278 



BEDFORD LEVEL BEE. 



district became impassable even to boats, in conse- 

 quence of the sedge, reed, and slime with which it 

 was covered. 



The Roman emperor, Severus, who died in the 

 beginning of the third century of the Christian 

 era, was the first who intersected these fens with 

 causeways. One of these was twenty-four miles 

 long, extending from Denver, in Norfolk, to Peter- 

 borough. It was sixty feet broad, composed of 

 gravel three feet in depth. This causeway is now 

 covered with moor, from three to five feet in thick- 

 ness. At that early period this low land, though 

 damp, was by no means impassable ; on the con- 

 trary, it appears that, up to the thirteenth century, 

 the waters here usually flowed in natural channels, 

 and had not devastated the surrounding country. 



Dugdale relates, that in the year 1236, on the 

 morrow after Martinmas Day, and for the space of 

 eight days more, the winds were so boisterous that 

 the sea was raised much higher than its usual bounds, 

 and broke in at Wisbeach and other places of this 

 district, so that many people and cattle, together 

 with numerous small craft, were destroyed; and 

 those of the inhabitants who survived were re- 

 duced to great distress. About seventeen years 

 after the disaster, a similar accident again happened ; 

 and the inhabitants were called upon, by command 

 of the king, to repair the banks. This compulsory 

 work was performed but very inefficiently, for, j 

 within a few years, the sea-banks were again broken j 

 by the violence of the tides. 



In 1436, the project of draining these fens en- 

 gaged the attention of many persons of wealth and 

 consideration in the country. Vast funds were ex- 

 pended in making ditches and banks impregnable, 

 as it was supposed, to all assaults from inundatiotis ; 

 but the next winter being wet and windy, the river 

 Ouse, with the accession of its tributary brooks, 

 swelled into a mighty torrent, and swept away all 

 the bulwarks opposed to its progress. 



In the year 1634, William Earl of Bedford 

 (hence the name Bedford Level) undertook to 

 drain these fens, stipulating to receive, as a com- 

 pensation for the expense and trouble incurred, 

 95,000 acres of the reclaimed land : 100,000 were 

 expended in the course of three years in this en- 

 deavour, and the work was partially accomplished ; 

 but the embankments proved defective, and the 

 whole was again allowed to lie waste until the year 

 1649, when the Earl once more attempted the task 

 for his former share of 95,000 acres. Three hun- 

 dred thousand pounds were then laid out in drain- 

 ing, embanking, c., and this time with success, as 

 far as regarded the accomplishment of the work, 

 but to the ruin of those who had been admitted 

 shares, since the sum expended was much more 

 than the 95,000 acres were worth. A regular 

 system for continuing the draining and preserving 

 the land already reclaimed, was now established ; 

 and, in 1664, a company was incorporated for its 

 management: this consisted of one governor, six 

 bailiffs, and twenty conservators ; and, to the pre- 

 sent day, the fens are managed and preserved by 

 this corporation. Numerous cuts have been made, 

 intersecting every part ; some of these are so large j 

 and deep as to serve for navigable canals. In the ' 

 Isle of Ely, the Old and New Bedford rivers are 



two cuts running nearly parallel to each other; 



these are both navigable for upwards of twenty 

 miles from Erith to Denvers. Various expedients 

 are used for the proper draining of the marshes : 

 where the regular and common means have failed, 



windmills have been erected which raise the water 

 to the requisite height to admit of its being con- 

 veyed to receptacles sufficiently elevated, by which 

 it may be carried off into its proper channel. These 

 numerous windmills give a strange aspect to the 

 Isle of Ely, where the towns and villages are built 

 on the most elevated spots, which appear like 

 islands rising from amidst low and wet marshes. 

 Recourse has been had to numerous projects to 

 complete and secure the drainage of the fens ; and 

 a vast expense has been incurred, sometimes much 

 greater than the value of the land reclaimed. In 

 Huntingdonshire, about the latter end of the las* 

 century, the tax raised on the land by the conser- 

 vators, for its drainage and the preserving of its 

 embankments, was in some instances so great, that 

 the farmers preferred forfeiting their land rather 

 than paying so exorbitantly for its preservation. 

 In the present day, the art of drainage is better 

 understood than when first this stupendous work 

 was undertaken ; but even now, in many places, 

 the farmer is still liable to have the produce of his 

 grounds carried away by sudden inundations. The 

 peculiar situation of the Level renders it the re- 

 ceiver of the waters of nine counties, and there- 

 fore it is difficult to provide a sufficient outlet to 

 the sea by which the descending torrent may find 

 a safe egress. The great error committed in the 

 commencement of the drainage was the making 

 numerous small cuts instead of larger and deeper 

 channels, by which, with the same inclination of 

 descent, the water would safely pour into the sea 

 without any risk of overflowing its banks ; since in 

 a narrow and shallow channel, owing to the smaller 

 force exercised by the lesser body of water, the 

 bottom must be made at a much greater inclination 

 to cause the free flowing of the stream. Great 

 improvements are now, however, constantly being 

 made in the drainage and embankment of this ex- 

 tensive tract of land, and the errors of former 

 methods are, as far as possible, being remedied. 



BEE (a.) In addition to the description, given 

 in the body of the work, of this interesting insect, 

 we shall here introduce some practical observations 

 on the management of bees as an object of rural 

 economy. 



A hive generally contains about twenty or 

 twenty-five thousand bees. It is said that before 

 swarming time, there may be upwards of forty 

 thousand in a populous hive, the drones varying 

 from six hundred to two thousand. The queen is 

 the principal bee in the whole community, and is 

 treated with great attention by the workers. The 

 increase of the hive depends, of course, entirely 

 upon her. Reaumur states that the female, or 

 queen, lays in spring as many as twelve thousand 

 eggs, in the lapse of twenty-four days, or at the 

 rate of five hundred each day. Bonnar's estimate 

 is somewhat lower, and probably nearer the truth, 

 when he reckons, that, previous to the swarming 

 season, she may lay about three hundred each day. 

 It must be understood, however, that these esti- 

 mates are only applicable to hives in a strong and 

 healthy condition, and must vary according to the 

 prolific nature of the queen. The queen is the bee 

 which lays the whole of the eggs in a hive, and, 

 consequently, is a female ; the drones are the males, 

 arid the workers are undeveloped females. If the 

 queen be accidentally killed, or intentionally re- 

 moved from a hive, the bees soon become sensible 

 of their loss, and a good deal of bustle and confu- 

 sion ensue. This, however lasts but a short time, 



