234 [Senate 



ed the bees cluster around each other so firmly that the animal heat 

 enables nature to perform her perfect work; and the wax exudes 

 through the pores, and is found on the surface of the bee's body in 

 little fiakesj from thence it is taken by the bees, and in the same de- 

 gree of heat is welded on to enlarge the combs. In trying some ex- 

 periments directed to this point, a good many years since, I found 

 that bees were unable to retain honey in their stomachs or sacks only 

 until the sixth day. In this case, I kept the hive so cold, that the 

 bees were unable to secrete wax to any advantage, and their storage 

 in the hive was insufficient, even for what the bees had on hand, it 

 being a new" swarm, and such always leave the old stock with abun- 

 dance of food to last their journey, and until they can lay the foun- 

 dations of new combs: but w^hat surprised me most in this case was, 

 on the sixth day (from swarming,) the honey became chrystalized 

 the instant the atmosphere struck it, and fell down upon the bottom 

 board like little shot, as it was ejected from the stomachs of the 

 bees. Hives made perfectly tight so as to exclude all air, except a 

 bare sufficiency for the bees to work, will be a partial remedy for the 

 evils of placing small swarms in large hives; but it is found by ex- 

 perience that doubling swarms is a far better practice. All the hives 

 of an apiary should be made on a perfect system, so as to render all 

 the appendages, draws or boxes, bottom boards, &c. so near alike 

 as to fit any place or hive; this renders the management of bees very 

 easy, and prevents a thousand perplexities and mistakes. I have 

 constructed ten classes of hives, varying in size and shape, and will 

 admit of more than a hundred variations; the appendage^ of one class 

 may be applied to any or all the classes of the same denomination, 

 which are only two, swariner and non-sioarmer^ varying in size 

 from half a bushel to three bushels; but I shall urge none of them 

 upon the public in this place. I shall show only some of the principles 

 and reasons, in addition to what I have already stated, for adopting a 

 system of my own; nevertheless, if any one wishes to adopt my 

 system of managing bees, I will gladly afford him all the assistance 

 in my power. And here it is proper to remark that I never read a 

 single ancient author on bees, nor modern author, understandingly, 

 until after I had tried most of the experiments alluded to in the fore- 

 going dissertation, and what may follow; and all the authors I have 

 read were after I had adopted my present system. 



Swarms of bees, when they first leave the parent stock, vary in 

 size, and are found to weigh from two pounds to eleven, and some- 

 times twelve pounds. When a swarm weighs only four or five pounds, 

 I use one section of the subtended square hive, which holds a half a 

 bushel, class fourth; or one section of the subtended hive, {round) 

 [straw;] class sixth; or one section of the subtended (round) (wood,) 

 class seventh; otherwise double wdth another swarm and hive them 

 in this or any of the other classes that are of the right dimensions. 

 It is very easy to add sections as the bees increase in numbers and 

 stores; and also to take away sections when the bees have a surplus 

 of honey on hand that can be spared. A sw^arm of bees that does 

 not weigh more than seven or eight pounds, should not be allowed 



