CHAPTER VI 



TAMING BEES. 



MOST authors have expressed the opinion that the 

 honey bee is capable o being taught submission, 

 thus intimating that it is necessary to tame them 

 before they are of use to man. This opinion obtains 

 so generally, that a usual remark of persons visiting 

 apiaries is: "I suppose your bees know you;" or, 

 " They know you from strangers." 



I have never been able to discover any signs of 

 recognition from my bees, they being just as apt to 

 sting as those of a hive that I have never before 

 seen. If I am less frequently attacked by them 

 than others, it is because I understand their habits, 

 and treat them accordingly. That some persons are 

 more liable to be stung than others, is owing to one 

 or more of the three following causes. 



FIRST. Color and texture of dress ; dark clothes 

 or those of a hairy texture particularly a fur hat 

 form a prominent mark, and hence the wearer is 

 liable to receive an occasional dart. 



SECOND. Any quick motions made in the vicinity 

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