ANGER OF BEES. 311 



Cotton, quoting from Butler, who, in these remarks, 

 follows mainly Columella, says : 



" Listen ta the words of aa 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 smell- 

 ing of sweat, or having a stinking breath, caused either through 

 eating of leeks, onions, "garlick, and the like, or by any other 

 meaus, the noisomeness whereof is corrected by a ijup of beer , 

 thou must not be given to surfeiting or drunkenness ; thou must 

 not come puffing 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 ; 

 but if he stand still before them in th^heat of the day, it is a 

 marvel but one or other spying him, will have a cast at him.'* 



" Above all, never blowf on them ; they will try to sting directly, 

 if you do. 



" If 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 at a 

 time. If you want to do anything to a single bee, cateh him ' as 

 if you loved him,' between your finger and thumb, where the tail 

 joins on to the body, and he cannot hurt you." 



If a person is attacked by angry bees, not the slightest 



* Many persons imagine themselves to be qnite safe, if they stand at a consider- 

 able distance from the hives ; whereas, cross bees delight to attack those whose 

 more distant pdlition makes them a surer mark to their long-sighted vision, than 

 persons "who are close to their hives. 



t Tyhile bees resent the warm breath exhaled sltnoly from the Inngs, I have 

 ascertained, that they will run from a blast of cold air blown npon them by the 

 month of the operator, almost as qalckly as from smoke. Before employing smoke, 

 I often nsed apair of bellows. 



