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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Aug. 31, 1905 



In the second mode of onset Dr. Aubin 

 attributes the symptoms to irritation of the 

 peripheral nerves, which is indicated by ten- 

 derness in the muscles; pains, chiefly of a 

 burning character, in the muscles of the arms, 

 the lege, the back, and the abdomen ; itching 

 and a feeling of "pins and needles," or numb- 

 ness in the arms and the legs. Such symp- 

 toms are observed in early stages of periph- 

 eral neuritis and in poisoning by muscles. 



In the third mode of onset cerebral symp- 

 toms occur. For example, a Maori who had 

 partalien largely of honey suddenly dropped 

 down in a fit. He became unconscious, and 

 fits recurred at intervals. 



Delirium may be the first symptom. In 

 severe cases, as a rule, the gastric, nervous 

 and cerebral symptoms are combined, one set 

 of symptoms predominating. The character- 

 istic symptom of poisoning by honey as ob- 

 served in New Zealand is the epileptiform fit. 

 This, as stated, may mark the onset or may 

 not occur for an hour or more. It differs in 

 no way from an ordinary epileptic fit, and 

 may be preceded by a cry. The head is 

 jerked to one side with conjugate deviation 

 of the eyes and tonic and clonic spasms occur. 

 Cyanosis and frothing at the mouth are pres- 

 ent, and the tongue may be bitten badly. 

 After the fit the patient may be quiet and may 

 sleep, or may lie restless and delirious. In 

 severe cases the patient is undonscioua be- 

 tween the fits, which usually recur several 

 times. In some cases the convulsions may 

 be more or less continuous, and may result 

 in death. The fits generally cease in less than 

 24 hours. Slight vaso-motor phenomena are 

 usually present, the face and the skin gen- 

 erally feeling hot and swollen. Urticaria was 

 never observed. The duration of the illness 

 is from a few hours to two days, though ner- 

 vous symptoms are sometimes complained of 

 for a considerable time afterward. 



In fatal cases death usually occurs within 

 24 hours. The symptoms, no doubt, are due 

 to a poison in the honey, probably of the 

 nature of an alkaloid which affects chieflj', if 

 not wholly, the nervous system. The gastric 

 symptoms. Dr. Aubin thinks, are of cerebral 

 origin — a view which is supported by the ab- 

 sence of signs of intestinal irritation. We 

 may add that in other countries such signs 

 have been observed. 



After reading the foregoing one might be 

 inclined to think that poisonous honey is so 

 common that the safe thing would be to let 

 all honey entirely alone. As a matter of fact, 

 poisoning by honey is such a rare thing that 

 probably not one reader in a hundred of this 

 Journal ever knew of such a thing happening 

 In his own neighborhood. Even so dignified 

 a publication as the London Lancet may be a 



little astray as to its facts when it treads upon 

 unknown ground, and may wander still 

 further astray in making deductions. Note 

 the statement, " In New Zealand only wild 

 honey appears to cause poisoning." That 

 may be accepted as straight goods among the 

 medical fraternity, but hardly among bee- 

 keepers. What difference can there be be- 

 tween wild and tame honey? Will a colony 

 of bees in a hollow tree work upon flowers at 

 all different from those visited by the bees of 

 an apiary in the same vicinity? If so palpa- 

 ble an error can occur upon one point, why 

 may not other errors occur? 



Those soldiers of Xenophon are paraded 

 whenever poisonous honey is spoken of; if 

 poisoning by honey is such a common thing, 

 why not let the soldiers of X. rest quietly in 

 their graves and trot out a fresh poison squad? 



National Association Nominations 



Secretary Hutchinson has given this notice 

 on nomination of candidates : 



All members of the National are requested 

 to send their votes on a postal card, or by 

 letter, to N. E. France, Platteville, Wis., 

 thereby expressing their choice of candidates 

 to succeed each of the above-mentioned offi- 

 cers. Votes must reach Mr. France by Sept. 

 20. The two men receiving the highest num- 

 ber of votes for each respective office will be 

 considered the candidates to be voted for at 

 the annual election in November. 



" The above mentioned officers " referred to 

 in the foregoing are these : 



President, Jas. U. Harris; Vice-President, 

 C. P. Dadant; Secretary, W. Z. Hutchinson; 

 General Manager and Treasurer, N. E. France ; 

 Directors, J. M. Hambaugh, C. A. Hatch and 

 Dr. C. C. Miller. 



Among others, Mr. Hutchinson suggests C. 

 P. Dadant, of Illinois, for President; Jas. A. 

 Green, of Colorado, for Secretary, and Frank 

 Rauchf uss, of Colorado, for General Manager. 



They are all right. While we might also 

 present a full " slate," as Mr. H. has done in 

 the Review, we refrain from doing so, as we 

 have been foolishly accused of wanting to 

 "run'' the National Association. We are 

 only an humble private in the ranks, and are 

 quite content to have others " run " the Na- 

 tional Association. 



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The Western Bee Journal has been | 

 sold to Orchard and Farm, a monthly pub- 

 lished at San Francisco, and will henceforth 

 be published as an apiarian department of 

 that publication, with Mr. Adelsbaoh as edi- 

 tor. — Bee-Keepers' Review. 



