8 TREATMENT OF BEES. 



what goes on there ; and I am sure you would be 

 interested. 



As", however, you cannot do this, I must try and 

 describe some of these things. And then, after a time 

 I have no doubt, some friend will show you a hive, 

 and its bees, or you will be able to look for yourself 

 — take a hive full of bees in your hands, and tho- 

 roughly exaniine all that is inside, and touch the 

 bees, and let them crawl over you ; and all this with- 

 out getting a single sting. ^^ 



This may sound wonderful, but it is not really so. 

 In fact, there is no difficulty about it ; only, first of 

 all, you must understand something of their habits, 

 and then, of course, take some precautions. Many 

 people wear a veil, and it is well to do so ; but that 

 which is of chief importance is quietness — that we go 

 to the hive gently, and without noise or bustle, and 

 take great care not to jar the hives, or to breathe 

 upon the bees. Carefully attending to these things, 

 and then using, as you will be told at a future time, a 

 little smoke, the bees will allow us to do almost any- 

 thing we like. 



The best way, in short, is to treat them in some 

 measure as pets ; and even children may thus keep 

 bees. I dare say some of you have pet animals at 

 home — perhaps a kitten, or it may be a canary, or a 

 goldfinch ; and, if you deserve to have it, you treat it 

 kindly, you feed it with the right food, you speak to 

 it coaxingly, you guard it from its enemies. Well, in 

 the same way almost, you may make pets of bees. 

 They will not, indeed, come to you when you call, 

 but they will, by some means, know that you are 



