1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



379 



was applied to his face and hands, to his 

 great relief. In the mean time the horse 

 had run from thej'ard, and was raring- and 

 throwing itself in fearful agony. The 

 neighbors rushed to her assistance. Doc- 

 tors were called. Some advised cold water, 

 and some called for water with soda. But 

 Mr. Fowls insisted on cloths wrung out of 

 hoiliug^ water. The horse was held down 

 at her head while the cloths were applied. 

 He had some fears, he said, that the cloths 

 might cook the skin, but they did not. The 

 time required in wringing and swinging 

 them in the open air probabl}- reduced the 

 temperature so that thej' would not do that. 

 Hot cloths were applied all over the animal 

 except the head. He never thought of ap- 

 plying them there also; because, in order 

 to hold the animal down on the ground, it 

 was necessarj' for some one to sit on the 

 head. Now mark this : The only places 

 that swelled at all on the horse were on the 

 head, where the hot cloths had not been 

 applied. The eyes of the poor beast were 

 swollen shut. The lips were so badly 

 swollen that the mouth looked like that of a 

 rhinoceros. The ears were fearfulU' puffed 

 up. So badly swollen was the nose, that 

 actually, Mrs. Fowls said, the poor animal 

 could not get her mouth in a common water- 

 pail. I remarked that I should have liked 

 to be there to take a photo of her at the 

 time. Although her appearance was laugh- 

 able in the extreme, Mr. Fowls said he did 

 not think he would be mean enough to let 

 me snap the instrument on her and show 

 her to our readers, even if / could have the 

 heart to do it. 



Mr. Hutchinson and I looked at the horse, 

 and the only marks that could be seen at 

 this time on her were some bare spots on 

 her flanks and legs. But she is afraid of 

 bees, and alwa^-s will be; and for some 

 time afterward Mr. Fowls said it was diffi- 

 cult to get her near the j-ard where she had 

 been so fearfully stung. She remembers it 

 yet when she hears the hum of bees around 

 her ears. 



A JOKE ox MR. fowls; RED BEES; A HINT 

 TO EXHIBITORS. 



Mr. Fowls related one incident that was 

 somewhat amusing. In visiting one of his 

 outyards he found one hive where the bees 

 were red instead of j-ellow. Thej' were 

 beautiful to look upon. He caged a few, 

 and was going to send them to one of the 

 aforesaid editors, when, lo, the next morn- 

 ing the bands had turned back to their 

 original yellow. He was nonplused. A few 

 days after, he went back to the j-ard and 

 found more red bees. Finally his thirteen 

 or fourteen j-ear-old bo3' said, " Why, pa, 

 the}' are red because thej' have been eating 

 red candj- syrup." His father protested that 

 that was impossible. "Here is a row." 

 said the bo^-, pointing, "to which you fed 

 red candy syrup, and here is a row where 

 j'ou didn't." Examination showed, sure 

 enough, that the red-candj* row showed red 

 bees and red combs, while the other row 

 showed bees of normal color. 



It seems Mr. Fowls had had an opportu- 

 nity to buv- some candj- from a candy-maker 

 at a low price. It was made of granulated 

 syrup, and he decided to use it. I think it 

 was red peppermint. At all events, it was 

 this red stuff that gave the cand^- or sj-rup 

 its color. When the bees were filled with 

 this red stufiF. their bands on the abdomen, 

 instead of showing yellow, the color of the 

 fluids in their bodies, would show pink or 

 red. 



Here is a valuable trick for exhibitors at 

 fairs and expositions. Thev- can color these 

 bands from green to red so long as the col- 

 oring element is not poisonous. All one 

 would have to do would be to feed his bees 

 a colored sv-rup, using, in the case of red or 

 purple, aniline. A verj' little of it would 

 give a rich color like ink. Now arrange to 

 put the bees on a window, or so the light 

 would shine through them after they have 

 been fed. I imagine it would be quite a 

 drawing card, especially' if one could get a 

 blue and a green. Ordinary- bluing would 

 answer for the blue, aniline for the red or 

 purple: and green — well, I am not enough 

 of a chemist to suggest. Certainly Paris 

 green could not be used. 



Now to return to our unconventional con- 

 vention. We talked over tall sections. Mr. 

 Fowls' verdict was that Ideal sections were 

 not ideal; but he was favorably impressed 

 by the 4X5. 



As for shaking swarms, he had practic- 

 ed it for 3-ears, but never supposed it could 

 be applied to the whole j'ard to advantage. 

 He expects, this coming summer, to shake 

 all the bees at his outv'ards, as this would 

 obviate the necessit}' of having an attendant 

 to look after them. He desired to move one 

 5'ard a few feet; and he wondered if the 

 shaking would not enable him to make the 

 shift. Mr. Hutchinson thought it would. 

 If he tries the experiment I hope he will 

 let the bee-keeping world know about it. 



I did not go on to Mr. Boardman's with 

 Mr. Hutchinson, concluding I would see 

 our friend at a later time when the roads 

 permit me to go with the automobile. By 

 the way, A. I. R. expects to go with me on 

 m}' first auto trip. He appears to enjo\- the 

 fun of this horseless kind of riding as much 

 as j'our humble servant, and that is saying 

 a good deal. Oh the roads! They are hor- 

 rible now — deep ruts and great hubs, with 

 occasionally here and there a shallow mud- 

 hole. 



And that reminds me that I have been 

 stuck in the mud twice, and had to go 

 through the humiliating.experience of get- 

 ting an old farm-horse to help pull me out. 

 Not being familiar with the handling of the 

 machine I backed too far down into the 

 ditch into some soft mud. The traction- 

 wheels were in the mud, and, of course, 

 when I applied the power thev' simply 

 slipped around and around, and the ma- 

 chine was powerless to extricate itself. I 

 am a little more careful how I back, espe- 

 cially when I can not see where I am go- 

 ing. 



