Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 85.djvu/180

176 remains distinct, its special characteristic being its superiority over all other breeds in gathering honey; the particular marking of its best strain is still the glistening, golden color of the three largest of the rings of horny substance that encase the body of the bee. Even now we know no better rule to follow in requeening an apiary than to select for the purpose the offspring of the most beautiful and the most efficient queens at our command.

Again he tells us:

 When the inconstant swarms fly about and sport in the air, Condemn their hives, and leave their cold dwellings, You should restrain their unsettled minds from this vain play. Nor is it a great task to control them; Remove the wings of the king; while he remains behind None of the bees will dare to follow the path through the air, Or to tear up the standard from the camp.

In the spring bees are sometimes guilty of this "vain play," or swarming out, as it is called now-a-days, when feeling that summer is unduly delayed and that their store of honey has dwindled distressingly, they leave their hive, only to die of hunger or cold unless rescued by the apiarist. The point of interest here, however, is that one of the most approved of the modern methods of controlling the swarming impulse of the bees, is to clip the wings of the queen on one side, thus preventing her from flying away with the swarm and so necessitating its return to the hive, since, as Virgil knew, the bees will not desert the queen. Though he understood this principle which has become so important in the treatment of swarming, his method of making a swarm settle is, oddly enough, obsolete. We no longer beat the cymbals, as he directed, or sprinkle bruised herbs upon the ground to cause the bees to cluster and alight.

In view of the fact that artificial feeding is a very important factor in modern beekeeping, it is interesting to note that Virgil speaks of this process. Now-a-days the intelligent beekeeper feeds his bees not only to keep them from starving in case their stores run low; he also supplies them with trays of sugar syrup in the spring to stimulate them to raise broods sooner than they would otherwise do, so that they may be ready in large numbers to gather the harvest as soon as it comes. Virgil suggested to his followers that they should introduce honey into the hives by means of hollow reeds.

He understood remarkably well, in the main, what was necessary for the comfort and tranquillity of the bees. He knew that they needed constant sunshine to keep in a healthy condition, and that it was but poor economy to stint their food supply by taking too much honey from the hive. He thought that their homes should be kept in such neat and tidy shape as would make it easiest for them to protect themselves from