that his bees, with the most ordinary care, | that two and two make four. Yet, for all this, will pay his rent, and he will find that your the figures of the arithmeticians have proword is good, and that he has something to duced more fallacies than all the other spare for his trouble; he may then be led to figures of the Schools. We shall enter, pay the same respect to his little lodgers as therefore, into an exact calculation of prothe Irish do to the less cleanly animal that acts fit and loss, which is, after all, almost enthe same kind part of rent-payer by them. But tirely dependent on the seasons and the dewhen the marvellous statistics of bee-books gree of care bestowed. Statistics, such as are laid before a laborer, their only effect Mr. Thorley's, might just be as well applican be to rouse an unwonted spirit of coveted to the stock of graziers without any conousness, which is more than punished by the still greater disappointment that ensues. Here follows one of those quiet statements, put forth with a modest compla cency that out-Cobbetts Cobbett :

sideration of the number of acres they held; for he gives us no receipt how to find pasturage for 8,000 bee-hives.

Dr. Warden, a physician of Croydon, who wrote in the year 1712 a book called "The True Amazons, or the Monarchy of Bees,"

"Suppose, for instance, a swarm of bees at the first to cost 10s. 6d. to be well hackled, and-and of whom we can discover nothing neither them nor their swarms to be taken, but to do well, and swarm once every year, what will be the product of them for fourteen years, and what the profits, of each hive sold at 10s. 6d.?

more than that the front of his bee-house was "painted with lions and other creatures not at all agreeable"-found the neighboring furze of Coombe and Purley not "unprofit ably gay," if we may believe his assertion that his bees brought him in £40 a-year: he might have passed rich at that time in such a locality, if his physician's fees brought him in an equal sum. That the ancients did not neglect the profit to be derived from their hives, we learn from Virgil's old gardener-to whom we cannot too frequently recur-and from two veteran brothers mentioned by Varro-the type perhaps of the Corycian of the Georgicswho turned the little villa and croft left by their father into a bee-house and bee-garden -realizing, on an average, 10,000 sesterces a year. They seem to have been thrifty old bachelors, and took care to bide a good market. Among the plunder of Verres were 400 amphora of honey.

Mr. Thorley, from whose book the above We will now suppose that, having made statement is taken, had better have carried up our mind on the matter of profit, and it on for three years further, which would being sting-proof, we have got an old-fashhave given him within a few pounds of ioned straw hive, which we purchased in £35,000-a very pretty fortune for a cot- autumn for a guinea, safely placed under tager's daughter; the only difficulty would our heath-thached bee-house; that we have be to find a man who had heart to get rid also got one of the improved Grecian strawof a capital that doubled itself every year. hives ready to house the first swarm in. It is like Cobbett's vine, that on a certain Some fine warm morning in May or June, system of management was to produce so a cluster of bees having hung out from the many upright stems, and from each of these hive some days before, the whole atmos. so many lateral branches, and on each lat-phere in the neighborhood of the bee-house eral so many shoots, and on each shoot seems alive with thousands of the little so many buds, and every bud so many creatures, whirling and buzzing, passing and bunches and pounds of grapes-so that you might count the quantity of wine you were to make on the day that you planted the tree. There is nothing like an array of figures if you wish to mislead. All seems so fair, and clear, and demonstrative-no appeals to the passions, no room for a quibble-that to deny the conclusion is to deny

repassing, wheeling about in rapid circles like a group of maddened Bacchanals. This is the time for the bee-master to be on the alert. Out runs the good housewife with the frying-pan and key-the orthodox instruments for ringing and never ceases her rough music till the bees have safely settled in some neighboring bough. T

dense

group,

custom, as old as the birth of Jupiter, is which may serve as a rallying point for the emione of the most pleasing and exciting of the grants. To this they repair by degrees, and, procountryman's life; Hogarth, we think, in-vided their queen has alighted there, all, or at troduces it in the background of his "Coun- least the greater part, crowd around, and form a try Noises," and there is an old colored times clustered like a bunch of grapes, according sometimes rounded like a ball, someprint of bee-ringing still occasionally met to the nature of the resting-place they have fixed with on the walls of a country inn that has on." p. 138. charms for us, and makes us think of bright sunny weather in the dreariest November day We quite feel with Mr. Jesse that we should regret to find this good old custom fall into disrepute. Whether, as Aristotle says, it affects them through pleasure, or fear, or whether indeed they hear at all, is still as uncertain as that philosopher left it, but we can wish no better luck to every beemaster that neglects it than that he may lose every swarm for which he omits to raise this time-honored concert.*

