suo 



GLEAXIXC;8 IX IJKE CLLTLllK 



Dec. 15 



wagon, provided they have been smoked 

 or alarmed before being loaded. If a start 

 is made soon after they are thus subdued 

 they are all right. If the hives have stood 

 for some time, and the bees have recovered 

 from the smoking, they may be simply 

 smoked again and there will be no trou- 

 ble. 



When reaching destination I remove the 

 trap and put the bees that have accumulat- 

 ed in it anywhere I wish, giving them a 

 queen, and thus making a nucleus colony. 

 This same traji I use oa honey-house doors 

 and windows. 



A few days ago I went into my wax-house 

 in which I had left some combs of honey, 

 and found that yellow-jackets were doing a 

 rushing business. These little rascals will 

 find their way where bees will not; but in 

 going out they make for the nearest well- 

 lighted door or window. I found that most 

 of them were going out at a screen that had 

 a cone outlet on it. I adjusted the trap box 

 over that cone escape, and in less than one 

 day had most of the yellow-jackets, and at 

 the entl of a week there were scarcely any 

 of them around. 



If one has never tried such a wagon as I 

 have described, he will have little idea of the 

 value of it when moving bees or when tak- 

 ing off honey. If a hive leaks, one can dri\ e 

 on or stop just as desired. When taking ofT 

 supers I just put them in the wagon and 

 they are safe from robbers. 



Tjoveland, Colo. 



BEE-KEEPING AS AN AID TO HEALTH. 



Another Testimony to its Value; Stings Espe- 

 cially are Beneficial. 



BY W. A. DUNTON, M. D. 



Last February I had a severe attack of 

 rheumatism which at first affected the mus- 

 cles of the whole body, and soon attacked 

 the heart itself, causing severe inflamma- 

 tion of that organ, or, as doctors say, myo- 

 carditis. The pain in my heart was sharp 

 at times, with a dull pain always, and, on 

 deep pres ure, extreme tenderness. The ac- 

 tion of the heart was so much interfered 

 with that I was cold day and night in spite 

 of four shirts worn constantly. A bath of 

 tepid water seemed unbearably hot, so cold 

 was the surface of my body. I suffered so 

 much with cardiac asthma that some days 

 I was unable to attend to my patients, and 

 in my gaspings for breath I felt as though I 

 were breathing with my heart, as that or- 

 gan rose and fell with each respiration; and 

 on those days it was only with the greatest 

 difficulty that I could so much as walk. 

 All these symptoms were made worse by 

 eating strawberries or any other form of 

 acid. 



I tried all the best remedies known to 

 medici! e, but without relief. Any ])hysi- 



cian reading this will say at once, "Indiges- 

 tion and faulty assimilation." True. The 

 rheumatism was eviuently caused by an ex- 

 cess of acids and toxines in the blood from 

 faulty assimilation and poor digestion. I 

 lost 11 lbs. in weight, and was pale and hag- 

 gard. 



Having practiced medicine for 18 years I 

 hated to drop it and go to a place hotter 

 than Southern California, or, perh ips, after 

 partial recovery, go into some other busi- 

 ness; but as I knew that my time on earth 

 was likely to be short if my condition did 

 not quickly improve, and knowing that sun- 

 shine and pure air w^ould bring back my 

 health if any thing could, I thought of bee- 

 keeping. 



I bought 46 colonies of bees near Los An- 

 geles, in every imaginable kind of hive, and 

 some in no hives at all, and went to work 

 with them. It was early in the season; and 

 as there was but little for the bees to eat 

 they were savage, and stung me severely. 

 From the first, improvement in my condi- 

 tion was marked. I threw away my veil 

 and gloves, and took the stings in heroic 

 doses. On one occasion I let them sting un- 

 til I was nauseated. I have noticed the 

 same effect on others. One day I had an 

 eye closed, and my hands looked like twin 

 toads. 



The sharp pains entirely disappeared aft- 

 er the third or fourth large dose — from 30 to 

 40 stings at a time— and inside of one month 

 all soreness went away. My good color re- 

 turned, and I was cured. The chief symp- 

 toms noticed from the stings were hett, 

 both local and general; itching, tingling, 

 and formication — a feeling as of ants crawl- 

 ing over the skin — lasting for hours after a 

 large dose, giving rise the next day to a 

 feeling of added strength and vigor difficult 

 to describe. The sweat poure<t off in rivu- 

 lets, where before the skin was cold and 

 clammy. My weight increased to my nor- 

 mal, 150 lbs., and my friends noticed my 

 improved condition. I could eat acid foods 

 without harm, and my appetite improved 

 from the first. 



I have not become entirely immune to 

 the poison, although I am partially so. 

 The pain of the entering sting is about the 

 same as at first; but the local after-effects 

 are mu-'h less, and the general effects al- 

 most nil. 



For tlie benefit of physicians I will state 

 that the poison of the bee is not formic acid, 

 as has bten stated by some observers, but 

 an altogether different substan -e. If any 

 one wants to experiment with formic acid 

 obtained from an insect or other living crea- 

 ture he must obtain it from formica (the 

 ant) and not from the bee. 



'Ihe taste of bee-sting poison is pungent, 

 but has not the sorrel-like sourness of that 

 from the ant. 



I have often tasted and sraelled of both; 

 and if the acid of the ant is formic acid, 

 then the poison of the bee most decidedly is 

 not. 



Los Angeles, Cal. 



