i6 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



it seems matter for wonder that the bees contrived 

 to exist at all under such ingeniously complicated 

 mismanagement, born, as it was, of an ignorance 

 flawed by scarcely a single ascertained fact. But 

 the truth stands out pretty clearly that bee-keeping 

 two thousand years ago was really a very large 

 and important industry. One apiary is mentioned 

 by Varro as yielding five thousand pounds of honey 

 yearly, while the annual produce of another brought 

 in a sum of ten thousand sesterces. Pliny mentions 

 the islands of Crete and Cyprus, and the coast- 

 country of Africa, as producing honey in great 

 abundance. Sicily was famous for the good 

 quality of its beeswax, but Corsica seems to have 

 been one of the main sources of this. When the 

 island was subject to the Romans, it is said that a 

 tribute of two hundred thousand pounds' weight of 

 wax was yearly exacted from it. This, however, 

 is such an astounding figure that it must be taken 

 with a certain caution. 



Evidently the bees in the ancient world managed 

 their business in fairly good fashion, in spite of the 

 ignorance of their masters, or at least of the ancient 

 chroniclers de re rustica. But it should always be 

 borne in mind that the writers on husbandry and 

 kindred subjects were seldom practical men. 

 With the single exception, perhaps, of Virgil's 

 " Georgicon," these old books relating to apiculture 

 bear unmistakable evidence of being, for the most 

 part, merely compilations from writings still more 



