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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Nov. 1. 



shallow box just the size of my brood-chamber, 

 and put in about four inches of earth, sow my 

 seeds, and place the box over a sti-ong colony 

 early in the spring, and then place this glass- 

 roof cap over all; and the wai'mth from the 

 bees at bottom, and the heat from the sun at 

 the top. will cause the seeds to gei'minate very 

 soon: and the warmth from the be(>s will pre- 

 vent the plants from suffering on cold nights. 

 In this way I can have as many hotb<'ds as I 

 wish; and, fuilhermore. these hives may be 

 used for solar wax-extractors. And now, Mr. 

 Root, the hour has arrived for you to take your 

 departure. The stage is coming for you. 1 am 

 very sorry you can not make a longer stay; and 

 here let me say. that, whenever any of the 

 members of the Home of the Honey-bees wish 

 to visit Vermont bee-keepers, you send an older 

 person— one that can not //;/ so swiftly as you 

 can— the vetei-an A. I., for instance— that we 

 may have a little more time to visit. Notwith- 

 standing that, I have enjoyed your visit very 

 much indeed; but when I am favored with 

 agreeable company I like to keep it as long as I 

 can." A. E. Manum. 



Bristol, Vt. 



Most of the bee-keepers whom I visited felt 

 that I was paying them a rather short visit; but 

 I had planned, by getting copy ahead, etc., to 

 be away for only one month. As I had to trav- 

 el something over a thousand miles in all, and 

 visit bee - keepers and friends all along the 

 route, you can readily see that my time had to 

 be put on rather short rations for each; and 

 those bee-keepers who were situated on the 

 latter end of the journey. I am sorry to say, got 

 shorter visits than those I called on first. 



I make this explanation, that the kind friends 

 whom I visited, and others whom I may visit 

 in the future, may know why I was in such a 

 huri'y. My trip in Vermont paid me well, and 

 one day with you was a good deal better than 

 nothing. I saw many things at your place that 

 interested me. But I found along the route, 

 that, when I visited a representative bee-keep- 

 er of the locality. I saw pretty much the same 

 sort of bee-keeping within a radius of a hun- 

 dred miles. You and Mr. Crane were represent- 

 atives of your locality, and in a sense I saw a 

 good deal of Vermont bee-keeping. 



Now, really, about that queen - excluding 

 zinc failing to accomplish its object. I am 

 somewhat troubled about it. We had had re- 

 ports that in exceptional cases the queen got 

 through it; and you remember that Mr. Mcln- 

 tyre, of California, used these same boards with 

 a good deal of satisfaction, while he admitted 

 that occasionally a queen would get through. 

 These reports, together with your own state- 

 ment, influenced us to get a new set of dies; 

 and now I am happy to state that they are 

 made, and the perforations of the zinc are ex- 

 actly ^o^jj of an inch— the size adopted by Dr. 

 Tinker, and recommended by Mclntyre. The 

 old zinc we had (and which was sent you) 

 measures about ^^o'^- at least some of the per- 

 forations. As it was too large it is no more 

 than fair that we offer to make the matter 

 right in some way. 



MEDICAL FACTS, 



FROM A DOC'TOK "WHO DOCTOKS WITHOUT VERV 

 MUCH MEDICINE. 



We, and I think a great many thousands of 

 the readers of Gleanings, are thankful that it 

 has sucii extra good "Roots'" that branch out 

 in so many intei'esting and important subjects 

 for the good of the people, when the bees fail tO' 

 store surplus lioney for us. It used to be said, 

 that the Jove of money is the root of all evil. 

 That was when preachei-s di'ank whisky, and 

 used tobacco, without tiiinking of roots, good, 

 bad, or medicinal. I used to thinlv. and am 

 now of the same opinion, that the science of 

 medicine, as taught and practiced sixty years 

 ago, was the root of more evil, suffering, and 

 death, than all other evils comlained. The 

 science of medicine was called •' scientific ignor- 

 ance;'" and the practice, '■ mnrderousquackery." 



A great many quit the practice of medicine 

 after finding put that they were doing more 

 harm than good. An old doctoi' of the " regular 

 faculty " in Ohio told me that he did not know 

 that he ever cured a patient, and said that he 

 knew he had killed some, but not intentionally. 



For many yeai'S I have admired the candor 

 and honest acknowledgments of Dr. O. W. 

 Holmes. When he said, '' It were better for the 

 people were all the medicine of tlie world cast 

 into the sea," he meant medicine used by the 

 regular faculty, such as he had been taught to- 

 use. I don't think he meant water, honey, and 

 other domestic remedies. 



An exi)erienced regular doctor in Louisville. 

 Ky., told me that the jx'ople would be better off 

 without than with such medicines as he used; 

 but he said he had to visit patients, and they 

 would not be satisfied without medicine. No 

 wondei' that homeopathic patients get along sa 

 much better when the doctor gives little sugar 

 pellets without any mcdiciiic. 



A reverend doctoi' of divinity told me that he 

 quit the regular practice of medicine because 

 the medicine did more hurt than good, and he 

 had to lie to his patients. He also said he 

 thought it necessary to lie to patients, or it was 

 ])Ctter in many cases than medicine. Many years 

 ago one of niy comrades was sick with feveiv 

 and the regular doctor said he w.ould die. as 

 most of his fever patients did; but in the night, 

 when the \^'atcher was' asleep in his chair, the 

 patient, "burning up with fever," tongue and 

 lips cracked open, "dying with thirst," reached 

 the pail or pitcher of water and drank all he 

 could. When the doctor came the next morn- 

 ing he was surprised to find his patient better — 

 saved by natare's remedy, contrary lo the doc- 

 tor's science and murderous treatment. Thank 

 the Lord, the doctors are progressing, using- 

 mor(> common sense, and do not ruin as many 

 constitutions as formerly. Owe of the professors 

 in the Ohio Medical College, in Cincinnati, said 

 to us (the students of four medical colleges) in 

 one of his clinical lectures in the hospital, that 

 an old woman's remedy had done more good 

 than all the remedies in the materia medica. 

 He also advised the use of warm water and 

 vapor bat lis. 



In North Carolina, at one time in 180.5, I sent 

 a requisition i6 Wilmington for medicine, and 

 failed to get anv. Surg(>on Thomas, ex-professor 

 in Keokuk, Iowa, Medical College, said he 

 would go himself after mi'dicine. When he 

 came back he said there was none to be had. I 

 told him that I was a radical botanic and hy- 

 dropathist, and could prescribe better medicines 

 that were right handy by than were furnished 

 by the government. 



It is recorded in history, that Surgeon Daniel 

 Tyrrell was frequently called to visit other 



