266 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Set the frame aside m an airy place, in the shade, to 

 let the cement dry. 



Gum Arabic Cemb>;t.— Dissolve gum arable in 

 water, to a syrupy consistence ; cut your comb into 

 strips, and proceed as above directed. Good clean 

 glue may be used for the same purpose. There is no 

 danger that the cement will become softened by the 

 moisture of the hive, as the bees will immediately 

 fasten the comb more securely, if need be. 



It is well to prepare frames thus with guiib combs, 

 at leisure moments, some time before they are likely 

 to be wanted. After the cement has become dry, 

 insert the frame in one of your strongest colonies, 

 and let it remain there twenty-four hours. In that 

 time the comb will be properly fastened and trimmed 

 up in workmanlike manfler, and the frames should 

 be removed for preservation and use. A plentiful 

 supply of frames thus furnished will be found very 

 convenient and serviceable. They can be preserved 

 from the moth and the worm by suspending them in 

 a box, and occasionally exposing them to the fumes 

 of burning brimstone— which is the only use that 

 should ever be made of that commodity, in an apiary. 



Igtiorance not Bliss ! 



A correspondent of a Western paper, giving an 

 account of his perambulations in the " rural districts," 

 says — 



" We called at the residence of Mr. R — , who had 

 been confined to his room and bed for three weeks. 

 His afSiction was severe, and all occasioned by the 

 stings of hees. The way it happened was this: One 

 hot day, while the men were in the hay or wheat 

 field, a cow came near to where the bee stand was, 

 and it seems the honey-making family had a dislike 

 to Old Horny coming so near, they mounted the cow, 

 not only by scores but by hundreds, and tormented 

 and stung the poor brute so severely that Mr.cR. 

 was compelled to go and try to relieve her from the 

 bees, or rather the bees from the cow. And no 

 sooner had he made his appearance in behalf of 

 soohcijy than the bees mounted him and stung him 

 most unmercifully. The result was his face and body 

 began to swtU from the poison, so that in fact at one 

 time it was thought his life was in danger." 



Certainly this was altogether a sad occurrence; 

 but had Mr. R. been a reader of the Bee Jotjrxal. 

 and remcmhered what he read, we think it likely he 

 would have been spared all this suffering and confine- 

 ment. By immediately spreading a blanket or linen 

 sheet, " dripping wet," over the cow, and keeping it 

 wet, he would quickly have relieved her, without 

 probably receiving a sting himself. And if, in their 

 fury, the bees had assailed him also, the prompt 

 application of coal oil, or recourse to friend Gallup's 

 "water cure" would in all likelihood have averted 

 the consequences from himself. — People who keep 

 bees in these days, hardly have an excuse for not 

 knowing how to treat them in such emergencies. 



Hiving under DifSeulties. 



Natural swarms will sometimes alight in nearly 

 inaccessible places, as in a dense hedge, or in a goose- 

 berry or currant bush. When this is the case, take an 

 empty straw or box hive, with its bottom board, and 

 place the latter as near as possible to the cluster, so 

 pressing it in the soil that bees cannot get under it. 

 Then with a long-handled spoon or dipper scoop up a 

 parcel of bees from the cluster, transfer them to the 

 bottom board, and immediately invert the hive over 

 them, with the entrance towards the cluster. Trans- 

 fer some more bees to the front of the hive, and they 

 will immediately commence fanning and humming. 

 If the cluster cannot be reached with spoon or dipper 

 take a long stick or paddle, besmear one end of it 

 with honey or sugar syrup, insert it in the cluster, 

 let bees gather on it, and shake them oflf on the 

 bottom board or in front of the hive. Now take a 

 fumigator and blow tobacco smoke gently on the . 

 c]uster,/ro»ia&owe, to alarm the bees, which hearing 

 the humming and finding their lodging getting un- 

 comfortable, M'ill soon descend to the ground, travel to 

 the hive in regular troop, and take possession without 

 hesitation. Let them enter without further annoy- 

 ance from smoke ; wait till you are sure the queen is 

 with them, if you have not seen her travelling along 

 in the crowd. If they remain quiet and content for 

 half an hour, remove them to your apiary and trans- 

 fer them to a movable comb hive. Q. E. D. ! 



Worse than Foulbrood. 



The correspondent before referred to says he too 

 could wr te a chapter on bees, as he has considera- 

 ble experience in the bee business. Though he 

 knows not much about being severely stung, yet he 

 "knows something about money-making over the left.'''' 

 He once bought forty-five colonies of bees, hauled 

 them home into his yard, had a house put up ; and 

 " the Yesult was every pound of honey cost me over 

 three dollars, and in a few years I had not a sting or 

 a bee left. There the old boxes and deserted hives 

 stood. It seemed as if every calamity that bees 

 are subject to, came over my bee family, and I was 

 minus $300." 



Now, we fancy that any "new beginner" who 

 would go into the " bee business" in that style and on 

 that scale, would be quite likely to find himself, in 

 a few years, suff'ering from precisely such a calam- 

 ity. No doubt the writer was pretty severely stung on 

 that occasion, and we suspect he has not yet got 

 entirely over the pain or the swelling. 



That Bee Hive Case Again. 



At the late session of the United States District 

 Court, at Milwaukie, the Grand Jury found an in- 

 dictment against K. P. Kidder, for perjury in the 

 Bee Comb Guide Case of Kidder vs. Trask, about 

 which we have had occasion to remark more than once. 

 — Western Farmer, Madison, Wis. 



