The other incident is no less striking. A skilled bee-master had a little friend who was very much afraid of being stung. One day, a swarm having come off, the queen was observed to settle by herself at a short distance from the cluster. The gentleman at once called the child to him, that he might show her the queen. Becoming interested in the somewhat uncommon sight, the girl desired to observe the royal insect more closely; so the bee-master, having made her put on gloves, placed the queen in her hand. Immediately the whole of the bees in the swarm thronged around. With an admonition to the child to remain motionless and speechless, and without fear to retain her self-possession, the gentleman quietly covered her head and shoulders with a very thin handkerchief, and made her stretch out her right hand, in which the queen was. The swarm at once began to settle, and hung from the girl's hand and arm as if from the branch of a tree. Delighted at the novelty of the affair, and finding herself unstung, the child then requested to have her head uncovered. After a while, when the bees were all quiet, a hive was brought. By a vigorous shake the swarm was made to fall into their abode, and every one of the insects was got rid of without the infliction of a single wound. Probably it would not often happen that such completely harmless results would follow such occurrences: for, it is not unfrequently the case that a few bees, perhaps having joined the swarm without having had the opportunity to fill themselves with honey, prove somewhat spiteful; and, notwithstanding the general quietness of a just-emerged colony, even experienced apiarians by no means always escape punishment when dislodging a swarm. It is, however, quite easy to secure complete protection by means of a properly made veil to guard the face and neck, and gloves to cover the hands. We strongly advise all novices, therefore, to make use of these preservatives from stings, when proceeding to get the bees into the hive intended to receive them. Some persons advise that the skep into which the swarm is to be brushed or shaken, should be dressed with a mixture of beer and sugar, applied with a wisp of elder-branch and leaves. It is just possible that the sweetened liquid may be drunk by some of those not quite satiated with honey, and that thus an increased quieting influence is exerted upon the whole mass; but the most skilled apiarians have given up the practice, in the belief that it is useless, if not positively mischievous, by wetting the bees, rendering many of them helpless, and probably destroying numbers of them.