BEE’ MANUAL. 171 
CHAPTER [X. 
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’sa 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 ina 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: Ist, to avoid jarring the hive; 2nd, to avoid 
