The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1878-10-30


OF the origin of bees, the ancient
INDUCED in the most extravagan
fancies, some contending that they
originated from the putred carcasse
of animals.
Probably from witnessing thu
transformation of insects as miller;
| from moth worms, butterflies from
caterpillars, etc. They give recipe;
to produce swans of bees, the de
tails of which are too disgusting to
relate. Others, of finer and more
poetical conceptions, imagined that
bees were bred from the purest
juices of the summer flowers. Vir-
gil expresses something of this opin-
ion in the following from the fourth
book of his Georges: Chiefly You
will marvel at this custom, peculiar
to the bees, that they neither indulge
in congugal embrace nor softly dis
solve their bodies in the Joys of
love, nor bring forth young with a
mothers throes; but they, them
selves, Gull their progeny with their
mouths, from leaves and fragrant
herbs. They, themselves, raise up a
new King, and little subjects, and
build new palaces Of waXen realms"
With all these false notions of bees,
the ancients still possessed much
valuable knowledge. To Aristotle
and Virgil we are indebted for the
first description of Italian bees, which,
until recently, had been regarded as
a myth. Virgil remarks as follows
regarding the two varieties: "For
the one looks hideously ugly, as
when parched traveller comes from
a very dusty road and spits the dirt
out of his dry mouth. The other
shines and sparkles with brightness,
glittering with gold. This is the
better breed. From these, at stated
seasons of the sky, you may press the
luscious honey, yet not so luscious,
as pure and fit to correct the hard
relish of the grape" Again he says:
"There are two sorts, the one glor-
ious with refulgent spots of gold,
and is distinguished both by his
make and conspicuous with glittering
scales. The other is horribly de.
formed with sloth, and ingloriously
drags big belly"
Aristotle lived three hundred years
prior to the Christian era. He wrote
largely on every department. of natu-
the Great, placed at his disposal large
sums of money, and employed, dur
ing his campaign in Asia, more than
athousand persons in collecting speci-
mems for his use from all parts of the
animal kingdom. From his pen and
those of his pupils we are indebted
for much information in bee culture.
Columella about the commencement
of the Christian era, wrote large
work on "Husbandry," in which he
gives direction for the artificial
swarming Of bees. Supplying queens
to destitute colonies. Transferring
Matching brood to weak stock, and
many other useful operations Of
which the great multitude of bee
keepers are ignorant to this day
Varo and Pliny also wrote in a
manner which presupposes quite q
knowledge of the brood nest, all O.
which led to the belief that in those
early classic days very advanced
knowledge of bee culture prevailed
What is known in hisory as the" darl
ages now came on, and Tor the space
Of nearly fourteen hundred years NJ
progress was made in any department
of national history, but on the con
trary much was lost.
, AT the close of this dark era o
mental darkness the celebrated Johl
Ray appeared. He collected and az
ranged all which survived of the pre-
vious productions on entomology
Ray was succeeded by Lineus, tn
. inventor of the binomial system O
&. classification which is still used by al
l investigators of natural science. A
J, the close of the 18th century Swan
: meridian, Maraldi and Raumer wrot
: extensively on bees and hives, an
/ Shirach, Reims and others still later
5 These writers discovered many c
2 the facts connected with the secre
l working of the hive, which contribute
: largely in raising the vail of fgnc
: rance which still enshrowded this il
j, dustry and paved the way for tn
!. prince of apiarians-the great Hube
S who appeared about the close of til
: 18th. century, and with whose histor
Z every apiarian, worthy the name,
: acquainted. He, it was, who con