DESCRIPTION OF A BEE DRESS. 



229 



to his cost that the insects, with which he has to deal, have 

 completely outwitted him. 



The most approved apparatus is a hood made of linen, 

 large enough to throw over the head, and to fall below the 

 shoulders, and fastened round the body by strings, to pre- 

 vent the bees from slipping underneath : a mask should be 

 made of iron wire, like the accompanying sketch, 

 which is preferable to glass, horse-hair or 

 gauze, as being more open, and less accom- 

 panied with those suffocating effects, than 

 either of the afore-mentioned materials. The 

 hood, when complete, presents 

 the following appearance. 



The gloves should be of the 

 coarsest leather, such as the 

 housemaids' gloves are made 

 of, through which no sting 

 can penetrate ; at the same time, 

 the leather towards the fingers 

 should be of the most pliant 

 kind, for if it be stiff and un- 

 bending, any operation with 

 the combs becomes difficult : a sleeve should be affixed to 

 each glove, so as to reach nearly to the elbows, and gaiters 

 should be used for the protection of the legs, on the suppo- 

 sition that the operator does not wear boots, which are in 

 themselves a sufficient safeguard : with this armour, a person 

 may defy a whole swarm of bees. We generally make a 

 small hole through the mask, for the purpose of admitting a 

 tobacco pipe, which being filled with dried leaves, or even 

 pounded tea, we have found to be of essential service in 

 driving away the bees from any particular quarter, which is 

 intended to undergo examination. A single puff or two will 

 be found quite sufficient, for there is not anything which is 

 more annoying to bees, or by which their irascibility is more 

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