1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



815 



think it a great misfortune to start out with 

 something ditt'erent from the frame or ] 

 frames in common use. I presume you do | 

 not intend to use your hive two-story, for i 

 frames two stories high as deep as yours - 

 would loom up pretty well. My second ob- ' 

 jection would be the loose pieces you have 

 about the hive, and the machinery, if I may 

 use tlie term. While it is a chatt" hive, I ■. 

 should also be inclined to think so many | 

 joints would permit frost to get in. in a way I 

 that it would not, if the brood-nest were j 

 surrounded by a continuous body of loose 

 chaff. Very likely many will be pleased 

 with the arrangement, and it presents as a 

 whole a very pretty appearance. i 



MOVING BEES. 

 Something About how Far a Bee can Fly. 



A FOOT -POWER BUZZ-SAW MADE FUOM AN OLD 

 SEW1NG-MA€HIXE. 



T MOVED to Peoria last fall; over a hundred 

 1^1? miles on the railroad, with my household 

 iir goods, six colonies of bees, horse, and myself, 

 '^ all in one car. I prepared the bees for ship- 

 ment by fastening- the upper story of the 

 hives to the lower ones, stopped up the entrance 

 of the hives, i-emoved the covers, and tacked 

 over the top of the hives a wire screen to give 

 the bees air, and they came through all right. 

 The last 45 miles of the distance, a bee that es- 

 caped through a small hole, punched by accident 

 in one of the screen covers, followed the train. 

 Every time the cars stopped it would come to the 

 door where it escaped; and at one time it came in, 

 went to the hive, and flew out again. This fact il- 

 lustrates at least the wonderiul sagacity of the 

 bee to mark the locality of its hive, its deterniiua- 

 tion to stay with it, and the rapidity of its flight. 



HOW I OBTAINED A CHEAP BUZZ-SAAV. 



As ministers usually don't have too much moiiej', 

 and need recreation, and having a little mechanical 

 •genius, 1 thought I would just make one. A friend 

 gave me an old Wheeler & Wilson sewing-ma- 

 chine; another friend gave m'e two circular saws 

 that were worn too small for his use. 1 then got a 

 machinist to make me a mandrel for *4.00. I put 

 an additional balance-wheel to the sewing-machine, 

 made my own journals, and ])ut my saw in the 

 place of the head of the sewing-machine, fastened 

 the two parts'of the lid, or cover, together by cleats 

 on the inside, removed the hinges to the back part 

 of the coverjand table; let the cover come down on 

 to the saw in motion, and cut its way through it, 

 thus making the cover the platform of flic sawinill, 

 adjustable en its hinges, so as to cut any dcsiralilo 

 depth. I then extended ine side' of the platform 

 six inches, and made a carriage to run in a groove 

 exactly parallel with the saw, to carry whatever I 

 desire to cut. This cari-iage has a rule on the head- 

 block, three feet long, to measure the length of the 

 stick being cut. I also made aiK>th(r cm liu'ic to 

 set on the first one, to cut a miter. Thus 1 h;i\(' a 

 cheap and quite complete sawmill fiiat does admir- 

 able work. J. .1. W. Place. 



Peoria, 111., Sept. 24, 188i. 



So, friend P., you have proved conclusive- 

 ly that a bee can fly as fast as an average 

 railroad train goes. We have got so much 

 •anyhow ; and furthermore, a bee ciui keep it 

 up for -1-5 miles. It is really astonishing that 

 that one bee stuck to his hive all this dis- 

 tance. Your arrangement for a buzz-saw is 

 quite ingenious, but I should conjecture 

 that y(mr. luml>er must all be pretty clear 

 from " knots, and nicely seasoned, or you 

 would lind it dithcult to cut it with so small 

 a, power. 



NITBIC ACID A EBMEDY FOR STINGS 

 AND OTHER POISONS. 



.VLSO SO.METHING ABOUT BEE-STINQS IN GENERAL. 



fRIEND NOVICE:— If you think the following 

 will be of any use to your readers, you can 

 hand it out in Gleanings. Some may be 

 benefited by the use of it. It is taken from 

 the Southern Medical Becord: 

 Hickory Grove, Ga. G. W. White. 



I must give an adventure which I had with a hive 

 of bees, and the result, which, by a grand mistake, 

 in using nitric acid instead of sweet oil, I made the 

 discovery that the acid is a veritable specific for the 

 sting of bees. Being cleanly shaved, and unpro- 

 tected, I undertook to transfer a hive of bees 

 which, becoming enraged, covered my face and 

 hands by the tliousaiui. After fighting my best for 

 a short time, I wirli ditticulty made my way into the 

 house and called for sweet oil. Being in great pain, 

 and even alarmed at the possible result, without 

 time, and in no condition for reflection as to the 

 best means to be used for relief, I held my hand in 

 a cupped position and directed it to be filled with 

 sweet oil; but in the haste and confusion they 

 snatched up a bottle of nitric acid, and poured my 

 hand full, which I first applied to my forehead and 

 then over my entii-e face and hands, when my 

 granddaughter exclaimed, "O grandpa! stop! stop! 

 it is the wrong bottle! it is nitric acid!" Alarmed 

 with a new danger, I bethought me of soda, to neu- 

 tralize the acid, and called for it; but before it ar- 

 rived I was most agreeably amazed and delighted 

 to find the pain of the stings suddenly relieved, as if 

 by magic, and to find that no cauterizing effect or 

 injury had been sustained; but the poison was 

 gone, and even the swelling rapidly subsided. 



A few weeks after the above singular discovery. 

 Mr. D. came to me with hands inflamed and much 

 swollen from the effects of poison-oak. I at once 

 thought of the sting remedy, and applied nitric acid 

 - at first cautiously on the back of one hand, and, 

 seeing no pain or cauterizing effect, I applied it to 

 the other, and to the entire part inflamed, with 

 speedy and absolute relief to the poisonous symp- 

 toms. A. L. Barry, M. D. 



Friend White, although the above looks 

 very plausible, I hope you will excuse me 

 for again saying I can riot think the nitric 

 acid had any thing to do with the relief ex- 

 perienced whatever. The acid must have 

 been very much diluted, probably by absorb- 

 ing water from the atmosphere, or it would 

 have made more trouble on oiu- friend's face 

 than the stings. If you want to know what 

 kind of trouble, next time you get a sting 

 ask a druggist to put a drop of pure nitric 

 acid on the spot. It may possibly neutral- 

 ize the poison of the sting, but I thitik it will 

 make a worse spot to be healed than the 

 sting alone would have done. The point 

 seems to be this: The remedy is applied, 

 the relief comes. Well, stings, as a general 

 thiiig, cease painins one after a little time, 

 ; and as a rule the pain disappears (juite sud- 

 ' denly. If our friend had put nothing on Jiis 

 face at all, I think he would have found the 

 1 pain and sw-elling to abate just about iis they 

 ; did. lam not acipiainted witli the symp- 

 toms of poison from the poison-oak, but I 

 presume the ditticulty often disappears of 

 I itself after a little irritation or swelling. 

 You may think 1 am a little severe on reme- 

 ; dies for l)ee-stings ; but,])lease bear in mind 

 ! that of the thousandsthat have been ottered, 

 not one statids to-day as a specitic. Many 

 things are used foralittlv while by some 

 i earnest defender of their virtues ; "but as 

 time. passes they pass away and are forgot- 

 ; ten. Wlien you" get stung, extract the sting, 

 i give it no more attention, and go about your 

 I business. 



