H8 TH'E FARMER-S MAJTUAL* 



theiF legs, back, and wings, and flit away to the 

 store-house of common deposit ; and in their mutual 

 aid in assisting each other to unload their burthens, 

 together with their nice economy in feeding out the 

 common stock. The community of the Bee is not a 

 republic, but a brotherhood, a monarchy with a com- 

 munity of goods, and governed by a queen. The 

 queen is not the tyrant of the swarm, but the mother 

 of the swarm. She is not the dispenser of laws to 

 the swarm, but the subject of the same fixed and 

 immutable laws of nature, which govern every Bee 

 in the swarm. 



The Bees know each other, and are armed with a 

 sting for common defence. They know their keep- 

 ers, and generally respect them. They possess a 

 natural disgust, which has not yet been fully ac- 

 counted for, and attack, and sting the objects of this 

 disgust wherever they meet them ; invariably. The 

 Bee is very sagacious in judging of the weather, and 

 avoids the storm by retiring to her hive, or shelter- 

 ing herself under the foliage of plants and trees. 

 The whole swarm manifest an affectionate attention 

 to the queen mother, unexampled in nature; and are 

 constantly employed for her support and preservation. 

 The natural period of the life of the Bee is not yet 

 known, but they are more generally the victims of 

 the casualties of nature, rather than old age. The 

 Dysentery is their most common and fatal molady, 

 and they destroy by violence all the lame and infirm, 

 together with the drones, by banishing them from the 

 hive; thus illustrating the sacred maxim, " He that 

 will not work, neither shall he eat ;" with the addi- 

 tion of their own natural law, " He that cannot 

 work, neither shall he eat." The first is perfectly 

 conformable to the principles of humanity, and com- 

 mon sense ; the latter is repugnant to both. A ge- 

 neral, as well as particular system of cleanliness per- 

 vades the community, and no dead Bee is suffered to 

 remain in the hive. 



