246 BOTH SIDES OF THE QUESTION. 



On the OTHER HAND, it is asserted that the bee 

 never deranges the flowers which it visits, or ob- 

 structs generation by injuring the little embryos ; 

 and that it is even somewhat questionable, whether 

 those visits are not of great use in promoting the 

 fructification of flowers and blossoms, by conveying 

 the dust or seed of the male flowers into the re- 

 ceptacle of the female ; and whether or not the sole 

 use of the honey of plants may be merely to tempt 

 insects. 



Much of the above, on one side or the other, 

 seems, at present, to consist of questionable specu- 

 lation. One point, however, may be looked upon 

 as established, bees have never yet been kept in this 

 country to such an extent as to produce any palpable 

 injury either to our fields or our gardens : and as it 

 is not very probable that they ever will be, the as- 

 certainment of the fact in question is of the less 

 consequence. Our object is to caution the reader 

 on the enthusiasm, however well intended, of the 

 professed and too sanguine Apiarian, and to point 

 out the true and rational grounds on which the 

 business of the hive may be pursued in this country, 

 together with the best instructions in our power to 

 furnish, for the attainment of success. 



To come at once to the point : having the leading 

 argument above in view, it does not appear that to 

 keep bees with the expectation of commercial profit, 

 can possibly answer the ends of any but our la- 

 bouring cottagers. Were the counties of Essex, 

 Hants, or Surrey, to enter into this branch of rural 

 economy, to the extent recommended by those writers, 

 who, astride upon their hobby-horses, urge them for- 



