2 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
with honey, never volunteers an attack, but acts solely 
on the defensive. This law of the honeyed tribe is so 
universal, that a stone might as soon be expected to 
rise into the air without any propelling power as a 
bee, well filled with honey, to offer a sting unless 
crushed or injured by some direct assault.” If this be 
accurate, we have a means of making bees, however 
vicious, perfectly harmless ; but most assuredly it 
is very far from correct. I have been fiercely stung 
by bees darting from a hanging swarm to which I 
have offered no kind of violence,* and frequent dis- 
sections of bees which have volunteered an attack 
have shown that these are very generally full of honey, 
while empty ones are the more submissive. Every 
experienced bee-keeper must know, too, that rich 
stocks are more belligerent than poor ones, while those 
in actual want resent nothing. The truth seems to lie 
here : Bees, when terror-struck, rush to fill themselves at 
their stores^ and are then harmless^ not because they 
are filled, but because terror-struck. Their gorging 
is the result of their submission, not the converse. It 
is really remarkable how constantly effect has been 
taken for cause, but I am pleased to find that Mr- 
Heddon combats the position of Langstroth, whose 
error may often lead to loss of time, and loss of 
command also. Mr. Heddont says : We have been 
told that the reason the application of smoke puts 
bees in a friendly attitude is because it frightens 
them, which causes them to fill themselves with honey, 
and when so filled they cannot, without disgorging 
* *• Practical Bee-keeping,” page 30. 
f “ Success in Bee-culture,” page 18. James Heddon. 
