February, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



139 



HEADS OF GRAilO I^ROM ITDIFFERENT FIELDS 



two nuclei of five frames, secured 150 lbs. of 



lioney, and increased the one colony to five. 



Ee'hoboth, Mass., Nov. 24. Eobt. Elwell. 



[Possibly it was a combination of circum- 

 stances, altho if the honey ^i: the combs 

 was not granulated we do not believe it 

 was responsible for the loss. The unfavor- 

 able weather was probably the principal 

 cause of the losses. — Ed.] 



Still Another I should like to be of 



Sting-proof help to Mrs. Allen and 



Bee-Veil to Mrs. Chadwick, 



who have referred to 

 the matter of bee-stings. It seems to me it 

 is foolish for a woman to expose herself to 

 bee-stings unnecessarily. I know it is not so 

 convenient to work in protecting garments; 

 but the feeling of security that such gar- 

 ments impart is very comforting to me. I 

 fear stings, not because I have ever had any 

 alarming experience with them, but because 

 they are uncomfortable for a time. 



If Mrs. Chadwick loves to work among the 

 bees, why does she not protect herself thoro- 

 ly and keep on working? I am convinced 

 that no one is ever wholly immune; also that 

 the condition of the person and the point at 

 which one is stung has a great deal to do 

 with the effect of the poison. The worst ex- 

 perience I ever had was one very warm day. 

 I was quite warm, having been working in 

 the sun for some time. Just one bee stung 

 me on my ankle. It did not make me ill, 

 but it was swollen badly when I came to care 

 for it, and it continued to swell and pain me, 

 the angry red of the inflamed part being 

 twice the size of my two hands, and this did 

 not abate much for about a week, and was 

 very painful. I attribute the trouble to my 

 being so heated, and to allowing the sting to 

 remain in the wound for so long a time. I 

 shall wear high shoes when working with the 

 bees, and be careful where I put my foot. 



I purchased a globe bee-veil when I first 

 handled bees, but I was apt to get tangled in 

 som.e way that would break the mesh of the 

 veil, and it didn't take me long to learn that 

 a bee could find the break much easier than 

 I could; and one bee inside the veil is worse 

 than a dozen with no veil on. I now have a 

 veil that will not tear. I took a strip of gal- 

 vanized wire screen (I prefer this to 

 black). 14 inches wide and 34 inches long. T 

 joined the ends with wire threaded thru and 

 thru, covered the top with white cloth, and 

 joined the lower edge firmly to a long low- 

 necked over-the-head white garment with 

 long sleeves and a belt. Mine comes nearly 

 to my shoe-tops, but the length does not mat- 

 ter if long enough to belt firmly so no bees 

 can crawl under. In the sleeves I made 

 thumbholes, buttonholed, to slip over my 



tliumbs to hold them down. I failed to find 

 rubber gloves to fit me, so I sewed a pair 

 of white stocking-tops to the wrists of a pair 

 of cheap canvas gloves — not too snug a fit — ■ 

 melted some beeswax, and gave them a good 

 coating of that, and put rubber cord in the 

 top. It takes but a moment to put this re- 

 galia on over my head, and, when taken off, I 

 put garment and gloves inside the wire and 

 know just where to find them, for it would 

 be hard to lose the screening veil. I am safe 

 with this on, and I feel safe. 



I made one veil 12 by 36. It was two 

 inches too large around the neck; had a ten- 

 dency to slip down over my shoulders, and 

 was too low on the head. Fourteen inches 

 raises it clear from the head. I stick a hat- 

 pin thru wire and hair to hold it firm. 



Glover, Vt. Jean White. 



Few Beekeepers A book - keeping bee- 



are Eeal Good keeper is likely to be 



Book-keepers a successful beekeeper, 



and more might keep 

 books if less writing and time were required. 

 The smaller beekeeper might well keep a 

 record of each manipulation of each colony, 

 and thereby learn much. I speak from ex- 

 perience. 



In the beginning I found such a dairy re- 

 quired no little time; but gradually I have 

 devised abbreviations as occasion suggested, 

 which have lessened the work and increased 

 interest and satisfaction in the record. At 

 all events, for the sake of general under- 

 standing, such a glossary may well be stan- 

 dardized and used wherever convenient. 



The following abbreviations have pretty 

 well served my needs: 



H. (capital) 



Q. (capital) 



Qrt. 



Q 'less 



Qc (s) 



Bd. 



Dr. bd. 



W. bd. 



Sbd. 



C. (s) (cap.) 



Fr. (s) 



S. (capital) 



Fl. d, 



Mt. 



Ex. 



Es. 



Ch. 



OK. 



S. 



Honey 



Queen 



Queenright 



Queenless 



Queen-cell or cells 



Brood 



Drone brood 



Worker brood 



Sealed brood 



Comb or combs 



Frame or frames 



Super 



Half -depth super 



Full-depth super 



Empty 



Excluder 



Escape 



Chamber 



All right 



Explanation: 



Whenever a single letter is used alone, en- 

 tirelv, it should always appear as a capital; 

 example. A, H, C, S. Plurals are indicated 

 bv adding a small (s); if to follow a final 



