414 ANSEE OF BEES. 



here I may as well speak plainly, and say that they -TiaTe a 

 special dislike to persons whose habits are not neat, and 

 particularly to those who bear about them, a perfume not in 

 the very least resembling those of which the poet so beauti- 

 fully discourses : 



" Sabean odors 

 From the spicy shores of Araby the blest." 



Those who belong to the family of the " great unwashed," 

 will find to their cost that bees are decided foes to most of 

 their tribe. 



The peculiar odor of some persons, however cleanly, may 

 account for the fact that the bees have such a decided an- 

 tipathy to their presence, in the vicinity of their hives. It is 

 related of an enthusiastic Apiarian, that after a long and 

 severe attack of fever, he was never able to take any more 

 pleasure in his bees ; his secretions seem to have undergone 

 such a change^tbat the bees assailed him, as soon as he 

 ventured to approach their hives. 



Nothing is more offensive to bees than the impure breath 

 exhaled from hwrnan lungs ; it excites them at once to fury, 

 Would that itj their hatred of impure air, human beings dis- 

 played some portion of the sagacity exercised by bees I It 

 would not be long before the thought of breathing air, not 

 only deficient in oxygen, but loaded with all manner of im- 

 purities from human lungs and skrns, would excite unuttera- 

 ble loathing and disgust. 



The smell of a sweaty horse is very offensive to bees, 

 and tt is never safe lo allow these animals to go near a hive, 

 as they are sometimes attacked and killed by the furious in- 

 sects. Those engaged in bee-culture on a large scale, will 

 do Well to surround their Apiaries with a strong fence, so as 

 to prevent cattle from molesting the hives. If the Apiary is 

 enclosed by a high fence, with sharp and strong pickets, and 



