A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 
63 
called by milliners, cape-lace or cape-net. It is 21 inches 
wide. A piece is cut off as long as the circumference of the 
brim of a straw hat, and both ends sewed together. Shir a 
rubber cord in one end of this open bag, thoroughly soak or 
wash out the starch, and sew the other end on the edge of the 
hat-brim. Loose ones are made with rubber at both ends. 
The openings at the wrist and neck of my shirt are small, 
the cloth lapping over so as to give a bee little chance for 
entrance. If bees are likely to be on the ground, my pants 
are put inside my boots, or inside my stockings if I wear- 
shoes. I get a great many stings on my hands, but the 
inconvenience and discomfort of any sort of gloves would be 
to me worse than the stings. Mrs. Miller works pretty 
constantly at the hives the same as myself, and uses no 
protection for the hands, only for the wrists; while Emma, 
who has worked less at the lvives, likes two pairs of kid 
gloves, loose, and one drawn over the other. I think as she 
handles frames more she will discard gloves. 
I like to get a sting out of my skin as soon as possible, if 
not too busy. A little trick in this direction is, I think, not 
known to all bee-keepers. I am not sure whether I learned 
it by instinct, or from the writings of G. M. Doolittle. If a 
bee stings my hand, I instantly strike the hand with much 
force upon my leg, with a sort of quick, wiping motion. 
This mashes the bee generally, and rubs out the sting at the 
same time. 
If one thinks of the thousands or millions of bees in a 
large apiary, it will be seen that comparatively few bees 
make any attack. Sometimes a single bee will threaten and 
scold me by the hour, perhaps finally stinging me by getting 
into my hair or whiskers, and for ought I know the same bee 
may keep up the same thing for days— 1 mean the scolding, 
not the stinging. It is sometimes worth while to get rid of 
the annoyance by stepping to one side and knocking it down 
with a stick by a few rapid strokes back and forth in front of 
my face. I often mash it by slapping my hands together. 
