1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



908 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



WHICH yUKEN IS IN THE HIVE ? 



AM at a los.s to know which queoii reigns in a 

 colony of bees 1 ha\e. The colony was made 

 some time in May, with a cell ready to hatch. 

 Some ten days alter, 1 opened the hive to see 

 if the queen was laying. The bees balled the 

 •lueen on sijiht. I gave them some smoke, and 

 they released her; but that was the last I saw of 

 her. I gave them (jiieencells at different times 

 through the season, but T could never discover any 

 queen or eggs; but when I extracted buckwheat 

 honey I gave them combs containing drones ready 

 to hatch, which they accepted, also some brood of 

 worker-bees. On receiving a Carniolan (jueen 

 from F. Benton, I thought this colony would re- 

 ceive her gladly. After caging her 24 hours, as the 

 bees seemed all reconciled to her, I released her; 

 and 24 hours after, I found her, or another queen, 

 at the entrance, dead. On giving them a frame of 

 brood the3' began to build queen-cells; but I 

 thought 1 ivoidd have my waj', so I sent to Dr. 

 Morrisou and got a $1.00 Carniolan queen; and 

 after destroying the cells I introduced No. 2. In 

 24 hours they had released her by eating the comb 

 under the Peet cage, and a dead queen was at the 

 entrance. As it was late in the season I gave up 

 trying to queen them. But wiien fl.xing them for 

 winter 1 found they had a large yellow queen, and 

 no brood. She had been balled, as she was minus 

 the fine hair on bodj-, and her wings were badly 

 split. Now, I am badly puzzled to know which 

 queen is in that hive. S. Heath. 



Rimer, Pa , Nov. .'5, 1880. 



Friend II., I am inclined to believe that 

 both the Carniolan qneens yon introdnced 

 were killed, and that the queen they now 

 liave is another queen. It is not uncommon 

 for a young queen, after her wedding-Hight, 

 to return to the wrong liive, and therefore 

 I think the present queen simply came 

 there. No doubt she had been balled; but 

 if bees are left to themselves they will some- 

 times let the queen alone, even after balling 

 her. Next season's ])rogeny of this queen 

 will tell you whether I am right or not. As 

 it was late in the season, you found no 

 brood in the hive. 



WHAT SHALT^ BE DONE IN CASES OFSEVEHE STINCi- 

 ING ?— IMMERSION IN WATER EFFECTIVE. 



I noticed in Glbaninos, page 667, the question : 

 "What shall be done in case of severe stinging ?" 

 While placing my bees on their summer stands last 

 spring, one swarm "went" for the hired man, and 

 somehow got under his bee-veil, and stung him on 

 the right cord in the back of the neck, and on the 

 septum of the nose. Very soon he became blind, 

 and his left side seemed touched with jiaralysis, and 

 he fell to the ground. He was seized with a dread- 

 ful sensation, and throbbing in his head, and \iolent 

 wrenching in his stomach, fireat drops of perspira- 

 tion stood out on his forehead, and his face became 

 as spotted as an adder. I ran to the house for the 

 camphor-bottle (I had seen this used with good ef- 

 fect while assisting at the amputation-table in the 

 army, in the late war). It was the only available 

 remedy at hand. I sopped the camphor all over his 

 head and face (eyes excepted). By that time aid ar- 

 rived, and we took him into the house. We at once 



gave him a few drops of spirits of camphor in some 

 water, and in about ten or fifteen minutes we gave 

 a second dose in whisky. We were about to send 

 for a doctor, as we all began to think he would die; 

 but the second dose of camphor went to the spot, 

 and so far relieved him that all fear of death was 

 passed; but it was not until the next day that he 

 could get about. No doubt this was the effect of 

 a nerve being stung; but for a liesh-sting I have 

 found water to be better than either carbolic acid 

 or borax. In most cases, if water or saliva is ap- 

 plied it will prevent any swelling; and if kept 

 wet it will soon stop all pain. A neighbor says, 

 that when he was a boy he once assisted a veter- 

 inary sui-geon to relieve a valuable yoke of oxen. 

 The oxen turned over a bee-hive, and the enraged 

 bees stung them all over until the owner supposed 

 they would die. The surgeon ordered the oxen to 

 be wound up in carpets dipped in water. They 

 were then driven into the river, and water was 

 bailed on them until they were relieved. Water 

 seems to enter the cavity made by the sting, and 

 dilutes the poison until it is rendered powerless. It 

 also reduces the heat which is caused by bee-poison. 

 Why should not water be a good remedy for bee- 

 poison, if hogs can cure themselves of rattlesnake- 

 bites by lying in the mud and water until the poi- 

 son has lost its deadly power V G. A. Farranp. 

 Rock port, O. 



Friend F., do you not see that, in the 

 cases you have cited above, it is almost if 

 not quite impossible to say that the sutfer- 

 ers would not have recovered just as soon 

 had nothing been done V Don't think me 

 contrary or headstrong in the matter ; but I 

 earnestly desire to get at the exact truth. I 

 have tried water— cold, warm, and hot— for 

 bee-stings, and I have tried it by immersing 

 my hand right in the water, when stung, 

 until I am sure the water has no effect on 

 r;t?y,^e//' whatever. A sprain or a bruise is re- 

 lieved instantly by immersing tlie part af- 

 fected in water as hot as it can be borne ; 

 but with me, the same treatment does not 

 seem to toueli the poison of the bee-sting at 

 all. Where bee-stings produce dangerous 

 symptoms like those you mention, I do not 

 know but that I myself would try the reme- 

 dies you suggest, because it seems terrible 

 not to do any thing at all when a friend is in 

 such distress and danger; luit for all that, 

 the experience I have had strongly inclines 

 me to think that neither water nor camphor, 

 nor, in fact, any thing that I know of, unless 

 it be extracting the sting as quickly as pos- 

 sible, has any effect whatever upon the pain 

 or swelling. It is exceedingly important 

 that we should have all the light we can get 

 upon this subject ; and I would therefore 

 recommend that intelligent l>ee- keepers 

 make thorough and extensive experiments 

 to enable us to decide what to do in case oi 

 severe stings, or to decide if there is any 

 tiling we can do to help the matter. 



A I'OINTEU ABOUT EXTRACTING, ANU HOW TO I'HE 

 VENT ROBMINO. 



About two weeks ago I extracted honey from ."> 

 hives, and placed the combs hfirh on two of the 

 same, taking away the combs and upper stories 

 cDiniilctrhj, fnim 3 of them. Now for the pointer: 

 The two where I placed the combs hack had a con- 

 siderable row with robbers, while I did not see a 



