BEE-KEEPING. 43 



good honey district cannot be readily overstocked by 

 them. To-day, when the air is moist and warm, the 

 plants may yield a superabundance of nectar ; while to- 

 morrow, being cold and wet, there may be a total want 

 of it. When there is sufficient heat and moisture, the 

 saccharine juices of plants will readily fill the nectaries, 

 and be as quickly replenished when carried off by the 

 Bees. Every cold night checks the flow of honey, and 

 every clear warm day reopens the fountain. " The 

 flowers expanded to-day, must be visited while open, for if 

 left to wither, their stores are lost. Bees cannot collect 

 to-morrow what is left ungathered to-day." 



How long shall it continue to be said that we thus 

 allow God's gifts to be wasted before our eyes .' This 

 has become an age of utilization. See the multitude of 

 formerly " waste" products that are now made useful ; 

 and yet, throughout the length and breadth of this flowery 

 land : 



" Full many a flower is bom to blush unseen. 

 And waste its fragrance on the desert air." — Gray. 



I appeal, therefore, to the clergymen, the country 

 gentlemen, and all those who, by their rank and position, 

 are looked up to, and have influence with the labouring 

 classes, and would say to them : Encourage by every 

 means in your power the spread and growth of Bee- 

 keeping. Teach by the force of example what satisfac- 

 tory results may be obtained by improved hives, and a 

 more sensible and humane policy towards our interesting 

 and industrious little fellow-labourers ; let it be seen that 

 the produce of a dozen hives, with little labour, and 

 scarcely any outlay, will suffice to pay the rent or find 

 shoes for the little ones ; and in the course of a few years, 

 we shall find no cottage without its hive or hives, and 



