rjE^v^OTEiD e:x:ci-.t:jsi'Vex.^s" to bees -A^nsriD non^^E-^sr 



Vol. III. 



FEBRUARY, 1, 1875. 



No. 11. 



PL>EASA]V'r ANI> UNPLEASANT FEA- 

 TURES OF THE APIARY. 



UY A l!EK-KKKrEK"S WIFK. 



MpR. EDITOR:— I have no idea of trying to quarrel 

 with ynii for saying that people hart better 

 -_ ■ learn not to minrt bee stings, insteart of hnnting 

 11)) cures. However, there is an occasional sting that 

 is wortli niiniling, and cnring if von can. 



My little "Blue Eyes" hart picked up a stray bee or 

 two. anrt been stnng on her fingers, with no serious 

 effect, and we thought a little siilt anrt water, remedy 

 enough, even on bab.v flesh, but one very warm day 

 last summer, when the bees were unusually cross anrt 

 her bloort much heatert, she stood watching the bees, 

 and one stung lier in the upper eye lid. The sting was 

 extractert as soon as possible, anrt her hands held 

 from rubbing it, but within three minutes she was 

 covered from head to foot with large blotches, each, 

 apparently, as bad as a bee sting. [ washed her iu 

 saleratus "water, which soon cooled the lire anrt re- 

 duced the swelling, so that she soon went to sleeji, 

 but the right hand and foot, and face were swollen 

 for some days. I hart regardert a sting as a ligi.t 

 matter l)efor"e, but about the same time I receivert a 

 sting that affected me about the same, but as it was 

 on my throat, the swelling and inflammation extended 

 to the lungs, and breathing was very difficult ami 

 ))ainful; 1 suffered extremefy all that day, and -.vas 

 confined to my bed the greater part of three days. 

 One thing that seemed to me strange was th.at the ex- 

 tremities were the most swollen. 



Fur similar cases, a remedy should be known "if 

 any such there l)e." If others know of no better. I 

 would recommend saleratus water.^that is if one does 

 not understand the use of water well enough to try 

 the ''wet sheet pack'' a la Gallup. 



Xow, my success in bee-keeping ! My husband has 

 reported his— here is mine. But why mine, you ask? 

 I answer. You know a woman is frequently wanting 

 some new furniture or other extravagance'and don't 

 know when to take the money, l)ecause it always 

 seems to be needed more for coi)i>er-toed-shoes, reap- 

 ers, bee fixtures, etc. I wanted an oi'gan. So Husband 

 says, "select a swarm of bees in the spring, and we 

 will devote all the proceeds to the organ and in course 

 of time it will Ijuy one, ))roviding it does not come 

 before." 



Bees were weak, that spring, and the "Organ hive" 

 did not get ready to swarm till Basswoort season, then 

 were not allowed to. but they furnished '2-25 lbs. of 

 honey worth S^iO.OO. The next year one new swarm 

 anrt 17.") lbs. hcniey, which soirt for S27.0O. Now I wi^h 

 I could stop, but one swarm died last winter, and the 

 other gatherccl ou\y in lb-;, of sur|)lus honey this year. 

 Never mind— amilhcr year is coming, and il will bring 

 summer and hone> , I know. 



But my, my. thi^ is too long for Gle.vnings ! Well 

 never mind. Novice will reacl it any way. He reads 

 all the nonsense and I couldn't shorten it; a woman's 

 lingers, like her tongue, are so long. 



Mks. a. H()WKi.L, Faribault. Rice Co., Minn. 



But it isn't a liit too lon,^ in our opinion and 

 we trust our rcad'jrs ajjprove of our t.iste and 

 judirment iu sucli matters. We have Iiad a 

 eery few cases come under our observation 

 where stinijs produced simihvr elFects, and 

 would biithe with cold water by all means to 

 allay tlic fever and irrittition. It is quite prob- 

 able that the alkali of the saleratus would 

 tend to cleanse the pores of the skin thereb}' 

 enabling the water to perform its work more 



effectively. [If this isn't correct we beg par- 

 don of the ]\I. D.'s, among our readers, of which 

 there are many.] If you will excuse it .Mi-s. K., 

 we should like to suggest that fright tind the; 

 imagination lias much to do with these alarm- 

 ing symptoms, especially among the inexperi- 

 enced. In your own case probal)ly not, yet avc 

 have a few times had stings ourselves of such 

 pungenc}', tlnit had we not reasoned from ex- 

 perience, we might have been seriously tilarm- 

 ed. There is a queer feature in humanity of 

 which physicians are well aware, viz: that so 

 long as the mind dwells on an injury (mental 

 or physical) it assumes to the patient ten-fold 

 magnitude. Who has not forgotten the excru- 

 ciating pain of a headache or toothache, upon 

 the- arrival of friends or any other event, that 

 actively employed both mind and body. We 

 reallj^ can discover no good reason for giving 

 any further advice than we did at first, viz : 

 after extracting the sting (every "little splin- 

 ter," P. G. says) get to work at something as 

 speedily as possible, that will busily employ 

 both mind and body. We earnestly request 

 that you keep us posted in regard to that 

 "Organ hive." 



P. S. — In regard to bee stings : will some 

 competent medical authority tell us whether 

 it really be possible for any application to reach 

 the poison introduced by the sting. The punc- 

 ture is so minute and dvap, and the skin closes 

 again so perfectly, that it is very rare that even 

 blood finds its way back. Can we expect our 

 tinctures to reach ihe poison in order to neu- 

 tralize it, without ail instrument like the stiug 

 to introduce itV Some Yankee might invent 

 a machine and sell "individual rights" 'tis true, 

 but at present htid we not best satisfy ourselves 

 that when Ave have used cold water to allay 

 the fever, in extreme cases, we have done about 

 all we can do. Sucking the |)oisou out is very 

 good logic ; when one has satisfied himself 

 thas he really has strength enough in the prop- 

 er muscles to do this. \\v should advise it by 

 all means; as the jilan of employing an expert 

 in this art, to treat jjatients promiscuously 

 might be one of doubtful expediency, we think 

 we may be excused for going back to our orig- 

 inal advice, to "go on with your work and let 

 'em alone." Now can we not drop the subject 

 for at least one whole year? 

 — —»»<»♦ ^ 

 OUR 0\V.\ APIARV. 



%r^N consequence of press of business pertain- 

 -IL , ing to the new year the inmates of the 

 forcing house have been allowed to slumber for 

 the past few weeks. Wiiiliy thiys \Yhen the 



