8WAEMINO.] 



THE BEE, AND 



[the apiaet. 



a small number of bees, varying from twenty 

 to fiftj, were every day employed in examin- 

 log, and, apparently, in keeping possession of 

 the cavity ; for, if molested, they showed 

 evident signs of displeasure, though they never 

 employed their stings in defending their pro- 

 posed habitation. Their examination was not 

 confined to the cavity, but extended to the 

 external parts of the tree above : every dead 

 knot particularly arrested their attention, as 

 if they had been apprehensive of being injured 

 by moisture, which this might admit into the 

 cavity below; and they, apparently, did not 

 leave any part of the bark near the cavity 

 unexamined. A part of the colony which pi'o- 

 posed to emigrate, appeared, in this case, to 

 have been delegated to search for a proper 

 habitation ; and the individual who succeeded, 

 must, apparently, have had some means of 

 conveying information of his success to others ; 

 for it cannot be supposed that fifty bees should 

 each accidentally meet at and fix on the same 

 cavity, at a mile distant from their hive, which 

 Mr. Knight has frequently observed them to 

 do, in a wood where several trees were adapted 

 for their reception ; and, indeed, he observed 

 that they almost uniformly selected that cavity 

 which he himself thought was the best adapted 

 for their use. It not unfrequently happened 

 that swarms of his own bees took possession 

 of these cavities ; and such swarms were, in 

 several instances, followed from his garden to 

 the trees ; and they were observed to deviate 

 very little from the direct line between the one 

 point and the other, which seems to indicate 

 that those bees who iiad formerly acted as pur- 

 veyors now became guides." 



The first settlement of a swarm is, doubt- 

 less, merely a spot, or place of rendezvous 

 anterior to the emigation that is to establish 

 them. If they are not hived they will soon 

 take flight, and in a direct line, for some 

 locality which their instinct has previously 

 marked out as suitable for their accommoda- 

 tion. They have been known to make straight 

 for an old hollow pollard, the only one to be 

 found within a mile or two of the hive. The 

 first swarm is invariably accompanied by the 

 old queen, who, on this occasion, looks out for 

 a fine day, as she has a strong aversion to 

 leaving home in bad or disagreeable weather. 

 I'ur after-awarms, it would appear, she is 

 1000 



not so particular. If the first swarm sends 



forth a colony the same year, it is the same 



queen who places herself at the head of her 



wandering subjects, in the settlement of which 



she takes a truly parental interest. In 



descanting on this part of our subject, a 



writer says, that "there seems to be an 



unerring method by which the exact time 



when the first swarm will leave the hive can 



be determined — their hanginsr from the en- 



F. 

 trance being very fallacious — except by 



watching the genei'al state of things ■within. 

 With the after-swarms, however, there is a 

 most curious and certain sign in the * piping' 

 or ' trumpeting' of the queen and the prin- 

 cesses. About the ninth day from the issue 

 of the first swarm, if another colony is about 

 to leave the hive, this singular duet, in most 

 regular intonation, between the emerged queen 

 and the princess still a prisoner in her cell, is 

 heard ; and extravagant as the account may 

 seem, and confused and embellished as it has 

 been from the times of Aristotle and Virgil, 

 till recent days, it is now the practical sign by 

 which every attentive bee-keeper judges of 

 the time of emigration of the after-swarms. 

 The second swarm is called a 'cast ;' the third, 

 a ' smart ;' and the fourth, a ' pquib.' A swarm 

 from a swarm is called a 'maiden' or 'virgin' 

 swarm, and the honey is reckoned more pure. 

 It seldom, howevei', happens that there are 

 more than two from the same hive, except in 

 some very fine bee-years ; and there are, on au 

 average, two good years in every ten." 



THE APIARY. 

 The objects whicb 0UL,ht to be chiefly 

 attended to in the construction of an apiary 

 are various, and should be constantly kept in 

 the view of the bee-master whilst engaged in 

 the important task of making a domicile for 

 his insects. Tlie first is the security and mul- 

 tiplication of colonies ; the augmentation of 

 their productive labour; the obtaiument of 

 their products with ease and certainty, and 

 with the smallest possible injury to the stock. 

 Besides these primary objects, the apiary 

 should give to its inmates the best possible 

 shelter against moisture and the extremes of 

 heat and cold ; but more especially against 

 sudden changes of temperature. It should 

 also be a principal means of protection against 



