418 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



most pressing; but 

 other pests spring up. 

 Instead of the camel 

 the hives are set on 

 carts, Fig. 5, and the 

 bees travel from N:ce 

 to the Alps and back 

 again at a greater 

 speed. Honey finds a 

 more ready market, 

 but here another ene- 

 my has to be fought. 

 In Mohammedan coun- 

 tries no fermented 

 drinks are allowed. 

 Honey is more freely 

 taken; but here, wine 

 and other drinks take 

 the place of that most 

 precious gift of natur- 

 al sweet, presented 

 naturally. Our best 

 patrons are vegetari- 

 ans and anti-alcohol 



societies; and as an outcome of the stupid 

 belief that wine gives strength, our bees are 

 persecuted wherever there are vineyards. 

 Peasants are very keen for their interests 

 against every other man ; but when a bee 

 hovers over a ripe grape or over injured 

 berries to suck the sweet liquid, exaggera- 

 tion comes in, and our bees are accused of 

 ruining the whole vineyard. No lectures or 

 demonstrations can be strong enough to re- 

 assure the ignorant and show them the folly 

 of their theories. They have no other idea 

 of the natural liistory of the bee than that 

 their wine production is diminished by the 

 loresence of an apiary in the vicinity. I 

 have seen bees crawling about the uninjured 



I-'ii:. !,- -(.I'liil (.iiMin_ a 1m;uI of i crs i)irnu-h the lanes of Jaffa; 

 gardens lined with prickly pears (cactus), and orange-tj'ees behind. 



fruit for weeks, 3'et never touching a berry ; 

 but what is that to them? Fertilization of 

 fruit-trees by bees and the like is looked on 

 as a fable or at least not worth the trouble. 

 So in spite of all advantages our hardships 

 are still great, and we look for the wildest 

 sites, " where every prospect pleases," up in 

 the Alps, and there we pick out the best 

 even places to set our hives here and there 

 among the brushwood, stones, and other 

 things, Fig. 6. Very often it is in places 

 where it is so steep you would be tempted 

 '• to have to saw off one leg and splice it to 

 the other " (see Gleanings^ cover, Sept. 1, 

 1913). 



Though some beekeepers can handle their 



bees with very little 



smoke, I use plenty of 

 it with a good " Con- 

 queror " smoker, and 

 am sure to be left 

 alone by the bees, as 

 now for years I have 

 not taken a veil to 

 handle the hundreds 

 of colonies spread 

 about in many out- 

 apiaries in the Alps. 

 I believe in plenty of 

 smoke, so I take olive 

 twigs or fig wood, or 

 any that happens to be 

 near that is not obnox- 

 ious to the bees, and 

 has no bad odor for 



Fig. 5. — Loading Ik,. 



art in Prance. 



We can not boast of 

 being rid of that most 



