Sg6 



GLiJANlNGS IN i3EE CULTUtlE. 



ilAY 



plentifully from January to November. Here in 

 this part of North Caiolina, bees gather plenty of 

 pollen after the first of January, unless it is so 

 cold they can't tiy out to get it (from tag-alder); so 

 it is often the case that there are from 500 to 1000 

 square inches of brood in an 8 L. frame hive the 

 10th of January. No honey is to be had before 

 about May 1st. In May it comes in plentifully; in 

 June, less honey is made than during any other 

 month from May to November. From July to No- 

 vember they get plenty of honey and pollen to 

 keep up brood-rearing, and they do it till about No- 

 vember 1.5th; and from November 1.5th to Decem- 

 ber 20th or January 1st, owing to season, there is 

 little or no pollen gathered, so brood-rearing ceases 

 for about 30 to 40 days only, during the year. 



T should be very glad if Mr. S. would tell me how- 

 to avoid this early breeding which he says is " very 

 easy in the South." It would save me from §.50 to 

 $100 for sugar, which I have to feed each spring. 

 Last season I had to feed up to May 12, and at this 

 writing I am still feeding, and have fed to 50 colo- 

 nies nearly TOO lbs. of sugar already, and all be- 

 cause it is warm, so bees fly almost every day dur- 

 ing winter, getting plenty of pollen, but no honey, 

 and begin to breed so early. 



\'ou are wrong, Mr. S., and friend Root too, in his 

 foot-note, except as applied to some drought-strick- 

 en part of the South, and drought has its effect 

 wherever it goes, north or south. I write this in 

 support of the answers to Query No. 38, and of the 

 actual state of affairs, as known by practical knowl- 

 edge and test, that exist in the larger portion of the 

 South. Tt in no way reflects on Mr. S., for what he 

 writes must be as correct for his locality as the 

 general answers to Query No. 38 are for the South 

 in general. Abbott L. Swinson. 



Goldsboro. N. C, April 24, 1888. 



I presume, friend S.. you mean that I am 

 mistaken in thinking that little stores are 

 consumed during a drought. Well, perhaps 

 I am ; but I have a great many times seen 

 brood-rearing almost suspended on account 

 of very dry weather; and it has been my 

 opinion that, during such times, but little 

 stores were consumed — certainly not as 

 much as when the hives were full of brood, 

 and but little honey to be had in the fields. 



PECWIiIAE EFFECTS OF BEE-POISON" 

 ON CERTAIN PEOPLE. 



MR. LANGSTROTH CORRECTS A MISTAKE. 



fRIEND ROOT:— In your answer to Mr. Parker, 

 on page 3.52, jou gave your recollections of 

 what I said about " being affected unpleasant- 

 ly by being even near a bee-hive," and that " I 

 imagined the bees were the cause of the pe- 

 culiar sensations, when they had nothing to do with 

 it." If you have time to refer to my article, you 

 will find how badly your memory has served you, 

 in making me attribute to '"a notion " what I spoke 

 of as an undoubted fact. 



When I first kept bees, the effect of a sting was 

 very severe. In time it troubled me very little. 

 After giving up bee-keeping for a few years, the 

 effect of the poison was so severe as to exceed anj- 

 thing in my former experience. Even the reading 

 of a postal card from a person who had been hand- 

 ling bees caused me great suffering I Suspecting 



that this new experience was like that of an old 

 tobacco-chewer who, after years of abstinence, sud- 

 denly begins again, I deliberately exposed myself 

 to be stung again and again, and soon found no 

 trouble from the poison. 



1 have repeatedly, at the beginning of the bee- 

 season, brought on severe headaches by inhaling 

 the odor of angry bees, also swelling of the eyelids, 

 but not as great as in Mr. Parker's case. 



Dayton, O., May 6, 1888. L. L. Langstroth. 



Friend L., I humbly beg pardon for ex- 

 pressing myself as I did ; but it was not my 

 memory that had served me badly— it was a 

 wrong impression that 1 received in reading 

 the article in the first place. The paragraph 

 that gave me the wrong impression is as 

 follows : 



May I not be mistaken, then, in supposing that 

 any great change has taken place in my system, as 

 respects the effects of the bee-poison upon it? and 

 may not my i)ainfui experiences of the last six 

 years be acco>inted for in another way ? 



Xow. I still think one might readily con- 

 clude fiom the above quotation that you 

 had decided it to be a mistake ; and the last 

 part of the quotation also encourages the 

 idea, does it not, that your singuh\r experi- 

 ences may have been caused by something 

 else, entirely outside of bees or bee culture ? 

 Now, it may be that there is some subtile 

 agency connected with bees, so wonderful 

 in its properties that even a postal card 

 written by a bee-keeper may cany unpleas- 

 ant sensations to the reader ; but I hope you 

 will excuse me for saying I can not believe 

 it possible until we have further evidences 

 of it. I know that a great many people 

 honestly think they are affected in the way 

 you describe, because I have heard it men- 

 tioned several times ; but I do think they 

 are mistaken ; and without any idea of giv- 

 ing olfense to any one, I can not but consid- 

 er it a '• notion "" that people are liable to 

 fall into. I do not mean to reflect unkindly 

 by using the word '• notion." I get notions 

 myself, and sometimes I hold them so tena- 

 ciously that I am inclined to take offense 

 when some one suggests that it is only a 

 notion. May God give me grace to let go of 

 my notions, when proper proof is presented. 

 When you told us how you rejoiced to be 

 able to" handle bees and movable combs 

 again, and expressed it in that happy fash- 

 ion. — 



My foot is upon my native heath. 

 And my name is McGregor, 



(see page -560, Gleanings for Aug. 15, 1885), 

 I took it that you meant to tell us you could 

 have handled bees at any time had you res- 

 olutely decided so to do. and shook off the 

 idea you had fallen into, that they were do- 

 ing ybu injury. In other words, instead of 

 experiencing any terrible effects from get- 

 ting stung repeatedly, the bee-stings did 

 you good. If I have pained j^ou by hastily 

 jumping at conclusions, I beg pardon. But 

 the principal point involved is this : Are 

 these people who say they can not go near 

 a hive, or even go near a person who han- 

 dles bees, right about it, or is it a mistake 

 they have fallen into V I should prefer to 

 substitute the word " notion '" for '' mis- 

 take," but perhaps mistake will be the bet- 

 ter word. 



