188 



HANDLING BEES. 



they retreat from before it, raising a subdued or terrified 

 note ; and, seeming to imagine that their honey is to be 

 taken from them, they cram their honey-bags to their utmost 

 capacity. They act either as if aware that only what they 

 can lodge in this inside pocket is safe, or, as if expecting to 

 be driven away from their stores, they are determined to 

 start with a full supply of provisions for the way. The 

 same result may be obtained by shutting them up in their 

 hive and drumming upon it for a short time, but this latter 

 process is only successful with some races of bees easily 

 frightened, like the black bees (659). 



382. The beUows-smokers, in present use, for smoking 

 bees and controlling them, are as far superior to the old 

 method of blowing smoke on them with the mouth from a 



Fig. 81. 

 BINGHAM BEE-SMOKER. 



Fig. 82. 

 MUTH BBE-SMOKER. 



piece of punk or rotten wood, or a bunch of rags, as the 

 movable-frame hive is superior to the box hive of old. The 

 writer of this, who kept bees in large numbers in several 

 Apiaries before the introduction of the practical bellows- 

 smoker, has many a time felt dizzy from the fatigue of blow- 

 ing smoke on the bees. 



Bellows-smokers were used in Europe long ago, but they 

 were not practical, as they could not be used with one 

 hand. 



