1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



99 



doesn't seem the right thing to sell for less than the actual 

 weight. Perhaps Mr. Laiuou, or some one else, can tell us 

 whether that is the common practice, and if so, what there is 

 to justify the practice. In the present instance it is a practice 

 that cost Mr. Young $2.30. Marengo, 111. 



The "Handy" ShippJag-Crate Described. 



BY B. TAYLOR. 



A recent letter from Dr. Miller contained the following 

 self-explaining slip : 



Dr. Miller : — I wish you could get Mr. B. Taylor to tell 

 the readers of the American Bee Journal just exactly how he 

 makes that wood and paper crate weighing 2}^ pounds only. 

 (See his essay, read at the Toronto convention, page 615, 

 1895.) Do try and induce him to give particulars. Seems to 

 me improvement is greatly needed in this item. S. D. 



The above note is from S. A. Deacon, South Africa ; and 

 for the Doctor's sake, as well as his distant brother's, I hasten 

 to explain. 



The B. Taylor Handy shipping-orates are made of very 

 light wood, lined with water-proof building-paper. For an 18- 

 section crate there are two side-pieces 13% inches long, 4'a 

 wide, and % thick; top and bottom are 14J^ by 11 inches, 

 and Jj thick. The front end is two pieces of wood 11 inches 

 long, and IJ-a wide, 5/16 thick, with a strip of glass \% 

 wide between their grooved edges. The end is of solid wood, 

 11 inches long, 4JS wide, '4 thick. These pieces are nailed 

 strongly with very slender wire finishing-brads. The grain of 

 the wood in top, bottom and ends goes across the crate. Good, 

 clear soft pine is used, and is dressed very smooth, making a 

 neat, handsome box Idjg long, 11 inches wide, and 49^ deep, 

 outside measure, and holds two courses of handy sections, of 

 nine sections each. (The " handy " section is four-piece, 4x5 

 inches, and eight to the foot.) 



The paper is made into a shallow pan, with sides one inch 

 high, and as large as the inside of the crate. One of these 

 paper pans is placed in the bottom of the crate, the sections 

 put in, and another slipped over their top, and the cover 

 nailed over all, with Js-inch wire flat-head nails. (The flat 

 heads will not pull through in prying off the cover.) 



The cover is in two pieces, so that in using the honey, one- 

 half may be uncovered at a time, the paper cut away as the 

 honey is used, and the remainder kept clean and free from 

 dust until all is used. 



These crates are very popular with private families who 

 buy honey by the crate. I put up my finest goods for this 

 kind of customers, and sell most of my honey in my home 

 market in that way. I have not sent a crate of honey to the 

 large city markets for years. This settles the contention with 

 the commission men, good or bad, and saves heavy freight 

 charges. Brethren, go and do likewise. 



Forestville, Minn. 



To Avoid Being Stung by the Bees. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



To avoid the anger of bees, no method has ever been 

 found that compares with the use of smoke. This evidently 

 frightens them better than any other thing ever tried. The 

 principle underlying the present practical system of manage- 

 ment in the handling of bees was clearly stated by Mr. Lang- 

 stroth, years ago : "A honey-bee, when heavily laden with 

 honey, never volunteers an attack, but acts solely on the de- 

 fensive." We may subdue our bees temporarily without com- 

 pelling them to fill themsalves with honey, but in such cases 

 their peaceableness is only superficial, and a quick or careless 

 motion may suffice to irritate them. Not so, when they have 

 once filled themselves with honey through fright, for it be- 

 comes then almost impossible to arouse them. 



But other methods than smoke have been used and recom- 

 mended to keep the bees quiet. Preparations of chemicals, 

 " the Apifuge of Grimshaw," a solution of carbolic acid recom- 

 mended by some English bee-keepers, and different other in- 

 gredients have been used, with more or less success. The 

 lovers of animal magnetism and hypnotism have asserted that 

 bees may be subdued by magnetic influences, and there is un- 

 doubtedly something in the manners of an operator who is 

 self-confident, that subdues them in just the same way that 

 the wild animals of the menageries are subdued by their 

 trainer. Evidently, faith in one's powers has a great deal to 

 do with success, and I have just read an article in the Revue 

 Internationale, from the witty pen of the eminent graphologist, 



Mr. Crepieux-Jamin, on the superstitions of Normandy and 

 the subduing of bees by prayers. Yes, by prayers ! Is this 

 not a task almost equal to the converting of R. G. Ingersoll by 

 the same means ? But let me quote Mr. Jamin's article : 



