BEES. 



BEES. 



phurous smoke introduced by fumigating bel- 

 lows, &c. The bees will fall from the upper 

 to the lower hive in a few minutes, when they 

 may be removed and buried to prevent re- 

 suscitation. Such a death seems one of the 

 easiest, both to the insects themselves and to 

 human feelings. Indeed, the mere deprivation 

 of life, to animals not endowed with sentiment 

 or reflection, is reduced to the precise pain of 

 the moment, without reference to the past or 

 the future ; and as each pulsation of this pain 

 increases in effect on the one hand, so, on the 

 other, the susceptibility of feeling it diminishes. 

 Civilized man is the only animal to whom 

 death has terrors, and hence the origin of that 

 false humanity which condemns the killing of 

 bees in order to obtain their honey, but which 

 might, with as much justice, be applied 

 to the destruction of almost every other ani- 

 mal used in domestic economy, as fowls, 

 game, fish, cattle, &c." '(Encyc. of Agriculture, 

 7614.) 



As to the best situation for bees during 

 their working season, this must depend upon 

 circumstances of climate and locality. In 

 southerly latitudes and warm exposures, 

 where the climate will admit of the hives re- 

 maining upon the stands during winter, it 

 may still be advisable to give some shelter, 

 and the principal object should be to ward 

 off the sun, the warmth from which invites 

 the bees to fly abroad at an unprofitable sea- 

 son, and makes them sensitive to the sudden 

 spells of cold experienced throughout the 

 United States. In summer, the extreme heat 

 of the sun should certainly be warded off by 

 sheds and suitable shades, although it is im- 

 proper to oblige the bees to pass through bar- 

 riers of boughs and bushes. The heat accu- 

 mulated by objects exposed to the direct rays 

 of the sun often increases to 130 or 140 of 

 Fahrenheit, a temperature which must be in- 

 jurious, not only to the bees themselves, -but 

 to their honey and wax. Whitewashing the 

 hives and stands will tend much to prevent 

 the accumulation of heat. The hives may 

 front the east, south-east, or south-west, ac- 

 cording to circumstances. 



In the northerly portions of the United 

 States, means are generally used to protect the 

 swarms in winter, by removal to some cool and 

 dry out-house or cellar. Some bury the hives 

 either partly or entirely under ground, as is 

 practised with many kinds of vegetables. The 

 place should be very dry, and the hives set 

 upon clean straw, without any bottom board 

 to rest on, one side being raised about two 

 inches by means of a stick or stone. An 

 empty space must be left around, three times 

 the size of the hive, covered over with bridging 

 and earth, six, eight, or ten inches in depth, 

 heaped up well so as to turn off water. They 

 may remain thus covered about three months. 

 Whilst some persons contend for the ne- 

 cessity of protecting bees against the extreme 

 cold of American winters, others deem it not 

 only useless, but destructive to the health and 

 welfare of swarms to remove the hives from 

 their usual situations, however exposed these 

 may be. Among apiarians who disapprove of 

 the removal of hives in the winter, is Dr. J. 

 162 



j V. C. Smith, of Boston, who, in a neat little 

 duodecimo volume of about a hundred pages, 

 " On the Practicability of Cultivating the Ho- 

 ney Bee in Maritime Towns and Cities, as a 

 source of Domestic Economy and Profit." 

 holds the following testimony: 



" During the season of rest, from the first of 

 October to the first or middle of April, the 

 quantity of honey consumed by such a hive 

 as has been spoken of, as worth keeping, 

 varies according to the average temperature 

 of the weather, from ten to twenty pounds. It 

 is better that the bees should have too much 

 than too little in^store. They are very econo- 

 mical in the expenditure of food, and therefore 

 there is no risk in trusting them with well 

 stocked granaries. All hives should have the 

 weight marked on the back, which will enable 

 the manager to judge pretty accurately of the 

 quantity of honey and wax on hand. Taking 

 five pounds as the standard weight of the bees, 

 and a half pound of wax to every fifteen 

 pounds of honey, almost the exact quantity of 

 honey can thus be ascertained. My rule has 

 invariably been, to let the bees remain in win- 

 ter, wherever they have stood through the sum- 

 mer ; all attempts on my part to prepare them 

 for the inclemencies of approaching cold were 

 invariably anticipated, and seasonably attend- 

 ed to by the bees themselves. 



" Feeling peculiar commiseration for a 

 swarm, two years since, whose bleak locality, 

 I feared, would be the certain destruction of the 

 hive before spring, they were placed in the lob- 

 by of an adjacent building for comfort. In the 

 month of March, discovering that thousands 

 of them were dead on the floor, and that the 

 bees were sickly, they were carried back to 

 their old stand in the open air, at the summit 

 of a high, exposed hill, where they were per- 

 fectly restored to health in about twelve days. 

 If they are housed in winter, the torpidity which 

 seems to be constitutionally requisite, both for 

 the future health of the bee, and the saving of 

 its honey, is obviated, and indisposition, in 

 consequence of constantly feeding, without ex- 

 ercise, is the invariable result. The colder 

 they are, the better: I am fully persuaded that 

 bees, in their hive, cannot be frozen to death. 

 Animation may be suspended several weeks 

 or months with impunity vitality may merely 

 appertain to organized matter; but, when the 

 genial warmth of spring comes gently on, the 

 little spark of life is again rekindled into vigo- 

 rous flame. 



'On the 21st of March, 1831, in company 

 with Mr. J. S. C. Greene, we examined a hive 

 of bees that had, probably, died for want of 

 proper ventilation. There were two thousand 

 two hundred bees. A common flint tumbler 

 contained one thousand, weighing six ounces 

 and a half. It was obvious they did not die 

 of starvation, as there was a good supply of 

 beautiful honey, which, together with the comb, 

 weighed twenty-two pounds. Allowing one 

 half pound of cell comb for holding every fif- 

 teen pounds of honey, the quantity was easily 

 ascertained. Taking this in connection with 

 that which was taken from them in the autumn, 

 and at the same time admitting that five hun- 

 dred bees were lost by high autumnal winds, 



