1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



705 



VEILS. 



How to Make and Wear Them. 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



I doubt the wisdom of going among an av- 

 erage lot of bees without wearing a veil. In 

 a very hot day it is decidedly uncomfortable to 

 have a smothered sort of feeling that a veil 



fives, and I may not have my veil down, 

 ut I want it ready to pull down at a mo- 

 ment's warning. To the beginner there's a 

 sort of fascination about the idea of being able 

 to say, "I never wear a veil," and even some 

 of experience take pride in going without 

 one when they might do better with one. 



One objection to going without a veil has 

 perhaps never presented itself to many. It 

 is that the absence of a veil is hard on the 

 bees. Before reading any further, stop and 

 think whether you can give the reason why. 

 Give it up? Well, I'll tell you. If you wear 

 no veil, it's pi'actically certain that you'll 

 use a good deal more smoke than you other- 

 wise would, and I don't believe bees enjoy 

 having a lot of smoke blown into their eyes 

 any more than you do. 



I think I hear some one reply, "But I can 

 work at bees without either veil or smoke." 

 So can I: and I think it's a good way for the 

 amateur who keeps l^ees for the fun of it, and 

 has time to burn while playing with them. 

 Indeed, I think if I should live to be an old 

 man, with nothing else to do, I should thor- 

 oughly enjoy sitting at a hive by the hour, 

 watching the bees at work, and manipulat- 

 ing their combs with such gentleness and de- 

 libei'ation that they would have no inclina- 

 tion to sting me, withdrawing from them if, 

 on account of weather or for any other rea- 

 son, they made any protest against being han- 

 dled withoutsmoke orveil. Butforonewho is 

 working his bees for the money that's in it, 

 and wants to slam through a certain amount 

 of work in a day, whether the bees are kind 

 or cross, it's too expensive business to move 

 so gently that the bees think you're not mov- 

 ing at ail. 



There may come a day when we have bees 

 so gentle and so industrious that they will store 

 more than any bees we now have, and at the 

 same time need neither veil nor smoke un- 

 der the swiftest manipulation, Ijut that will 

 probably be some time after next week. For 

 the present, barring amateurs, all bee-keep- 

 ers need veils, with the exception of the man 

 in the city close to neighbors, and he ought 

 to be obliged to do without a veil — at least 

 a good many of him. 



Of all the veils I have tried, I like none 

 better than the plain bag open at both ends. 

 Get bobinet, which goes also under the name 

 of cape net or lace net. and is about 21 inch- 

 es wide. It must be black if you care to pre- 

 serve your eyes, also if you care to see clear- 

 ly. Soak in hot water to take out the starch. 

 Cut a piece as long as or a little longer than 

 the circumference of your hat-rim. Sew the 

 two ends together, and make a hem at each 

 end of your open bag, through which you 



will run a rubber cord. The upper cord will 

 hug the hat at the place of the hat-band. 

 For a permanent hat and veil, it is better, 

 instead of the rubber cord at the top, to sew 

 the veil to the hat at the outer edge of the 

 brim and under it. It is also better to sew 

 a piece of white material at the bottom to 

 make the lower hem, as the black material 

 crocks the clothes. 



Cross bees, when making an attack, fly in 

 a horizontal line, so they do not often get un- 

 der the veil, even if the rubber cord does not 

 hold very close about the neck. Still, they 

 do get under sometimes, and a little kink to 

 prevent this I consider of much value. It is 

 the invention of my good sister-in-law. Miss 

 Emma M. Wilson. She takes a safety-pin of 

 liberal size with which she jiins the lower 

 edge of the veil to hiT dress, at the middle 

 in front. After seeing her wear her veil thus 



DR. MILLER S PALM LEAF HAT AND METHOD 



OF FASTENING A VEIL BY MEANS OF A 



RDBBER-CORD. 



for some time I thought I would try it. Af- 

 ter trying it I said to her, "I don't like your 

 plan; it's all right while I stand straight, but 

 when 1 lean over a hive the veil bags out 

 enough to make an opening at each side above 

 the fastening, whei'e the bees can enter by a 

 horizontal flight, which doesn't happen when 

 it's not pinned down." 



"You don't make it tight enough," she re- 

 plied. " You must make it tight, tight/' 



So I stretched the cord down very tight, 

 fastening it to one suspender-buckle, as you 

 will see in the illustration, and, sure enough, 

 it hugged close, no matter how much I bent 

 over. 



