18S1 



GLEANINGS IN i3EE CULTUliE. 



5:^.1 



BEES ON A KAMPAGE, AGAIN. 



WHAT THEY DID, AND HOW IT TURNED OUT. 



!E are taking your paper r'^iin, and it is like 

 an old friend, as we us^d to ha^e it when 

 we kept bees in Iowa, 7 years ago. Reading 

 the piece about a man dying from a sting, compels 

 me to write to you about a little trouble we have 

 had. A five-year-old chap belonging to a neighbor 

 of ours who has a big ranche, and has all kinds of 

 men. Chinamen among the number, at work for him, 

 is always ready to " help." These workmen are not 

 very choice in their use of language. One day this 

 little flve-year-nld was with a Chinaman, helping to 

 hive a swarm of bees, and, running under the limb 

 where the swarm was, the bees fell on him ; and as 

 he threw up his hands to brush them off, they of 

 course stung him. His mother hearing his cries, ran 

 to him and got him to the house and brushed off the 

 bees, and pulled out 13 stings from his neck. Not 

 knowing what else to do, she poured out a teacup- 

 ful of strong whisky, which they kept for medicine, 

 and made him drink nearly all of it. He was getting 

 stupid from the poison of the bees, but after drink- 

 ing the whisky, and having a rag wet in the liquor 

 wrapped around his throsit, he revived, and was 

 seemingly out of pain. His mother, now that the 

 need for action was over, gave way to tears, and 

 through her sobs asked, "How do you feel now, Odin?" 

 "Oh, bully! give me some more whisky," was the 

 answer, which effectually stopped the tears of his 

 mother, as she had to laugh. They kept the cloth 

 wet with the whisky, and the next day the child was 

 all right. 



I do not like bees myself, for the stings make my 

 flesh swell so badly, and I can not eat honey, so I 

 should not care if there were no bees in the world, 

 as far as I am concerned; but my husband likes them, 

 and my boys like mamma's honey-cake, so I am in- 

 terested in the little nuisances for their sakes. 



"We have about 85 swarms. We have kept bees for 

 19 years, but never had them act mean until once 

 last year. It was a pretty warm da3', and about one 

 o'clock, when my husband heard an unusual noise 

 at the pig-pen, where we had about 150 hogs, big and 

 little. The bee-hives were about two rods from the 

 pen. When he got to the pen he saw that one sow, 

 with pigs, in a pen by herself, was running about 

 very much excited; so he went to her and found 

 that the bees were stinging her and her pigs. He 

 then kicked off a board and shoved her out of the 

 pen. She ran around the large pen, the bees after 

 her, and in two minutes the bees had come out in 

 swarms and commenced stinging the other pigs. 

 Thej' got so frantic that they just raged around. 

 Mr. Hilton opened the gate and tried his best to drive 

 them out of the pen into some green barley growing 

 near, but did not succeed till he had come to the 

 house and got my help, and it was all we could both 

 do. The bees were just thick in the air and on the 

 hogs. After we had got the hogs out we went to 

 picking up the poor little ones that were literally 

 covered with bees and stings, especially back of the 

 ears and between the hind legs. We put them in 

 the chicken-house and threw wet sacks over them, 

 then went to see to other things. Out by the barley 

 we had four horses tied, and I saw that they were 

 getting excited, and my husband had to go quite 

 over a large hill before they left them. Then the 

 cows we had staked out had to be moved. Feeling 



tired, I came to the house, and there were mj' two 

 turkey gobblers, half crazy from bee-stings. I had 

 to catch them, pull out the stings, and put a wet 

 sack over their heads. The dogs were whining and 

 trying to hide from the bees, so 1 threw water over 

 them, and then went to see about the little pigs. I 

 found about 20 in misery; 3 or 1 had spasms, so Mr. 

 H. killed them; then we went to pulling out stings, 

 but they were so badly stung, and had had to suffer 

 so long, that 12 died during the week. My turkeys 

 were almost blind a week. I had to make bee-hats 

 for us all, for the bees would ho%-er around the door 

 of our house, and woe unto those who stepped out 

 without a hat, for one whole week; and at the end 

 of that time one pitched on me at the well as I was 

 drawing water, and stung my face. I only had on 

 my sun-bonnet. We do not know what caused them 

 to act so, unless it being hot they felt cross; and as 

 they were eating out of the sow's trough, she fought 

 them and made them mad. Mks. J. Hie^ton. 



Los Alamos, Cal., Aug. 10, 1881. 



jSIy friend, you certainly did have a sad 

 time witli the "bees, but it seems to me you 

 have mentioned one thing far more danger- 

 ous than all the bees in the world. Sooner 

 or later, that boy will have an ungovernable 

 ajipetite for whisky, and the one act may 

 send him to a drunkard's grave. I feel 

 quite sure that no bad consequences would 

 have resulted from the thirteen stings had 

 nothing been done more than to pull them 

 out. I also feel quite sure, from the experi- 

 ence I have had, that the outward applica- 

 tion of whisky had nothing to do with the 

 recovery. Nor, indeed, am I sure that even 

 wet cloths are of any advantage. I have 

 tried keeping a painful sting wet with water, 

 but I can not see that it atfects it at all 

 either way. The scene with the pigs was 

 strikingly like the experience of our Mr. 

 Merrybanks' neighbor, when he was first in- 

 troduced to our notice. 



SQUAliE MEN. 



SOME SUGGESTIONS IN THE MATTER FKO.M THE 

 BRETHREN. 



5?^^0UR editorial headed " Square Men," is a capi- 

 j.^ tal idea. 1 had been thinking for some time 

 — ' past about suggesting something of the 

 kind, and I am glad you have taken the steps. 

 Start that list at once, friend Root, and let every 

 one pay you for the space taken in your journal- 

 say so much a year, as it is for your queen column, 

 and also so much for j-our trouble and expense for 

 procuring the standing of each. Then besides, let 

 every one give bond or security of some kind. Now, 

 would it not be fair for every one who has to com- 

 plain of a dealer, to give his name? Let every one 

 come aight out with the facts, and give the names, 

 as then it may bring more promptness, etc. 

 Bayou Goula, La., Oct. 6, '81. P. L. Viallon. 



SQUARE MEN. 



I see you propose publishing a list of the square 

 dealers, also one for those who arc crooked; and, 

 say, let it include every one among our bee-men 

 who advertise any thing for sale at all. Your object 

 is to give protection to your readers and purchas- 

 ers, which is very good. But, how about your ad- 

 vertisers? They are the fciv among the mamj; they 



