330 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



13 water. If nature has not provided the proper food, 

 the owner must sow such plants as are generally 

 sought by bees, which are: roses, wild thyme, 

 apiastrum (balm gentle), poppies, beans, lentils, 

 peas, ocimuniy galingale,' lucerne, and especially 

 cytisus, which is very good for them when they are 

 unwell. Moreover it begins to flower with the 

 vernal equinox, and goes on flowering until the 



14 second, the autumnal equinox. While, however, 

 cytisus is excellent for their health, for honey- 

 making thyme is the best. And this is the reason 

 why the Sicilian honey bears the palm, for good 

 thyme is found there in abundance. And so some 

 people pound it in a mortar, add luke-warm water, 

 and sprinkle over all the seed plots which have been 

 sown for the bees. 



15 As for the situation : one near the farm-house is 

 best chosen for this purpose : some men have even 

 stationed the apiary for greater safety in the 

 portico ^ itself of the house. Hives are made round ^ 



^ Cyperum. Pliny (xxi, 18) describes the plant and the uses 

 made of it in medicine. 



^ In villae porticu. Cf. iii, 3, 5. 



^ Rutundas, supply alvos. Columella (ix, 6) follows Varro 

 closely : " If the district produces cork trees in abundance there 

 is no doubt that the most useful hives are made out of thin 

 cork, as such hives are neither bitterly cold in winter nor 

 stifling in summer ; fennel stalks also, as they resemble cork 

 in nature, will do equally well ; if neither material is at hand 

 wicker work may be used, failing- this, the wood of a tree 

 hollowed out or cut into planks. The worst hives are those of 

 earthenware, as they become furnaces in summer and ice- 



