202 



June, 3 913 



American "Bee Journal 



K,.z. 



Fig. 2.— Manner of Fastening the Swarm Before Lowering. 



pendicular position without jerk or jar, 

 to keep the cluster intact as much as 

 possible. This was no easy task to 

 perform with one hand, but I suc- 

 ceeded admirably well, much better 

 than I had expected, .\fter the limb 

 with the swarm had been disconnected 

 and was suspended on the hook, I had 

 both hands to manage the line on the 

 gradual downward course of the 

 swarm. 



Figure 2 shows the manner of cast- 

 ing the hook and line over the little 

 limb, that had to serve as a pulley when 

 letting down the swarm. A similar 



operation was necessary to make the 

 hook catch the limb on which the 

 swarm was clustered. Neither trick 

 would have required very much in- 

 genuity if a person could have stood 

 on the ground or on any other solid 

 foundation, but .jn feet from the ground, 

 standing on a springy rope with one leg. 

 while the other is clasped around the 

 tree as the only support in this danger- 

 ous position, it is a very different 

 proposition. 



At the foot of the tree is a fair repre- 

 sentation of the swarm as it appeared 

 after it reached the ground. The end 



of the line was fastened to the tree, 

 while the operator descended and 

 housed the bees. 



A fair estimate of the height of the 

 tree, the perilous undertaking, etc., can 

 be gained from the fact that a 22-foot 

 ladder had to be used to reach the first 

 fork of the tree. 



La Salle. X. Y. 



Protection from Stings 



BY El)'.\ ARLi F. BIGELOW. 



BUT they will sting!" That is the 

 insistent, persistent argument 

 urged against honey-bees by the 

 beginner. Did you ever try to 

 be a missionary in popularizing 

 honey-bees as a matter of natural his- 

 tory or of economic interest.' Then 

 you know how it is. Talk with all the 

 power and enthusiasm that you pos- 

 sess of their habits, instincts, structure, 

 parthenogenesis and metamorphosis, 

 and interest follows you closely. Open 

 eyes and open mouth, say "How inter- 

 esting I" 



Thus encouraged, to clinch the argu- 

 ment you tell of the ease in starting. 

 A colony costs so little — how easily 

 divided — nothing to do but to buy 

 empty hives. You dilate on the extrac- 

 tor, you build an imaginary pile of lus- 

 cious sections — so high — you get 2" 

 cents a pound in open market, and 30, 

 or even more, for choice home trade. 

 Y'ou let your imagination loose, you 

 soar aloft in the spirit of "blessed 

 bees.'' You outdo the man who bor- 

 rowed a hen, hatched out 1-5 chickens, 

 then from each when grown 21.3 chick- 

 ens, then 321-5, and then returned the 

 borrowed hen (as if one would miss 

 just one poor old grandmother hen out 

 of a flock of 3215). So you surpass 

 even the "blessed bee" man. You 

 graphically picture a sunny, sloping 

 field with woody, northern back- 

 ground, 500 "little happy hives," out- 

 apiaries, country estate, a beautiful pair 

 of horses, and an automobile thrown 

 in. Then your enthusiasm is suddenly 

 annihilated, your Utopian picture ob- 

 literated by that one little convincing 

 exclamation, almost petulantlv given, 

 "But they will sting!" 



Let's "take the bull by the horns," as 

 I fancy that figure of speech easier and 

 less painful than to "take the bee by 

 its sting," and franklv admit that thev 

 will. 



Sting ! Of course they will — sting, 

 as an up country farmer who called to 

 see my bees not long ago said, as he 

 closed a thrilling storv- of the bees that 

 got up his trousers' leg. "Sting! Gosh 

 all hemlock! You ought to have seen 

 them bees sting!" The man's diction 

 would have been more stingingly effec- 

 tive if he had said, " Felt those bees 

 sting." However, his classic reference 

 to the hemlock was happy, for when 

 the bees got fairly waked up, they put 

 in their poison as effectively as the 

 hemlock tea put poison into Socrates. 



But I am wanderingfrom the thesis — 

 bees will sting. Of course, with all 



oct top notch prices 

 ulI for your honey 



BY 



Using Lewis Sections 

 AND SHiPPiNe Cases 



Send for Annual Catalog ^vhich \s\\\ tell 

 you 'frho is your nearest Distributer. 

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