STINGS. 4 J 



CHAPTER XII. 



In banotling bees, care should be taken not to kill or injure 

 a single bee unnecessarily, because when one is crushed it 

 gives off an odour which the other bees can smell at a consider- 

 able distance, and which enrages them. All the bee-keeper's 

 motions must be steady, and he should carefully avoid 

 breathing on the bees or combs. When working at hives, 

 the smoker should invariably be lighted and close at hand, 

 in case of emergencies, and to give the beginner confidence 

 he should be thoroughly protected against stings. The ends 

 •of the trousers should have the tops of the socks turned over 

 them, the face and neck should be covered with the veil, 

 and the hands with a pair gf sting-proof gloves, consisting of 

 a pair of knitted cotton, and over them a pair of common 

 thread gloves. The pair complete will cost about half-a- 

 crown. These gloves will be much pleasanter to work with 

 in hot weather, if, after putting them on, the hands are 

 dipped in cold water, so as to thoroughly soak them, which 

 will make the bees less inclined to sting them. 1 he oil of 

 wintergreen, described in a previous chapter, will be found 

 much more convenient than gloves for protecting the hands, 

 but it is not improbable that the beginner will acquire confi- 

 dence sooner with the latter. 



When the bee-keeper is stung, the sting and poison-bag are 

 always left in the wound, and they should be extracted with 

 the edge of a knife, or the thumb-nail. If the poison-bag is 

 caught between the finger and thumb, its contents are forced 

 into the wound, which is thus made much more painful. 

 The very best and most experienced manipulator will receiv* 

 an occasional sting, but after a certain time they produce no 

 effects beyond the slight pain caused by the wound, while 

 the novice is often, if not always, disfigured by unsightly 

 swellings, which, although painless, are not pleasant to have 

 about one. Tbere are many remedies suggested for stings, 

 some of which act with one person and , fail with another. 

 Wet clay, moistened tobacpo, onion juic^, spirits of harts- 

 horn, washing-blue, and many others, have been tried by the 

 writer with more or }ess success, but having long since 

 reached the st^ge when stings cause hipi very little incon^ 



