How to pet a bumblebee

Well, actually, the easiest way to pet a bumblebee is to kill it first. But that takes away all the sense of adventure, and it's not exactly in the spirit of the moment. So here's how to do it right.

First of all you have to have something that bumblebees really want and need. A large flower garden filled with lilies of all kinds, blooming in late July, is a surefire magnet. There will be scores of chubby bumblebees, droning from flower to flower like graceless cargo planes, making frequent stops. (I've noticed that bumblebees seem to have a flight stabilization problem. Every few feet, for no apparent reason, they will suddenly drop three or four inches and then float back up to the appropriate altitude. It's none of my business, but I think that Mother Nature should correct this.)

Second, a flower garden is the only safe place to pet a bumblebee;...