THE BEE. 
325 
From a knowledge of this, in some parts of France and 
Piedmont, they have contrived a kind of floating bee-house. 
They have on board one barge, threescore or an hundred 
bee-hives, well defended from the inclemency of an acci- 
dental storm; and with these, the owners suffer themselves 
to float gently down the river. As the bees are continually 
choosing their Howry pasture along the banks of the stream 
they are furnished with sweets before unrifled ; and thus a 
single floating bee-house yields the proprietor a considerable 
income. Bees gather two kinds of wax, one coarse and the 
other fine. The coarser sort is bitter, and with this, which i 
called Propolis, they stop up all the holes and crevices of their 
hives. It is of a more resinous nature than the line wax, and 
is consequently better qualified to resist the moisture of the 
•season, and preserve the works warm and dry within. The. 
fine wax is as necessary to the animal's preservation as the 
honey itself. With this they make their lodgings, with this 
they cover the cells of their young, and in this they lay up 
their magazines of honey. 
As of wax, there are also two kinds of honey; the white 
and the yellow. The white is taken without fire from the 
honey-combs. The yellow is extracted by heat, and squeezed 
through bags in a press. The best honey is new, thick, 
and granulated, of a clear transparent white colour, of a soft 
and aromatic smell, and of a sweet lively taste. Honey made 
in mountainous countries is preferable to that of the valley. 
The honey made in the spring, is more highly esteemed than 
that gathered in summer, which last is still more valuable 
than that of autumn, when the flowers begin to fade and 
lose their fragrance. 
The bees are nearly alike in all parts of the world, yet there 
are differences worthy our notice. In Guadaloupe the bee 
is less by one half than the European, and more black and 
found, They have no sting, and make their cells in hollow 
'fees ; where, if the hole they meet with is too large, they 
tar in a sort of waxen house, of the shape of a pear, and in 
this they lodge and store their honey, and lay their eggs. 
They lay up their honey in waxen vessels of the size of a pi- 
geon’s egg, of a black or deep violet colour ; and these are 
so joined together, that there is no space left between them. 
The honey never congeals, but is fluid, of the consistence 
of oil, and the colour of amber. Resembling these, there 
are found little black bees, without a sting, in all the tropical 
c 'li mates ; and though these countries are replete with bees, 
like our own, yet these form the most useful and laborious 
tribe in that part of the world. The honey they produce is 
Neither so unpalatable nor so surfeiting as ours ; and the wax 
