342 AMEtllCAN BEE JOURJMAi-. 



about two inches of water ; then we went from June 29th until July 31st, through 

 all that hot weather without enough to lay the dust. The Government test in Corn- 

 ing reported 2>^ inches then, but judging from several pails that were empty the 

 night before, there must have been about five here, six miles north. 



There is some buckwheat K of a mile south, just coming into blossom ; also 

 some heart's-ease, from which my bees are getting their present supply of honey. 



Honey fob Curing Gbavel. — In "Our Doctor's Hints" for July 19th, he says 

 that some authorities assert that the daily use of honey is an infallible preventive 

 of gravel or stone in the bladder, but he cannot verify it from personal observation. 

 Now I wish to say that both my father and grandfather died of the gravel, and that 

 I myself had begun to feel its effects some 20 or more years ago. Soon after, I got 

 a colony of bees, and although I did not eat honey regularly, I did eat more or less 

 as I had a chance to, as my bees increased, and the honey likewise, never dreaming, 

 however, that I was using a cure for the gravel, but after a time it disappeared, 

 and I have never had any signs of it since. Now, to test it, how would it be for all 

 apiarists that have friends afflicted in this way, to induce them to try it and report 

 to the bee-papers as the effects develop, for if it is a cure, not many apiarists should 

 be so afflicted ? We must bear.in mind, however, that there is nothing that will cure 

 all in this world. The only dissolvent that I can think of for calculus there is in 

 honey is the formic acid. If there is any other, will some of our chemists please tell 

 us what it is. 



Out-Door Cellar or Cave. — As some of our bee-friends may want to build an 

 out-door cellar or cave, I will give my experience. Eighteen years ago I built one 8 

 feet wide and 16 feet long, with ridgepole and side logs, 4 posts under the ridgepole, 

 and covered with white pine 2 inch plank up and down. The plank lasted six years, 

 and then was recovered with the same kind of plank, which lasted four years. I 

 then covered it with burr-oak 2-inch plank that had been seasoned under cover for 

 three years, which is still there. But in about the second or third year I had to 

 brace it by putting plank along the middle of them, supported by more posts, which 

 took up too much of the room. 



So five years ago this fall I needed more room, and thought there must be a 

 better way to build it. I then dug another of the same size about 8 feet wide. 15 

 feet long, and 4}^ feet deep from the level of the ground, and cut slanting in about 

 2 inches to the foot (the same as the old one). At about 28 inches from the bottom 

 I left a bench or shelf one foot wide on one side and end, for the purpose of setting 

 canned fruit, skimming milk, or any other use it might be put to. I then cleaned 

 off the top of the ground one foot back from the edge of the hole, and took 2x6 

 16-foot seasoned oak and laid in cement, leaving 6 inches between the inside edge 

 of the plate and hole on each side. I then took 12 sets of 2x8 pine rafters, 6 feet 

 and 3 inches long, and put on the plates, spiking so the end of the rafter was even 

 with the outer edge of the plate. I then took good inch rough pine boards and 

 covered it, boarded up the ends, put in a ventilator, and covered the whole with 

 cement one inch thick, mixed one of cement to 3 of coarse sand. I used common 

 cement, but would use Portland if to do again. I threw the dirt on as soon as the 

 cement was barely set. 



I then took one-half barrel of lime and made a kind of grouting of fine gravel 

 and coarse sand, and spread it 13^ inches thick all over the bottom, so thin that the 

 water stood all over it. I smoothed it off, and let stand until I could walk on it. I 

 then put a strong inch of cement, mixed one of cement and two of sand, and covered 

 the whole sides, benches and everything up to the roof of the same material about 



