THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



485 



Explanatory — The figures before the 

 names indicate the number of years that the 

 person has Ijept bees. Those after, show 

 the number of eolonies the writer had in the 

 previous spring and fall, or fall and spring, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark © indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near the centre of the State named: 

 5 north of the centre ; ? south ; O east ; 

 ♦O west; and this 6 northeast; ND northwest; 

 o» southeast; and ? southwest of the centre 

 of the State meutioned. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



My Experience with Bee-Poison. 



REV. L. L. LANGSTROTH. 



In 1838 1 put 2 colonies of bees in an 

 attic closet, but I made no experi- 

 ments of any kind with them ; they 

 were simply looked at and admired. 

 In 18.59 I fairly began my apiarian 

 career, and I soon found that to ex- 

 periment much with bees, meant to 

 get many stings; at first these were 

 not only quite painful, but caused 

 severe swellings. I dreaded to be 

 stung the latter part of the week, for 

 often one eye would close and the 

 other nearly so, and to preach in such 

 a condition was by no means a pleas- 

 ure. If stung on the hand, my whole 

 arm would swell so rapidly that if my 

 coat was not seasonably taken off, it 

 had to be ripped off. In short, I was a 

 regular martyr to tlie bee-poison. 



My second year's experience was 

 much more favorable, and in the 

 course of a few years, I became al- 

 most bee-proof. In the pressure of 

 business, and my zeal for studying 

 the habits of the bee, I generally pre- 

 ferred to be stung occasionally, than 

 to lose time by wearing a bee-hat. 

 The pain of a sting was seldom very 

 severe, and not often caused much 

 swelling. My experience was the 

 same with that of most bee-keepers 

 who have persevered in spite of 

 stmgs, until at last their systems be- 

 came accustomed to the poison.* 



A few facts out of many that might 

 be given : I once agreed to help a 

 farmer to move a hive to a new loca- 

 tion. He assured me that the bottom- 

 board was securely fastened. It fell 

 off before we had got more than a few 

 steps with our load— covered with 

 bees, some of which were crushed— 

 and the air at once was filled with tlie 

 enraged insects. Tlie farmer dropped 

 his side of the hive and ran away ; it 

 fell against me, but I held on until I 

 lowered it to the ground ; and then 

 made the best of my way into tlie 

 house. Perhaps a hundred or more 

 stings were pulled out of my face and 

 head ! and yet in a few hours one 

 could hardly liave noticed that I had 



•The Austrian who came over with Mr. S. B. 

 ParBons' Italian bees, when stunp, would leisurely 

 take nut of his DOcl<et a vial to anoint the atina 

 with his favorite remedy ! Seeine how indifferent 

 Mr. Cary, myself and others were to stings, he 

 soon ceased to produce his vial. 



been stung at all. AVhen visiting that 

 great man, Dr. Gared P. Kirtland, of 

 Cleveland, Ohio, he wished me to ex- 

 amine with him a colony of bastard 

 (hybrid) bees. The Doctor was armed 

 with bee-hat and gloves— both of 

 which I declined to use. We quieted 

 them pretty well with smoke, when 

 he began to discuss some point in bee- 

 culture with his usual animation. 

 Soon his gesticulating hand was doing 

 quite a business, the bees became 

 furious, and paid all their respects to 

 me ; and how many stings were pulled 

 out of my face and head I cannot 

 tell. As soon as this extracting work 

 was over, I said : " Doctor Kirtland, 

 I protest against all eloquence in the 

 vicinity of bee-hives— especially when 

 you are clad in proof armor, and I 

 have none!" Although ever so well 

 stung, the pain was soon over, and in 

 a short time no visible proof remained 

 that a bee had stung me. 



In 1874, after the death of my son, 

 my healtli became so much impaired 

 that I sold all my bees. The next 

 spring an entire change seemed to 

 have come over me with respect to 

 the bee-poison. I first noticed it in 

 extracting some stings with the poison 

 sac attached, for a friend who wished 

 to procure the bee-poison in a per- 

 fectly pure state. I had noticed at 

 the beginning of each year's work 

 among my bees, that the poison af- 

 fected me in various ways, and my 

 wife would often have to awaken me 

 when she heard me unconsciously 

 moaning in my sleep. The night 

 after pulling out these stings this 

 moaning became so pronounced as to 

 awaken the friends with whom I was 

 staying, and alarmed them with the 

 fear that I was dying. Intense dry- 

 ness of the tongue and fauces accom- 

 panied sometimes by what seemed to 

 be an aggravated form of heart-burn, 

 smarting of the eyes, a heavy droop- 

 ing sensation in tlie eyelids, breaking 

 out fiery spots over various parts of 

 my body, a disposition to almost tear 

 the flesh of my cheeks, dreaming of 

 the most excited kind, full of violent 

 motion — these and many otlier symp- 

 toms were of frequent recurrence at 

 the beginning of each bee-campaign. 



