AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



147 



honey. The syrup must be good — not 

 watery and thin. Feed them more the 

 same way in the spring, or they will be 

 likely to get out of stores and starve, or 

 be slow to start up brood-rearing. 



PREVENTION OF BUKR-COMBS. 



Use brood-frames with a top-bar 3^ 

 inch thick and IJ^ in width; spacer- 

 inch between them, and you will not 

 have very much trouble cutting brace- 

 combs out. That has been my experi- 

 ence with them. Dr. Miller reports 

 about the same in Gleanings. I cannot 

 get as nice combs built on frames made 

 of %-inch lumber as on those made of 

 IM inch. 



THE 5 -BANDED ITALIANS. 



I would like to hear about them from 

 more of those who have tested them as 

 honey-gatherers. 1 have tried a queen 

 of that strain, or that claimed to be 

 such, but only 3-banded, and they did 

 not swarm the first year, but did the 

 second, and then the queen died. But 

 they proved to be the best of honey- 

 getters. They would get sweets as long 

 as any were to be had, but they were 

 only 3-banded. I have 5-banded ones 

 from Missouri. 



Gale's Creek, Oreg. 



B8e-Stiiis[s anil Rliemnatism Apln. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY DR. E. GALLUP. 



When I lived in Ventura county I 

 went down to the city to get some bee- 

 hive lumber, and stopped at a hotel kept 

 by a widow who was also boarding the 

 county poor. The first night there was 

 such screeching, screaming and groan- 

 ing that no one could sleep in the house. 

 I found out in the morning that the 

 noise was made by a young man who was 

 suffering with rheumatism. I told the 

 landlady to have a boiler of hot water 

 when I came in at night, and 1 would 

 stop his yelling so we could all have a 

 good night's rest. 



Well, at night I gave him a hot bath 

 and a good, strong massage, with Swed- 

 ish movement, and he slept until 9 

 o'clock the next morning. When I left, 

 I told him T should be down with a team 

 for my bee-stuff in two or three days, 

 and then I would take him home, cure 

 him, and he could work for me to pay 

 for board and treatment, as I should 

 want a hand in the apiary. I took him 

 tip according to agreement. 



Well, the season turned out a poor one, 

 but he stuck to his crutch and aped 

 lameness, for he was having too good a 

 time to leave. I was debating in my 

 mind how to get rid of him, for I hated 

 to send him off with no prospect of his 

 getting work, and he was entirely desti- 

 titute of means, and nearly destitute of 

 clothes. 



One day I set him to hoeing up some 

 weeds in the apiary. I told him to be 

 careful and not hit a hive, and the bees 

 would not molest him. I was sitting in 

 the shanty facing the apiary and writ- 

 ing. He was hoeing very lazily, and 

 leaning on his crutches; when all at 

 once I saw the hoe flying through the 

 air in one direction, the crutches in 

 another — and his hat and bee-veil in 

 another — and Upton came tearing for 

 the shanty. He never turned out for a 

 hive, but jumped over them, never 

 stopped to unlatch the door, but burst it 

 open, threw himself in the middle of the 

 of the room on the floor, and all the time 

 crying as loud as he could bawl ; tearing 

 his hair and sweariag at the same time. 

 I laughed until my false teeth ached — 

 or, rather, fell out of my mouth. 



It turned out that he hit an old-fash- 

 ioned Langstroth hive a good, smart 

 rap with his hoe, and at the same tinie 

 pulled out the stick that closed the back 

 ventilator. The hive contained a strong 

 colony of hybrids, hence the result. 



As soon as he cooled down a little, he 

 said : " Why, Doctor, do you know that 

 bees bite with their hinder cend ?" 



As soon as I could reply, for laughing, 

 I said : "Well, Upton, you have made 

 a discovery and so have I. You have 

 discovered that bees bite with their 

 hinder "t;end," and I have discovered that 

 bee-stings are a sure cure for rheuma- 

 tism. You have been playing 'possum 

 for a long time. You have never de- 

 ceived me one particle, but I have had 

 compassion on your destitute condition, 

 and so have said nothing. Yesterday 

 there was a man here looking for some 

 one to drive a team. Now, leave your 

 crutches and go to work for the man. 

 Earn some clothes and support yourself 

 like a man." 



Now that is how I know that bee- 

 stings are a sure cure for rheumatism. 

 I have been thus explicit in giving all 

 the particulars and circumstances, so 

 that others can apply the remedy in the 

 same manner, or it might not have the 

 same effect. The hot baths, massage 

 and Swedish movemehts are only for the 

 purpose of satisfying the patient that 

 there is something being done. It sttdo 



