194 HANDLING BEES. 
Cotton, quoting from Butler, who, in these remarks, fol- 
lows mainly Columella, says: 
393. ‘Listen to the words of an old writer: —‘If thou wilt 
have the favour of thy bees, that they sting thee not, thou must 
avoid such things as offend them: thou must not be unchaste or 
uncleanly ; for impurity and sluttiness (themselves being most 
chaste and neat) they utterly abhor; thou must not come among 
them smelling of sweat, or having a stinking breath, caused 
either through eating of leeks, onions, garlick, and the like, or 
by any other means, the noisomeness whereof is corrected by 2 
cup of beer; thou must not be given to surfeiting or drunken- 
ness; thou must not come pufting or blowing unto them, neither 
hastily stir among them, nor resolutely defend thyself when they 
seem to threaten thee; but softly moving thy hand before thy 
face, gently put them by; and lastly, thou must be no stranger 
unto them. In a word, thou must be chaste, cleanly, sweet, 
sober, quiet, and familiar; so will they love thee, and know thee 
from all others. When nothing hath angered them, one may 
safely walk along by them; butif he stand still before them in 
the heat of the day, it is a marvel but one or other spying him, 
will have a cast at him.’* 
“Above all, never blow} on them; they will try to sting di- 
rectly, if you do. 
“Tf you want to catch any of the bees, make a bold sweep at 
them with your hand; and if you catch them without pressing 
them, they will not sting. I have so caught three or four ata 
time. If you want to do anything to a single bee, catch him ‘as 
if you loved him,’ between your finger and thumb, where the tail 
joins on to the body, and he cannot hurt you.” 
When gorged with honey, they may be taken up by hand- 
fuls, and suffered to run over the face, and may even have 
their glossy backs gently smoothed as they rest on our per- 
sons; and all the feats of the celebrated Wildman may be 
* Many persons imagine themselves to be quite safe, if they stand at a con- 
siderable distance from the hives; whereas, cross bees delight to attack those 
whose more distant position makes them asurer mark to their long-sighted 
vision, than persons who are close to their hives. 
+ While bees resent the warm breath exhaled slowly from the lungs, we have 
ascertained, that they will run from a blast of cold air blown upon them by 
the mouth of the operator, almost as quickly as from smoke. Before employ- 
ing smoke Mr. Langstroth often used a pair of bellows. 
