344 VARRO ON FARMING [bk. 



them come to it with great eagerness and drink 

 until they are stupefied. 



36 If too few come out of the hive, and some con- 

 stantly remain behind, recourse must be had to 

 fumigations, and near by some sweet-smelling 

 herbs ^ should be placed, in particular apiastrum 



37 and thyme. The utmost care must be taken to pre- 

 vent their dying from extreme heat or cold. If ever 

 they have been surprised while feeding by a sudden 

 shower or fall of temperature, which even they had 

 not foreseen — for it rarely happens that they are 

 deceived — and the big drops have struck them to 

 the earth where they lie as dead, you must put^ 

 them together into some vessel, and place them out 

 of the way in a sheltered and moderately warm spot, 

 and the next day when the weather is at its best, 

 bits of fig-wood should be burned to ashes, and 

 these, when they are a little hotter than lukewarm, 



^ Herharum. A use of the genitive rare in Latin, quite com- 

 mon in Greek, as in such phrases as o\vov mvuv, Trig yVQ rkfivuvy 

 etc. Cf. Varro, iii, 17, 7. 



^ Colligendum. It is remarkable that both Columella (ix, 

 13, 4) and Pliny (xi, 20) speak of this practice as adopted for 

 the resuscitation in the spring of bees that have died on the 

 approach of winter. Pliny says : " Some people think that the 

 dead bees revive if they are kept in the house during the 

 winter, and then, when the spring comes are warmed in the 

 sun and kept hot for a whole day in fig-wood ashes." Columella 

 {loc. cit) makes substantially the same statement about bees 

 which have died from disease, taking Hyginus as his authority, 

 "who himself followed ancient authors and dared not assert 

 the truth of the story." In any case. Columella says, the best 

 thing is to prevent them from dying. 



