416 



BEE. 



Bee. figure of the hive be important, all modern cultiva- 

 ~"N tors seem agreed that it should be susceptible of ad- 



ditions. In the ordinary straw hive, the addition is 

 made by raising it on a circular ring or hoop, either 

 of wood or of the same materials ; a clumsy and auk- 

 ward expedient, which commonly leads the bees to 

 waste much of their labour in filling up crevices. 

 Notwithstanding this, it is adopted in Brittany with 

 some little difference, and there called the Scotch hive. 

 The hive itself consists of two pieces, each twelve in- 

 ches wide, and eleven high, made of rolls of straw. 

 The under one is divided from the other ; but a com- 

 munication hole, fifteen or eighteen lines in diameter, 

 is left for the bees. As they work downwards, the 

 under part, which is nothing but one of our common 

 eeks, or broad hoops, is next filled. Pyramidal hives 

 have been made several feet in height, and divided in- 

 to different stages, or compartments ; which the bees, 

 after being lodged in the highest, would successively 

 fill on removal of the floors or stages. Boxes of con- 

 venient size and form, placed above each other, have 

 likewise been recommended, and which we should 

 suppose well adapted for enabling the cultivator, at 

 all times, to take the honey with ease. Such boxes 

 are made of well seasoned wood, nine inches long, the 

 same in breadth, and eight inches high ; but from what 

 we have said, there is no necessity for a rigid adherence 

 to these dimensions. In the roof there is a commu- 

 nication hole three inches square, on which is placed 

 another box of similar structure ; others may be rai- 

 sed above this to an indefinite height ; and the bot- 

 tom of each is open like the mouth of a common 

 hive. When a swarm is lodged in a box, if only two 

 be used, it is immediately to be put over an emp- 

 ty one, as the bees must have more room ; and if 

 more than two are used, a new one is successively 

 to be supplied below. The bees, beginning from 

 above, will soon fill the upper box with honey ; and 

 it is then to be separated from that beneath it, by 

 drawing through a long thin pliable knife to cut the 

 comb. The communication hole of the lower box 

 must then be covered with a board, and the box se- 

 parated cairied to a distance, where the bees remain- 

 ing in it may be dislodged, by turning it up and rap- 

 ping on its sides with a small stick. The proper 

 time to perform this operation is at sunrise. Colla- 

 teral boxes have also been suggested, from the belief 

 of their being attended with greater advantages to 

 the bees. The size is nearly the same with that above 

 mentioned. There is a communication hole in the 

 side, and an optning low and wide below in the sides 

 applied to each other, to allow the bees more ready 

 passage. Collateral hoops of twisted straw or wood 

 were long ago invented, by which means the inventor 

 enlarged his hives to an unlimited extent ; and these 

 he kept, with great advantage, in a garret near the 

 roof of his house. Madame Vicat invented a kind of 

 hive, composed of hollow frames of three sides, which 

 are connected together, and can be separately ta- 

 ken out at pleasure. Each frame is u(d?t>f three 

 pieces of plank, half an inch thick. The two side 

 pieces are eleven inches high, and five and a half 

 broad ; the piece connecting them above is seven in- 

 ches long, and they are ten inches asunder at the bot- 

 tom. The sides of these open frames arc applied to 



each other, and if one of four be taken away, an 

 empty one can be introduced, or the remaining ones 

 can be closed together. Somewhat analogous to this 

 is the leaf or book hive, invented by M. Hnber, some 

 of which construction have recently been adopted in 

 Scotland, after the description he gis-es of it. This 

 consists of twelve hollow frames, twelve inches high, 

 nine or ten in breadth, and fifteen lines in width, as- 

 it is intended each shall receive only a single comb. 

 These twelve frames, laterally applied to each other, 

 form the whole hive. All are connected by means 

 of hinges at the back, so that they divide asunder in 

 opening like turning over the leaves of a book. The 

 ten intermediate frames, between the first and twelfth, 

 are hollow ; the outside of these two are covered ; in 

 them, also, is an entrance for the bees ; there should 

 be one in all the rest, to open at pleasure. On first 

 lodging a swarm in one of these hives, a small piece 

 of comb should be fixed in a division, to guide the di- 

 rection of those built by the bees, which will be pa- 

 rallel to it ; and as each frame contains but a single 

 comb, it is extremely well adapted for observation, and 

 it also admits the removal of that comb without af- 

 fecting or deranging the rest. The whole contents 

 are exposed to view, the queen is easily found, and 

 whatever should be removed or altered can be select- 

 ed with great convenience. The inventor conceives, 

 that the book hive has the property of rendering the 

 bees more tractable ; for on opening any of the divi- 

 sions, the bees rather testify fear than anger, by reti- 

 ring into the cells as if to conceal themselves. This 

 he ascribes to the effect which the sudden introduc- 

 tion of light has on them ; for they are less tractable 

 after sun-set and during night than through the day. 

 The divisions must be separated slowly, and care ob- 

 served to avoid wounding the bees. If they cluster 

 too much on the combs, they must be brushed off' 

 with a feather, and breathing on them cautiously 

 guarded against. The air which we expire seems to- 

 excite their fury ; and it certainly possesses some ir- 

 ritating quality, for if bellows be used the bees are 

 more disposed to escape than to sting. Another ad- 

 vantage attends the leaf hive, which consists in the 

 power of the operator to make the bees work in wax, 

 or, which is the same thing, to construct new combs. 

 All that is here required is to separate those already- 

 built so far asunder as to leave an interval in which 

 additional ones may be constructed. Suppose that a 

 swarm be lodged in a leaf hive consisting of six divi- 

 sions, each containing a comb. If the young queen- 

 be as fertile as she ought, the bees will be very active 

 in their labours, and disposed to make great collections 

 in wax. To induce them towards it, an empty frame, or 

 division, should be placed between two others, each 

 containing a comb. From the necessity which nature 

 has imposed on these insects of never leaving more than- 

 four lines between their combs, they will soon begin 

 to build a new one in the empty space, which will be 

 parallel to the others. The number of vacancies left 

 may be proportioned to the strength of the swarm, 

 and the goodness of the season ; but they should not 

 be forced too much to work in wax. M. Fcburier, 

 the most recent observer on this subject, and who, we 

 believe, is just about to publish a work regarding it 

 in Pari6, has recommended a hive to the National In- 



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