1888 



GLi:ANiNGS IK BEE CtlLtUK^B. 



499 



EXPENSIVE HANDWUITINO. 



By the N. Y. Tribune of June 14 we learu that a 

 suit has been pending in the courts, over the proper 

 deciphering of one little word written with a pen. 

 A certain individual deeded either two thousand or 

 ten thousand dollars to a charitable institution. The 

 numeral preceding the word thousand, it is stated, 

 could be read just as easily two as ti'ii. Certain ex- 

 perts were called in to settle the matter, and they 

 decided that the numeral meant ten instead of two. 

 This is only one of a great many incidents where a 

 little piece of poor penmanship costs thousands of 

 dollars. There, now, don't you see the point? A 

 type-writer would have saved all this expensive 

 litigation (see Special Notices). It would also have 

 saved a vast amount of money and trouble. The 

 same thing is occurring almost every day. Yester- 

 day we had to omit a portion of an advertisement 

 sent in. because it was impossible to decipher the 

 writing. 



THE "GRAND RAPIDS" LETTUCE — A GOOD FAULT. 



At the present writing we have not been able to 

 get a single stalk of the above lettuce to run up to 

 seed. The following is in the same line: 



I am trying to raise some seed of "Grand Rapids" 

 lettuce, but I am not succeeding very well. I hope 

 you will be able to furnish us seed by the pound In 

 the fall. You will please send price, as we make a 

 specialty of this. L. H. Mahan. 



Terre Haute, Ind., June 13, 1888. 



Now, then, there is going to be a pretty big de- 

 mand for this seed just as soon as somebody can 

 furnish it. If any among our readers are ready to 

 supply the demand, they will please state what they 

 have and what they will take for it. The fact that 

 it is very slow about running to seed is, of course, 

 greatly in its favor. 



THAT BEE-STING REMEDY. 



DR. MASON GETS UP AND EXPLAINS. 



§EE here, friend Root, I don't care a snap what 

 you think about oil of cloves as a bee-sting 

 remedy that I tell about on page 29^>. I "will 

 talk back, in a hurry" too, and you can't help 

 yourself either. I don't need to forgive you 

 for your unbelief. It is no new thing for people 

 not to believe the truth, and this is not the first 

 time you have been in such a fix, and I'm not a bit 

 sorry I gave the remedy for bee-stings. I know 

 that you have often said that bee-stings generally 

 get well anyhow, and the majority of them about 

 as soon as they do when you apply the remedy. 

 Bah! So does smallpox "generally get well any- 

 how; " and if you have been vaccinated, I don't be- 

 lieve you are to blame for it. 



To make the previous article as brief as possible, 

 I did not explain how 1 came to use and recom- 

 mend it; but I'm not going to mind the length of 

 this, but will tell what I have seen, and hiiow about 

 it and you can chuck it in the waste-basket if you 

 want to, " so there, now." 



When Mrs. M. and myself (she went along to keep 

 me straight) were in New York last summer we 

 spent a few days near Buffalo with one of my big 

 brothers. He had a few colonies of bees, and those 

 bees were the only things I ever knew that would 

 cause him to run to get out of the way. It was not 

 the dread of the pain from the stings, but the se- 

 vere and protracted swelling that followed. He 



thought it was a good opportunity to get his bees 

 "overhauled," and, not having seen any bees for a 

 few days, I was anxious to "rastle" with them. 

 They were perfect Tartars, and pricked me in a live- 

 ly manner; but I never let on; no, sir'ee; couldn't 

 show the white feather when admiring relatives 

 and their neighbors were looking on at a distance. 

 My brother would never go near them without be- 

 ing well protected with gloves, a veil, and a smo- 

 ker; but I had neither; and he, thinking that I was 

 not being stung, and the bees were on their good 

 behavior, kept getting closer and closer, till he got 

 stung just below one of his eyes. Being near 

 where he kept a bottle of oil of cinnamon to be 

 used for stings, I applied some at once, and but 

 very slight swelling followed. This was repeated 

 several times during our stay, and with the same 

 result. But the morning of the day we left he was 

 stung on the cheek; and the oil having been mis- 

 placed it was about half a minute before it was ap- 

 plied, and he said it would swell badly. Before 

 noon it was so badly swollen that the eye on that 

 side was shut. To prevent swelling he said that the 

 oil must be applied almost instantly. Since then 

 we have used oil of cloves because we had no oil of 

 cinnamon, and we have found it to work well, but 

 it might be of no use to some. Now, you may 

 pooh all you have a mind to; but " the proof of the 

 pudding is in the eating." 



MORE ABOUT WIRED FRAMES ON THE GIVEN 



PRESS. 



On page 39(1 you ask me to tell if I am talking 

 about a full-sized L. frame when giving the Given 

 press such praise. Yes. The L. frame is the only 

 kind of frame I have used for fourteen years, ex- 

 cept a few of the Heddon shallow reversible, and 

 some of Armstrong's reversible, and I have found 

 no trouble in making it work nicely. If the next 

 meeting of the N. A. B. K. A. were to be held in To- 

 ledo I would show you just how. 1 never saw nicer 

 combs than were made last summer from founda- 

 tion my boys made when I was away visiting. We 

 have made over thirty sheets at a time in wii-ed 

 frames without lubricating the dies, except to 

 start with. I believe we could make a hundred 

 without putting in wired frames, and not be trou- 

 bled with the wax sticking. We use the washing- 

 fluid referred to, as a lubricator. 



SOMETHING IN FAVOR OF PUTTING BEES IN THE 

 CELLAR EARLY. 



Now about those bees put in the cellar Oct. 19th. 

 I had often wondered if bees would not be better 

 off in winter quarters as soon as frost had killed the 

 flowers; for certainly their exercising only tends to 

 shorten their lives, and I came to the conclusion 

 that I would try the experiment. Mrs. Mason (she 

 is my better half, you know) had been doing the 

 same kind of thinking I had, but she said nothing 

 about it till she saw me putting them in the cellar; 

 so I got the start of her for onee in my life, any- 

 how. Some of the colonies had natural stores, and 

 some one-fourth to one-third sugar syrup in ad- 

 dition to the natural stores. In the Caiiadimi Bee 

 Journal for Oct. 3fi and Nov. 9, 1887, the editor spoke 

 of setting bees in eai-ly; and on page 693 for Nov. 

 16 is an article by me on the subject, dated Nov. 1, 

 in which I say, "The bees seem to be clustered at 

 the front end of the hive and down to the bottom- 

 board at the entrance, and look really comfortable 

 and cosy .... Breeding .... ceased long 