Lake Geneva Alidsummer Pair. — 



The success of the first Midsummer Fair held 

 at Lake (ieneva last year was so great that 

 another was held July 14 and 15 of this year. 

 The prime object last year was to raise money 

 for the Fresh Air Association, but the Fair it- 

 self became a matter of such importance that 

 it almost supplanted the first aim. It was 

 again held on the beautiful, shaded grounds 

 of the late L. '/.. Leiter, which are not only 

 spacious but splendidly adapted for the pur- 

 pose, extending to the edge of the lovely Lake 



which is surrounded bv the summer homes of 

 many wealthy Chicagoans. These latter were 

 the principal exhibitors in many of the de- 

 partments of the Fair, The net proceeds of 

 the Fair held last year were something over 

 $4,000. It was our privilege to be present as 

 judge of the apiarian exhibits both years. 

 We show this week a picture of the bee and 

 honey exhibits made this year. Those win- 

 ning the premium ribbons are as follows: 



One or more cases section comb honey, not 

 less than 34 sections — 1st, or blue ribbon, Mrs. 

 Henry Buell ; 2d, or red ribbon, S. C. Ford. 



Extracted honey, not less than 10 pounds- 

 blue. Miss E. Rumsey; red.Wm. M. Whitney. 



Beeswax, not less than 5 pounds — blue, Mrs. 

 Buell; red, Mr. Whitney. 



Best exhibit of vinegar made of honey- 

 blue, Mr. Whitney. 



One or more cages of Italiaa queens — blue, 

 Mr. Whitney. 



One-frame nucleus, ^banded Italian bees. 



with their queen— blue, Mr. Whitney; red. 

 Miss Rumsey. 

 Best general exhibit — blue, Mr. Whitney. 



Miss Emily A. Hatch was the superintend- 

 ent of the apiarian department and took great 

 interest in it. She has 8 colonies of bees, and 

 is getting along nicely with them. The Fair 

 was well attended, and the exhibits in all de- 

 partments were very interesting and instruc- 

 tive. 



The Kansas State Fair is to be held 



at Hutchinson, Sept. 18 to 23, inclusive. J. 

 J. Measer, of the same city, is the superin- 

 tendent of the Apiary Department. The pre- 

 miums offered on bees, honey, etc., are as 

 follows, and should call out a good display : 



1st 2d 3d 



Case of alfalfa comb honey $ .'i $3 ¥2 



Case of amber comb honey 5 3 2 



Display of comb honey 10 5 3 



Display of extracted honey 5 3 2 



Frame of white comb honey for ex- 

 tracting 4 3 1 



Frame of amber comb honey for ex- 

 tracting 4 3 1 



Best 5 pounds beeswax 5 3 2 



Display of beeswax 10 5 3 



One-frame observation glass hive ... 5 3 2 

 One-frame 2-story observation glass 



hive 5 3 2 



Display in design of beeswax 5 3 2 



Home-made hives, complete 5 3 3 



Best display of bee-keepers' supplies 10 5 3 



Best arranged apiarian display 10 5 3 



Best display of honey-cakes 3 2 1 



Best display of pies sweetened with 



honey 'S 2 1 



Best display plain pickles in honey- 

 vinegar 3 3 1 



Best display of sweet pickles put up 



with honey and honey-vinegar 3 3 1 



Best display of varieties of uses for 



honey 5 3 2 



Grand sweepstakes, largest and most 

 attractive exhibit 10 5 3 



The Apiary of J. J. Measer— or a part 

 of it — is shown on the first page. Mr. M. 

 wrote us as follows when sending the picture ; 



I send you a photograph of a part of my 

 apiary, taken the forepart of July, and show- 

 ing the condition of the bees at that time. We 

 have had no honey coming in up to date, 

 scarcely enough to do the bees for food. Col- 

 onies are strong in bees but no bloom to work 

 on, so the bees are loafing on the hives. The 

 web-worm has taken all the bloom from the 

 first and second crops of alfalfa and all wild 

 flowers. During the past 3 or 4 days there 

 has been some work done, as the third crop of 

 alfalfa is now coming into bloom. I think 

 there will be but very little section honey 

 gathered in this part of Kansas this year — 

 probably some from late wild flowers. 



Reno Co., Kan., July 1". J. J. Measer. 



To Foreign Subscribers. — We wish to 

 repeat a notice that we have given several 

 times before. It is this: None of our special 

 offers made in the American Bee Journal, or 

 anywhere else, apply to foreign subscribers. 

 So whenever we receive a foreign order with 

 remittance we always apply it all on sub- 

 scription to the American Bee Journal. If 

 our foreign readers would think about it a 

 little, they would quickly see that our special 

 offers would not apply to them, on account 

 of the extra postage to foreign countries. 

 Also, we do not export any queens, except to 

 Canada. 



RIaeterlinck's " Life of the Bee."— 



We have a few copies of this book, price, post- 

 paid, $1.40; or with the American Bee Jour- 

 nal one year — both for $2.00, as long as the 

 books last. It is a cloth-bound book, and has 

 437 pages. 



