sae [Senate 



trees in 1837, it was found the average was seven pounds to each 

 tree; at that time, I had thirteen apiaries in the vicinity all around 

 this tract of woodland where all these bee trees were found; and on 

 weighing all the hives, it was found they averaged forty pounds. This 

 shows conclusively that bees do best in hives. Another fact occurred in 

 the summer of 1840. One of my neighbors, in passing through a 

 large tract of timber land, found a swarm of bees clustered on the 

 limb of a tree low down; he hived them in one of my classes of 

 hives, and let it stand in the woods on the ground near its parent 

 stock, a tree close by it, that it probably came from; and on weigh- 

 ing the hive in the fall, it contained eighty pounds of honey, and that 

 in the tree not twenty. It is supposed by many that bees are natu- 

 rally inclined to leave the apiary and flee to the w^oods when they 

 swarm; but it will be difficult for me to believe this, in case they are 

 judiciously managed. Bees are as easily domesticated as cattle, sheep, 

 hogs, and other animals that were made for the use and comfort of 

 the human family, and will not often flee to the woods, unless they 

 are neglected by their master or driven away by bad management. 

 I never lost a swarm in my life by flight to the woods, that I hived 

 myself, and never had but one swarm attempt to leave, and this went 

 direct from the old stock without alighting. These bees I stopped, 

 and compelled them to alight within seventy rods of their starting 

 place. Moreover, repeated experiments have rendered it conclusive 

 that when the bee manager prepares a goodly number of hives ready 

 to receive swarms, and sets them in their respective places, many 

 swarms will go into them. In one large establishment, I have known 

 at least seven swarms to sally out of their parent hive, and go direct- 

 ly into empty hives thus prepared, in the course of the last three sea- 

 sons, without alighting, and forming in a cluster previous to entering 

 the new tenement; and it is believed a majority of the swarms would 

 take the hives in preference to going to the woods, if they were fit- 

 ted and ready. But as a good many might leave for the woods, it is 

 better to hive them when they alight, than run the risk of their going 

 ofl". It is said that bees are the best judges in regard to ventilating 

 their tenement; true, they are better skilled in this art than most of 

 their masters. By directing some experiments to this point, I found 

 when the thermometer ranged from eighty-five to ninety-two degrees 

 in the shade in July, when honey was abundant in the flowers, the 

 bees had left the drawers and were clustering on the outside of the 

 hive in idleness, and in large bunches. I thought it was a pity that 

 the bees should lose a moment at this important time of their har- 

 vest; and by turning the adjustable cap on the ventilator in the cen- 

 ter of the canal bottom board, a little air was admitted freely; and 

 in the course of an hour or two, all the bees had retired into the in- 

 terior of the hive, and were at work in the boxes as usual. Ventila- 

 ting hives as it should be done, is the most difficult and intricate part 

 of the bee management; but my limits will not admit of a full discus- 

 sion here of this point. 



Bees have many habits and instincts yet to be considered, but my 

 limits will not allow me to illustrate any, except some of the most im- 



