116 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



it was the difference in the manner of 

 wintering. If the cap had been removed 

 so the air could dry out the straw, we 

 think that half would have been all right. 

 The honey boxes on the other half were 

 the common square boxes, made of white 

 wood. When they got wet, they warped 

 and sprung apart so the moisture escaped 

 into the cap out through the ventilating 

 holes and kept the bees dry. 



The only source of danger we can see 

 in our plan of wintering, is the mice. Yet 

 we have had no such difficulty, the past 

 two winters, and this one so far. We 

 shake out all the chaff, so as to leave 

 nothing in the straw to entice the mice or 

 rats to nest in it. Barker <k Dicer. 



Marshall, Mich. 



lotdriit D%^itat;tmcnf. 



CONDUCTED BY CH. DADAKT. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Historical Notes on Bee-Culture in 

 Auvergne, (Prance.) • 



This interesting historical sketch has 

 been translated tor Adair's Annals of Bee- 

 Culture, but as Mr. Adair seems to have 

 abandoned the publication of that book we 

 take the liberty to translate it again for the 

 A. B. J. [Translator.] 



Among agricultural industries, bee-cul- 

 ture is generally the most neglected branch. 

 It is only the exceptions among our hus- 

 bandmen Who possess a few bee hives. 

 Mysteriously hidden vmder the shade of the 

 bushy hedges that enclose the small village 

 gardens, they are almost abandoned to their 

 own chance. In the spring, the proprietor 

 deprives his swarms of the fruit of their 

 j'early labor, and then, until the ensuing 

 year, they remain there, forgotten, and al- 

 most unprotected. It has not always been 

 so. 



Among the Komans, bee-culture was re- 

 garded as an important source of income. 

 One of the most essential requirements to 

 obtain the rent of a farm, was to give proof 

 of one's apiarian knowledge. Domestic 

 economy then recpdred a large quantity of 

 honey, not only for the making of confec- 

 tionery, cakes, artificial wines, but also for 

 ithe celebration of saciifices oift^red to the 

 rural diNinitics Mint walclied oN'er the ear- 

 dens, the orchards and the liarvests. For 

 .su(!li a consumi)tion, the Italian inochuttion 

 of honey was u(it sul'lieient, and it is not too 

 rash to advance tliat, among tiie reasons 

 winch in(hicc(l llic Komans tii invade (iaul. 

 thv (|uality of tlie honey that the forests of 

 that country furnished, can be taken into 

 account. 



'i'lie French have had for bees and their 

 jiroducts the same relish as the llomaiis. 

 i'lie Sidic Law contains a wiioU' chapter of 

 regulations on hives and their inhabitants. 



The i)oss(^-;sion of hccs was highly i)ri/,e(l 

 ;aiul ea -h oUr- jjlanned to increase tiie num- 



ber of his colonies. Several means were in- 

 dicated. 



Our country being then much more cov- 

 ered with tindier than at the present day 

 contained in its forests a large number of 

 wild swarms, lodged in the trunks of old 

 trees. The lords and monks maintained 

 particular servants called (ipiritlaircs whose 

 otifice was carefully to collect those colonies. 

 We could not discover what their jirocess 

 was. The study of the habits of the bee 

 could have pointed out a large number of 

 ways of the utmost simplicity. In South 

 America, forinstance, the bee-hunters know 

 very well that a bee detained as prisoner for 

 a few moments will fiy to its nest in a straight 

 line without deviating. It is only necessary 

 to catch a few bees, to sprinkle them with 

 dust from the stamens of plants so that the 

 eye can follow them better, and to liberate 

 them one after another, allowing them to 

 start from different ])olnts ; at the point of 

 intersection of the lines followed by the lib- 

 erated captives they are sure to find the 

 swarm and the spoils that they covet. 



In the month of April when the willows 

 are in bloom, and in the month of May, 

 when the white hawthorn disappears, the 

 apiculaires ascending along the brooks, 

 and around the springs, succeeded easily in 

 discovering them, by following the bees 

 that came to water en foule and returned 

 back to their hive after having visited the 

 pine and the oderiferf)us grasses. Then 

 they carefully studied the character of the 

 swarms before removing them, so as to re- 

 ject the lazy races of bees, for according to 

 the erroneous belief of those pople, they 

 would have dishonored the good bees by 

 their bad exam]>le. 



Several lords, high justices, had alone the 

 right of removing the honey bees from the 

 forests. This rjght was called, in the feudal 

 language, right of abeillage. 



In relation to the fugitive swarms, accor- 

 ding to the custom in Auvergne. which was 

 consecrated by old usages, he who found 

 them on his estate was comijelled to declare 

 them within a week to the lord under whose 

 jurisdiction they had been found. By so 

 doing, lie accpured one half of said swarms, 

 the other half belonging to the lord as waifs. 

 In default of this statement, not only the 

 finder was tty restore the swarm, but he was 

 cendemned to a tine of sixty .so/s', and if he 

 had found the swarm on the land of another, 

 he was moreover condemned to an arbitrary 

 fine. We i>ossess one curious example of 

 the execution of this i)rescri]ition. CUiiidc 

 Roux, of Pt<i)i<)Jcs. parish ot Sistrierefi, im- 

 der the jurisdiction of the justices of Ld 

 Chnisc Dick, had discovered a swarm of 

 bees. He had neglected to declare it, and 

 he refuses to i>ay the right of waifs, to his 

 lord. By a verdict rendered on the iid of 

 August i4'.i:> by the hailitf. (Maude Itoux was 

 condenuied to the fine and the restitution of 

 the swarm. 



As the first bees were fonnfl in the midst 

 of the forests, it s(>enu>d at tirst natural to 

 pi-esei've them in their jirimitiNc habitations. 

 They were, therefore, lodged in the trunks 

 of trees ; later they were i)ut in baskets, of 

 a conical shape, made of rye straw sowed 

 up with s|)lints of briars or of hazel. After- 

 wards, hives were manufactured by nailing 

 four boards together closed with a woodeii 

 or stone covi'r. Sometimes nlso, but rarely, 

 the bees were iihiced in the very walls of 

 farm dwellings, by i>reparingcavifies which 