After getting the medicinal bee- 

 poison, as before recited, the effect 

 upon me was so severe that I became 

 really alarmed, and earnestly sought 

 to protect myself against any recur- 

 rence of such unpleasant symptoms. 

 I soon found that this was next to 

 impossible. To converse with those 

 fresh from handling bees — nay, even 

 to receive letters or postal cards from 

 them, was to be poisoned again.* 



Ten years ago, being at my old 

 home in Greenfield, Mass.. I engaged 

 to visit my friend Wm. W. Cary, of 

 Coleraine, one Saturday afternoon, 

 intending to preach to a congregation 

 where for some years I had served as 

 their pastor. The day was a charm- 

 ing one, and I was quite happy at the 

 thought of meeting so many old 

 friends. Mr. Cary had been handling 



♦The susceptibility of some persons to the bee- 

 poison, seems to be PS greHt as that of others to 

 tlie poipon-ivy. 1 can handle this with impunity, 

 while I have triends who cannot eet near enough 

 to it to see It. without being poisoned by it, if the 

 wind blows to them from It ! . 



bees all day, and was well charged of 

 course with the bee-poison. Almost 

 as soon as he had shaken hands with 

 me, my eyes began to smart, my eye- 

 lids to feel heavy, and my face to itch. 

 My spirits sank at once, and the 

 thought of preaching and seeing my 

 old friends caused me only anxiety ; 

 in short, ttie very bottom of all hope- 

 fulness seemed to drop out, as it were, 

 in a few moments. Explaining my 

 reasons, I sought other quarters, but 

 the pleasure of my visit was essen- 

 tially spoiled. Imagination ! I hear 

 some one saying. Does imagination 

 cause burning eruptions on the body, 

 constant roaring in the ears as though 

 near a waterfall ! to say nothing of 

 moaning in sleep, etc. ? 



From 187.5 to 1881 I dreaded the re- 

 turn of each bee-season. My letters 

 were all read by some member of my 

 family, that I mighthandle none from 

 bee-keepers. I felt that, let my gen- 

 eral health be what it might, I could 

 do nothing more with bees. While I 

 could easily trace much of my suffer- 

 ing to the bee-poison, I could not be- 

 lieve that it was the cause of the 

 head trouble from which I have suf- 

 fered so much, for I was a frequent 

 martyr to this many years before I 

 kept bees. Now had I given my ex- 

 perience with the bee-poison from 

 1875 to 1881, I should have left the 

 matter in such a shape as to prejudice 

 many against having anything to do 

 with bees. I should only have given 

 the actual facts in my case, but for 

 want of other facts not then duly 

 weighed by me, my facts would have 

 seemed to warrant inferences just the 

 opposite from the truth. 



In the spring of 1881 my health 

 being more fully restored than for 

 some years, it seemed to me almost 

 an impossibility to keep longer away 

 from the bees. A new thought sud- 

 denly occurred to me. Suppose a per- 

 son after long use of tobacco or opium 

 should give them up for some time- 

 long enough for the effect they pro- 

 duce to pass away— and should then 

 attempt to take the old, big dose ! 

 would he not be naturally alarmed at 

 the result V May I not be mistaken 

 then in supposing that any great 

 change has taken place in my system, 

 as respects the effects of the bee- 

 poison upon it ? and may not my pain- 

 ful experiences of the last six years 

 be accounted for in another way i* So 

 long as I kept bees and dealt so 

 largely in queens, I was compelled 

 each year to inoculate my system so 

 fully with their poison, that however 

 severe the ordeal at first. I soon be- 

 came indifferent to it. Now being 

 under no such necessity, I stop short 

 every time of full and repeated doses. 

 Suppose that I take such doses again. 

 AV'ith fear and trembling on the part 

 of my family, but with scarcely any 

 on my part, I determined to test the 

 matter, for as even the presence of 

 freshly extracted honey in the house, 

 was enough to bring on another at- 

 tack, I felt that I must get out of the 

 world before I- could escape from this 

 dreaded poison. I determined, there- 

 fore, to make full proof of my new 

 theory. Without any bee-hat. I 

 helped my friends to extract their 



