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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May H, 



Effects of Bee-Stings on the Human System. 



Read hetore tJie Central Iowa Bee-Keepers^ C'onve?itio>i, 

 BT HON. EUGENE SECOR. 



I am not a doctor. I can't read the human body like a 

 book — especially if the book is easy to understand. I am not 

 skilled in pathology or therapeutics. But if I may be allowed 

 to express a humble opinion based on unprofessional observa- 

 tion, I will say that one effect of bee-stings on the human sys- 

 tem is in the nature of a stimulant. The virus introduced 

 through the cuticle by the bee herself is exceedingly stimulat- 

 ing, if not exhilarating. It beats tobacco or any narcotic. It 

 is way ahead of intoxicants. 



I am led to this conclusion by effects produced on one of 

 my visitors after one application of the medicine, hypodermi- 

 cally administered. It doesn't seem to make much difference 

 on what part of the anatomy the fluid is injected. It works 

 just as effectually in one spot as another, and operates instan- 

 taneously. If the patient would prefer the scar in his back 

 hair, hidden from vulgar observation and irreverent remark, 

 he will feel its effects, and respond to its influence with alac- 

 rity. Whether administered behind the right ear, or on the 

 ornamental appendage which sometimes obtrudes itself 

 into other people's business, or "below the belt "under the 

 trousers, it "gets there" just the same. The laziest man in 

 America will get a hustle on him instanter after one dose. He 

 can run through a troop and leap over a wall like a trained 

 athlete. A ten-wire fence barbed to stop swine is no obstruc- 

 tion to him when he gets under motion. He feels as if he 

 could outrun a tornado or swim Lake Erie. He doesn't won- 

 der that Samson twisted the jaw of the young lion or slew a 

 regiment of Philistines. He could do it himself with another 

 application of this formic acid preparation, administered from 

 the " business end " of a lively bee. 



It is a little strange that any one should resist the appli- 

 cation of an agent promising such wonderful results. But I 

 suppose it is only another evidence of our depraved condition. 

 I never knew a man, no matter what his profession might be, 

 that wouldn't be willing to let the hired man experiment with 

 the stuff rather than take it himself. 



Another effect produced on some human systems by the 

 toxic action of this concentrated essence of Apis mellfica, is 

 the respect for the eighth commandment — especially when the 

 thing coveted happens to be honey, and the said honey hap- 

 pens to be policed by a select company of trained and fearless 

 guards, equipped for such service. 



An instance may be cited to show the respect for moral 

 and statute law, which one application of our favorite remedy 

 produced : 



One bright, moonlight night in the early part of Septem- 

 ber, Anno Domini Eighteen-hundred and some odd years, a 

 convivial company of young men thought to round out the 

 festivities of the evening by a visit to a neighbor's bee-ranch 

 for the purpose of appropriating the tempting morsels of for- 

 bidden sweets — all the more sweet, as some think, because the 

 moral code says, "Thou shalt not steal." 



One young man was posted to watch. One — more self- 

 assured than the others — volunteered to go after the honey. 

 Two timid ones waited in the edge of a sheltering corn-field to 

 share the spoils. Young man No. 2 proceeded to his self- 

 assigned task. Of course, he wasn't afraid ! He had robbed 

 bumble-bees' nests, killed rattle-snakes, fought flying ants, 

 and had swum in the pond where bloodsuckers scented a boy 

 afar off. He went to a hive that happened to be the home of a 

 colony of real healthy hybrids, but he didn't know it. He 

 rapped on the hive to see whether it was " empty," or whether 

 there was a prospect of plunder. Having satisfied himself 

 they were all right, he attempted to remove the cover. It was 

 glued fast with propolis. He couldn't budge it. As he hadn't 

 any jack-knife to pry it off with, he picked up a stick and 



tried to loosen it. Finally, with a sudden jerk, the cover came 

 off with a snap, and the enraged bees covered the young man 

 as the locusts covered the land of Egypt in Pharaoh's time. 

 He ran. Half a thousand bees kept him company. The other 

 young men expressed their sympathy by trying to help him. 

 Result : They beat a mad retreat covered with bees if not 

 with glory. The next morning they were wiser, if not hand- 

 somer. They gave it out that they had been to a " wake." 

 From that time to this they have never appropriated their 

 neighbor's pancake sweetener without permission. 



Forest City, Iowa. 



The Swarming Mania — Remedy Therefor. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



A correspondent writes thus : " Will you please tell us in 

 the American Bee Journal what causes excessive swarming, 

 and how it can be prevented ? Last year my bees swarmed 

 and swarmed till I became nearly disgusted with them, they 

 doing little else during the season but swarm." 



From years of experience I believe that excessive swarm- 

 ing in any locality comes only with certain conditions, and 

 when these conditions are present we find excessive swarming 

 is the result ; when not present, there is no more than the 

 usual amount of swarming. The conditions requisite to ex- 

 cessive swarming are a warm, favorable spring, with a warm, 

 wet summer, thus giving just enough honey to keep brood- 

 rearing at its best, and still not enough so the bees store any 

 great quantity, so as to diminish the brood. 



The conditions which tend to keep swarming in check, 

 are a copious yield of honey early in the season, or a season 

 so adverse that the bees are compelled to retrench brood-rear- 

 ing, in order to keep alive. With the first comes moderate 

 swarming ; with the last, very few if any swarms. With 

 such a very poor season as that last mentioned, I have found 

 that the Italian and Cyprian bees will get more honey, and 

 swarm more, than the hybrids or blacks, while in an extra- 

 good season they swarm less. When the season is favorable 

 to excessive swarming, the different races of bees are affected 

 very nearly alike, though the Carniolan's seem to have a 

 greater tendency to swarm than any other race of bees with 

 which I am acquainted. With this exception, all of ray ex- 

 perience goes to prove that no particular strain or variety of 

 bees is given to a predisposition to swarm, more than any 

 others, when viewing the matter as a whole, and covering a 

 period of a quarter of a century. 



For instance, I find by referring to my diary, in 1871 and 

 1872, I had a certain strain that gave many swarms each of 

 these two years; and as I was anxious at that time for in- 

 crease, I was pleased with this strain of bees, and bred largely 

 from them ; but during the next two years this strain of bees 

 swarmed very little, and tny increase was solely from my 

 hybrid colonies, as 1873 and 1874 were good honey-years as 

 compared with 1871 and 1872. 



Again, in 1876, I was something like our correspondent — 

 nearly disgusted with swarming — having nearly 350 swarms 

 from 67 or 68 colonies in the spring. Everything swarmed 

 and re-swarmed, till I was glad to have the season come to a 

 close. Prime swarms sent out three or more swarms; second 

 swarms divided up, 3-frame nuclei swarmed, and some nuclei 

 swarmed without a queen, so that from five to ten swarms, all 

 in one batch, was no uncommon thing ; while the record says 

 that one day I had only 11 clustered in a hedge fence all to- 

 gether, much to my annoyance. But with 1877, with the very 

 same strain of bees, and nearly the same number of colonies, I 

 had very few swarms, and secured the large yield of upwards 

 of 11,000 pounds of honey, nearly all of which was comb 

 honey. 



Since 1870 I have not had excessive swarming in my 



