1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



421 



the flight of the bees. The bees were re- 

 turniniT to the apiary in great droves. The 

 stoi-ni interrupted their work temporarily, 

 and in the meantime the farmer with his 

 team was trying to cultivate this corn. The 

 bees became furious, drove the farmer and 

 his horses off the field, and so enraged did 

 they become that they attacked the horses in 

 bunches, and at one time it was feared seri- 

 ous conse(]uences might follow. 



.\t first we were afraid there might have 

 been some robbing, but there was no evi- 

 dence of any. We have come to the conclu- 

 sion that the crossness was due to the sud- 

 den interruption of the field work, for bees 

 are usually crosser right after a little dash of 

 rain. It is probable that, when they started 

 to the fields again, they were unable to get 

 nectar, and on their return attacked every 

 thing in sight. 



Fearing a repetition of this trouble on oth- 

 er days, we supplied the farmer with large 

 blankets, covering the bodies of the horses, 

 as well as the heads, with holes cut out for 

 the eyes and nose. In the mean time the 

 weather changed, and our neighbor did his 

 cultivating without interruption and without 

 .protection for the horses. 



But this black honey-dew seems to have 

 the effect of making the bees crosser than 

 we have ever known them in all our experi- 

 ence. It does not seem to make a great deal 

 of difference what the strain of bees is They 

 will have their good and bad days. The 

 probabilities are that, while the bees are 

 working on this honey-dew, a rain washes it 

 off the leaves more thoroughly than the nec- 

 tar is washed out of the blossoms of the clo- 

 vers or basswoods. Basswoods, with their 

 blossoms hanging downward so as to shed 

 water, especially are less affected by rain 

 than clovers and other blossoms pointing 

 upward. 



BEES CROSS AT VERNON BURT'S. 



Later. — After writing the foregoing, we 

 had an interview with Mr. Vernon Burt, our 

 honey-man of this locality. He reports that 

 this honey-dew from hickory and oak is be- 

 ing gathered in his locality; that he never 

 knew the bees to be so cross as this year. 

 So vicious are they that they have stung him 

 through the clothing repeatedly — just as they 

 had done for us at the Harrington yard. He 

 attributes the cause to the sudden stoppage 

 of this honey-dew honey after the bees got 

 nicely at work on it. A dash of rain will 

 wash all this saccharine matter off the leaves 

 of the oaks and hickories so completely that 

 the supply is entirely cut off, and hence the 

 irritability of the bees. 



OI.OVES FOR CROSS BEES; HOW TO MAKE 

 GLOVES STING-PROOF. 



During one of the onslaughts, when the 

 bees seemed particularly furious at the Har- 

 rington yard, we put on a pair of long-sleeved 

 gloves with the fingers cut off. While these 

 protected us to a certain extent we discover- 

 ed that their very protection was the means of 

 our getting some stings that we would not 

 have received otherwise. With the bare 



hands and wrists one can always feel the pre- 

 liminary clutch or clawing of the bee into the 

 skin just before it delivers its sting. It is this 

 preliminary grab that gives warning; and if 

 one is quick enough he can rub the bee off, 

 or crush it, and so avoid the sting. Now, 

 when one has gloves on, the bee can work 

 its sting through the material, and, presto! 

 the wearer has received a sting without 

 warning. We seldom wear gloves; but on 

 this particular day when we wore them we 

 received a good many stincs through them 

 and we are of the opinion that, had our 

 hands been bare, we could have saved some 

 of these jabs, although others might have 

 been received that were warded off by the 

 gloves. 



Nearly all gloves can be rendered sting- 

 proof to a great extent by putting on them a 

 coat of white-lead paint. The gloves which 

 we wore had no coating of any sort. They 

 were a little small, and therefore tight-fitting. 

 It is important that a glove be loose-fitting, 

 so the material of whicn it is made will not 

 come in contact with the flesh of the hand or 

 wrist at every point. When it is given a 

 coat of paint it will afford good protection. 

 However, we have no use for gloves of any 

 sort except when bees are awfully cross, and 

 hereafter we will see to it that they are a lit- 

 tle large. 



A BAD STING. 



Speaking of stings reminds us of an occa- 

 sion when we were stung near the nail of 

 the middle finger of the left hand. We were 

 giving a demonstration of live-bee handling 

 with bees taken from the cellar, for it was in 

 the winter. At the time of receiving the 

 wound we had a frame of bees in each hand, 

 and it was impossible to extract the sting. 

 The result was a very severe wound; and by 

 the time we could remove the sting, almost 

 the entire contents of the poison-bag had 

 been injected into the flesh. We thought 

 nothing of the matter, but were painfully 

 conscious of having received a jab that was 

 excruciating, to say the least. Thinking the 

 pain would let up, we thought nothing more 

 about it. Along in the night we noticed that 

 the finger was beginning to turn black and 

 to swell — something that does not ordinarily 

 happen with us. The fever of the affected 

 member became so high that sleep was im- 

 possible. Fearing blood-poisoning we open- 

 ed up the wound a little and began vigorous- 

 ly sucking the finger. In the course of half 

 an hour the swelling had gone down, the 

 black discoloration had disappeared, and, 

 very largely, the pain. 



We have never known a case of blood- 

 poisoning following a sting; but as this was 

 received from a bee that had been taken 

 from a bee-cellar in midwinter, it possibly 

 had not the opportunity to cleanse itself as 

 it would do if it had been flying every day. 

 Whether any thing serious would have re- 

 sulted had we not taken the precaution to 

 open the wound and suck the finger we can 

 not say. We merely mention the incident, 

 thinking that possibly others may have had a 

 similar experience. 



