ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS ASSOCIATION 



87 



sulphur over the frames, and the next 

 two or three days he said: "Look here, 

 Jones, I believe you have killed every 

 one of them." That was late in the 

 fall, and the next spring the disease 

 did not show up. Mr. Atchley says he 

 does not believe it is catching. I don't 

 know whether it is catching or not, but I 

 would have on-e hive affected here, and 

 another over there, and they would die. 



A Member — I would like to call your 

 attention to the fact that Mr. Jones has 

 said that he sprinkled sulphur, and that 

 he killed the bees. Is it not possible 

 you killed the bees that would have 

 died any. way? 



Mr. Jones — I don't know. After that 

 the dying ceased, and the next spring 

 the disease did not show up on those 

 colonies. 



Mr. Anderson — I believe my bees had 

 that disease in Utah as well as any- 

 where else. At one time I went into 

 my apiary with a Southern bee-keeper 

 of much experience, and w;e noticed in 

 the front of a colony dead bees strung 

 out for some distance. He said: "What 

 is the matter?" We found 3 colonies in 

 an apiary of over 100 in just that corir 

 dition. He said: "I wish you would 

 go right to town and see if anyone is 

 spraying trees, and ascertain what it 

 is with." I did so, and I did not find 

 anyone spraying. I said, "I am going 

 to get right on a horse and go to see 

 Mr. R., who is our county inspector." 

 He said, "It is simply a revolution- go- 

 ing on, and when they get that conflict 

 finished they will be all right." I went 

 home and inspected my bees, and was 

 convinced that there was a fight on. 

 This may be a mistake, but I have never 

 seen anything like it since. 



Pres. Dadant — I think it will be neces- 

 sary for me to say that this is out of 

 the question. They are not fighting, 

 the other bees are carrying them off. 

 This has nothing to do with bee-par- 

 alysis, or "May Disease," as the Euro- 

 peans call it, and I would like to hear 

 more about it. 



Mr. Stone-— Is it not a settled fact 

 that medical men can not cure paraly- 

 sis? The reason I say this is that if it 

 can not be cured, why try to cure the 

 disease, but just prevent the spread of 

 it? I know a case where there was a 

 doctor who had a daughter that was 

 paralyzed; he went to an osteopathist 

 and said, "I have a daughter in the 

 same condition that I lost one two 



years ago; you can cure her." And the 

 osteopathist did cure here. 



Pres. Dadant — Now, we are off the 

 subject again. We called up the sub- 

 ject of bee-paralysis. The gentleman 

 said it was not a nervous disease, but a 

 disease of the digestive organs, al- 

 though we call it bee-paralysis. 



Mr. Parsons— I have had a little ob- 

 servation along the line of paralysis 

 for more than 25 years, and a short 

 while ago I was looking over my jour- 

 nal, and I found a great many instances 

 where colonies had been affected with 

 it. It appears in colony No. 4, and 

 the record stated that it was not 

 thought worth moving, and some 4 to 

 6 weeks later it cast a swarm; it had 

 built up sufficiently to cast a swarm and 

 that swarm I found was entirely clear 

 of paralysis. I had such a case, and 

 kept that colony built up, and I had no 

 return of the disease during the next 

 season. It was our custom for a num- 

 ber of years, that when a colony was 

 affected with what we call paralysis, I 

 would take the hives off and fumigate 

 them with sulphur, put the combs in a 

 honey-house, distribute the brood, some- 

 times among the other colonies, and I 

 would see no evil effects of it. But of 

 late years, when I see a colony affected 

 with it, I have to be more barbarous, 

 so I simply cure it by fumigating the 

 bees; but it is my opinion that it is not 

 spread by an interchange of combs, and 

 I know that it does get well, and re- 

 mains well for one season. I have had 

 in my yards colonies affected with it 

 for 3 years, and they never would build 

 up so as to gather any surplus honey. 

 I have tried a good many treatments — 

 nearly everything that I read in the bee- 

 papers — but if I have ever found any- 

 thing that was good, I don't know of it. 



Pres. Dadant — Mr. France has called 

 our attention to the fact that bee-dis- 

 eases would be discussed Monday, and 

 I will now call lEor the next question. 



Dr. Bohrer — I want to make myself 

 better understood. It is definitely 

 known that there is a kind of paralysis 

 that comes from the digestive organs. 



Smoker-Fuel. 



"Are dry rags and old bones good for 

 smoker-fuel ?" 



Mr. Aten — I read in a paper that 

 some suggest old bones and dry rags 

 for fuel. 



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