QUE 



foil of the SliVbh-bloom inountains is variable, the furface 

 inclining to a black and alternately yellow flilT clay, of un- 

 equal deplbs, covering; a loofc, rotten rock, or a gritty 

 gravel, with occ;.fionally a little appearance of lime-ftone. 

 The wcftern fide, more generally, inclines to a ftrong red 

 clay, not unlike the nature of the foil in (omc of th 

 northern counties in Irtjji.d, where oats and potatoes only 

 »re fown ; but it generally is, throughout, ij ongy, wet, 

 and boggy to the lummit, and very rocky. Through the 

 whole of the county, except in the fouiheaflern corner, 

 near Carlow, where tlie collieries are cxtrr,five, bog is well 

 interfperfed, and is the general fuel. The depth of tliefe 

 bogs is various, and in fome parts undifcovered, the beft 

 fuel lying in fome a few fpadcs depth below the furface, in 

 others very deep. The moors are a (hallow bog, with a 

 flratum of gravel or clay, under one or two fpades depth ; 

 this particular kind is eafily reclaimed, and becomes the bell 

 and lureft land in the county, and the coit is here but 

 trilling, indeed often repaid in one year, having all the ma- 

 terials within themfelves. 



Amongll tlie mineral productions of this county, fir 

 Charles Cootc, the author of the Statiftical Survey, enume- 

 rates " coal, iron, copper, manganefe, mica, lime-ftone, 

 marble, free-llone, ochre, marie, fuller's-earth, and a great 

 variety of clays valuable in every branch of pottery." 

 Such an enumeration is of little ufe ; being recommended 

 neither "by detail of fafts and places, nor by accuracy of 

 information. The coal diftridl is in another part of the 

 fame work more fully noticed ; but the reader who wilhes 

 for information, is more likely to find it in the report of 

 Mr. Griffith, mining engineer of the Dublin Society, which 

 is fhortly to be publiflied. The coal is of that defcription 

 called j'Zonf coal, the glance-coal ot Jamefon, and beft known 

 by the name of Kilkenny coal. The Queen's county col- 

 lieries feem to have laboured under many difadvantages, from 

 want of capital or of proper exertion ; but a profpeft is 

 opening upon us of more attention to this fourcc of wealth. 

 There is a very fmall quantity of old timber in the Queen's 

 county. There are, indeed, leafes ftill in exiilence, by which 

 the tenant was obliged to cut, burn, or deftroy fo many 

 acres of wood, to clear the land for the plough ; a fyftem 

 which, if neceflary to the eftabliihment of order in the 

 county, was the caufe of reducing it to the bare ftate with 

 refpeft to timber, with which the Englifh traveller is fo 

 often ftruck. The Barrow and the Nore are the principal 

 rivers which water this county. Tiie latter ie not navigable, 

 though, being a fine deep and fpacious river, it might be 

 eafily rendered fo, by levelling the numerous weirs, that are 

 of great detriment to the adjoining lands, and throw up a 

 confiderable quantity of backwater. 



The Barrow is navigable throughout from Portarlington, 

 near which it beautifully expands and v?inds through exten- 

 five and fertile banks. Tliere are no lakes which deferve 

 notice. Maryborough is the county town, near which, as 

 well as Mountmelich and Monntrath, there was a confider- 

 able woollen mani'.fadlure of ftuffs, &c. which has declined. 

 For any particulars refpefting the towns, the reader is re- 

 ferred to the refpeftive articles. Befides thofe mentioned, 

 Portarlington is a place of fome importance, and Stradbelly 

 a neat town. The county is reprefented in parliament by 

 two knights of the lliire, and by one member for the bo- 

 rough of Portarlington. Maryborough and Ballynekill 

 were disfranchifed at the union. Sir C. Coote's Statiftic?.! 

 Survey. Beaufort's Memoir. 



