1060 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



protect it from humidity. The greater the elevation of the hive, the longer is the 

 flight of the svi^arm ; and when they are at a certain point of elevation, the swarms 

 are lost for ever to the proprietor. If the hives are to be placed in 743 



a double row, the hinder ones should alternate with, and be placed at 

 such a distance from the front ones, that when the bees take their 

 flight, no obstruction is offered to their ascent. Huish recommends 

 placing every hive upon a single pedestal, and at two or three feet dis- 

 tance from each other. By this means when any thing happens to one 

 hive, the others are less likely to be disturbed than when placed on a 

 shelf in a bee house ; and the liive may be chained down and lock- 

 ed (jig. 743.) It is usual to have three or four legs or supports to 

 the bee boards, but those who have tried one will never resort to 

 more, as one is a much better protection from vermin and insects. 

 The space in front of the apiary should be kept clear of high plants 

 for two or three yards. 



6829. The variety of bees employed is a matter of some consequence. To the common 

 observer, all working bees, as to external appearance, are nearly the same ; but to those 

 who examine them with attention, the difference in size is very distinguishable ; and they 

 are, in their vicious and gentle, indolent and active natures, essentially different. Of 

 the stock which Howison had in 1810, it required 2.50 to weigh an ounce; but they 

 were so vicious and lazy, that he changed it for a smaller variety, which possesses much 

 better dispositions, and of which it requires 296, on an average, to weigh an ounce. Whe- 

 ther size and disposition are invariably connected, he has not yet had sufficient experience 

 to determine. 



6830. The best material and form for hives is a straw thimble or flower- pot placed in 

 an inverted position. Hives made of straw, as now in use, have a great advantage over 

 those made of wood and other materials, from the effectual defence they afford against 

 the extremes of heat in summer, and cold in winter. 



6831. The size of hives should correspond as nearly as possible with that of the swarms. 

 This has not had that attention paid to it which the subject demands, as much of the sticcess 

 in the management of the bees depends on that circumstance. From blind instinct, bees 

 endeavor to fill with combs whatever hive they are put into, before they begin to gather 

 honey. Owing to this, when the hive is too large for its inhabitants, the time for collect- 

 ing their winter store is spent in unprofitable labor : and starvation is the consequence. 

 This evil also extends to occasioning late swarming the next summer ; it being long be- 

 fore the hive becomes so filled with young bees as to produce a necessity for emigration, 

 from which cause the season is too far advanced for the young colonies to procure a win- 

 ter stock. A full sized straw hive will hold three pecks, a small sized from one and a 

 half to two pecks. 



6832, The Polish hive, {Pasieka Pol., Jlg.'74:L) appears to us to be the second in merits to that described, 

 and perhaps it may deserve the preference, if the mode of using it were generally known. It is simply the 

 trunk of a tree, of a foot or fourteen inches in diameter and about nine feet long. 

 It is scooped out (boring in this country would be better) for about six feet from 

 one end, so as to form a hollow cyhnder of that length, and of six or eight inches 

 diameter within. Part of the circumference of this cylinder is cut out during the 

 greater part of its length, about four inches wide, and a slip of wood is made 

 to fit the opening. On the sides of this slip or segment {a) notches are made 

 every two or three inches, of sufficient size to allow a single bee to pass. This 

 slip may be furnished with hinges and with a lock and key ; but in Poland 

 it is merely fastened in by a wedge. All that is wanting to complete the hive is 

 a cover at top to throw off the rain, and then it requires only to be placed upright 

 like a strong post in the garden, so as the bottom of the hollow cylinder may be 

 not nearer the ground than two feet, and the opening slip look to the south. 

 When a swarm is to be put in, the tree, with the door or slip opened, is placed ob- 

 liquely over it ; when the bees enter, the door is closed, and the holes stopped 

 with clay till the hive is planted or placed upright. When 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 

 obtained 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 swarm 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 hollow trees, their natural domicile, incontestibly proves the truth of 

 this assertion" - * 



6833. The feeding of bees is generally deferred till winter or spring, but this is a most 

 erroneous practice. Hives should be examined in the course of the month of Septem- 

 ber 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 is deficient of that weight ; and, in 



