410 ANGER OF EBBS. 



A person thoroughly acquainted with the leading princi- 

 ples of bee-culture, as they are set forth in this Manual, will 

 never under any circumstances, find it necessary to provoke 

 to fury a colony of bees. Let it be remembered that nothing 

 can be more terribly vindictive than a family of bees when 

 thoroughly aroused by gross abuse, or unskillful treatment. 

 Let their hive be suddenly overthrown, or violently jarred, 

 or the bees provoked by the presence of a sweaty horse, or 

 any offensive animal, so that the anger at first manifested by 

 a few, is extended to the whole community, and the most 

 severe and sometimes dangerous consequences may ensue. 

 In the same way the animals most useful to man, may by 

 ignorance or abuse, be roused to a state of frantic des- 

 peration ; limbs may be broken, and often lives destroyed, 

 and yet no one possessed of common sense, attributes such 

 calamities, except in rare instances, to any thing else than 

 carelessness or want of skill. Even the most peaceable 

 stock of bees can, in a very few days, by abusive treatment, 

 be taught to look on every living thing as an enemy, so as to 

 sally forth with the most spiteful intentions, as soon as any 

 one approaches their domicile. How often does it happen 

 that the vicious beast, which its owner so passionately 

 beats, is far less to blame for its obstinacy, than the equally 

 vicious brute who so unmercifully belabors it ! 



A word here to those timid females, who are almost 

 ready to faint, or to go into hysterics, if a bee enters the 

 house, or approaches them in the garden or fields. Such 

 alarm is entirely uncalled for. It is only in the vicinity of 

 their homes, and in resistance to what they consider an evil 

 design upon their very altars and firesides, that these insects 

 ever volunteer an attack. Away from home, they are as 

 peaceably inclined as you could desire. If you attack them, 

 they are much more eager to escape, than to offer you any 



