Vol. XV. 



SEPT. 15, ISS7. 



No. IS. 



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^. I. ROOT. MEDINA, OHIO. [l'SiSild'^!^%':iiJ^.,,^i^y'.S^'^^^ 



CROSS BEES AND FOUL BROOD. 



80MK V.\LU.\BI,E SUGGESTIONS FHOM FKIENl) 

 DOOLTTTLE. 



fN page B34 of the present volume of Gi^ean- 

 INGS, Mr. Vansyoc wants a recipe for stop- 

 ping bees from stinging, and friend Root 

 seems to take It for grant f>d that Bro. V.'s 

 bees have had access to stolen sweets, or, in 

 other words, the.v " got to robbing." This may 

 have been the rase, yet there is nothing in the 

 communication of Mr. V. to show that such was the 

 case, except that his bees were cross. T am well 

 aware that robbing will make bees cross, but I am 

 also aware that improper handling will make them 

 equally so; and the bad eft'ects from such handling 

 last much longer along the stinging line than it 

 does when produced by robbing. A bee, made 

 cross from bad handling, will follow a person 

 around the apiary in an angry tone for days and 

 even weeks, stinging whenever a chance is offered; 

 while the crossness coming from robbing ceases 

 with the end ot such thieving. I have known bees 

 made so cross b.v careless handling in taking off 

 honey, on a dark cloudy day in the middle of the 

 honey-harvest, when there was no disposition to 

 rob, that not a person could get out of the door of 

 the house on the side next the bee-.vard, for a week 

 after, without getting stung. When once a whole 

 aoiary gets thus aroused T know of no way to cure 

 the trouble except to keep away from them for a 

 week or two, till they get over what appears to 

 them to be an unpardonable insult. No person 

 should go through an experience like the above 

 without learning wisdom, and not handle bees 

 roughly or at all at such times. Tf absolutely nec- 

 essary to handle bees at such times, they should be 

 thoroughly subdued before opening the hive. 



When such a course is pursued, no general uprising- 

 will occur. 



Abo%'e T spoke of a bee thoroughl.v angry follow- 

 ing a person about the iipiary for days, intent on 

 stinging. Now, in the rapid opening of hives nec- 

 essary in a large apiary, a bee or two from certain 

 hives will become angr.v: and if you continue to 

 work right on, as we must, these will aggregate to 

 quite a number during the day. so that very likely 

 a person visiting the apiary would sa.v, "How cross 

 your bees are I" when in realit.v there would not be 

 more than ten or fifteen bees in the whole yard but 

 that were the most quiet kind; but these ten or 

 flfteeu bees, being ever on the alert, give a bad 

 coloring to the whole. For years 1 was bothered 

 with cross bees greeting me ever.v time I went into 

 the apiary; and being desirous to have it otherwise 

 I finally fell to studying on the matter, the result of 

 which was the making of a wooden paddle about a 

 foot long and five inches wide at the large end. 

 This paddle I carried along with the tools T used 

 about the apiary; and if a bee became so enraged 

 that it followed me a rod from its hive, keeping up 

 its angry tone, I took up the paddle and killed it by 

 a vigorous blow from the same. Since adopting 

 this plan, some five or six years ago, I,./or any of 

 my neighbors or friends, can pass all through'and 

 about the apiary without fear of being greeted by 

 cross bees. Some may object to this killing of a 

 few bees, but 1 find that a bee once thoroughly 

 angry seems to have no idea of honey-gathering 

 afterward, but hangs about the entrance of the 

 hive ever after that, ready to dart out at any ob- 



l ject which may come along. Try this plan, friends, 



] and see if you do not agree with me. 



! KOUr. BROOD. 



I w!is very much surprised at the premises taken 

 i regarding curing foul brood by the starvation plan. 



