1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



459 



many demonstrative experiments. I have been 

 conducting observations for the last 2.5 years to 

 determine this question, and I am satisfied that 

 bees are susceptible to the poisonous product 

 contained in the gelsemium bloom. At first 

 they seem to be taken with a sort of shal<ing, or 

 convulsion; the abdomen swells; they tremble, 

 and either crawl or are carried out of the hive. 

 If the colony is strong, half a pint to a pint of 

 dead bees can be found in frojit of the entrance 

 every 24 hours. Your black colonies will show 

 very few. The trouble will be kept up during 

 the duration of the bloom, and cease as soon as 

 the Howering is past. The atlliction (If I may 

 30 term it) is less perceptible during a stress of 

 bad weather. It can also be controlled by feed- 

 ing or by drawing the attention of the bees 

 from the bloom. 



As formerly stated, as quoted from th'^ high- 

 est medical authorities, the poisonous effects of 

 gelsemium are more perceptible on the nervous 

 ganglia than upon the cerebrum. This, no 

 doubt, explains the susceptibility of the bee to 

 the action of this poison, as the nervous system 

 Df the bee consists in a great measure of a series 

 3f nerve ganglia. 



Augusta, Ga. 



I We have had so many inquiries in regard to 

 tliis poisonous plant that we finally asked our 

 friends in different sections of the South to 

 >eiid us green specimens of it. Why from dif- 

 ferent sections? Because we wished to com- 

 pare them, to see if they Were alike. A care- 

 ful examination showed no difference. The 

 freshest of the specimens was sent to our en- 

 graver, with a request to make a pencil-draw- 

 inc. which was tlien submitted to Dr. J. P. H. 

 Brown, for inspection. The drawing was so 

 nearly accurate that but little change was 

 necessary to make it perfect, and then we had 

 it (Migraved, and the result is before you. Dr. 

 Brown has taken great pains to study up the 

 plant, and we are sure that we may accept him 

 as authority on it.— Ed.] 



^ I — ^ 



GIVE US FACTS. 



By James Hcddon. 



I do not know that I can better illustrate to 

 the readers of Gleanings the very trying posi- 

 tion one is placed in when he is asked to prove 

 a negative, relating to a charge of misdemean- 

 or, than to call attention to the fact that com- 

 mon law is the very essence of logic. This be- 

 ing admitted, as it must be, it must also be ad- 

 mitted that we can reasonably ask no more of 

 an accused, in the social world, than we may 

 ask in the legal world. It is logically just as 

 true, that we must consider and treat a man as 

 innocent until he is proven guilty, in the social 

 world, as in the court. Logic is logic in the 

 ont.' place just the same as it is in the other. 



In the charge of " honey - adulteration," 

 which has been brought forward against me, 

 it is not only true that there has not been suffi- 

 cient evidence discovered to convict me in law, 

 but there has not been one-tenth part enough; 



in fact, not, any at all, that could possibly be 

 termed other than the slightest circumstantial 

 evidence. There has been no more logic in 

 levying a fine upon my reputation and my bus- 

 iness than upon my purse, without competent 

 evidence. I wish to impress your readers that 

 this matter, considered between: municipal law 

 and social ostracism, must have as much posi- 

 tive evidence in the one case as the other. 

 There is no answer to this statement except 

 the illogical answer of "precedent." It can 

 truthfully be said, that it is not the common 

 practice to demand the same evidence, before 

 the multitude believe a member guilty, that is 

 required by the jury before they bring in a 

 similar verdict. The answer to that statement 

 —which is true— is, that it is too true, and for 

 that very reason the world is cursed with crim- 

 inal gossip. 



But if I do not mistake in my judgment of 

 human nature, the late attack against my 

 product has not injured me nearly as much as 

 it has injured honey-producers at large, be- 

 cause a slight injury to each one would aggre- 

 gate very much more than an immense and 

 crushing blow dealt upon my head. Perhaps 

 no truth can be told which will go farther 

 toward ameliorating the damage than the one I 

 have before repeated; viz., that no honey- 

 producer can afford to adulterate his honey. 

 I believe I have always carefully avoided 

 boasting, and I am sure I have purposely 

 avoided painting our business in glittering 

 colors, afterward to be condemned by those 

 who fail because they couldn't be measured in 

 my bushel; but in this case the truth is de- 

 manded; and I tell it when I say that I can 

 produce first-class extracted honey at less cost 

 than glucose can or ever could be bought. I 

 believe many other bee-keepers (although not 

 all) can do and are doing the same thing. Now 

 I ask you, in the name of common sense, why 

 any honey-producer who has reduced the cost 

 of honey to the minimum should go to an ex- 

 tra expense to degrade our product, commenc- 

 ing with his own property first? It isn't true; 

 and to teach it. is, as I said before, not only a 

 charge of serious damage to the accused, but 

 one of immense damage to our fraternity. 



A cherished doctrine with me is, that truth 

 is lasting, while error is weak and perishable. 

 I do not believe in the theory of " holding the 

 wretch in order," by deception, to say nothing 

 of "fear." I believe that we, as bee-keepers, 

 want to know the truth. We want to know it 

 about glucose, which has so much to do with 

 our product in the fancy and fears of bee-keep- 

 ers. I do not believe that glucose is unwhole- 

 some in the least. It was born in Germany and 

 France, where the laws and sentiments of the 

 people are most radically against injurious 

 food. It was adopted into this country, and 

 swept like a cyclone into the first position as a 

 sweet .sauce. I do not believe that Americans 



