'PRICE OF BEES WAX OF HONEY CULTURE. 289 



eighteen-pence upwards. Our honey is chiefly col- 

 lected by the London and country dealers, from the 

 labourers in husbandry, by whom the culture of it 

 has long since been so much neglected, that not half 

 the quantity formerly gathered can now be obtained. 

 Very few farmers trouble themselves with it. In 

 Mr. Hagger's opinion, it might be of great use and 

 benefit to the labourers, were they in a state to 

 attend to it, as in former times, when five guineas 

 per annum has been so acquired by a cottager. 

 Bucks, Herts, and Essex, perhaps furnish the metro- 

 polis with the most considerable quantities of honey. 

 In past years, Mr. Hagger has collected as much as 

 half a ton in a season, from Herts, where lately it 

 has not been possible to obtain half that quantity. 



The chief customers for honey, are the druggists 

 and considerable families ; the labouring classes 

 seem entirely to neglect it. Scarcely any demand 

 remains for the purpose of mead, that liquor being 

 nearly out of vogue. Bees-wax is imported chiefly 

 from Africa and from Russia, price from six to 

 eighteen guineas per cwt. The English wax is 

 esteemed the best. The opinion seems to prevail 

 generally, that the old custom of destroying the bees 

 is the most advantageous. Preserving them may 

 succeed in a plentiful year of honey, otherwise the 

 winter stock of bee food must be defective, and the 

 hives most distressed will attack and rob their 

 neighbours ; or it may happen, that bees with a 

 short supply will abandon their hives, carrying the 

 stock of honey away with them. ; *V' 



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