TO QUIET BEES.
In harvest seasons, the bees, especially if Italians, can almost always be handled without their showing resentment. But at other times, and whenever they object to necessary familiarity, we have only to cause them to fill with honey to render them harmless, unless we pinch them. This can be done by closing the hive so that the bees cannot get out, and then rapping on the hive for four or five minutes. Those within will fill with honey, those without will be tamed by surprise, and all will be quiet. Sprinkling the bees with sweetened water will also tend to render them amiable, and will make them more ready to unite, to receive a queen, and less apt to sting. Still another method, more convenient, is to smoke the bees. A little smoke blown among the bees will scarcely ever fail to quiet them, though I have known black bees in autumn, to be very slow to yield. Dry cotton cloth, closely wound and sewed or tied, or better, pieces of dry, rotten wood, are excellent for the purpose of smoking. These are easily handled, and will burn for a long time. But best of all is a