IIjLINOIS state BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATIDIT 



147 



was a little too 'fresh.' Observing how 

 I threw the bees over my head, he 

 proceeded to perform the same stunt; 

 and, the next thing I knew, he was 

 saying to me in an undertone, 'Mishter 

 'oot! Mishter 'oot! dese pees dey pe 

 schtinging — py shiminy! ach!' Fearing 

 a panic in the audience I told him to 

 keep perfectly quiet. In throwing the 

 bees on himself he threw them vio- 

 lently over me; and, if they were 

 piercing HIS epidermis, they certain- 

 ly were puncturing mine in no un- 

 certain way. With my fingers I combed 

 the bees ofE his hair and proceeded 

 quietly to get them ofC my own per- 

 son. 'Now,' said I, 'keep still;' and when 

 he stepped out of the cage some of 

 his pent-up ardor had visibly waned. 

 "Why was he stung? Because he 

 had failed to observe my precaution 

 not to push his fingers through the 

 bees rapidly, and then throwing them 

 too violently on his head. Now, bees 

 will stand a good deal, but they will 

 not tolerate such treatment as this. 

 Let me explain. 



"In order to make a success of 

 handling bees by the handful it is 

 exceedingly necessary to get them 

 thoroughly under control. First of all, 

 we use a little smoke in opening the 

 box of bees. Next we pull out a 

 frame and shake the inmates into a 

 large dishpan. The other frames are 

 shaken in a similar manner. This 

 act has a tendency to frighten the 

 bees. To complete the work of de- 

 moralization we now shake the pan as 

 we would a corn -popper. One would 

 naturally think that this would excite 

 the bees to fury; but so far from do- 

 ing this it has the opposite effect. 

 Some bees require more shaking than 

 others; at all events the process must 

 be continued until the insects tumble 

 over each other in hopeless confusion. 

 When this stage is reached, one may 

 push his hand very gently and slowly 

 Tinder the cluster, for they will be so 

 demoralized that they will not offer 

 attack. In pushing the hands under 

 the now little pets it is very import- 

 ant to make the movement so slow 

 that no bee will be crowded or pinched. 



"I>ately I have learned a new trick. 

 I shake the bees up into a large ball, 

 tip the pan up at an angle, and then 

 ROLL the bees so that the ball will 

 fall into the hand. A big bunch of 

 them can thus be picked up; and then 

 when the act is repeated with the 



other hand, one can form a very 

 pretty festoon or cluster of bees. They 

 may now be placed against the face, 

 or be gently shaken from the hand 

 upon the head. But before doing this 

 the ears should be plugged with cot- 

 ton; for should a stray bee crawl into 

 the ear, it would put the operator hors 

 du combat ; in fact, it might spoil 

 the whole 'show.' After the bees are 

 carefully lodged on the head, a quick 

 shake of the hands will free any bees 

 clinging to them. Then the fingers 

 are passed over the top of the head, 

 and the bees are gradually combed out 

 of the hair. If this is done carefully, 

 there will be no stings. 



"After I have shown the various 

 stunts^ forming little swarms, uniting 

 two clusters of bees, then stretching 

 the clusters until they break, I shake 

 the bees from the hands into the pan, 

 then shake the pan, after which I al- 

 low the volunteer to pass his hands 

 around amidst the bees. If he fol- 

 low the volunteer to pass his hands 

 ceive a single sting, and, at the end 

 of his performanve, he will receive 

 a round of applause from the audi- 

 ence, 



"But before one proceeds to handle 

 live bees inside of a cage he must 

 remove his coat and vest, roll up his 

 shirt-sleeves, remove his collar and 

 tie, and last, but not least, tuck his 

 trousers inside of his stockings. The 

 baring of head, arms and neck gets 

 the audience interested, for now they 

 think the operator will surely be 

 stung. It is very important there be 

 no sleeve or loose fold of clothing 

 under which the bees may crawl, get 

 pinched, and sting." 



With these remarks Mr. Root pro- 

 ceeded to remove his coat and vest, 

 roll up his sleeves, and enter the 

 cage. But the bees did not at first 

 yield to the treatment; whereupon he 

 explained to the audience that he 

 would have to shake the pan until 

 they showed that they were completely 

 demoralized. He next picked up the 

 bees by the handful, spread them over 

 his face, and then threw them on his 

 hand and neck. Some one in the 

 audience volunteered the statement 

 that, even if Mr. Root WERE being 

 stung, he would say nothing; where- 

 upon he replied that, so far, he had not 

 received a sting; and after the per- 

 formance was over he expressed his 

 willingness to be examined by a com- 

 mittee. 



