•RirpoRTS, 37 



'Cape Blattca and Sierra Leone, and especially near tTio Gambia, 

 it is said, " these are fall of bees, to wliich tlie negroes formerly, 

 if not now, paid considerable attention, for the sake of the wax." 



Their hives were made of reeds and sedges, in the form of bask- 

 ets, which they suspended upon the outer boughs of the trees, so 

 thickly as at times to cause them in the distance to resemble the 

 fruit of the trees. Of the abundance of honey as elsewhere 

 found — the product either of the wild bee or of those readily 

 coyed into the suspended hive — evidence is not wanting. But as 

 we look about us, should we say even we see a land flowing with 

 milk, well might we ask, where is the honey ? Of no Canaan 

 fields, of no Indian wilds, of no African thickets, teeming with 

 bees and rendered sweet by the juices pr^essed from the fragrant 

 flower, can Hampshire County boast. As compared with other 

 lands, truly are the honey makers in this region " a feeble folk." 

 Since, then, with us, honey does not grow of itself, or spring out 

 of the earth like a plant, the question comes, shall we possess it? 

 Shall this delicious product enrich our larders? Shall this luxury 

 gratify the palate of our friends ? shall it tickle our own palate 

 even ? If to these questions an affirmative response is given, then 

 does it become us to care and make provision for the little busy 

 bee, which " improves each shining hour " in gathering for us 

 these delicious sweets. 



But in making provision for these little busy bodies, we do not 

 gratify the palate merely ; we may also replenish our purse ; for 

 surely a large profit accrues or may accrue to the wise apiarist. 

 This is readily seen. Should we not think five, or six or even 

 one hundred, per cent., a large income for our money or our pro- 

 duce, to insure us? Yea, verily, and yet even this high amount, 

 is sometimes yielded by these little workers. The statement 

 made by one a few years since is: " By the mode I pursue, cer- 

 tain swarms are made to pay, in the increase of stock and honey, 

 a profit of 100 per cent., while others give from 500 to 600 per 



