BEE 



BEE 



35 



not to be subject to this misfortune. 

 The comb is constructed in flakes, 

 supported at the top, sides and 

 bottom generally, except the low- 

 er box, or the tirst they occupy, by 

 short legs or braces, in order that 

 the bees may encircle it on every 

 side ; and the pieces being small 

 there is not that pressure or stress 

 of weight ; it retains its position, 

 and consequently the honey does 

 not burst from the comb when the 

 weather is warm. 



" Fifthly. Another advantage re- 

 sulting from having honey deposit- 

 ed in boxes, is that it may be tak- 

 en out of them, without breaking 

 the honey to any considerable de- 

 gree. I took from a box in the 

 month of July last, thirty pounds of 

 honey-comb, and several pieces, 

 from one to four pounds each,with- 

 out uncapping one cell. The 

 honey was transparent, and com- 

 pletely closed, nor was there a sin- 

 gle cell in the whole box, but what 

 was tilled with the delicious fluid. 

 It was superior to any that I ever 

 saw taken from large hives ; and 

 if kept cool, to all probability it 

 might be preserved months or 

 years unbroken in the comb. Be- 

 sides the method, which I have 

 proposed, affords an opportunity of 

 taking honey before the bees col- 

 lect any from the flowers of buck 

 wheat, which honey is far inferior 

 in flavour and delicacy, to that 

 which is collected earlier in the 

 season.* 



* Honey, collected from buck'vvheat flow- 

 ers will do to preserve the bees, but it is 

 several shades darker in its colour, less sweet 

 iH its nature, possessing something peculiar 

 in its taste that is unpleasant, and emitting 

 an efHuviiim which excites unpleasant son- 



Sixthly. The usual time to take 

 up bees is in the autumn, but I do 

 not confine myself to that season. 

 IVIy method of managing bees will 

 admit of taking honey fromthem any 

 time when they have it to spare ; 

 but in selecting a box, care must be 

 taken to avoid that which contains 

 the young bees. The object of the 

 new colony is to add to their 

 strength by increasing their num- 

 bers ; consequently their early at- 

 tention is directed to provide cells 

 to deposit their eggs. The lower 

 box, which they first enter,becomes 

 their place of residence, till they 

 have filled it with comb, and young 

 bees, if it be an early swarm. The 

 honey is to be sought in the second 

 box, of which they gradually take 

 possession. In filling (he second 

 box they begin at the communica- 

 tion between the two boxes, and 

 raise their comb in the form of a 

 frustrum or segment of a globe, and 

 proceed in this way till they have 

 raised it to form a contact with the 

 cover. 



" Seventhly. The method of 

 keeping bees in boxes that may be 

 separated at pleasure, affords an 

 opportunity of changing the comb 

 in the hive before it becomes dark 

 coloured, and apparently rusty, and 

 an unsuitable receptacle for that 

 sweet, delicate and nutritious fluid, 

 which was the emblem of plenty 

 in ancient Canaan. The purest 

 honey, deposited in such combs 

 loses its transparency and delicate 

 flavour, and partakes in no incon- 



sations ; and thus affording an evidence by 

 three senses, what proportion of honey in the 

 hive was collected after the bees had access 

 to the flowers of buck-wheat. 



