390 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



BEES AND HONEY. 



HAMPSHIRE. 



Report of the Committee. 



The exhibition of honey, this year, indicates that more in- 

 terest is felt in this subject than formerly. The productions 

 of the honey bee are beginning to be appreciated, both as a 

 source of pleasure and of profit. To make bees profitable, the 

 keeper must study their habits and consult their tastes. The 

 times have changed since a swarm of bees found a home in the 

 carcass of a lion. In our day, neatness and order are essential 

 to the prosperity of bees. The hives should be well ventilated. 

 For the purposes of ventilation, ease of management, and con- 

 venient removal of honey at the pleasure of the keeper, the 

 hive patented by Phelps, of Ohio, and exhibited at the Fair, 

 this year, is one of the best ever invented. The best book on 

 bees is that of Mr. Langstroth, of Greenfield, whose apiary is 

 worthy of admiration and examination. 



David S. Cowles, Chairman. 



FRANKLIN. 



Report of the Committee. 



Your committee on bees and honey feel gratified in having 

 assigned to them for consideration the very sweetest of your 

 departmental subjects. All that is wanting to do justice to 

 this matter is a " honeyed tongue," and a pen dipped in the 

 " Balm of a Thousand Flowers." 



From time immemorial the bee has attracted the attention 

 of man. Its nectar sweetened the verse of the earliest poets, 

 while it tickled their palates, so that the insect may be fairly 

 said to occupy a niche in the classical pantheon. The pages 

 of Holy Writ, also, contain allusions, very fine and very apt, to 

 the habits and disposition of the bee. Says David, when speak- 

 ing of his foes : " They compassed me about like bees ;" a 

 striking simile of a chieftain in the hum of battle, singled out 



