02 BEE-FARMING. 



Man's Foot." It seems strange that Longfellow should refer 

 to it in the same stanza with bees, as though it were a 

 remedy for the bee venom — 



*' Wheresoe'er they move, before them 

 Swarms the stinging fly the Ahmo, 

 Swarms the bee the honey-maker ; 

 "Whereso'er they tread, beneath them 

 Springs a flower unknown among us, 

 Springs the White Man's Foot in blossom." 



The juice of the poppy allays the pain ; this acts solely 

 as a sedative. Laudanum prepared from poppies will act 

 much more speedily, still the swelling or inflamaiation will 

 not be arrested with its after effect. Mr. Wagner, a 

 German apiarian, states he always applies the juice from 

 ripe honeysuckle berries, and has never known it to fail as 

 a remedy. 



Every bee-keeper has his special and never-failing cure, 

 and I have mine, which I now for the first time make 

 public. A few summers ago when staying in Shropshire, 

 one Sabbath afternoon, passing through a quiet village, I 

 saw what to me w^as a joyous sight. In a cottage garden, 

 under the care of an aged widow, I was gratified by seeing 

 arranged in two rows not less than forty strong stocks of 

 bees. As I was looking over the hives, without interfering 

 with them, a bee, perhaps previously angered by some 

 cause, without any warning stung me just beneath the 

 right eye. The poor widow at once went into her cottage, 

 and, bringing out her hair-oil bottle, began to rub the oil 

 gently into the wound, with the happiest result ; in fact, I 

 was overjoyed to feel the pain almost instantly cease, and 

 the part was not afterwards at all inflamed or swollen, 

 though at first the sting had a dreadful effect upon me, 

 the swelling and smarting being frightful. Ever since this 

 well-remembered Sabbath, I have, when stung, without 



