22 3 GENERAL HONEY HARVEST. 



than the generous feelings of the delighted Naturalist. 

 No doubt, reasoning analogically, we have the same 

 right to destroy our bees, without being liable to the 

 charge of inhumanity, as we have to take the life ol 

 our sheep or oxen. Both were designed for our use, 

 and if the death of the animals is necessary to give 

 us the full benefit of what was originally intended 

 for our service, there is no inhumanity in fulfilling 

 the designs of nature. At the same time, our 

 humane feelings must be at a very low ebb indeed, 

 if we can make use of this right without some 

 degree of pain and regret, when the object to be 

 sacrificed to our benefit has been to us a source of 

 innocent enjoyment ; nay, it may be reasonably ex- 

 pected, that the interest we feel in that object, will 

 not only prevent us from destroying it wantonly and 

 unnecessarily, but will induce us anxiously to inquire 

 whether the barbarous alternative may not be avoided 

 in perfect consistency with our real advantage. 



Now, it is as clear as day, that the advantage of 

 the owner is best consulted by saving the lives of his 

 bees ; because, independent of the satisfaction of 

 eschewing the odious task of sacrificing what we 

 have long watched with so much anxiety, and con- 

 templated with so much admiration, the conservative 

 system yields as large, if not a largei produce than 

 the destructive, with this additional advantage, that 

 the honey is not deteriorated by the unwholesome 

 fumes of the sulphur* made use of in suffocation ; 



* Objections are sometimes made to the free use of honey, 

 that it is very apt to produce disorders in the stomach and 



