Insects and Other Critters 157
blow horns for all you're worth.” The bees, if not too contrary, will then be either so charmed or confused that they will settle down, and all you need do is to hive them.
Another way to make a swarm of bees settle is to throw dirt or water at them. They cannot fly when their wings are wet. Even the bee that gets drabbled in the dew has to dry his wings before he proceeds on his travels.
It is often said that when a bee stings, it leaves its stinger in the wound, and that the loss of the stinger later causes the bee’s death. I have at first-hand a story that tends to disprove this idea, A man was whetting his scythe when a bee flew into his face, and stung him on the tip of his nose. The man dropped his scythe and whetstone, and grabbed the bee in his right hand. Before he could crush the bee, it had stung him again on his palm. It plainly did not leave its stinger in the man’s nose, else how could it sting his palm? Both wounds became equally swollen and painful.
One old farmer commented on this statement with regard to the bee in this way, “Oh, no! a bee doesn’t lose his