The whole matter of swarming is so important, that we should be doing wrong to pass it over without giving the following graphic account from the "Naturalist's Library :"

This first settlement is, without doubt, merely a rendezvous before their final emigration. If not hived, they will soon be off, and in a direct line, for some convenient spot which has been marked by them before. We have known them make straight for an old hollow pollard, the only one to be found within a mile or two of the hive. The old queen always accompanies the first swarm; and for this a fine day is reckoned more necessary than for the after-swarms, as it is the old lady, says Mr. Golding, that shows the greatest dislike to leave home in bad weather. If this swarm again sends forth a colony the same year, it is the same queen again who puts herself at the head of "The laying of drones' eggs having terminated, her nomade subjects. Indeed, notwithstandthe queen, previously large and unwieldy, becomes slender in her figure and more able to fly, and being Mr. Golding's remark, there is very gins to exhibit signs of agitation. She traverses little of the old woman about her. the hive impatiently, abandoning the slow and state- There seems to be no unerring method ly step which was her wont, and in the course of by which the exact time when the first her impetuous progress over the combs she com- swarm will leave the hive can be determinmunicates her agitation to the workers, who crowded-their hanging from the entrance being around her, mounting on her back, striking her very fallacious-except by watching the briskly with their antennæ, and evidently sharing in her impatience. A loud confused noise is heard general state of things within. With the throughout the hive, and hardly any of the workers after-swarms, however, there is a most are observed going abroad to forage; numbers curious and certain signs in the "piping are whirling about in an unsettled manner in front or trumpeting" of the queen and the prinof the hive; and the moment is come, to a con- cesses, to which we have before referred. siderable portion of the family, for bidding adieu About the ninth day from the issue of the to their ancient abode. All at once the noise of first swarm, if another colony is about to the interior ceases, and the whole of the bees about the doors re-enter; while those returning loaded leave the hive, this singular duet, in most from the fields, instead of hurrying in as usual, regular intonation, between the emerged hover on the wing, as if in eager expectation. In queen and the princess still a prisoner in a second or two, some workers present themselves her cell, is heard; and, extravagant as the again at the door, turn round, re-enter, and return account may seem, and confused and eminstantaneously in additional numbers, smartly bellished as it has been from the times of vibrating their wings, as if sounding the march; Aristotle and Virgil till recent days, it is and at this signal the whole swarm rushes to the entrance in an overwhelming crowd, streaming now the practical sign by which every atforth with astonishing rapidity, and filling the air tentive bee-keeper judges of the time of in an instant, like a dark cloud overhanging their emigration of the after-swarms. late habitation. There they hover for a moment, reeling backwards and forwards, while some of the body search in the vicinity for a tree or bush

The second swarm is called a "cast," the third a "smart," the fourth a "squib." A swarm from a swarm is called a 66 maiden or virgin swarm," and the honey is reckon

The following dogged "proverbial philosophy" will give the supposed relative values of early and late swarms:

"A swarm in May

Is worth a load of hay;
A swarm in June

Is worth a silver spoon;

A swarm in July

Is not worth a fly."

ed more pure. It seldom, however, happens their error, and turn from him in unmitigathat there are more than two from the same ted disgust. This scene has been actually hive, except in such a year as the present, observed. which has been a glorious bee-year. Such also was 1832; and there are on an average two good years in every ten. 1838 and 1839 were particularly disastrous to the bees.

