244 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



time before the opening of the fair I learned 

 that neither Mr. Hunt nor Mr. Cutting ex- 

 pected to make an exhibition so I gathered 

 up what things I could and went, but I really 

 did not feel proud of my exhibition. It was 

 my absence two weeks at the fair that still 

 keeps the Reviexm behind, and there will not 

 be much chance to catch up this month on 

 account of the time spent at the coming con- 

 vention, but I think the time will be well 

 spent, and after that I hope there will be 

 nothing to prevent me from gradually get- 

 ting the Review back " on time." 



HIVE ENTEANOES. 



C. W. Dayton, in the Progressive, advo- 

 cates the old-time tly-hole in the front of a 

 hive, in place of the entrance at the bottom 

 that we have so long cherished. He uses 

 three, three-fourth- inch auger holes, in the 

 center of the front of the hive, thus making 

 the front of the hive answer as an alighting 

 board. We have been so accustomed to see- 

 ing bees drop down upon an alighting board 

 that at first thought it seems as though it 

 vyould be awkward for Ihem to alight on the 

 front of a hive, but a little thought shows 

 that it would not ; and whoever has had 

 " fly-holes " in the front of his hives knows 

 that many of the bees use those openings 

 from choice. Friend Dayton says that one 

 hole is equal to two or more inches of usual 

 entrance, still one bee can defend it from 

 robbers. Another thing, such an entrance is 

 away up from the reach of toads, mice and 

 lizards, is not so easily clogged by grass 

 growing up in front of it as is the case with 

 a lower entrance, and when we are moving 

 bees it is so easy to stop these entrances with 

 a piece of paper or rag. Although friend 

 Dayton does not mention it, there is another 

 point in their favor , there is no danger of 

 their clogging up with dead bees in the win- 

 ter. This is quite an item in out-door winter- 

 ing. Such an entrance almost demands a 

 loose bottom board, but there are many who 

 prefer them any way. I do. 



BEE PAEALYSIS. 



In the warmer portions of this country bee 

 paralysis is becoming a really serious mat- 

 ter. Here at the North it amounts to but 

 little; I have never seen a case of it. All 

 that I know about it is what I have read. In 

 this issue of the Review I have copied quite 

 a number of articles bearing on the subject. 



That of Mr. Getaz seems to explain the 

 nature of the disease the most clearly of any- 

 thing that I ha e seen. He quotes Erank 

 Cheshire to show that it is of a bacillus na- 

 ture ; that it is to grown bees about what 

 foul brood is to the brood. It is of slower 

 growth than foul brood, or else the grown 

 bee does not offer so good a feeding and 

 breeding ground as that of the brood. It is 

 worse in those seasons when but little work 

 is being done and the number of bees 

 hatched is not very large. In the height of 

 the working season when bees are hatching 

 daily by the thousands, and the labors of the 

 field are rapidly wearing them out, there is 

 not sufficient time for the disease to make 

 much headway before the life of a bee has 

 run its natural course. It would seem in 

 many cases that the bees are hatched with 

 the seeds of the disease already in their 

 bodies, that the egg was really infected by 

 the queen before it was laid. For this reason 

 a change of queens brings at least a tempo- 

 rary relief, and in some instances a perma- 

 nent cure seems to be the result. The in- 

 troduction to a healthy colony of a queen 

 from a colony suffering from paralysis is al- 

 most certain to bring with it the disease. 

 Just how or why the disease again starts 

 up in a colony after it has been given a 

 healthy queen I do not know ; possibly the 

 queen becomes diseased from being fed by 

 diseased workers. 



Some have attributed the trouble to star- 

 vation. It is quite evident that this is a mis- 

 take. The disease has appeared in many 

 instances when there was not only plenty of 

 honey in the hive, but also unsealed stores. 

 A long period of honey dearth, by causing 

 enforced idleness on the part of the bees, 

 would tend to aggravate the trouble, and it is 

 possible that this is why it has been attrib- 

 uted to starvation. It seems that feeding 

 has sometimes cured, or at least benefitted, 

 the suffering colonies. Just why this should 

 result I do not know, unless the food acts as 

 a tonic. 



The remedies that have been tried and re- 

 ceived favorable recommendation are salt, 

 sulphur and re-queening. Of these re-queen- 

 ing is looked upon with the most favor. One 

 difficulty with knowing dofinitely whether 

 these remedies are curative is that the dis- 

 ease is likely to disappear of itself and then 

 the remedy is given the credit. • To learn the 

 true value of remedies, part of the diseased 

 colonies should be treated and part left to 



