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GLEANINGS IN EEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



the beginning of ench year's work among my bees, 

 that flie poison affected me in various ways, and 

 my wife would often have to awalien nie when she 

 heard me unconsciously moaning in my sleep. The 

 niglit after pulling out these stings, this moaning 

 became so pronounced as to awaken the friends 

 with whom I was staying, and alarm them with the 

 fear that I was dying. Intense dryness of the 

 tongue and fauces, accompanied sometimes by 

 i\ hat seemed to be an aggravated form of heart- 

 burn, smarting of the eyes, a heavy, drooping sen- 

 sation in the eyelids, breaking out of fiery spots 

 o\-cr various parts of my body, a disposition to al- 

 most tear the flesh of my cheeks, dreaming of the 

 most excited kind, full of violent motion — these 

 and many other symptoms were of frequent re- 

 currence at the beginning of each bee campaign. 



After getting the medicinal bee-poison, as before 

 recited, the effect upon me was so severe that I be- 

 came really alarmed, and earnestly sought to pro- 

 tect myself against any recurrence of such un- 

 pleasant symptoms. I soon found this was next to 

 impossible. To converse with those fresh from 

 handling bees — nay, even to receive letters or 

 postal cards from them, was to be poisoned again. + 



Ten years ago, being at my old home in Greenfield, 

 Mass., I engaged to visit my friend Wm. W. Gary, 

 of Coleraine, one Saturday afternoon, intending to 

 preach to a congregation where for some years I 

 had served as their pastor. The day was a charm- 

 ing one, and I was quite happy at the thought of 

 meeting so many old friends. Mr. Cary had been 

 handling bees all day, and was well charged of 

 course with the bee-poison. Almost as soon as he 

 had shaken hands with me, my eyes began to smart, 

 my eyelids to feel heavy, and my face to itch. My 

 spirits sank at once, and the thought of preaching 

 and seeing my old friends caused me only anxiety; 

 in short, the very bottom of all hopefulness seemed 

 to drop out, as it were, in a few moments. E.xplain- 

 ing my reasons, I sought other quarters, but the 

 pleasure of my visit was essentially spoiled. Im- 

 agination: I hear some one saying. Does imagina- 

 tion cause burning eruptions on the body, constant 

 roaring in the cars, as though near a waterfall, to 

 say nothing of moaning in sleep, etc.? 



From 187.5 to 1881 I dreaded the return of each 

 bee-season. My letters were all read by some mem- 

 ber of my family, that T might handle none from 

 bee-keepers. 1 felt that, let my general health be 

 what it might, I could do nothing more with bees. 

 While I could easily trace much of my suffering 

 to the bee-poison, I could not believe that it was the 

 cause of the head trouble from which I have suf- 

 fered so muc^h, for I was a frequent martyr to this 

 many years before I kept bees. Now, had I given 

 my experience with the bee-poison from 1875 to 1881, 

 I should have left the matter in such a shape as to 

 prejudice many against having any thiqgto do with 

 bees. I should only have given the actual facts in 

 my case; but for want of other facts not then duly 

 weighed by me, my facts would have seemed to 

 warrant inferences just the opposite from the truth. 



In the spring of 1881 my health being more fully 

 restored than for some years, it seemed to me al- 

 most an impossibility to keep longer away from the 

 bees. A new thought suddenly occurred to me. 



■fThe susceptibility of some persons to the beepoiaon. seems 

 to be as )?reat as that of others to the poison-ivy. I can handle 

 this with impunity, while I have friends who can not get near 

 cnoiiRh to it to see it. without being poisoned by it, if the wind 

 blows to them from it! 



Suppose a person after long use of tobacco or opium 

 should give them up for some time — long enough 

 for the effect they produce to pass away — and 

 should then attempt to take the old, big dose', 

 would he not be naturallj' alarmed at the re- 

 sult? May I not be mistaken, then, in supposing 

 that any great change has taken place in my sys- 

 tem, as respects the effects of the bee-poison upon 

 it? and may not my painful experiences of the last 

 six years be accounted for in another way? So 

 long as I kept bees and dealt so largely in queens I 

 was compelled each year to inoculate my system so 

 fully with their poison, that however severe the 

 ordeal at first, I soon became indifferent to it. Now 

 being under no such necessity, 1 stop short every 

 time of full and repeated doses. Suppose that I 

 take such doses again. With fear and trembling 

 on the part of my family, but with scarcely any on 

 I my part, I determined to test the matter, for ns 

 ; even the presence of freshly extracted honey in 

 j the house was enough to bring on another attack, 

 I felt that I must get out of the world before I 

 could escape from this dreaded poison. J determin- 

 1 ed, therefore, to make full proof of my new theory. 

 I Without any bee-hat, 1 helped my friends to extract 

 I their honey, all the time saying to the bees, " Sting 

 1 me as often as you please;" and as they were gentle 

 [ Italians, I did not scruple by somewhat rough treat- 

 ment, to make them do much more than they nat- 

 urally wished to, in the way of stinging. From the 

 very first I did not suffer nearly as much as I had 

 doue every year since I ceased to work with bees I 

 I and little if any more than I had done every year 

 j when first handling them. In about a week I was 

 I again bee-proof, and launched out at once into a 

 I course of experiments (all in vain) to control if pos- 

 sible the impregnation of queens. 

 How can I ever describe my delight in handling 

 j again the movable frames! In the apiary of a 

 neighbor, Kev. McGregor, I fully proved that with 

 small strips of foundation for guides, I could use 

 my comb-guides, or guide-frames, and secure from 

 Italian bees the same i»erfect worker-combe that I 

 used to get with these guides from the black bees; 

 thus realizing a favorite idea of one of our greatest 

 bee-keepers (Doolittle), viz., getting perfect worker- 

 combs with the least use of foundation. 



While handling frame after frame of such combs, 

 and feeling as much enthusiasm as I did in 18.W, 

 when I first saw that the bees would follow the 

 triangular comb-guide, I explained to the Rev. Mc- 

 Gregor (apologizing for the seeming play upon his 

 name), I must make those words of Rob Roy in 

 Scott's novel, my own : "My foot is upon my native 

 heath — and my name is McGregor." 



Unquestionably some persons are so extremely 

 sensitive to the bee-poison, and so dangerously af- 

 fected by it, that under no circumstances should 

 they keep bees. To such persons my experience 

 can be of no service. 

 Oxford, Ohio. 



Friend L.. tlie facts you fjirnish us in the 

 above article are indeed valuable. You 

 may be perhaps aware that others have been 

 affected by the poison of the bee-sting in the 

 same way you mention— among them friend 

 Ileddon. Now, is it not probable that a 

 good stinging might so inoculate friend H. 

 that it would set him all right':' The remedy 

 might be in some respects a bold one ; but 

 if it were my case I think I would risk a 



