TAKING REINS IN HAND 



after some observation, to be more destruc- 

 tive and ruinous, than any war with foreign 

 foes.^ I give them fair play, good lodging, 

 limitless flowers, willows bending (as Virgil 

 advises) into the quiet water of a near pool; 

 I have even read up the stories of poor blind 

 Huber, who so loved the bees, and the poem 

 of Giovanni Rucellai, for their benefit : if they 

 cannot hold their sceptre against the tender- 

 winged moths, who have no cruel stings, or 

 against the ants, or the wasps, or give over 

 their satanic quarrels with their kindred, let 

 them bide the consequences. I will not say, 

 however, but that the recollection of the sharp 

 screams of a little "curl pate" that have once 

 or twice pierced my ears, as she ventured into 

 too close companionship, has indisposed me 

 to any strong advocacy of the bees. 



My experience enables me to say that hives 

 should not be placed too near each other; the 

 bees have, as I have said, a very human pro- 

 pensity to quarrel, and their quarrels are ruin- 



*The Rev. Charles Butler, in his "Feminine Mon- 

 archie" (London, 1609), after speaking in Chapter VII. 

 of "Deir Enemies," continues : "But not any one of des^, 

 nor all des^ togeder, doo half so muc harm to de Bees, 

 as de Bees. Apis apt, ut homo homini, Lupus. Dey 

 male de greatest spoil hot of bees and of hoonie. Dis 

 robbing is practised all de year." 



57 



