BEE 



BEE 



25 



It is said that beer tasting of the 

 cask may be freed from it, by put- 

 ting a handful of wheat in a bag, 

 and hanging it in the vessel. Rees'^ 

 Ci/clopcedia. 



The pods of green peas, after 

 being dried, are likewise recom- 

 mended as ingredients in beer to 

 which they afford spirit, and an 

 agreeable flavour. 



BEES, an industrious and pro- 

 fitable species of insects. Rural 

 economy is incomplete where 

 bees are wanting. The cost of 

 keeping them is nothing, after the 

 house and boxes are made ; and 

 the care that is required about 

 them is but trifling, affording an 

 agreeable amusement. 



There are three sorts of bees 

 in a hive: 1. The queen bee, 

 which is larger, and of a brighter 

 red, than the rest. Her business 

 is to conduct the new swarm, and 

 lay eggs in the cells for a new 

 brood : And her fertility is so 

 great that she brings forth many 

 thousands of young ones in a year. 

 2. The drones, which have no 

 stings, are of a darker colour than 

 the rest, and are supposed to be 

 the males. 3. The honey bees, 

 or working bees, which are by far 

 more numerous than the other 

 two kinds. 



A bee-house should be situated 

 at a good distance from places 

 where cattle are kept, especially 

 from hogsties, hen and dove 

 houses, and remote from filth and 

 dunghills. It should be defended 

 from high winds on all sides, so 

 far as may be, consistently with 

 admiting the heat of the sun. The 

 house should be open to the 



4 



south, or southwest, and the back- 

 side should be very tight ; with a 

 tight roof projecting, that driving 

 rains may not injure the bees. \[ 

 snow lodges upon or about the 

 hives, it should be brushed off 

 without delay. The bench on 

 which the hives stand, should be a 

 little canting outwards, that if wet 

 should fall on it, it may run off 

 without entering the hives. Mr. 

 Bromwich proposes, '' that a bee- 

 house be boarded in front: And 

 that the backside should consist of 

 three doors, which, opened, give 

 a full view of the hives, and give 

 opportunity to assist or lift them. 

 All seams are to be stopped, which 

 would admit insects, from which 

 the house is often to be brushed. 



" If the house should be in 

 danger of being too hot, when 

 thus inclosed, it may be occasion- 

 ally shaded with boughs of trees. 

 As winter approaches, all the 

 seams of the house are plaistered 

 with clay. In very cold climates, 

 the house should be filled with 

 straw, to keep the bees warm, 

 watching against njice, and re- 

 moving the straw in the spring. 



" Cut a hole through the front, 

 of the same size as the mouth of 

 the lower hive, and directly a- 

 gainst it. Under this passage, 

 on a level with the floor, is a 

 lighting board, at the mouth of 

 each hive, of about five inches 

 long, and three wide. !t is a lit- 

 tle shelf for the bees to land upon 

 after their excursions. These be- 

 ing separate, not in one piece of 

 the length of the house, is to pre- 

 vent intercourse between colony 

 and colonv : but is more essential 



