THE BEE. Ill 



try. How they are treated, so as to produce the 

 greatest quantity of honey, belongs rather to the 

 rural economist than the natural historian ; vo- 

 lumes have been written on the subject, and still 

 more remains, equally curious and new. One 

 thing, however, it may be proper to observe, 

 that a farm or a country may be overstocked 

 with bees, as with any other sort of animal ; for 

 a certain number of hives always require a cer- 

 tain number of flowers to subsist on. When 

 the flowers near home are rifled, then are these 

 industrious insects seen taking more extensive 

 ranges : but their abilities may be over-taxed ; 

 and if they are obliged, in quest of honey, to go 

 too far from home, they are over-wearied in the 

 pursuit, they are devoured by birds, or beat 

 down by the winds and rain. 



From a knowledge of this, in some parts of 

 France and Piedmont, they have contrived, as I 

 have often seen, a kind of floating bee-house. 



They have on board one barge threescore or a 

 hundred bee-hives, well defended from the incle- 

 mency of an accidental storm ; and with these 

 the owners suffer themselves to float gently down 

 the river. As the bees are continually choos- 

 ing their flowery pasture along the banks of the 

 stream, they are furnished with sweets before un- 

 rifled ; and thus a single floating bee-house yields 

 the proprietor a considerable income. Why a 

 method similar to this has never been adopted in 

 England, where we have more gentle rivers, and 

 more flowery banks than in any other part of the 

 world, I know not ; certainly it might be turned 



