May, 1909. 



American ^ee Journal 



ern slope. The hives are mostly the 

 iG-frame Langstroth size, and home- 

 made, with the exception of 10 which 

 are factory-made, and facing to the 

 south. The picture was taken from 

 the southwest. 



The people are: Myself standing by 

 the section-cases ; the lady standing 

 farthest at my left is my wife; the one 

 holding the frame of honey is my grand- 

 daughter ; the boy in front is my grand- 

 son — and his dog. The lady at my 

 right is my daughter, Mrs. Mueller, and 

 the gentleman at the right is my son-in- 

 law, Mr. Mueller, and all enjoy the bees 

 and especially the honey, but don't care 

 for the stings, and try to avoid them as 

 much as possible. 



I run my bees mostly for extracted 

 honey, but a few of them are run for 

 comb, and it is sold in the home market. 



Tisch Mills, Wis. C. H., Voigt. 



in every way possible to clean up the 

 bee-diseases of their State. 



To Connecticut Bee-Keepers 



In this number will be found the re- 

 port of the last Connecticut conven- 

 tion of bee-keepers, and also an article 

 by its able president, Mr. Allen Latham, 

 on "Colony-Diagnosis in Spring." If 

 there are still any bee-keepers in Con- 

 necticut that are not regular readers of 

 the American Bee Journal, we wish to 

 give them a cordial invitation to sub- 

 scribe at once. Surely, they will find 

 this copy alone w'orth the subscription 

 price of 75 cents a year. 



Of course, all other bee-keepers any- 

 where and everywhere not now on our 

 mailing list, are also requested to be- 

 come subscribers, and thus from month 

 to month get the benefit of the helpful 

 things found in these columns. 



To South Dakota Bee-Keepers 



As has already been announced. South 

 Dakota bee-keepers have secured their 

 foul-brood law, and L. A. Syverud, of 

 Canton, S. D., has been appointed in- 

 spector for the eastern half of that 

 btate. All bee-keepers residing in that 

 part of the State, should notify Mr. 

 Syverud, if they discover any suspicious 

 cases in their bee-yards. 



The Iowa Foul Brood haw 



We have received the following from 

 Edward G. Brown, of Sergeant BluflF, 

 Iowa : 



Editob York: — The Iowa legislature passed 

 the foul brood law which was presented to it 

 this spring, and we hope to have an inspector 

 appointed soon. 



The Iowa bee-keepers are greatly indebted 

 to N. E. France, of the National Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, and Dr. E. F. Phillips, of 

 the Bureau of Entomology at Washington, 

 D. C, for their help in getting the law 

 passed. And I wish to thank the editors 

 of the American Bee Journal and Glcanmgs 

 for their help in calling out the support of 

 the Iowa bee-keepers. 



Credit is also due the large numbers of 

 men who secured signatures to the petitions 

 we sent them, and then forwarded them to 

 their representatives. 



Reprcsenatives B. F. Stoddard, of Jesup, 

 Iowa, and W. L. Harding, of Sioux City, 

 had charge of the bill. 



Edward G. Brown. 



We have received a copy of the Iowa 

 foul brood law, but just now our col- 

 umns are too crowded to publish it. 

 Suffice it to say, that it should accomplish 

 what is desired if it is properly applied. 

 Bee-keepers of Iowa should co-operate 



Mr. Dickson and His Apiary 



I am sending you a picture of myself 

 and some of the honey 1 produced. I 

 have been keeping bees two years. I 

 got my first swarm in June, 1907, and 

 have been reading the American Bee 

 Journal and Gleanings to keep up with 

 the more experienced bee-keepers. My 

 crop for 1908 was over 500 pounds, 

 mostly comb, from 8 colonies. I would 

 have had more, but I was not at home 

 to change the supers, and lots of honey 

 went into bur and brace comb, because 

 the bees did not have room to store 

 it. But I was pleased with what I got. 

 I think I did fine for a beginner. I 



L. S. Dickson and Honey. 



like to handle 1)ces very much. I do 

 not mind the stings, and think I can 

 make a success of the buisness, as I 

 like very much to try new things with 

 the bees. I have 9 colonies now, all 

 wintered on the summer stands. Upon 

 looking into the hives Feb. 28, I found 

 all with plenty of stores and brood in 

 .3-frames in some hives and in 4 frames 

 in others. I use 8-frame hives, mostly, 

 as they are not so heavy to handle, and 

 I can get good results from them. 

