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»viir.] N ATURAL P RODUCTS. 431 Ithan Cyprus, where the mulberry-tree grows in great ! luxuriance to the altitude of 5000 feet, and the warmth 'and dryness of the climate is highly favourable to the silkworm. There is no tax upon the mulberry, and .\should artificial irrigation be encouraged by the "tgovernment, this tree · should be generally planted throughout the Messaria and all other districts, and a special impulse should be directed to silk development. Formerly the production of silk was an important export to France, but of late years it has I 'decreased to a mere bagatelle. In the spot where I I am now writing there are numerous mulberries in a profusion of rich foliage sufficient for the production I of two pounds of silk by each tree ; but they are I entirely neglected, and the same depression in the silk cultivation may be remarked throughout the j island. The numerous wild-flowers, together with the blossoms of oranges and lemons, are highly favourable to bees, of which there are several varieties ; but there is no export of wax, which is used within the island for the manufacture of candles and tapers for the various churches. The Cyprian bee-hive is a contrivance which is extremely simple, at the same time that it possesses the great advantage of sparing the bees when the comb is to be saved. I see no reason why this primitive arrangement should not succeed in England, and thereby save countless swarms from destruction. The hive is an earthenware cylinder about three feet six inches or four feet in length, by ten or twelve inches in diameter ; this might be represented by a common chimney-pot. One end is securely stopped by a wad of straw, neatly made in a similar manner to the back

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