I a negative. I said in my first Letter, "If you want to catch any of the Bees, make a bold sweep at them with your hand, as though there was no such thing as a sting in the world. I have so caught three or four at a time.” To this it is answered, "They were Drones, I apprehend. I don't recommend this experiment." repeat, without hesitation, my former statement, and can appeal to swarms of my friends who have seen me among my Bees, whether I cannot do stranger things than this. Moreover, I do recommend the experiment, at least to every one who desires to become the familiar friend of his Bees; and without being so, no Beekeeper can be successful. He loses the high pleasure of feeling that his Bees know him, and confide in him; and is enabled to do fearlessly and promptly whatever they require. Mr. Smith may have kept Bees twenty years, but I have kept them four-and-twenty, and so by this time may have learnt what a Drone is. Even were I blind, like poor Huber, I could tell one by the sound it makes when flying. I could tell one by the touch, for I can *The Cottager's Bee Book, containing Remarks on the Conservative Bee-keeper, founded on Twenty Years' Experience. By Richard Smith, Oxford, 1839. put my hands into a parcel of Bees, and pull out the Drones with my eyes shut. Above all, then, be kind to your Bees, and be patient, be watchful, be ready to learn a lesson even from them; and then, whether or no you succeed in Bee-keeping, your temper, whoever you are, must be improved. Many a man, out of health and spirits, has gone to bask in the clear sunshine, at the mouth of his hives, and has thus, for a time at least, forgotten his cares or his pains; with heart attuned to their sweet music, he has learnt fresh confidence in that heavenly Father who "correcteth those whom he loveth;" and has been led to feel that none of his actions, even the most trifling, are beneath the care of that God who made him as well as them; who showeth the same wisdom in these small insects as in man, created in His own image-to whom He hath given His sure promise, that "the Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works."* *Psalm cxlv. 9. A POSTSCRIPT, I have heard from Ladies, often contains the most important part of a letter. I am sure that I have herein to discharge one of the most pleasing as well as important duties which falls to my share as the writer of this Preface, viz. to acknowledge my sincere obligations to Josiah Wood Whimper, No. 20, Canterbury Place, Lambeth, for the great care and infinite trouble he has taken in drawing and cutting the illustrations of this volume. I would particularly refer to the figures of Comb in its several stages, which I think have never been equalled. Whenever any drawing did not please me, it was done again, without one word of complaint. The result has fully repaid me for all the pains I have taken; but I shall have an additional reward, if other students of Natural History are induced to follow my example, and publish the result of their experiments and observations; and I cannot doubt but that many of my readers, when they have finished my volume, will wish to hear from me again, and respond to my parting words, VOS VALETE ET PLAUDITE. |