THE HONEY BEE. 215 



It is almost needless to add, that if the operator be a 

 smoker of tobacco, a few whiffs from his pipe will 

 answer the purpose better than either of the modes 

 above described. 



On Deprivation and Transportation. The swarm- 

 ing season terminates, generally, about the first week 

 of July, a few days sooner or later, according to the 

 climate, and the temperature of the season. After 

 that period, no emigration ought to be allowed ; or 

 if it take place in spite of our endeavours to prevent 

 it, the swarms should be restored to the mother- 

 hives. The massacre of the Males, which takes 

 place about the beginning of August, seems to afford 

 a not unequivocal symptom that the richest part of 

 the honey-season is nearly over, and that the bees 

 are aware of the necessity of cutting off all unneces- 

 sary expenditure of food. Those cultivators, there- 

 fore, who pursue the system of appropriating a portion 

 of the honey accumulated during the summer-months 

 of June and July, who content themselves with a 

 share only of the fruits of Bee-industry, and who 

 make use of hives conveniently constructed for this 

 purpose, or who have an opportunity of availing 

 themselves of the near neighbourhood of heath, 

 may now proceed with the process of deprivation. 



The use of storied hives, of Huber's, and of others 

 which divide vertically into halves, renders this pro- 

 cess very simple. The quantity of honey in hives 

 of this construction can be at all times accurately 

 ascertained ; so that it can be seen at once whether 

 there be any available surplus, and what combs, as 



