1889 



GLKANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



699 



CASES OF SEVERE STUSTGING; WHIS- 

 KY AS AN ANTIDOTE. 



IS THB IIEMEDY WORSE THAN THE DISEASE? 



SAVING seen the clipping referred to in the 

 St. Louis Republic I will say that the circum- 

 stance was published in two of our county 

 papers. One said that the man referred to, 

 Mr. Henry Wright, was stung- on one ear, 

 and the other on both ears, which last I think is cor- 

 rect, and that he died from the effect of the stings 

 in about 30 minutes. I don't know this to, be a posi- 

 tive fact, but I believe it is. I was at Paris, our 

 county seat, last Wednesday, and was told there 

 that it was a fact. T can also give you some more 

 instances of stings that wore serious. I have a 

 special friend that lives about nine miles from me, 

 and I have the statement from himself, that, about 

 three weeks ago, his wife received a sting on the 

 back of her head which came very near proving fa- 

 tal. She became deathly sick, and turned very 

 sick at her stomach. She ate honey very freely, 

 which she could not do when well, and drank whis- 

 ky freely, which she could not do when well, and 

 two bottles of liniment were used on her, called 

 " Wonderful Light." She turned spotted all over. 

 My friend thinks it was a very narrow escape. 



Auother case was my little boy, 10 years old, who 

 received a sting on his left breast j ust a little below 

 the heart, from a bumble-bee. Hedid not complain 

 much for about half an hour, when he began to 

 swell up in his throat, and could scarcely get his 

 breath. When I saw liim in that fix I went.for a 

 doctor, thinking he would know what best to do; 

 but while I was gone, my wife, who had a little 

 whisky, gave my boy a little, and he was some bet- 

 ter. When I got back with the doctor, which was 

 only a few minutes, he gave some more whisky and 

 some other medicine; 1 do not know what, but I 

 think it was the whisky that gave him the relief. I 

 am a strong temperance and prohibition man; but 

 my wife had her arm broken some three weeks 

 ago, and the doctor recommended whisky for her. 

 I don't believe it did her a particle of good; butiu 

 the bee-stings referred to, I believe it did. There 

 might be, and I believe are, other remedies that 

 would answer in the place; but the doctors will rec- 

 ommend whisky; and as long as we don't know any 

 thing better, we shall have lo use it or take noth- 

 ing. 



I will give you one more case— that of myself. I 

 received about 35 stings one day while hiving a 

 swarm in the rain. I got them all over my hands 

 and face, and neck and head, but I did not give up. 

 I should very likely have got very sick if I had 

 given up; but I kept going, and soon got all right 

 again. J. w. Rouse. 



Santa Fe, Monroe Co., Mo., July 30, 1889. 



I am glad to hear you say that you are a 

 strong temperance man. When I began 

 reading your letter I felt afraid that you 

 were not sufficiently aware of the danger of 

 recommending such a remedy. Now, I do 

 not want to be unreasonable, nor do I want 

 to be considered a fanatic in the matter of 

 temperance ; but I do think that we had bet- 

 ter let a few people die-rather than to rec- 

 ommend whisky for every one who becomes 

 frightened at the effects of a bee-sting. 

 You have given us an instance of one man 

 who died from the effects of bee-stings. 



Now, is it certain that whisky would have 

 saved him V and is it certain that your 

 friend's wife was saved by whisky ? In the 

 case of the little boy who was in danger of 

 choking to death, it was a desperate state of 

 affairs, and I presume likely we should have 

 done as your wife did. But, for all that, 

 have we any good reason for thinking that 

 it was the whisky that saved him ? I have 

 already told you of being stung myself, so 

 that my throat began to swell in a way that 

 frightened me. But the swelling ceased 

 and disappeared itself, and that without 

 any remedy whatever. In your concluding 

 sentence it seems to me that you strike at a 

 great truth that can not harm any of us to 

 consider well, and put in practice. You say 

 you should have been very sick if you had 

 given up. Now, I do believe in keeping on 

 at your work when you are stung, or when 

 you are injured in other ways. I believe 

 that nature will take care of things better if 

 you keep on about your regular business— 

 that is, within the bounds of reason. Per- 

 haps while you keep at work you keep up 

 the circulation ; and Ernest, who is sitting 

 by while I dictate, suggests that whisky 

 may possibly start the circulation so as to 

 help the system to rally and keep up till the 

 effects of the poison begin to abate. If this 

 is true, whisky may, in this way, save life in 

 some cases. In this matter I feel a great 

 longing for wise counsel from our ablest 

 physicians — those, too, who are not preju- 

 diced in favor of whisky. Nay, further: 

 Let us all pray that the kind Father may 

 guide us safely, and that Satan may not 

 lead us astray in this matter of using so 

 dangerous a poison as a remedy for bee- 

 stings. Once more : It surely is better that 

 a few people should die now and then for 

 the lack of whisky (if they ever do, which I 

 am by no means sure of) than that thou- 

 sands upon thousands should keep dying 

 continually, and in spite of every thing that 

 the whole world is able to do, because some- 

 how or other they get the taste of whisky 

 and become enslaved by the bad habit. 



NO HONEY. 



THE SEASON WORSE THAN THE TWO PRECEDING. 



fHOSE were false prophets who predicted a 

 good honey crop this year. It is even worse 

 than the two or three preceding years. 

 The Middle Atlantic States have been sub- 

 jected to a literal downpour of rain for the 

 last three or four months, with a fair prospect of a 

 continuance of the same. Apple-bloom was about 

 two weeks earlier than common, and the weather 

 was warm and reasonably fair, so the bees did well 

 and got a good start. Some of the strongest colo- 

 nies prepared for swarming. Locust, which is 

 abundant here, and poplar (tulip) came into bloom 

 early, following closely the fall of the apple-blos- 

 soms, and the bees for a day or so after the open- 

 ing hail warm weather, and fairly tumbled over 

 each other when carrying in their harvest. But 

 the second day after the honey-How, came the flood 

 of rain, which did not let up till the locust and pop- 

 lar blossoms were destroyed. White and alsike 

 clover were in the meantime pushing out their 



