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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL^ 



December 22 



force up the prices of honey, for when one man gets more for 

 a thing, several men generally have to pay more for it. One 

 trust is just as wiclied as another. If it is verong to corner 

 wheat, flour, nails, oil, lumber, etc., it is just as wrong to form 

 a pool on honey. It is all right to open new markets, create 

 new demands, in various ways, or to aid in diverting the crop 

 to other and more profitable markets, but no union should 

 form itself into a trust to regulate the price of food products. 

 This should be left to demand and supply, whether the food 

 be honey or something else. Those who attempt anything of 

 the kind are enemies of society. Dj not join in the general 

 hue and cry about the useless middle-man, and swear he lives 

 off of other people's labor. Remember that whoever satisfies 

 a desire is a producer, and that the man who opens a market 

 is as much entitled to pay, for his labor, as the man who helps 

 the bees produce a case of honey. There will be tradesmen as 

 long as the world stands, and, according to the theory of the 

 evolutionist, that which survives is the fittest. 



Do not conclude that it is because something is out of 

 joint politically that you get such a low price for your honey, 

 or have such a hard time in the world. There has been some- 

 thing out of joint In this direction as long as I can remember. 

 The "outs" have always laid all of the trials and tribulations 

 of the people to the "ins," and the " outs " have wanted in, 

 and the " ins " have wanted thena to stay out. I presume this 

 will be true until the "blowing of the last trumpet," if one 

 ever blows, and then we will all want to get in, I presume. 

 Some may be left out even then. I cannot say how that will be. 



If you are a beginner in the bee-business, do not think you 

 need everything you see advertised. Things are made to sell 

 in this business just the same as in others, and sometimes the 

 people who buy them " get sold." The more experience you 

 have with bees the more you will discover that there are a lot 

 of things you do not want. Go slow on the new things, and 

 let the other fellow do the experimenting. 



If you take a bee-paper — and you should if you ever want 

 to find out how wise some of the fellows are who write for 

 them — do not sit down and write the editor a long letter, the 

 first time you see anything in the paper you like, and tell him 

 what a smart fellow he is, and what a splendid paper he is 

 making out of the " Apis Dissectum." He may say some 

 things you do not like In the next issue, and then you will 

 want to take it all back, but you can't. What is done Is fre- 

 quently harder to undo than it was to do. Then if you give 

 a testimonial to every pillmaker, you may run out of new ma- 

 terial In time. 



Do not try to run the paper for the fellow who owns It. 

 He may have had more experience than you have. If he has 

 not, and you are real anxious to show what you can do, you 

 would better start a paper of your own. "Always room at 

 the top," they say ; but I have noticed that some things are 

 real shaky at the top — a tree, for illustration. It would be 

 better to go a little slow until you get your hand in, and your 

 nerves a little steady. Be very mild and gentle, especially 

 with editors and cross bees. Dj not provoke them to use their 

 posterior extremities too much, as it might prove injurious to 

 them, and uncomfortable to you. It is apt to create a sudden 

 sensation of heat. 



If you have a little success, don't brag or tell what big 

 things you have done. It may bring you more competitors 

 than will be good for the business. Let the supply dealers and 

 the factory people do the bragging. They can tell, if they 

 wish, of tons and tons of stuff they have sold, and how they 

 started with a 10-cent knife and an old shoe-box, and have 

 grown and grown until now they cover acres. It Is true this 

 may induce more fellows to try the factory business, but that 

 will not hurt you. "Competition is the life of trade," but 

 some fellows seem mighty dead at times who get too much of it. 



Do not tell all you know, for if you do the other fellow 

 will know just as much as you do, and it is not well to know 

 too much. It makes one's head tired to carry so much wis- 

 dom, and, then, if people find out a fellow knows a lot, they 

 are all the time wanting to have him tell it, and he cannot find 

 time to do anything else. 



In conclusion I would say, be contented with your lot, but 

 not too contented — no progress In that. Be enthusiastic, but 

 not too much so. One feels so badly when he gets all the en- 

 thusiasm knockt out of him, as he does at times. Be honest, 

 but do not say too much about it. People may think you are 

 " off " if you do. Be kind to the bees, for if you don't you may 

 wish you had. 



If you have not joined the Union do not discuss this paper, 

 for only members can vote. Better give the Secretary a dollar 

 and make him promise never again to ask me to give " general 

 advice to bee-keepers." Emerson Taylor Abbott. 



There was no discussion of Mr. Abbott's paper. 



BEE-STINGS AND RHEUMATISM. 