It would be an endless work to recount the many stories told of the devoted attachment of these good people to their queen. Her presence among them is their life and glory. She is the mainspring upon which all their work, their order, their union, their happiness seems to turn. Deprive them of her, and all is confusion, disorder, and dismay. They seem to mourn for her when dead, and can with difficulty be withdrawn from her corpse. The following extract from a private letter describes such a scene as all bee-books are full of:

It is time to say something of Her Majesty of the Hive. She is the mother as well as the queen of her people, laying from 10,000 to 30,000 eggs in a year, and it is not till she gives symptoms of continuing the race till the full tide of her subjects' affection is poured forth towards her. They prefer a Victoria to an Elizabeth. There are different cells formed for the queen, the worker, and the drone, and she deposits "Last year I was sent for by a lady, who, when eggs in each accordingly. The bees, like a she wants my assistance, sends all over the parish wise and loyal people as they are, do not for me with a little note with the picture of three stint their sovereign to the same narrow bees in it, and this calls me at once to her aid. One mansions as content themselves; they build of her bee-hives-a glass one-I found when I artheir royal cells much thicker and stronger, rived in the state of the greatest confusion, the inand of more than twice the size: nay, un- mates running up and down, and making a fearful noise. We soon discovered the reason of this. On like the surly blacksmith at Brighton, who looking about the bee-house, we observed her mahesitated to give up his house for the con-jesty quietly taking an airing abroad unknown to venience of his sovereign, they think no- her subjects,-she had got through a hole which thing of pulling to pieces and converting had been left for air. We thought it was time for several of their common cells when royalty her majesty to return home, so we quietly put her requires it, and vote with alacrity in their back to her subjects. Where all had been confucommittee of supply every demand made sion perfect peace instantly prevailed-the news for the extension and improvement of their the little loyalists was manifested by a gentle plawas communicated in a moment-the pleasure of sovereign's palace. When finished, their cid motion of their wings, and they returned forthminiature Windsors resemble the inverted with to their former labors." cup of an acorn somewhat elongated. We said that each has its peculiar cells, and that the queen lays only drone eggs in drone cells, and so on. But it has happened, either in her flurry or from some unaccountable accident, that a drone egg has fallen into a royal cell. Time goes on, and the egg swells, and becomes a larva, and then a pupa, and the bees feed it with royal food, watch its progress with anxious care, and hover in the antechamber in nervous expectation of the royal birth-judge then their surprise when, instead of a princess royal, out walks the awkward and mystified changeling of a drone. Their innate and extreme sense of loyalty does not at first allow them to discover their mistake; they crowd round about him, backing with reverence, as they always do in the presence of their real queen: meanwhile the foolish fellow, addled by their homage, and yet chuckling at his unexpected dignity, turns himself about with the incredulous stare of Hassan the sleeper when he awoke in the palace and robes of the khalif, and, with the strut of dear old Liston in the "Illustrious Stranger," so soon commits himself by his ungainly actions, that they quickly find out

In this case the Queen had slipped out by a back door, wishing no doubt to enjoy that privacy and quiet which royalty so often sighs after; at other times, when she walks out in public, she meets with that respectful homage and freedom from interrupon which may read a good lesson to the British public.

"There I saw the old Queen-bee walking round the stone at the mouth of the hive as if she was tak ing an airing, and of all the sights I ever saw in my life nothing ever pleased me better. I would them paying homage to her as she walked round not have lost seeing it on any account-to witness in the open air pleased me exceedingly."-Smith,

p. 91.

"Whenever the Queen goes forth to take the air, as she often does, many of the small bees attend upon her, guarding her before and behind. By their sound I have known when her majesty has been coming forth, and have had time to call persons who have been desirous of seeing her."-Sydserff,

ch. iii.

