Siii'-cinlAT, lOio. 



American Vee Journal 



righteously indignant — so were the 

 bees. And the bees were more furious 

 than robbers — so were we. I had 

 worked with sleeves rolled to my 

 elbows, and 8 stingers in my left arm 

 were my portion, although my "infe- 

 rior otlicer" received none. They never 

 sting him. 



Only a momentary pain resulted 

 from the ankle sting. 1 scraped out 

 the stinger which had passed through 

 a medium winter stocking, and to 

 which she had left an abundant supply 

 of intestines. I forgot the sting till the 

 next day, when, after walking .'! miles 

 to my oiiice, I felt considerable pain in 

 the ligament of my ankle after sitting 

 a while, and which made me limp the 

 balance of the day. 



The ear sting pained me sharply for 

 ,') minutes, and remained slightly pain- 

 ful the next day, but the ankle sting 

 felt like the prick of a needle, entirely 

 disappeared for 2 minutes, then burned 

 acutely about a minute and disappeared 

 to return the next day, as aforesaid. 



Only one of the 8 arm stings hurt, or 

 even swelled, although my husband 

 scraped out the one, also, which did the 

 damage. This shows that there is va- 

 riety in stingers — as well as women's 

 hats. Mrs. Frederick Griffith. 



Kansas City, Mo. 



A Cheeky Treatment of a Bee-Sting 



In Ireland they have what is known 

 as County Instructors in bee-keeping. 

 They go about visiting bee-keepers and 

 helping them to a better wav of caring 

 for their bees. Mr. M. H. Read, M. A., 

 is the Honorable Secretary of the Irish 

 Bee-Keepers' Association. Recently, 

 on one of his jaunts about the country, 

 he called on a bee-keeping friend who 

 has few opportunities of attending his 

 bees. He tells about his visit to this 

 particular place in the following para- 

 graph : 



'■ On explainintr the object of his visit, his 

 friend's sister and anotlier lady friend join 

 him. and olT they go to the apiary, \vhere he 

 adjusts liie veil on one of his companions, 

 rhoufli he assures them that there is small 

 danger of stings on so favorable a morning, 

 they maintain a respectful distance, till in- 

 terest in the operations, and his cool and 

 confident manner, lure them to nearer 

 views. Soon, however, an inquisitive bee is 

 treated rudely, and forthwith shows resent- 

 ment by slinging a soft cheek and then wor- 

 rying in the abundant hair. She with the 

 veil answers not to the pathetic appeal, but 

 retreats further. Our knight errant, being 

 a man of courage and resource, soon slays 

 the wicked bee. removes the sting, sucks 

 the wound and applies ammonia and sooth- 

 ing words. The treatment is so eminently 

 successful that his offer to repeat it would 

 doubtless have been accepted but for a 

 meaning cough from the veiled beauty, and 

 the naughty little twinkle in his eye. We 

 need iiardly say that this apiary did not suf- 

 fer from subsequent neglect, " 



It is too bad a snap-shot picture 

 could not have been taken of Mr. Read 

 and his friend's sister while the former 

 was sucking the wound from the bee- 

 sting on her velvety cheek. Of course, 

 he did not neglect that apiary after- 

 ward ! Perhaps the accidental sting- 

 ing became habitual, followed by the 

 peculiar and somewhat osculatory treat- 

 ment. 



Doing Good Work. 



The American P.ec Tournal i-; doing good 

 woi-k. I would not have made as much out 

 of my bees this year had it not been for the 

 American Hce Journal. Uaru Trusheis. 



Canadian Beedom 



Conducted by J I.. rivKR. Mount Toy. Ontario, Canada. 



Weather Conditions Honey Crop 



The weather conditions outlined on 

 the first page of the August Journal, 

 applies pretty much to the way we have 

 had things here in Ontario during the 

 past season. One big difference, how- 

 ever, is the fact that you had l/ncc u'ccks 

 of a heavy tlow, while here we had 

 just about d days, and that right at the 

 start of the clover Bow, when so many 

 of our colonies were not ready for the 

 flow. And then, to talk of "half a 

 crop " after " three weeks heavy flow !" 

 Really, you ought to be ashamed of your- 

 self for talking that way! During the 

 8 years I have been keeping bees for a 

 "living," only once have we had a con- 

 tinuous flow that long that amounted 

 to anything. A year ago, nearly all 

 our honey from clover came in in 

 about 10 days, and we averaged a good 

 100 pounds per colony. Now, if this 

 had happened in Illinois, the Editor 

 would have called that a qi/m/ir of a 

 crop, no doubt, when he dubs a three 

 weeks /niiiy flow as /:a(t' a crop ! Why, 

 here we called the 100 pounds a fti/l 

 crop, even if it did all come in 10 days. 



