96 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



.Tax. 



BADGES FOR THE EXPOSITION. 



Your suggestion, that all the bee-men wear badg- 

 es, and meet in Cincinnati when they go to New 

 (3rleanp. just suits me. I propose that you make 

 the badges, and let us know in the next number 

 what you can furnish them at. It will be much more 

 pleasant when we go in the cars, looking for a seat, 

 to sit down with a brother kee-keeper than a baker 

 or a butcher. Jas. P. Smith. 



Franconia, Minn., Jan. VZ, 1885. 



I agree with you, friend S. If it were not 

 for looking too conspicuous, I sliould like 

 the idea of having one's name on the badge. 

 For instance, when M'e are looking about in 

 a crowd, and a good many are talking, there 

 probably would be hardly time to in(iuire of 

 everybody who he was ; but if by looking at 

 his badge we could see somethiiig like this, 

 "I am xV. I. Root, of Medina, ().. who are 

 you V" wouldn't it help us to get ac(iuaintedV 

 I for one find it extremely ditlicult to re- 

 member friends I have been introduced to 

 and talked with, and once or twice I have 

 found myself sliaking hands with one I had 

 shaken hands with but a short time l)ef ore. 

 I do not suppose it did any harm. l)ut may 

 be some of the brethren might think I was 

 a little eccentric or queer, and I for one 

 don't want to be thought queer. I want to 

 make my life count just as much as it possi- 

 bly can for the Master, and tlierefore I want 

 my influence to weigh every ounce it possi- 

 bly can be made to. If having my name and 

 residence on my badge would help me to 

 help somebody else, I am willing to do it, 

 whether it makes people stare or not ; but if 

 it should have the effect of making me look 

 queer and singular, and thereby lessening 

 the weight of my iniluence, then I do not 

 want to do it. ]May be somebody can help 

 ns right here. We shall be a band of broth- 

 ers down there, gathered from far and wide, 

 and we may ride miles side by side witli 

 somebody we wanted to see most, and not 

 know it, "unless some precaution be taken. 



THE PIONEER APIARY OF BRITISH 

 BURMAH. 



MAKINO THE BUHMAH BEES ADOPT SIMPLICITY 

 HIVES AND ABC MANAGEMENT. 



fItlEND ROOT:— A B C has arrived, and so has 

 another swarm of bees. The swarm I wrote 

 of was driven ott by ants. I got another 

 swarm, and robbers drove them off. ABC 

 arrived, and now we are prospering. I do 

 not know tliat you will yet admit me to the A B C 

 class, but 1 have almost got my lesson— in theory I 

 mean— but have little of the practice as yet. If it 

 takes as many swarms of bees to make an apiary 

 as hills of corn to make a row, we have hardly an 

 apiary yet; but when we have one I think we 

 must call it the "Pioneer Apiary of Burmah," for I 

 don't know that there ever was an apiary before in 

 liurmah. 



I have had my swarm nearly two months. I had 

 a Simplicity hive, made by mj- Burman carpenter, 

 as nearly like the pattern as I could get him to make 

 it. He thought I was very particular, and I was 

 obliged to undo his work several times before it 

 was completed. In due time I got every thing 

 ready, and " a few things more," as ABC directs, 



opened the old box in which the bees were bi-ought 

 from the bills, and transferred. Half the bees left 

 for the roof of the veranda, a lot elustei-ed on the 

 head of my Karen boy, and the rest were on the 

 comb and in the hive. In short, we made the trans- 

 fer in a bungling way; but as we had brood, the 

 little folks concluded to staj- with us, and the next 

 daj' were at work. 



As there is an abundance of pollen about, and 

 very little honey, I fed them slowly with syrup; 

 and as a result thej' are multiplying very rapidly. 

 Saturday last I opened the hive and spaced the 

 brood and gave them a new comb in the center of 

 the brood-nest, and they seemed to be immensely 

 tickled with it, and set about gathering pollen, etc., 

 with new vigor. I measured the cells, and found 

 just six and a half to the inch; so you see tliey are 

 little fellows. Nellie thinks that these bees have 

 read Gleanings and ABC, for they act in almost 

 every thing just as A B C says they ought to. It is 

 most laughable to see the yoting bees come in with 

 their first loads. Altogether they have brought a 

 very pleasant element of pleasure and recreation 

 into our mission circle. The natives are greatly in- 

 tei-ested, and wonder that the bees ai'e so gentle, 

 and that we can make them mind. They are veni 

 gentle. I do not think they would have stung at 

 all in transferring, if we had not used an old feath- 

 er brush, to sweep them down from the roof into 

 the hive. They didn't like that, and attacked it 

 with great ferocity. Four shot by, and paid me 

 their compliments. 



I notice that these bees are most active after four 

 o'clock p. M. Then they are very busy bringing in 

 pollen. At noon not one is stirring. In the morn- 

 ing a few are flying. About 2 o'clock almost every 

 day they fly out, to stretch themselves apparently. 

 Whenever I lift the cloth over the frames they look 

 up to see what is coming, but make no sign of com- 

 ing out. They post no sentries, save just at even- 

 ing, when a few come out and fan at the entrance, 

 and make a show of flght to every bee that comes 

 in. In a little while they return, and any strange 

 bee could easily enter the hive. When we first got 

 them they roamed the house over, alighting on our 

 faces, and crawling over our persons. At first the 

 timid took to the mosquito-curtains (I was far off at 

 my office); but as it was soon apparent that they 

 only wanted to get acquainted, they were not mo- 

 lested, and stung no one. So much for the " Pioneer 

 Apiary of Burmah." 



THE STING OF A SCOKPION. 



I see some one says in Gleanings that red onions 

 are good for stings. The sting of a scorpion is the 

 sting of hundreds of bees concentrated, and I have 

 seen natives stung by a scorpion, writhe in pain on 

 the ground, yet, in fifteen or twenty minutes, freed 

 from pain bj'the application of the fresh surface of 

 the small red onion. It is a specific with us, and 

 the first and last resort. Ammonia, etc., will fail, 

 but 1 ha\-e never known the onion to fail. 1 never 

 tried it with liee stings. A. IU'NKEk. 



Toungoo, British Burmah, Nov. 21. 18S4. 

 >\Iany tlianks for your kind descriiitive let- 

 ter, friend J5. I was especially intt rested in 

 this matter of the sting of a scorpion. I have 

 sometimes wondered whether this scorpion 

 poison is any thing like a bee-sting. IIow 

 does the scorpion introduce the i)oison V It 

 is not a sting like a bee-sling, is it? In re- 

 gard to onion juice, I should think likely it 

 might " hit the spot " if any thing would. 

 So you have yourself really been stung by a 



