74 
mischievous class, deserve a different treatment, or r 
the favour and kindness allowed to bees in the fabric 
of honey. If, on the contrary, they would favour the pro 
gation of these little animals, of which they know no 
benefit, they might multiply the services which they re 
us, and augment the harvest of the bees. ia 
’ The more we apply ourselves to the study of the differ 
productions of Nature, the better we shall perceive, tl 
they do not all turn to our immediate advantage, — 
at least tend to other ends, which should make us ad 
in their sovereign Author and Principle, an intelligence pro 
found, a wisdom infinite. 
— <hr 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
l 
x 
CONFIRMATION OF THE PRECEDING DISCOVERY, BY N 
EXPERIMENTS OF THE AUTHOR OF THE PYRAMIDAL 
HIVE, &c. vind . 
_ When I read for the first time, some years ago, the o 
vations of M. Boissier de Sauvages, (the foregoing chapte 
on the origin of honey, I was struck with astonishment, 
the boldness of the system, of which no agronomist h 
ever spoken, or even suspected. This was the end of the — 
year 1808, and long before we were able to begin our expe- 
-riments on this branch of natural history, following the steps _ 
of this naturalist, I read his observations daily, with the 
most profound attention, and in the beginning of spring, — 
I conceived the opinion, that this discovery might be byno 
means problematical; however, to remove all my doubts, it by 
was necessary that the results of my studies and experi- 
ments should conform to those which that sage said he had 
obtained. - te hey 
This discovery seemed to me so valuable for the advance- 
ment of the improvement of bees, an improvement which, “f 
3 
in my Opinion, ought to be extended to an infinitely greater ’ 
degree, that I determined nothing should be neglected to 
satisfy me of its utility. % 
Nevertheless, all my projects and hopes vanished, when 
Ireflected, that since M. Boissier de Sauvages wrote, in 1762, 
and no agronomist had answered the publication of his dis- 
covery; that Messrs. Bosc and Feburier, who had become 
oracles in this branch of rural economy, particularly Mr. 