Come to think of it, gentle reader, no 

 doubt our Editor is so elated just at 

 present over that "queen" he has just 

 captured, that he can not appreciate 

 such small favors as a "half crop" of 

 honey from a " three weeks heavy flow." 

 Well, under the circumstances, we'll 

 excuse him, this time. 



Keeping Bees for a Living 



That article of J. C. Frank's, in last 

 American Bee Journal, reminds me 

 quite forcibly of a convention held in 

 an eastern city not so very long ago, 

 when a certain gentleman challenged 

 the idea that any one was making a 

 living exclusively from bee-keeping. 

 The said gentleman, if I am correct, 

 followed a number of callings, for in 

 addition to being an editor, a poultry- 

 man and a bee-keeper, he also was a 

 minister of the gospel. In so far as I 

 can remember the reported incident, 

 no one called the bluff — for a bluff it 

 was, pure and simple. 



Just on the spur of the moment I 

 could name at least a dozen men right 

 here in Ontario who depend exclusively 

 upon bee-keeping for a living, and who 

 do not get disappointed in their ex- 

 pectations, either. No doubt this same 

 condition is true in nearly all the States 

 of the Union, although it is bound to 

 be so more in some States than in 

 others, owing to some places being 

 better adapted to bees than are some 

 others. 



Of course, our friend might retort 

 that these men all do some other work 

 as a help in making things go, in addi- 

 tion to keeping bees. Perhaps so ; and 

 in just the same way almost every pro- 

 fessional man will have some hobby, 

 which incidentally will yield him a lit- 

 tle revenue, yet said hobby would not 



lead us to say that a medical doctor 

 does not make a living from his chosen 

 calling, simply because he does some 

 other odd jobs by the way of recreation 

 as well as profit. 



In my own case, I would say that for 

 8 years I have depended upon bee-keep- 

 ing for a living. Previous to that 1 

 was on the fanu at home, yet all the 

 time having the bees in a smaller way 

 because of a liking for them. However, 

 in the 8 years named, I have had a 

 kitchen-ganlen in which many a happy 

 hour has been spent, and in addition 

 some revenue has come in as well, in 

 the way of food products grown for the 

 table, I have also kept some hens to 

 supply us with eggs and chickens for 

 the table by way of variety. Then, 

 again, as most of the readers know. I 

 have a weakness for scribbling for the 

 bee-papers, said weakness yielding me 

 a lot of pleasure, and at least enough 

 money to keep me in whiskey and 

 tobacco! Yet. if asked how I make a 

 living, the answer would surely be, 

 " Why, by keeping bees, sure !" If any 

 of my neighbors were asked the same 

 question about me, they would be sure 

 to make the same answer, although 

 they all know that I keep a few hens 

 and a small garden. 



Yes, there is no doubt that many 

 hundreds of men, and icomin, too, are 

 today making a living out of bees, and 

 although bee-keeping is not a get-rich- 

 quick business, yet it is an occupation 

 fraught with so much real pleasure that 

 I verily believe the great majority of 

 the fraternity would certainly choose 

 the same calling in life again, if such 

 a thing were possible, and we had this 

 life to live over again. Here is one at 

 least that would do so, as I have never 

 yet seen a man who had a job that ap- 

 pealed to me quite as much as the one 

 I am at. Of course, lots of other fel- 

 lows make more money, but more 

 money can only bring pleasure (very 

 often it brings the opposite), and if 

 one gets all the pleasure first-handed in 

 the business he is engaged in, wherein 

 lies the advantage of making more 

 money ? 



Superseding Queens 



Harry Lathrop reports that, as a rule, 

 not more than 10 percent of his queens 

 are carried over from one year to an- 

 other. I wish he would tell us how he 

 gets such sensible bees, as during the 

 past 4 years, with bees left to their own 

 devices in the way of superseding, very 

 little swarming taking place, about 41) 

 percent of the queens each spring have 

 been found with clipped wings, show- 

 ing that they were 2 years old — in some 

 cases a year on top of that. too. In the 

 majority of cases the 2-year-old queens 

 are just as good as the yearlings — often 

 better, yet sometimes there are some 

 that would better have been superseded 

 the year before. 



I can not explain the difference in 



