810 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



rather have no brood in the extracting- 

 combs, both for the sake of the brood 

 and the honey. 



A Late-Reared Queen. 



About a month ago I discovered one of 

 my colonies broodless. I found the 

 queen in a very shrunken condition. To 

 keep up its strength I gave brood from 

 other colonies. On Dec. 1, to my sur- 

 prise, I found about six queen-cells 

 started from eggs given to them a week 

 previous. I again found the queen, but 

 so shrivelled was her condition that she 

 seemed little larger than a worker. I 

 concluded that she had spent her 

 strength, so I destroyed her, and also all 

 the queen-cells but one. Of course there 

 are no drones at this season— what will 

 be the result of so late a queen ? J. B. 



Los Angeles, Calif., Dec. 2. 



Answer. — I'm not sure that I know. 

 In one of my hives I should consider it 

 all right in November to find no brood 

 and the queen of small size, but in that 

 wonderful State of yours things may be 

 quite different, and as other queens were 

 laying right along, and as queen-cells 

 were started you may have been right in 

 thinking that the queen was " played 

 out." I have some doubt if you did a 

 wise thing in meddling so much. So 

 late, and with no drones, it is hardly 

 likely they thought of swarming, and it 

 might have been well to let them run 

 their machine, for the queen-cell you 

 left may have had the poorest queen in 

 the lot. If the weather is good, it is 

 possible the young queen may be already 

 fecundated, for there may be drones 

 that you know nothing of, and you may 

 find the queen laying all right when 

 next season opens. 



Om Dbctms Himts. 



By F. L. PEIRO, M. D. 



McVicker's Building, Chicago, III. 



Nainple C'oi>i«r}!i of the "American 

 Bee Journal " will be mailed free to all who 

 ask for them. The next three or four 

 months will be just the time for getting 

 new subscribers, and if any of our friends 

 can use sample copies among their bee- 

 keeping neighbors, in order to get them as 

 new subscribers, we will be glad to mail the 

 samples, if the names and addresses are 

 sent to us. Better educated bee-keepers 

 will mean better things for all. 



" Kidney Trouble." 



Yes, this is the term applied to most ail- 

 ments affecting the small of the back, in- 

 cluding weakness and lameness. Well, in 

 a sense, this is reasonable enough, too, be- 

 cause we all know that this is the seat 

 where the kidneys are located. And, then, 

 if with this sore-aching exists trouble in 

 voiding urine, whether it be scantiness of 

 the liquid, or pain on passing it, or if it be 

 very red in color, or is attended with a 

 brick-dust deposit; or if cloudy, stringy 

 and offensive, why, all these facts tend 

 strongly to confirm our conviction that we 

 are, indeed, victims of " kidney trouble," 

 though not knowing exactly what special 

 form, but always fearing the worst. 



Well, now let us reason together. Serious 

 kidney diflSculty is comparatively rare. It 

 far more often is the result of catarrhal or 

 gastric trouble than from any other cause. 

 Doctors term this "functional derange- 

 ment," which, put in plain language, im- 

 plies that it is not dangerous in character, 

 and that treatment should be directed to 

 the causes producing disturbance of these 

 organs rather than remedies for the kidneys 

 direct. It is like a cinder in the eye— it is 

 not the eye that needs removal, but the cin- 

 der. And no worse practice can be fol- 

 lowed than the taking some, or all, of the 

 so-called " kidney cures " vaunted for this 

 specific trouble. 



Most likely the stomach needs correcting, 

 or it may be a slight rheumatism of the 

 lower muscles of the spine that require a 

 little medical attention; or, more likely 

 still, it may be that some of our unreason- 

 able practices need attention, whether of 

 diet, of improper habits, or causes you can 

 easily ascertain by consulting your per- 

 sonal self. Perhaps the particular evidence 

 that tends most strongly to assure the 

 mind of the sufferer that his conclusions of 

 kidney trouble is correct, is the pain or 

 straining or other difficulty he may ex- 

 perience in passing water. But then, the 

 facts are that in far the greater number of 

 such conditions are due to an irritable 

 bladder— a. great difference from impair- 



