Tmm ffiMERICJtPi BEl© JOURNai^. 



423 



YOUNa QUEENS. 



The Itsilling of I'oiiiig <|uccii$ 

 by the Bees. 



Written for the American Bcc Journal 



BV D. MILLAKD. 



I was much interested in tlie state- 

 ments of Mr. Doniaree, in answer to 

 Query .i43, on page 32G. Tliat un- 

 accountaljle disposition of bees to 

 " ball " tljeir young queens was once a 

 very perplexing problem to me. I 

 spent much time, but patiently watched 

 and observed, till I thought that I 

 could see light upon the matter. I ex- 

 experimented furthei', and th(! light 

 shone brighter, until the whole matter 

 seemed perfectly plain to me. 



I agree with Mr. D., that a young 

 queen seldom if ever makes the mis- 

 take of entering the wrong hive. That 

 she is signalled or saluted by her own 

 Vices is, I think, equally true, provid- 

 ing that the colony or nucleus, as the 

 case may be, has a supply of young 

 lH■(^s jnst commencing to fly. 



A colony of bees that has been 

 ([ueenless for a great length of time, 

 will usuallj" accept a queen-cell, or a 

 virgin-(|ueen may be introduced, and 

 she will be allowed to roam through 

 the hive unmolested until she is dis- 

 posed to take a Might, when the old 

 bees will frown upon her ; and if she 

 persists in doing a little " side-walk- 

 ing" up and down the alighting-board, 

 just to attract attention, they will tell 

 her to just get inside and behave her- 

 self, or oft" comes her crown. 



If the queen walks out and stays a 

 little too long, or returns with her 

 " ruffle " a little ruffled, she receives 

 a reprimand that costs her life. But 

 if there are plenty of young bees in 

 the hive, of about the same age, they 

 will go out together, and have a happy 

 time Hitting up and down the alight- 

 ing-board ; and if she flies ofl' and is 

 gone for a time, her young compan- 

 ions are all the more pleased to meet 

 and salute her on her return, and thus 

 the " signal " alluded to by Mr. D. 

 (which lack of space undoubtedly for- 

 bade its explanation, and the lack of 

 j'oung bees at the time of the young 

 queens taking their flight), is all there 

 is of that unaccountable disposition of 

 bees to ball and destroy the ([ueen, or 

 refuse her entrance to the hive. 



If the apiarist has a colony of bees 

 that has been queenless long enough 

 to I'un out of brood, he should intro- 

 duce a frame of capped brood in time 

 to have it hatch, and the bees old 



enough to begin In tlywhen this young 

 queen is old enough to mate. Never 

 give a (jueenless colony of all old bees 

 much unsealed brood, but give cap- 

 ped lirood, and when part are hatched, 

 give eggs and larvse, and the newly- 

 i\atched bees will care for it and rear 

 themselves a queen, which they will 

 associate with and guard until she 

 begins to lay, and then assist in driv- 

 ing out all laying workers. 



The ancient rule was, " OhI men for 

 counsel, but young men for war." 

 Applied to apiculture it would be thus: 

 "Old bees for gathering honey and 

 pollen, and young bees for inside 

 work." But do not allow any colonies 

 to become queenless and remain so, is 

 my rule. ■ 



Mendon, Mich. 



SCIENTIFIC. 



Blcdieinal Qualities of Honey- 

 Explained. 



Written for the British Bee Journal 



BY R. A. H. GRIMSIIAW. 



We should like to inquire into the 

 reasons why, or in what respect, honej' 

 is a medicine ; supposing we take it 

 as admitted that such is the case, an 

 assumption many medical men might 

 object) to, seeing that the position of 

 honey in the British Pharmacopoeia is 

 such a verj- modest one, its use being 

 chieflj' that of a vehicle for other 

 medicines, and as an atljunct to 

 gargles. I should say that children 

 in the stages requiring Mel boracis re- 

 ceive the greatest share of the officinal 

 preparations of honey. True, oxymel 

 (a mixture of honey, acetic acid and 

 water) is used as a demulcent, soften- 

 ing mucus lodging in the air-passages 

 and facilitating its expectoration. In 

 my own household, however, I prefer 

 the use of citric acid to acetic. 



