THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



73 



" At a time when honey is coming 

 in modenitely, say wlien a good colony 

 is bringing in from 3 to 5 lbs. per day 

 of extnicled honey, comb foundation 

 is a success in the surplus arrange- 

 ment, but at a time when honey comes 

 in with a rush, the same colony 

 gathering from 12 to 20 pounds per 

 day, it does not pay the cost, for my 

 bees will lill a box having a starter of 

 natural comb, and tinish it as quickly 

 as they will one full of foundation by 

 its side." ., [ . 



I can see no way to account for this 

 statement only in this way, that when 

 the bees brought in only 3 to 5 lbs. of 

 extracted honey per day they could 

 supply the amount needed to complete 

 the full length of the cell; but when 

 they brought in 12 to 20 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted honey per day they had to 

 secrete from 2 to 4 times as much as 

 those bringing in 3 to 5 lbs. per day. 

 Thus putting those wliich brought in 

 from 12 to 20 lbs. of extracted honey 

 almost on a footing with the bees 

 which had simi)ly a starter. 



Now if this wax had been supplied 

 in the wall of the foundation the bees 

 would not have had to furnish it, and 

 I think Mr. Doolittle would have had 

 to give a decided preference in favor 

 of the sections tilled with sheets of 

 foundation. Mr. D. may say that 

 some of the foundation was heavy, 

 measuring 6 square feet to the pound, 

 so it was, but Ids test shows that the 

 septum of the same was very thick, 

 and had their extra wax been in the 

 wall, instead of the septum, it would 

 have been just what we want. If we 

 would have foundation a perfect suc- 

 cess in the sections we must have a 

 heayy wall and thin septum ; such we 

 have in the Given foundation. If we 

 are going to furnish wax for the bees 

 to build comb with let us furnish it, 

 and luit give them thin foundation 

 withone-thirdorone-half enougli wax, 

 and making them furnish the rest. 



Dorset, Vt. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



The Effect of Bee Stings. 



T. C. MACE. 



I stated in the Bee Journal a 

 short time ago the fact that the sting 

 of the honey bee affects me danger- 

 ously; seeing \Vm. F. Clarke's experi- 

 ence in the last number of Weekly 

 Bee Jouknal, I will give mine. 



Soon after being stung (it matters 

 not on what part) 1 feel the effects in 

 my eyes, ears, lips, nostrils and throat, 

 particularly the latter, and generally 

 more or less all over my body; swell- 

 ing begins to ])rogress at a fearful 

 rate; breathing through my nostrils 

 soon becomes impossible and breath- 

 ing at all becomes very difficult, so 

 much so at times that I am nearly 

 suffocated for want of breath. 



On two occasions during the past 

 season, my tongue swelled so that I 

 could scarcely speak so as to be 

 understood. 



A few years ago some doctors ad- 

 vised me to try drinking spirits. I 

 did so and still use it (or that purpose. 

 I imagine that it does good as the 



sooner I take it after being stung the 

 more mild the effect of the sting 

 seems to be, and during the swelling a 

 swallow of spirits seems to slightly re- 

 lieve the difficulty of breathing, for a 

 few minutes, but sometimes it is al- 

 most impossible to swallow the spirits 

 or anything else. 



I have some faith in " inoculation " 

 notwithstanding the fact that the 

 more 1 am inoculated the worse the 

 effect. If it were not that each sting 

 is fraught with danger, I would try 

 the experiment in about this way: 

 After being stung I would take spirits 

 after the effect of the sting had con- 

 siderably passed off (but not entirely), 

 and while the system was somewhat 

 under the inllu'euce of the spirits I 

 would be stung again, then take more 

 spirits and after the effect of the sting 

 had sufficiently passed off another 

 sting, and so on indelinitely until the 

 sting had little or no effect, taking 

 just spirits enough to neutralize the 

 poison to a considerable extent, but not 

 entirely. As soon as the indications 

 justify (if they should justify) dimin- 

 ish the amount of spirits taken, but 

 continue the stinging for sometime 

 after the spirits has left the system. 

 The experiment might result thus, or 

 it might not. If it should, I have an 

 idea the system would be effectually 

 inoculated. 



