BEES 



585 



Anyone Who Desires lo Do So Can Learu 

 to Manipulate Bees 



Any person with fairly steady nerves 

 and some patience and courage can easily 

 learn to control and manipulate bees. 

 There are, it is true, a few exceptional 

 individuals whose systems are particu- 

 larly susceptible to the poison injected 

 by the bee, so much so that serious effects 

 follow a single sting. Such cases are, 

 however, very rare. In most instances 

 where care is not taken to avoid all stings 

 the system eventually becomes accus- 

 tomed to the poison, so that beyond mo- 

 mentary pain a sting causes no incon- 

 venience. 



How to Avoid Stings 



Stings can be avoided, first, by having 

 gentle bees. If no other point of superior- 

 ity over the common brown or black bee 

 than that of gentleness could be fairly 

 claimed for some of the races introduced 

 and some of the strains developed in re- 

 cent years, it would still be worth while 

 to get them on this account alone. When 

 the fact of superiority in several other 

 important points is considered also, there 

 should be no further question as to the 

 advisability of procuring them in prefer- 

 ence to the common variety. 



Fig. 1. The Bingham Bee Smoker. 



Of the races already in general cultiva- 

 tion, Carniolans are the gentlest, although 

 Caucasians, more recently introduced 

 from Southeastern Russia and only now 

 being put on sale, are by far the least in- 

 cllnei to sting of any bees, and may be 

 handled at all times without resorting to 

 the protection of a bee veil, and generally 

 without smoke, or at most, a very slight 

 application of smoke. Some strains of 

 Italians equal in gentleness average Car- 



niolans, but in general the race native to 

 Italy is by no means as gentle as that 

 found in Carniola. Austria, and the Cau- 

 casians are much to be preferred for the 

 beginner. In case these gentler races are 

 not easily procurable he need not hesi- 

 tate, however, to undertake, after adopt- 

 ing due precautions, the manipulation 

 of pure Italians. 



In crossing well-established breeds the 

 males of a gentle race should be used, 



Fig. 2. Bee Veil. 



otherwise the workers of the cross may 

 vary greatly in temper, especially in the 

 first few generations. Only careful selec- 

 tion continued for some time will so fix 

 the desirable traits as to result in their 

 reproduction with a fair degree of cer- 

 tainty in the offspring. Bees having the 

 blood of blacks and Italians are nearly 

 always quite vicious in the case of the 

 first cross, and are even harder to subdue 

 with smoke than are pure blacks. Other 

 races need not be considered here, as they 

 are adapted to special purposes: and the 

 skill of the bee master, the conditions of 

 climate, flora, etc., and the particular line 

 of production to be followed, should de- 

 cide whether their introduction is advis- 

 able or not.* 



* For a fuller discussion of this subject, see 

 "The Honey Bee : A Manual of Instruction 

 In Apiculture." by Frank Benton. M. S. Bulletin 

 No. 1, new series. Bureau of Entomology, U. S. 

 E>epartraent nf .^L'rioulture. third edition, 1899, 

 Chapter I, pp. 11-18. 