In bronchitis, pure honey and simple 

 is alwaj'S at hand, and more relief is 

 obtained by frecjuently tasting it than 

 from anything else. Nearly twenty 

 years ago I found the greatest benefit 

 in an attack of quinsy, by using a 

 gargle of red sage, acidulated with 

 vinegar, and well sweetened with 

 honey. Honey ad libitum as a laxa- 

 tive, and mixed with borax for thrush, 

 is, of course, a common household 

 medicine for children. We will leave 

 out of our view the value of honey as 

 a food, as a heat-producer, consisting, 

 as it does principally, of carbon and 

 water, the two sugars dextrose and 

 levulose, invert sugar. We know it is 

 readily assimilated in the stomach, and 

 should be eaten with some attenuating 

 substance, such as bread. 



Mr. Cheshire, in " Honey as Food," 

 tells us : " Why honey has a curative 



clfect it is dillicidt to say for certain, 

 but one m.ay theorize, and ascribe this 

 fact to the readiness with which it com- 

 bines with mucous tissue. Honey is 

 variable, and therefore its value as a 

 medicine cannot always be the same." 



In " Honey as Food and Medicine," 

 we have a list of prescriptions which 

 are almost incredulously elhcacions, a 

 few of wliicli may be named as start- 

 lers : Inlhuumation and congestion of 

 the lungs followed by unconsciousness 

 were cured Ijy eating honey at all times 

 of the day and night, until 10 pounds 

 were consumed. Herr Karl Gattcr was 

 at the verge of the grave, and was re- 

 stored to perfect health by the use of 

 honey. Consumption is cured by it, 

 and in ancient times it was used as a 

 means of securing long life, and it is 

 said to be an excellent remedy in dis- 

 eases of the bladder and kidneys. The 

 recipes are : 



For asthma, honey of squills, honey 

 cough .syrup, eye-wash, balsam of 

 honey, for croup, for bronchitis, honey 

 salve, for coughs, colds, whooping 

 cough, etc. ; honey-wash for the eyes, 

 gargle for sore throat, cancer plaster, 

 honey-cougli medicine, honey and tar 

 cougii candy, honey for sore eyes, 

 honey and walnut cough candy, remedy 

 for whooping cough, colds, etc. 



Granting that all these prescri))tions 

 are good and efi'ectual, what is there 

 about honey that is absent in sugar 

 which brings about such apparently 

 wonderful results ? It is in this direc- 

 tion we will turn our gaz.e. 



We know the effect produced upon 

 the nerves at the roots of our teeth by 

 bringing them into contact with fresh 

 honey, strong in acid, and it may be 

 that the excess of formic acid secreted 

 by the bees is used by it in giving its 

 honey this strong acid reaction. In- 

 deed, it is not beyond the bounds of 

 reason to suppose that the supply of 

 this acid to the bee is not intended for 

 use so much as sting poison as for 

 purely domestic purposes. There is 

 not much doubt that the acid contained 

 in honey is beneflcial to both stomach 

 and liver. 



Wiiat else is there in honey ? Well, 

 myriads of pollen-grains, and these 

 contain chemical principles of un- 

 doubted medical potency. Putting 

 aside the husks (the extine and intine 

 of the pollen grain) the outermost skin 

 is found to be reticulated with ridges, 

 the seat of a secretion of sticky oil. The 

 contents are a sticky fluid rich in pro- 

 toplasm, sometimes transparent, some- 

 times opaque, by reason of floating 

 o-ranules (fovilla), which granules are 

 declared bj- Herapath to contain as 

 much as 4(i per cent, of a peculiar in- 

 flammable nzolizeil (?) principle, in- 

 solubli' in nearly every liquid. I im- 

 agine it is soluble by gastric juice. 



