1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



637 



there is a profit in it, and keep my bees at work 

 storing honey. 



Mr. Getaz' advice about the "home market" 

 is a hollow mockery so far as we are concerned. 

 It is all right for the man who has three colo- 

 nies, "spring count," increased to five, "besides 

 securing 36 pounds of nice comb honey." Sup- 

 pose you live in a region where one out of every 

 three beads of families, to say nothing of cases 

 like Rambler, who is both head and tail, is pro- 

 ducing honey for the market. There are about 

 300 voters in the township in which I live. Of 

 this number 81 are bee-keepers, with apiaries 

 of from 25 colonies for the beginner to seven or 

 eight hundred for the veteran, the average 

 being about 90 colonies. 



The half-dozen counties in the Southern Cal- 

 ifornia honey-belt shipped by rail in 189.5 2875 

 tons, as per reports of the freight auditors of 

 the two overland roads. I have no means of 

 knowing exactly how much was shipped by 

 water during the same period. The quantity 

 must have been large, though, for much of the 

 San Diego, Ventura, and Santa Barbara honey 

 was sent away by water. Now, this whole 

 region, perhaps larger than the State of Ten- 

 nessee, has less than half a million population. 

 So you see we can make no account of the home 

 market. 



I do not think it is fair that the grocer should 

 pay all his "license, clerk's salary, store rent, 

 delivery-wagon, book-keeping, collecting, etc.," 

 from the profits of my honey, unless he deals 

 exclusively in honey. He doesn't double the 

 prices of his sugar, his salt, his spices, his tin- 

 ned goods, his flour, potatoes, etc.; then why 

 should he not pay the honey-producer a price 

 nearer the selling price of the honey ? 



Lang, Cal., Aug. 8. 



[We have never had much if any call for 

 drawn combs — probably for the reason that we 

 have discouraged the buying of them on ac- 

 count of the danger of infection from foul 

 brood. As we have had that disease in our own 

 yard, we have several times refused to supply 

 combs because they are a very common me- 

 dium for the transmission of the disease. We 

 have refused even when there was and had 

 been no traces of the disease; but as there was 

 danger that microbes might be in the combs, 

 and break out any time, we did not care to lay 

 ourselves liable for damages. 



I firmly believe combs from foundation could 

 be produced at the prices they have been offer- 

 ed and sold for in years gone by— 25 and 30 cts. 

 apiece, and that, too, on wires in first-class 

 frames. My plan would be to put them in the 

 hives at the beginning of the honey-flow, al- 

 ternated with combs already drawn out. As 

 soon as they are filled with honey, extract 

 them and let the bees clean them up. 



The price you allowed in the original esti- 

 mate was 75 cts. per comb '" for purposes of in- 

 come." But this, I am sure, was altogether too 

 large; for we can never figure the cost of any 

 thing at more than what it can be replaced for. 

 A colony of bees might cost, say, $5.00; but for 

 purposes of income it might be worth some sea- 

 sons three times that; but its intrinsic value 



could be no more than the market price, what- 

 ever that might be.— Ed.] 



MOUNTAIN LAUREL. 



HOW IT PROVED TO BE POISONOUS IN TWO IN- 

 STANCES. 



By C. C. Lindley. 



Mr. J2oot;— Noticing your and Dr. Miller's 

 note in July 15th Gleanings concerning the 

 poison-honey question, I will tell you briefly 

 what I have learned about it. Last year we 

 had considerable complaint about bitter honey, 

 and in a few cases people became very sick 

 from eating honey — all of which was very re- 

 cently taken out of the old-style hives — gum 

 logs and boxes. There was but one complaint 

 from honey made in sections, and that was only 

 somewhat bitter, and had been off the hive 

 sometime. Among others I know of two reli- 

 able persons who gave me the particulars of 

 their experience with honey that made both 

 sick— one very much so, so that he was "laid 

 up " about two days, and had to have medical 

 aid in the beginning of his sickness, which re- 

 sulted soon after eating some tolerably fresh 

 honey at breakfast. He said the honey had a 

 taste a little peculiar, and somewhat in keep- 

 ing with the odor of the laurel bloom. The 

 symptoms are about all described alike— the 

 first trouble appearing being somewhat sick, 

 and then dizziness; the eyesight (in such cases 

 as this one) was also affected, and stinging, 

 pricking pains in the muscles and various por- 

 tions of the body. Vomiting soon occurs, which 

 affords some relief; but the victim may feel 

 the bad effects for some days afterward. An- 

 other case, that of a blind minister. He said 

 his experience was about the same as the first 

 named, except he did not get so sick; but the 

 dizzy feeling of the head and pains were about 

 the same. He says, like the first one, that the 

 honey was evidently in part from the moun- 

 tain laurel, the so-called rhododendron, of 

 which there is an abundance in the mountain 

 ridges and ravines. I have seen bees sucking 

 the flowers in dry weather in the latter part of 

 July, when there was little if any other pas- 

 turage for them. I have kept bees some ten 

 years, but have so far got no " poison honey." 



Old Fork, N. C, July 25. 



[This is quite in accord with the reports we 

 received years ago. While the honey may not 

 be poisonous under some circumstances, and to 

 some persons, it certainly is poisonous under 

 otiier circumstances and to other persons. It 

 is well known that some people have greater 

 power to resist effects of certain drugs than 

 others. It is possible that Prof. Cook can eat 

 some of the poisonous honeys without any bad 

 effects. It was decided years ago, in our col- 

 umns at least, that the riper these honeys the 

 less the effect upon the human system. These 

 cases mentioned in this letter, wherein there 

 was loss of vision, a pricking sensation, and 

 vomiting, show the effect of poison and not of 

 ordinary bad or unripe honey. — Ed.] 



