138 



THE A M ER1 CA N BEE-KE EPER. 



the progress of work inside the hive; 

 destroys the courage and interest the 

 bee» have for their home, wastes honey 

 consumed and honey Hint might be 

 gathered from the flowers: it also makes 

 angry bees, which attack everything 

 that conies near and often at a distance 

 for days afterward; and bee-keepers 

 who do not [Hy attention to the gentle- 

 ness of their baes out of respect for 

 their neighbors ought to he refund ad- 

 mittance to the Bee-Keepers' Union, 

 because it is no more reasonable 

 to provoke bees to anger and let the 

 neighbors take care of themselves than 

 for a farmer to turn a mad bull loose 

 in the highway. 



When I began to open hives I thou- 

 ght the bees should all be smoked 

 away from the entrance before taking 

 the cover off. This was a mistake 

 because if the hive is not jarred none 

 of the entrance bees will bother, nor 

 should the bees on the top bars be 

 driven far down in the combs; only 

 the threatening bees at guarded points 

 need smoking and the colonies may 

 be handled just as rapidly and the 

 stream of flying bees to and from the 

 entrance need not be interfered with. 

 Beside the cruelty to the bees, there 

 may be loss financially, for example, 

 suppose the colonies are smoked as 

 they are examined until all the bees 

 are subdued and retreat, this stops 

 the working of th^ colony at least an 

 hour. Now if the bee handler goes 

 over a colony in every fifteen minutes 

 he will keep four colonies standing idle 

 all day. This, in the average bass- 

 wood harvest, amounts lo thirty or 

 forty pounds a day, so that the inex- 

 perienced workman may waste twice 

 his wages in this direction. Still there 

 are bee-keepers who seek the cheapest 



help in the apiary, with little consider- 

 ation of experience, skill or knowl- 

 edge. Iu early spring, smoking or 

 otherwise making a disturbance in 

 the colonies eau-e discouragement and 

 the bpes are liable to abscond or ball 

 and kill their queens, especially on 

 cloudy days. 



At another time we may wish to 

 look into the hives to se? if they have 

 enough stores, to clip queens or in- 

 spect the brood and there are many 

 robbers prowling around. At this 

 time it needs a powerful smoker con- 

 tinually in full blast, so that clouds 

 of smoke are rolliog upwards all the 

 time. 



Of>en hives gently, smoke the bees 

 just enough to avoid stings but leave 

 the bees of the colony in possession of 

 the frames, so as to have to push them 

 out of the way in grasping the top 

 bars. The bees know or soon see that it 

 is the robbers that need their attention 

 rather than the manipulator, and 

 more bees than usual crowd and form 

 in lines in the spaces and on the top 

 bars, and as a robber passes over or 

 attempts to alight, several bees will 

 reach for or rly after it, so that no 

 robber can get so much as a taste. 

 As the case may be we may wish 

 to put in combs of honey or feed, and 

 first a comb must he taken out. Now 

 as soon as we shake the bees from the 

 comb several robbers hasten to alight 

 ami get their heads down into cells. 

 Poke them harshly and they do not 

 back out but sip as fast as they can, 

 with a cold blast we may puff and puff 

 and puff, and they pay no attention, 

 until the nozzle is stopped, occupying 

 both hands, and the bellows worked au 

 average of thirty-five times; then they 

 will run around and dip into another 



