Yet sure I am
of this, that no one living creature corrupteth without the production
of another, as we may see by ourselves, whose flesh doth alter into
lice, and also in sheep for excessive numbers of flesh flies, if they
be suffered to lie unburied or uneaten by the dogs and swine, who
often and happily present such needless generations.
As concerning bees, I think it good to remember that, whereas some
ancient writers affirm it to be a commodity wanting in our island, it
is now found to be nothing so. In old times peradventure we had none
indeed; but in my days there is such plenty of them in manner
everywhere that in some uplandish towns there are one hundred or two
hundred hives of them, although the said hives are not so huge as
those of the east country, but far less, and not able to contain above
one bushel of corn or five pecks at the most. Pliny (a man that of set
purpose delighteth to write of wonders), speaking of honey, noteth
that in the north regions the hives in his time were of such quantity
that some one comb contained eight foot in length, and yet (as it
should seem) he speaketh not of the greatest.
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