BEE 



BEE 



3^ 



Farmer^s Assistant, asserts that 

 the most eifectual mode of de- 

 stroying the insect, is " to raise 

 the hive about an inch above the 

 floor, and keep it there, when the 

 moment the bees discover their 

 unmasked enemies, whether in the 

 shape of eggs, or of catterpillars, 

 in different stages of formation, 

 they attack them with fury, and 

 toil incessantly until they have 

 destroyed or removed every ves- 

 tige of them off the board." 



He further very judiciously re- 

 commends the construction of the 

 floor or plank on which the hive 

 stands, and also the rim of the 

 hive, to be " of such materials and 

 dimensions as would afford no 

 place of concealment for the fly or 

 its eggs." Dr. Low, another 

 writer, quoted on the same work, 

 advises to suspend the hive, by a 

 cord fastened in the top, and have 

 the plank forming the floor movea- 

 ble up and down. During cold 

 weather, the plank is brought up 

 close to the rim, to keep the bees 

 sufficiently warm ; but on the ap- 

 proach of spring, or when the 

 weather was become suitably 

 moderated, the plank was let 

 down about four inches, and kept 

 in that situation during the warm 

 or growing season. At particular 

 cold spells, during the first of the 

 spring or latter end of the fall, the 

 floor, no doubt ought to be raised 

 up, until the return of warmer 

 weather, but it should only be 

 kept in this position while the com- 

 fort of the bees requires it. 



Dr. J. Anderson in one of his 

 practical papers " On the Manage- 

 ment of the Dairy, ''^ communicat- 



ed to the Bath and West of Eng- 

 land Society, observes in a note, 

 that bees, in that variable climate 

 are a very precarious stock, though 

 extremely profitable where they 

 thrive. During the frequent mild 

 days of winter, and the warm 

 mornings of spring which are sud- 

 denly succeeded by a nipping 

 frost, or sleety rain, these crea- 

 tures are roused from their torpid 

 state; and being unable to obtain 

 food abroad, they are obliged to 

 consume and exhaust their stores, 

 and to perish from want. And as 

 the warmth of the weather invites 

 them to search for flowers in vain 

 affording them nourishment, they 

 are often chilled by cold before 

 they are able to return to the hive. 



To prevent such fatal accidents 

 Dr. Anderson is of opinion, that 

 no method would be so effectual 

 as that of placing the hives in an 

 ice house, at the approach of win- 

 ter. Here they may be kept till 

 the spring has so far advanced, 

 that no danger is to be appre- 

 hended from bad weather. Dur- 

 ing the whole winter, they will 

 remain in a state of torpor, and 

 require no food. As soon as the 

 mild weather invites them to ap- 

 pear, they will commence their 

 labours with vigour. The intense 

 degree of cold which bees sustain 

 without the least injury, in Poland 

 and Russia, where even quicksilver 

 is sometimes frozen, removes eve- 

 ry doubt or anxiety, concerning 

 the safety of bees in an ice- 

 house." 



BEET, Beta, a well known es- 

 culent root. 



There is a sea beet which grows 



