Peter Borst wrote :


>
>         In Eva Crane's "Bees & Beekeeping" there is a list of plant
> materials and their use as pacifiers or repellents. "Melissa
> officinalis: rubbing the hands with the leaves is claimed to help in
> preventing stings."
>
>  Last summer I happened to use handlotion with the scent of vanilla and
got remarkably less stings than both my fellow workers,sometimes not even
one a day.

Maria van den Berg.