 "Are bee-stings a cure for rheumatism ?" 



A. I. Root — For some kinds of rheumatism. 



Mr. Whitcomb — I have never known a person to have 

 rheumatism so badly but that he could get up and " git" if a 

 bee stung him. 



Dr. Peiro — I could tell you what I don't know about it a 

 great deal easier than I can tell you what I do know. Bee- 

 stings are said to be a cure for rheumatism ; it is used in 

 some cases. But I want to tell you a little personal history. 

 This is no joke. When I get a little deprest, either from 

 working or some other miserable thing, I go out and consult 

 the bees. I fuss with them a little bit, and they come and 

 give me a warm reception, and for several days after that I 

 really feel a lot better. I would advise you, when you get a 

 little deprest, and get to feeling sort of "off," go and consult 

 the bees, and let them give you a few good, red-hot ones, and 

 you will be all right. 



Dr. Mastin — I have been troubled a little with rheuma- 

 tism In the past, and have been stung a good many times in 

 the last year or so, and have not felt any rheumatism since 

 then. I don't know whether the bees had anything to do with 

 it or not, but I suppose they had. 



Mr. Danzenbalier — I have rheumatism. I think I came 

 by it hoaestly ; my grandfather died with it, and my father 

 suffered with it all his life — it shortened his life. I can't re- 

 member the time when I haven't felt it, from childhood. I 

 have been keeping bees a good many years. Last spring I 

 felt the rheumatism. I went to work with the bees In March, 

 and I got stung a little more than usual. I was with the bees 

 from March until August : I think I got stung on an average 

 three or four times a week. I got rid of the rheumatism. I 

 have not done anything for it ; if I have had any remedy, I 

 think it is bee-stings. If I should not handle bees for two or 

 three months I should feel the rheumatism again. 



Dr. Mastin — Bee-stings are not commonly recommended 

 in the text-books as a remedy for rheumatism. The patient 

 might think the remedy worse than the disease. 



Dr. Miller — About seven years ago a hive that I was hold- 

 ing slipt, and the bees got out, and I received the worst sting- 

 ing I ever had in my life; and I have never had any rheuma- 

 tism since. 



A Member — Did you ever have it before ? 



Dr. Miller — No, sir. [Laughter.] 



Dr. Mason — I have had rheumatism more or less for a 

 great many years, until two years ago last April I had an at- 

 tack in my hip which gradually went down the limb and got 

 into my instep. I suffered intensely. I had to give up for 

 three weeks, and then went around two weeks more with 

 crutches, then with a crutch and a cane, scarcely daring to 

 touch my foot to the ground. I had let my bees on shares be- 

 cause I was unable to take care of them myself while I was in 

 that condition, and one day I was out in the yard sitting down 

 when outcame a swarm, and while watching for the queen I 

 was stung two or three times on the instep ; in five minutes I 

 laid away my crutch and cane, and haven't had a particle of 

 pain since — no pain in that foot at all, but it left a sensation 

 of numbness, and for a whole year after that I would fre- 

 quently stub my toe in walking, as a result of that sensation, 

 and I feel confident that the use of electropoise cured the 

 numbness; perhaps bee-stings would have cured it. 



Dr. Miller — The testimony that has come from different 

 sources has been so much that it cannot be overlookt. There 

 must certainly be some cases iu which bee-stings have helpt 

 rheumatism. But I will tell you what I think about these re- 

 ports of cures : We will find reports here and there from 

 some who has tried it and been successful, and another will 

 report that he has tried it and received no benefit. I suspect 

 that about every successful case will be reported ; but if I try 

 it and it is not successful, I am not so likely to report It. In 

 the majority of cases I am inclined to believe it has no efficacy 

 whatever ; but in some cases it does have its effect. If I had 

 a bad case of rheumatism, I certainly would try bee-stings. 



Mr. Abbott — I belong to that class of people who inherit 

 rheumatism. It has been in my family as long as I know any- 

 thing about it; all have been crippled up with it more or less. 

 Every brother and sister I have has been laid up with it at 

 times for weeks, when every time they would move a limb 

 they would scream with pain. I have myself suffered tortures 

 enough to kill several big, fat men. But about 20 years ago 

 I began to handle bees, and 15 years ago I began to handle 

 them on a large scale, and I have had hardly a hint of rheu- 

 matism since. I have not been an absolutely well man, as I 

 have had other troubles. I have never had a rheumatic pain 

 that I know of since I began to handle bees. When I first be- 

 gan handling them. If I was working with them all the time I 



