176 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



remains distinct, its special characteristic being its superiority over all 

 other breeds in gathering honey; the particular marking of its best 

 strain is still the glistening, golden color of the three largest of the rings 

 of horny substance that encase the body of the bee. Even now we know 

 no better rule to follow in requeening an apiary than to select for the 

 purpose the offspring of the most beautiful and the most efficient queens 

 at our command. 

 Again he tells us: 



When the inconstant swarms fly about and sport in the air, 



Condemn their hives, and leave their cold dwellings, 



You should restrain their unsettled minds from this vain play. 



Nor is it a great task to control them; 



Kemove the wings of the king; while he remains behind 



None of the bees will dare to follow the path through the air, 



Or to tear up the standard from the camp. 



In the spring bees are sometimes guilty of this " vain play/' or swarm- 

 ing out, as it is called now-a-days, when feeling that summer is unduly 

 delayed and that their store of honey has dwindled distressingly, they 

 leave their hive, only to die of hunger or cold unless rescued by the 

 apiarist. The point of interest here, however, is that one of the most 

 approved of the modern methods of controlling the swarming impulse 

 of the bees, is to clip the wings of the queen on one side, thus preventing 

 her from flying away with the swarm and so necessitating its return to 

 the hive, since, as Virgil knew, the bees will not desert the queen. 

 Though he understood this principle which has become so important in 

 the treatment of swarming, his method of making a swarm settle is, 

 oddly enough, obsolete. We no longer beat the cymbals, as he directed, 

 or sprinkle bruised herbs upon the ground to cause the bees to cluster 

 and alight. 



In view of the fact that artificial feeding is a very important factor 

 in modern beekeeping, it is interesting to note that Virgil speaks of this 

 process. Now-a-days the intelligent beekeeper feeds his bees not only to 

 keep them from starving in case their stores run low; he also supplies 

 them with trays of sugar syrup in the spring to stimulate them to raise 

 broods sooner than they would otherwise do, so that they may be ready in 

 large numbers to gather the harvest as soon as it comes. Virgil sug- 

 gested to his followers that they should introduce honey into the hives 

 by means of hollow reeds. 



He understood remarkably well, in the main, what was necessary for 

 the comfort and tranquillity of the bees. He knew that they needed 

 constant sunshine to keep in a healthy condition, and that it was but 

 poor economy to stint their food supply by taking too much honey from 

 the hive. He thought that their homes should be kept in such neat and 

 tidy shape as would make it easiest for them to protect themselves from 



