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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAj-. 



received all right and has been laying 

 all right ever since. I noticed outside — 

 dead — a fine, yellov/ Italian (it appeared 

 to be) queen lying on the ground. As I 

 was apprehensive that possibly some- 

 thing had gone vi^rong vs'ith my queen, I 

 looked in and found her hanging on the 

 bottom-bar of the outside frame with a 

 large "ball" of bees around her — evi- 

 dently trying to sting their own mother. 

 I smoked two or three puffs into the 

 entrance before I opened the hive, but 

 can see no reason for such behavior. 



I rescued the queen and put her on 

 another frame in another part of the 

 hive, and gave the whole business a 

 thorough, good smoking. Can you sug- 

 gest the reason for such willful and 

 malicious "matricide?" There seems 

 to be lots of pollen coming in, but I can- 

 not tell much about whether there is 

 any honey with it. D. R. 



Abilene, Tex., Sept. 4. 



Answer. — It isn't always easy to tell 

 what a man is thinking about by look- 

 ing in his face, and it's about as hard to 

 understand bees, sometimes. In spite 

 of the fact that you thought you saw 

 " blood in the eyes " of the bees that you 

 supposed to be on murder intent, I sus- 

 pect that it was nearly the opposite — 

 simply a grim determination to lose their 

 lives, if need be, in defense of their 

 mother. 



Generally, when bees are balling a 

 queen, you may count that it is not 

 from love, but sometimes it is. Let a 

 number of strange bees get into a hive, 

 or perhaps a strange queen, and the 

 bees may form a ball around their own 

 queen to protect her. Where would she 

 be safer than in a ball of her own bees ? 



Very likely the dead queen you found 

 on the outside had something to do with 

 the case. 



Beeswax Not Digestible. 



Is beesv.'ax healthful to eat? That 

 is, will the stomach digest it readily? 



Answer.— Bec.s wax is utterly indigest- 

 ible, but I don't know that there's any- 

 thing unhealthy ii eating it in small 

 quantities as we ^et it in comb honey. 

 Parts of wheat are indigestible, and yet 

 generally wholesome. 



Om Bmrm's Himts, 



By F. L. PEIRO, M. D. 



McVicker's Building, Chicago, III. 



|It^~ Sunday is the core of our civiliza- 

 tion, dedicated to thought and reverence. 

 It invite.s to the . noblest solitude and to the 

 noblest society. — Emermi . 



Sometliing About ^^ Kissing." 



What a flood of joy the word implies ! Is 

 there a more refined and blissful sign by 

 which to express the affectionate assur- 

 ances of pure hearts and minds ? If so, I 

 can't imagine it. But though kissing is so 

 irresistible and proper to those whom the 

 privilege rightly belongs, buUscrimiuatc os- 

 culation is one of the most vulgar and 

 dangerous performances imposed by our 

 insincere social customs. 



How many have thought of the danger- 

 ous diseases that lurk in that veritable 

 "Judas' kiss?" Many deaths have re- 

 sulted directly from a thoughtless, per- 

 functory kiss. Stop and think! Can you 

 not understand how easily disease may be 

 thus acquired through the heavily laden 

 breath of a typhoidal, diphtheretic, scarla- 

 tina or small-pox patient just incubating 

 the disease ? Yes, and have you at all con- 

 sidered even the more possible danger of 

 contracting cancers, anid other easily ac- 

 quired contagions ? 



Do you not recall in your former circles 

 of acquaintances a healthy, rosy-cheeked 

 girl who unfortunately married some weak 

 consumptive, that after a few years of af- 

 fectionate care of him, the husband died, 

 leaving her the legacy of his own disease, 

 she in turn to fill an early grave ? Each 

 kiss was to her a drop of poison ! 



And what do you know of that young 

 man whose lips you are so ready to re- 

 ceive ? He may be the verriest rake ! His 

 embraces may have been as varied as to 

 character as to frequency ! His lips may — 

 nay, no doubt have been— as ready for the 

 diseased courtesan as for the sweet and in- 

 nocent daughter of an honored home. 



What ails that young woman ? " What ? 

 Doctor, you can't mm»t it! Oh, no; clonH! 

 You break my heart to assure me of so vile 

 infection 1" 



" Yes, daughter, it is true. The greeting 

 you so cherished has contaminated you. He 

 was cruelly vile, and has placed his seal of 

 impurity upon you, which your life may 

 not be long enough to obliterate under 

 even the best medical care!" The ulcers 



