40 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOJRNAL. 



It was asked if cider was injurious. 

 V. V. Blackmer said that his bees had 

 worked hirgely upon it during the 

 past fall, and lie had his fears as to 

 what the result might be. Mr. A. E. 

 Manum tliought that it was not as in- 

 jurious as many supposed. Mr II. A. 

 Damon said that bees might winter 

 on buckwheat honey, but he did not 

 consider it as good as earlier-gathered 

 honey. 



Mr. A. E. Mannm said, of itself, 

 any kind of honey that we get here in 

 Vermont is not injurious to bees, but 

 the injury comes froui a mixture. He 

 had had some experience, but was not 

 yet fully decided. He was quite 

 strong in the belief that cider, grape 

 juice,or honey from goldenrod,heart's- 

 ease or buckwheat, etc., either one of 

 which might not produce bad results 

 of itself, but the mixture forms a com- 

 pound wliich is undesirable. He 

 thought that bees would winter on 

 mixed honey provided they often had 

 a (light. For wintering bees, he 

 woidd prefer to feed sugar syrup, and 

 he thought that it was safer to winter 

 bees on than honey, and he would 

 feed honey in the spring, as there was 

 something lacking iusuear which was 

 required for brood-rearing. He also 

 said that pollen is a good thing, and 

 that he liked to see a good deal of it 

 in his hives in the fall, and never had 

 too nuich of it. 



" What is the best plan for rearing 

 queens i"' 



Mr. V. V. Blackmer said that the 

 best queens are reared during the 

 swarming impulse. 



Mr. A. E. Ma.num .said that he did 

 not get eno\igh (lueeucells in tliis 

 way, and was obliged to force. lie 

 was salislied that he could rear as 

 good (jueeiis in this way as any. He 

 rears many of his queens in nuclei, 

 and thinks that a nucleus is as good 

 as a full colony, but lie would have it 

 crowded with bees as much as a full 

 colony, in propoition to its size. He 

 woulii not take eggs from (jueens, not 

 thoroughly tested, to rear queen-cells. 



The President asked if any present 

 had had experience in fertilizing 

 queens from drone-larva'. None had; 

 but all were of theopinion that it was 

 not practicable. 



" Is thetralhc in dollar-queens bene- 

 licial to the bee business ?" 



Mr. II. Briton had purchased 10 

 dollar-(iueeris of one lueeiler, and all 

 that he had succeeded in saving 

 proved to be good. lie had lost 

 some. 



Mr. V. V. Blackmer had bimght 2(i 

 dollar-queens ol anollicr breeder, and 

 got SoHie 2 or ;'> out. ol the lot that 

 were fair; some were hybrids, and 

 some were sliorl-liv(^d. H(^ paid $.S 

 for one tested (pieen which proved to 

 be worth more than all t' e rest. He 

 did not believe that, as a rule, it would 

 pay a man to rear dollar (jueeiis, and 

 it certainly would not pay the man 

 who buys. 



Mr. J. E. (Yane sa:il that it was 

 with this as with all other kinds of 

 business— there were two sides to the 

 question. He thought that it de- 



F ended much on the queen-breeder, 

 le did not see why it should not be 

 all right to rearand sell dollar queen|. 



provided that they are what they are 

 represented to be. 



Adjourned till the third Thursday in 

 January, 1886. The Secretary was in- 

 structed to notify bee-keepers, and 

 others interested, of the time and 

 place of meeting. 



11. H. Holmes, Sec. 



11. L. Leonard, Pres. 



Kor the American Bee Joutch) 



Bee-Poison and its Effects. 



JOS. M. WISMER. 



Being an enthusiastic bee-keeper, 

 and believing that it is the duty of all 

 bee-keepers to give to others the 

 benetit of their experience, I cheer- 

 fully comply with Dr. Tinker's re- 

 quest on page 714 of the Bee Jour- 

 nal for 1884. He says : " I would ask 

 Mr. Wismer whether he thinks that 

 the venom of a Leestiug and the acid 

 secreted in the stomach of the bee, 

 are identical. If the Doctor will care- 

 fully read my article, on page (i3.j of 

 the same volume, demonstrating my 

 experience with honey and its eliects, 

 he will observe that my proposition 

 does not convey the idea as being 

 identical. 



