398 



ntmm m-mmmicmn mmm jQ^mnmi^, 



apiarist was so protected that it was 

 impossible for them to get at tlie per- 

 son. They will crawl into the pockets 

 or any opening in the clothing, only 

 to sting when thej- come out, whether 

 in a room rods from the hive or close 

 to it. Hence, I should class the black 

 bees as being about medium as to 

 stinging. 



PREVENTION OF INCREASE. 



Another correspondent wishes to 

 know if he can prevent increase by 

 removing the old queen from a colony 

 at or near the swarming season, and 

 allowing them to rear another. This 

 would be a doubtful practice, it seems 

 to me. The only plan by way of re- 

 moving the queen, which I have made 

 a success worthy of repeating, has 

 been to allow the bees to swarm, and, 

 when returning them, take away the 

 old queen. When the first young 

 queen hatches, the bees will make 

 calculations for more swarming, which 

 will be announced by the piping of the 

 queens. 



I then go to the hive, open it, shake 

 all the bees off each frame in front of 

 the hive, and while the comb is free of 

 bees, cut off every queen-cell I can 

 find. In this way we are sure that no 

 after-swarming will result, if we have 

 taken off everj' cell. In doing this, we 

 -will find the cell which has hatched, 

 by the cover being off". If we find 

 others with the covers oft", it will be 

 best to keep watch of the hive for a 

 day or so, for sometimes a colony 

 swarms from having more than one 

 queen at liberty at the same time, 

 though as a general thing such }'oung 

 queens are all but one dispatched at 

 once, or in a very few hours at least. 



While this plan will work, and give 

 a fair yield of honey, yet I believe a 

 larger yield of a better quality of 

 honey can be obtained where onl}- one 

 swarm is allowed to issue from a col- 

 ony, the same being hived in a differ- 

 ent hive from which it came. 



REMOVING THE BEE-STINGS. 



I am asked by still another corres- 

 pondent, " What do you do when you 

 are stung, and how do you remove the 

 sting ?" 



Well, if I am stung in a place where 

 it hurts too badly, as it sometimes 

 does when stung at the roots of the 

 finger-nails, I generally groan once or 

 twice and dance about a little, when I 

 go to work as if nothing had happened. 

 It is a rare thing that I am stung in 

 the face, as I always wear a veil when 

 working with the bees, and, when in 

 the apiary and not working at the 

 hives, I can generally- dodge any bee 

 that tries to sting me, or get it off 

 after it strikes and befoi'e it stings. A 

 bee must lay hold, as it were, to sting, 



and an experienced person will know 

 the second a bee alights on him 

 whether it intends to sting or not, by 

 this laying-hold feeling. Many per- 

 sons strike at or kill a bee that has 

 merely dropped on the hands or face 

 to rest. 



Now, about removing the sting : 

 Some recommend using the thumb- 

 nail, a pair of tweezers or the blade of 

 a knife. I use none of these, as they 

 are all too slow. Two-thirds of all the 

 stings which I get are removed before 

 the lance strikes deep enough to cause 

 any pain, and this "laying-hold" feel- 

 ing enables me to do this. As soon 

 as I feel this, I know that I am 

 to be stung, and at that instant, 

 an instinct comes over me which 

 causes me to rub the place where the 

 bee is against my clothing, thus crush- 

 ing the bee, and, if the sting has been 

 thrust, removing it at the same time. 



If the bee is on my hand, it goes down 

 against my clothing at my hips or 

 near the knee, whichever will reach 

 the position the bee-occupies ; if on the 

 face or neck, then the sleeve on the 

 fore-arm goes to the place and rubs 

 bee and stinger off. In this way, one- 

 half or more of the bees which intend 

 to sting me are killed before they 

 have had time to push their lance into 

 the skin. Since I have learned these 

 things, I do not receive one sting that 

 affects me any, to where I had 20 

 formerly. Trj- it, reader, and see how 

 easily it is done. 



Borodino, K. Y. 



BEE-SPACES. 



Many-Banded Bees — Tlie Spac- 

 ing of Combs, etc. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BX REV. W. P. FAYLOK. 



On page 365, Dr. C. C. Miller has 

 some things to say about my com- 

 munication on page 313. His review 

 is partly a eulogy, and partly a criti- 

 cism. Though he did not reconize my 

 standing, I will not refrain from call- 

 ing him "Doctor." He admits that 

 there was something in my article, 

 when he says : "I have been much 

 interested in reading the article." 



That "the black bee is r a pi dlj' giv- 

 ing away to the 4 and 5 banded Ital- 

 ian," the Doctor hardly thinks is cor- 

 rect. I would like to know why it is 

 that our best breeders cannot keep up 

 with their orders in sending out 

 queens. Is it not because their bees 

 are gentle and handsome ? 



The editor of the Bee-Hive, in his 

 last issue, says : " It is a fact that 

 beauty in bees over-balances all other 

 qualities with the majority of bee- 



keepers. Send out handsome bees, 

 and customers are always satisfied." 

 That tells it exactly. But if Dr. Miller 

 does not wish to advance his bees in 

 point of coloi-, I will not quarrel with 

 him about that. The prettier I can 

 get mine, the more pleasing to me. 



SPACING THE BROOD-COMBS. 



About the proper distance to space 

 combs, the Doctor admits that I may 

 be right ; but when he says, " Even if 

 we should find li inches the rule, the 

 advocates of closer spacing might say 

 that bees left to themselves will use a 

 spacing that will allow the building of 

 drone-comb," the Doctor is shifting. 

 The fact is, that when the swarming- 

 time comes, the bees will have drones, 

 close spacing, wide spacing, or no 

 spacing at all, even if they are com- 

 pelled to tear down one comb to make 

 room for another. 



If the reader wishes to know whether 

 the bees build brace-combs more 

 readily where combs are closely 

 spaced, all that is necessary to do is to 

 go to a hive of full workers ; take two 

 combs and place them so as to nearly 

 touch each other. In 48 hours notice 

 the result. Do this when the bees are 

 storing honey. 



NUMBER OF CELLS TO THE INCH. 



Dr. Miller says : "Mr. Faylor is a 

 very brave man to intimate that bees, 

 of their own accord, build worker-cells 

 larger than 5 to the inch ;" then adds : 

 " Are all the books and observers of 

 the last hundred years in error on this 

 point ?" Yet in the same reply he 

 continues : " Bees do not build combs 

 exactly 5 cells to the inch, but about 

 (notice how accur.ate) four and four- 

 fifths inches. Now, I ask the reader, 

 what can j-ou think of such reasoning 

 as this? Prof. Cook says: "The 

 diameter of the worker-cells avei'ages 

 little more than one-fifth of an inch." 

 (See his Manual, page 105.*) It might 

 not be amiss for me to say that if Dr. 

 Miller's book gives 5 cells to the inch, 

 he should have it revised. 



Yes, sir, I am "fully posted" on 

 Mr. A. I. Root's position on this ; and I 

 think that his latest foundation ma- 

 chines make the cells as much too 

 small as some of the old ones made 

 the cells too large. I should like to 

 know who, besides Mr. Root, as a 

 foundation-machine builder, advocates 

 5 cells to the inch. 



I enclose samples of foundation for 

 the Editor, made on the Vandervort 

 and Pelham mills. The Vandervort 

 machine makes 4J cells to the inch, 

 horizontall3% and 5 cells diagonally, 

 which would average 4J cells to the 

 inch. The Pelham machine makes 

 four and three-fifths cells to the inch, 

 and averages nicely each way. To my 



