1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUiiE. 



number. An Irishman came to rae at the time, 

 and was stung- in like manner. When he first made 

 his presence known I said to him, " Tom, j-ou had 

 better go to the house; these bees will sting- you to 

 death." 



" Oh, no; the leetle fellows would na hurt a 

 body;" but about that time I heard him crj- out. 

 "Och! houli' Moses!" I then looked around, and he 

 was walking- ofl" slowly, scraping them ofl: by the 

 handful, first with one hand and then the other. 



In one hour after they were snugly hived, they 

 were as tame and submissive as before they 

 swarmed. I observed them closely every day for 

 two or three weeks. At first there appeared to be 

 nearly or quite as many stingless bees at Avork as 

 those unharmed by the loss of their sting-s. lam 

 satisfied that some of those 



STINGLESP BEES LIVED AT LEAST THKEE WEEKS. 



But what was most remarkable, I at that time kept 

 .•1 trough in a convenient place filled with urine, and 

 in which about half a teacupful of salt was dissolv- 

 ed; and on the next day after the swarm came out 

 I happened to pass this trough of stink-bait, and 

 was surprised to see great numbers, perhaps a 

 quart, of these stingless bees sucking at the stink- 

 bait. I afterward went nearly every day to see 

 and watch or observe how long they would go to it, 

 and found them there in great numbers, gradually 

 decreasing every day for some three weeks; sol 

 am satisfied that a bee, if left at liberty, will live 

 about or nearly as long after losing his sting as he 

 would otherwise have lived. 



Further, I was once put on a committee, with two 

 or three other gentlemen, to investigate this mat- 

 ter. I took a small nucleus hive, only some 4X3X.5 

 in. deep, filled with comb honey and some eggs and 

 a young queen, and about 100 stingless bees, and 

 moved them IV2 miles. They lived till some of the 

 brood hatched to take their place, but I think salty 

 stink -bait, or some other medicine, is actually 

 necessary to their e.vistence. John L. Gregg. 



Tempe, A. T., Feb. 2, 1886. 



You have given lus some very valuable 

 facts indeed, friencl G., that bees, after the 

 loss of their stings, if allowed their liberty, 

 have lived and gathered honey for some 

 time afterward. Your experiments seem al- 

 most conclusive, that the loss of the sting 

 does not materially shorten the lives of the 

 bees, providing they are allowed their liber- 

 ty. It seems to make considerable difference 

 whether these stingless bees are confined, or 

 given their freedom. I have found, how- 

 ever, by experiments recently, that single 

 bees, without any bodily injury, will live 

 four or five days, and even a week ; but that 

 a dozen or so together will survive some- 

 times three weeks. If the juveniles had 

 caged their stingless victims with other bees, 

 their reports would probably have not con- 

 flicted with yours; at any rate, their sting- 

 less bees would probably have lived longer. 

 — You will notice that your conclusions in 

 regard to salt and other like deposits 

 are in line with the suggestions expressed 

 by friend Greer, on p. 178 of last issue. As to 

 whether the salt had any curative proper- 

 ties upon the bees above alluded to, might 

 be a question. Has any one had an experi- 

 ence similar to the facts as given by friend 

 G.V One or two more such Avould settle this 

 problem of stingless bees. Ernest. 



Every boy or girl, under 15 

 '~" years of age. who writes a 



letter for this department, containing 

 SOME VALUABLE FACT, NOT GENERALLY 

 KNOWN. ON BEES OR OTHER MATTEliS, 



wiU receive one of David Cook's excel- 

 lent live- cent Sunday-school books. 

 Many of these boolrs contain the same mat- 

 ter that you And in Sunday-school books 

 costing from $1.00 to SI. 50. If you have had 

 one or more hooks, give us the names that we 

 maj' not send the same twice. We have now 

 in stock six different books, as follows; viz.: 

 Sheer Off, The Giant - Killer, The Roby 

 Family, Rescued from Egypt, and Ten Nights in 

 aBar-Room. We have also Our Homes, Part I.,and 

 Our Homes, Part II. Besides the above books, you may have a 

 photograph of our old house apiary, taken a great many years 

 ago. In it is a picture of myself. Blue Eyes, and Caddy, and a 

 glimpse of Ernest. We have also some pretty little colored 

 pictures of birds, fruits, flowers, etc.. suitable for framing. 

 You can have your choice of any one of the above pictures 

 or books for every letter that gives us some valuable piece of 

 information. 



"A chiel's amang ye takin' notes; 

 An' faith, he'll prentit." 



if!.) t 



HONEY AS A REMEDY FOR COLDS. 



T HAVE a question that I wish to ask the 

 1^ mammas, and the little folks are to do 

 M the reporting in Gleanings. Much 

 ■*^ has been said in praise of honey as a 

 remedy for coughs, croup, and sore 

 throats. The question, then, or problem, if 

 you choose, is this : Is honey a valuable and 

 effective remedy for colds ? or are its sup- 

 posed curative properties a mere whim V 

 During the month of March, when colds of 

 all kinds are so frequent among our little 

 folks, and older ones too, there will be a good 

 opportunity to make a careful test. Perhaps 

 many of our mammas are already satis- 

 fied in their own minds. From my own ob- 

 servation, California honey will seemingly 

 check or stop a hard cough, when basswood 

 honey has no effect. I want the juveniles to 

 report, also, what kind of honey seems to be 

 better than others for colds. Does California 

 honey seem to have special virtue in its cur- 

 ative properties y Let us have no guess- 

 work ; but if honey is a valuable remedy for 

 colds, as is the general impression, then we 

 surely ought to know it. To illustrate the 

 difficulty of deciding correctly in this mat- 

 ter, pardon me for telling you a little incident 

 of ray short married life. "Now, I haven't any 

 Iluber of my own from whom to draw my 

 illustration, but we have a little nephew, 

 Arthur, staying with us. One night he had 

 the croup, and neither myself nor my wife 

 knew what to do; so we just stood and 

 looked at him, while trying in vain to re- 

 member Avhat our mas luid done when we 

 were little and had the croup. We had 

 plenty of honey in the house, but we never 

 thought of that. Finally, Mrs. U. said she 

 had seen somewhere, that they gave ground 

 cheese-rinds and hot water. This she quick- 

 ly prepared and gave him. Under the seem- 

 ing stimulus of this dose he got better. If 



