56 BEES. 



a special antipathy toward certain persons and a lik« 

 ing for certain others has only this fact at the bottom 

 of it ; they will sting a person who is afraid of them 

 and goes skulking and dodging about, and they will 

 not sting a person who faces them boldly and has nc 

 dread of them. They are like dogs. The way tc 

 disarm a vicious dog is to show him you do not fear 

 him ; it is his turn to be afraid then. I never had 

 any dread of bees and am seldom stung by them. I 

 have climbed up into a large chestnut that contained 

 a swarm in one of its cavities and chopped them out 

 with an ax, being obliged at times to pause and brush 

 uhe bewildered bees from my hands and face, and not 

 been stung once. I have chopped a swarm out of 

 an apple-tree in June and taken out the cards of 

 honey and arranged them in a hive, and then dipped 

 out the bees with a dipper, and taken the whole 

 home with me in pretty good condition, with scarcely 

 any opposition on the part of the bees. In reach- 

 ing your hand into the cavitv to detach and remove 

 the comb you are pretty sure to get stung, for when 

 you touch the " business end " of a bee, it will sting 

 even though its head be off. But the bee carries the 

 antidote to its own poison. The best remedy for bee 

 sting is honey, and when your hands are besmeared 

 with honey, as they are sure to be on such occasions, 

 the wound is scarcely more painful than the prick of! 

 a pin. Assault your bee-tree, then, boldly with your 

 ax, and you will find that when the honey is exposed 

 every bee has surrendered and the whole swarm is 

 cowering in helpless bewilderment and terror. Our 

 tree yields only a few pounds of honey, not enough 

 to have lasted the swarm till January, but no matter? 

 we have the less burden to carry. 



