BEE 



BEE 



31 



taken not to irritate, or injure them 

 by wounding or killing them. 



'' Bees require particular atten- 

 tion during the season in which 

 they usually swarm ; and at every 

 season, they ought to be secured 

 from wet, and kept remote from 

 swine, geese, and fowls, that no 

 disagreeable stench arise from any 

 thing among them. Their house 

 ought to be so constructed and sit- 

 uated that the rising sun may ani- 

 mate them to early industry, and 

 at the same time shield them from 

 his meridian beams during the 

 warmest of the season, for too 

 much heat is unfriendly to their 

 comfort and activity. When the 

 season is nearly past for collectmg 

 honey, the doors of the hive must 

 be contracted, to enable them bet- 

 ter to defend themselves against 

 invaders. When the resources of 

 nature fail they sometimes invade 

 other hives with a view to make 

 conquest ; but in doing this they 

 not unfrequently attack a late 

 swarm, that has not a sufficient 

 store of provision to preserve them 

 through the winter. In this case 

 their conquest seems to be humane, 

 for they receive the vanquished in- 

 to their own dominions, and incor- 

 porate them with all the privileges 

 of their own subjects. 



" By contracting the aperture 

 of the hive in the autumn, the bees 

 can not only defend their territo- 

 ries against their enemies, but their 

 hive will be rendered more com- 

 fortable for winter. The extremes, 

 cold and heat, are unfavourable to 

 the prosperity of bees. Before 

 cold weather commences enclose 

 the hivei on every side, except the 



front, with straw to defend them 

 against the piercing cold. In the 

 month of February, when the 

 weather is moderate, the bees will 

 leave their hive, and many of them 

 light on the snow, and unless straw 

 be spread in front of the hive on 

 the snow, many of them will never 

 rise again. They will soon chill 

 and die, unless they find souk thing, 

 by which thc_y may crawl from the 

 snow, and so rise and return to 

 the hive. It will be necessary 

 to spread straw every new snow, 

 or else their numbers will be great- 

 ly diminished by chilling and dying 

 on the snow in front of the hive. 



"The process of diminishing or 

 increasing the number of boxes, is 

 both simple, easy and safe. In col- 

 lecting their tribute or enlarging 

 their habitation, two things I care- 

 fully observe ; one is not to kill or 

 wound them ; the other is to put 

 it out of their power to injure me. 

 For this purpose, if it be in the 

 morning before they have left their 

 habitation, 1 close the door upon 

 them, and confine them at home. 

 If it be in the middle of the day, 

 when the bees arc most active, I 

 approach them with the smoke, 

 that arises from burning leather, 

 which has the best effect. This 

 will make them retreat into 

 their hive at any time, or leave the 

 branch or trunk of a tree when hiv- 

 ing them, should they attempt to 

 regain the place they at first occu- 

 pied. Besides, by this act of fu- 

 migation another important advan- 

 tage results. It will disarm them 

 of all resentment, and render them 

 harmless. Whenever they assume 

 a hostile attitude in hiving them, 



