52 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Eeb. 



To pare away with the razor until you get 

 through the skin, and see the hloocl start- 

 why, it makes my flesh creep to think of it 

 now ; but the clips that came unawares with 

 the dull jack knife were scarcely heeded at 

 all, more than to tie up the wound to keep 

 the blood from soiling my work. 



Well, the point is, we are to take stings 

 just as we used to take the cuts with those 

 jack knives, in our boyhood days. Of course, 

 we are not to rush needlessly into danger, 

 but when it comes, take it philosophically. 

 I would pull the sting out as quickly as pos- 

 sible, and I would take it out in such a way 

 as to avoid, as much as possible, squeezing 

 the contents of the poison bag into the 

 wound. If you pick the sting out with the 

 thumb and finger in the way that comes nat- 

 ural, you will probably get a fresh dose of 

 poison in the act, and this will sometimes 

 prove the most painful of the whole opera- 

 tion, and cause the sting to swell when it 

 otherwise would not have done so. 



I have sometimes thought it might be near- 

 ly as well to leave the sting in the wound. I 

 have frequently found them when washing, 

 and the presence of the sting was the first 

 indication I had that I had been stung ; but 

 I presume I knew at the time that a sting 

 had been inflicted. 



THE PROPER WAY TO REMOVE A BEE STING. 



The blade of a knife, if one is handy, may 

 be slid under the poison bag, and the sting 

 lifted out, without pressing a particle more 

 of the poison into the wound. When a knife 

 blade is not handy, I would push the sting 

 out with the thumb or finger nail in much 

 the same way. It is quite desirable that the 

 sting should be taken out as quickly as pos- 

 sible, for if the barbs (to be described furth- 

 er along) once get a hold in the flesh, the 

 muscular contractions will rapidly work the 

 sting deeper and deeper. Sometimes, the 

 sting separates, and a part of it, one of the 

 splinters, so to speak, is left in the wound ; 

 it has been suggested that Ave should be very 

 careful to remove every one of these tiny 

 points, but after trying many times to see 

 what the effect would be, I have concluded 

 that they do but little harm, and that the 

 main thing is, to remove the part containing 

 the poison bag, before it has emptied itself 

 completely into the wound. When I am very 

 busy, or have something in my other hand 

 making it inconvenient to remove the sting 

 with my knife or finger nail, I have been in 

 the habit of rubbing the sting out, against 

 my clothing, in such a way as to push the 

 poison bag off sideways, and although this 



plan often breaks off the sting so as to 

 leave splinters in the wound, I have found 

 little, if any, more trouble from them than 

 usual. 



REMEDIES FOR BEE STINGS. 



For years past, I have taken the ground, 

 that remedies of all kinds are of so little a- 

 vail, if of any avail at all, that the best way 

 is to pay no attention to any of them. This 

 has awakened a great deal of arguing, I 

 know, and the remedies that have been sent 

 me, which the writers knew were good, be- 

 cause they had tried them, have been enough 

 to rill pages of this book. I have tried a 

 great many of them, and for a time, have 

 imagined they "did good," but after giving 

 them a more extended trial, I have been 

 forced to conclude that they were of no avail. 

 Nay, farther, they not only did no good, but 

 if the directions with the remedy were to rub 

 it in the wound, they did a positive harm ; 

 for the friction diffused the poison more rap- 

 idly into circulation, and made a painful 

 swelling of what would have been very tri- 

 fling, if let alone. Please bear in mind that 

 the poison is introduced into the flesh through 

 a puncture so minute, that the finest cambric 

 needle, could, by no manner of means, enter 

 where the sting did, and that the flesh closes 

 over so completely after it. that it is practi- 

 cally impossible for the remedy to penetrate 

 this opening; now, e^en if you have a reme- 

 dy that will neutralize the bee poison, in 

 something the same way that an acid neu- 

 tralizes an alkali, how are you to get the rem- 

 edy in contact with the poison V I know of 

 no way of doing it, except we resort to a sur- 

 gical operation, and if you will try that kind 

 of "tinkering" with one bee sting, you will 

 probably never want to try another. I tell 

 you, there is no remedy in the world like let- 

 ting it alone, and going on with your work 

 without even thinking about it. But sup- 

 pose we get a sting under the eye, that 

 closes up that very important organ ; shall 

 we go on with our work still? Well, I be- 

 lieve I would go on with my work still, and 

 do the best I could do with one eye. If both 

 were closed at once, I do not know but I 

 would wait awhile until they should get 

 open again. I would not resort to medicine 

 and ^tinkering," even then, but would let 

 the eyes alone, until they came open of 

 themselves. 



If the wound is feverish, or if a person has 

 received a great number of stings at one 

 time, an application of cold water or cloths 

 wet in cold water may prove a relief, but 

 even in using this simple means, I would lay 



