THE TARMER ? S 



been generally estimated at one year, or two at fur- 

 therest. Mr. Reaumur was of this opinion, although 

 the experiments which he made were not decisive. 

 Mr. Reaumur marked 500 Bees in the month of April, 

 and in November following, not one was to be seen. 

 The Germans estimated the life of the Bee at .one 

 year. Mr. Huish is of opinion that the Bee may 

 live 3, 4, or even more years, because, he once mark- 

 ed one of his queen Bees, by clipping her wings, and 

 found that she lived 4 years ; when the hive was for- 

 saken by the whole swarm, and he had no knowledge 

 of her afterwards , and he thus concludes, " If the 

 queens, who lay a great number of eggs, live 3 or 4 

 years, the Bees, by a natural conclusion, ought to live 

 as long. 55 The barbarous method of destroying the 

 Bees by suffocation, to rob them of their honey, ren- 

 ders it difficult to ascertain with precision the natu- 

 ral life of the Bee ; added to this, the enemies of Bees, 

 together with the perishable structure of their straw 

 hives, make general changes once in 3, 4 or 5 years. 

 In the Archipelago, where hives are made of baked 

 earth, they have sometimes lasted from 20 to 50 

 years ; peopled, like a city, with a succession of po- 

 pulation. Old combs become destructive to the 

 Bees, and generally destroy the swarms if they are 

 not removed ; but upon the plan of my new hive, the 

 combs may all be changed every year or two, and 

 thus the hive be preserved free from this evil of old 

 combs ; and thus the depredations of one of the worst 

 enemies of the Bees (the moth) may be prevented. 

 The duration of the straw hive may be prolonged by 

 a good coat of paint, to shield it from the weather. 



CHAP. XIX. 



On the deprivation of the hives, $*c, 



One of the most important questions which can 

 be agitated relative to the management of Bees is, 

 ' 



