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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Aug. 15. 



THOSE OLD BEE-BOOKS. 



ANOTHER PEEP AT THE "GOOD OLD TIMES.' 



The next book that claims attention has, a ti- 

 tle that is " all Greek " to me, for it is a Greek 

 word .printed in large Greek letters. It may be 

 spelled in English, " Melisselogia," meaning a 

 discourse on bees. The title continues: "Being 

 an enquiry into the nature, order, and govern- 

 ment of bees; with a new and easy method to 

 preserve them, not only in colonies, but in com- 

 mon hives, fi'om that cruel death to which their 

 ignorant, injurious, and most iugrateful owners 

 so commonly condemn them.'' The author's 

 name is Rev. John Thorley, of Oxford. '" Lon- 

 don, 1744. Sold at the Angel in the Poultry, 

 Cheapside." Something besides " angels " gets 

 into ])Oultry around here. 



This book contains 208 pages, about the size of 

 this, printed in large clear type. It contains a 

 considerable number of copperplate engravings, 

 of a very high order. The first one represents 

 three bees, each 2}o' inches long, and drawn with 

 wonderful fidelity. It gives a view of the bee 

 from above, beneath, and from the side. Ex- 

 cept for the bands on the bees the picture would 

 be a credit to a modern bee-book. Another 

 plate tells us what a storifying hive was in 

 those days. It consists of four eight-cornered 

 hives, one on top of each other. The top one 

 contains comb: under that we find the queen; 

 under her, in his own hive, the drone; under 

 him the worker. The whole hive reminds one 

 of a concertina, and perhaps worked tolerably 

 well. It seems rather top-heavy for windy 

 weather, however. No mention of a frame is 

 made as now used. 



The author of this book had handled bees for 

 forty years when he wrote; and his chief mo- 

 tive in doing so. apparently, was to counteract 

 some of the infidelity of his time. He speaks of 

 his day as '• an age of reigning infidelity, when 

 vice and immorality are under no restraint, but 

 practiced with impunity, and without control, 

 triumphing over all laws, both human and di- 

 vine; when men not only attempt to degrade 

 and villify the Sacred Oracles ; look on the gos- 

 pel as no better than a cunningly devised fable, 

 and the most important truths as the greatest 

 impertinences, and treat the blessed Author of 

 our religion as a vile and wicked impostor, and 

 even deny the being of God." This was the 

 time when Wesley was beginning to beat back 

 the torieut of skepticism which seemed even 

 worse in the church (so called) than out of it. 

 Voltaire's doctrines had poisoned the minds of 

 even the elect, but yet many stood firm. Mr. 

 Thorley tries to show God through the works of 

 nature. The following quotation lacks nothing 

 of sublimity: " Who. but a being of infinite per- 

 fection, could raise so noble and glorious cano- 

 py as these visible heavens, beautified and em- 

 bellished with sun, moon, and stars? or lay such 

 an area or floor as this terraqueous globe on 

 which we tread and in which we fail — furnish- 

 ed with so great a number of proper inhabit- 

 ants? An humble and serious view of these 

 would lead men to the acknowledgment of a 

 Supreme Being who formed both."' Infidelity 

 has assailed England as, perhaps, it has no oth- 

 er land ; but Christianity has never yet been 

 torn from its anchorage there. 



In this book the names of about .500 persons 

 appear who are "subscribers" to it; that is, 

 they agreed to support it. Among these names 

 I am pleased to ;see that of Philip Doddridge, 

 the author of many of our best hymns. 



In speaking of the incomparably greater skill 

 shown in a bee-sting as compared with human 

 works, Mr. Thorley describes some of the latter 

 as follows: 



"The author of Baker's Microscope says he 

 saw in London a chaise made by Mr. Boverick, 

 a watchmaker, with four wheels, and all the 

 proper apparatus belonging to them, turning 

 easily on their axles; together with a man sit- 

 ting in the chaise; all formed of ivory, and 

 drawn along by a flea. The whole weighed 

 barely one grain. The same artist also made a 

 quadrille-table, with a drawer in it, an eating- 

 table, side-board table, a looking-glass, twelve 

 chairs with skeleton backs, two dozen plates, . 

 six dishes, a dozen knives, as many forks and 

 spoons, two salts, a frame and casters, together 

 with a gentleman, lady, and footman, all con- 

 tained in a cherry-stone, and not half filling it." 



The argument from the above is, that the mi- 

 croscope shows that God has made a million 

 times more than these things, and put them 

 into a millionth of the space they occupy; and 

 that, no matter how much we magnify, we find 

 God has been at work before us, and that an in- 

 finity of his wonders can live and move in the 

 eye of a needle as freely as the planets circle 

 round the sun. 



In speaking of the sex of bees our author 

 seems to be in doubt, and says, " The decision 

 must be left to future time, and to the genera- 

 tions which are to follow." Huber was born 

 six years after this, and unraveled the mystery. 

 Mr. Thorley reviews all the writers I have 

 mentioned, in the vain hope of discovering what 

 a drone is for. He concludes that, as colonies 

 increase all summer without drones, " we may 

 very justly draw the conclusion that drones 

 are not males, neither have they any instru- 

 mentality in the generation of bees." [Laugh- 

 ter.] Here are some more of his conclusions: 



Bees do not breed by copulation ; common 

 bees are neuter; they can not fill a hive with 

 their own kind; without a queen-bee they can 

 not breed. 



O happiness! liow far we Uee 

 Thine own sweet paths in- - 

 Tlie make-up of a lioney-bee! 



Medina. Aug. <x W. P. R. 



DO BEES GATHER SYRUP FROM FIGS 1 



W' HERE THE " HOLY LAND " BEES CAME FROM. 



Fig-trees are suggested for plantations by 

 one of your correspondents on page 537, July 1. 

 Although some kinds of figs will have a drop 

 or so of syrup at the opening, when the figs are 

 really past maturity, I think bees will never 

 profit much by that. In Palestine, figs are 

 grown to a great extent in some parts of the 

 country: and an apiary that we had vei-y near 

 Bethlehem was near fig-orchards. Part of 

 them had their roots above the water, and con- 

 sequently the fruit was a good deal more syr- 

 upy; and bees, in fact, visited them, but never 

 any great harvest was had from them; while 

 the trees planted along the mountain-side, far 

 from water, are more solid. The fruit, although 

 juicy, does not exude that sweet drop which, 

 in fact, is considered as prejudicial to the fig. 

 All around Bethlehem, fig-trees abound; and 

 bees have been abundant there many years; 

 but since all the environs have been planted to 

 olive-trees, fig-trees, and vines, apiculture is 

 impossible: and I do not know whether a bee- 

 hive still exists th(;re. 



About two miles from Bethlehem there is an 

 old citadel, and three big pools, said to have 

 been built by Solomon. They are called by the 

 Arabs, Solomon's pools. They supply Jerusalem 

 with water— or. at least, they were built for that 

 purpose, and the aqueduct still exists leading 

 to the midst of the temple in Jerusalem. You 



