522 



HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



less obstinacy, refuse to depart, and even 

 venture to resist their progenitors. The young 

 ones are known by being browner than the 

 old, with whiter hair ; the old ones are of a 

 lighter colour, with red hair. The two armies 

 are therefore easily distinguishable, and dread- 

 ful battles are often seen to ensue. But the 

 victory almost ever terminates with strict 

 political justice in favour of the veterans, and 

 the rebellious offspring are driven off, not 

 without loss and mutilation. 



In different countries, the swarms make 

 their appearance at different times of the year, 

 and there are several signs previous to this 

 intended migration. The night before, an 

 unusual buzzing is heard in the hive ; in the 

 morning, though the weather be soft and in- 

 viting, they seem not to obey the call, be- 

 ing intent on more important meditations with- 

 in. All labour is discontinued in the hive ; 

 every bee is either employed in forcing, or re- 



and a slip of wood is made to fit the opening. On the 

 sides of this slip, or segment, 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 re- 

 quires 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 obliquely 

 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, incon- 

 testably proves the truth of this assertion." 



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 Sep. 

 tember, 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 

 /old. Sugar simply dissolved in water (which is a 

 practice), and sugar boiled with water into a 



luctantly yielding, a submission ; at length, 

 after some noise and tumult, a queen-bee is 

 chosen to guard, rather than conduct the young 

 colony to other habitations, and then they are 

 marshalled without any apparent conductor. 

 In less than a minute they leave their native 

 abode, and forming a cloud round their pro- 

 tectress, they set off without seeming to know 

 the place of their destination ; the world be- 

 fore them, ivhere to choose their place of rest. 

 The usual time of swarming is from ten in the 

 morning to three in the afternoon, when the 

 sun shines bright, and invites them to seek 

 their fortunes. They flutter for a while in the 

 air, like flakes of snow, and sometimes un- 

 dertake a distant journey, but more frequently 

 are contented with some neighbouring asylum : 

 the branch of a tree, a chimney-top, or some 

 other exposed situation. It is, indeed, re- 

 markable, that all those animals, of whatever 

 kind, that have long been under the protection 



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 hunger 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 pre- 

 vented from flying off, and a consistence resembling that 

 of honey retained. Howison had frequent experience of 

 hives, not containing 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 instantly 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 eco- 

 nomical. To two quarts of good ale put one pound of 

 moist sugar ; boil them until the sugar is wholly dis- 

 solved, carefully skimming it ; when it is cold, it will be 

 found of the consistency 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 a soup-plate with the 

 food, place it on the eek, and put down the hive. To 

 prevent the bees being drowned in the liquid, 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. 



