414 



Method of Prefervlng Bees. 



[Dec. 1, 



Srft buddings of the birches, and other 

 early trees. 



" Mergus acatirojfris cinereus, which 

 ■feems to be different from the former" — 

 {viz. the great cretted grebe). 



" Several forts of Diving-fowl, as 

 muflela fufca and muftela <var'iegata, fo 

 called from the refemblance they have to 

 the head of a weefel." 



Ta the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



IN your valuable Migizine for Augtift 

 laft, page 91, I Ite recommended a 

 mode of taking honey snH wax without 

 deftroying the be.s. Having far rear 

 thirty years paid attention to the fubj«£l 

 of the apiary, and been long in a fitua- 

 tion which has enabled me t a be toierably 

 acquiirted wish iht different meiliods of 

 managing the.'e infefts, I truft you will 

 give my rerriArks on tht; above piper a 

 place in your publication, for the ufe of 

 my feilow-countrynien, who may be in 

 danger of adopting the mode it recom. 

 ^ends, to their own lofs and the injury of 

 their bees. 



The author of the recommendation 

 perhaps fuppofes that the mode is ne-v, am! 

 does not know that it has been and is 

 praftil'ed in d'.ffreiit parts of England ; 

 for inlbnce, by Heath, of Totnel's ; Sid- 

 I'erf, of Mendip ; and others, too nume- 

 rous to nlentio^. The iaiier, who is very 

 ikilfut, and hns publiflted a Treatife on 

 Bees, has acknowledged to me, that 

 though his plan of driving the bees to an 

 e^r^pty hive fometimes aniWers well, it is 

 of en attended, even whtn itone with great 

 caution by himl'elf, with the lofs of the 

 whole colony. 



The plan you recommend from the 

 French prieit may in general fticceed in 

 the fouth of Fnnce and other countries 

 abounding in eaily and late blo.Tcms, and 

 efp-cially when the colonies, after depri- 

 vatio.i, are removed to la^er palture. — 

 Hives that have in winter a great fuper. 

 fluity of honey may be treated in the 

 manner you prefcribe, and do well in a 

 late llti'.ation, where the flowers open 

 about mic.fummerj but in ftill Liter fitu- 

 a-i'.ns, amonglf heath, whofe hloffora is 

 feldom open before Lammas, they will die 

 of want in a few weeks after the operation. 

 In fhort, no particular week in the year 

 r.an fuitall the variety of fiiuations in this 

 kingd -m. 



Bslides, the feaf-ii' are fo variou"*, that 

 fio goid ap'arian wiH prefume to fay, at 

 what particular we:k, we (hould proceed 



to do asyoiidireft, until the lioney feafoa 

 coinmences. No Corniih chronicler cao 

 at prefent fay at what time it (hall take 

 place next year in any particular diftricY, 

 even though he were aditled by the fupe- 

 rior knowledge of his prieft. The heath 

 on the vaft foreil of Dartmoor was not 

 generally in b'oflbm in the year 1799 tintil 

 the middle of October, though it com- 

 monly opens ten weeks before that time.— 

 Say no more, then, of " the week preced- 

 ing midfummer day" as the only time for 

 deprivation. In that yvcek this year hun- 

 dreds of colonies died of want, ar.d inoft 

 of the (locks wee in danger. Where then 

 would have been the advan'age of taking 

 combs without honey in them ? Will 

 you fay that your readers who aft in this 

 manner are men *' ot humanity and good 

 fenli:," or that they " will find their re- 

 ward in the increafe of their flock and 

 their valuable produce." 



Sir, the plan yoti recommend is inhu- 

 mane ani cruel. According to it, the 

 poor bees muil be driven from their fcanty 

 treafure, at a time (a fixed time, I obfeive) 

 when they have but little to gather, and 

 often no honey. They muft alio leave 

 their brood liehind, in every Hate, if ra 

 the new-laid egg to the bee which is in 

 the aft of burUmg its cerement, but not 

 able to ufe its wings. Six thoui'and Uich 

 creatures, at the dawn of their exillence, 

 are forlaken by their parents, forced by 

 terror to take ilielter in an empty houle, 

 wheie they have every thing tp do, and 

 death to appiciiend j and the thojfands 

 left behind have not, for vuant of nurture, 

 been p;rn)itted to anfver the purpofe of 

 t'.itir exiitcnce I I fee you fhudder at the 

 ii'ea j humanity obUgts you to do it j 

 but what I have flnfed to you is a faft, 

 though you may not hitherto have known 

 it : and before thofe that are driven can 

 have ano;her fuch brood, a month muft 

 pais, tliough the feafon be favourable^ — 

 See, then, your gain ; you have loft the 

 labour of all the bees for nearly a month, 

 and of fix thou land for ever. And are 

 ycu " rewarded in the increafe of your 

 flock ?" No ; amongft thofe you have 

 deprived of ei'ilfence in embryo, you have 

 probably deliroyed t»o queens, nearly 

 ready to quit their cells, which would 

 foon l\avc accompanied two fwarms, and 

 bred for you fixty thoufand bees before 

 the beginning of November. In taking 

 combs, tbeiefore, be careful that you re- 

 move no queen's cell that is not already 

 open. 



But, Sir, I do not in general blame the 

 deprivation of common hives, provided it 



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