438 



' GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



larithat the crop of the small bee-keepers 

 is consumed in the small towns and country, 

 and the people cry for more, the larg^e pro- 

 ducers can easily combine to control prices 

 in the large commercial centers. Then 

 prices will boom, and the millennium in bee- 

 dom will be ushered in until the Attorney- 

 General gets after us, and puts us, bees 

 and all, in jail for unlawful combination. 

 Geneva Lake, Wis. 



[There is a great deal of truth in what 

 you say. Bee-keepers should contrive some- 

 how to get articles into their local papers, 

 giving general information about the pro- 

 duction of honey — how it is thrown out by 

 means of the extractor, etc. If all of our 

 subscribers would volunteer to send a com- 

 munication to their local papers, describing 

 how they produce comb honey, and inviting 

 any one interested to come and see how honey 

 is taken from the hive, it would stimulate a 

 local demand for honey, and do some per- 

 manent advertising that would be of great 

 value. We are printing by the thousands 

 our honey-leaflets, and they are being sent 

 out all over the land. These, as some of our 

 subscribers know, go on to tell about the 

 wholesomeness of honey; why dj'speptics 

 can eat it when they can not take any other 

 sweet; about the difterent kinds of honey, 

 and finally winds up with a long list of 

 honey cooking-recipes. This leaflet was 

 written by Dr. C. C. Miller, and all the re- 

 cipes have been tested carefully, so that we 

 know they are good. 



They are furnished at practically their 

 cost to us; and any bee-keeper can have his 

 business card printed on them at a slight 

 additional cost. If one of them is put in 

 every package of honey sold or handed out 

 in bunches of two or three dozen to the gro- 

 cers, to give to their customers in turn, a 

 largely increased demand will be the result. 



I believe most thoroughly in organization, 

 but it would be futile to attempt any thing 

 in the way of one national in its scope for 

 the purpose of handling honey. Local or 

 State exchanges must first be put on a prac- 

 tical working basis. As is well known, the 

 Colorado association has demonstrated al- 

 ready what can be done; and California 

 has started out with flying colors. — Ed.] 



BEE-PARALYSIS. 

 How to Cure; a Rational Plan. 



BY A READER. 



I notice several inquiries of late in the 

 difl"erent bee- papers in regard to bee-paral- 

 ysis. I have had several years' experience 

 with this disease. Several years ago, when 

 I kept bees in box hives, I noticed this dis- 

 ease, but at that time I did not know what 

 the trouble was, as I was not posted in bee 

 lore; but since keeping bees in frame hives, 

 investing money in them, and depending 

 partly on them for a living, I have studied 

 the disease a good deal, for I have had more 



or less of it to contend with^ every year 

 since. 



When the disease first appears the bees 

 will turn black, look slick and shiny, and 

 have a trembling motion. Not every bee 

 that takes the disease turns black; for I 

 have seen them die with it without ever turn- 

 ing black; but they all have a trembling 

 motion; there is always a less number of 

 dead bees around the entrance during a 

 good honey-flow, due, I suppose, to greater 

 activity among the bees at this time, caus- 

 ing more of the aft'ected bees to die out in 

 the fields, as I have found them dead at 

 their watering-places that, to all appear- 

 ances, had died with this disease. I also 

 have found them dead around flowers out 

 in the fields. I have seen them in front of 

 the entrances of their hives with pollen on 

 their legs, trembling, shaking, dying with 

 this disease; so it seems from this that it is 

 very sudden in its attack. At times this is 

 a very peculiar disease, as some colonies 

 never become affected with it, and some 

 that have the disease get well without any 

 treatment, and some will die in a few weeks 

 if they are not treated, while others will 

 dwindle along all season and give no sur- 

 plus honey, and finally get well. 



I believe some writers have claimed that 

 bad food causes the disease. I don't believe 

 food has much to do with it. In the spring 

 of 1899 and earl3' summer of that year, I 

 had five colonies of bees standing in my 

 yard very close to the dwelling. One of 

 these colonies took the disease; and as I 

 was very busy I never moved them. In 

 about ten days the one next to the affected 

 one had taken the disease, and so on down 

 the line until all had it. One evening I 

 came home, and had a case of robbing on 

 hand. My favorite colony down among the 

 other bees, some fifty 3^ards distant, was 

 doing the robbing. I soon put a stop to the 

 mischievous rascals, but they had almost 

 robbed them out. I expected this colony 

 that did the robbing to take the disease; 

 but, to my surprise, they were never affect- 

 ed in the least. These bees all had stores 

 gathered from the same source. Shortly 

 after this I moved these five colonies some 

 distance from home, as I wanted to get them 

 away from the dwelling. I let them stay 

 two weeks, and moved them back. I noticed 

 after moving them the second time that there 

 were not so many dead bees at the entrances 

 of four of them; but the fifth one, however, 

 was dying badly, and was very weak, so I 

 moved them again, this making the third 

 time that I had moved them. This last 

 move helped them so they soon got all right. 

 But I got no surplus honey from them that 

 season, while the average from colonies not 

 affected was about 100 lbs. per colony. My 

 honey crop for that year was cut short 

 about 40 per cent on account of this disease; 

 and hence I was well nigh discouraged 

 with bee-keeping; but moving these diseased 

 colonies, and noting the effect it had on 

 them, I got the idea in my head that this 

 disease could be cured if properly treated. 



