36 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



not exceed five, and we know of only one api- 

 ary which ever reached the number of sixty, 

 and that was at Cobham, in Kent. The pro- 

 prietor however was a perfect charlatan in bee- 

 keeping; the aspect of his hives was not of the 

 slightest consideration to him, for they faced 

 all the points of the compass; and to attempt to 

 instil any instruction into him relative to the 

 improved method of keeping bees, was similar 

 to driving a gimlet into a block of marble. We 

 were introduced to this most eccentric of all 

 bee-masters by the late Mr. Stevenson, the stew- 

 ard of the Earl of Darnley, and on beginning 

 to expatiate with him on several instances of 

 his bad management in his apiary, he very 

 coolly insisted that Mr. Stevenson and myself 

 should leave his premises, for, according to his 

 own opinion, he was the only man in England 

 who understood the management of bees. Noth- 

 ing could give him greater offence than to ask 

 him to sell a hive, for he had formed a resolu- 

 tion to die with an apiary of one hundred hives. 

 At his death, however, his apiary amounted to 

 only forty hives; and may not this be adduced 

 as a proof that he had over-stocked the particu- 

 lar district in which he lived ? 



There are very few districts which will sup- 

 port an apiary of sixty hives in one position. 

 Twenty-five hives are the utmost which we 

 would recommend any bee-master to keep in 

 one apiary, with a view to actual profit; and 

 even that number is too great, if the country 

 be not of the first-ra.te character. The better 

 practice is to keep rather too few than too many; 

 and it will be found, on experiment, that ten 

 hives in certain situations will generally yield 

 as much as twenty. It was, it is true, the opin- 

 ion of M. La Grenee, whose character stands 

 high in the rank of apiarians, that any given 

 district can maintain an unlimited number of 

 hives, but neither experience nor reason will 

 bear him out in his hypothesis. It must be 

 granted that every district, however rich and 

 abundant it may be in the flowers from which 

 the bees collect their provisions, still has its lim- 

 its of supply; and, consequently, if a certain 

 number of hives be kept in a district Avhich can 

 consume that supply, and which is not greater 

 than they require, any further addition to the 

 number of hives must be attended with the 

 greatest injury. 



We will now mention those p'tsitions which 

 are most proper and advantageous for the cul- 

 ture of the bee, and they may be divided into 

 three; the first middling, the second good, and 

 the third excellent. These three positions may 

 be distinguished as yielding three different pro- 

 ductions. 



Tlie corn-fields, the meadows, with little rivu- 

 lets, are what may be denominated the middling 

 position. 



The proximity of woods — abundance of mea- 

 dow and arable ground, extensive commonsand 

 rivulets, form the good position. 



The vicinity of meadows of heath, woods, 

 great commons and hills covered with odorife- 

 rous herbs, removed from lakes and rivers of 

 great extent, may be denominated the excellent 

 position; the latter will produce four times as 



much as the first, and will double the second. 

 Although these positions may be considered as 

 the best, there are nevertheless other places 

 where hives might be placed to advantage, but 

 not in that number Avhich might be wished. 

 The quality of the country in which a person 

 fixes his apiary should be examined, and he 

 should regulate the number of the hives to tlie 

 quantity of food which the district can produce, 

 and not place a hundred hives in a place which 

 can only maintain fifty. 



Kespecting the number of hives which may 

 be kept in a middling district, we conceive that 

 one hundred are perfectly sufficient; two hun- 

 dred in a good one, and four or five hundred in 

 an excellent one. In regard to those provinces 

 that we have mentioned, in which, from their 

 high state of cultivation, the harvest of honey 

 ceases in August, they may still be proper for 

 the culture of the bee, although not to that ex- 

 tent as in the positions previously quoted. 



Huber, speaking of the advantages of partic- 

 ular positions for an apiary, says, that at the 

 epoch of the Revolution he lived at Cour, near 

 Lausanne; on one side was the lake, and on the 

 other vineyards. He soon perceived the disad- 

 vantages of his situation. When the orchards 

 of Cour were out of blossom, and the few neigh- 

 boring meadows mowed, he perceived that the 

 provisions of the mother hive diminished daily; 

 the labors of his swarms ceased to that degree 

 that his bees would have died from hunger in 

 the summer if he had not supported them; and 

 his apiary, which had taken him years to col- 

 lect, was entirely ruined. 



Whilsthis hives were thus going to destruc- 

 tion at Cour, the bees of Renan, of Chabliere, 

 of the woods of Vaux, Cery, &c., places situa- 

 ted about eight miles from Cour, without any 

 lakes, woods, or mountains intervening, lived 

 in the greatest abundance, threw numerous 

 swarms, and filled their hives with wax and 

 honey. If my bees, says Mr. Huber, could 

 have cleared the interval which separated them 

 from the places where they could have found 

 provisions, they would certainly have done it, 

 rather than die from hunger. They did not suc- 

 ceed better at Vevay, although the distance is 

 not quite six miles from Vevay to Houteville, 

 Chardenne, where the bees flourished particu- 

 larly well. 



In concluding this article, we regret to aay 

 that from the present degraded state of the cul- 

 ture of the bee in this country, there is no fear 

 of its being over- stocked with hives. The cli- 

 mate of this country is particularly congenial 

 to the multiplication of bees, but we are either 

 not aAvare of the profit attending their culture, 

 or some old-rooted prejudices are required to 

 be extirpated before the attention of the agri- 

 culturists can be invited to this important branch 

 of rural economy. — Iluisli. 



The management of bees, which always re- 

 quires some delicacy, and not a little dexterity 

 of treatment, assuredly demands no less atten- 

 tion and care than other matters of a similar 

 nature. 



