122 



BEE. 



Bee. of a fowling piece would have much more effect. 

 v Bees are conceived to mistake the dust and sand for 

 rain, which they greatly dread ; and we often observe 

 them hastening to the hive on the approach of a 

 shower, or when the sky becomes cloudy. Notwith- 

 standing every effort to retain them, they sometimes 

 rise very high, fly to a distance, and are irrecover- 

 ably lost. As they are said to fly in a straight line 

 after having taken their direction, they must be pur- 

 sued, as there is no other method of discovering where 

 they alight. The place of their settling is extremely 

 uncertain. Bonner says they will fly four miles to 

 take possession of a dead hive, and affirms, that he 

 has seen a swarm go into a living one that stood in 

 the same apiary. If they alight in an accessible place, 

 on the branch of a tree for example, after allowing 

 them to settle completely, it must be gently cut off 

 and laid on the ground, and a clean hive supported 

 on two sticks put over it, and the whole covered 

 with a sheet or large table cloth. The bees will soon 

 ascend into the hive, and immediately begin working : 

 late in the evening, when all is quiet within, the hive 

 is to be transported to its station in the apiary. 

 When the cultivator can, by any device, catch the 

 queen and put her into the hive, all the bees will 

 quickly follow. This is more essential to attempt, 

 when the place where the swarm has settled is of 

 difficult access ; such as flying to the roof of a 

 house, or the cleft of a tree. Then it is far from 

 easy to dislodge the bees, which is, in the majority of 

 cases, the sole method of recovering them ; as we can 

 hardly sanction the following method recommended 

 ' by Bonner: " The owner should make as much room 



as possible to get his hand introduced, so as to pull 

 them out by handfuls, and put them into an empty 

 hive." Bees very quickly commence working even 

 in the most exposed and unsheltered situations, un- 

 less removed to a hive. The operator should be pro- 

 vided with a dress to protect him from the stings of 

 the bees : the best expedient is to have a close leather 

 jacket and trowsers; the head and face covered, and 

 goggles of gauze to save the eyes. Bees are less dis- 

 posed to sting during their swarming than at all other 

 times ; and there have been instances of their settling 

 on a person's head, unattended by inconvenience. 

 We have an authentic account of this from Thorley. 

 " In the year 1717," he observes, " one of my 

 swarms settled among the close twisted branches of a 

 codling tree ; and not to be got into a hive without 

 help, my maid servant, being in the garden, offered 

 her assistance to hold the hive while I dislodged the 

 bees. Having never been acquainted with bees, she 

 put a linen cloth over her head and shoulders, to guard 

 and secure her frorr their swords. A few of the bees 

 fell into the hive, some upon the ground, but the 

 main body upon the cloth which covered her upper 

 garments. 1 took the hive out of her hands when 

 6he cried out, the bees were got under the covering, 

 and crowding up towards her breast and face, which 

 put her into a trembling posture. When I perceived 

 the veil was of no farther service, she gave me leave 

 to remove it : this done, a most affecting spectacle 

 presented itself to the view of all the company, fil- 

 ling me with the deepest distress and concern, as I 

 thought myself the unhappy instrument of drawing 



her into so imminent hazard of her life. Had 6he en- Bte. 

 raged them, all resistance had been vain, and nothing ^ y "' 

 less than her life would have atoned for the offence. 

 I spared not to use all the arguments I cculd think 

 of, and using the most affectionate intreaties; bczsriiH'- 

 her, with all earnestness in my power, to stand her 

 ground and keep her present posture ; in order to 

 which I gave her encouragement to hope for a full 

 discharge from her disagreeable companions. I be- 

 gan to search among them for the queen, now got in 

 a great body upon her breast, about her neck, and 

 up to her chin. I immediately seized her, taking her 

 from among the crowd, with some of the commons 

 in company with her, and put them together into the 

 hive. Here I watched her for some time, and, as I 

 did not observe that she came out, I conceived an ex- 

 pectation of seeing the whole body quickly abandon 

 their settlement ; but instead of that, I soon obser- 

 ved them gathering closer together, without the least 

 signal for departing. Upon this I immediately re- 

 flected, that either there must be another sovereign, 

 or that the same was returned. I directly commenced 

 a second search, and in a short time, with a most 

 agreeable surprise, found a second or the same. She 

 strove, by entering farther into the crowd, to escape 

 me, but I reconducted her with a great number of 

 the populace into the hive. And now the melan- 

 choly scene began to change, to one infinitely more 

 agreeable and pleasant. The bees missing their queen, 

 began to dislodge and repair to the hive ; crowding 

 into it in multitudes, and in the greatest hurry imagin- 

 able ; and in the space of two or three minutes the 

 maid had not one single bee about her, neither had 

 she so much as one sting, a small number of which 

 would have quickly stopped her breath." 



Supposing that the cultivator desires to augment Artificial 

 the number of his hives, without awaiting the period swarms, 

 when swarming naturally ensues ; or that its opera- 

 tion is checked by the uncertainties of weather, pre- 

 dominant in our climate above all others, he may re- 

 sort to the expedient of obtaining artificial swarms. 

 Several young queens originate at once in a hive; and 

 the production of two is sometimes so immediate, 

 that although both cannot survive together, they 

 come off in the same swarm. As by M. Shirach's 

 discovery, bees having lost the queen can procure 

 themselves another, providing there be workers' brood 

 in the combs, we can at pleasure rear successive 

 queens simply by removing the first. If a hive is 

 strong enough therefore, it may be divided in two ; 

 one half will retain the old queen, and the other will 

 not be long of obtaining a young one. Shirach di- 

 rects, that the appearance of brood in a hive contain- 

 ing a queen is to be ascertained, which is always 

 about the time that the trees are in blossom, or a 

 little later in Britain. Three or four pieces of comb, 

 with the brood, are to be cut out of the hive, and 

 placed in a rack-work adapted in another hive in the 

 same position as in that from which they came, and 

 three or four hundred bees must be confined along 

 with it ; unless the hive be very large, they should 

 not be numerous ; and seven or eight hundred will al- 

 ways prove more than sufficient. Nearly fifteen days 

 being requisite for the production of a queen, as 

 much honey should be supplied every two days as 



