32 BEES FOE PLEASUKB AND PROFIT. 



clumsy as to make it next to impossible to perform a delicate 

 manipulation while wearing them, bees will sting through them. 

 The bee-keeper will receive far fewer stings, and be able to 

 manipulate with much greater comfort, if he will make up his 

 mind to discard gloves as useless bee-gear. 



Gorging the Bees. 



We have already seen that bees when swarming are not at 

 all inclined to sting, because they are gorged with honey. If, 

 therefore, we can make the bees in a hive gorge themselves, 

 they will be as harmless as these in a swarm. We can accom- 

 plish this in several ways ; for, taking advantage of the fact 

 that bees, when frightened, immediately go to the unsealed cells 

 of honey and gorge themselves, we have only to rap on the out- 

 side of a hive (having closed the entrance with perforated zinc), 

 introduce the fumes of carbolic acid, or blow smoke into a 

 hive, and the bees will be so much frightened that they will at 

 once fill themselves with honey, and in a minute or two we can 

 remove the quilts and perform the desired manipulation. 



Smoking. 



Of the three methods just mentioned, that of blowing smoke 

 into the hive finds the most general acceptance, and it is indeed 

 by far the most convenient. 



Fig. 20. — Smoker; a, Cylinder for fuel; B, Removable Nozzle; c, Bellows; D, Hand 



guard. 



For this purpose a smoker (fig. 20) is used. It consists of 

 a tin cylinder, a, in which the fuel is placed, a cone-shaped 

 funnel, b, which is removable to allow of the fuel being put in, 

 and a pair of bellows, c, to create the draught by which the 



