BEE MANUAL. 171 



CHAPTER IX. 



MANIPULATION OF BEES AND FEEDING. 



The common, but erroneous, idea prevailing amongst those 

 who have paid little or no attention to the nature and habits 

 of the honey-bee, that to go near one is to run a risk of being 

 attacked, by it, may, I think, be attributed to the fact that 

 they have had instilled into their minds while young an idea 

 that the bee is an enemy they have to fear. It is not an 

 uncommon occurrence for a mother, on seeing her infant near 

 flowers on which there are bees flitting about, to say, " Oh ! come 

 away, my child ; there's a bee, it will sting you," and she imme- 

 diately takes the child away from the supposed danger. This 

 lesson, to dread the bee, thus early inculcated, is never forgotten. 

 Again there are many people who believe that bees have a 

 special aversion to them, that they cannot go within fifty yards 

 of one, as they will sometimes tell you, without its making for 

 them and " declaring war ; " and no amount of persuasion will 

 convince them that they may be mistaken. A person who has 

 this idea firmly fixed in his mind is likely to act in such a way 

 when a bee is near him as to invite its attack, and so condemn 

 the bee for what he has himself, unconsciously perhaps, been 

 the cause of. It is my opinion that if there are any such 

 people that bees attack without apparent provocation they are 

 very few indeed, and that no one, as far as my experience teaches 

 me, is more liable to be stung than another provided they both 

 act in a like manner. People of a nervous temperament as a 

 rule make very poor manipulators. 



HANDLING BEES. 



There are certain fixed rules to be observed when handling 

 bees if freedom from stings is to be secured. The most 

 important are : 1st, to avoid jarring the hive ; 2nd, to avoid 



