1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



767 



BEK-STINGS — ANOTHER RATIONAL METHOD 

 OF TREATING THEM. 



After reading Mr. D. A. McLean's " ra- 

 tional " remedy for bee-sting-s, and your re- 

 ply (p. 588), I think your readers will be 

 interested in a very simple and effective 

 remedy which I have tested many times, 

 and know to be good. As soon as possible 

 after being stung, scrape out the sting and 

 clap over the wound the bore of a common 

 key (the old padlock kind), and press it 

 down hard. After holding it for about a 

 minute, remove the key and j'ou will see a 

 tin}' drop of ^-ellowish fluid over the wound. 

 The pressure in some wa}' extracts the poi- 

 son, and that is the end of it. 



I think the common-sense explanation of 

 this remedj- is that the tlesh, being soft, 

 rises up In the tube in the form of a half- 

 sphere, or, in other words, ball-shape 1, and 

 so stretches the skin and opens the very 

 small hole that the pressure forces out, or, 

 rather, is able to force out the poison. 

 However, this is what it does do, any way. 

 Try it. P. T. Lemaster. 



Spartanburg, S. C, July 23. 



[Your method of treatment apparently 

 confines the poison to a very small area, 

 saj- of the circle of the keyhole. The press- 

 ure closes up the delicate blood-vessels, and 

 the continued pressure doubtless forces the 

 virus out through the exit by which it came. 

 If it is a fact that you can force the poison 

 out again, j-ou will have reduced very much 

 the consequent fever that would result. — 

 Ed.] 



bees storing below brood, etc. 



In your reply to my inquiry about plac- 

 ing brood over excluder to prevent swarm- 

 ing, 3'ou think bees would not ordinarily 

 store below the brood. I tried a dozen colo- 

 nies, and nearly all went below; but after 

 reading Dr. Miller's experience in his 

 "Forty Years" with the same plan, I 

 abandoned it. 



In the same book he speaks of shaking a 

 colony and placing the brood over an exclud- 

 er on the same hive. Do you think this 

 would have no tendency to promote swarm- 

 ing on building of queen-cells? 



In Jul}', 1902, Gleanings you say that 

 having a colony produce a queen of current 

 year's rearing- to prevent swarming is not 

 practicable with many colonies. Why 

 could we not unqueen at first settled weath- 

 er, and then let them rear their own queens 

 for the season? When forced swarms are 

 likely to abscond, how long after forcing is it 

 necessary to watch for them? 



Kirkton, Ont. J. H. Burns. 



[Putting the brood over an excluder on 

 the same hive might have a tendency to in- 

 cite swarming; but I am rather of the opin- 

 ion it would not have any effect one way or 

 the other, and verj' possibly it would dis- 

 courage it. While it is advisable to have 

 young queens in the apiary it would be 

 the height of folly, and a most serious 



blunder, to unqueen at the beginning of 

 settled warm weather in the spring. If 

 there is any time in the whole year that is 

 important to the growth and possible suc- 

 cess of the colony in honey- production, it is 

 in the early spring, when as much brood as 

 possible should be reared in order to bring 

 on bees of the right age for the honey har- 

 vest. No, no! if the colony is to be un- 

 queened, do it either during the honey-flow 

 or soon after. — Ed.] 



mack's burr-comb TOOL. 



I send you by mail an instrument which 

 I use to clean the wax from between the 

 top-bars of brood-frames. It is a daisy for 

 that purpose. I should like to have you 

 put it in a can of water, and take it out to 

 a hive that has wax between the top-bars. 

 Put the point between the frames, and use 



it as 5'ou would a can-opener; and if you do 

 not smile to see the wax peel out in strips 

 ]/i inch wide, and. several inches long, and 

 tumble over on the frames, I shall be sur- 

 prised. I consider it very important, in 

 making comb honey, to see that the spaces 

 between the frames are kept open. 

 Bonsall, Cal. J. M. Mack. 



[We tried your little tool in our bee-yard, 

 and it accomplished exactly what you say 

 it will. It is something that any one can 

 make for himself out of hard wood; but it is. 

 a question in my mind whether the accu- 

 mulation of propolis or bits of wax along 

 the edges of the top-bars does any particular 

 harm. They serve no useful purpose, it i& 

 probably true. — Ed.] 



A COMPANY THAT WILL INSURE BEES. 



In your footnote on page 688 you inquire 

 of subscribers about insurance on bees. I 

 have had vny bees insured for many years, 

 for $2 on each colony, in the Tompkins 

 County Co-operative P^ire Insurance, New 

 York. This company was organized quite 

 a number of years ago with three counties, 

 but has kept adding until it is a large com- 

 pany with perhaps 20 counties. 



John McKeon. 



Dryden, N. Y., Aug. 2. 



