1162 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



Holy Land! how they did sting! They knocl<- 

 ed rheumatism and patience and good humor 

 all out of me for the time being. I didn't 

 keep them long, but my bees have never 

 quit stinging since. I think the bad example 

 of those holy (?) bees has never been quite 

 forgotten by my previously well-behaved 

 Italians; and even this past summer I have 

 been the daily recipient of anywhere from 

 three to three dozen stings; but I have no 

 rheumatism, and for years I have had scarce- 

 ly a twinge of it. 



By the way, I am glad of a single remark 

 in one of your footnotes about the peculiar 

 crossness of this year's bees; viz., 'but such 

 crossness I have usually traced to a little in- 

 fusion of the five-banded blood." 



I wonder if those five-banded or golden ■ 

 Italians, of which I have recently introduced 

 quite a number of queens, do not originate 

 from the savage little Cyprians. Some of 

 my handsomest five-banded bees ai'e the 

 crossest little wretches that ever carried a 

 sting. My experience tallies exactly with 

 yours in this matter. Almost invariably I 

 iiave noticed that the attacking parties have 

 issued from one of either pure-golden or a 

 mismated queen's half-golden progeny. I 

 am not half so enthusiastic an admirer of 

 the golden uniformed warriors as I was two 

 years ago. J. Ferris Patton. 



Newtown, 0., Oct. 11. 



[We were obliged to weed out all the 

 queens of the extra-yellow sort from our 

 apiary next to the factory building because 

 it had so many cross bees in it that it was 

 not safe for teams to go through the yard. 

 Since that time we have had very little 

 trouble. The ordinary imported leather- 

 colored stock is so gentle that one can usu- 

 ally work in the yard day after day without 

 a veil. Yes, I have thought that this extra- 

 yellow stock descended from this holy (?) 

 stock, for— holy smoke!— how they could 

 sting! 



I understand that some of these strains of 

 yellow bees were not cross, but I have nev- 

 er yet run across them. — Ed.] 



RHEUMATISM CURED BY BEE-STINGS. 



I see a great deal is said about stings. I 

 can add my experience with the rest. When 

 I left Illinois I was almost a cripple from 

 rheumatism. I arrived in California about 

 19 years ago. The climate helped me some; 

 but after being 8 years here, I went into the 

 bee business, and from that time on I have 

 not had the least bit of rheumatism. I can 

 be stung a hundred times, and it leaves no 

 mark on me. B. P. Shirk. 



Hanford, Cal. 



GRIFFITH S SHEDDED APIARY. 



