1907.] THE AMERICAN 



EXPERT ADVICE. 



John. r. ragle. 



HAVING COMPLETED my sec- 

 ond season at bee-keeping, I 

 now feel fully qualified to give 

 advice to beginners. I shall com- 

 mence by telling them how to find a 

 queen. The proper way is set down 

 in the bee-books and it is the one 

 the beginner strives to follow but he 

 usually gravitates into the common 

 way, which is the one I shall de- 

 scribe. 



Lift your smoker, put on your bee- 

 veil and go, of course, to the hive, 

 Puff smoke in at the entrance; then 

 pry the cover open and puff smoke 

 in there. The bees will begin to "boil 

 out" and to sting but you must slap 

 the cover back, smashing a number of 

 them, puffing again at the entrance, 

 this time so vigorously that flames will 

 issue and sizzle the bees that refuse to 

 stay in and be good. Jar the hive, al- 

 so. After five minutes remove the 

 cover and try to get out the first 

 frame. It won't budge; try to pry it 

 loose with your $1.50 pocket knife. 

 The blade will snap in two, but don't 

 mind that; run as quickly as possible 

 and get a chisel. Apply it to the 

 frame and the end of the top bar will 

 split or break short off; but you will 

 have the frame loosened so that you 

 can now lift it out without difficulty, 

 although the comb will be sprung and 

 leaking. Set it, "leaning perpendicu- 

 larly", against the hive and remove the 

 next comb in the same manner, glanc- 

 ing over it for the queen and set it 

 in the same position against the other 

 comb. Both combs will be bruised 

 and bees between them will be smash- 

 ed. Take out all the combs in the 

 same manner, looking over each one 

 for the queen, which you will not find. 



After they are all out look for her 

 in the bottom of the hive, but she 

 won't be there. Pick up the combs, 

 looking over each one carefully the 

 second time and begin placing them 

 back in the same order in which you 

 took them out. This you will find to 

 be impossible. The combs will jab 

 into, and bruise one another and mash 

 bees. By this time your pets will be- 

 gin to dart furiously at your hands 

 and wrists, which have already be- 

 come swollen with stings. Pick up your 

 smoker to subdue the bees. The fire 



BEE-KEEPER. 



201 



will be out. There will be no time 

 to light it again now, so you must 

 resolve to proceed as calmly as pos- 

 sible and get the queen, if eyesight 

 can find her; it can't. Bees will fiy 

 thicker about you. A few will find an 

 opening in your veil where it is sup- 

 posed to remain tight about your 

 neck, which it never does; they will 

 sting you under the chin and two or 

 three will plant their javelins in your 

 nose and eyes. 



There is nothing now to do but 

 to grab up each comb quickly and 

 jam it back into the hive. This will 

 not be easily done, for you will find 

 one or more of them broken and fal- 

 ling out of the frames. 



Run to the house, mindless of 

 stings and pursuing bees, turn all 

 the drawers topsy-turvy, rake 

 everything from the shelves, break- 

 ing dishes and knocking down pans 

 and bric-a-brac, looking for the ball of 

 twine and blaming your wife for having 

 misplaced it. Then, after she has 

 sweetly reminded you that you must 

 have left it in the corner of the or- 

 chard where you were budding trees, 

 run for it, get it and tie up those 

 broken combs, slamming them back 

 into the hive, meantime looking for 

 the queen. 



You won't find her; but slap the cov- 

 er on, mashing more bees, and retire 

 with, every vulnerable spot on your 

 body containing a sting and pursued 

 by a hundred angry bees, still intent 

 on stinging. Retire further yet and 

 sit down. First collect your scattered 

 thoughts and then begin to pick out 

 the stings. 



This will be a delicate moment. If 

 you are not a religious man then 

 you may begin to cuss silently and 

 gently, letting it swell gradually into 

 a grand anthem. 



Don't cuss the bees. It will do no 

 good. Cuss the hives and the hive- 

 maker first, then the smoker and the 

 man who invented it. Cuss all the 

 bee-books and the bee-writers, whose 

 advice you so zealously have tried to 

 follow and call them falsifiers and 

 humbugs. 



It will be a good idea to kick some- 

 thing. If there are any empty hives 

 or supers around you may kick them 

 and kick them good and har^, but 



