Bee-hives in Scotland. 29 
Tt is not the want of proper pafture, that pre- 
vents bees from thriving well every year in 
thiscountry. The only preventative is the in- 
conftancy of the weather; for if it be windy, 
or cloudy, they will not go out of the hive; 
and, on the other hand, though the day fhould 
be quite dry, yet if the weather be cold, the 
bees will collect very little honey. g 
From all the above mentioned caufes, therefore, 
it is plain, that the bees and the bee-matter, 
have nothing fo adverfe to their intereft as the 
mutability of the weather; and the worft of 
the matter is, that nothing can be done to re- 
medy this evil. Only the proprietor, by ha- 
ving plenty of good pafture at all feafons, has 
this advantage, that whatever good weather 
occurs between February and September, he 
-may have his bees fo well fupplied with good 
: flowers, 
Scotland, than they have been for a confiderable time paft. This 
appears probable from different places ‘till bearing their names 
from thefe ufeful animals. For inftance, in my own native parith 
of Coldingham, there is a fteeding called Dee-Hdge, another 
named Bee-Park, and a rivulet denominated Bee-Burn. All thefe 
places have evidently derived their names fiom large quantities 
of bees having been formerly reared in them; as they are fituat~ 
4a on the dkirts of a large common, which is now divided, and 
where bees would ftill thrive well with proper care and attention, 
if the proprietors would exert themlelves to render thefe places. 
worthy the names they bee 
