May 24, 1906 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



447 



(Dur+Stster 

 Beekeepers 



=\ 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



Protection Against Bee-Stings— Black an Irritator 



J 



A lady was calling- on me this week, and as she owns 

 quite a number of colonies of bees, we naturally began talk- 

 ing about bees. These same bees were left to her by a 

 favorite nephew at his death. They having been a source 

 of profit to him, doing much towards helping him through 

 college, he hoped they might do as much for her. Now, the 

 only knowledge she has of bees is the knowledge gained by 

 the slight help she gave her nephew with them during his 

 lifetime. 



The only things she tries to do with them is to hive the 

 swarms and take care of the honey. She said, " I am afraid 

 I will never make a success of bee-keeping, as I can never 

 quite overcome my fear of them. Sometimes while I am 

 working with them I get so interested in my work that I 

 forget to be nervous about their stinging, and really get 

 along nicely. In fact, as a usual thing I do not get very 

 many stings." 



I said, " Why don't you protect yourself against stings 

 by dressing so that they can't get a chance to sting you, 

 until you get over your feeling of nervousness while work- 

 ing with them ?" 



She gave a little laugh, and said, "I always wear a 

 veil, but the only time I ever tried to protect my hands I did 

 not succeed very well. I had always worked with my hands 

 bare, but, one day, feeling particularly timid about taking 

 off some honey that must be taken off, I drew a pair of 

 stocking legs on my arms, letting them come well down 

 over my hands, leaving just the tips of my fingers ex- 

 posed, and went to the apiary feeling much braver. But, 

 alas, those stocking legs seemed to make those bees just 

 furious. They covered my hands and arms, burrowing 

 themselves into the stockings, and stinging — well, I never 

 had so many stings before in my life. I can't imagine 

 what made them act so, for I had handled them just as care- 

 fully as I ever did, but I have not tried to wear anything on 

 my hands since." 



I said, " What color were those stockings ?" She looked 

 a little surprised, but replied that they were black. She 

 looked still more surprised when I told her that because 

 they were black was the reason the bees were so furious at 

 them, and had they been woolen they would have been still 

 more furious. I advised her to try some white stockings 

 and see if results were not different. (This in spite of the 

 fact that some people think it all nonsense that bees do not 

 like black.) 



One thing that surprised me was that she entertained 

 the idea that a cool day was much better than a warm one 

 to work with bees, and she attributed the temper of those 

 bees to the fact that it was a very warm day when she took 

 off that honey ! 



m — ■ 



Sweet Clover — White and Yellow 



And so Dr. Miller tells another inquirer that sweet 

 clover ought to be advertised in the American Bee Journal ! 

 Surely it should be, but that is poor comfort for those who 

 want it — if it is not so advertised. 



For myself, it gives me a sort of guilty feeling — in that 

 I have sweet clover in abundance, yet fail to gather the 

 seed. The trouble is, there is so much to be done ; then 

 that securing of the seed in any considerable quantity is 

 neglected. It yields a lavish lot of seed, but if it is not 

 gathered at the right time this soon falls to the ground. 



I have, at times, cut patches of it with a scythe, and 

 piled it up to be thrashed with a broom, but I have none on 

 hand a this writing. Bushels of it were permitted to fall 

 to the ground last year. I would like to promise to have 

 seed on hand by another spring, but I can't be sure of that 

 now. 



"There is a time for everything that is done under the 

 sun," but I try in vain, sometimes, to get time for the things 



I don't get done. But, no doubt, if there is a demand for 

 sweet clover seed, some one will cater to it. 



There are many with a greater acreage of it than I 

 have. I would like to say that those who want it would do 

 well to get in mind what variety they want. I had the 

 white kind for several years before I got the yellow, but the 

 latter is the greatest boon to me here, as I need something 

 for the bees to work on through June. This I find in yel- 

 low sweet clover. The white does not bloom until July. 



All this has been said before, but it will bear repeating. 



Custer Co., Nebr. (Mrs.) A. L. Amos. 



In Northern Illinois it is doubtful whether there would 

 often be any advantage in the yellow sweet clover over the 

 white, as the white sweet clover is usually in bloom before 

 the white clover ceases to yield, so there is generally no 

 dearth. But in other localities where there is likely to be a 

 dearth, the yellow sweet clover would be a boon. 



The following is what A. I. Root says in Gleanings : 



The constant call for 6Weet clover seed of every kind is coming in 

 from every direction in a way we never knew it before. It seems that 

 the world generally is beginning to discover that none of the clovers 

 should ever be called noxious weeds. If there are horses or cattle 

 anywhere that have not learned to eat tender sweet clover when it first 

 comes up, they are certainly lacking in education. 



Outlook for a Good Crop 



My bees wintered fairly well, losing about IS percent 

 of the colonies. The outlook is for a good honey crop here. 



Mrs. Fannie J. Randall. 

 Ft. Collins, Colo., May 14. 



% 



Zttr. pasty's 

 Ctftcrtqongfyts 



The " Old Reliable" as seen through New and Unreliable Glasses. 

 By E. E. Hasty, Sta. B. Rural, Toledo, Ohio. 



Drones and Swarming 

 Do drones, when in extra numbers, cause more swarm- 

 ing ? Does excessive swarming cause the rearing of more 

 drones ? Is a colony that is dreadfully overrun with drones 

 tolerably sure not to swarm ? Queer if we should have to 

 answer all three questions in the affirmative. Without 

 wishing to drive any stake or say anything " sassy," I have 

 my doubts about the first question. As to the third ques- 

 tion, it may be mainly a matter of location and honey-flow. 

 Might always feel too poor to rear young queens when bur- 

 dened with such a lot of non-paying boarders— except in a 

 good location with strong and steady flows. With the pop- 

 ulation nearly half drones I shouldn't feel quite sure that 

 the best and longest flows would start swarms. This anent 

 C. P. Dadant, on page 298. 



Covers of the Latham Home-Made Hives 

 I don't put in the sub-heads in the Afterthoughts, Mr. 

 Latham. Go for the Boss about that naughty hyphen that 

 contrived to tell a depreciatory lie about your hives. 



As to the inquiry, I suppose I must have been thinking 

 that lots of roof-cracks, made good by good paper, was the 

 point that was up, and that it might allow large variation 

 in other respects. Yes, some of my roofs are dreadfully 

 weighted down with bricks and stones (and army-pans filled 

 with fragments). Every winter they go in loaded heavier 

 than before ; and every winter a lot of them get away. On 

 the other hand, half my roofs are scarcely ever known to fly 

 away, and those I trust without any weights. Then there's 

 another lot that are " mighty onsartin," and I honor the 

 doubt to the extent of a couple of bricks. Page 299. 



Advices to Bee-Keeping Beginners 

 In directions to those who are going to fail, Doolittle, 

 in his article for beginners, gets in a pretty good one. Much 

 nicer to sink $40 than $400. So say we all of us. And quite 

 a bit of fun can be had in throwing away $40 if you scatter 

 it right. . . . 



And so for the beginner to skip the bee-books and read 



