1062 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



hive, and of cleaning it from any noxious matter. In cutting the combs, however, particular attention 

 should be paid not to cut into two or three combs at once, but having commenced the cutting of one, to 

 l)ursue it to the top of the hive ; and this caution is necessary for two reasons. If you begin 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 jiernicious conse- 

 quences, as the honev would drop from the cells which havebeen 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 fear, would not give so much attention to the 

 honey which Hows 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 immediately scent the wasted treasure, and a general attack 

 on the deprivated hive might be dreaded. The deprivation of the honey-comb being affected, 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 replenish what they have 

 lost. {Huish's Treatise on Bees.) 



6838. Total deprivation is effected in the same manner, but earlier in the season, immediately after the 

 first swarm; and the bees, insteadof being returned to a remnantof 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 ob- 

 served, vei-y little honey is obtained, the bees in June and July being occupied chiefly in breeding, and 

 one, if not two, swarms are lost. 



6839. 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 placingj 

 it in a hole in the ground, where a few shreds of these articles are undergoing a smothering combustion : 

 or the full hive may be placed on an empty one, inverted as in partial deprivation, and the sulphureous 

 smoke introduced by a fumigating 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 resuscitation. Such a death seems one of 

 the easiest, both to the insects themselves, and to human feelings. Indeed, the mere deprivation of life 

 to animals, not endowed with sentiment or reflection, is reduced to the precise pain of the moment, with- 

 out reference to the past or the future ; and as each pulsation of this pain increases in effect on the one 

 hand, so on the other, the suscpptibility of feeling it diminishes. Civihzed man is the only animal to whom 

 death has terrors, and hence the origin of that false humanity, which condemns the killing of bees in order 

 to obtain their honey ; but which might, with as much justice, be applied to the destruction of almost any 

 other animal used in domestic economy, as fowls, game, fish, cattle, &c. 



6840. On the produce and profit of bees much has been said by the patriotic apiarians. 

 Both, however, are extremely uncertain ; and as to the profit, it can never be great, while 

 there is the competition of all Europe to contend with as to honey and wax, and no great 

 demand for swarms. Bees, however, are interesting creatures, are supported at almost no 

 expense; and a hive or two is therefore very desirable in the garden of every farmer and 

 cottager. 



6841. The craw or cray fish {^Cancer a$tacusy L. Jig. 14.5.), is a native of Britain, 

 inhabiting still rivers and marshes, and lodging itself in holes made in the clayey banks. 

 The flesh is of an excellent flavor, and very 745 

 nutritious, and has been recommended to 

 persons under atrophies. There are various 

 methods of preparing these animals : they 

 may be either boiled or fried , and then taken 

 out of their shells and made up in a variety 

 of dishes. Preparations and broths of cray- 

 fish have been celebrated not only for a 

 palatable aliment, but also for answering 

 some medicinal intentions, as being of a 

 moistening quality, and correcting acrimony. 

 The delicate flavor of these fish depends in a 

 great measure on their food. When they have well-tasted food, their flesh preserves the 

 relish of it ; but when they feed on other things, they are often rendered of no value, by 

 the flavor communicated to their flesh by them. It has been found that where the 

 Acorus calumnus abounds, they feed on the roots of this plant, which renders their flesh 

 so bitter as to be uneatable. They are very greedy of flesh, and flock in great numbers 

 about carcases thrown into the water where they are, and never leave it while any re- 

 mains. They also feed on dead frogs when they come in their way. 



6842. The cnlture of this delicious fish, it is evident, might be successfully carried on in small ponds, or 

 in canals in parks. In the former case supplying them with any animal or vegetable refuse. They 

 wander far from their aquatic residence in quest of food, and that is the time when they are generally 

 caught. A breeding stock may be obtained from any fisherman on the Thames or Trent, or by applying 

 in Covent Garden, though they are by no means common in Britain. They are perhaps most common 

 near Alnwick, in North umber Jand. 



6'>43. The edible snail (Helix pomatia,!^. Jig. 15 a), is a native of Italy; but being 

 imported to this country about the middle of last century, is now considered as natural- 

 ized. Aubrey informs us, that they were introduced by Charles Howard, Esq. aa 

 epicure of the Arundel family, as an article of food, who scattered and dispersed those snails 

 all over the downs and in the woods at Albury, an ancient seat of that noble family ; and 

 also near Ashted, Boxhill, Dorking, Epsom, and Surrey, where they have increased so 

 greatly, that even the confines of Sussex abounds with them. His example was followed 

 by others in different parts of the kingdom, but by none with so much success as by Sir 

 Kenelm Digby, who disper.sed them about Gothurst, the seat of that family near New- 

 port- Pagnel, in Buckinghamshire. 



