TMm MMsmicMif mmm jQVRnMi^. 



567 



stores of Eastern armies. Relating a 

 story of the great battle of Nehavend 

 (A. D. 651), in which the conquest of 

 Persia by the Saracen Caliph was com- 

 pleted, he says : " If it be true that 

 the flying general of the Persians was 

 stopped and overtaken in a crowd of 

 mules, and camels laden with honey, 

 the incident, however slight or singu- 

 lar, will denote the luxurious impedi- 

 menta of an Orient.al army." 



About the same pei'iod he relates an 

 occurrence in which honey was used 

 to conceal a treasure of golden coin. 

 The Greek Emperor Heraclius raised 

 a forced loan from the churches of 

 Constantinople to meet war expenses, 

 and on that occasion barrels of houey 

 (ostensibly) which were packed awaj' 

 among the church stores, were found 

 to be really filled with gold coins. It 

 would appear as if some attempt was 

 made to represent this as a miracle, 

 for he adds in a note: "Basouius 

 gravely relates this discovery, or rather 

 transmutation of barrels, not of honey, 

 but of gold." The anecdote is of i'n- 

 terest to us as showing the extensive 

 use of honey, and the manner in which 

 it was usual to store it at that period. 



We may suppose that only a certain 

 proportion of gold coin was mixed with 

 and covered by the honey in this case, 

 and that the honey was cr_ystallized in 

 the barrels, in which view of the mat- 

 ter the mode of concealment must be 

 admitted to have been ingenious and 

 likely to pass muster. Had the barrels 

 been simply filled with gold coins in- 

 stead of honey, the deception would 

 have been easily betrayed by the great 

 weight, and by the jingle of the coins 

 upon moving the barrel. 



Some remarkable cases are recorded 

 in historj' of the use of honey in East- 

 ern countries, as a means of torture 

 under circumstances of great cruelly. 

 One such case occurred in the fifth 

 century before, and another in the 

 fourth centurjr after, the Christian era. 



The first is related by Rollin in his 

 account of the reign of the Persian 

 monarch Artaxerxes, the sou of Xerxes 

 (B. C. 473), as follows : 



" Artaxerxes having at last entirely 

 defeated his enemies, put to death all 

 who had engaged in this conspiracy. 

 He took exemplary vengeance of those 

 who were concerned in his father's 

 murder, and particulai'ly of Mithri- 

 dates, the eunuch, who had betrayed 

 him, and who was executed in the fol- 

 lowing manner : He was laid on his 

 back in a kind of a horse-trough, and 

 strongly fastened to the four corners 

 of it. Every part of him except his 

 head, his hands and liis feet, which 

 came out at holes made for that pur- 

 pose, was covered with another trough. 

 In this horrid situation victuals were 

 given him from time to time ; and in 



case of his refusal to eat, they were 

 forced down his throat ; honey mixed 

 with milk was given him to drink, and 

 all his face was smeared with it, which 

 by that means attracted a numberless 

 multitude of Hies, especially as he was 

 perpetually exposed to the scorching 



rays of the sun The criminal 



lived 15 or 20 days in inexpressible 

 torment." 



The other case is mentioned by Gib- 

 bon, in the reign of Julian the Apos- 

 tate (A. D. 362), where he describes 

 the persecution exercised by the mag- 

 istrates acting under Julian's orders, 

 upon Mark, Bishop of Arethusa, in re- 

 venge for the zeal he had exhibited in 

 the destruction of heathen temples dur- 

 ing the preceding reign. "They ap- 

 prehended the aged prelate, they in- 

 humanely scourged him, they tore his 

 beard ; and his naked body, anointed 

 with honey, was suspended in a net, 

 between heaven and earth, and ex- 

 posed to the stings of insects, and the 

 rage of a Syrian sun." 



These are not likely to have been 

 isolated cases of refined crnelty, and 

 it is only too probable that both in 

 ancient and in comparatively modern 

 times, the occasions may not have 

 been very rare when the '■ heaven-sent 

 gift" of honey may have been abused 

 in the same vile manner. 



KILLING BEES 



III Order lo Secure llieir Honey 

 and Wax. 



Writtc7i Sor the American Bee Journal 



BY REV. STEPHEN ROESE. 



To kill bees for their honey and wax 

 in this enlightened age of the world, 

 where modern improvements, with 

 movable frames and hives, furnish 

 every possible way and means to ob- 

 tain the same without such barbaric 

 conduct, is a crime against apicul- 

 ture, which every intelligent man and 

 woman in the bee-keeping ranks of 

 this age condemns; and bee-keepers 

 practicing such, are unworthy to bear 

 this honorable name, nor should they 

 be recognized as pai'takers and mem- 

 bers of this industry. 



As early as 1508, Jacob Nicol, in his 

 work on the right and wrong way of 

 bee-keeping, severely condemns the 

 practice of brimstoning bees for their 

 honey and wax ; and the late Francis 

 Huber denounced such conduct as 

 barbaric, cruel, and void of human 

 feelings, unworthy to be countenanced 

 by progressive apiculturists of this age 

 of the world ; and adds, further, that 

 those doing such, lack good sense and 

 judgment, and sound reasoning power, 

 for modern improvements, with mov- 



able frames, have made bee-keeping 

 so plain that a child can understand it, 

 and handle l)ees successfully for both 

 profit and pleasure, securing larger 

 quantities of honey by means of the 

 extractor, free from pollen flavoi-, and 

 more marketable, and stimulating bees 

 to activity. 



Who on earth, Huber continues, ever 

 heard of a man killing his milk cow to 

 get the milk ? or sheep, to get the 

 wool ? or the hens to get the eggs ? 

 What man would kill his horse because 

 feed in tlie barn is scant, but plentiful 

 in the market to be had for money. 

 Bee-keepers killing their bees for the 

 honey and wax, are not bee-keepers, 

 but bee-murderers, and should be 

 branded with a black mark. 



The man who from a spirit of covet- 

 ousuess kills a man for his mone}', 

 which he has not earned, is one void 

 of all human feelings, with a con- 

 science hardened by such deeds. Civi- 

 lized communities condemn such acts, 

 and mark them as evil-doers, and ju.stly 

 so. Who has a right to take life which 

 he cannot give. God created all things 

 for the benefit of man, but not for 

 man to kill or destroy. 



The industrious bee labors and toils 

 during the season, harming no one ; 

 but the enemies of this enei'getic in- 

 sect are many ; we hear of bears, 

 skunks, and the like, robbing and 

 killing bees, and the bees' friend — the 

 apiarist — becomes enraged, because of 

 his feelings and sympathy for his pets ; 

 and for such pests to be dealt with an 

 " eye for eye," or " tooth for tooth," 

 should be no unjust rule. But what 

 shall we say of men bee-killers, v?ho 

 claim to stand on a level with intelli- 

 gent and civilized races of creatures — 

 the masterpiece and crowning work of 

 Creation. Old fogyism,who killed the 

 cow to get the milk, by close self-ex- 

 amination — lifting the curtain — they 

 would get a glimps of their company, 

 and a sight of the level on which they 

 stand. 



Maiden Rock, Wis. 



CALIFORNIA. 



The Hot Wave Dried up the 

 Bfectar in the Flowers. 



Written for the Rural Californian 



BY C. N. WILSON. 



There is no room for a question that 

 the honey crop of 1890 in Southern 

 California is about all gathered ; while 

 a large yield was obtained in some 

 localities, in others not much over half 

 an average crop was obtained. 



It was supposed by most persons in- 

 terested in the business of bee-keeping 

 that 1890 would give an imprecedented 