It probably will not be amiss to 

 give a few items to illustrate that the 

 scent or odor emitted by the bees un- 

 der manipulation, is not au acid 

 secreted in their stomachs. The 

 '•Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ani- 

 mated Nature" teaches me that some 

 animals are equipped with a twofold 

 element to defend themselves when 

 disturbed. The first ingredient is 

 utilized to notify its approximation, 

 and the second is destined to demor- 

 alize its indefatigable enemies ; to this 

 family the bees belong. 



On page 48-5 of Volume XVIII. Mr. 

 Ileddon says : " The first breath of 

 bee-poison that I inhaled on my re- 

 turn, was followed by all the former 

 symptoms, seemingly in an increased 

 degree, and in ten minutes my throat 

 turned red and clearly showed severe 

 irritation." My nasal organ being 

 affected with catarrh, and breathing 

 being rather diHic'ult and unsatis- 

 factory, I am compelled to do all my 

 breathing directly through my mouth, 

 and therefrom I have experienced the 

 same difficulty as Mr. Ileddon did, 

 witli a sharp, pungent taste being 

 rather disagreeable to the respiratory 

 organs, whereby asthma would be 

 effected. 



Again, Mr. H. says : " All apiarists 

 know that often when a maddened, 

 threatening bee flits around one's 

 head, she generally discharges her 

 poison into the air. It is recognized 

 by the nasal organ only." I do not 

 think that Mr. II. wishes to be under- 

 stood that this discharge or bee-poison 

 is an acid secreted in the stomach of 

 the honey-bee — a discharge produced 

 by the bee to saturate the air with a 

 mild poison, only perceptible by those 

 who have keen or enfeebled breath- 

 ing organs. In opening the hive to 

 examine the condition of the bees, I 

 have at times met discharges emitted 

 through the tops of the frames quite 

 offensive to the breathing organ, and 



producing mild asthma. Being con- 

 ceded by many bee-keepers that the 

 black or common (Jerman bees are 

 more irritable than the Italians, the 

 con.sequenees are that this discharge 

 of bee- poison is more readily found 

 among the blacks. 



I have evidence enough to prove 

 that honey will be permeated with this 

 bee-poison, or formic acid, being con- 

 fined in the hive after manipulation 

 had taken place. It has been shown 

 that honey ripened by the bees will 

 contain enoughof this so-called formic 

 acid to produce severe colicky pains 

 when eaten by some people, and cases 

 are known where it produced death. 

 Honey can be procured from the bees 

 without a particle of this formic acid, 

 and eaten with safely. 



The Doctor says that on opening a 

 hive on a cool day, numbers of bees 

 will elevate and protrude their stings, 

 at the end of which may be seen a 

 tiny drop of the poison. What be- 

 comes of this tiny drop of poison 

 when the hive is closed V Can the 

 bees retain this poison, or does it 

 evaporate y There is quite a differ- 

 ence in this so-called bee-poison 

 wliich exists in the honey or on the 

 end of the bee-sting, the lirst being 

 taken internally, and the second, ex- 

 ternally, or under the skin in direct 

 contact with the blood circulation. 



Upon showing my family physician 

 Mr. Little's article, on page 747 of the 

 Bee Journal for 1884, concerning 

 the death of Mrs. Sturdevant, who 

 died from the effects of a bee-sting, 

 he coincided with Dr. Ilorton's ideas 

 as to the manner in which the formic 

 acid had been taken into her system. 

 He further said that the sting of a bee, 

 penetrating the skin of its victim, 

 becomes a perfect hypodermic syringe. 

 Here is where the trouble arises in 

 extricating the stinger, by taking it 

 with the sac of poison between the 

 thumb and finger to extract the 

 stinger, and leaving the poison which 

 the sac contained just where the bee 

 luul imt it. 



Jordan Station, Ont. 



Head at the Michigan Convention. 



Apicultural Notes for the Year. 



rilOF. A. J. COOK. 



Apiculture, like the sciences, has so 

 many able workers, who are at the 

 same time investigators, that its 

 growth or progress may be actually 

 seen day by day as the weeks go by. 

 It is a question if any pursuit— cer- 

 tainly manual-labor pursuit— can 

 boast of such rapid advance. Each 

 year, and often each month, marks 

 stepping-stones by which the art 

 reaches a higher plane. 



With so many investigators— the 

 most of whom are entirely without 

 scientific training— we must expect 

 many faulty generalizations and crude 

 theories to" creep into our apiarian 

 literature and discussions. So that 

 the wise apiarist will not accept every 

 statement. It is specially necessary 

 for the bee-keeper to paraphrase 

 John's exhortation thus for his prac- 

 tical guidance : Beloved, believe not 



