SEPTEMBER 15, 1913 



653 



Heads of Grain from Different Fields 



How we Give Live-bee Stunts Before an Audience 



I have an engagement to give a live-bee exhibit at 

 our county fair this fall. This will be my first ex- 

 perience. Is it advisable to feed the bees v^hile they 

 are confined? 



Wausau, Wis., Aug. 14. O. S. Lunde. 



[Generally speaking, we would advise gentle bees 

 for live-bee-demonstration work. However, for our 

 own uses we would not pay any attention to that 

 matter. When our regular men are away we some- 

 times select the bees at random, not knowing what 

 their temperament is, and we have never had any 

 trouble so far. 



We never have fed bees just before operating. 

 It miglit and probably would have a quieting effect. 

 To handle bees inside of a wire-cloth cage or in a 

 lecture-room, it is necessary, of course, to use smoke 

 in removing the wire-screen top of the box or nu- 

 cleus. It is our plan to use a big dishpan. Into this 

 we shake one or more frames of bees just as we do 

 during extracting time. The bees are caught in the 

 pan, when it is given a little shaking — not violently, 

 but gently enough so the bees lose their colony spirit. 

 They are then in condition where they can be scoop- 

 ed up by the handfuls. Right here it is necessary to 

 observe caution. Our plan is to roll the bees into a 

 liall by a manipulation of the pan, then cause the 

 ball to roll on the hand. If this is done carefully, 

 there will be no danger of stings. At other times 

 one might scoop them up provided the movement is 

 very gentle and cautious, being careful not to pinch 

 or crowd a single bee. We have given some 200 or 

 300 bee demonstrations of this kind, and have never 

 been stung once. 



The next stunt is to dump a couple of handful.s 

 of bees into a hat. Give the hat a little shake down- 

 ward, taking the precaution to get every bee off the 

 hat-band; then adjust the hat gently to the head. 

 For this purpose a soft felt hat is better than a stiff 

 one. The next stunt is to lift the hat off the head, 

 and shake all the bees from the hat on to the head. 



The next stunt is a little more ticklish. There will 

 be no danger of stings providing the operator is 

 cautious. The fingers of each hand should gently 

 comb the bees out of the hair. The few that may be 

 left after combing will gradually leave of their owu 

 accord. 



Another stunt that we have indulged in occasion 

 ally is to put bees in the mouth and let them fly out 

 one by one. But we would not advise any one to 

 practice this stunt unless he knows himself to be 

 practically immune to bee poison. We have never 

 been stung more than once, and yet we have put 

 bees in the mouth many a time. 



In giving these various demonstrations we have 

 stepped out of the cage and walked down through 

 the audience. Sometimes we take along a frame of 

 bees, point out the queen, the drones, and the work- 

 er bees. If the operator walks slowly down the aisles 

 he can give every one in the audience a pretty close 

 inspection of a comb of bees and the bees themselves. 



We recently spoke before about 800 teachers at 

 the summer school located at Wooster, O. A close 

 examination of this frame of bees seemed to please 

 the individual members of the audience as much as 

 any thing. The very fact that the operator has bees 

 on his head and a frame of bees in one hand seems 

 to inspire confidence in the audience ; for if the bees 

 do not sting the operator they certainly will not 

 sling the individuals in the audience. 



It is usually our custom to tell bee stories while 

 "Walking up and down the aisles with bees — tell how 

 bees gather nectar ; how many trips they have to 

 in;ike to get a pound of nectar; how they pollinate 

 f 1 uit-blossoms ; how they sometimes rob from each 

 o'.her; how the queen bee is "introduced" to her 

 subjects. While these things are commonplace to a 



beeman they are exceedingly interesting to one who 

 knows little or nothing about bees. 



At the close of our demonstration we give the 

 audience an opportunity, by means of little strips of 

 wood, to have a taste of liquid honey and honey but- 

 ter (candied honey). We also show samples of comb 

 honey, queen-cages, introducing-cages, and other ap- 

 pliances for working with bees. 



If one is " on to his job " he will be able to de- 

 light an audience, giving them a novelty such as 

 they have never seen before. To be able to handle 

 bees in the manner described, with bees on the head 

 and shoulders and in the hands is profoundly inter- 

 esting as well as startling to the average audience. 

 We were never stung on any of these occasions ex- 

 cept once, and that was when we borrowed an old 

 stinking hat from a volunteer in the audience. It 

 was the first one prsffered, and so we could not well 

 refuse it. When we dumped the bees into that hat, 

 its odor seemed to rouse them into a frenzy. We 

 had promised to put a hat of bees on the head, and 

 so we had to " take the consequences." The bees 

 resented being put into such quarters by giving us 

 a number of stings. We took it all calmly, and no 

 one knew the difference except one old farmer who 

 came up shortly afterward and said, " Say, mister, 

 was there one bee that stung you ? " 



"What makes you think so?" we answered. 



" W-a-1-1, mister, you looked as if there might be 

 one bee stinging you." 



The fact was, the good wife pulled out, the next 

 morning, something like thirty stings. 



We go on doing these stunts, but have been care- 

 ful ever since to use only our own hat or one that is 

 reasonably clean. — Ed.] 



Sending Honey by Parcel Post Not Satisfactory; 

 Two Queens in a Hive 



I have tried an experiment with honey by parcel 

 post. Two packages of four one-pint fruit-jars, each 

 jar wrapped once with corrugated paper, stood on 

 more such paper, in a heavy pasteboard packing-box 

 that fitted so that only a few (two or three) crum- 

 pled newspapers could be crammed around and be- 

 tween jars and box, and covered with corrugated 

 paper and heavy strawboard, all securely carded, 

 were mailed, one for over 200 miles, the other less 

 than 100. They were plainly marked " Extracted 

 Honey," in large letters. Either package could have 

 been thrown across the room without damage, for no 

 jar would have hit any hard object. Result, two 

 jars were broken in each package, effectually sweet- 

 ening that lot of mail. I believe that, at least for the 

 present, honey to go safely by parcel post must be 

 in tin containers, with the covers well soldered on, 

 and the whole boxed in one-half-inch wood. My two 

 packages weighed just 11 lbs. each, the limit then. 



Some one shut the queen in above the excluder 

 accidentally. That hive grew to four stories before 

 the bees quit flying out, and sent out a big swarm 

 besides. When extracting time came we found only 

 two bodies full of sealed honey, while the lower two 

 had each a queen and the frames were full of eggs 

 and brood. 



Florence, Ala., Aug. 18. H. A. Moody, M. D. 



[Packages sent by parcel post must be capable 

 of standing pretty severe handling. So far Uncle 

 Sam has not eliminated the trouble arising from 

 breakage. We do not believe that extracted honey, 

 either in glass or tin, and much less comb honey, 

 should be sent by parcel post, no matter how care- 

 fully it is packed. A small sample, say half an 

 ounce or an ounce, when put inside a solid wooden 

 block, will go through all right ; but a pound or 

 two is quite liable to be broken. For a further con- 

 sideration of this question, see Straws in this issue. 



