GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



the beginning. In time if the association 

 grows, which no doubt it will if managed 

 properly, larger quarters may be obtained. 

 At present any one's home will be a good 

 place to hold a meeting, especially in small 

 towns where everybody knows every one 

 else. One meeting at one house, then in an- 

 other, and so on as often as i:)referred, until 

 each beekeeper's home has had a meeting, 

 then starting again at the first one, works 

 well. 



Forag'e should be one of the chief topics 

 ('"scussed. Bee diseases, climatic conditions, 

 tlie number of hives to be accommodat- 

 ed in a certain district, the different clovers 

 best adapted to a given locality ; honey- 

 bearing trees, shrubs yielding nectar, vari- 

 ous kinds of grapes, raspberry, blackberry, 

 and honey-producing vines for shading 

 porticos, laws governing the industry, and 

 sweet clover sown in waste places, are all 

 topics which should be considered. Each 

 member should jiay monthly dues for the 

 maintenance of the association. A presi- 

 dent, vice-president, and secretary-treasur- 

 er should be elected by the beekeepers ; also 

 an executive committee consisting of four 

 or five members. Articles from bee jour- 

 nals may here be read and analyzed. The 

 secretary is the business agent of the asso- 

 ciation. Through his energy and good will, 

 many new additions can be made from time 

 to time. From the president down, each 

 one should do his jiart in booming good fel- 

 lowship. Petty jealousies should be laid 

 aside, and mutual assistance should be the 

 slogan. With this in mind, good fellowship 

 eventually will rule the beekeeping world. 



Cincinnati, Ohio. 



SEVERAL INSTANCES WHERE STINGS RE- 

 LIEVED RHEUMATISM 



BY S. S. TALBERT. 



I have read with interest the arguments, 

 pro and eon, in regard to the cure of rheu- 

 matism by stings. While I have never had 

 any experience of my own, I have kept bees 

 in a small way for a number of years, and 

 have observed the effects of stings adminis- 

 tered to others. 



In the spring of 1S09 a friend of mine 

 was so badly atHicted that he could hardly 

 walk, taking not more than about six inches 

 at a step. His fingers and toes were badly 

 draAvn out of shape, and he was a good 

 subject to work on. He had heard some- 

 tliing about the bee-sting remedy, and ask- 

 ed me to apply it ; so one morning I caught 

 a number of bees, and we went to the office 

 of Dr. Smith, of this place, and I applied 

 stings to the patient in the places indicated 



by the doctor (he keeping at a safe dis- 

 tance). We applied 24 stings on his feet, 

 knees, shoulders, and hands. It made him 

 very sick for a while ; but on the Wednes- 

 day following, to every one's astonishment 

 he could 7-un, and went to his work that 

 same day. He was i^erfectly cured, and re- 

 mained so for two years, when it became 

 necessary to repeat the treatment. We 

 again used the same remedy, only we gave 

 him a larger dose. As soon as the soreness 

 from the stings was gone the rheum.atism 

 was gone with it. This man, Mr. Homer 

 Parker, offered a number of times to write 

 a testimonial to any one wanting it, but on 

 January 28, 1912, he died of heart failure, 

 following a bad siege of rheumatic fever. 



The cashier of the Brownsburg State 

 Bank had been suffering from rheumatism 

 for 20 3-ears. Two years ago last winter 

 he got his nerve and will potver screwed up 

 to wliere he thought he could try the stings; 

 so one day, when the bees were flying, I 

 caught some and applied about 20. It made 

 him very sick; but when the effects wore 

 oft', his rheumatism was gone. 



1 don't think any one should apply the 

 stings except when there is an attending 

 physician, as it seems to have a depressing 

 effect on the heart; but I think any one 

 taking this treatment should take enough 

 to get a good heroic dose of it. I have 

 never known any beneficial results to follow 

 an ap])lication of two or three stings. 



Another case that I have happened to 

 know about where the pain was more local- 

 ized than the ones I have just described, 

 was a resident of this place. He was af- 

 fected in the knees and ankles. I applied 

 six or seven stings to his knees and ankles. 

 It relieved him wathin a few days' time. 



No. 4, another man of this place, had 

 rheumatism in his feet. I applied five stings 

 to each foot. After the inflammation from 

 the stings was gone, the rheumatism had 

 disappeared. 



For the benefit of any one wanting to 

 try the cure, I will say the best way I have 

 found to handle the bees is to drop them 

 into a basin of water; then with the thumb 

 and fore finger you can pick them up by 

 the wing, and your finger and thumb nail 

 will protect you from the sting. 



Brownsburg, Ind. 



[We wish to repeat the caution given by 

 our correspondent in regard to the impor- 

 tance of applying the stings to the patient 

 when a physician is pi'esent ; for it is a 

 well-known fact that certain persons are 

 so constituted that it would be dangerous 

 to get as many as twenty stings at once. — 

 Ed.] ' ■ 



