Plinie writeth in his vj. booke, where he willeth, that of al other clouen beaſtes, the Bees to bee principallye cheriſhed, bicauſe to man svſe they gather a ſubtile and wholeſome myre, beyng bery ſweete, and beſides they frame by a maruelous ſkill and cunning, theyr cotages of ware vnto mans vſe, that no workman (to be neuer ſo ingenious) can do the like. The profite alſo comming by them in a ſhort time, if the weather hindereth not, is ſo greate, that they increaſe in a ſhorte time into manye ſwarmes, which ſwarmes againe increaſe others, ſo that the firſte ſwarmes increaſed, they eſpecially thruſt forth from them in the moneth of May, or June, by whych meanes they cauſe a great increaſe of thē. As Varro affirmeth the ſame of two head Gentlemen in Spaine, which only by the means of their Bees, gayned yerely tē thouſand poūd (but I rather thinke fiue thouſand pounde, which alſo is very muche) yet here is to be noted, that the ſwarmes of ſyxe yeares olde, doe ſeldome encreaſe after other ſwarmes of themſelues, although in ware they giue a great yeelde and gayne to the owners.
¶Of the great care and diligeuce of the Bees. Cap. vij.
FIrſt certain Bees as the ſkilfull practiſers do write, ſtand in ye day time at the mouthes of ye Hyues, diligently loking to their buſineſſe, like warders placed at the gates of a Caſtel, that they maye defend in ſafegarde whom they will within. In the night time they ſetle thēſelues to reſt vnto the morning, vntil one of them by humming twice or thrice about, doeth ſo ſtyire them forward to flye out after the other. For if they happen to keepe themſelues in the morning within the Hiues, thē doth the ſame declare a tempeſt to inſue that daye. But being a cleare and fayre morning, then do they flye forth and returne againe to their Hiues, laden with the ſubſtaunce of the floures on their legges, for their buſineſſe, and this eſpeciallye doe the yonger Bees, ſo that the other Bees beſides do eyther carrye the water in their bils, or on the ſoft moſſineſſe of the whole bodie. The elder Bees remayning ſtill within, do alſo folow their
