THE BEE. 



523 



of man, seem to lose a part of their natural sa- 

 gacity in providing for themselves. The rab- 

 bit, when domesticated, forgets to dig holes, 

 the hen to build a nest, and the bee to seek a 

 shelter that shall protect it from the inclemen- 

 cies of winter. In those countries where the 

 bees are wild, and unprotected by man, they 

 are always sure to build their waxen cells in 

 the hollow of a tree ; but with us, they seem 

 improvident in their choice, and the first green 

 branch that stops their flight, seems to be 

 thought sufficient for their abode through win- 

 ter. However, it does not appear that the 

 queen chooses the place where they are to 

 alight, for many of the stragglers, who seemed 

 to be pleased with a particular branch, go and 

 settle upon it ; others are seen to succeed ; and, 

 at last, the queen herself, when she finds a 

 sufficient number there before her, goes to 

 make it the place of her head-quarters. When 

 the queen is settled, the rest of the swarm soon 

 follow ; and, in about a quarter of an hour, the 

 whole body seem to be at ease. It sometimes 

 is found, that there are two or three queens to 

 a swarm, and the colony is divided into par- 

 ties ; but it most usually happens, that one of 

 these is more considerable than the others, and 

 the bees, by degrees, desert the weakest, to 

 take shelter under the most powerful protec- 

 tor. The deserted queen does not long sur- 

 vive this defeat ; she takes refuge under the 

 new monarch, and is soon destroyed by her 

 jealous rival. Till this cruel execution is per- 

 formed, the bees never go out to work ; and if 

 there should be a queen-bee belonging to the 

 new colony left in the old hive, she always 

 undergoes the fate of the former. However, 

 it must be observed, that the bees never sacri- 

 fice any of their queens, when the hive is full 

 of wax and honey ; for there is at that time no 

 danger in maintaining a plurality of breeders. 

 When the swarm is thus conducted to a 

 place of rest, and the policy of government is 

 settled, the bees soon resume their former la- 

 bours. The making cells, storing them with 

 honey, impregnating the queen, making pro- 

 per cells for the reception of the rising pro- 

 geny, and protecting them from external dan- 

 ger, employ their unceasing industry. But 

 soon after, and towards the latter end of sum- 

 mer, when the colony is sufficiently stored 

 with inhabitants, a most cruel policy ensues. 

 The drone bees, which are (as has been said) 

 generally in a hive to the number of a hun- 

 dred, are marked for slaughter. These, which 

 had hitherto led a life of indolence and plea- 

 sure, whose only employment was in impreg- 

 nating the queen, and rioting upon the la- 

 bours of the hive, without aiding in the gene- 

 ral toil, now share the fate of most voluptuar- 

 ies, and fall a sacrifice to the general resent- 

 ment of society. 



The working bees in a body declare war 

 against them ; and in two or three days' time 

 the ground all round the hive is covered with 

 their dead bodies. Nay, the working bees 

 will even kill such drones, as are yet in the 

 worm state, in the cell, and eject their bodies 

 from the hive among the general carnage. 



When a hive sends out several swarms in 

 the year, the first is always the best, and the 

 most numerous. These having the whole 

 summer before them, have the more time for 

 making wax and honey, and consequently 

 their labours are the most valuable to the pro- 

 prietor. Although the swarm chiefly consists 

 of the youngest bees, yet it is often found that 

 bees of all ages compose the multitude of emi- 

 grants, and it often happens that bees of all 

 ages are seen remaining behind. The num- 

 ber of them is always more considerable than 

 that of some populous cities, for sometimes 

 upwards of forty thousand are found in a 

 single hive. So large a body may well be sup- 

 posed to work with great expedition ; and in 

 fact, in less than twenty-four hours they will 

 make combs above twenty inches long, and 

 seven or eight broad. Sometimes they will 

 half fill their hives with wax in less than five 

 days. In the first fifteen days, they are al- 

 ways found to make more wax than they do 

 afterwards during the rest of the year. 



Such are the outlines of the natural history 

 of these animals, as usually found in our own 

 country. How they are treated, so as to pro- 

 duce the greatest quantity of honey, belongs 

 rather to the rural economist, than the natural 

 historian ; volumes 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 over-stocked with bees, as well as with 

 any other sort of animal; for a certain num- 

 ber of hives always require a certain number 

 of flowers to subsist on. When the flowers 

 near home are rifled, then are these indus- 

 trious 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 inclemency of an accidental storm : and 

 with these the owners suffer themselves to 

 float gently down the river. As the bees are 

 continually choosing their flowery pasture 

 along the banks of the stream, they are fur- 

 nished with sweets before unrifled ; and thus 



