196 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNALc 



March 31, 



of honey." H. Lathrop called attention to the great value of 

 Dr. Miller's leaflets, and thought that bee-keepers should set 

 the example by using it at home for domestic purposes. Pres. 

 Wilcox spoke of having a printed sign, " Honey for Sale 

 Here ;" another advised bee-keepers not to crowd to large 

 city commission houses, but sell direct to consumers. Mr. 

 France spoke of having all honey in neat packages, with 

 name and address of producer on each package ; also to keep 

 a book list of those sold to, so that at any time it can be re- 

 ferred to. 



Th« question, " Will honey be affected by moisture after 

 being taken from the bees ?" was askt. Several replied from 

 experience that it would gather moisture, and if stored in 

 damp cellars either comb or extracted would be likely to sour. 



Mr. Lathrop was appointed a committee of one to secure 

 reduced freight rates on bees In less than car lots, and report 

 at the next meeting. 



SECOND DAY'S PROCEEDINGS. 



The meeting was called to order by the President : the 

 minutes of the previous meeting were read, and the Treas- 

 urer's report was given. It was decided that as the Associa- 

 tion's expenses had been paid by Secretary France, all the 

 funds now in the treasury should be turned over to him to pay 

 all bills, and apply the balance upon shortage In legislative 

 expenses. 



QuKS. — "Shall our Association make a State honey ex- 

 hibit at the Omaha Exposition ?" Mr. France said that he 

 had attended the meeting of the Wisconsin Commission at 

 Milwaukee, and as there was uo State aid, and ail money 

 would have to be raised by subscriptions, he recommended 

 that we make no honey exhibit, and that the supply dealers 

 take such space as they desire at their own expense. 



Qdes. — "Should our State Association have semi-annual 

 meetings ?" Ans. — No. 



AMALGAMATION OF THE TWO UNIONS. 



QuES. — "Should the two Bee-Keepers' Unions be amalga- 

 mated ?" This was answered by resolutions as follows : 



Resolved, That the Wisconsin State Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion do hereby endorse the United States Bee-Keepers' Union, 

 and recommeud Wisconsin bee-keepers to send $1.00 to the 

 General Manager, Hon. Eugene Secor, of Forest City, Iowa, 

 for membership in said Union. Be It further 



Resolned, That we will rejoice at the amalgamation of 

 the two Unions under one management. 



HONEY ADULTERATION — SWEET CLOVER. 



The adulteration of honey In our markets was discust at 

 length, and the new food law on adulterated honey was read 

 by Mr. France. 



The subject of sweet clover came up, with its great worth 

 to bee-keepers as a honey-plant, and excellent stock pasture 

 If kept cropt close. Mr. France called attention to the wrong 

 Idea of many bee-keepers as to their lawful rights, many hav- 

 ing the idea now that they had no right to its free use in the 

 highways, whereas, anything in the highway, be it trees, 

 weeds, or anything that is obstructing or hindering in the 

 higtway, the authorities having a right to remove for the 

 good of the road, but that this law applied to sweet clover no 

 longer as being a noxious weed upon the farm ; that a person 

 has a right to raise it for his own use. 



QuES. — " Is the quality of honey of any given plant 

 affected by difference of soil or climate ?" Ans. — Yes. 



The election of ofiBcers resulted as follows: President, 

 F. Wilcox ; Vice-President, J. Hoffman ; Secretary, N. E. 

 France, of Plattevllle ; Treasurer, H. Lathrop. 



PREVENTING HONEV GRANULATION — FEEDING BEES, ETC. 



The question arose as to how the granulation of honey 

 could be prevented, the most satisfactory answer being to 

 heat the honey, care being taken not to overheat and discolor 

 it, and to use hot water In the outside vessel to prevent the 

 honey from burning. 



QuES. — " What Is the best feeder for the fall feeding of 

 bees?" Ans. — Mr. G. W. Wilson uses a 2-quart basin covered 

 with floating screen ; others preferred to save during the 

 honey-flow some choicest full combs of best sealed honey, and 

 when a colony needed feed to exchange for the empty combs 

 in the hive. 



QuES — " What Is the best direction to face the entrance 

 of hives ■?" Ans. — If to east or south often in the spring the 

 sun warms so as to induce the bees out when the weather Is 

 too cool ; it is better to have shade-boards or double-walled 

 hives. 



