September 8, 18G3. ] JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



203 



the thread of my discourse will be cut short the moment 

 they think it deg-enerating into twaddle. You will not, I 

 am sure, object to my telling how the daughter of the 

 rector was married during the nrst week of our sojoui-n, and 

 that two of the young ladies of our party, whose curiosity 

 led them to witness the ceremony, returned hot and tired 

 from theii- walk, which turned out longer than they anti- 

 cipated, but declared that the bride was beautiful, the "brides- 

 maids charming, and the bridegroom a gentleman. On o-oino- 

 to chm-ch the following Sunday, the aforesaid youno- ladies 

 acted as pioneers, being supposed perfectly acquainted v/ith 

 the road; but as they outwalked then- elders, we had to 

 inquire the way, which resulted in our reacliing the church 

 before them ; and it was not until the clioii' had done prac- 

 tising, and " Home, Sweet Home," had been j^layed as a 

 voluntary on the appeaa-anee of the clergyman, and the 

 service was pretty well advanced, that they made their ap- 

 pearance, haring lost much time in seeking us on the road 

 they had taken, which had also the disadvantage of jiro- 

 longing theii- walk to four miles instead of two. 



And so the first week passed. The Jozjenal or Hoeti- 

 CULTUEE, of course, duly arrived (could I have existed with- 

 out it ?), but I was in no humour for writing on bee matters. 

 Even the expression of ilr. Lowe's " sm-prise " (will he ever 

 forgive my treating his admonitions so in-everently ? ) at my 

 "lamentable ijlaint," only moved me to laughter, and I 

 fully enjoyed the joke of seeing his grave rebuke side by 

 side by the article which pronounced my apiary to be " con- 

 valescent," and contained within itself, as I thought, suffi- 

 cient evidence that my "undaunted spirit" had by no 

 means deserted me. 



During the second week the ruling spirit awoke within 

 me, and I made the acquaintance of Mrs. S., wife of farmer 

 S., who possessed three old stocks, fi'om which had issued 

 five swarms, making eight in aU, which stood in a small 

 garden in front of the house. At her request I " hefted " 

 them one by one, and was astonished at then- weight. With 

 the exception of a very late swarm (and even this was nearly 

 20 lbs.), not one weighed so little as 40 lbs., and some were 

 certainly above 50 lbs. After a little conversation I obtained 

 permission to drive a swarm — a second swarm of this yeai- — 

 which, nevertheless, weighed above 501bs., and v/as so fuU of 

 bees that large masses were clustered outside. Having to 

 writeto Exeter for bee-apparatus, the following Saturtlay 

 morning was fixed for the operation, and in the meantime I 

 raised the hive from its floor-board (certainly a misnomer 

 for a slab of slate) on three stones, in the hope that the 

 current of air thus produced would compel the out-lying 

 bees to seek shelter within. 



On presenting myself at the appointed time I was intro- 

 duced to the worthy bee-master, who testified no small 

 interest in my proceedings ; but I was also rather discon- 

 certed at finding nearly the whole adult population of the 

 village assembled to witness an exploit of which they had 

 never before heard, and as to the accomplishment of which 

 they were evidently incredulous. Having inducted myself 

 into a bee-dress, and placed a couple of spare ones at the 

 service of the timid among the spectators, but of which 

 none would avail themselves, I proceeded to business by 

 exerting my utmost sti-ength in steadily inverting the 

 ponderous hive on a paU ; but in doing this I became 

 aware that the precaution I had taken of previously raising 

 it had been of little avaU, since the back and sides were 

 stUl covered with clustering bees. Placing an empty hive 

 oyer the fuU one, it became necessary to dislodge the out- 

 siders before seoiiring the two hives together with a cloth. 

 This was quickly done by sweeping them off with a feather ; 

 but what an outcry arose among the spectators ! shouts and 

 screams were overborne by roars of laughter, and the fun 

 became fast and fm-ious as one by one rashed frantically 

 into the house, followed by the shouts and laughter of then- 

 companions. Foremost and loudest ia the enjoyment of 

 the joke was Mr. S.'s father, who valorously kept the field 

 after his descendant had beaten an ignominious retreat. 

