36 THR BEE keeper's MANUAL. 



loss of his sight, and who nobly persisted in marrying him, 

 notwithstanding his misfortune, and the strenuous dissua- 

 sions of her friends. They lived for more than the ordinary 

 term of human life, in the enjoyment of uninterrupted 

 domestic happiness, and the amiable naturalist scarcely felt, 

 in her assiduous attentions, the loss of his sight. 



Milton is believed by many, to have been a better poet, 

 for his blindness ; and it is highly probable that Huber was 

 a better Apiarian, for the same cause. His active and yet 

 reflective mind demanded constant employment ; and he 

 found in the study of the habits of the honey bee, full scope 

 for all his powers. All the facts observed, and experiments 

 tried by his faithful assistants, were daily reported to him, 

 and many inquiries were stated and suggestions made by 

 him, which would probably have escaped his notice, if he 

 had possessed the use of his eyes. 



Few have such a command of both time and money as to 

 enable them to carry on, for a series of years, on a grand 

 scale, the most costly experiments. Apiarians owe more to 

 Huber than to any other person. I have repeatedly verified 

 the most important of his observations, and I take the great- 

 est delight in acknowledging my obligations to him, and in 

 holding him up to my countrymen, as the Prince of Apia- 

 rians. 



My readers will pardon this digression. It would have 

 been morally impossible for me to write a work on bees, with- 

 out saying at least as much as this, in vindication of Huber. 



I return to his discoveries on the impregnation of the 

 Queen Bee. By a long coursa of experiments most care- 

 fully conducted, he ascertained that like many other insects, 

 ■she is fecundated in the open air, and on the wing, and that 

 the influence of this lasts for several years, and probably 

 for life. He could not form any satisfactory conjecture, as 



