The apiary; or, bees, bee-hives, and bee culture [1878]: being a familiar account of the habits of bees, and the most improved methods of managementNeighbor, Alfred
Science
The apiary; or, bees, bee-hives, and bee culture [1878]: being a familiar account of the habits of bees, and the most improved methods of management
Dr. Evans addresses and describes the worker bee in two passages of
such real beauty that we cannot refrain from giving them a place
here:--
"Ye light-winged labourers! hail the auspicious sign,
When the twin stars in rival splendour shine!
Cheered by their beams, your quickening numbers swell,
And pant your nations in the crowded cell.
Blithe Maia calls, and bids her jocund train
Breathe the warm gale, or softly falling rain;
Inhaled at every pore, the dewy flood
Spreads the young leaf, and wakes the sleeping bud.
* * * * *
Yes, light-winged labourers! still unwearied range
From flower to flower, your only love of change!
Still be your envied lot, communion rare,
To wreathe contentment round the brow of care!
No nice distinctions, or of rich or great,
Shade the clear sunshine of your peaceful state;
Nor Avarice there unfolds her dragon wing,
Nor racked Ambition feels the scorpion sting;
Your tempered wants an easy wealth dispense,
The public store your only affluence:
For all alike the busy fervour glows.
Alike ye labour, and alike repose;[8]
Free as the air, yet in strict order joined,
Unnumbered bodies with a single mind.
One royal head, with ever-watchful eye,
Reins and directs your restless industry.
Builds on your love her firm-cemented throne,
And with her people's safety seals her own."
[Footnote 8:
"Omnibus una quies operum, labor omnibus unus."
Virgil, G. iv. 184.
]
[Illustration: Plate I.
E. W. Robinson, Delt. et Scp. 1865.]
§ V. THE ITALIAN OR LIGURIAN BEE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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