■'^'^'^ \C^',.^\^'^-^a"^< 



\^-) 



CHAPTER XXV. 

 BEE-KEEPING. 



1294. Tnis is an important branch ofrural economy in all countries, andtlierG 

 ■are, probably, few gardens in which the beehive does not find a place ; but 

 certainly, with us, it has never attained the importance to which it is 

 entitled. In this country, where highly-cultivated plains, valleys, and wood- 

 lands so abound, with ranges of hills of moderate elevation, there is no end 

 to the extent to which bee-keeping might be carried ; but how few and far 

 between are the apiaries worthy of remark ; — a few miserable straw hives 

 covered with turf, or shut up in miserable wooden hovels in the winter season, 

 are the abodes of the industrious and highly-civilized bee. If we could only 

 impress upon our rural population how highly-productive bee-keeping is 

 to the rural population of foreign counti'ies, and rouse them to similar exer- 

 tions, a great national advantage would be gained. 



1295. The hive-bee {Apis melUfica) may be regarded as one of the most 

 perfectly social species of insects, and one whose economy is regulated by the 

 possession of a more perfect degree of instinct than is possessed by any other 

 of the insect tribes. Another peculiarity, necessarily depending on the social 

 habits of these insects, is the existence of individuals which have been regarded 

 by many as a thii-d sex, but which modern investigations have ascertained to 

 be female insects, whose internal and sexual organization is in an undeveloped 

 state. These individuals, neuters or mules, or workers, or female non-breeders 

 as they havebeen termed, constitute the great mass of the population of the hive ; 

 they are the smallest members of the community, and it is to them that the 

 internal economy of the hive is committed, the whole labour of the community 

 devolving upon them. Moreover, it is their duty to guard and protect the 



2 F 



