216 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



known to all beekeepers. I am not sure whether I learned it by 

 instinct, or from the writings of G. M. Doolittle. If a bee stings 

 my hand I instantly strike the hand with much force upon my 

 leg, with a sort of quick, wiping motion. This mashes the bee, 

 generally, and rubs out the sting at the same time. 



St'OLDING BEES. 



If one thinks of the thousands or millions of bees in a large 

 apiary, it will be seen that comparatively few b?es make any 

 attack. Sometimes a single bee will threaten and scold me by 

 the hour, perliP.p.s finally stingiii'^- me liy fuelling into my hair 

 or whiskers, and for aught I know the same bee may keep up 

 the same thing for days — I mean the scolding, not the stinging. 

 It is sometimes worth while to get rid of the annoyance by 

 slepping to one side and knocking it down with a stick by a few 

 rapid strokes back and forth in front of my face. I often mash 

 it by slapping my hands together. 



CROSS COLONIES. 



Sometimes the bees ha^-p seemed very cross, and a little ob- 

 servation has shown these bees to proceed from a particular pai't 

 of the apiary, and really from only one hive. A careless observer 

 might have said all the bees in the apiary were cross. I have 

 had a few colonies so cross that merely walking by the hive was 

 the signal for a general onslaught. Truth obliges me to say that 

 I have sometimes been so badly stung by one of these, when 

 working at them, that I have taken refuge in inglorious flight, 

 glad to get a respite and scrape out the stings. Just why there 

 should be one or two of these in a year in such marked contrast 

 with others I cannot say. The only remedy I had was to kill 

 the queen. 



DRESS FOR THE HOTTEST WEATHER. 



During the principal part of the honey-flow, a prominent 

 element of hardship is the endurance of the heat. Sometimes 

 the heat really has made me sick, so that in spite of a press of 

 work I have been obliged to give up and lie down for an hour 

 pr more, At such times you may be sure I am not very warmly 