Queen'j- Creek, a river of America, in North Carolina, 

 which runs into the Atlantic, N. lat. 34° 37'. W. long. 

 77° 28'. 



QUE 



Queen's River, a river of the ifland of Dominica, which 

 runs into the fea near Rofeau. 



Qvf.Kti-Bee, a term given by late writers to what ufed to 

 be called tho. king-bee, or king of the bees ; a large and long- 

 bodied bee, of which kind there is only one found in every 

 fwarm, and which is always treated willi the greateft refptft 

 by the rell. 



It is well known that the generation and whole economy 

 of bees principally depend upon this female fovcreign, and 

 that her prefei.ce is ablolutely ncceffary to the profperity and 

 fafety of the whole conimuuity ; infomuch that the lols of 

 the queen proves the certain and total deftniftion of the 

 fwarm or hive, unlefs the owner fupplies them in time with 

 another ruler. Without her prefence and direftion, the 

 other bees will do no manner of work ; they will gatiier 

 neither wax, nor honey, nor any other materials ; nor can 

 they breed and propagate their kind without her. A ftock 

 deprived of its queen, would yield to robbers, or elfe Ian- 

 guifh and pine away, fo tiiat the whole fociety would pcridi. 

 But as foon as a languidiing ilock is fupplied with a queen, 

 pleafure and aftivity are apparent through the whole hive ; 

 the prL-fenc'.' of the fovercign reftores vigour and exertion, 

 and her voice commands univerfal refpeft and obedience : of 

 fuch importance is the queen to the exiltence and profperity 

 of the other members of this community. As the parent and 

 fovereign of every fwarm is a female, the whole government 

 is vefted in one ; fo that where there happen to be more, as 

 there fometimes are, and efpecially in fwarms that are united, 

 confufion and difcord prevail, until all, except one, are ex- 

 pelled and flain. 



As in forming artificial fwarms, and for other purpofes, 

 it will be neceflary to dillinguifli the queen from the other 

 bees, we (hall obferve, that fhe may be known by her fize, 

 which is much larger than that of the common working-bees, 

 and longer than that of the drones ; by the form and fhape 

 of her body, efpecially of the hinder part of it, which is 

 more taper, and terminates in a much fharper point tlian 

 the bodies of the other bees, in order the more readily to 

 reacli the bottom of the cells, where the eggs are depofited 

 for the propagation of the fpecies (fee Generation o/'Bees): 

 and alfo by her colour ; her upper parts being fcarcely at 

 all different in this refpeft from the honeybees, but her belly 

 and legs are of a very deep yellow, refembling the purefl and 

 the richeft gold. It is faid that fhe may alfo be diftin- 

 guifhed by the note of her voice, which is an oftave ; and by 

 her being one of the laft which falls with her belly up- 

 wards, when the bees of a fingle ftock are dropped into 

 an empty hive, in order to be united with thofe of another 

 ftock. 



Naturalifts have obferved, that the queen-bees are pro- 

 duced in a manner peculiar to themfelves, and different from 

 the drones and working-bees. Some have fuppofed that the 

 eggs laid by the queen in a hive, and deftined for the pro- 

 duction of queen-bees, are of a peculiar kind ; but though 

 this is not the cafe, as M. Schiracii has lately difcovered, 

 yet there are particular cells appropriated for this purpofe. 

 Thefe cells are generally near the edges, and at the bottom of 

 the combs, and fometimes on the fides of a honey-comb ; 

 they are of an oblong orbicular form, and very ftrong ; and 

 are more or lefs numerous in different hives, as occafion feems 

 to require. It has been alfo fuppofed, that the matter with 

 which they are nourifhed is of a different kind and quality 

 from that employed for the nourifhment of the other bees ; 

 that which has been collected out of the royal cells being 

 of a gummy glutinous nature, of a deep tranfparent 

 red, and diflblving in the fire rather than crumbling to 

 powder. 



1 1 2 It 



