352 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off, Doc. 



venieiit to do so, it is a good plan when you find them very cross 

 to close up the hive and try it again when they are in better humor. 

 The best time is generally in the heat of the day, the hotter the better 

 if they are gathering. 



Sometimes a lot of cross bees will follow you around, and it 

 seems that all the bees are cross, when in reality the cross bees all 

 come from one colony. By a little close observation you can find 

 out which is the cross colony. It may be there is some excuse for 

 its temper, as it may be queenless, and a strong colony that is queen- 

 less is not likely to have a sweet disposition. If, however, it is 

 cross when others are good-natured, and there is no good excuse for 

 it, the best thing is to kill its queen and give it one of better stock. 



Do not get directly in front of a hive, thus angering the bees 

 by interfering with tlieir passage. Never strike at a cross bee unless 

 you strike to kill. The quick motion of striking exasperates. If 

 a cross bee follows you, and you cannot kill it, or do not want to, 

 hold down jour head and walk slowl}' away, and it will not be 

 likely to sting you. 



Kemember that a bee stings only in defense of its home or its 

 life. A bee out at work on the flowers can never be induced to 

 sting you unless you catch it and pinch it. You may catch it and 

 hold it in your hand all day, and it will never otter to sting until its 

 life is threatened by j'our squeezing it. A bee will seldom follow 

 you inside the door of a house, and if it should happen to get into 

 a house, its only anxiety will be to try to get out again. If it 

 should happen to get inside your veil, in nearly every case it recog- 

 nizes that it is a prisoner, and instead of stinging turns its whole 

 attention to making an escape, only to renew the attack the minute 

 it escapes. 



It is some comfort to know that if you have much to do with 

 bees and are stung often, you become to a certain extent immune 

 to the poison. A veteran bee-keeper may wear a veil to keep the 

 bees out of his face, but his hands will generally be bare, for he 

 prefers the little trouble of the stings to the discomfort of gloves. 

 An old bee-keeper will tell you, ''When I first kept bees, a sting 

 on the hand would make my hand swell up to the shoulder, and I 

 could hardly use the hand for a day or two; now if I get half a 

 dozen stings on one hand in the morning, by evening I cannot tell 

 which hand was stung, only as I remember it. Just for the minute, 

 the sting hurts as bad as ever, but it only lasts a minute, and it 

 doesn't swell." 



The kind of clothing one wears among the bees makes some 

 dilTerence. Aiiyiliing woolen irritates them, and the touch of fur 

 makes them furious. Fortunately, one does not need to wear furs 

 at the time when most work is done with bees. A smooth, hard 



