1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



757 



baker to supply it to our trade along with our 

 other hives. 



POISONOUS honey; the united states de- 



PAKTMENT OF AGRICULTURE INVESTIGAT- 

 ING THE SUBJECT. 



On the 17th of last month we received an in- 

 quiry from the U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture, Division of Botany, asking for informa- 

 tion regarding cases of alleged poisoning from 

 honey, and desiring to know particularly 

 whether we had any thing more to offer in re- 

 gard to the cases mentioned in Gleanings for 

 July and August, 1885. We replied that we 

 could give no new light regarding them, but 

 added that very recently Prof. Cook, of Pomona 

 College, Claremont, Cal., in a recent article in 

 the American Bee Journal, took the ground 

 that there was no poisonous honey from any 

 plant, and that since then communications had 

 come in, both to the Avierican Bee Journal, 

 Gleanings, and to the Southland Queen, pro- 

 ducing evidence that in some cases at least per- 

 sons had been poisoned; and, moreover, that in 

 our own opinion there could be no doubt, judg- 

 ing by reports we had received for several 

 years back, that honey from poisonous plants 

 is often dangerously poisonous. I am glad to 

 know that the Department of Agriculture is 

 investigating this subject, and hope that those 

 of our readers who may be in possession of any 

 information on the subject will write to V. K. 

 Chesnut, assistant of the Division of Botany 

 in the Department of Agriculture, Washington, 

 D. C. 



In the mean time 1 desire to call attention to 

 a valuable article from the pen of Dr. W. M. 

 Stell. of Jesus Maria, Mexico, in the SoutJdand 

 Queen, giving the result of some of his personal 

 investigations. The mountain laurel grows 

 profusely in his vicinity, and he has observed 

 that goats eat of it ravenously; but that burros 

 and mules will noi touch it. Upon his asking 

 a herder of the goats as to whether this moun- 

 tain laurel was poisonous to the animals, the 

 herder replied that it was not; that they often 

 drove the goats to them. Upon asking the 

 herder whether he had ever taken any inward- 

 ly himself, he replied that he had; but that it 

 produced pain and vomiting. 



To test the matter further, the doctor made a 

 tincture of the leaves and ihen mixed one ounce 

 of this decoction with 8 ounces of diluted hon- 

 ey. This was fed to the bees; they took it 

 readily, and stored it in the combs, apparently 

 without any bad effects whatever. The next 

 morning after feeding, with a small suction- 

 dropper he extracted about 3 ounces of the mix- 

 ture he had fed, and placed it in a glass gradu- 

 ate. Half an ounce was then eaten by himself, 

 and the rest, an ounce and a half, by a Mexican 

 boy, and this is what he says: 



Now for the direct physiologiciil efifect on man 

 and boy. About one-half lioui- utter swallowing- 

 this honey I suddenly became giddy, with a slight 



loss of sight; felt as if being whirled around. I im- 

 mediafely introduced my finger as far down the 

 throat as possible, and vomited "sweet laurels" up, 

 which relieved me instantly. The dose with the 

 boy stayed with him all right for one hour. 



1 will state right here, dear reader, the Almighty 

 being my helper, I will never tr.y another experi- 

 ment On any humi^n again, and advise you all to do 

 likewise. Just listen to these honey symptoms: 



Tlie boy fell with a violent convulsion; hard, con- 

 tracted stomach, cold hands and feet, profuse per- 

 spiration, mouth tightly closed, eyes opened and 

 rolled back, pupils dilated, face flushed, twitching 

 of lower limbs, and gre:i,t dilfioulty of breatliing, 

 pulse full, only .^U per minute, but strong. Being 

 more than satisfied, and gieatly alarmed with these 

 symptoms, two one-tenth grains of apomorphia 

 were administered hypodermically, in the left bi- 

 ceps, which promptly produced an emetic pflFect 

 that rela.xed all muscular contraction. After a 

 good vomit he sat up, complaining of jjain in the 

 stomach and back of neck. Two ounces of castor- 

 oil were administered, which operated in about two 

 hours, bringing away a great deal of lioney in the 

 vomits also. The boy was quite broken up and un- 

 well tor a week, but is now bright as a dollar, as 

 though nothing ever happened. 



I hope, after this little experiment, those who are 

 skeptical on laurel honey being poisonous, will only 

 try a small bit on themselves, and know, personally, 

 how it feels. I will assure you that a few of the 

 above symptoms will convince and put you straight. 

 Some may say. Why does it not produce sucli effects 

 on tlie bee ? Well, this I do not know, nor does any 

 one else. It is true that, when the nectar is gath- 

 ered from flowers, it underyoes a slight peculiar 

 physiolo^iieal change, that strains, refines, and re- 

 duces the amount of acid. Tins prevents fermenta- 

 tion, and conserves preservation, but does not alter 

 its natural constituents: if it did, all honey would 

 look and taste alike. 



It seems to me it is a great deal safer to take 



the ground that honey from mountain laurel 



and like poisonous plants may be and probably 



is poisonous to human beings. Dr. Stell winds 



up his valuable article as follows: 



I believe it is the ho lest duty of all bee-keepers to 

 be more studious auont the poisonous plants, and 

 ascertain from which source the bees gather the 

 honey. jMsmine, digitalis, oleander, nightshade, 

 etc., are all dangerous and poisonous garden-plants 

 which should be substituted by others more profit- 

 able and as lieautiful. I hardly think bees will visit 

 such poisonous plants unless compelled to do so by 

 absence of all others, and during a sudden check in 

 the honey-flow. 



MAILING queens ACROSS THE OCEAN PRACTIC- 

 ALLY A SUCCESS. 



At \;\^t we are able to announce that queens 

 can now be mailed safely from Italy to the 

 United States. Until quite recently Italian 

 queens came ly exp/'cs.s in little hives or ship- 

 ping boxes containing a couple of combs about 

 3x4 inches, and perhaps a couple of lunnired 

 bees. This made it necessary to get a shipment 

 of not less than .50 in order to get out whole; for 

 the express on a smaller number would be about 

 the same. Besides the increased expense by ex- 

 press was the inconvenience of being obliged to 

 make room in our apiary for ,50 imported queens 

 all in one day. Plan for it as best we could, it 

 would disarrange to a considerable extent our 

 queen-rearing operations. Now this nuisance 

 is, I hope, all done away with, since queens can 

 now come in lots of three or four by mail as fast 

 as we need them. 



For a couple of years back we have forward- 

 ed at various times our export cages, already 

 provisioned, to our breeder in Italy, with in- 



