(5 BEES. 



of hives by the apparent imsuitableness of tlie locaHty. I 

 am persuaded that if a strong- stock were phiced in the ball of 

 St. Paul's Cathedral, they would get their living-. For it is 

 known that bees can fly three miles' distance in search of 

 food, and bare would be the place indeed, where, within a 

 circle of eighteen miles' circumference, a hive could not find 

 food enough for its preservation. Even if they cannot do 

 so, and supposing that they are kept more for the purpose 

 of experiment and observation than for profit, they can be 

 fed with sugar and beer, and will contrive to get both 

 honey and wax out of it. Nor let those fear whose very 

 natural dread of stings has hitherto repelled them from the 

 apparently dangerous pursuit of bee-keeping. It is perfectly 

 possible so to arrange the hive, that while the observer can 

 at his pleasure examine any part of the edifice, no bee can 

 possibly reach him, unless the bee's sting is capable of pene- 

 trating through a barrier of wood and glass. The trouble, too, 

 of keeping these most wonderful little insects is not nearly 

 so great as is generally imagined. Only give them a fair 

 start, and the less they are meddled with, the better for the 

 bees. Put a good strong stock into the hive to begin with, 

 and there will be little necessity to do anything with them 

 except to take off well-glasses full of the finest wax and 

 honey, and to substitute empty glasses ; no very laborious 

 task. Bees, like most other corporate bodies, have a g-reat 

 horror of interference from without, and always like to work 

 their own reforms without the assistance of commissions 

 from other quarters, and think that their own sovereign is 

 quite capable of governing them without seeking- the help of 

 other powers. So the bee-master cannot meddle too little 

 with the bees, and he must be a most particularly somnolent 

 individual who would find the labour of attending- to a few 

 hives too much for him. 



We are told that a bee-student of ancient times, Aristo- 

 machus, of Soli, in Cilicia, devoted nearly his whole time 

 and thoughts to bees for sixty years ; and that another, 

 Phihscus the Thracian, spent his days regularly in the woods 

 m order to investigate them in their natural condition. 



These were evidently bee-enthusiasts. Among the more 

 moderate lut earnest students of ancient times, may be 

 briefly named, Aristotle, upon whose observations Virgil bus 



