BEE. 



281 



them, or from having dropped on the ground, being 

 too young to fly to a distance. Gooseberry, currant, 

 or other low bushes, should be planted at a short 

 distance from the hives, for the bees to swarm upon, 

 otherwise they are apt to fly away. When a hive 

 yields more than two swarms, these should uni- 

 formly be joined to others that are weak, as from 

 the lateness of the season, and deficiency in number, 

 they will otherwise perish. This junction is easily 

 formed, by inverting at night the hive in which 

 they are, and placing over it the one you intend 

 them to enter. They soon ascend, and apparently 

 with no opposition from the former possessors. 

 Should the weather, for some days after swarming, 

 be unfavourable for the bees going out, they must be 

 fetl with care until it clears up, otherwise the young 

 s warm will run a great risk of dying. 



The honey may be taken from hives of the com- 

 mon construction by three modes, partial depriva- 

 tion, total deprivation, and suffocation. 



Partial deprivation is performed about the begin- 

 ning of September. Having ascertained the weight 

 of the hive, and consequently the quantity of 

 honeycomb which is to be extracted, begin the ope- 

 ration as soon as evening sets in, by inverting 

 the full hive, and placing an empty one over it ; 

 particular care must be taken that the two hives 

 are of the same diameter, for if they differ in their 

 ilimensions it will not be possible to effect the 

 driving of the bees. The hives being placed in 

 eath other, a sheet or large table-cloth must be tied 

 round them at their point of junction, in order to 

 prevent the bees from molesting the operator. The 

 hives being thus arranged, beat the sides gently 

 with a stick or the hand, but particular caution 

 must be used to beat it on those parts to which 

 the combs are attached, and which will be found 

 parallel with the entrance of the hive. The ascent 

 of the bees into the upper hive will be known by 

 a loud humming noise, indicative of the pleasure 

 in finding an asylum from their enemy; in a few 

 minutes the whole community will have ascended, 

 and the hive with the bees in it may be placed upon 

 the pedestal from which the full hive was removed. 

 The hive from which the bees have been driven 

 must then be taken into the house, and the opera- 

 tion of cutting out the honeycomb commenced. 

 Having extracted the requisite quantity of comb, 

 this opportunity must be embraced of inspecting 

 the hive, and of cleaning it from any noxious mat- 

 ter. In cutting the combs, however, particular at- 

 tention should be paid not to cut into two or three 

 combs at once, but having commenced the cutting 

 of one, to pursue it to the top of the hive ; and 

 this caution is necessary for two reasons. If you 

 oegin the cutting of two or three combs at one 

 time, were you to extract the whole of them, you 

 would perhaps take too much ; and secondly, to 

 stop in the middle of a comb would be attended 

 with very pernicious consequences, as the honey 

 would drop from the cells which have been cut in 

 two, and then the bees, on being returned to their 

 native hive, might be drowned in their own sweets. 

 The bees also, in their return to their natural 

 domicile, being still under the impression of tear, 

 would not give so much attention to the honey 

 which flows from the divided cells; and as it would 

 fall on the board, and from that on the ground, the 

 bees belonging to the other hives would immedi- 

 ately scent the wasted treasure, and a general 

 attack on the deprivated hive might be dreaded. 

 The deprivation of the honeycomb being effected, 



the hive may be returned to its former position, 

 and reversing the hive which contains the bees, 

 and placing the deprivated hive over it, they may 

 be left in that situation till the morning, when the 

 bees will be found to have taken possession of their 

 native hive, and, if the season proves fine, may re- 

 plenish what they have lost. 



Total deprivation is effected in the same man- 

 ner, but earlier in the season, immediately after 

 the first swarm ; and the bees, instead of being 

 returned to a remnant of honey in their old hive, 

 remain in the new empty one : which they will 

 sometimes, though rarely, fill with comb. By this 

 mode, it is to be observed, very little honey is ob- 

 tained, the bees in June and July being occupied 

 chiefly in breeding, and one, if not two, swarms 

 are lost. 



Suffocation is performed when the season of 

 flowers begins to decline, and generally in October. 

 The smoke of paper, or linen rag soaked or smeared 

 with melted sulphur-, is introduced to the hive by 

 placing it in a hole in the ground, where a few 

 shreds of these articles are undergoing a smother- 

 ing combustion ; or the full hive may be placed on 

 an empty one, inverted as in partial deprivation, 

 and the sulphureous smoke introduced by a fumi- 

 gating bellows, &c. The bees will fall from the 

 upper to the lower hive in a few minutes, when 

 they may be removed and buried, to prevent resus- 

 citation. Such a death seems one of the easiest, 

 both to the insects themselves, and to human feel- 

 ings. Many plans have been devised for obtaining 

 the honey without the destruction of the bees, the 

 most successful of which appears to be that of Mr 

 Nutt of Lincolnshire, which consists in the con- 

 struction of the hive and regulation of its tempera- 

 ture. 



In Russia, the management of bees forms an im- 

 portant branch of husbandry. It is there conducted 

 on a large scale, and affords the principal means 

 of subsistence to some of the nations or tribes who 

 inhabit the vast Russian territory. The Bashkirs, 

 and some other tribes inhabiting the country west 

 of the southern Ural, are those who devote them- 

 selves the most exclusively to this branch of busi- 

 ness, which seems to be carried on with the great- 

 est vigour in the governments of Kazan and Oufa. 

 There are individuals among the Bashkirs who, 

 besides their bee-gardens, possess hundreds, and 

 sometimes thousands, of wild-bee hives in the 

 forests. It is only necessary to describe the pro- 

 cess in use among the Bashkirs, as it is the same 

 which is followed by the other tribes that apply 

 themselves to this useful pursuit. It is most usual 

 to prepare in the forests for the bees a very pecu- 

 liar description of hives, which the bees spontane- 

 ously enter, and there deposit their honey. When 

 it is the intention of the Bashkirs to prepare recep- 

 tacles for the bees, they repair to the forest, and 

 select the straightest and strongest trees which 

 they can find, always preferring the hardest kinds 

 of timber. On these, at the height of twenty-four 

 or thirty feet above the ground, they construct the 

 bee-house by hollowing out a large smooth cavity 

 in the trunk of the tree with a tool resembling a 

 chisel. When the work is completed, the aper- 

 ture is closed with a board, in which are several 

 holes large enough to afford the bees free ingress 

 and egress. The manner in which the Bashkirs 

 execute this rather difficult work, and the agility 

 with which they ascend the loftiest and smoothest 

 trees, affords a fine display of dexterity and skill 



