1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



In examining different llowers there is one thing 

 that puzzles me; that is, why the haw and the bar- 

 berry (especially the barberry) should be provided 

 with such larse pistils, while the sugar maple and 

 others have suoh insignilicant ones. And the insig- 

 nificant ones are away down de(!p out of sight, 

 while the haw and barberry stand boldly out of the 

 blossom. Has any one noticed that tiowers are 

 not so fragrant on cool as ihey are on warm sunny 

 days? If anybody doubts this statement, go, smell, 

 and see. I suppose that the perfume is not secret- 

 ed (?) on cool days, for the same reason that nectar 

 is not— atmospheric conditions not being right. So, 

 now, if a rose by any other name will smell as sweet, 

 it won't smell as sweet some other day when the 

 weather is cool. By the way, there is no more 

 beautiful ornamental shrub, than that same black 

 haw. It lias a beautifully rounded top, and is load- 

 ed with blossoms every spring; then in the fall 

 when the frost turns the leaves, they are a bright 

 crimson, and stay that way for two or three weeks; 

 then we have the rijie haws to look at and to eat — 

 three beauties and one benefit in one year! what 

 more can we ask of any tree? 



But the barberry is not beautiful, and it is like 

 what the stuttering young man said of the locust 

 limbs when he was helping Mr. Chaddock pile up 

 brush : " Th'-th'-they've g-g-go-go-got sti stistic-stic 

 stickers on'em," and are very unpleasant bushes to 

 handle. I know, for nearly all my swarms of bees 

 alight on them ; and two years ago, when my bees 

 had that crazy swarming spell, and would not stay 

 hived, I tried dipping them off these barberry-limbs 

 into buckets to carry them away to new places, so 

 that thej" would consider theraselved swarmed. I 

 have read of barberry hedges. Who has them? and 

 do they bloom well when trimmed into a hedge? do 

 the bees i-oar on them? If the barberry is any thing 

 of a honey-plant, it must be useful, as it blooms 

 immediately after apple-blossoms fail. 



Vermont, 111. Mahala B. Chaddock. 



REMEDIES FOR BEESTINGS. 



HAS THE CREATOR OUANTED THE DUMB BRUTES 

 A KNOWIjKDGE of the MEDICAL* proper- 

 ties OF HEItBS ? 



fN page 836. 1887, you ask, " How did anybody 

 happen to think of plantain? " Let me tell 

 you how an aunt of mine hai)i)ened to think 

 of it. Being a very close observer, she one 

 day saw a very large spider and a small toad 

 engaged in a pitched battle; and as the battle went 

 on, the toad was frequently bitten by the spider; 

 and as often as bitten it went immediately to some 

 plantain standing near by and bit some of the 

 leaves. My aunt, having her curiosity aroused, 

 and wondering what would be the effect if the 

 toad could not get the plantain, removed it entire- 

 ly. The battle went on, the toad was bitten again, 

 and again repaired to the place, where it had so 

 often found the plantain. Being unajale to find 

 the plantain, the toad seemed confused, and died 

 in a few minutes, without even trying U\ return to 

 the conflict. 



P. S.— After writing the above I found the in- 

 closed sketch, and cut it out for you. S. F. Avery. 

 W. Taghkanic, Col. Co., N, Y. 



FrieiKl A., I am very much obliged in- 

 deed for the information you furnish ; but 



I still think that tlie toad ate the plantain 

 by accident, and that it had nothing to do 

 whatever with providing an antidote 

 against the venom of the spider. I grant 

 that it is a little mysteiions that the toad 

 should die so suddenly ; but still I can not 

 think that the phmtaih had any tiling what- 

 ever to do with it. In the lirst plac(^ if I 

 am conect. Prof. C'onk has told ns th:it spi- 

 ders are not venomous. 1 know that a great 

 numy good people will lilt ii]) their hanils in 

 protest whe«i I say this; but I think tluit he 

 and other entomologists will tell us that this 

 whole matter of poison from spidei-bites is 

 a mistake. Another thing: No antidote to 

 poison can work so (juiekly. The plantain 

 must be swallowed and at least partially 

 digested, and tlie antidote must get into the 

 circulation before it can counteract the ef- 

 fects of the bite. When people swallow 

 something that is poisonous, swallowinq an 

 antidote may give immediate relief. When 

 a person or animal is bitten by a rattle- 

 snake, sw^allowing another poison, such as 

 alcohol or whisky, might soon get the 

 liquid into the circulation of the blood, so 

 as to prove an antidote ; but even this I 

 very much doubt. 1 think that no one has 

 yet proved conclusively that whisky is 

 good for snake-bites or bee-stings. Final- 

 ly, although 1 have great faith in the kind- 

 ness of an all-wise (Jreator, I do not believe 

 he has endowed dumb brutes with an in- 

 stinct that prompts them to eat certain 

 plants when they are sick or have l)een i)oi- 

 soned. Of course, certain kinds of food are 

 prompted by nature, when we have been 

 suffering from ill he;dtli. My good friend 

 Neighbor II. has a way of saying that the 

 l)est medicine in the woiid for a sick 

 horse is grass ; and 1 said this morning 

 at breakfast, that the best medicine for a 

 sick man or woman is strawberries. The 

 grass and the strawberries are both pro- 

 vided by an nil- wise Creator ; but I do not 

 think that it follows that the toad instinct- 

 ively ate jjia?! (am after he was poisoned. 



I will state to our readers, that the clipping 

 alluded to in the postscript is a piece froiii 

 some illustrated paper containing the pic- 

 ture of a toad and spider, and the account 

 given of it is substantially the same as giv- 

 en above. From this I iiifer that this story 

 of toads eating plantain when they are bit- 

 ten by spiders has got to be a sort of legend 

 which has been handed down. Perhaps 

 you think I am taking considerable space 

 for discussing a simple matter ; but, dear 

 friends, it is a serious matter indeed to see 

 so many people accept as truth things 

 which are nothing but superstitions which 

 have been lutnded down through ages of 

 ignorance. The time has come when every 

 fact should be carefully scrutinized by the 

 sharp, keen light of modern science and 

 scientific investigation. Will Prof. Cook 

 and other entomologists second what I have 

 said, if 1 am right, or correct me if [ am 

 wrong? The juice of the plantain is not 

 pungent or powerful, nor is it intoxicating; 

 and, so far as I can discover, it has no such 

 powerful effect on the system as any plant 

 must have to exert its influence by simply 

 chewing the leaves. 1 think we might cook 



