THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



41 



ods, leads to our comfort in handling 

 bees. 



When I work in the apiary I provide 

 two suits of common, thin, cotton-check 

 overalls and jumper, called an engin- 

 eer's suit. I prefer these thin suits to 

 the ordinary blue jean overalls; for 

 when one suit gets sticky with honey, 

 after a day's extracting, it can be dump- 

 ed into a pail of water for a few hours, 

 then wrung out and dried, and by alternat- 

 ing suits we always have a clean suit on. 

 Bees hardly ever make an attack upon a 

 clean suit of clothes of any color, but vvill 

 do so upon a dirty suit; and the engineer 

 suit is hardly ever attacked unless it gets 

 unusual!}- soiled; and then only under the 

 arms, or up the sleeve, if the latter is left 

 open for their ing-ess. 



Now I warrant that if the bee-keeper 

 would dress in a complete suit of black, 

 but keep it clean, the bees would not be 

 disposed to attack it. In fact, during 

 the past summer, while living in the 

 mountains, I have worn black cotton 

 shirts, and many times I have handled 

 bees without covering said shirt with my 

 light colored jumper, and could see no 

 difference in the temper of the bees. 

 Then we all wear a black veil, or, at least, 

 I. veil with a black face, and the black 

 portion is not molested any more than 

 the other portions. But suppose the veil 

 gets torn, and we pucker the rent with a 

 pin, and make a fuzz}' protuberance, 

 every bee-keeper knows how rapidly and 

 persistently that point vvill be attacked. 



It is the same with a fuzzy hat, white 

 or black; and a hole in a fuzzy hat is just 

 what a bee delights to pounce upon. A 

 good share of our dark clothing has a 

 more or less fuzzy surface; and the more 

 the fuzz, the more the bees cling to it; 

 and when two or three bees discharge 

 their poison on the same spot the odor 

 brings many more. 



Some one has cited an instance where 

 the wrists are wound with white or black 

 cloth; in either case I think that the bees 

 attack the fuzzy edge of the cloth instead 

 of the color. 



I presume every bee-keeper while wear- 

 ing coal black pants has had a bee crawl 

 up his bare leg. Did you ever know the 

 bee to prefer the black pants to the white 

 leg? I know how to sympathize with 

 you gentlemen; that bee sting is a con- 

 clusive argument. 



I note in your December issue the de- 

 scription of the neatest apiary in Michigan. 

 I confess that I have a weakness for neat, 

 ornamental apiaries. M3' old apiary 

 back East was almost as neat as Mr. 

 Hunt's; and, while the hives did not 

 have landscapes painted on them, the 

 honey house was plentifully sprinkled 

 with paintings of the high colored Italian 

 bees. These bits of bright color were a 

 great relief to the eye and the brain when 

 tired with work. A bit of bright color 

 in the shape of a rose, or geranium, or 

 chrysanthemum has the same effect where 

 they can be grown judiciously. It may 

 not pay in dollars and cents; certainly 

 would not where the owner sees more 

 beauty in a pig sty than in a bit of bright 

 color. 



We have but few prett}' apiaries in Cal- 

 ifornia; still, I believe there is no country 

 where the chance is .so good for making 

 them .so. 



Mr. Mclntyre has probably the most 

 orderly apiary in Southern California; 

 and it must have paid him in dollars and 

 cents to have it so. Owing to the beau- 

 tiful pictures it makes, it is the best ad- 

 vertised apiar}' in the country; for its 

 picture is in every publication that desires 

 to show a model California apiary. Pub- 

 lications do not illustrate old ram shackle 

 apiaries. J^et us study for neatness in the 

 apiary. 



There is another observation that comes 

 to me, inspired by the flag in the centre 

 of Mr. Hunt's apiary. The flag itself is a 

 soul stirring object to the bee-keeper; but 

 the idea of the eflfecton the bees is novel. 

 If a flag really has that soothing effect, 

 California bee-keepers better erect flags 

 all around and through their apiaries. 



After the close of the honey season our 

 apiaries are visited only occasionall}-, for 



