138 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Dec, 



[For Wagner's American Bee Journal.] 



Broken pieces of Comb, 



Mr. Editor : — It may not be uninteresting- to 

 your numerous readers, some extracts, on differ- 

 ent subjects connected with bee-keeping, col- 

 lected from different authors, written years ago. 

 We give the name of the writer with the date of 

 publication, and it has often occurred to us while 

 poring over these old relics, that "history is 

 continually repeating itself," for it is written, 

 "there is nothing new under the sun." 



"Swarming. " It is a common practice 



with country people to ring a bell or pan when 

 the bees swarm ; fancying the noise hinders them 

 from flying far. and causes them to settle sooner. 

 I cannot say I ever found that this makes the 

 least difference, &c. * * * * * * 

 After hiving the bees, the swarm should be well 

 shaded, whilst it remains on the ground, with 

 the boughs of trees, &c, lest the too powerful 

 heat of the sun should offend them, and cause 

 them to rise a second time. * * * * Many 

 people have imagined they can tell when bees 

 are going to swarm by a peculiar noise the 

 females make at that time ; but this only 

 happens before a cast, or second swarm, and 

 never before the first. These calls (as they are 

 commonly styled) may be heard very distinctly 

 two or three days before the cast rises. * * * * 

 The casts usually happen the ninth day after the 

 first swarm, if bad weather does not prevent 

 them coming out. Bromwich, 1783." 



"Why Bees Swarm. 



" The reason of their swarming is for want of 

 room in the hive ; for when they have bred so 

 many that the hive will not contain them, then, 

 after they have lain out a while in a large bunch 

 at the mouth of the hive, in a fine warm day 

 generally, they swarm ; but as there is no general 

 rule without an exception, so here you will 

 sometimes find they will not swarm, &c, &c. 



Warder, 1749." 



No. op Bees in Swarm — Queen — Queen Cells. 



The swarm without being a very strong one 

 may consist of twenty thousand bees produced 

 in about two months. * *'.'** A singular 

 circumstance attending this prodigious fecundity 

 of the queen, is, that she keeps in her body for 

 several months, that impregnating matter which 

 was given by the males, who were put to death 

 without mercy in the latter end of the preced- 

 ing summer. * * * * The bees depart from 

 their usual style of building when they are to 

 raise cells for bringing up such maggots as will 

 become queens. These are of a longish oblong 

 form, having one end bigger than the other, 

 with their exterior surface full of little cavities. 

 Wax which is employed with so geometrical a 

 thriftiness in the raising of hexagonal cells, is 

 expended with profusion in the cell which is to 

 be the cradle of a royal maggot, &c. 



Mills, 17G6. 



Situation of Hives. 



Skreen them from the summer sun, because 

 the heat of it is greater than the bees or their 

 works can bear ; and skreen them from the 

 winter sun, the warmth of which will draw them 

 from that lethargic state which is natural to 

 bees. A certain degree of cold, and a greater 

 degree of it than is commonly imagined, is 

 favorable to bees in winter. * * * * Let 

 your bees therefore be so placed, that the sun 

 may not shine upon them at all in the winter to 

 entice them abroad, when they can get nothing 

 but an appetite, etc., &c. White, 1764. 



Strong Swarms. 



It is evident that a hive that has a great 

 number of bees in autumn, stands a much better 

 chance not to perish by the severity of the 

 winter, than a hive that has not half the num- 

 ber of inhabitants ; for which reason I would 

 earnestly recommend it to my readers, never to 

 kill a single working bee at any season of the 

 year ; but in autumn, to unite all the bees of 

 those hives, from which the honey is taken, to 

 those that are intended to be kept as stock hives. 

 This will render them fit to defend themselves, 

 both against the severity of the weather in 

 winter and against robbers in spring ; and will 

 also greatly forward their labors as soon as the 

 working season returns ; for as has been already 

 observed ; it is of the greatest importance to 

 have the hive always well stored with bees. 



Bonner, 1795. 



To Prevent Robber Bees. 



Stop up such hive till evening ; then discharge 

 the strangers. Keep the stock close shut up the 

 next day, which will give you a fair opportunity 

 of engaging the robbers by themselves and 

 effectually prevent further attempts. Yet, pro- 

 vided they should afterwards return, when your 

 doors are again set open, disturb the true bees 

 by a bunch of stinking madder fastened to the 

 end of a little stick of convenient length, till 

 they begin to show their resentment ; then will 

 you see them seize the robbing bees, &c, &c. 



***** Should your hives thus attacked 

 have but a few bees and little honey, it is better 

 to take thorn, than stand a trial. 



Thorley, 1744. 



Driving Bees. 



Remove the hive from which you would take 

 the wax and honey, into a room, into which 

 admit but little light, that it may at first appear 

 to the bees as if it was late in the evening. 

 Gently invert the hive, placing it between the 

 frames of a chair, or other steady support, and 

 cover it with an empty hive, keeping that side 

 of the empty hive raised a little, which is next 

 the window, to give the bees sufficient light to 

 get up into it. While you hold the empty hive 

 steadily supported on the edge of the full hive, 

 between your side and your left arm, keep 

 striking with the other hand all round the full 

 hive from top to bottom, in the manner of beat- 

 ing a drum, so that the bees may be frightened 



