408 ANGER OF BEES. 



greatly afraid of bees, but was completely cured of her fear 

 by the following incident. A swarm having come off, 1 

 observed the queen alight by herself at a little distance from 

 the Apiary. I immediately called my little friend that I 

 might show her the queen ; she wished to see her more 

 nearly, so after having caused her to put on her gloves, I 

 gave the queen into her hand. We were in an instant sur- 

 rounded by the whole bees of the swarm. In this emer- 

 gency I encouraged the girl to be steady, bidding her be 

 silent and fear nothing, and remaining myself close by her ; 

 I then made her stretch out her right hand, which held the 

 queen, and covered her head and shoulders with a very thin 

 handkerchief. The swarm soon fixed on her hand and hung 

 from it, as from the branch of a tree. The little girl was 

 delighted above measure at the novel sight, and so entirely 

 freed from all fear, that she bade me uncover her face. The 

 spectators were charmed with the interesting spectacle. At 

 length I brought a hive, and shaking the swarm from the 

 child's hand, it was lodged in safety, and without inflicting a 

 single wound." 



The indisposition of bees to sting, when swarming, is a 

 fact familiar to every practical bee-keeper : as far as I know, 

 no previous Apiarian has discovered the philosophy of this 

 fact, by noticing that when bees are filled with honey, they 

 lose all disposition to volunteer an assault, and that this 

 curious law is the foundation of an extensive and valuable 

 system of practical management. It was only after I had 

 thoroughly tested its universality and importance, that I 

 began to feel the desirableness of obtaining a perfect con- 

 trol over each comb in the hive ; for it was only then that I 

 saw that such control might be made available, in the hands 

 of any one who could manage bees in the ordinary way. 

 The effect of my whole system, is to make the bees unusu- 



