ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



51 



bee-stings are helpful, they cannot cure 

 in every Instance. , 



Dr. Bohrer — In regard to that, if you 

 examine the standard works on the 

 property of medicines and drugs, you 

 will not find bee- stings classed at all 

 among the remedies for rheumatism; 

 I think I have seen' most of the stand- 

 ard works, and have noted the different 

 remedies, and it is not classed among 

 them. Speaking of the peculiar effect 

 a bee-sting has, a horse ran away with 

 me once. A man came to me to go and 

 see a patient. I had a violent attack 

 of lumbago; I had not been out of my 

 house for a week. He said to me that 

 I must come; so I decided to go, and 

 he led me out to the horse block and 

 helped me to get into the buggy. Well, 

 before we got back, that old mare ran 

 away with me, and I had to get busy, 

 and I tell you, by the time I got home, 

 I was entirely cured of my lumbago; 

 that was worse than bee-stings; I 

 never underwent such a punishment. 

 But it cured me of the lumbago. 



Mr. York — I would like to ask if a 

 remedy is not mentioned in a medical 

 work, may it not be a remedy? Two 

 years ago, you remember, when my 

 wife had the valvular heart trouble 

 (of which she died later), the doctors 

 found a remedy they tried, called 

 digalen, I don't think you would find 

 that, before that time, mentioned in 

 anj'^ works on medicine as a remedy for 

 heart trouble, because it was newly 

 discovered. Also, before anti-toxine 

 was discovered as a cure for diphtheria, 

 it was not mentioned in medical works, 

 but, of course, it was afterwards. It 

 may be that the doctors have not dis- 

 covered the remedy of bee-sting for the 

 cure of rheumatism, and for this rea- 

 son it is not mentioned in any of the 

 medical works. I know they have a 

 remedy — ^at least, I have seen it in the 

 drug store, called Apis Melif — and I 

 understand that it is made out of the 

 bee-sting. It is a homeopathic remedy, 

 I think. 



Dr. Bohrer — The homeopathics may 

 have; I am not so familiar with their 

 materia medica as with other schools. 



Mr. Stone — ^I would like to ask the 

 doctor a question. I have known cases 

 of appendicitis, where the doctors 

 would say the patient would get 

 through all right because he didn't have 

 any tobacco or whiskey in his system. 

 Would bee-stings affect one, more or 



less, when he didn't have tobacco or 

 whiskey in his system? 



Dr. Bohrer — No, I don't think so, so 

 far as my experience and observation 

 are concerned. Whiskey never cured 

 anything. When a man is bitten by a 

 rattlesnake, the question is asked if in 

 taking whiskey it neutralized the poi- 

 son. No, it does not; it simply is given 

 to sustain the vital force — keep up the 

 heart action until the system can throw 

 it off. 



Mr. Crim — ^I heard of a man one day 

 who was cured of a snake -bite, and the 

 next day he was looking for the 

 snake! 



Boards Before Hive Entrances in 

 Winter. 



"What do you think about putting 

 boards in front of beehives entrance 

 during a heavy snow-storm, to keep 

 the ibees from falling on the snow and 

 perishing?" 



Dr. Bohrer — I have never tried it, but 

 have heard it recommended. I put my 

 bees in the cellar. 



Mr. Bowen — In regard to that, of 

 course, I ha/ve not had the experience 

 some others have, but I have shaded 

 the entrance, and I think we get good 

 results from it; the great trouble is, 

 with snow on the ground and the en- 

 trance not shaded, the reflection from 

 the snow makes the hive light, and this 

 induces the bees to come out, because 

 it is seemingly a pleasant day; they 

 come out and drop in the snow, wheio- 

 as, if the entrance was shaded, it 

 would avoid that reflection, and the 

 bees are not so apt to come out then. 



Dr. Bohrer — Something that I have 

 found very annoying is mice getting 

 into the hives. 



A Member — I have used a piece of 

 3-8 -inch tin. 



Dr. Bohrer — ^I have used zinc. 



President Kildow — Taking a strip of 

 tin, they can pass in and out and carrj^ 

 out the dead bees, but a mouse cannot 

 get in. 



Mr. Tork — I think a wire cloth, 3 

 mesh to the inch, would be good, fas- 

 tened at the hive entrance. 



Wingless Bees. 



"What is the cause of a queen pro- 

 ducing so many wingless bees?" 



Mr. Dadant — I have seen that, but it 

 was not the fault of the queen, but 

 moths running along between cells, • 



