48 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
enormous increase by s warms this season, and 
his apiary being in Hobart, it was scarcely 
expected he would gather any surplus honey ; 
but he states that from seven hives he has 
already gathered seventy lib. sections, and 
expects to make it up to one hundred by end 
of season. 
Latest Swarms. — Mr. Dabb, of Rraybrook, 
reports his last swarm on 24th January. ^A 
hive of Italians swarmed with us on 17th 
February. Ed. 
Beekeeping for Beginners . — To meet nu- 
merous requests from our subscribers, a series 
of articles on the first steps and principles of 
beekeeping will be commenced in our next 
number. 
Crawling Bees . — Most beekeepers who have 
ever worked at their hives late in the evening 
or at night, and even sometimes while shaking 
bees out of a box for re-hiving in broad day- 
light, know what crawling bees are ; and if 
they have profited by experience, will take 
care to tuck their trousers inside their boots, 
or at least tie up the bottoms, so as to prevent 
crawlers exploring up the legs. A bee-sting 
on any part of the surface not exposed to the 
sun and air is usually much more painful and 
lasting than those on the skin of the hands, 
face, or neck. After sundown, and in day- 
light when frightened or full of honey, bees 
crawl about on the ground a good deal, and 
take the first opportunity of crawling upwards ; 
and if the beekeeper’s legs are handy, they 
appear to prefer these objects for their ascent. 
Some time ago a Scotch friend of mine had a 
hive of bees sent to him from a distance ; they 
arrived after sundown, and he at once set to 
work to uncover them and put them on their 
stand, which he accomplished safely, and 
rejoined some friends in the parlour. After 
about ten minutes he jumped wildly from his 
seat and appeared to execute a few steps of 
a Highland fling, with appropriate yells, 
when his wife, alarmed, exclaimed, “ For 
God’s sake, what ails ye, Willie?” “Eh, 
there’s a dizen of thae beasts up my breeks, 
nepping ma legs like the vera deil ! ” He had 
omitted tucking the bottoms of his trousers 
into his boots, poor man. An American 
gentleman, looking at my bees one day, said, 
“ I used to handle bees — my sister kept about 
120 hives, and one summer I was home from 
college she offered to give me some lessons in 
bee management. The first lesson was watch- 
ing her moving some bees from one hive to 
another, and I got my first four stings at that 
lesson. My second lesson was the next even- 
ing. Some bees she had put in a hive during 
the day were all swarming out at sundown, 
and she wanted me to help her with a dustpan 
and goosewing in scooping them up and 
getting them back in the hive. They were 
crawling all over the place. ‘ Don’t be afraid,’ 
she says; ‘ it is too late for them to fly.’ Well, 
I scooped away, and we got them all in ; but 
before I got indoors I found a lot had got up 
inside my pants, and were sticking in their 
red-hot needles every movement I made. I 
rushed into my room and took off my pants, 
but not before nine had had their vengeance 
on me. I got so bad and swollen all over that 
I had to get a doctor. He only laughed at 
me, and told me not to fool around bees at 
nigbt with my pants on ! On enquiry why 
my sister was not a fellow-sufferer, she 
replied , ‘ Oh, I tied my pants around my 
ankles.’ ’’ 
QUERIES AND REPLIES. 
Replies to Queries. 
To No. 14.— If you have no “ smoker,” make 
up a roll of old dry rags of any kind, old sacks 
or bagging do very well; make it up like a 
sausage ; by lighting one end of this it will 
smoulder and give out a lot of smoke, which 
can be blown by the mouth into the hive 
entrance, or down among the frames, or into 
common box hives. It is not difficult to 
improvise a smoker out of a tin canister, but 
as the bellows smokers are so much more 
effective and convenient, and by no means 
expensive, we advise every beekeeper to pro- 
cure one. Ed. 
To No. 1 5 . — Most beekeepers experience this 
difficulty, the chief cause of which is that too 
much space is left between the tops of the 
frames and the bottoms of the section boxes or 
section box frames. If the space is only just 
sufficient for bees to pass, say A of an inch, or 
a quarter at most, there will be very little 
fixing down with combs. Greasing the bottom 
of the section frames with sweet fat is recom- 
mended by Mr. Coleman in his paper in No. 3 
of the Journal. Perforated zinc honey boards 
prevent it also. In the bee books several 
arrangements of the section box frames or 
racks are recommended to avoid this difficulty, 
but if section box frames are used which only 
leave five-sixteenths between the tops of hive 
frames and bottom of section frames, and these 
are placed so as to cover or break the openings 
between the hive frames, very little fixing 
will take place. Ed. 