QuES. — " What is the most convenient vehicle in the api- 

 ary ?" Ans. — Daisy wheelbarrow. N. E. France, Sec. 



Report of the Northwestern Bee-Keepers' Cou- 



veutlod, Held in Chicago, Nov. 10 and 



11, 1897. 



REPORTED BY A SPECIAL BEE JOURNAL REPORTER. 



(Continued from page 181.) 



SECOND DAY — Afternoon Session. 



In the absence of Dr. Miller for a short time, Mr. Whit' 

 comb occupied the chair, and read the following question : 



STING OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



"Is the sting of the honey-bee poisonous?" 



Mr. Whitcomb — No, I do not think that the sting is pois- 

 onous. It is the formic acid that Is injected Into the circula- 

 tion that is poisonous. It is not only poisonous in the circu- 

 lation, but in the stomach, and It is the most deadly poison 

 known. That is one reason why honey makes some people 

 sick. There are people all over the country that cannot take 

 any honey. We have made some experiments on that lately, 

 with people who had never previously been able to eat honey, 

 giving them honey In which we knew there was no formic 

 acid, and without a single exception they have reported that it 

 failed to make them sick. This honey was taken off by the 

 Porter-escape process. But by the old-fashioned robbing pro- 

 cess, going to the hives and robbing the bees, the instinct of 

 the bee is to save its honey, and In stinging small particles fall 

 off on the honey, and that makes people sick. 



Mr. Karch — My wife was stung right on the forehead. 

 She said she was feeling very queer, that something pretty 

 near like that happened to her some years before when she 

 thought she was overcome by the heat — a sort of sun-stroke, 

 and she said, "I feel just the same as I did that time wo 

 thought I was sun-struck." But this was no sun-stroke, it 

 was a bee-sting. Another time she was stung on the wrist. 

 It wasn't but a few minutes till she fainted away; it just 

 went through her system, starting from where she was stung, 

 and turned kind of purple, and she said she could taste it 

 when It got to her mouth, a very disagreeable taste. She 

 fainted away, and I thought she was dying, and sent for a 

 physician as fast as I could, but not finding him at home, we 

 did the best we could, and after awhile this fever past away, 

 this heat, this hot wave, and she began to swell some, and 

 turned pale and cold, with severe pain in the stomach, appar- 

 ently about the same symptoms as poison would cause, and I 

 thought she was going to die. We tried hot baths and warm 

 applications, and she got over It. The next day the neigh- 

 bor's wife told me, " I didn't say anything to you yesterday, 

 but I thought your wife was about to die. We didn't expect 

 her to live a half hour." I said, "You needn't have told me, 

 that was what I expected." 



Mr. Heffron — I saw In a French journal awhile ago that a 

 man had been stung very largely, had 150 stings around his 

 neck at one time ; they were extracted afterwards, and the 

 Injurious effects were prevented by making a plaster of ipe- 

 cacuanha powder. They just wet It up with water, and put 

 It on around his neck, and it hardly swelled at all, and pro- 

 duced no Injurious effects. I have used it this summer in per- 

 haps a dozen cases. I havn't guarded myself very much 

 against the sting of bees because I learnt I could prevent 

 any evil effects. I took a little ipecacuanha powder and wet 

 it and put it on the place, whether on my face or on the front 

 or on the side of my neck, front or back, as I had been stung 

 In all those places. It didn't swell at all, and I used to swell 

 badly. 



M. S. Miller — My father was stung on one of the main 

 blood-vessels on the back of the hand. He described the feel- 

 ing as if there had been a whole lot of ants starting from that 

 point and crawling all over his body. It made him very sick, 

 and In about a half hour he had to "throw up," probably Id 

 20 minutes, and after that he began to get better. The doc- 

 tor he had declared he could not have lived over half an hour 

 if he had not done that. 



Mr. Heffron — The stings of bees have been kept dried for 

 six months, and then have the same effect that they would 

 when fresh. So the poison is not something that is not neces- 

 sarily connected with what little fluid there may be. 



Mr. Karch — The doctor said of my wife that if it had not 

 been for "throwing up," she would have been dead. 



Mr. Smith — I would like to know if it makes any differ- 

 ence how the sting is removed. 



Mr. Green — Decid€dly. That is one of the principal 

 things in preventing pain and swelling. One should not pinch 

 it out, uor try to dig it out, but scrape it off as quickly as pos- 

 sible. 



