308 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



more for six months. I was cured, and 

 forgot it. When the bee-stings got well 

 I had no more rheumatism. 



During the next winter I had another 

 attack of rheumatism. I went to using 

 liniments again, but it did me no good. 

 I then began to think what it was that 

 cured me the previous summer. Then I 

 remembered that I had read about bee- 

 stings curing rheumatism, and how I 

 laughed at the idea of anybody trying 

 that kind of a remedy, as I thought the 

 remedy as bad as the disease ; but I 

 mustered up courage epough to try it, 

 and the first day of March the bees were 

 flying. I went down to the hives and 

 pulled down my stocking, and when a 

 bee crawled up on my leg or my stock- 

 ing, I pulled up the stocking and caught 

 it, and patted it on its back until it 

 would sting me, then I would let it go 

 and catch another and pat it on the back, 

 until I had got about four or five good 

 stings. When the stings got well, my 

 rheumatism was well also, and I have 

 never been troubled with it since. 



Now I believe in bee-stings as a cure 

 for rheumatism. Some of my neighbors 

 call me a "crank " when I talk to them 

 about it, but I am willing to be called a 

 crank if I can find relief by it. 1 don't 

 care what they call me in that line — it 

 does not hurt half as badly as rheuma- 

 tism. I have come to believe that a few 

 bee-stings are good for me, and I am not 

 half so afraid of bees as I once was. 



Cerro Gordo, Ills. 



Corrections — Apis Dorsata — 

 mailing Queens, Etc. 



Written for the American Bee Jowmal 

 BY FRANK BENTON. 



In the report of the Washington con- 

 vention several omissions and mistakes 

 occur which cause the views attributed 

 to me to appear very different from 

 those I intended to express, and I must 

 therefore ask for space in which to cor- 

 rect them. 



In the discussion on the self-hiver, 

 page 143 of the Bee Jouknal, where 

 I said, " The cost is but little more than 

 the interest on the money," there should 

 be added these words : a trifle, which 

 would be paid several times over If the 

 seif-hiver accomplished the result sought, 

 and thus saved what it costs to hive 

 swarms. 



On page 145 is the statement, refer- 

 ring to Mrs. Benton's shipments of bees: 

 "It was her skill in this direction which 



landed in fine condition the first queen- 

 bee that ever made successfully by mail 

 this long journey from Europe." This 

 last should read : from Europe to the 

 Pacific coast. As a matter of fact the 

 first queens sent by mail across the 

 Atlantic successfully were put up and 

 posted by myself. But just here it may 

 be of interest to add that up to the time 

 of Mrs. Benton's success in mailing to 

 the Pacific coast those I had sent by 

 mail to States west of Kansas, had all 

 arrived dead. Her queens were put up 

 and mailed in Munich, Germany, June 

 8, 1885, while I was absent in the 

 Orient. 



There is credited, or I had better say, 

 debited to me on page 148, the follow- 

 ing : " Apis dorsata is not looked upon 

 as valuable for a cross." What I wished 

 understood was this : Apis dorsata 

 might not prove valuable for a cross — 

 perhaps even it would not cross with 

 our bees. 



This is not quite as bad as the ideas 

 on page 249 of the Canadian Bee Jour- 

 nal for Nov. 15, 1892, where it is said 

 that, " personally, Mr. Benton thought 

 Apis dorsata would be no acquisition 

 even if it could be acclimated ;" and 

 " that bee-keepers need not look for new 

 discoveries of any consequence in re- 

 gard to other and better races of bees 

 than those now possessed." How in the 

 world any one who attempts to report 

 the views of another can possibly get 

 them so twisted all out of actual resem- 

 blance to their original form, I cannot 

 conceive. I not only never made these 

 statements, nor do I hold such views. 

 Moreover, at the Illinois State conven- 

 tion in Chicago I did not say anything 

 about foreign races of bees except in re- 

 ply to a few questions that were directed 

 to me personally. 



It is stated on page 214 of the Amebi- 

 CAN Bee Joubnal, that those there 

 named were elected to honorary mem- 

 bership in the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Association upon a motion 

 made by myself. This is true of all but 

 the last-mentioned gentleman — Dr. H. 

 W. Wiley, Chief of Chemical Division, 

 United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, Washington, D. C. Dr. Wiley's 

 name was proposed by Mr. A. N. Draper, 

 of Upper Alton, Ills. I shouldn't won- 

 der if I was the only member present 

 who did not vote for his election. I con- 

 ceive that only names of such as have 

 rendered some eminent service to apicul- 

 tural interests should be placed on our 

 list of honorary members. 



It might be asked why the names of 

 two deceased individuals should now be 



