AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



601 



dueries aiid Replies. 



GloTes for Hanilling Bees, 



Query 765. — In working among bees, 

 is protection for the hands desirable ? 

 If so, which is better, gloves or mittens ? 

 If gloves, what kind arc best ? If mit- 

 tens, how should they be made, to give 

 satisfaction ? — Iowa. 



No protection is needed. — R. L. Tay- 

 lor. 



No. Some use rubber gloves. — J. M. 

 Hambaugh. 



We would not advise using gloves. — 

 Dadant & Son. 



No, with a big N. " Cats with gloves 

 on catch no mice." — James Heddon. 



Not with me. I should say gloves, but 

 have had no experience for years. — A. J. 

 Cook. 



When the bees are cross, yes. Gloves 

 are preferable. I use leather ones. — M. 

 Mahin. 



Decidedly, no. Neither gloves nor 

 mittens are worth a cent in the apiary. 



— C. H. DiBBERN. 



Sometimes. I like rubber gloves, with 

 the ends of the thumbs and first fingers 

 cut off, the best of anything I have tried. 

 — A. B. Mason. 



I prefer to use gloves, and use an In- 

 dian oil-tanned buckskin glove. Mittens 

 are " no good" — you must have free use 

 of fingers. — J. E. Pond. 



No. If gloves must be used, would 

 recommend thick wool6n ones, covered 

 on the back of haijd and fingers with 

 muslin or home-spun. — J. P. H. Brown. 



It is very seldom I use gloves, but I 

 find a pair of goat-skin gloves, costing 

 50 cents, a very useful article when 

 taking bees from the cellar in Spring. — 

 H. D. Cutting. 



Much depends on the bees you have. 

 They must be very cross before I wear 

 anything, and then I think I would use 

 mittens of white cotton cloth, with a 

 finger for the forefinger. — C. C. Miller. 



I do not use gloves, except in some 

 cases when handling very spiteful bees. 

 If you use gloves at a,ll, they should be 

 fingered gloves. Mittens would be use- 

 less because you could not "finger" 



anything with them. Handling frames, 

 etc., is peculiarly a work of the fingers. 

 In fact, I have never seen a pair of 

 gloves that were not in the way when 

 handling ray hives and bees. Some bee- 

 keepers pretend to have a contempt for 

 gloves, but I have had spiteful hybrids 

 to sting my hands and wrists in a way 

 that would change the minds of any of 

 the pretenders. — G. W. Demaree. 



No. No man or woman can become a 

 thorough, practical bee-keeper and wear 

 mittens or gloves. Many have started 

 out with gloves on, but if they were of 

 the right material for a bee-keeper, they 

 soon took them ofl'. — G. M. Doolittle. 



You might use gloves until you get 

 over your nervousness, when you will 

 probably lay them aside. A light glove, 

 of linen or cotton, covering the wrists 

 well, with the fingers cut off at first 

 joint, is my preference. — Eugene Secor. 



With most people, yes. Buckskin 

 gloves give us very good satisfaction, 

 with cloth gauntlets attached, to come 

 well up the arm. ' Mittens made of 

 brown linen, are very good, and the 

 material is, perhaps, the least objec- 

 tionable to the bees of any. — Mrs. L. 

 Harrison. 



Protection for the hands is not needed 

 in working with any kind of bees, 

 though I want a bee-veil over the face. 

 I never fool with ugly bees. If they 

 show up vicious, I give them tobacco 

 smoke without scruple, and so often 

 save trouble to neighbors and animals. 

 — G. L. Tinker. 



To use gloves is not "desirable " when 

 working with bees, but they are some- 

 times needful; especially is this so with 

 beginners, and persons of a nervous dis- 

 position. Bees will sting through any 

 gloves or mittens, but the rubber gloves 

 are the best to use, all things considered. 

 — The Editor. 



A ^cw and admirable portrait of 

 the Hon. James G. Blaine appears on 

 the front page of Frank Le'slie's Popular 

 Monthly for May, which contains a 

 notable illustrated article by T. C. 

 Crawford, the well-known Washington 

 correspondent, setting forth officially 

 Secretary Blaine's views, labors and 

 plans upon the great subject of commer- 

 cial Reciprocity between the United 

 States and Latin America. 



