52 



Tmm mmLMMi^mM mmm jO'IS'kksiu. 



Honey as a ♦'••re for Oiphtlieria 



—As this disease is now very prevalent, and 

 all sorts of cures, Including the mopping 

 and caustic process, are offered by well- 

 meaning persons, it may be appropriate to 

 state an instance where honey has been re- 

 ported to have saved a man's life, when 

 given up by his physician, and not being 

 able to swallow even water for tliree days. 

 The case is thus stated by a correspondent 

 of the Brooklyn Eagle : 



Some time ago diphtheria became epi- 

 demic in Warrenton, N. C, when I was 

 paying a visit. Of course it was my luck to 

 fall an early victim to that dread disease. I 

 was stopping at Dr. Brownlow's Hotel, and 

 as soon as taken sick I sent for Dr. Howard, 

 who afterward gained a celebrity in Balti- 

 more. He attended to me in the usual way, 

 but I continued to grow worse, until at last 

 he advised me to send for my friends, say- 

 ing it was unnecessary for him to call again. 



It was the custom of Mrs. Brownlow to 

 come to my room every day after the Doc- 

 tor took his departure and ask what he said. 

 This particular morning when Mrs. Brown- 

 low was told what Dr. Howard had said, 

 she seemed surprised, and remarked : 



" You are as good as two dead men yet, 

 and it you will do what a woman advises, I 

 have no doubt but what you will pull 



Drowning men are apt to catch at straws, 

 and in my serious extremity, I accepted the 

 ladv's offer with thanks. She left my room, 

 and in about half an hour returned, holding 

 a quart pitcher in her hands. Mrs. Brown- 

 low approached my bed saying : 

 "Take a swallow." ^ ^ 



I did as requested, and, great heavens, 

 what a feeling 1 experienced. It seemed to 

 me as if there were four hundred knives m 

 mv throat, and every one of them did its 

 share of cutting. My case was not only a 

 bad but a very dangerous one, and while 

 the draught was doing its work, 1 turned 

 black in the face from choking. At last the 

 matter came up. 1 drew a long breath and 



^^''ydif feel better?" said Mrs. Brownlow. 



I confessed that I did, and was ugly 

 enough to say that Dr. Howard could not 

 attend to a yellow dog of mine. In course 

 of time I recovered, and when able to get 

 out, called on the Doctor to Pay my bill. It 

 my specter had stalked into that office, or if 

 anvthing else horrible had happened. Dr. 

 Howard could not have been more surprised 

 than he was at seeing me alive, though very 

 weak. He asked what saved me, and 1 an- 

 swered, Mrs. Brownlow, who, in my opin- 

 ion, was a better physician than he. 



Mrs. Brownlow's remedy was simple, and 

 one that is in nearly every house. Make a 

 quart of red pepper tea, and after strain ng, 

 add a tablespoontui of common salt. Then 

 sxvceten with honey to suit the palate, and 

 gargle as often as possible, always keep ng 

 Vhe tea before the fire, so as to have it luke- 

 warm. The pepper and salt are the knives 

 that do the cutting, and the honey heals the 

 wounds. In extreme cases one dose of oil 

 will help much at first. 



"Can Kees Hear?"— Why have 

 they voice if not for communication ? Why 

 does the queen pipe in a peculiar tone as 

 she leaves the hive at swarming time, un- 

 less to notify the bees of her departure and 

 locality ? 



Once wishing to get a bee for microscopic 

 examination, a vial was procured, and a 

 visit made to the cellar where the bees were 

 being wintered. At the appearance of the 

 light, several sleepy-looking individuals 

 came crawling out of the hive ; the vial was 

 placed over one of them ; no sooner did he 

 find himself a prisoner than he sent forth a 

 shrill cry of distress. Instantly dozens of 

 fellows not at all sleepy rushed out, causing 

 the intruder to make a hasty and undigni- 

 fied retreat. 



That bees are indififerent to some noises, 

 and apparently sensitive to others, is evi- 

 dent. It is reasonable to suppose that they 

 hear, but that their hearing is limited to 

 tones in certain keys. The human ear is 

 limited in its capacity ; we do not know 

 how much of the finer music of nature is 

 lost to us, as the coarser sounds are to bees. 

 Probably the seeming effectiveness of the 

 tin-pan and dinner-bell in bringing to us a 

 swarm of these domesticated creatures, con- 

 sists in our presence and evident interest in 

 their movements.— ^fVeio York Tribune. 



Xwo Mistalces of the typo occur in 

 Dr. Tinker's essay. On page 26, second 

 column and second paragraph, the word 

 "not" should have been inserted between 

 the words " spaced " and " more." On page 

 27, and next to the last paragraph, the words 

 "section supers" should have been "ex- 

 tracting supers." 



