586 
The second essential to enable one to 
avoid stings is to have a good smoker at 
hand whenever the bees are to be handled. 
For ease and effectiveness in keeping bees 
under control nothing will take the place 
of the modern bellows smoker (Fig. 1). 
A good one lasts years, and its cost is so 
slight ($1 to $1.25 for the medium sizes) 
that the expenditure may be considered 
one of the wisest that can be made in 
fitting up an apiary. 
A veil (Fig. 2), made of black bobinet 
or Brussels net, to draw over the hat, and 
a pair of gloves, preferably of rubber, 
may be used. The veil can be safely dis- 
pensed with if the gentlest bees are kept. 
Simple and convenient hives, employ- 
ing the Langstroth principle, and with 
stories and frames interchangeable and 
so constructed as to reduce propolization 
to a minimum and to insure straight 
combs, will much facilitate the avoidance 
of stings. 
The use of the bee escape (Fig. 3) in 
removing surplus honey greatly reduces 
the risk of being stung during this oper- 
ation, for it saves much manipulation of 
combs and shaking and brushing of bees. 
This useful device is fitted into a slot 
made in a board the same size as the 
top of the hive, and the whole, when 
slipped in between the brood apartment 
and an upper story or super, will permit 
all of the workers above to go down into 
the lower story but not to return to the 
top one, so that in one night it is pos- 
Sible to free entirely a set of combs from 
bees without any manipulation of the 
combs, and without smoking, shaking or 
brushing the bees. 
What Race of Bees to Choose 
As the gentler races are excellent honey 
gatherers the beginner should adopt only 
these—either Caucasians, Carniolans, or 
Italians. Should full colonies not be ob- 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
tainable, colonies of ordinary bees may 
be changed by replacing their queens with 
queens of the desired race, the latter hay- 
ing been procured in small boxes by mail. 
A brief summary of the leading traits 
of the various races now in this country 
will be of use in guiding the purchaser. 
Caucasians are natives of Southern Rus- 
sia, are exceedingly gentle, good workers, 
good defenders of their hives, prolific, 
build many queen cells, and swarm often 
if confined to small hives. The workers 
are dark leaden gray in their general 
color, and present quite a ringed appear- 
ance because of the alternation of this 
dark color with the lighter fuzz which 
edges the segments of the abdomen. 
Carniolans are much larger bodied and 
somewhat lighter gray in color than the 
Caucasians. Their great hardiness and 
excellent wing power enable them to fly 
freely in much cooler weather than some 
other races stand, and to regain their hive 
entrances under adverse conditions. They 
are prolific, active, and good honey gath- 
erers, producing combs of snowy white- 
ness. 
Italians, the first of the foreign races 
to be introduced into this country, are 
much more widely known, and have with 
reason found great favor, since they are 
industrious, good defenders of their hives, 
and excellent honey gatherers, as well as 
handsome in appearance, being usually 
evenly marked with three yellow bands 
across the anterior portion of the ab- 
domen. 
Cyprians, from the island of Cyprus, 
may be taken as a general type with 
which to compare other Eastern races. 
They are small bodied, more slender, in 
fact, than any of the European races of 
bees. The abdomen is more pointed and 
shows, when the bees are purely bred, 
three light-colored bands on the upper 
surface, and considerable yellow on the 
under side. Cyprians possess longer 
tongues and greater wing power than 
other races. This, combined with great 
prolificness and most remarkable activ- 
ity, renders them the best of honey gath- 
erers, In temper, however, they may be 
regarded as rather aggressive, rendering 
