THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



113 



ist recommended the clipping of all 

 queens. This brought out (juite a lengthy 

 I)ut verj^ interesting discussion by such 

 men as Mr. J. H. Hall, who advised to 

 "keep on clipping," and that he had 

 "been a clipper" for 23 years, and we 

 know he's a "clipper" in more ways than 

 one. And such men as Wni. McEvoy, 

 Mr. Gemmill, Mr. J. K. Darling, and a 

 goodly number of others, are all "clip- 

 pers. ' ' 



Mr. A. Boomer's experience has been 

 such that he is not in favor of clipping, 

 and Mr. R. F. Holterman said: "I would 

 not like to lay down a universal rule for 

 clipping." Mr. Darling was forced into 

 it by a very disagreeable neighbor, and, 

 he added, "I don't know that he ever did 

 me a greater favor in his life. I know he 

 didn't; he has saved swarms for me that I 

 would have lost if I hadn't clipped." 



It seems to me that Mr. Holterman gave 

 very poor reasons for not being a "clip- 

 per." Living in the city, as I do, not 

 having a place to keep our bees near 

 the house, and not keeping enough to 

 make it pay to watch for swarms, I believe 

 I would not keep anj- if I couldn't clip 

 the queen's wing, or have some other 

 method for keeping the lad\' of the house 

 from gadding off with a swarm whenever 

 she wanted to. I would sooner lose a 

 queen occasionally during swarming 

 time than to quite often lose both the 

 queen and the swarm. 



.\NTIUOTES FOR BKK-STINGS. 



I presume most bee-keepers have often 

 wi.shed they had some reliable remedy 

 for the unpleasant results that usually 

 come on being stung; especially to those 

 who have not become accustomed to be- 

 ing stung. I have often wished for such 

 a remedy that could be used on visitors 

 and neighbors who will sometimes get 

 stung when in the region of our bees; and 

 I've never found a better remedy than 

 the //«;«<v//(7/«' application of some one of 

 the "essential oils;" like the oil of cinna- 

 mon, or the oil of wintergreen; or the oil 

 of cloves; but to be of the greatest benefit 

 the applicatiou must be made at once. To 



wait a minute makes a wonderful differ- 

 ence in the good accomplished. For 

 many years we have kept a small bottle 

 of the oil of cinnamon where it could be 

 had in an instant when needed. 



The following, which the Canadian 

 Bee Jovirnal copies from the British Bee 

 Journal, may be still better; at any rate I 

 am going to try it, for we want the best 

 there is for our friends. Here is the ar- 

 ticle referred to. 



Your correspondent * * asks in the 

 British Bee Journal * * * whether some of 

 your medical readers will advise a course 

 of treatment for bee stings. * * The un- 

 pleasant results from the sting of a bee 

 are due to formic acid. An antidote must 

 therefore be sought for in the application 

 of an alkali. The sting is left in the flesh 

 with the poison-bag attached; don't re- 

 move it with the finger and thumb, as by 

 so doing you squeeze the bag and empty 

 the rest of the poison into the puncture; 

 but take a pen-knife and scrape the sting 

 out close to the sting, after which im- 

 mediately apply the following mixture: 

 Scrubb's ammonia, hazeline and soft-soap, 

 in equal parts. 



Needless to say that the bottle should 

 be kept handy when manipulating bees, 

 as, unless the antidote is applied at once, 

 it will be of little use, the poison being 

 absorbed so rapidly. "^ * It should be kept 

 well corked. * * * If it is as successful 

 with others as it has been with me, I shall 

 be happy to give the readers of your Jour- 

 nal detailed instructions as to its manu- 

 facture. 



In using any of these remedies, note the 

 importance of using them immediately 

 after the sting is removed; and, of course, 

 the sting should be removed immediately 

 after entering the flesh, and by scraping, 

 instead of pulling it out. 



HOW TO SECURE THE BEST BEES. 



In the February number of the Ameri- 

 can Bee-Keeper is a brief article by Mr. 

 G. M. Doolittle on "The Best Bee;" but 

 when I had written this far I noticed it 

 was copied from (ylcanings. It had es- 

 caped my notice in Gleanings, and, being 

 in too much of a hurry to look it up in 

 that journal, I'll quote from the Ameri- 

 can Bee-Keeper. Mr. Doolittle says:^ 



From my standpoint a true solution de- 

 pends upoa which we areproduciug, comb 



