MISMANAGEMENT OF BEES. 265 



the way may be given a chance to move away, mstead of 

 being crushed. A little smoke is always necessary. A be- 

 ginner will find it to his advantage to practice— using an 

 empty hive— the directions for opening and shutting hives, 

 and lifting out the frames, until confident that he fully under- 

 stands them. If any bees are where they would be im- 

 prisoned by closing the upper cover, it should be propped up 

 a little, until they have flown to the entrance of the hive, or, 

 they may be brushed away gently. 



Mismanagement of Bees. 



399. When a colony of bees is miskillfully dealt with, 

 they will "compass about" their assailant with savage ferocity ; 

 and woe be to him, if they can creep up his clothes, or find 

 a single unprotected spot on his person. 



Xot the slightest attempt should be made to act on the 

 offensive; for, if a single one is struck at, others will avenge 

 the insult; and if resistance is continued, hundreds, and at 

 last, thousands, will join them. The assailed party should 

 quickty retreat to the protection of a building, or, if none is 

 near, should hide in a clump of bushes, and lie perfectly still, 

 with his head covered, until the bees leave him. When no 

 bushes are at hand, they will generally give over the attack, 

 if he lies still on the grass, with his face to the ground. A 

 practical Apiarist, sheltered with a veil and armed with a well 

 lighted smoker, will not retreat much before the most ferocious 

 swarm of bees. 



Those who are alarmed if a bee enters the house, or ap- 

 proaches them in the garden or fields, are ignorant of the 

 important fact, that a bee, at a distance from its hive, never 

 volunteers an attack. Even if assaulted, they seek only to 

 escape, and never sting, unless they are hurt. 



If they were as easily provoked away from home, as when 

 called to defend those sacred precincts, a tithe of the meny 

 gambols, in Avhich our domestic animals indulge, would 



