126 AUSTRALIAN BEE LOBE AND BEE CULTURE- 



little bees as they are seen being tumbled about in the various 

 illustrations, and ask how many in that group got stung, and the 

 reply will be, owe. And why did he get stung? He placed his 

 hand on a bee ; and if a burly fellow were to come along and put 

 his hand with crushing weight on you, would not you sting? It 

 may not be a sting that would give physical pain, but your sting- 

 ing rejoinder would give mental pain. 



On another page the artist' has represented an individual 

 as having "dropped his gun and run." On this occasion he stood 

 his ground well. He had learned the lesson, "Confidence, gentle- 

 ness, kindness;" a lesson not difficult to acquire, but when once 

 mastered must always be borne in mind and ever acted upon; 

 and as surely as sparks fly upwards, success in transferring and 

 other manipulations in connection with bee-keeping will follow. 



Can anyone, ladies especially, transfer bees ? If these illus- 

 trations and what I have written, do not convince you, what will ? 

 Are the implements used in transferring expensive and difficult to 

 obtain? Not a bit of it. Some are in every house, and most 

 of the others can be found in the wood-heap or about 

 the yard. They are all visible in the illustrations; let us 

 take an inventory of them. First there is that ever-indispen- 

 sable "smoker"; you cannot do without a smoke bellows. Pen- 

 der's is one of the best we have; that is it you see in my hand. 

 It was charged with a bit of half -decayed bagging. But more on 

 that subject anon. When the old box stood on its original stand 

 a half-dozen strong blasts of smoke were driven in at the entrance 

 That settled the question "to sting or not to sting" for all the 

 rest of the necessary work in connection with their being trans- 

 ferred to a more convenient (for the bee-keeper) and a better house 

 (for the bees). What did the smoke do? Why, old Virgil under- 

 stood the use of smoke with bees. Centuries ago he wrote to this 

 effect, "If at any time you would open their narrow cells (to 

 take) the stores of honey from their treasure house, first rinse out 

 your mouth with a draught of water, and hold in front of you 

 clouds of smoke." The smoke does not stupify them, but each 

 inmate takes in about a week's supply of honey. All animals 

 are more docile when they have their stomachs full than when 

 they are empty. Otherwise, you see the bees are removed some 

 distance from their old camping-ground to the protection of an 

 outhouse. Not altogether for the convenience of the makeshift 

 table you see, but the foraging bees returning home will resent 



