534 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Poison Oak. 



W. A. I'RYAL. 



" In the nice bee, what sense so snbtly true, 

 rom P"i3nn lus herbs extracts tbe he:i!inK dew ?" 



growing near the liabitations of white 

 civilization. It is the poison oak, 

 Wius diversiloba. This plant is some- 

 times found growing in clumps by 

 itself, at other times forming an un- 

 derbrush, or promiscuously mixed up, 

 as it were, with other plants; and 



themselves to pieces." It is a pitiable 

 sight to see a person thus afflicted. 



A recent discovery of ours is that 

 those who are subject to this kind of 

 malady, are also affected by the sting 

 of a bee ; and when a bee stings them 

 their skin becomes coyered with a 

 rash as if they were afflicted with oak 

 poisoning. 



As the Eastern readers of the Bee 

 Journal may not be interested to 

 any extent in this subject, I will drop 

 it, stating, however, that every one 

 has a remedy for its cure. A new 

 one is like that for a rattlesnake bite 

 —a good " liorn " of whisky, though I 

 do not place much confidence in it ; 

 however, I have seen the efficacy of 

 this cure for a severe bee-sting. The 

 person was in a short time completely 

 poisoned from head to foot, covered 

 with a rash, swelling rapidly, and 

 looked as if poisoned by both the 

 sting and the oak ; it was only the 

 former, though subject, on the least 

 contact with a dreadful affection of 

 tlie latter poisoning. A good drink of 

 whisky soon drove the bee-poison 

 from the system, and the swelling in 

 due time subsided. Now, let no one 

 think that I am recommending every 

 bee-keeper who receives a sting, to 

 make for the bottle, and with it drive 

 the sting from him, though it takes 

 one poison to kill another. 



I have studied this plant, of which 

 there are two varieties in our vicinity 

 — one poisonous and the other not — 

 and I have found it to be a valuable 

 honey-plant. In this I am borne out 

 by the testimony of others in this 

 State, who have watched bees work- 

 ing upon it during its season of 

 blooming, which is in March and 

 April— the two varieties keeping up a 

 large supply of blossoms for almost 

 two months. The honej; is quite 

 clear and delicious, and is in fact for 

 clearness and flavor equal to any 

 gathered in the vicinity of San Fran- 

 cisco. 



The illustration gives a pretty fair 

 representation of the manner of 

 blooming, and the shape of the leaves. 

 I trust that Eastern folks visiting this 

 State will impress this picture on 

 tlieir memory, and thereby be able to 

 distinguish this plant ere they, too, 

 come in contact with it, for we are 

 anxious that our friends will not be 

 poisoned. 

 Korth Temescal,+o Calif. 



The lines at the beginning of this 

 article are from Vape, and we have a 

 plant here in California that these 

 lines are applicable to— a plant that 

 is common, and is also one of our 

 poisonous " herbs ;" it is, in fact, the 

 most dreaded of aU our wild plants 



then, again, I have seen it clinging to 

 a considerable height, as ivy does, to 

 large trees. Some persons wlio come 

 in contact with this plant are so badly 

 poisoned with it that their person be- 

 comes swollen and inflamed ; their 

 only desire seems to be to "scratch 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Introducing Virgin ftueens. 



J. M. HICKS. 



I have kept bees for over 40 years, 

 and have so often had some very line 

 queens hatched from such colonies as 

 possessed desirable traits, as to war- 

 rant me in the effort to have all my 

 colonies composed of the same if it 

 were possible; after having many 

 tine queens hatched from the eggs of 

 a chosen colony. 



I also have made special efforts to 

 have some of the young queens prop- 

 erly introduced into other queenless 

 colonies made so for the purpose ; but 

 in nearly every case the queens were 



