218 SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



" He, therefore, was the first to abound with pregnant bees, and 

 plentiful swarms, and to squeeze the frothing honey from the 

 combs : he had limes and plenty of pines." 



MARTYN'S Translation. 



Martyn observes, in a note upon this passage, that 

 Columella affirms that the Lime is hurtful to bees. 



Evelyn praises the Lime as being " the most proper 

 and beautiful for walks, as producing an upright body, 

 smooth and even bark, ample leaf, sweet blossom, the 

 delight of bees, and a goodly shade at the distance of 

 eighteen or twenty-five feet." 



There is certainly no contradiction in what these au- 

 thors say of the Lime being agreeable to bees, and 

 Columella's assertion that it is injurious to them : but it 

 is strange that Virgil should either not know, or that he 

 should overlook such a circumstance, since he is very 

 particular in warning the husbandman against such plants 

 as will hurt the bees ; and although the Lime is not in- 

 timately connected with those busy insects in the passage 

 just quoted, yet a little further on he speaks of it ex- 

 pressly as affording them food : 



" pascuntur et arbuta passim, 



Et glaucas salices, casiamque, crocumque rubentem, 

 Et piiiguem tiliam, et ferrugineos hyacinthos." 



" They feed also at large on arbutes, hoary willows, cassia, and 

 glowing saffron, and fat limes and deep-coloured hyacinths." 



The Russian peasants are said to suspend their bee- 

 hives in the woods purposely that the bees may have the 

 early blossom of the Lime, which is thought to produce 

 very fine honey. The Lime grows in Russia more 

 abundantly than any other tree, with the exception of 

 the birch ; and what the birch is to the Swedish peasant, 

 the Lime is to the peasant of Russia. The thick bark is 

 made into baskets for carriages and sledges, into boxes 



