THE ANCIENTS AND THE HONEY-BEE 17 



ancient, or heterogeneous gatherings together of 

 hearsays and current fables of the time. It is 

 certain that the men who were actually engaged 

 in the craft of bee-keeping, and who knew most 

 about it, wrote nothing at all. Probably they 

 concerned themselves very little with the myths 

 and fables of bee-craft, and owed their success to 

 hard, practical, everyday experience, which is the 

 surest, and perhaps the only, guide to-day. 



