TRANSPORTATION. 337 



their rivers, enabled the bees to gather the honey 

 which is afforded by the flowers on their banks. 



" Reaumur likewise states that it has been the prac- 

 tice, in some districts, to transport them with similar 

 views by land, in vehicles contrived for the purpose. 

 Feburier tells us that it is still continued, and that 

 the environs of the forest of Orleans are, at certain 

 seasons, covered with bee-hives. Mr. Oliver, a mem- 

 ber of the Institute, also states that in Provence there 

 are honey merchants, who purchase bees for the pur- 

 pose of transportation. These dealers take all the 

 honey that the bees can spare prior to setting out, 

 and when the plains can no longer afford a supply, 

 ^convey them to the foot of the mountains and sacri- 

 fice them, after they have collected their second har- 

 vest. In Savoy, Piedmont, and other parts of Italy, 

 this practice is also common. It is, indeed, of very 

 ancient origin. Columella speaks of it as a very gen- 

 eral custom among the Greeks, who used annually to 

 send their bee-hives from Achia into Attica. 



" The practice prevails to a considerable extent in 

 Scotland. About six miles from Edinburgh, at the 

 foot of one of the Pentland Hills, stands Logan House, 

 supposed to have been the residence of Sir William 

 Worthy, celebrated by Allen Ramsay in his c Gentle 

 Shepherd.' This house is at present occupied by a 

 shepherd, who, about the beginning of August, re- 

 ceives above a hundred bee-hives from his neighbors 

 resident beyond the hills, that the bees may gather 

 honey from the luxuriant blossoms of the mountain 

 15 



