July, 11(16. 



237 



as valuable sources of nectar. Richter 

 lists the western choke cherry as a 

 source of honey in California, and 

 Lovell mentions the wild red cherry in 

 the eastern States. The writer has a 

 sample of this honey sent to him from 

 the apiary of W. S. Pangburn, of Jones 

 Co., Iowa, having a distinct cherry taste 

 and bright yellowcolor. After 2 years it 

 shows no trace of granulation although 

 subject to all changes of temperature 

 of Iowa climate both summer and win- 

 ter. All, but few of the samples of 

 honey in the collection have candied 

 under similar conditions. 



Since in northern States the bloom 

 comes after the blossoms have fallen 

 from the domestic fruits and just before 

 the opening of white clover, it should 

 prove of considerable value where 

 present in quantity. 



Atlantic, Iowa. 

 Copyright: i<)i6, by Frank C. Pellett. 



A Beesting Victim's Idea of a 

 Bee-Hat 



BY DR. G. R. RICHARDSON. 



HAVING been told times without 

 number about persons whom bees 

 would not sting under any circum- 

 stances, and how grandfather handled 

 bees with his bare hands and never was 

 stung, and that such foolishness as 

 wearing a veil was never thought of, I 

 began to wonder if some of these 

 stories were not on a par with the oft- 

 repeated assertion that father had 

 double teeth all around and was in the 

 habit of cracking hickory nuts and 

 biting cut nails in two. I wondered 

 what a double tooth looked like and 

 what sized nails they had when father 

 was a young man, and also why it is 

 that we no longer have those deep 

 snows that covered the fences out of 

 sight, and finally concluded that most 

 of these stories were told by men who 

 had been eating artificial comb honey 

 and didn't know it. 



There is a difference in persons get- 

 , ting stung, and it is not all in know- 

 ing how to handle bees, nor is it all in 

 the kind of bees, nor the time of day or 

 state of the honey flow; although all 

 these factors must be understood and 

 taken into consideration if the full en- 

 joyment is to be derived from bee- 

 keeping. 



I have been laughed at for being 

 afraid of bees, and have been told how 

 they should have been handled, and 

 have had the satisfaction of seeing the 

 bragger with both eyes swollen shut, 

 and so those stories that appear from 

 time to time in the bee-papers in which 

 the smarty gets bitten appeal to me. 



I was not sure at the time I received 

 my near-lethal dose whether it was a 

 heart stroke, a snake bite or bee stings, 

 but remembered after it was all over, 

 and in calmer moments, of feeling two 

 stings on my left ankle and> also of 

 seeing the bees. 



It was a sultry July day and we were 

 going over our bees to see that every- 

 thing was right. VVe were standing, 

 one on each side of a hive which was 

 raised up on blocks, as it was in the 

 height of the flow. We were busy. I 

 knew that I had been stung, but did 

 not pay much attention to it; in fact, 

 not as much as usual. I always remote 



American Hee Journal ii 



the sting as quickly as possible, having 

 found that it does not swell so badly if 

 removed at once, and that alone may 

 account for the unusual effect that day. 



First I noticed a tingling sensation 

 in both feet, but thought it imagination 

 until my hands also began to feel as if 

 asleep, (and only then I awoke to the 

 fact that something unusual was^hap- 

 pening, and told my wife that I vvould 

 have to stop. By the time we reached 

 the house I began to see high lights, 

 and in 15 minutes that was all I could 

 see, as both eyes were closed and my 

 throat and tongue were so thick I could 

 speak with diflSculty. 



Even then I was not alarmed until I 

 felt for my pulse, and getting no return 

 I asked my wife to put her ear down 

 and see if it had really stopped. She of 

 course told me that it was still beating, 

 but by that time I was too sick to joke 

 any longer, and although I had never 

 fainted in my life, I thought that my 

 time for it had come. I deny that I lost 

 consciousness, but will have to admit 

 that at one time I was not far from it. 

 My wife made strong coffee, but I was 

 too sick to drink it, and thinking of 

 some aspirin we had in the house, she 

 gave me 15 grains. After keeping quiet 

 for some time I felt enough better to 

 drink a cup of coffee, and then the 

 worst was over. I was so full of fire 

 that I did not sleep much the first part 

 of the night, but awoke the next morn- 

 ing fully conscious that I had missed a 

 meal. It did not take me long to make 

 up that, and aside from a swollen ankle 

 I was none the worse for my experi- 

 ence. 



The strange part of it was that I had 



^^'^Z] 



been stung over a dozen times on the 

 same ankle only the week before, and 

 it had not inconvenienced me in the 

 least. The effect of these two stings 

 was certainly out of all proportion to 

 the size of the dose I received. 



I know of no reason for this unusual 

 effect unless it was because of being 

 overheated, and yet I have been hotter 

 than I seemed to be at this time. It 

 may have been that, my circulation 

 being more rapid, the poison got 

 action all at once instead of gradually 

 being distributed, and then again there 

 may have been a difference in the viru- 

 lence of the poison at this particular 

 part of the honey flow. 



At any rate, I have concluded to get 

 along without a repetition of this kind 

 of experimentation in the future and 

 with this end in view have put together 

 a uniform which is in part a diving 

 suit, part Ideal, part Coggshall, and 

 part Globe. The headpiece of wire- 

 cloth attached to a discarded office coat 

 of duck, which has been sewed together 

 down the front and cut out at the neck 

 so it is easier to get into. With gaunt- 

 let gloves and high shoes, which are 

 laced up outside my trouseis' legs, I 

 imagine that if any bee gets at me now 

 it will have to go through, and there is 

 no place it can do that as I sewed it 

 myself and wa.xed the thread. While I 

 was sewing I was thinking of what a 

 time I had, and would go over it again 

 if it looked at all weak at any place. 



I own up that I do get sort of heated 

 up when I wear it for any great length 

 of time, but did any one ever work 

 long at that time of year when there is 

 the most to be done with bees who 



THE RICH.'\RDSON BEEPROOF SUIT 



