194 HANDLING BEES. 



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

 lows mainly Columella, saj-s : 



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 stinlring breath, caused 

 either through eating of leeks, onions, garliclf, and the lilve, or 

 by any other means, the noisomeness whereof is corrected by a 

 cup of beer ; thou must not be given to surfeiting or drunlsen- 

 ness ; 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 

 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 f on them; they will try to sting di- 

 rectly, 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, 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 betaken 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 peraons 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 a surer mark to their long-sighted 

 vision , than persons who are close to their hives . 



t While bees resent the warm breath exhaled t,lowty from the lungs, we have 

 ascertained, that they will mn 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 Mi. Langstroth often used a pair of bellows. 