" The Norman, formerly great friend of adventure, has 

 become the slave of habit. It is among populations of this 

 kind that one has a chance of finding, in their habits, customs 

 and language, traces of their origin, and to live over, through 

 the past, without ceasing to enjoy the present. Truly, peas- 

 ants are custom-led everywhere, but not everywhere in the 

 same manner. Thus, in some parts they are rough, in others 

 their habits are improved by a tendency to art, in others again 

 they are more or less progressive, but in Normandy they are 

 unintelligible, rouUnier, and unpolished. I speak, as a matter 

 of course, of the real paysan, of the countryman after Nature, 

 for the educated man is the same everywhere, the first result 

 of a mind-culture being the unification of tendencies, through 

 a methodical spirit which renders these tendencies uniform. 



"It is well known that the Norman never says squarely, 

 yes or no. We tested this fully when making inquiries among 

 the bee-owners of the vicinity of Rouen. It is impossible to 

 find out whether their bees are prosperous, whether the honey 

 was good, the crop large, etc. 



" ' Did you have any swarms ?' ' Sometimes.' 



"'How many'?' 'Some years we have some, and some 

 years we have none.' 



" 'But how about this year ?' ' Perhaps we had some.' 



" ' Don't you know whether you had swarms or not ?' 

 'We don't bother much about it.' 



" ' May I go and see your bees ?' ' Some people say that 

 it is not good.' 



" 'What is not good ?' 'May be you know it as well as I 

 do.' " 



You may converse in this way for an hour. Remember 

 that it is a tradition among the Normans that visiting stran- 

 gers are prejudicial to the apiary. The bees do not like their 

 inquisitiveness. Is it not charming to grant our little pets 

 peevish feelings that we would not allow in our daughters? 



When the master dies, the bees are put in mourning, by 

 fastening crape to each hive. This custom still exists in many 

 parts of Europe. It rests, however, on very correct observa- 

 tion. When the master disappears, if no one cares for the 

 bees, they will soon die out or leave, from lack of care. To 

 put them in mourning is to %how an interest in them, to shel- 

 ter them from sun or rain, and thus the pious custom bears its 

 fruits. In some parts, they never sell bees — they give them 

 away, stingily. 'The man who sells bees would be condemned 

 by everybody. The reason of this is, evidently, that, the bees 

 being considered as a part of the real estate of a farm, the 

 man who sold them in the olden times must have been negli- 

 gent, or hard up, and very near ruin. At this time the condi- 

 tions are changed, but the idea remains with its superstitious 

 bearing. 



They also make a great noise, in Normandy, when the 

 swarms issue. I have seen, on a farm, some old kettles kept 

 purposely for this usage. It was impossible for me to con- 

 vince my host of the uselessness of this. The all-powerful 

 tradition is there, and that which has been done, for centuries, 

 cannot be undone in a short time. 



But here is a prayer to avoid bee-stings, recited by a 

 farmer's wife at Pont-de-l'arche (Eure) : 



" Beautiful bee, remember when our Lord washed his 

 hands in the waters of Jordan, how he shook off the drops." 

 (Repeat five times bareheaded.) Add to this the Lord's 

 prayer, five times, and the prayer to the Virgin, five times. It 

 is rather long, but they say it is sometimes very effectual. In 

 this instance, with me, it was a failure ; I had a veil ; I was 

 not stung, but the farmer's wife went home with a swollen 

 nose. " Beautiful bee, remember " 



You have no idea, dear reader, of the trouble I had to 

 obtain the text of this prayer. Above all things, it is forbid- 

 den to write it. It must be taught only to friends, and bare- 

 headed, and they must learn it bareheaded. Here is another : 



" In the dew of the morning, Jesus washed his hands. 

 He dropped from his fingers three drops of water, which gave 

 birth to three bees, to make wax to serve at the holy Mass. 

 Bees of the Lord, do not sting. Bees of the Lord, do not 

 swarm." 



These formulas, transmitted from mouth to mouth for 

 centuries, are evidently incomplete, so they have but little 

 sense, but what of it ? Let us smile kindly at the peasant 

 who does not care for the meaning, and is contented with an 

 unmeaning text, for in a manner his faith is respectable. 



The prayers to keep bees from swarming or from sting- 

 ing are probably numerous. Michelet informs us, in his 

 "Origins of French Common Law," that an old manuscript of 



