280 



BEE. 



opened, is placed obliquely over it ; when tbe bees 

 enter the door is closed, and the holes stopped with 

 rlay till the hive is planted or placed upright. 

 WMB honey is wanted, the door is opened during 

 the finest part of a warm day, when most of the 

 bees are out ; its entire state is seen from top to 

 bottom, and the operator, with a segar in his mouth, 

 or with a lighted rag, to keep off the bees from his 

 hands, cuts out with a crooked knife as much comb 

 as he thinks fit. In this way fresh honey is ob- 

 tained during the summer, the bees are never 

 cramped for room, nor does it become necessary to 

 kill them. The old comb, however, is annually 

 cut out, to prevent or lessen the tendency to 

 swarming, which, notwithstanding this and the size 

 of their dwelling, they generally do once a year ; 

 for the laws of nature are not to be changed. 

 Though it be a fact that a small swai'Ti of bees will 

 not do well in a large hive ; yet, if the hive extend 

 in length and not in breadth, it is admitted both by 

 Huber and Huish that they will thrive in it. "If 

 too great a diameter," says Huber, "be not given 

 to the abode of the bee, it may without danger be 

 increased in the elevation ; their success in the hol- 

 low trees, their natural domicile, incontestably 

 proves the truth of this assertion." 



The feeding of bees is generally deferred till 

 winter or spring ; but this is a most erroneous prac- 

 tice. Hives should be examined in the course of 

 the month cf September, or about the time of 

 killing the drones; and if a large hive does not 

 weigh thirty pounds, it will be necessary to allow 

 it half a pound of honey, or the same quantity of 

 soft sugar made into syrup, for every pound that it is 

 deficient of that weight ; and in like proportion to 

 smaller hives. This work must not be delayed, 

 that time may be given for the bees to make the 

 deposit in their empty cells before they are rendered 

 torpid by the cold. Sugar simply dissolved in 

 water (which is a common practice), and sugar 

 boiled with water into a syrup, form compounds 

 very differently suited for the winter store of bees. 

 When the former is wanted for their immediate 

 nourishment, as in spring, it will answer equally as 

 a syrup ; but if to be laid up as store, the heat of 

 the hive quickly evaporating the water, leaves the 

 sugar in dry crystals, not to be acted upon by the 

 trunks of the bees. Hives may be killed with hun- 

 ger while some pounds' weight of sugar remain in 

 this state in their cells. The boiling of sugar into 

 syrup forms a closer combination with the water, 

 by which it is prevented from flying off, and a con- 

 sistence resembling that of honey retained. Howi- 

 son had frequent experience of hives, not contain- 

 ing a pound of honey, preserved in perfect health 

 through the winter with sugar so prepared, when 

 given in proper time and in sufficient quantity. 

 The quantity of food which ought to be given to 

 a hive may be calculated in the proportion of two 

 pounds a month ; but if the weather be very cold, 

 a less quantity will suffice. When a hive is fed in 

 the spring, it should always be after sunset, when 

 the bees have returned from the fields ; otherwise 

 the most disastrous consequences may ensue from 

 the robberies committed by the bees of other hives. 

 If they are fed in the morning, it must be before 

 sunrise, and the entrance instant-ly stopped to keep 

 out depredators ; for as the bees leave the hive on 

 the very first appearance of day-light, a later period 

 would prevent the return of all those who had left 

 the hive previous to the entrance being secured. 

 The following receipt for bees is recommended as 



beneficial and economical. To two quarts of good 

 ale put one pound of moist sugar; boil them until 

 the sugar is wholly dissolved, carefully skimming 

 it ; when it is cold, it will be found of the consis- 

 tency of honey, and it may be given to the bees in 

 the following manner: If "the bees are in the plain 

 cottage hive, an eek of the same diameter as the 

 hive must be provided, and from three to four hands 

 in height. When the sun is set, and the bees have 

 retired, let the hive be gently raised, and the eek 

 placed on the stool; then, having filled u soup-plate 

 with the food, place it on the eek, and pur down 

 the hive. To prevent the bees being drowned in 

 the li(|uid, it is necessary to place some straws over 

 the plate, and over the straws a piece of paper, 

 either thickly perforated or cut into nicks ; these 

 nicks, however, must not run parallel with the 

 straws, but either across or diagonally ; the entrance 

 must then be closed, and the plate removed on the 

 following morning, and the whole of the liquid will 

 be transferred into the combs. 



To wooden protect hives from the cold, they are 

 covered with straw or rushes, about the end of Sep- 

 tember, or later, according to the climate and sea- 

 son. This is an essential business, as well covered 

 hives always prosper better the following season than 

 such as have not been covered. In October, the aper- 

 ture at which the bees issue should generally be nar- 

 rowed, so as only one bee may pass at a time. In- 

 deed, as a very small portion of air is necessary for 

 bees in their torpid state, it were better, during se- 

 vere frosts, to be entirely shut up, as numbers of 

 them are often lost from being enticed to quit the 

 hive by the sunshine of a winter day. It will, how- 

 ever, be proper at times to remove, by a crooked 

 wire, or similar instrument, the dead bees and other 

 filth which the living at this season are unable to 

 perform of themselves. To hives, whose stock of 

 honey was sufficient for their maintenance, or those 

 to which a proper quantity of sugar had been given 

 for that purpose, no further attention will be neces- 

 sary until the breeding season arrives. This, in 

 warm situations, generally takes place about the 

 beginning of Slay ; and in cold, about a month 

 after. The young bees, for a short time previous 

 to their leaving their cells, and some after, require 

 being fed with the same regularity that young birds 

 are by their parents; and if the store in the hive be 

 exhausted, and the weather such as not to admit of 

 the working bees going abroad to collect food in 

 sufficient quantity for themselves and their brood, 

 the powerful principle of affection for their young 

 compels them to part with what is not enough for 

 their support, at the expense of their own lives. 

 To prevent such accidents, it is advisable, if during 

 the breeding season it rain for two successive days, 

 to feed all the bees indiscriminately, as it would be 

 difficult to ascertain those only who require it. 



The swarming of bees generally commences in 

 June, in some seasons earlier, and in cold cli- 

 mates or seasons later. The first swarming is so 

 long preceded by the appearance of drones, and 

 hanging out of working bees, that if the time of 

 their leaving the hive is not observed, it must be 

 owing to want of care The signs of the second, 

 are, however, more equivocal, the most certain 

 being that of the queen, a day or two before swarm- 

 ing, at intervals of a few minutes, giving out a 

 sound a good deal resembling that of a cricket. It 

 frequently happens that the swarm will leave the 

 old hive, and return again several times, which is 

 always owing to the queen i;ot having accompanied 