With the alteration of a few words, who would not think this the description of the Terrace at Windsor, or the Chain-pier at Brighton, and of the English people when on their best behavior? All the wonderful

are still involved in the utmost mystery. Whether she loves the pale moonlight, or whether, as we are inclined to suppose with Huber, she prefers a bright May morning, and, hero-like, lights her torch of love on high, in either case she scrupulously shuns the curious eye of man, who has in vain endeavored to pry into those mysteries which she as industriously conceals.

tricks with which Wildman the bee-conju- the time and scene of her matrimonial trip rer astonished the last generation were effected by taking advantage of their instinctive loyalty. He made the bees follow him where he would, hang first on this hand, then on that, or settle wherever his spectators chose. His secret consisted in having possession of the Queen, whom they clustered round wherever he might move her. Nor are they merely summer friends; the workers will defend their queen in the utmost strait, and lay down their lives for her. For they sting but once, and that sting is death to them; "Animasque in vulnere ponunt." How many a human sovereign has been left in his last hours by those who had basked in the sunshine of his power! The bees teach us a better lesson. Dr. Evans, whose poem of "The Bees," though sometimes rather Darwinian, is extremely interesting and true to nature, gives in his notes this affecting anecdote:

If it should be thought surprising that men who have devoted their lifetime to studying the habits of bees have failed to come to any satisfactory conclusion on this subject, it will be far more a matter of wonder to learn what they have been enabled to discover. We allude particularly to the power possessed by the workers, when they have lost their natural monarch, of converting the grub of one of the common bees into a royal, and consequently prolific personage. Such an extraordinary assertion, first published by Schirach, though proba "A queen in a thinly-peopled hive lay on a bly known in earlier times, may be supposed honeycomb, apparently dying; six workers sur- to have met with no ordinary opposition, rounded her, seemingly in intent regard; quivering but it has been confirmed by repeated obtheir wings as if to fan her, and with extended servation and experiment, and is as well atstings, as if to keep off intruders or assailants. On tested-thanks to Huber especially-as any presenting them honey, though it was eagerly de- such facts can ever be. Being so estabvoured by the other bees, the guards were so completely absorbed in their mournful duty, as entirely lished, we may assert it to be (without any to disregard the proffered banquet. The following reservation whatever) by far the most exday the queen, though lifeless, was still surrounded traordinary fact ever brought to light in by her guard; and this faithful band of attendants, natural history. Fully to comprehend it, as well as the other members of the family, re- we must refer our readers to the great difmained at their post til death came kindly to ex- ferences we stated in the former part of this tinguish both their affection and their grief; for though constantly supplied with honey, not a bee paper to exist between the workers and the remained alive at the end of four days." queen, or rather to the more minute anatomical distinctions given by entomological We must not, however, invariably expect writers; and then they are called upon to the same conduct; perhaps, indeed, if it believe that, by enlarging three common were so, it would lower the quality of the cells into one, and feeding the worm not feeling, and reduce it to too mechanical an more than three days old with a peculiar instinct. Bees, like men, have their differ- food, richer than the common bee-breadent dispositions, so that even their loyalty called, from its queen-making qualities, will sometimes fail them. An instance not " royal jelly,"-not only is its body lengthlong ago came to our knowledge, which ened, its wings shortened-its wax-pockets probably few bee-keepers will credit. It and its bread-basket and down on its legs was that of a hive, which, having early ex- obliterated-its sting and proboscis altered hausted its store, was found, on being ex- in shape-its fertility developed-but all amined one morning, to be utterly deserted: -the comb was empty, and the only symptom of life was the poor Queen herself, "unfriended, melancholy, slow," crawling over the honeyless cells, a sad spectacle of the fall of bee greatness. Marius among the ruins of Carthage-Napoleon at Fontainebleau was nothing to this.

That the mother of so large a family and queen of so rich a store passes her honeymoon somewhere may be reasonably supposed, but such is her innate modesty that

its instincts and habits so completely changed, that no difference whatever is observable, when it emerges from the cell, from the rightful queens, either in the character and duties it assumes, or in the reverence paid it by the masses. What would not Napoleon, when he assumed the purple, have given for some jars of this "royal jelly !"

