NEWS OF SPRING 

 Ought we to flee or to face their wrath? Has the bee-keeper 

 some secret or some talisman that preserves him from being 

 stung? These are the questions that are anxiously put by- 

 all who have started a timid hive and who are beginning their 

 apprenticeship. 



2 



The bee, in general, is neither ill-disposed nor aggressive, 

 but appears somewhat capricious. She has an unconquerable 

 antipathy to certain people; she also has her nervous days — 

 for instance, when a storm is gathering — days on which she 

 shows herself extremely irritable. She has a most subtle and 

 delicate sense of smell; she tolerates no perfume and detests, 

 above all, the scent of human sweat and of alcohol. She is 

 not to be tamed, in the proper sense of the word; but, whereas 

 the hives which we seldom visit become crabbed and distrust- 

 ful, those which we surround with our daily cares soon grow 

 accustomed to the discreet and prudent presence of man. 

 Lastly, to enable us to handle the bees almost with impunity, 

 there exist a certain number of little expedients, which vary 

 according to circumstances and which can be learnt by prac- 

 tice alone. But it is time to reveal the great secret of their 

 wrath. 



[204] 



