THE HONEY BEE CAPABLE OP BBINa TAMED. 25 



be so multiplied, that ignorant and designing men will 

 neither be able to impose their conceits and falsehoods upon 

 the public, nor be sustained in their attempts to depreciate 

 the valuable discoveries of those who have devoted years 

 of observation and experiment to. promote the advancement 

 of Apiarian knowledge. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE HONEY BEE CAPABLE OE BEING TAMED OB DOMESTI- 

 CATED TO A MOST SURPRISING DEGREE. 



If the bee had not such a necessary and yet formidable 

 weapon both of offence and defence, multitudes would be 

 induced to enter upon its cultivation, who are now afraid to 

 have any thing to do with it. As the new system of man- 

 agement which I have devised, seems to add to this inherent 

 difficulty, by taking the greatest possible liberties with so 

 irascible an insect, I deem it important to show clearly, 

 in the very outset, how bees may be managed, so that 

 all necessary operations may be performed in an Apiary, 

 without incurring any serious risk of exciting their anger. 



Many persons have been unable to control their expres- 

 sions of wonder and astonishment, on seeing me open hive 

 after hive, in -my experimental Apiary, in the vicinity of 

 Philadelphia, removing the combs covered with bees, and 

 shaking them off in front of the hiVes ; exhibiting the queen, 

 transferring the bees to another hive, and, in short, dealing 

 with them as if they were as harmless as so many flies. I 

 have sometimes been asked if the bees with which I was 

 3 



