TRANSPORTATION OF BEES. 159 



we cannot, of course, expect them to be very suc- 

 cessful. I have entered fully into this subject, when 

 speaking of early and late swarms, page 115. 



To obviate the consequences there apprehended, 

 some apiarians have had recourse to the practice 

 of removing their bees to fresh pasture ; to dis- 

 tricts where buckwheat is cultivated, or to the 

 neighbourhood of heaths, or to any other place 

 where such late blossoming flowers abound as 

 afford honey. Mr. ISAAC assures us that he 

 once had a poor swarm of a month's standing, 

 which only weighed five pounds four ounces, and 

 that on the 30th of July he had it removed to 

 Dartmoor Heath, from whence it was brought 

 home, two months afterwards, increased in weight 

 twenty-four pounds and a half. He moreover 

 states that the . increase of others, that were sent 

 there, was nearly proportional, and is of opinion 

 that the whole addition was made during the 

 month of August. 



In LOWER EGYPT, where the flower harvest is 

 not so early as in the upper districts of that 

 country, this practice of transportation is carried 

 on to a considerable extent. The hives after 

 being collected together from the different villages, 

 and conveyed up the Nile marked and numbered 

 by the individuals to whom they belong, are heaped 

 pyramidally upon the boats prepared to receive 

 them, which floating gradually down the river and 



