Evening journal., 1908-03-23
BEES ON THE FARM
Article No. 3.
BY Joel S. GilflIan.

hrst attempt at farming The writer
said; Joe took his mothers advice and
began home-making In the good old
way That consisted in building a.
house for himself and getting a COW
la pig and colony Of bees The cot
tage was a little three-room affair. and
as Tor the live stock-let him tell IT
himself as he often has: There I was
up against a real problem. went out
brave as life and tried to milk the COW
She kicked me or the stool 1 tried to
iIeed the calf and got butted into a
hedge fence. Then / saw that the bees
had swarmed, so l went to hive them
the way my father used to do. I got
bees inside my shirt and inside NV
trousers, until liked to got stung to
death. | hired a man right away TO
look after the stock. That was all
wanted Of them"
Ihere is food for thought in the
labove. If the farmers of New Castle
county had exhibited no more courage
than that, there would be few keeping
COWS and then where would the people
Iot Wilmington get their supply of
milkY l am glad to quote the above.
also because it places the COW and the
pee on the same footing. I do not
think anyone would put the blame on
the COW. Neither should they put the
blame on the bees. There would be
iew people keeping COWS to-day If they
gave up because COW NAV kick.
neither would there be many bee keep
ers If they gave up because a bee may
sung. II Will be readily recognized
that what Uncle Joe" needed was to
make himself acquainted with the hab-
It's and characteristics of the COW. her
likes and dislikes, and how to control
her. And the same thing is necessary
In the handling of bees. Very much
OF the trouble will be avoided when
the bees habits and characteristics are
known, and one can fan in with the
bees natural likes and dislil1es. Just
as there Is treatment that a COW will
not tolerate, so there is a treatment
that the bees will quickly resent. L
have taken many visitors into my
apiary and opened the hives and shown
them the bees at work and never has
anyone been stung with one notable
exception. That exception was when
a well-known minister of Wilmington
was visiting me, and Of course he wish
ed to see the bees, but he said: "They
Will sting me-" I assured him If he
would do just as ]. said he would be
lsafe He replied: Il will be perfectly
obedlent" When we got out among the
bees 1t was evident that his faith in
me was considerably strained. A bee
would start out from the hive and
make a beelne for the harvest field
and pass close by his face. The bee
coming in laden with the fresh sweets
from the field passed close by also
The air seemed full Of bees, all, how
ever, intent on their work. However
one bee, whose duty, evidently. was to
he on the lookout for intruders, seeing
a strange form near its hive, began a
tour of inspection, passing round and
lround him in a circle. This was more
than he could stand and he Soke .aith
with me and disobeyed instructions.
He took off his hat. Now there are
times and places when that is a very
proper thing to do 1t is a sign of re-
spect 1t is an act Of courtesy. We
all know, however, that what may be
a sign of courtesy among one people
may be a sign of challenge among an
other people. Now II is not wise to
take off your hat to a bee. To the bee
! Il Is a sign of combat. 1t means fight.
And this bee that was accommodating
to see IL there was any sign of danger
about, Immediately took up the chal-
II lenge and gave the note Of warning
and then the fun began. Bees that
were coming in laden with honey hast
lily untoaded and ran out to see the
fun. Bees that were going out to the
fields for new supplies stopped to take
| I'm the scene The visiting minister
went through a series of callisthenics
not down in the curriculum Of any Of
our colleges or universities, and then
/ took to his heels I ran and opened the
stable door and told him to run in
there Then went in to see what the
result was. Just one lone sting, that
was ALL II looked as II the bee mistook
the bald place on the top Of his head
for a baseball diamond and had just
started in TO lay II out and had driven
one stake for the home plate when
they were interrupted. That one sting
gave him the big head all right He
takes no interest in bees now, and like
I"Uncle joe" does all his studying Of
bees by proxy. so vivid is his recol-
lection Of that event that If merely
mention bees" his hand goes uncon-
sciously to the top Of his head.
The sting of the bee is a peculiar and
Interesting instrument It is an insti-
tuition I'm itself 1t can do its own
work without the bee. The bee is nee
essary to carry it to the place where
its work Is TO be done, but when there
Il can perform It's work without out
side aid. II you extract the sting from
a bee and let it's point touch your flesh
the sting viii enter without any help
Not only that, but It retains its power
long after it has been separated from
the bee. Having occasion 70 kill a bee
once IN the house, just pulled IT apart
and threw the pieces down on the
table A couple Of hours later my wife
seeing the bits picked them up to throw
them out and was stung.
The sting Of the bee is composed OF
two spears OF polished horny sub
stance. supported by a sheath. Each
spear has nine barbs, which are turned
back like FISH hooks. This makes 1t
ldifficult to withdraw the sting when
once in. Consequently the bee usually
loses its sting and Is doomed to death
when It stings a substance that Is at
all tenacious. For this reason the bee
lis slow to make use Of its weapon OF
defence and win fly aRound quite
while before Il decides to- use II, and
then only when II is persuaded that It
lis necessary for the defense Of It's
home The bee will not attack one II
away from its hive, and even near the