330 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



September 



fact that while the one colony were so 

 accustomed to being handled as not to 

 be disturbed by it, the other, wholly 

 unused to liberties of this sort, became 

 frantic with fright and anger and ut- 

 terly unmageable. Which method, 

 let me ask you, disturbs the bees the 

 the most ? 



As the apiary increases I am forced 

 though against my will, to relinquish 

 permineutly my close companionship 

 with my little workers and content 

 myself almost wholly with the hand- 

 ling that necessity demands. 1 do not 

 know whether the bees notice the 

 difference, I know that I do, and 

 that even armed with veil and smok- 

 er I now get a dozen stings where I 

 formerly went unarmed and unstung. 



What dairyman would advocate 

 letting the cows alone except at milk- 

 ing time, even if handling did take a 

 little of their time from the labor of 

 consuming feed for conversion into 

 milk. Good feeling between man and 

 beast is one of the recognized princip- 

 les of good dairying. Why should 

 not the same apply to the apiary ? 

 By all means I say to the beginners 

 and to all others, if you can find time, 

 handle your bees : the more the better, 

 so long as it is carefully done. But 

 beware of annoying them. That in 

 common with all disturbances injures 

 them and at the same time defeats the 

 very end it is desired to promote, as 

 nothing makes bees Grosser than con- 

 stant irritation of that sort. 



And while on this subject of hand- 

 ling bees let me protest against the 

 use to which the smoker is to fre- 

 quently put. I have seen old bee- 

 keepers use tobacco on their helpless 

 workers, as abominable a use as this 

 detestable weed was ever put to. It 



is a rank inhumanity to the bees and 

 a rank insult to users of honey who 

 are not also users of tobacco. And 

 the way some people pour the smoke 

 into their bees leads one to think that 

 they desire to stun instead of subdue 

 the little fellows. Of course the ac- 

 tual amount of smoking depends upon 

 circumstances and the bees, — or per- 

 haps I should have said on the way 

 the bees are and have been handled. 

 If as friendly as they ought to be the 

 only use for the smoker is in driving 

 them away from corners where they 

 ai"e in danger, — for their own protec- 

 tion. If inclined to become arrogant 

 smoke them enough to keep them 

 quiet, as it is much easier to keep 

 them so than to subdue them after 

 allowing ihem to become arroused. 

 But this does not require enough 

 smoke to half stun them : only to 

 frighten. And when I see any one 

 filling the habitation of an unoffend- 

 ing colony with sufficient smoke to 

 fairly supply a smoked meat establish- 

 ment of generous dimensions, I feel 

 like entering my sileut protest with 

 the energy of a steam whistle, and I 

 don't blame the bees for entering 

 theirs as soon as they recover from 

 their swoons. 

 Penna. 



Introducing Queens. 



j;V CHAS. THIES. 



It would hardly seem necessary to 

 make any remarks on the above. As 

 an up to date bee-keeper should cer- 

 tainly be supplied with a good text 

 book on bees, and with one or more 

 of the best bee journals, but this 

 seems to be not always the rule, from 

 the many questions regarding the 

 introduction of queens. There are 



