1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



93 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Chicago, October, 1873. 



Mr. K. M. Widdington is respectfully in- 

 formed that if he wishes to bring the article 

 he has for sale before the bee-keeping public, 

 he must advertise it in that portion of the 

 JouKNAL which is devoted to such purposes. 

 If we admitted communications offering bee- 

 requisites for sale, and commending them, there 

 would soon be little room in our columns for 

 anything else, and besides, we should get no 

 revenue from advertisements, which would be 

 a great and ruinous calamity. 



That Sting. 



Our thanks are due, and are hereby tendered 

 to all and sundry who have expressed kindly 

 sympathy, and proffered effectual antidotes. 

 We don't expect to be stung any more in the 

 face or neck, — not if we know it. — and as for 

 the rest of our person, we are quite indifferent 

 about its safety. 



Some of our friends have rallied us with 

 jibe and joke. All right. It may be a laughing 

 matter now, but it wasn't at the time of it. 

 We have had our share of experiences that 

 have left painful memories, and, among the 

 physical ones, that bee-sting holds the first 

 place. 



We hardly know what to say to those of our 

 friends who have raked up stories of serious 

 and fatal bee-stings, — but we will say this 

 much, quantum suff. Do not send any more, 

 unless you want to frighten us, not only out of 

 the bee business, but out of our wits. And 

 please excuse us, if we consign most of them to 

 the waste paper basket. 



Live Bees at Fairs. 



A brother bee-keeper, now at Elbon, suggests 

 that we say something Editorially in reference 

 to the practice of bringing hives of bees to 

 State and other Fairs, and letting them loose 

 among the visitors. He says that on a recent 

 occasion of this kind, where he was present, 

 there were three stocks of bees opened out 

 very much to the annoyance of thousands of 

 people. He does not know if any one was 



stung, but the bees were buzzing about in all 

 directions, and especially hovered around the 

 refreshment stands, alighting in large numbers 

 upon the watermelons and other fruits, and 

 attacking the candies and oonfectionery. 



We entirely agree with our friend. There is 

 no necessity for subjecting visitors at Fairs to 

 this insect annoyance. The day is gone by for 

 money-making by means of bee-charming and 

 other styles of apiarian charlatanry. It is 

 pretty generally understood, that bees can be 

 handled by taking certain precautions. The 

 person who has not become aware of this fact, 

 must live in some benighted region where there 

 are neither newspapers nor bees, and is not 

 likely to be converted into an apiarian by such 

 exhibitions. The merits of a hive can be shown 

 sufficiently without having live bees in it. So 

 many people are nervous with bees buzzing 

 around them that a due regard to the rights of 

 others would seem to dictate avoidance of this 

 thing. If it is wished to show the public the 

 interior economy of the hive, with queen, 

 worker, drone and brood, this can be done with 

 a unicomb hive, having glass sides, to much 

 better advantage than by opening out an ordi- 

 nary hive. 



Since our terrible sting, chronicled in these 

 columns, we have been quite inclined to restrict 

 bees from power to injure, as much as is con- 

 sistent with honey-gathering. We don't see 

 that they have any particular call to attend 

 Fairs. They are better at home. Let them, as 

 the good book says, study to be quiet and mind 

 their own business, going abroad only when 

 duty calls. A word to the wise is sufficient 

 There are ways enough of giving publicity to 

 bee-wares, without resorting to the method 

 under consideration. We wonder that before 

 now some unlucky accident has not happened, 

 such as might excite public prejudice against 

 bee-keeping and bee-keepers. Lest it should, 

 it is well to leave the honey-workers at 

 home, when the rest of the family go holiday 

 hunting. 



A WEAK swarm will weigh from one to two 

 pounds; a middling one from three to four 

 pounds ; a good one about five pounds, and an 

 excellent one from six to eight pounds. 



HUISH. 



