TREATMENT OF BEES. 



CHAPTER II. 



BEES TO BE OBSERVED AND TREATED WITH GENTLENESS. 



Now this book is about bees, their homes and 

 habits ; and very curious and wonderful all these 

 things are — 



' A picture wonderful, an insect race. 

 Their customs, manners, nations, I describe.' 



Virgil. 



But we shall not see much of these wonders unless 

 we keep our eyes open. Bees, indeed, must be ob- 

 served, closely watched, read about, and thought of, 

 before they can be understood. And the more we do 

 this, the more wonderful and interesting we find them 

 in all their ways and doings. 



To a certain extent, of course, they are familiar to 

 us all. It is a pretty sight we think, to see the hives 

 in a cottage garden in a snug corner, surrounded with 

 sweet-smelling flower-s, and, on sunny days, to hear the 

 hum of the bees as we see them flying in and out of 

 their homes, or as we see them darting from flower to 

 flower — the 'busy bee.' 



But to many people they are of no further in- 

 terest. Perhaps, indeed, they only think of bees as 

 gathering honey, for which they do not care, or as 

 having sharp stings, of which they are afraid. 



I hope, however, you will not thus think of them. 

 I only wish you could come with me, and look at 

 the inside of a hive, and see what it is like, and 