Xlie Honey Instinct.— Mrs. L. Har- 

 rison makes these observations 1b last 

 week's Prairie Farmer on the above sub- 

 ject. She asks : 



How do bees know when there is honey 

 in the flowers ? Is it by instinct, or are 

 they firs^rate smellers ? Do gay colors 

 attract them ? 



During any warm day, if I melt wax, and 

 have the door or window open, the room 

 will soon be alive with bees, and they will 

 even try to get down the chimney. Dear 

 me ! let the wax run over and burn, and 

 there will be a bee convention in short call ; 

 or melt honey, and drop some on the stove. 

 Is this instinct, or do they smell ? 



1 have a plum-tree ont there in the garden 

 that never fails to produce a magnificent 

 crop of blossoms, and is fragrant. Some- 

 times I am tempted to put honey on the 

 blossoms to induce the bees to roam over 

 them, but they know the flowers are no 

 good, and will not produce plums, and 

 there is no work for them to do. They can- 

 not afford to spend their time enjoying the 

 sweet fragrance, and hovering over the 

 delicate white bloom, for pleasure only ; 

 they want profit. 



If gay colors attract bees, then they ought 

 to hold high carnival over a red clover field, 

 for they could find both bright colors and 

 fragrance. They are not like Oscar Wilde, 

 for they pass great Russian sun-flowers that 

 are over a foot in diameter, and hover over 

 a flower so tiny as to be almost impercepti- 

 ble. The great bright peonies of our grand- 

 mothers' day, and bleeding-hearts of our 

 own time, are passed by for the modest 

 white clover. 



Fumisatin;;; Combs.— The method 

 which Dr. C. C. Miller described in the 

 American Bee Joubnal a few months 

 ago, is as follows : 



The powdered sulphur was put in an iron 

 kettle holding about a gallon. A common 

 kettle holding three or four gallons was 

 partly filled with ashes, and in this the 

 smaller kettle containing the sulphur was 

 placed, and over all a tin cover that did not 

 fit closely. I suppose this cover allowed 

 plenty of air to keep up combustion, but 

 made it burn slower than if entirely un- 

 covered. Previous to covering, a lighted 

 match was laid on the sulphur, and that 

 was all the attention it received except the 

 watching, and no doubt it would have 

 burned just the same if I had been a mile 

 away. 



The above will answer several questions 

 which have lately come to hand. 



Mrs. J. Hilton tells, in Gleanings, of 

 her trip to California, and of the Russell 

 Brothers' 7 tons of honey. Orange is three 

 miles from Santa Ana, and why not call on 

 E. Gallup and others while she was so near? 

 Our season here was not considered first- 

 class, yet I will report some of the yields in 

 this vicinity. Mr. Fox had 15 tons; Mr. 

 Miller, 15 tons ; Mr. Joplin, 12 tons ; Mr. 

 Odlin, 18 tons ; and the Hot Springs Apiary, 

 20 tons. It sold immediately at SlOO per 

 ton, or 5 cents per pound wholesale. It is 

 now worth 6}.< to 7 cents wholesale. I be- 

 lieve these bee-keepers above named had 

 from 300 to 270 colonies to the apiary. How 

 does that compare with your Eastern api- 

 aries ? Of course, we do not use any har- 

 ness, or have any trouble about our bee- 

 cellars, etc.— E. Gallup. 



Who of our readers do not dislike to 

 take the time in the spring and summer, 

 when every moment is so valuable, to put 

 sections together, paint and repair hives, 

 etc. ? All this is work that certainly should 

 be done now, during the cold and stormy 

 weather. Think, too, what a pleasure it 

 will be to feel that all is in readiness for 

 swarms, let them come as early as they 

 will. A golden motto for any bee-keeper 

 is, have everything ready early, and get all 

 in readiness when it can be done with the 

 least outlay of valuable time.— Indiana 

 Farmer. 



Franl£ l,eMUe*s Sunday Magpa- 

 zine for February contains several ex- 

 ceedingly interesting and finely illustrated 

 articles which attract attention. In these 

 days of Shakespeare controversy, Mr. 

 Archer's " What is Known About Shakes- 

 peare," with its many faithful pictures, will 

 prove especially valuable. There are the 

 usual installments of stories, and several 

 beautiful poems, together with a number of 

 copies of famous paintings, which are al- 

 ways to be found in this magazine. 



A Father can give his young son no 

 better present than a year's reading of the 

 Scientific American. Its contents will 

 lead the young mind in the path of thought, 

 and if he treads there a while, he will forget 

 frivolities, and be of some account, and if he 

 has an inventive or mechanical turn of 

 mind, this paper will afford him more en- 

 tertainment, as well as useful information, 

 than he can obtain elsewhere. Price, $3.00 

 a year, weekly. 



