Jan. 24, 1907 



69 



would not equal a square rod. And in 

 each of these webs at any time during 

 the middle and latter part of the day 

 will be seen from one to 3 shrouded 

 bees. When one considers that bees 

 must range over thousands of such 

 square rods he soon realizes that the 

 SO dead bees on the square rod noted 

 quickly mounts into many thousands. 



The late fall was a remarkable one 

 here both for abundance of bloom, and 

 the many days of favorable weather for 

 nectar-gathering. In Massachusetts, 

 where I used to keep bees, I could sure- 

 ly have counted on a very fair surplus, 

 from all strong colonies. I got no sur- 

 plus, and many colonies of average 

 strength only a moderate supply for 

 winter. To be sure, brood-rearing was 

 not active in August, and much of the 

 field-force consisted of old bees, but 

 that would not account for colonies 

 strong enough to cover lo frames, and 

 to be in the sections also dropping down 

 in 10 days to insufficient numbers to 

 •cover 5 frames of comb. 



Before the season was half over, only 

 those colonies which had happened to 

 breed heavily right up to the flow con- 

 tinued to gather much surplus. So I 

 know that hundreds of thousands of my 

 bees fell victims to those voracious 

 spiders, and I have not the slightest 

 doubt that those spiders cost me hun- 

 dreds, possibly thousands, of pounds of 

 surplus. As it was, the strongest colony 

 put in about 6o pounds of fall honey. 

 This colony had two sets of brood- 

 combs. Knowing the cause of the fail- 

 ure in producing surplus honey, I am 

 seriously considering hiring boys to go 

 out on the war-path against these 

 spiders. It so happens that Argiope builds 

 her nest of eggs right near her old web, 

 and it is easy to find. To find it and 

 destroy it means the destruction of two 

 or three hundred prospective offspring. 

 The nest is circular, about the size of 

 a large cherry, and hangs suspended in 

 open view all through the winter. I 

 am thinking of hiring boys to gather 

 the nests by the dozen or hundred. 



These spiders are never noticed in 

 spring and early summer, and only as 

 they grow towards maturity do they be- 

 come a menace to apiculture. Thus our 

 bees hold their own in numbers through 

 the summer months, but go off rapidly 

 in the fall months. 



I recognize the spider as holding a 

 useful place in Nature, but I should be 

 pleased to see her numbers grow less in 



'•< part of Connecticut. 



Xorwich, Conn. 



Uses of Honey in Foods and 

 Remedies 



TRANSL.\TED BY C. P. D.\D.\NT. 



The Paris bee-paper, " L' apiculture 

 Nouvelle," quotes the following from a 

 small pamphlet bv a French author, Mr. 

 C. Moulin: 



The scientific men tell us that honey 

 is an almost complete aliment, very bene- 

 ficial to man's body, and very easy to 

 digest, because contrary to sugar, it does 

 tiot need to be transformed in order 

 to be assimilated ; because, like 

 sugar, and without having any of the 



American Hae Journal 



disadvantages uf sugar, and under a 

 small volume, it restores the strength 

 of a fatigued man who still has to per- 

 form muscular labor before being able 

 t(j take food and rest ; because, being 

 slightly laxative and diuretic, it helps 

 the functions of the intestines, and of 

 the kidneys, and through this the elim- 

 ination of used-up substances which are 

 in the organs. This is important with 

 sick people, in whom these functions are 

 often inactive ailjEI are yet needed to 

 eliminate the cause of disease. 



So honey is much preferable to su- 

 gar to sweeten the herb-teas ; a single 

 spoonful of honey diluted in a cup of 

 hot water constitutes what might be 

 called a "tea-of-a-thousand-bloom," for 

 the bees have visited even a greater 

 number of them to harvest it. It is an 

 excellent excipient for all medicines, and 

 for this reason is much employed in 

 pharmacy, especially for veterinary medi- 

 cines. 



It contains formic acid — a very anti- 

 septic substance ; that is to say, a sub- 

 stance which destroys many ferments 

 and several sorts of microbes; for that 

 reason it was formerly employed a great 

 deal to cure eye-soreness, cuts, scratches, 

 burns and small wounds, and the Rom- 

 ans employed it to embalm the dead, by 

 putting in honey the bodies they wished 

 to transport to a distance. 



For the eyes I have devised a mix- 

 ture of equal parts of rose-water and 

 choice honey, which cured many persons 

 suffering from cold draughts, bruises, 

 irritation of the eye-lids or benign 

 opthalmy; for recent wounds, scratch- 

 es, cuts and burns of a light form. I 

 have manufactured an ointment which 

 I call the "apiarist's salve," by mixing 

 thoroughly, over a bain-marie, one part 

 of fresh propolis, 2 parts of white bees- 

 wax, and 7 parts of honey. Applied 

 with carbolated cottoti wadding; this 

 runs less than pure honey, covers the sore 

 better, and better prevents the access of 

 ferments, of microbes suspended in the 

 air, or of the air itself, of which the 

 oxygen is the great disintegrating agent 

 in nature. 



