ er- 

 ror) states that in two weeks the bees had 

 entirely disappeared, which was corrected 

 on page 185. Now for the other part of 

 my story. Not wishing to lose my bees 

 entirely by a roundabout way by using 

 sulphur when fire is cheaper, I decided to 

 try it on a small scale. I sulphured bees, 

 combs, brood, and all, on three hives. Re- 

 sult, one week after, very few bees dying; 

 some sealed, and some larvas just hatched. 

 Second dose, second week, same condition, 

 only less sealed brood. Third week, dis- 

 ease gone; sealed brood gone, small amount 

 of larva?; very few bees (cured). Now, will 

 they stay cured ? I think not, and why ? 

 The machine has simply stopped for lack 

 of fuel. When there is more hatching brood, 

 the disease will take fresh hold. If this is 

 not correct, why does it stop with brood- 

 rearing in the fall, and begin with it in 

 the spring ? Sulphur destroys only the cul- 

 ture and not the disease. I don't wish to 

 contradict Mr. Pierce, but I don't think he 

 saw far enough. But if he is right and I 

 wrong I hope you will apologize for me 

 when he comes through Ohio. I can only 

 plead ignorance. G. B. Crum. 



Pearson, Ga., Mar. 23. 



[When you speak of sulphuring your bees 

 in combs, I assume that you mean sprin- 

 kling the yellow powder on the bees. 



As you surmise, many diseases that are 

 contagious — perhaps all of them — have 

 what may be called the inert and active 

 state. There are the spores and the bacilli. 

 The former would probably not be affected 

 by any cold application of sulphur ; but the 

 latter might be killed by it. As long as 

 the spores are not destroyed the disease 

 may reappear. — Ec] 



BEE- paralysis; strong brine as a cure. 

 Much has been said from time to time in 

 Gleanings about bee-paralysis, its cause 

 and cure. I see on p. 720, Sept. 1, that so 

 far there is no cure that has ever been 

 named for it. Paralysis is not very preva- 

 lent here, although I have seen several 

 cases where bees died outright with it. I 

 will now give my experience with it, which 

 I hope may be beneficial to my bee-keeping 



friends, although you may think this a sim- 

 ple remedy, and it is; but I have made a 

 permanent cure in every case that I have 

 treated with it. 



In 1900 I had two colonies of bees strong 

 enough to begin storing honey in the supers, 

 on fruit-bloom. About that time they were 

 taken with paralj'sis very badly, and at the 

 beginning of white clover they had left the 

 supers, and I took them off, and they were 

 dwindled down to less than half their num- 

 bers. There were quarts of dead and dy- 

 ing bees in front of the hives. Then I look- 

 ed them carefully over, and found more 

 brood than the bees could actually cover. 

 The queens were bright and active, ani 

 the brood looked all healthy; but they were 

 now going down rapidly. I made up my 

 mind to kill or cure them by experiment, 

 and this is what I did: I went to the pork- 

 barrel and took out a dish of strong brine. 

 I went to one hive, opened it, took off the 

 cloth on top, took a wisp of fine grass, dip- 

 ped it in the brine, and sprayed them all 

 over the top of the racks quite freely, then 

 the entrance of the hive, and all the sick 

 bees in front several feet around, and closed 

 it up again. Then I repeated the same op- 

 eration with the other, and watched the 

 result. In three or four days I saw a 

 marked difference with both colonies. There 

 were not half as many sick bees, so in four 

 or five days from the first spraying I re- 

 peated the operation, and in two weeks aft- 

 er the first spraying there was not a sick 

 bee to be found in either colony, and it has 

 never returned. 



As foul-brood inspector I have found sev- 

 other cases, bad ones too, that I have treat- 

 ed in the same way, with perfect success in 

 every case. In 1901 I had two more of my 

 own (mild cases). I treated them separate- 

 ly, one at a time, to see if my test was all 

 right, and it was as before. These two 

 first colonies that were so bad grave me one 

 super of 28 sections on the windup of white 

 clover. I intend to experiment more with 

 this, and in a little different form. It may 

 prove to be of some value to bee-keepers, 

 and it may not. It certainly has with me, 

 so far. 



A question arises in my mind — will this 

 have the same effect on bees in a southern 

 climate it does here in Michigan? Let them 

 test it and report. Bees must have plenty 

 of salt here. I salt mine about once a 

 month during the breeding season. Where 

 they get water for that purpose it keeps 

 them healthy. This is what led me to try 

 the brine-spraying process. After this has 

 been tried lay those troubled with bee-paral- 

 ysis I should like tohave them report through 

 Gleanings. A. H. Guernsey, 



Pres. Ionia Co. Bee-keepers^ Ass'n. 



Ionia, Mich. 



[We have had reports before, to the effect 

 that salt would cure bee-paralysis. We 

 have also had others to the effect that it was 

 an absolute failure for the purpose. But it 

 may be that spraying the bees and combs 