We much wish that we had space to describe at length the jealousy and combats of rival queens, the senses of bees, and their

architecture, and general economy of the dancing-master, and such a mutual love hive; but half the interest of these things cherished as the age of seventeen is apt to depends on that freshness and minuteness produce." It was far too deep and too true of detail which is best given in the words an affection to run smooth. The father of of the original eye-witnesses. It is only by the girl naturally regarded the growing a figure that we can include in this class blindness of the youth as destructive of all him who has deservedly been placed at the advancement in life, and positively forbade head of all writers upon bees-the intelli- his suit. Meanwhile poor Huber dissembled gent and enthusiastic Francis Huber. No his increasing infirmity as well as he could, one who ever hopes to be master of a bee- and, with a pardonable fraud, spoke as house should be ignorant of his services, though he could really see. There was at nor of the difficulties under which he per- least language enough in his eyes for Maria formed them. His name has been so long Lullin, and she, as resolute as her father, before the public that many will learn with would allow no subsequent misfortune to surprise that he died, at the age of eighty- quench the light of other and happier days. one, so late as December, 1831. An appro- At twenty-five, and not till then, did the law priate tribute has been paid to his memo- allow her to decide for herself, and seven ry by his brother naturalist De Candolle, long years was a dangerous trial for any from which the following facts of his life are girl's fortitude, beset with the remonstrantaken. ces of her friends, and the daily vanishing hopes of restoration of sight to her lover. But she was nobly faithful. She was proof against all persecutions and persuasions; and when the seven weary years were at length over, she gave her hand where her heart had been given long before-to him, who, though her husband, could scarcely act the part of her protector. The youthful partners at the dancing-academy naturally ripened, as our Scotch friends can best understand, into partners for life. And she became not only Huber's wife, but his assistant in his researches ; she was eyes to the blind," his reader, his secretary, his observer.

No higher praise can be given to Huber than to say that he was worthy of her. He was the most affectionate and devoted of husbands.

Among the witty and the vain who formed Voltaire's applauding clique at Ferney was one who, though remarkable in his own day even in so briliant an assemblage for his conversation and accomplishments of society, would scarcely have been remembered but for his more illustrious son. This was John Huber, the father of him who is the Father of Bee-masters; and Francis himself probably enjoyed the honor, at whatever that may be rated, of being patted on the head by the patriarch of Ferney; for he was a precocious and enthusiastic child, and the pride of his father, who imparted to him that love of science which, while it produced the misfortune, proved also the comfort of his life. One of his relations had ruined himself in the search after the philosopher's stone; and he himself impaired God's greatest blessing of sight at the early age of fifteen, by the ardor with which he devoted himself to philosophical studies. His father sent him to Paris to be under the care of the most experienced physicians; but though his general health, which had also given way, was restored by the sensible prescription of rural life and diet, the cataract baffled the skill of the oculist Ven- "Ingentes animos angusto in pectore versant." zel, and he was sent home with no better It was, we believe, this true story that furpromise than that of a confirmed and in-nished the episode of the Belmont family creasing blindness. "His eyes, however," in Madame de Staël's "Delphine.' says his biographer De Candolle, " notwithstanding their weakness, had, before his departure and after his return, met those of Maria Aimée Lullin, a daughter of one of the syndics of the Swiss republic. They had been companions at the lessons of the

* Translated in the Edin. N. Philosoph. Journal for April, 1833. De Candolle has also named a genus of Brazilian trees, in his honor, Huberia laurina. It should have been a bee-plant.

"Her voice was all the blind man knew,

But that was all in all to him!" "As long as she lived," he used to say in his old age, "I was not sensible of the misfortune of being blind." And, alluding to her small stature, he would apply to her the character of his favorite bees,

Huber was fortunate not only in his wife but in his servants and children. Burnens, who under his tuition and direction made the greater part of his observations upon bees for him, has this due tribute paid him by his master and his friend:

"It is impossible to form a just idea of the patience and skill with which Burnens has carried out the experiments which I am about to describe. He