FIRST PRINCIPLES OF BEE-KEEPING. 127 



Esculent poppies in the brake he sowed, 

 Rich as a king in happiness ; and home 

 Returning late at eve, his frugal board 

 With unbought dainties cover'd : first was he 

 To cull the vernal rose, the autumn fruit ; 

 And when a wintery frost was even yet 

 Splitting the rock and fettering the stream, 

 That old man shore the soft acanthine leaf, 

 Chiding the zephyr and the spring's delay. 

 Therefore his hives the first with offspring teem'd 

 And swarms abundant ; soonest would the combs 

 Their foaming juices to his pressure yield : 

 The pine, the linden flourish'd best with him ; 

 And every blossom that with beauty clothed 

 His orchards to autumnal ripeness grew.' 



Virgil (by Kennedy). 



Of course in bee-keeping, as in other things, there 

 may be unavoidable failures. There are often bad 

 seasons for bees, and there are summers cold and wet, 

 when but little honey can be gathered, but perse- 

 verance, as I have said, will win the day at last. It 

 is said that George Stephenson, the great engineer, 

 when addressing young men, was accustomed to sum 

 up his best advice to them in these words, 'Do as 

 I have done — persevere.' 



CHAPTER XXX. 



FIRST PRINCIPLES OF BEE-KEEPING. 



I will now tell you a little about bee-keeping, but you 

 must quite understand that this book is not intended 

 as a guide-book. Such a book, you will have to get ; 



