586 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



The second essential to enable one to 

 avoid stings is to have a good smoker at 

 hand whenever the bees are to be handled. 

 For ease and effectiveness in keeping bees 

 under control nothing will take the place 

 of the modern bellows smoker (Fig. 1). 

 A good one lasts years, and its cost is so 

 slight ($1 to $1.25 for the medium sizes) 

 that the expenditure may be considered 

 one of the wisest that can be made in 

 fitting up an apiary. 



A veil (Fig. 2), made of black bobinet 

 or Brussels net, to draw over the hat. and 

 a pair of gloves, preferably of rubber, 

 may be used. The veil can be safely dis- 

 pensed with if the gentlest bees are kept. 



Simple and convenient hives, employ- 

 ing the Langstroth principle, and with 

 stories and frames interchangeable and 

 so constructed as to reduce propolization 

 to a minimum and to insure straight 

 combs, will much facilitate the avoidance 

 of stings. 



The use of the bee escape (Fig. 3) in 



Fig. 3. The Porter Spring Bee Escape 

 removing surplus honey greatly reduces 

 the risk of being stung during this oper- 

 ation, for it saves much manipulation of 

 combs and shaking and brushing of bees. 

 This useful device is fitted into a slot 

 made in a board the same size as the 

 top of the hive, and the whole, when 

 slipped in between the brood apartment 

 and an upper story or super, will permit 

 all of the workers above to go down into 

 the lower story but not to return to the 

 top one, so that in one night it Is pos- 

 sible to free entirely a set of combs from 

 bees without any manipulation of the 

 combs, and without smoking, shaking or 

 brushing the bees. 



What Race of Bees to Choose 



As the gentler races are excellent honey 

 gatherers the beginner should adopt only 

 these — either Caucasians, Carniolans, or 

 Italians. Should full colonies not be ob- 



tainable, colonies of ordinary bees may 

 be changed by replacing their queens with 

 queens of the desired race, the latter hav- 

 ing been procured in small boxes by mail. 



A brief summary of the leading traits 

 of the various races now in this country 

 will be of use in guiding the purchaser. 



Caucasians are natives of Southern Rus- 

 sia, are exceedingly gentle, good workers, 

 good defenders of their hives, prolific, 

 build many queen cells, and swarm often 

 if confined to small hives. The workers 

 are dark leaden gray in their general 

 color, and present quite a ringed appear- 

 ance because of the alternation of this 

 dark color with the lighter fuzz which 

 edges the segments of the abdomen. 



Carniolans are much larger bodied and 

 somewhat lighter gray in color than the 

 Caucasians. Their great hardiness and 

 excellent wing power enable them to fly 

 freely in much cooler weather than some 

 other races stand, and to regain their hive 

 entrances under adverse conditions. They 

 are prolific, active, and good honey gath- 

 erers, producing combs of snowy white- 

 ness. 



Italians, the first of the foreign races 

 to be introduced into this country, are 

 much more widely known, and have with 

 reason found great favor, since they are 

 industrious, good defenders of their hives, 

 and excellent honey gatherers, as well as 

 handsome in appearance, being usually 

 evenly marked with three yellow bands 

 across the anterior portion of the ab- 

 domen. 



Cyprians, from the island of Cyi)rus, 

 may be taken as a general type with 

 which to comiiare other Eastern races. 

 They are small bodied, more slender, in 

 fact, than any of the European races of 

 bees. The abdomen is more pointed and 

 shows, when the bees are purely bred, 

 three light-colored bands on the upper 

 surface, and considerable yellow on the 

 under side. Cyprians possess longer 

 tongues and greater wing power than 

 other races. This, combined with great 

 prolificness and most remarkable activ- 

 ity, renders them the best of honey gath- 

 erers. In temper, however, they may be 

 regarded as rather aggressive, rendering 



