The Life of the Bee 



the mind ; but unless it be watched by a 

 lofty disquiet ever ready to remind it, 

 when occasion demand, of the infinity of 

 its ignorance, it dwindles into the mere 

 routine of the baser side of our intellect. 

 But the bees have themselves answered 

 the objection Messrs. Kirby and Spence 

 advanced. Scarcely had it been formu- 

 lated when another naturalist, Andrew 

 Knight, having covered the bark of some 

 diseased trees with a kind of cement made 

 of turpentine and wax, discovered that his 

 bees were entirely renouncing the collec- 

 tion of propolis, and exclusively using 

 this unknown matter, which they had 

 quickly tested and adopted, and found in 

 abundant quantities, ready prepared, in 

 the vicinity of their dwelling. 



And indeed, one-half of the science 

 and practice of apiculture consists in 

 giving free rein to the spirit of initiative 

 possessed by the bees, and in providing 



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