SOMETHING OF INTEREST TO BEEKEEPERS. 405 



army of drones who do nothing but sit around, and they have an 

 army of workers who work and do nothing- else, and that is not the 

 sort of government that commends itself to me. I do not know 

 whether we should eulogize the bee too much, still I would like to 

 keep them if I could, and I would like to know whether the fault is 

 with me or the bees. 



Mr. Russell : It is a very well known fact that beekeepers don't 

 know very much anyway, or, perhaps, they would not be beekeepers. 

 The form of government, as I understand it, of the bee Kive is a 

 thorough democracy. It may be somewhat out of place to call the 

 mother of the hive a queen. She is not a queen in the sense that I 

 understand it ; she is not a ruler, she is simply ruled by her colony ; 

 they are the governing body, and she has to do as they wish. It is 

 a nice thing to lie in the hammock and listen to the humming of a 

 hundred colonies of bees while they are piling up honey, but that 

 is a sort of phantasmagoria; the beekeeper has got to hustle as well 

 as anybody else. As to robbing your neighbor's orchard, I deny 

 that charge. The bees go into the orchard and take away the waste 

 product, but they pay a good deal more than their way to the fruit 

 grower; they give back a good deal more than they carry away in 

 the shape of honey. The other matter about being stung — I think 

 it is the gentleman's own fault. It is not the principal business of 

 the bee to sting; in fact, it seldom does sting unless it is provoked, 

 and the beekeeper knows, although he cannot convey that knowledge 

 to anybody else, when a bee wants to sting. When the beekeeper 

 knows a bee wants to sting he governs himself accordingly, but the 

 fruit grower strikes at the bee and it stings. That has to be learned 

 by experience. 



Dr. E. K. Jacques : I believe that almost every person may 

 handle bees if he will. They must become accustomed to the bees, 

 they must have confidence in themselves, they must know how to, 

 proceed. Sometimes a very nervous person will get into a flutter 

 by the sharp note of the bees, but I believe almost any one may 

 handle bees. Bees never go into your neighbor's premises, into his 

 fruit for the purpose of doing damage, and the thought of our friend 

 that he liked the idea of a colony of bees laying up $2.50 worth of 

 honey a day by pilfering it from his neighbors, by taking something 

 that does not belong to them, I deny. They go there to bless and 

 not to curse, and I should look upon it in that light. I am glad to 

 see that the fruit growers are beginning to realize the fact that the 

 bee is their friend. ' 



Mr. J. S. Trigg: When I go near a hive and a bee flies up 

 and lights on the end of my nose, is that an indication that he wants 



