THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



285 



will first lUiike sure that his smoker is in 

 good order, and ready to give off a good 

 volume of smoke. Ho will blow a little of 

 it in at the entrance, and then pry the cover 

 up a little very gently. As he does so he 

 will send a stream of smoke into the crack 

 made by the putty-knife or screw-driver. 

 This drives down the guards, and then the 

 crack is made a little wider, and more smoke 

 is then driven in, when the cover is removed. 

 If the bees show a quick nervous movement, 

 standing up high on their legs, bobbing 

 their bodies quickly one way and then the 

 other, he gives them a few more light whiffs 

 of smoke until they are subdued. With a 

 screw-driver he loosens the frames, holding 

 the smoker in his hand. Just as socn as the 

 bees stick their heads up, ready to show 

 fight, he drives them back again, and then 

 very cautiously and deliberately removes 

 the first frame. His movements from now 

 on are very deliberate ; and occasionally 

 when the bees are a little obstreperous he 

 gives them another whiff of smoke. Only a 

 very little is required — just sufficient to let 

 them know that he is master, and that they 

 must let him entirely alone. 



This summer I worked with the bees near- 

 ly a week before I received a single sting, 

 and yet one of the boys who worked near 

 me at the time, doing the same work, wa.. 

 stung anywhere from three to five times a 

 day. Perhaps some may feel that these 

 slow movements waste a good deal of time ; 

 but I find that I can really do more work in 

 a day by closely and carefully watching any 

 disposition on the part of the bees to resent 

 my intrusion. Right here rests the whole 

 secret. To one who is accustomed to hand- 

 ling bees there is a certain indescribable 

 action on their part that shows when they 

 are ready to sting. A little smoke at the 

 right time takes the "fight" all out of them. 



I do not believe it is good policy for one 

 who handles bees very much to get stung a 

 great many times, and one should be care- 

 ful to avoid every sting as much as possible. 

 In the summer, when the bees are working 

 in the fields, one or two stings perhaps m 

 the whole month would be all that I should 

 get, providing there were nothing but Ital- 

 ians from imported stock, or of that persua- 

 sion; and how I avoid the stings is simply by 

 following the plan laid down for Mr. A. 



In this connection it might be well to 

 state that one who makes a business of 

 keeping bees is liable in years to come to 

 exp-^rience some bad effects from too much 

 of the apis-mellifica poi=on being injected 

 into his system. The Rfv. L. L. Langs- 

 troth. James Heddun, and others in later 

 years experienced some inconvenience from 

 what they ascribed to the presence of too 

 much bee-sting poison in the system. 



In regard to dispensing with a veil — yes, 

 this can be done, but it doesn't pay. I have 

 s'^en some of these chaps boast of how they 

 did not need any face protection : > e^ 

 I have seen them waste valuable time in 

 stopping to put the hands up to the face, or 

 nlunge the head in a clump of bushes, in 

 ignoble retreat. — Ed. ] " 



The foregoing advice is most excellent. I 

 don't think that there is a colony in my 

 yard that I could not go out and manipulate 

 without either smoker or veil, and receive 

 no stings, yet 1 would be obliged to work 

 very slowly and carefully. It often happens 

 that 1 wish to do just a little bit of work 

 with the bees — see if a queen has been re- 

 leased, or if she has begun laying, or how 

 the bees are working in the sections, or 

 something of that kind,— and I neither 

 light a smoker or get a veil ; just work slow- 

 ly and carefully. But the use of a smoker 

 is a great saving of time. So is a veil, as we 

 don't have to be ([uite so careful. I don't 

 mean by this that I would work " rough 

 shod " or smash bees, simply that quicker 

 motions can be indulged in. As a rule, I 

 use a smoker, and if the bees are getting no 

 honey, or are a little cross for any reason, I 

 use a veil. 



We all know that one accustomed to bees 

 can go into an apiary where the bees are 

 somewhat cross, and stay half an hour, for 

 that matter, and if the hands are free to use 

 in protection, no stings will be received, 

 while a novice would be stung almost imme- 

 diatly, and a great many times if he should 

 stay half an hour. The pulling down of the 

 hat over the brow, the shading of the face 

 with the hands, etc., all disconcert a bee so 

 much that a sting is seldom received. If 

 all persons behaved alike in the yard, I 

 think all would be stung alike. 



Improving the Bees. 



I fear but little is being done in the line 

 of improving bees by selection in breeding. 

 There is a whole lot of talk about it, but 

 who is doing anything ? We all know that 

 there is a great difference in colonies as re- 

 gards results in honey storing, but what are 

 we doing about it ? W. J Davis of Youugs- 

 ville. Pa., has an article on this subject in 

 the American Bee-Keeper, and the ideas he 

 advances are worth thinking about and put- 

 ting in practice. He says : — 



•'Those who keep bees (with possibly a 

 few exceptions) keep them for the profit 

 they may yield, and it is safe to say, when 

 they cease to yield a profit for their owner 

 for several years in succession they would 

 cease to have owners, and if they existed at 

 all, it would be in a wild state. 



That there is a vast difference in the prof- 

 its of different colonies in the same apiary, 

 I think no bee-keeper of experience and ob- 