 His triumph was, however, of short duration, as I was soon 

 made aware by the appearance of his son at the front door, 

 gesticulating with delight, and exclaiming, "Feyther's 

 a-sting'd ! feyther's a-sting'd ! He'th a got et at last ! " 



But when the confined bees had been conveyed into the 

 back garden, and had been sufficiently subdued by con-. 



tinuous rapping to admit of my removing the cloth and 

 raising one side of the empty hive— and when, uncovering 

 my own face to encourage them, I invited the spectators to 

 witness the ascent of the remaining bees, their astonish- 

 ment was unbounded ; and I beUeve one spoke the senti- 

 ments of the majority when he expressed his conviction that 

 I had "a-charm'd 'em." 



The anger of the out-lying bees in the front garden at 

 being so unceremoniously dislodged was, however, by no 

 means appeased. Steady cart-horses shook their heads as 

 they approached the house, snorted wildly, and turning short 

 round set off on a return trip at vastly accelorated^speed, 

 despite the loud and oft-repeated "Whoa's" of their dis- 

 tracted drivers. Whilst restoring the bees to their original 

 position, but in an unfurnished dweUing, I saw a frantic 

 shoemakercharge wildly down the hfll fighting desperately 

 with hat in hand in the vain endeavom- to° distance or 

 keep at bay a score of winged assailants which plied their 

 weapons without mercy. When cutting out the combs 

 afterwards, Mrs. S. came in with the information that a sack 

 of flour had been left at the door. " What d'ye main ?" said 

 her husband. "I don't want no zack o' vloiu-." The expla- 

 nation was that the miller was passing on horseback with a 

 sack of flour, when his horse took fright and incontinently 

 deposited his load on the spot. 



Altogether the driving of fai-mer S.'s bees was nothing 

 less than a nine days' wonder, and it was declared on all 



hands that the inhabitants of the village of C ■ would 



long remember the visit and the exploits of— -A Devonshiee 

 Eee-keepee. 



UNITIXa BEES. 



I AM a beginner in bee-keeping. I bave five liives, four 

 of them swarms that I mean to keep, one an old hive, dome- 

 shaped, that I mean to rob. WUl you tell me the best way 

 of adding the bees of this hive to one of my others ? 



In looking over your back Numbers I see one of yoiu- 

 correspondents recommends us by a smart blow to shake 

 them out into the other hive. Not knowing the exact 

 amount of smartness required, I am afraid of sending out 

 combs and honey with one. Is it a safe operation .' or is the 

 tedious work of driving better ? and which is the best time 

 for it ? — Wteside. 



[The best mode of uniting bees in common hives is by 

 driving in the middle of a fine day, as directed in "Bee- 

 keeping for the Many " (page 59, new edition). You must 

 have mistaken oxa correspondent's meaning, who doubtless 

 referred to bees clustered in an unfurnished hive. A blow 

 smart enough to dislodge the bees of an old stock with weU- 

 filled combs must, as you surmise, send combs and honey 

 with them.] 



EXPEEIMEiS'TES^G ON BEES AST) FOOT. 



BEOOD. 



I THINK there is not a reader of yom- valuable paper, that 

 keeps bees, who is not very much indebted to " A Devon- 

 shiee Bee-keepee " for the information he is so ready to 

 give. Had it not have been for his letters many bee-keepers 

 would have lost their bees. The dwindling away of his 

 apiary has nothing whatever to do with its being an experi- 

 mental one, but has arisen from his introducing the disease 

 to it. I think if his brother apiarians had lent their assist- 

 ance in endeavouring to find out the caiise, it would have 

 been more like brother fanciers than to dilate on his mis- 

 fortimes. His coming so freely forward and stating his 

 loss will be the saving of many a hive of bees to other 

 apiarians, for had it not been for Ms letters I should have 

 lost the hive as stated in your paper of the 25th ult., and 

 have also introduced the disease into my apiary. — A. W. 



WAX MOTHS. 



Last September one of my strongest stocks of bees was 

 observed to be in great commotion. The bees made almost 

 as much noise as when they swarm, and multitudes of them 

 came in at the open windows of the house to the great dis- 

 titrbance of the family. 