A physician of my friends has stated 

 to me that he has cured stubborn cases 

 of constipation upon several of his clients 

 by making them take, every evening, a 

 large spoonful of honey, when going to 

 bed, sometimes for several months to- 

 gether ; that this has succeeded fully as 

 well as sending them to Switzerland, to 

 be cured with buttermilk, or to the 

 South or to Italy to be cured by eating 

 grapes and figs, and that this honey- 

 cure may be practiced in any season of 

 the year. 



Doctor Pauchet, of Arcachon, substi- 

 tutes, to cod liver oil, the "butiromiel" 

 composed of 2 parts of fresh butter and 

 one part of honey, mixed and whipped 

 together, which makes a sort of cream, 

 and is used without repugnance by his 

 patients, and produces upon them the 

 same results, approximate!}', he says. 



Doctor Boudard, physician in the 

 Navy, at Marseilles, has stated to me 

 that he and several of his colleagues 

 have relieved many persons afflicted with 

 nervous debility, neurasthenia and other 

 nervous affections that prevented them 

 from sleeping, by advising them to eat 

 but little at their evening meal, and take 



J 



2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of honey when re- 

 tiring. 



I must stop, for it would take two more 

 pages to give briefly all that I have 

 been told by doctors, or that I have 

 read in scientific works, on the benefits 

 of honey for the health. 



1 have been a bee-keeper for l8 years, 

 thanks to the numerous learned works 

 that I have read and re-read and com- 

 mented upon during an entire winter, 

 and it is now IS years since I have be- 

 gun, owing to the above-mentioned rea- 

 sons, to try to make proselytes in api- 

 culture, and to hunt new uses for honey. 

 I am satisfied that the more men will 

 consume of this beneficent mamia, which 

 the industrious bees harvest everywhere, 

 the more healthy they will be. 



The most satisfactory and most useful 

 preparations I have devised are syrups 

 of honey, which are not so limpid as 

 those found in commerce, but are much 

 more salubrious. I make these by mix- 

 ing a quart of water with 8 pounds of 

 honey, which I heat an bain-marie (over 

 hot water) and skim. If I incorporate 

 in the. syrup from so to too drops of es- 

 sence of eucalyptus per quart, it gives 

 me a eucalyptus syrup with which I 

 cured rapidly a great number of per- 

 sons suffering from colds, hoarseness, 

 sore throats and slight attacks of bron- 

 chitis, by directing them to use half a 

 pint of this syrup, which they must take 

 in tablespoonful doses with a tea made 

 of basswood blossoms or orange leaves, 

 according to the case ; and I relieved a 

 number of others having chronic affec- 

 tions of the respiratory organs, such as 

 catarrh or asthma. 



If instead of essence of eucalyptus I 

 use in the syrup of honey the same quan- 

 tity of essence of mint, it becomes suit- 

 able, in doses of a tablespoonful in a cup 

 of hot water, to help weak stomachs, or 

 prevent indigestion in persons whose di- 

 gestion is accidentally bad; if I use 

 essence of anise-seed it becomes anti- 

 flatulent. If I use essence of pine-apple 

 or of raspberries, etc., or, better yet, if 

 I use, instead of water to make the sy- 

 rup, the same proportion of well-filtered 

 juice of currants, raspberries, cherries, 

 etc., I have a syrup which in hot weather 

 makes a splendid preparation for seltzer 

 or soda-water, or other mineral water. 



I manufacture pastes similar to ju- 

 jube-paste, which I also cut into small 

 squares or lozenges. Melt in an enam- 

 eled skillet, over a bain-marie, 2 ounces 

 of gelatin with 3 ounces of water. When 

 by stirring you have brought the gelatin 

 to the consistency of a soft dough, still 

 stirring briskly, pour into it slowly about 

 14 ounces of honey which has been prev- 

 iously heated also an bain-marie ; when 

 the parts are thoroughly mixed, pour it 

 into a paste mould, or into a flat dish 

 which has been lubricated with choice 

 olive-oil. If before pouring out we in- 

 corporate, into the paste, essences of 

 either eucalyptus, mint or anise-seed, in 

 the proportion of 50 drops per 2 pounds, 

 it acquires the same properties as the 

 syrups, according to the essence used, 

 and I sometimes color diversely both 

 pastes and syrups for the trade of con- 

 fectioners and dealers. 



If I incorporate into the paste from 

 8 to 12 ounces of cocoa, and a little va- 

 nilla, I call it "cocoa-honej'," and I pour 



