148 BEE-FARMING. 



could remember a society of birds, and another of bees, 

 who lived in the greatest harmony together ; but, should 

 any strange bird come to feed on the bees, they were in- 

 stantly repulsed by their feathered allies ; and, if strange 

 bees dared to venture near the birds' nests, the native 

 swarm attacked the invaders, and stung them to death ; 

 that his master and family had so much respect for the 

 above association that the tree was considered as sacred, 

 and was not to be touched by an axe until it should yield 

 to all-destroying time." 



Basil Hall gives the following curious account of bees 

 in South America : — 



" From the Plaza we went to a house where a bee- 

 hive of the country was opened in our presence. The 

 bees, the honey-comb, and the hive differ essentially from 

 those of Europe. The hive is generally made out of a 

 log of wood from two to three feet long and eight or ten 

 inches in diameter, hollowed out and closed at the end by 

 circular doors cemented close to the wood, but capable of 

 being removed at pleasure. Some persons use cylindrical 

 hives, made of earthenware, instead of the clumsy appa- 

 ratus of wood ; these are relieved by raised figures and 

 circular rings, so as to form rather handsome ornaments 

 in the verandah of a house, where they are suspended by 

 cords from the roof, in the same manner that the wooden 

 ones in the villages are hung to the eaves of the cottages. 

 On one side of the hive, half-way between the ends, 

 there is a small hole made just large enough for a loaded 

 bee to enter, and shaded by a projection to prevent the 

 rain from trickling in. In this hole, generally repre- 

 senting the mouth of a man, or some monster, the head 

 of which is moulded in the clay of the hive, a bee is con- 

 stantly stationed, whose office is no sinecure, for the hole 

 is so small that he has to draw back every time a bee 

 wishes to enter or leave the hive. A gentleman told me 

 that an experiment had been rnade of "narking the sen 