1 should be encouraged to try the 

 experiment by the fact that some 

 years ago. after the effect of a sting 

 had passed off sufficiently to render it 

 possible for me to get among the bees 

 again, I iiniuediately received another 

 sting which seemed to affect me but 

 little, if any; but my wife and father- 

 in-law think it would be too much like 

 suicide for me to try it. I wish, how- 

 ever, that some one else would. If 

 Mr. Clarke does not seem to think the 

 sting really dangerous, will he try it 'i* 

 Now, please don't plead temperance, 

 for I am a temperance man (except on 

 occasion of bee stings). We have 

 heard and read of well authenticated 

 cases (both accidental and experi- 

 mental), of the human system being 

 effectually inoculated so as to become 

 venom proof. I have seen such ac- 

 counts in the Bee Journal. I for- 

 merly knew a man in an adjoining 

 county who told me that the sting of 

 the honey bee effected him very pain- 

 fully, but on one occasion (on cutting 

 a bee tree I believe) he was so severely 

 stung by several bees that he had to 

 be carried home by his companions; 

 since which he has been venom proof. 



Cameron, Mo., Jan. 16, 1882. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Is this all Fiction ? 



L. W. VANKIRK. 



I must have a chat with Mr. Doolit- 

 tie, and I guess the best way will be 

 to run over to his ranch. Wiegates^Mr. 

 D.V I see you are busy. Yes, very; 

 last winter was hard on my little pets; 

 I will luive to do a great deal of doub- 

 ling up. Why do you have to dothisV 

 Well, it will take me some time to 

 tell. You know I use a small hive. 

 Last season I united, and stimulated 



my colonies until the queens had every 

 comb tilled with brood, so when the 

 harvest came they were forced to store- 

 all their honey in the surplus chamber. 

 I obtained a good crop, but the season 

 closed sooner than I expected, and I 

 found my colonies scarce of honey audi 

 full of bees. After I had weighed my 

 surplus, I fed back all that was not- 

 salable, and not baviiig enough of 

 this, I drew largely on the sufjar bar- 

 rel. Well, didn't you get them in 

 good shape for winter in this way ? 

 No ; somehow, the queens wouldn't do 

 any good laying, there being such a- 

 hoii^ of old bees on hand, etc. After 

 a great deal of fussing, I was forced to- 

 let them go into winter quarters, and- 

 my cellar was too cold for them, the- 

 thermometer ranging from 30° to 35° 

 all winter, and that temperature is far 

 more destructive to bees than a higher 

 or lower temperature. What temper- 

 ature should a cellar be kept ? About 

 46"=, but it is a good plan to give them 

 a gradual cooling off once or twice a 

 month. I agree with you there, but 

 your bees have wintered badly; how 

 will you be able to hand in your big 

 report this fall V Well, I'm going to- 

 unite and get the number just as small 

 as possible (I won't count those nuclei 

 over there), and feed liberally to get 

 the queens to lay, and by the time the 

 honey season comes, I will have lots 

 of queens on hand, and I can divide 

 up and have all those empty combs- 

 occupied by the time the season is in 

 full blast. You see it will be easy to- 

 get a good average, and that is all I 

 care for. By the way, stranger, how 

 many bees do you keep and how are 

 they doing y Well, I went into win- 

 ter quarters with 96, including a few 

 that were united, and came out with 

 87. Well, stranger, were they good 

 and strong V No, sir ; they resembled 

 yours in some respects; they had. 

 plenty of honey and few bees. Well, 

 did you double up V No ; I had sixty- 

 odd that didn't need anything ; the 

 balance had their honey uncapped 

 from time to time, but I didn't get all 

 strong enough till the lioney season 

 had come. What did you do then? 

 Why, the strong ones were swarming 

 by this time, and I used up about 20 

 or 30 swarms strengtliening these 

 weak ones and stocking my nuclei. 



How many have you now, stranger, 

 and what were your prolits from them 

 last season V I have 90 colonies, and 

 my prolits were about $800.00. How 

 about your outlays? Twenty dollars- 

 will cover all, including 7 bee papers. 

 Do you give the bees all your time ? 

 No, sir ; l)ee-keeping is a " sort of side 

 issue" with me. I do a hand's work 

 on the farm most of tlie time, and let 

 "the girls" preside over the apiary. 

 Why don't you give it your whole 

 time ? I would, if I could get any one 

 else to take the same interest in the 

 other work that I do. I can get along 

 pretty well by taking a day now and 

 then, and making good use of my 

 " spare moments." I have made bee- 

 keeping pay in this way for 8 years, 

 and have not lost as many, or half as- 

 many, in all this time, as you did last 

 winter. But my time may be coiuing,- 

 ilow is it; is this all liction ? 



Washington, Ta., Jan. 18, 1882. 



