2i6 THE APIARY. 



Holborn. He was not only a tradesman, but was also 

 the apiarian of his day. He kept hives of thriving bees 

 on the roof of his house in Holborn, and many of the 

 nobility and gentry used to mount thither, in order to 

 inspect the apiary. At that period, Sl Pancras was a 

 "village two miles north-west of London," and what 

 is now the Regent's Park was open country. It was 

 then much easier for London bees to find their favourite 

 forage, but Mr. Wildman believed that his hives were 

 filled with stores from a considerable distance. Whilst 

 enjoying his country rambles on Hampstead Heath, he 

 had a shrewd suspicion that many of the bees he there 

 observed gathering honey were labourers from his own 

 apiary. In order to identify his own flock amongst the 

 rest, he hit upon a homely but very effective expedient. 

 Having borrowed Mrs. Wildman 's "dredging box," 

 he stationed himself near the entrance of his hives, and 

 gently dusted his bees with flour as they issued forth. 

 He then betook himself to Hampstead, where he found 

 his previous surmise confirmed, for there were numbers 

 of his bees in their livery of white. 



Wildman became noted for the remarkable control 

 he obtained over his bees, many instances of which he 

 exhibited before the public. Several of his operations with 

 them were regarded as feats of legerdemain by the 

 uninitiated, as when he appeared before King George III., 

 with a swarm of bees hanging in festoons from his 

 chin, or suspended in a cluster at arm's length. The 



