Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1843-08-03
NJ I S q lA "a u a 81 z o
II IL f HON Ely BEE.


ful article on the Honey Bee, in the laies
number of the London Quarterly Review:
The "masses" of every hive consist of two
Kinds of bees, the workers and the drones
The first are undeveloped females, the second
are the males. Over these presdes the moth
er OF the hive, the queen bee. The number
OF workers in strong hive is about $4,000
and oil drones about one to ten of these. This
proportion, though seldom exact, is never We.
ry much exceeded or fallen short of. A sim
gle family, where swarming is prevented, will
so o amount, according to br Bevan. to
oo'oOO or $4,000. In their wild state, if we
may credit the quantity of honey said to be
. ',.' uey must sometimes greatly exceed
this number.
"Sweet is the hum of bees" saws Lord Bv-
ron; and those who have listened 70 ,h;s
music in its full luxury, stretched upon some
sunny bed of heather, where the perfume If
The crushed thyme struggled with the faint
smell oil the bracken, can scarcely have failed
to watch the little busy musician,
"Wh honey'd thigh,
That at her f'w'ry work doth sing''
TOO well to require heightened description
oil heri how she fits from flower TO flower.
with caPrlcious fancy, not exhaustine the
sweets OF any one spot, but, on the princip)e
oil "live and let lIve," taking something for
herself, and leaving as much or more for the
next conner, passing by the Iust-opening and
taded flowers, and deigning to notice moi one
out OF five that are full blown, combining Tho
PhiiosoPhy OF the epicurean and eclectic: or
sull more like some fastidious noble. on rho
grand tour, with all the world before him. hnr-
skimming over the surface or tasting the
sweets OF society, carrying off some memento
from every spot he has lit upon, and vel leav-
ing plenty to be CLEANED by the next traveller,
dawdling in one place he knows not WHY,
whisking by another which would have amply
repaid his stay, and still pressing EDWARDS as
if in search of something, he knows not what
though he too often fails to carry home
the same proportion of happiness as his COM
peer does of honey.
"a bee among the flowers in spring,'' says
Paley. sis one Of the cheerfulest objects that
can DE looked upon. Its life appears to be all
enjoyment SO busy and so pleased''
The drone may be known by the noise he
makes. Hence his name. He has been the
butt of all who have ever written about bees
and is indeed a by-word ali the world over
No one can fail to hit off his character He
is the "lazy yawnirg drone" of Shakespeare
The
"Immunisque sedcns alicna ad pabula fucus"
of Virgil. "The drone,'' says Butler sis a
gross. stingiess bee, that spendeh his time il,
] gluttony and idleness. For, howsoever he
brave it with his round velvet cap, his side
gown, his full paunch, snd his loud voice, YET
he is but an idle companion. living by the
sweat of others brows. He worketh not al
all either at home or abroad, and yet spendet
as much as two laborers you shall never
find his nav without good drop of the pur-
est nectar. In the heat of the Lay he 1ielh
broad, alof, and about, and that with no small
noise, as though he would do some great act
but it is only for his pleasure, and to get him &
stomach, and then returns he presently to bis
cheer"
II has been often discussed whether coun
! try can be overstocked with bees we believe
this is quite as certain as that it may be over
peopled and overmanufactured. But that thi.
is not yet the case with regard to Britain, al
far at least as bees are concerned, we ieel G
qually sure. OF course it is impossible to as
J certain what number of acres is sufficient 70
tie support Of a single hive, so much depend
ing on the season and the nature Of the her
I bage but, nevertheless, in Bavaria only Ger
T tain number Of hives is allowed to be kept
! and these must be brought to an establishment
under the charge of skl(ul apiarian, eacl
f $50 hives. This is Capitalization and red
tapery with vengeance! A story is told
r that in a village in Germany, where the mum
Der of hives kept was regulated by law, ba
, season had nevertheless proved that the plac
was overstocked from the great weakness {
all the stalls in the neighborhood. There wa
E but one exception. This was the hive OF a
r old man, who was generally set down as be
: ing no wiser than his neighbors, and this pei
haps all the more, because he was very OF
servant of the habits Of his little friends, q
we'll as careful in harvesting as much hone
as he could But how came his hives to pro,
v per when all the rest were falling off? II
n cottage was no nearer the pasture. He &C
s tainly must have bewitched his neighbour
" hives, or made "no canny" bargain for h
o own. Many were the whisperings and gre
> the suspicious that no good would come o,
of the CATERS honey thus mysteriously oil
tanned. The old man bore all these surmist
patiently ; the honey harvest came round, an