November. 1914. 



371 



American Hea Journal 



A Travers Les Ages," by a Belgian api- 

 arist, Jules De Soignies, I8(lli: 



.l,i;mf/i, in Latin, means both an army 

 on Its way and a swarm of bees. The 

 facts quoted below justify this assimi- 

 lation. 



According to Appian, the Themis- 

 cyrans, besieged by Lucullus, turned 

 upon the enemy not only bears and 

 other ferocious beasts, but also swarms 

 of bees. 



During the siege of Massa, the be- 

 sieged having thrown their hives of 

 bees in the breaches, the crusaders 

 were assailed by this new kind of ene- 

 mies which annoyed them very much. 



.•Vmurat the First, Sultan of Turkey 

 (XIV century), experienced a similar 

 annoyance. While besieging the city 

 of Alba, Hungary, he found the pas- 

 sage defended by hives of bees placed 

 upon the ruins. The janissaries, the 

 bravest militia of the Ottoman empire, 

 refused to clear the obstacle. 



It is reported that in 1498, a band of 

 knaves took possession of Avesnes 

 (northern France), and penetrated into 

 the church where the inhabitants were 

 attending public worship. 



But all at once they stopped and fled 

 in disorder. A painting was made of 

 this event, representing the Holy Vir- 

 gin driving away the enemy with the 

 help of a swarm of bees. Hence, came 

 the hive of bees on the coat of arms of 

 Avesnes. It was also at that time that 

 the name " Avesnes flies " was given to 

 depict the quick, flighty, stinging spirit 

 .of the ladies of this little northern city. 



We read in Osorio, a Portuguese 

 writer of the XVI century, that in 1.513, 

 the inhabitants, reduced to extremity, 

 threw over their walls hives of bees 

 and succeeded in driving away Barriga, 

 general of tlie army of King Emmanuel. 



Montaigne wrote that while the Por- 

 tuguese were besieging the city of 

 Tamly, in tlie territory of Xiatine, the 

 inhabitants carried hives of bees, 

 of which they had a wealth, and drove 

 the bees so rudely against the enemy 

 that they abandoned the enterprise. 



In 1758, in the war of Hanover, a 

 picket of French cavalry was located 

 in an orchard, near hives of bees. One 

 of the horses overturned several of 

 them. The bees assailed the men ; sev- 

 eral horses perished; some of whom, 

 blinded, struck their heads against the 

 walls and the trees. 



In the beginning of the XVIII cen- 

 tury, a small corsair, with a crew of 

 40 to 50 men, having on board a few 

 colonies in earthen hives, purposely 

 taken along, boarded a Turkish galley 

 which had been pursuing it and which 

 had a crew of some 500 men. At the 

 time of the collision, the corsair threw 

 the hives from the top of its mast on 

 board of the galley where they broke 

 to pieces. The bees scattered in all 

 directions. The Turks were so ill- 

 used by them that they thought only of 

 sheltering themselves. But the men of 

 the corsair who had provided them- 

 selves with gloves and masks, assailed 

 them with sabers and took the galley 

 almost without resistance. 



General Moltke, in his history of the 

 campaign of 1806, says that at the bat- 

 tle of Sadowa, near the village of 

 Nedelist, when the battle was at its 

 highest pitch, a shell burst among 



some beehives. The bees, indignant at 

 this intrusion, in a fight in which they 

 were not concerned, charged like so 

 much cavalry upon his men who had 

 great trouble to defend themselves, for 

 it is easier to parry a saber stroke or 

 even to pass among the bullets than to 

 avoid the attacks of angry bees who 

 get their strength from their unity. 



A last quotation will be made from 

 the Journal of Montmedy, during the 

 war of 1870: The battle of Beaumont 

 began by a surprise due to the care- 

 lessness of Gen. De Failly. Near the 

 village was an apiary containing some 

 60 skeps, ranged in a row and covered. 



as sometimes is the custom, with old 

 hats, caps, and worn-out clothing. 

 Whether the Prussians mistook them 

 for " francs-tireurs " in the dark, or 

 whether they wanted to imitate the 

 bears in their desire for combs of 

 honey, the fact is that they attacked 

 the hives with sabers and guns. The 

 bees, of unenduring disposition, as- 

 tonished at this violation of their 

 homes, and true French bees as they 

 were, chastised the assailants. Covered 

 with numberless stings the Prussians 

 were compelled to retire. Four of the 

 invaders were stung to death. 



c. p. D. 



Bee-I^eping <^ For Women 



Conducted bv Miss Emma M. Wilson. Marento. 111. 



Bees Making their Home in a Cider 

 Barrel 



A fine swarm settled near my friend's 

 home. Mr. and Mrs. H. proudly hived 

 them in a hive. An old cider barrel lay 

 near the hive, and much to their cha- 

 grin, when ne.xt they looked at their 

 bees, they had changed quarters and 

 were nicely located in the barrel, using 

 the bunghole as their entrance. Of 

 course, they will kill them with sulphur 

 this fall, as they do not understand the 

 art of transferring, and both of them 

 are afraid of a bee. Ima. 



Wonderful Tales 



place, which hadn't been considered 

 good for anything. She clipped the 

 wings of her pair of wild geese and put 

 them on it. Now she sells geese from 

 $7.50 to $15 a pair. A woman in Ma- 

 rengo, 111., started with bees and is now 

 rich." 



Why not make a combination of the 

 foregoing ? The stream and the swamp 

 might be found on the same place; the 

 surplus frogs could be fed to the geese ; 

 the woman's extra time might be given 

 to the care of bees; and then while 

 selling geese at $15 a pair she might 

 sell a few bees at $5 a pair. But that 

 rich woman at Marengo has succeeded 

 in keeping her riches a very great 

 secret in her immediate neighborhood. 



Wonderful tales are told nowadays 

 about extraordinary things women 

 can do — on puper. A friend has sent 

 in a clipping which, among other 

 things, contains this paragraph: 



" A woman in Iowa took a swampy 

 part of her husband's land and raised 

 frogs which she sold in the city mar- 

 kets. The husband of another woman 

 in the same State trapped a pair of 

 wild geese. There was a tract of hilly 

 rock land with a strearri on it on the 



Varnish Factory Affect Bees? 



Though a novice in the business of 

 of beekeeping, I have been giving the 

 matter some consideration, with the 

 idea of starting in a small way. 



The property where I would propose 

 keeping bees is adjacent to a varnish 

 factory, and at times there is quite a 

 strong odor. I wish to know whether 

 this would affect the bees, and whether 



Apiary of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Peschko at Danhurv. Conn. 

 This apiary averaged 4o pounds of comb honey per colony the past season. 



