Ill] OF BEES AND APIARIES 343 



than the amount stated. As in the case of ploughed 

 lands those who have yearly ' crops from them get 

 more corn after intervals of comparative rest, so with 

 hives, if you do not take the honey every year, or 

 take less of it, your bees are busier and pay better. 



34 The honey should first be taken, it is thought, at 

 the rising of the Pleiads, next when summer is over, 

 before Arcturus has fully risen, and for the third time 

 after the setting of the Pleiads; and at this time, 

 even if the hive be fertile, not more than a third of 

 the honey should be taken, and the rest should be 

 left for their winter supply, while if the hive be not 

 fertile none at all should be removed. When a large 

 amount is to be taken, it should not be removed all 

 at once or in sight of the bees, lest they lose heart. 

 If any part of the honey-combs which have been got 

 has no honey in it, or if what it has is dirty, that 



35 part must be cut off with a knife. Care should be 

 taken to prevent the weaker bees from being bullied 

 by the stronger, for so the yield is decreased. Ac- 

 cordingly the weaker are generally separated from 

 the rest and given another king. 



Those who will continually fight together should 

 be sprinkled with water sweetened with honey, when 

 they not only leave off fighting, but crowd together 

 and lick one another. The effect is more marked if 

 wine and honey is used, the smell of which makes 



* Restibiles. Cf. i, 44, 2 and 3, a passage which fully ex- 

 plains this, and makes unnecessary the insertion of non before 

 restibiles as proposed by Ursinus and others. Compare also 

 ii, 7, II. 



