ANSER OF BEES. 869 



nothing can be more terribly vindictive than a family of 

 bees when thoroughly aroused by gross abuse or unskillful 

 treatment. Let their hive be suddenly overthrown or vio- 

 lently jarred, or let them be provoked by the presence of a 

 sweaty horse, or any animal offensive to them, so that the 

 anger at first manifested by a few, is extended to the whole 

 community, and the most severe and sometimes dangerous 

 consequences may ensue. In the same way in the manage- 

 ment of the animals most useful to man, by ignorance or 

 abuse, they may be roused to a slate of frantic desperation, 

 and limbs may be broken, and often lives destroyed ; and 

 yet no one possessed of common sense, attributes such 

 calamities, except in very rare instances, to any thing el§e 

 than carelessness or want of skill. Let it be remembered 

 that even the most peaceable stock of bees can, in a very 

 few days, by abusive treatment be taught to look on every 

 living thing as an enemy, and to sally forth with the most 

 spiteful intentions, as soon as any one approaches their dom- 

 icile. How often does it happen that the vicious beast, 

 which its owner so passionately belabors, is far less to 

 blame for its obstinacy, than the equally vicious brute who 

 so unmercifully beats it ! 



A word now to those timid females who are almost ready 

 to faint, or to go into hysterics if a bee enters the house, or 

 approaches them in the garden or fields. Such alarm is 

 entirely uncalled for. It is only in the vicinity of their 

 homes, and in resistance to what they consider an evil de- 

 sign upon their very altars and firesides that these insects 

 ever volunteer an attack. Away from home, they are as 

 peaceably inclined as you could desire. If you attack 

 them, they are much more eager to escape than to offer you 

 any annoyance, and they can be induced to sting, only 

 when they are compressed, either by accident or design. 



