212 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



that the hive was facing the east. No; it 

 faces the west, and the picture was taken 

 about three o'clock in the afternoon. 

 Just as he says, the board projects about 

 one foot to the front of the hive, and 

 four or five inches over the east end of 

 the hive. The sun is seldom hot enough 

 before eleven o'clock to cause the bees 

 much inconvenience, and it remains 

 wholly shaded until about three in the 

 afternoon. So far as the bees are con- 

 cerned, such a shade is all that is needed; 

 but I am more than willing to admit that 

 great comfort comes to the operator from 

 the wide spreading boughs of an old 

 apple tree. 



The Leakage of honey from a package 

 sealed with a rubber ring, as in the case 

 of a Mason fruit-jar, may be prevented 

 by dipping the rings in hot beeswax. 

 This I learn from an article contributed 

 to the American Bee Journal by C. Dav- 

 enport. I think any one who has tried 

 putting up honey in Mason jars has 

 learned that if the jar is tipped up enough 

 so that the honey gets in upon the rub- 

 ber, it is only a question of time when it 

 will soak through and make the outside 

 of the jar sticky. This attracts flies, 

 and catches and holds dust, and the end 

 is one of unpleasantness. Mr. Daven- 

 port has been told that it is the action of 

 the acid in the honey that so changes the 

 character of the rubber that it lets the 

 honey through. Coating the rubber with 

 wax prevents all this. 



CAN BEES STING A MAN WHILE HK HOLDS 

 HIS BREATH ? 



This is an old question revived. It 

 has frequently been asserted that a per- 

 son while holding his breath can not be 

 stung by bees. I believe that the theory 

 is that holding the breath puts a sort of 

 tension upon the skin, making it too 

 hard and dense for the sting to penetrate. 

 I know that holding the breath makes the 

 muscles more tense. The runner of a 



foot-race that is to be a short dash of a 

 few yards, or the man who is going to 

 n.m and make a long jump, draws in his 

 breath, and away he goes. He does not 

 breath again until the goal is reached. 

 If compelled to breath before reaching 

 the goal, his muscles relax at once, and 

 the probabilities are that he will lose 

 the prize. For ought I know, this same 

 tension may extend to the skin; but I 

 doubt its reaching the degree that would 

 prevent a bee from piercing the armor. 

 Remember, I don't know that I am cor- 

 rect. I am simply giving my opinion . 

 There are one or two other points in this 

 connection that it may be well to notice, 

 viz., that a person who stands quiet and 

 still, as he is likely to stand while hold- 

 ing his breath, is much less likel}' to be 

 attacked than one who is dodging, and 

 striking whenever a bee comes near; and 

 that the breath ot a person is very offen- 

 sive to bees when blown directly upon 

 them. If there is any efficacy in hold- 

 ing the breath, I think that it comes in 

 under these two heads. However, this is 

 one of those points that are interesting 

 enough to theorize about, but have little 

 practical value to the every-day bee- 

 keeper. About the only occasion for him 

 to try holding his breath is when a big 

 crop of honey surprises him to such an 

 extent as to almost take his breath away. 



<R*m«^ir-«.T»«» 



PREVENTING FOUL BROOD. 



When the bee-keepers of Illinois were 

 trying to secure the passage of a foul 

 brood law, one of the objections urged 

 against the usefulness of such a law, was 

 the fact that bees in trees had probably 

 carried home the seeds of this disease, 

 and, while we might get rid of the disease 

 in our apiaries, the fact that it still re- 

 mined in the bee-trees might render all 

 of our cleansing operations of no value. 

 There is a point here, and, I fancy, a 

 large one, too. If there is even o?ie bee- 

 tree within half a mile of an apiary, and 

 the bees have perished as the result of 



