822 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dec. 8, 1904. 



Bee-Stings as a Cure for Rheumatism. 



BY A. F. FOOTE. 



Apropos of the article, "Rheumatism Cured by Bee- 

 Stings," on pages 660 and 661, I send a cHpping from the 

 Farm Journal on the subject, which explains itself, though the 

 writer does not give the size of the dose, or whether it is to 

 be taken inwardly or applied outwardly. He does say, how- 

 ever, that the bees must be well "shaken after taken." • 



It seems to me that the plan of this writer is much more 

 simple than the one mentioned in the American Bee Journal 

 though it is instant death to the bees, which would be pref- 

 erable to a lingering death, which I think would be the result 

 if deprived of their only means of defending their stores. I 

 believe a bee loses its usefulness, as well as its life, when 

 deprived of its stinger, no matter how "carefully removed ;" 

 at least I have never been fortunate enough to "run up 

 against" a bee that did not have a stinger — except a drone, of 

 course ! 



To the poor man who has suffered so much with bee 

 stings (page 660) I will give my plan: 



I remove the stinger — when I get it — just as soon as pos- 

 sible, by rubbing or scraping, never by pulling it out. Then, 

 as soon as I am at liberty to do so, I go into my shop and 

 apply strong vinegar to the part stung, from a bottle kept 

 there for the purpose (I must own up that I got the above 

 out of the American Bee Journal several years ago). 



Forrnerly, a bee-sting caused a good deal of swelling, and 

 much pain, sometimes for several days, but since pursuing the 

 above method the pain has been of short duration, and the 



swelling not worth mentioning. I am inclined to think, 

 though, that the manner of removing the stinger has more to 

 do with it than the application of vinegar. 



Mitchell Co., Iowa. 

 [The Farm Journal clipping referred to by Mr. Foote 

 reads as follows: — Editor.] 



BEE-STINGS AS A REMEDY. 



There is an increasing demand for bee-stings among 

 homeopaths. This is a new feature connected with bee cul- 

 ture, and it is hoped it will develop into a profitable business. 



It was my privilege this season to supply a number of 

 the largest druggists in New York with this product. The 

 medicine is a combination of formic acid (or bee poison) and 

 alcohol, and is called by the profession "tincture of virus." 

 The pharmacist is generally a good mixer of medicines, but 

 in this case prefers the bee culturist to be the chemist. 



The solution is made in the following way : The bees 

 are taken from the hive and put into a large bottle, which is 

 filled about two-thirds full. The mouth of the bottle is then 

 covered with a piece of cheese-cloth, to prevent the bees 

 crawling out. It must be understood that the bees must be 

 alive and exceedingly vigorous. The bottle is then severely 

 shaken and the bees agitated, in order to make them extend 

 their stings, on the ends of which are tiny drops of acid. 



The alcohol is immediately poured over them, the bees 

 are killed almost instantly, and the poison collected. 



The bottle is then shipped to the druggist, who does the 

 rest. After the solution is strained it is ready for use. 



It is administered for inflammatory rheumatism, Bright's 

 disease and kindred maladies. F. G. Herman. 



Proceebtncjs of Conxxmtions 



THE ST. LOUIS CONVENTION. 



Report of the 35th Annual Convention, of the 



National Bee-Keepers' Association Held at 



St. Louis, Mo., Sept. 27-30, 1904. 



[Continued on page 807 J 

 COMB-HONEY LIE DENIAL ON SECTIONS. 



"Would it not be possible to have all manufacturers print 

 on all sections a denial of the comb-honey lie?" 



Dr Miller — I can answer that question. Yes. Another 

 question however would come in. Do we want to? And an- 

 other question would be. What will it cost? If you will tell 

 us how much that will cost we will tell you whether we want 

 to buy sections with that on or not. 



Mr. Dadant — I believe it would be a good thing if we 

 could place on our sections some remark concerning the 

 purity of comb honey, but I doubt that all bee-keepers would 

 want it, and it would be difficult for the manufacturer to 

 make sections so that they could be sold right along with 

 that printed on it. It seems to me it would be a great deal 

 better for a label to be made to paste upon the sections. I 

 believe a statement made without a signature, or simply bear- 

 ing the approval of the National Association, to the effect 

 that no comb honey is made artiflcially and sealed with a hot 

 iron, as so many people believe, would do a great deal of 

 good. I have had, as a foundation manufacturer, people 

 come to see the manufacturing of honey and wondering why 

 we didn't show them how it was put in and sealed over! 



Mr. Kretchmer (Iowa)— Some bee-keepers would have it, 

 and some would not on any consideration. I refer to some- 

 thing on the sections. It would be a hardship on the manu- 

 facturers and add to the expense of it. I think a label put 

 on by those who should decide to have it would be preferable 

 to having it printed on the sections themselves. 



Mr. Rouse (Mo.)— The thought just occurs to me that I 

 would not like to advertise such a thing as a fraud if the 

 other fellow doesn't ask anything about it; but if he does, I 

 believe that that little slip you speak of would be the thing 

 to have. I don't believe it would be practicable to put it 



on all the sections. Some would not desire it at all. 



Mr. Hart (Calif.)— I would like to ask. What is adul- 

 terated comb honey? Is it a grape-juice put into the combs? 

 Is that considered as adulterated honey? 



Mr. Dadant— I think the one who wrote the question 

 meant to speak of the so-called manufactured comb honey, 

 manufactured entirely from the comb to the honey, and sealed 

 over artificially. 



Mr. Hyde — It was suggested to me, and the idea was to 

 have it thoroughly discussed, to see if we could not get at 

 some way of refuting that statement. Nearly everybody be- 

 lieves that comb honey is manufactured. Almost the second 

 question that people ask me is something about comb honey, 

 if they ask about it at all ; and they ask, How about the manu- 

 factured honey? And they then ask. Why is it you sell ex- 

 tracted instead of comb honey? I don't know whether it 

 would be feasible to have it printed on the sections or not. 

 It seems to me it would be possible to have that done in 

 making the sections. I want to find out a satisfactory way 

 to do it. 



Pres. Harris here introduced Dr. Charles J. S. Digges, 

 the representative of the Irish Bee-Keepers' Association to the 

 convention. 



Dr. Digges (St. Louis)^If I were to speak to you upon 

 a subject I am more capable of speaking about than bees, it 

 would be on cholera or smallpox, or something of that sort. 

 I was afraid to allow myself to make any remarks extem- 

 poraneously with reference to bees, so I have just jotted 

 down a few ideas on paper, and you will excuse me if I 

 read the remarks I have to make. 



Having been requested by the Irish Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation to act as its representative, it affords me great pleasure 

 to meet you all in convention assembled. I had not the slight- 

 est idea such honor would have been given me, and I regret 

 that a better representative, one thoroughly versed in the sub- 

 ject of bees, their minutiae and detail, had not been selected. 



A year or two since, through the medium of the Irish 

 Bee Journal, I found that my brother in Ireland was greatly 

 interested in the subject of the bee industry, and was editor 

 of the journal of the association. I happened to see one 

 morning in one of our daily papers something that to me 

 seemed extraordinary; it was an account of the process of 

 making comb foundation. The article was illustrated by an 



