76 THE PRACTICAL BEE GUIDE. 



PART III. 

 MODERN BEE-KEEPING. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

 PAST AND PRESENT. 



141. Past Ignorance. — Previous to the introduction of what 

 are known as "modern methods," bee-keeping' was carried on 

 under most discouraging conditions. It is true that in very 

 early days sometliing was known of the habits of the honey 

 bee, and that so early as 70 B.C. Virgil, the Latin poet, put 

 forward in verse tlie results of his study of the habits of bees, 

 with a degree of accuracy sufficient to excite a wondering 

 admiration on the part of twentieth century readers. But to 

 the average bee-keeper the hive, until comparatively recent 

 times, was as a sealed book ; and the marvels that it contains, 

 the excellence of its internal economy, and the unselfish devo- 

 tion, wisdom, and singular attractiveness of its occupants were, 

 if known at all, known only to the few. Virtues and beauties 

 thus hidden could make but little appeal, as yet, to the 

 respectful admiration of human intelligence. The heroic acts 

 and incomparable works were wrought, like evil deeds, in 

 darkness : and man, loving only the visible, the tangible, 

 sceptic always of the unseen, had not learned that within the 

 secret places of the hive were enshrined mystery upon mystery, 

 and that within the humming insect, flitting in his garden from 

 flower to flower, there beat a heart brave and noble enough 

 to deserve his respect and even to awaken his love. 



142. Survival of the Unfit. — Unfamiliar with the instincts of 

 bee life, man found himself unable to control by gentleness, 

 and thought it necessary to resort to violence for the subjuga- 

 tion of insects armed by nature with stings. The harvest of 

 honey and wax was gathered at the expense of the lives of the 

 colonies. The strongest and fittest — those whose stores were 

 heaviest, were devoted to destruction ; the weakest and the 

 sickly were spared ; and the sulphur pit — that abominable 

 outrage upon industrious innocence, laid waste the home of 

 vigour and opulence, and secured the survival of the unfit (77). 



