300 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



sion "Blasted Hopes" deterred people from 

 making reports ; and if it is thought best, we 

 will change it to ''Reports Discouraging." 

 Yon might charge me with making it my 

 business to defend bee culture. Well, that 

 is my business, and I expect it to be so long 

 as I live, to defend bee culture against un- 

 fair or unjust charges. But, of course, the 

 real difficulties and discouragements I want 

 to have reported just as truthfully. 



DEATH FROM BEE-STIXGS. 



IS IT LIABLE to' HAPPEN, AND WHAT CAN BE DONE 

 WHEN SYMPTOMS SEEM DANGEROUS? 



m FEW days ago I had a woman helping me in 

 ^^ my apiary. She got stung onco on the left 



' upper eyelid. In ten minutes from the time 



she was stung, she was in most dreadful condition. 

 When stung she went Into the house and rubbed a 

 little soda on the place. I went in after her, and 

 found her lying, seemingly speechless. Her face 

 was swelled, and her nose was completely closed, 

 and her throat nearly so. She was in great paiu. I 

 at once applied a wet towel to her head, and bathed 

 her face and hands in cold water. This gave no re- 

 lief. I had her bathed in very warm water and ap- 

 plied towels wrung out of hot water and gave her 

 about a gill of wine to drink. This gave relief. 

 After continuing for some time she continued very 

 sick until late in the night. I will try to give her 

 feelings in her own words. First a dead feeling of 

 feet and hands, as if her flesh were asleep, followed 

 by being very sick, and a severe vomiting, and then 

 pains all through the whole body. She said her 

 very heart pained her, and this brought on palpita- 

 tion of thpi heart, and she did seem to be in a dan- 

 gerous condition for about six hours. 1 would 

 state that she had helped me often before in the 

 apiary, and I have seen her stung as often as live 

 times, and she not leave the hive, and ho harm, ex- 

 cept a slight swelling afterward. Now, Mr. Root, as 

 we have some doctors among our bee-keepers, can 

 they tell us why this one sting came so near killing 

 at this time, when before so little harm? Are we 

 all liable to the same harm? If so, is not bee-keep- 

 ing a little dangerous? I should like to have your 

 opinion, and that of some of the doctors too, and I 

 should like to know what to do in such cases. What 

 must we give for a bee-sting when symptoms seem 

 dangerous? W. W. Edwards. 



Abbeville C. H., S. C, March U, 1881. 



Friend E., although such occasions as you 

 mention are of comparatively rare occur- 

 rence, there are enough of them to make it 

 quite desirable that every bee-keeper should 

 know what to do at such a crisis. I have 

 sometimes thought that occasionally a bee 

 is found during the height of the honey sea- 

 son, having an unusual amouiut of poison in 

 his poison-sac, or, may be, having poison of 

 unusual virulence. 1 have been led to infer 

 this, because once in a great while 1 get a 

 sting that is extremely painful. Ordinarily 

 I may be stung a hundred times, and pay 

 little if any attention to it. But once in 

 three or four years I get a sting that gives 

 not only tenfold more pain, but lasts a great 

 while longer. These severe stings, it seems 

 to me, come during the height of the honey- 

 flow— that is, I seldom get stings that hurt 



very badly when little honey is coming. In 

 the spring, when bees are first set out, or in 

 winter time, if they happen to sting at all, it 

 seems to be only about half a sting. It 

 seems to me the greatest danger that is to be 

 feared is, that the swelling that often ensues 

 from a very severe sting may close the breath- 

 ing-passages, or stop the respiratory organs. 

 A case of death has been reported in .tng- 

 land, where the patient simply choked to 

 death. Very likely the application of water 

 would be beneticial to alleviate the swelling; 

 and although I have not consulted any med- 

 ical authority, I would suggest that the 

 throat and breathing-pnssages be kept open 

 by mechanical means till the swelling can 

 abate. A tube of some sort, I think, might 

 be inserted in the throat so as to keep a pas- 

 sage open to the windpipe. ^Ve have many 

 of the medical profession among our read- 

 ers, and would be glad of suggestions from' 

 these brothers. I presume you are all well 

 aware already of my want of faith in reme- 

 dies of any kind for ordinary bee-stings. 

 Friction, or any such disturbance, is the 

 best way in the world to produce swelling ; 

 and although I have tried great numbers of 

 remedies, 1 am more ti.'-mly satislied every 

 time, that the best way after removing the 

 sting, is to let it alone. 



WALNUT AVOOD FOR SECTIONS. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT CRATES AND CASES FOB 

 nONEV. 



5pjP AST season, "as the readers of Gleanings 

 llyil know," our State Convention was held at the 

 — great Southern Exposition at Louisville; and 

 at the same time, the Exposition Co. gave an induce- 

 ment to Kentucky bee-keepers to have a "honey 

 show" for one week. Knowing as I did that thou- 

 sands of people would inspect this mighty show of 

 honey, set me to experimenting as to how to get my 

 honey to show to the very best advantage. Being a 

 professional artist, gave me some advantage in the 

 effects of colors, one upon the other when placed 

 side by side; for instance, if we place a light surface 

 and a dark surface close to each other, the dark will 

 appear darker, and the light lighter, than they would 

 if only the one color were present. I took advan- 

 tage of this in giving my honey the desired appear- 

 ance of color; and as some who saw the "show" 

 will remember, my honey in sections had a peculiar 

 rich creamy appearance, not "challiy white," but a 

 shade whiter than rich cream. My honey was in 

 planed basswood sections, size six to fill a Lang- 

 stroth frame, as made by A. I. Root (my favorite 

 size and shape of section). I colored the sections 

 with burnt umber mixed with turpentine, which 

 gave them the appearance of walnut lumber, or sec- 

 tions made of walnut wood. I colored them before 

 putting in the hive. Honey in these sections ap- 

 pears very white. I then made my crates a rose- 

 wood color, rather red rosewood; the brown sec- 

 tions and reddish cast of the crate gave the honey 

 the cream effect. I also made some crates of red 

 cedar wood, which I have now on hand for exhibi- 

 tion, that gives a still better effect to my eye. The 

 thought has occurred to me since, why don't we 

 have our sections made of walnut instead of bass- 

 wood, and stop cutting down basswood-trees. Wal- 



