BEE. 



417 



Bee. stitute of a quadrangular pyramidal figure, with move- 

 * v^- ' able sides. Its principles are said to be founded on 

 those of M. Schi'rach and Huber ; but, as yet, they 

 are not sufficiently detailed to enable us to explain 

 them. If wood be used, it must be extremely well 

 seasoned, and perhaps covered with some thin var- 

 nish on the outside, else it is apt to decay. Sir Tor- 

 bern Bergman ascribes the scarcity of bees in Sweden 

 principally to employing wooden hives. 

 Glass hives. Those who are anxious to view the various and 

 progressive operations of bees, may gratify them- 

 selves, by procuring hives with glass sides. This 

 can hardly be denominated a modern invention, as 

 Pliny records, that a Roman senator had something 

 of the same kind, made of the thinnest and most 

 transparent horn. But those entirely made of glass 

 were not known on the continent before the year 

 1680, though they were made with panes in Eng- 

 land earlier in the same century ; and hives made com- 

 pletely of glass are spoken of in 1655. Glass hives 

 ought not to be round, like the common shape, as 

 the bees are concealed among the combs ; they should 

 be square boxes, whose sides consist of four panes. 

 Reaumur used them so thin as to admit of no more 

 than two combs being constructed, that he might 

 the better witness the procedure of the inhabitants. 

 A pane on each side of Huber's hollow frames ex- 

 poses both sides of the comb. Such hives must be 

 covered with a wooden box, or an opaque substance, 

 as light disturbs the operations of bees. 



Some authors think that there is greater hazard in 

 giving bees too much than too little room to work, 

 when first lodged in a hive, as their animal heat will 

 not be sufficiently confined. However this may be, 

 they ought afterwards to enjoy enough of space ; for 

 we are satisfied that many swarms are injured from 

 wanting it. 

 Proper size Nothing is of greater importance than the size of the 

 of a swarm, swarm lodged in a hive. We repeatedly see large 

 swarms succeed, while small ones, especially towards 

 the end of the season, fail. The bees, therefore, in 

 each swarm should be extremely numerous; and we 

 may confidently affirm, that the cultivator will find 

 much of his success depend on the number of work- 

 ers contained in a single hive. It appears, that bees 

 are discouraged by the smallness of their own num- 

 bers ; that, when greatly reduced, their instinct is af- 

 fected, they labour with less activity, they cease to keep 

 guard at the entrance of their hive, and testify more 

 indifference for their own fate and that of their young. 

 Whether the advantage lies in a numerous swarm ma- 

 king greater collections in a shorter time ; in augment- 

 ing the temperature of the hive ; or in the different in- 

 ternal functions having larger classes of workers to 

 perform them, we shall not attempt to decide. We 

 therefore recommend the junction of two or more 

 swarms into one, particularly when the period of col- 

 lection draws towards a close, and the sacrifice of their 

 supernumerary queens. By this expedient it will be 

 seen, that while each could hardly subsist itself, and 

 lay up provision for winter, they will be enabled 

 to survive during its most rigorous cold ; and, if 

 the operation be performed earlier in summer, they 

 will gather ample stores. Practical directions have 

 been given for the exact weight which a good swarm 

 VOX.. III. PART in. % .4 



should amount to. Bonner says, a swarm is very Bee. 

 good if it weigh four pounds ; and Butler maintains, ' " v 

 that " the goodness or greatness of a swarm you may 

 most certainly know by the weight : it being a good 

 one that weigheth five pounds ; a reasonable good 

 one that weigheth four ; and a very good one that 

 weigheth six." But the number of bees in a pound is 

 very far from being ascertained, which must restrain 

 us from pronouncing on the exact weight that should 

 constitute a good swarm. Thorley, whose work on 

 bees participates of many of those absurdities in 

 which most authors on this subject have allowed 

 themselves to indulge, observes, " In October 1743, 

 when putting the bees of a small late swarm into an 

 empty hive, and afterwards upon a table, I took a 

 particular account of their measure, weight, and num- 

 ber : in measure a quart ; in weight one pound and a 

 quarter ; in number two thousaud." And he con- 

 cludes, that the number of bees in a swarm weighing 

 four or five pounds would be 8000, or upwards ; 

 whence a suitable hive for 8000 or 10,000 bees should 

 be equivalent to two pecks and a half, or three pecks, 

 in capacity. The calculations of M. de Reaumur 

 produce a very different result. A very fine swarm 

 which left one of his hives he estimated to consist of 

 4-3,000 bees, and weighed eight pounds. Thus there 

 are, according to him, 5376 in a pound of 16 ounces ; 

 and Butler, who, in spite of all the extravagancies of 

 his work, certainly made some accurate observations, 

 estimates the number of bees in a pound at 4450. 

 We suspect, that both he and Reaumur have over- 

 rated the number. 



The situation and arrangement of the apiary claim Site of the 

 the cultivator's attention. Each hive should stand apiary, 

 on a wooden sole, or rest, supported on a single 

 wooden post driven into the ground, or on three 

 close together, near the centre of the board, that the 

 enemies of the colony may have difficulty in crawling 

 up from below. It should be fixed securely, so as 

 to escape being overturned by the wind ; but the 

 common custom of laying a turf on the top must be 

 avoided, on account of the harbour it affords to noxi- 

 ous insects. Hives should stand far apart ; if there 

 are six hives in one portion or division of the apiary, 

 they should not be less than nine or twelve feet asun- 

 der. But too great a number never should be si- 

 tuated in the same district. The collections of 

 bees are drawn solely from flowers, and perhaps, 

 in some small measure, from honey dew, which at 

 times appears on leaves, and is said to produce an 

 inferior honey ; it is therefore evident, that immense 

 quantities of bees, actively employed, would not be 

 long of exhausting the whole. The number of hives 

 should, therefore, be regulated by the situation of 

 the apiary. A district abounding with flowers and 

 blossoms will admit of more than one where the 

 chief product is grain. An apiary ought to stand in 

 a quiet sheltered place, where the bees may perform 

 their labours totally undisturbed : flowers, particu- 

 larly those most fruitful hi honey, should be co- 

 piously disseminated around; ^nd, for the facility of 

 saving swarms, it is better to have low flowering 

 shrubs in the vicinity than lofty trees. Means should 

 be practised to obtain a succession of flowers in suc- 

 cessive seasons, that the bees may always have the 

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