 Princeton, Ky. L. S. Dickson. 



Bee-Stings a Cure for Rheumatism 



The daily newspapers have been pub- 

 lishing consideral)le lately about the bee- 

 sting cure for rheumatism. It seems 

 that Dr. Arthur W. Swann, a surgeon 

 at the Roosevelt Hospital in New York 

 City, has been experimenting on rheu- 

 matic patients. It seems there are quite 

 a number in that Hospital suffering from 

 rheumatism. This led the Doctor to 

 remember that for many years he had 

 heard that bee-stings were a cure for 

 the malady. 



Dr. Swann reported in the New York 

 Times of March 23, that he had so far 

 tried the bee-sting treament on 4 ob- 



stinate cases, and it had resulted in at 

 least a temporary improvement in each 

 case. He based his belief in its ef- 

 ficacy on the fact that the sting causes 

 a counter-irritant, or that the peculiar 

 poison of the bee-sting acts as an anti- 

 dote to the uric acid, which, it is said, 

 causes rheumatism. Just how Dr. Swann 

 applied the bee-sting remedy is described 

 in the following paragraphs : 



"I picked out 4 of the worst sufferers from 

 rheumatism — those whose joints and limbs were 

 stiffened by the disease. After washing the 

 afflicted parts with alcohol, so as to insure 

 perfect cleanliness, I put 2 or 3 bees into a 

 glass and then inverted the glass over the 

 limb, which I had covered with a piece of 

 thin gauze. 



"After a while the bees got busy, and when 

 the patient had been stung once or twice, they 

 were removed. The patient is watched very 

 closely, and the treatment is renewed daily, 

 the number of bees being increased until I 

 have had as many as 10 bees under the glass 

 at a time. 



"As I said, the results have been most satis- 

 factory, but it is too early yet to say anything 

 about the ultimate result of my experiments. 

 I hope to try it out on some 60 or 70 patients 

 before I come to any definite conclusion, but 

 so far as it has gone, I am well satisfied with 

 the experiment." 



Of course, the bee-sting cure for rheu- 

 matism is not at all a new one to bee- 

 keepers. For many years practically 

 all the bee-papers have recorded cures 

 of rheumatism as a result of the ap- 

 plication of bee-stings. We remember 

 very distinctly being told by the late 

 Dr. A. B. Mason, of Toledo, Ohio, who 

 for a number of years was secretary of 

 the National Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 as well as one of its ex-presidents, that 

 he had suffered from rheumatism in his 

 ankles. He decided to try the bee-sting 

 cure.. He put on slippers 'and went to 

 the entrance of one of his bee-hives, 

 and then jarred the hive so that the 

 bees came out and stung him plenti- 

 fully on the ankle, through his black 

 socks. He told us that the cure was 

 complete and permanent. Surely it is 

 a very simple remedy, and most easily 

 applied by bee-keepers, although it is 

 doubtful if very many of those who keep 

 bees are affected with rheumatism. Per- 

 haps they get just enough stings during 

 the working season with the bees to 

 prevent rheumatism getting hold of 

 them. 



The newspapers have also recently re- 

 ported the application of bee-stings to 

 the anatomy of a man who was com- 

 pletely ossified. It seems that after 

 two or three applications of the bee- 

 sting remedy, he was able to "get a 

 move on him," at least to some extent. 

 It was thought that by repeated applica- 

 tions of the remedy he might become 

 quite natural again. 



It has also been reported that Pa- 

 derewski, the famous Polish pianist, has 

 been suffering from rheumatism in his 

 Iiands, so that he was not able to per- 

 form as usual. The bee-sting cure was 

 recommended to him, but it seems he 

 declined to submit to its application. If 

 any one prefers to suffer much and for 

 a long time from rheumatism, instead 

 of suffering a few minutes from the ap- 

 plication of the "business end" of a few 

 healthy bees, of course, it is his pri- 

 vilege. Personally, we would much rath- 

 er have the bee-stings. _ No doubt, 

 most bee-keepers would "enjoy" the bee- 

 stings much more than the rheumatism. 



