NARBONNE HIVE. 39 



hood of Narbonne, judging from the sale in this country 

 of what is called Narbonne honey by Italian warehousemen 

 and chemists ; those however who have travelled on foot 

 over the Narbonne district, as we have done, declare that 

 but few bees are kept compared to what we see about cot- 

 tages in England. 



When over there we inquired both about the hive in 

 use and the honey supply. The best honey is gathered 

 very early in the season, when the bees visit the wild 

 rosemary (Rosmarinus officinaHs, L.), which is most abun- 

 dant on the extensive hills to the right of the town, more 

 plentiful than the gorse(Ulex nanus) on our heaths. All 

 this early honey is sent off and sold at a high price. The 

 second harvest is very inferior in quality. 



The hives are not unlike the Gre- 

 cian, except that they are smaller, and 

 taper from the summit more gradually 

 downwards, whereas the Grecian is 

 very wide at the part where the wooden 

 bars are fixed. A common English 

 skep could easily be converted into a 

 Narbonne Hive. 



Cut off the top and fix a piece of 

 wood to the sides with spaces cut out improved narbonne hive. 

 by a hand-saw resembling bars, in the 

 Woodbury Hives, for the bees to attach the combs, at the 

 will of the bee-keeper. To those fond of experiments with 

 hives it may offer an inducement to make one for trial. 



To cottage bee-keepers, or gardeners, who have little 

 spare time at their disposal just when the honey harvest is 

 the most abundant, these would prove very interesting hives 

 if made with a v/indow at the back to allow the operations 

 of the inmates to be occasionally watched. 



