Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-12-29

peculiar way he will get stung badly;
but II his motions are regulated to
their whims, he will get along with
few or perhaps no stings. Another man,
Mr.. B, is not afraid of bees, and does
not care much whether he is stung Or
not. Perhaps he thinks a veil useless,
and does not wear one; or maybe ne
rips the cover off with a yank. He is
clumsy in his motions. One bee stings
him. He draws his hand back quickly.
and receives half a dozen more. He
does not know the Importance Of doing
all things decently and in order.
smoker? Oh, yes! he has one; but ne
uses 1T at the wrong time, and does not
keep it on hand ready to quell any dis
tgrbance that is likely to arise. Mr..
A, on the contrary, observes that becs
are crosser on some days than on
some others; but if he must handle
them on an "off day" Ga cool day after
a rain; a day when the bees have been
robbing, or a day following a sudden
stoppage of the honey-flow), he will
first make sure that his smoker is in
good order, and ready to give off a
good volume of smoke. He will blow
a little of it in at the entrance, and
then pry the cover up little very
gently. AS he does so he will send
stream Of smoke into the crack made
by the putty-knife or screw-driver
This drives down the guards, and then
the crack is made a little wider, and
more smoke is then driven in, when the
cover is removed. If the bees show a
quick nervous movement, standing up
high ON their legs, bobbing their bodies
quickly one way and then the other, he
smoke until they are subdued. With a
screw-driver he loosens the frames,
holding the smoker in his hand. Just
as soon as the bees stick their heads
up, ready to show fight, he drives them
back again, and then very cautiously
and deliberately removes the first
frame. His movements from now on
are very deliberate; and occasionally
when the bees are little obstreperous
he gives them another Whit Of smoke.
Only very little is required-just suf-
ficient to let them know that he is mas
ter, and that they must let him entirely
alone. This summer I worked with
the bees nearly week before / re-
ceived single sting, and yet one of
the boys who worked near me at the
time, doing the same work, was stung
anywhere from three to five times a
day. Perhaps some may feel that these
slow movements wasted a good deal OF
time; but l find that l can really do
more work in a day by closely and
carefully watching any disposition on
the part of the bees to resent my in
trusion. Right here rests the whole
secret. To one who is accustomed to
handling bees there is a certain indie
scribable action on their part that
shows when they are ready to sting. A
little smoke at the right time takes the
fight" all out Of them. / do not be-
lieve it is good policy for one who
handles bees very much to get stung a
great many times. and one should be
careful to avoid every sung as much
as possible. In the summer, when the
bees are working in the fields, one or
two stings perhaps in the whole
month would be all that / should get,
providing there were nothing but
Italians from imported stock, or Of
that persuasion; and how l avoid the
stings is simply by following the plan
laid down for Mr.. A. In this connec-
ton it Nigh. be we'll to state that one
who makes business of keeping bees
is liable in years to come to experience
some bad effects from too much of
the apis-mellifica poison being inject
ed into his system. The Rev. l.. l..
Langstroth, James HeddOn, and others
in later years experienced some incon-
venience from what they ascribed to
the presence of too much bee-sting poi
son in the system. In regard to dis
pensing with a veil-yes, this can be
done, but it doesn't pay. / have seen
some of these same chaps boast of how
they did not need any face protection;
yet l have seen them waste valuable
time in stopping to put the hands up to
the face. or plunge the head in clump
of bushes, in ignoble retreat.