The Writings About Bees

by Steve Taylor

Title

The Writings About Bees

Artist

Steve Taylor

Medium

Digital Art - Digital Art

Description

The writer known as Columella (Lucius Junius Columella, c. 4-70 A.D.) wrote a treatise on agriculture called Res rustica, usually rendered in English as On Agriculture. It covered a variety of agricultural, medical, and botanical subjects, from the care and breeding of domestic animals to the cultivation of plants. Columella owned farms in rural Italy and infused his books with the unimpeachable wisdom of practical experience.

He gave advice on beekeeping. He describes how to acquire and maintain an apiary down to the most minute detail. Some of the advice is ingenious. Even in those days, bees were known to be fragile things (a lesson that resonates for us today). Bees, he warns us, are often “stricken with disease” Nevertheless, they are easy to domesticate with the right techniques, and are more or less docile animals.

The flowers that yield the best honey are those of thyme, followed by marjoram, rosemary, and Italian savory (satureia). Also good are the flowers of the tamarisk and the jujube tree. He then relates the best way to construct an apiary, the choice of beehives, and how to go about buying a “swarm” of bees of one wished to purchase them. According to Columella, a colony of bees only lasts for about ten years. After that, they tend to wither away.

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November 13th, 2019

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