334 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[May 13, 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



FRIDAY xMORNlNG, MAY 13, lSg5. 



it iintlcr Ihe liivp, either in your Ai)inr_v, or up- 

 on ;i t;ible nc.ir it, or place the hire undot Iho 

 bongli when takrn off, and ?hnke off the bee? 

 into (he hive. — Mnnv persons pert'orm the ope- 

 ration ivilhnut any safe-guard, but i would re- 

 commend some coverina:, that will guard the 

 sy time for those who have the superinlendance I head, and particularly the face and eyes, the 

 of Bees. Valuable swarms nre often lost for hands and legs, that for the head may be of can- 

 want of attention to the indications of Iheir be- vass jdaced over the hat, which will extend it 

 ing about to sw^arm. These are as toliow : A from the face beyond the reach of the stings of 

 number of bees ?t.ition themselves at the en- the bees, and it must extend down so low as to 



FARMER'S CAI.ENDAR. 



Bees. — The latter part of this month is a bu- 



trance of the hive, and keep a constant hum- 

 ming with Iheir wings. Small drops ol perspir- 

 ation are visible at the entrance into tlie hive, 

 which are called by some peo[ilc swealmg of 



tie round the body, and he closed upon (he b;ick. 

 so as to exclude the entrance of (he bees. This 

 covering will give confidence, which is one of 

 the requisites in handling bees. Bees shnuhl 



the hive. The perspiration is attended by a i never be breathed upon at the entrance of the 

 peculiar odour, resembling that of heated wax, j hive, this irritates them. If they are blown 

 and an increased blackness of the stool at the | upon with a bellows it exasperate's them. A 

 entrance. These may he called prognostics of {great light dazzles them; hence Iho reason why 



ihcy can be better managed in clear bright 

 weather than in cloudy weather. In hiving 

 your bees let your dress be of some light col- 

 our, and guard the hair and eyes particularly 

 for these are Ihe objects thev aim at in ihcir 

 wrath. If (he swarm are restless after they are 

 hived, you may suspect the queen is lost, and 

 the bees will soon return to the mother hive. 

 If you examine the [larcnt hive and obtain a 

 supernumerary queen, and introduce her into 

 your new hive, she will be well received, and 

 all will be tranquil and the swarm will hum with 

 joy. Whenever a swarm divides ilseif into sev- 

 eral clusters, it is Uie etTecl of several queens 

 in Ihe hive; Ihcy should be immcdialely joined, 

 and the bees will ileslroy all Ihe supernumera- 

 ry qiioens, and the one joint stock will grcallv 

 exceed in value any number of small onos.-^ 

 If such a divided swatm should be one of your 

 lirst swarms, and you should wish to multiplv 

 your bees by keeping them separate, spread a 

 sheet upon the ground, invert your hive in 

 which your bees have been hired, and by a 

 smart knock upon it, the bees will all fall upon 

 the sheet, they will not fly away tint will sej)a- 

 rate themselves into as many groups as there 

 are queens, and each group will cluster round 

 their queen ; you may Ihen hive them separ.ile- 

 ly and place them at a distance from each oth- 

 er ; the confusion which this process may occa- 

 sion, will subside in one night, and all become 



an increasing and superabundant population; 

 but that which immediately precedes the swarm- 

 ing is the clustering of Ihe bees on the nuKide 

 of the hive, hanging somelimes in larj-e liodies 

 under the stool, and crowding in such rniaibers 

 rouud the entrance that the working beos can 

 scarcely gain admillance. 



Bees commonly swarm sometime between 

 9 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon, and the 

 weather in general fair and calm. They how- 

 ever, often swarm when (here happens a sud- 

 den gleam ot sunshine, and thus deceive the 

 proprietor. 



The Cntlcigcr's Manual, an English work 

 which treats on bees, says, • the custom of mak- 

 ing a noise in order to make the bees settle was 

 not adopied by our ancestors on Ihe grounds 

 for which we suppose it. It was m-.de use of 

 as a warning to Iheir neighbours, that a swarm 

 had just departed frotn a hive, in order that i( 

 it settled in a garden not belonging to Ihe pro- 

 prietor of Ihe hive, he might be able to claim 

 the sivarm, he having given notice by the usu- 

 al noise that his hives had swarmed.' And ad- 

 vises not to folloiv the ridicidous cusiom of 

 making a Babel noise with shovels, and pokers, 

 warming-pans, &c. ' It has no more effect (o 

 make the bees settle than Ihe music of a fiddle 

 or flute to make a deaf man dance. On the con- 

 trary, I am ivcll convinced that whatever eff-ct 

 It may have is highly injurious as it may pre- 

 vent the bees from setlling where they intend- ! tranquil again. If your sw^arm is hived in Ihe 



ed. The first flight of a swarm is very seldom 

 to any great distance from the hive, and I have 

 re: sin to believe that the first congregation of 

 the bees is merely to assemble Ihe whole com- 

 munity inio one body, and then to take their 

 flight to their selected abode, in some hollow 

 tree or hole in a house or barn." 



Mi Iluish, a celebrated writer on bees, says, 

 ' One of the greatest errors of the cottager" in 

 the management of bees, is in giving his swarm 

 old and ilecayed hives ; ^hese hives are gener- 

 ally infesled wilh those insecls which are the 

 enemies of the bees, and ruin (heir swarms. It 

 seldom bapjiens that the first flight of a swarm 

 is to any great distance, but it generally alighls 

 on some neighboring tree or bush. Every ex- 

 ertion should then be made to hive ii, for it 

 will not tarry more than two or three hours, es- 

 pecially under a hot sun ; and wbtii it is hived 



morning, which is the usual time, the hive 

 must not be moved until evening, to give o|i()nr- 

 tunity io Ihe stragglers to come in. The place 

 of swarming, will be the resort of the bees for 

 several days. If you neglect to remove your 

 sivarm at evening, let it remain ?i\'e or six weeks, 

 that the combs which are very tender at first, 

 may acquire strength so as to bear moving with- 

 out injury. Whenever your swarms fly at a 

 distance Irom your Apiary to swarm, you may 

 collect them into a bag, somewhat like a jelly- 

 bag, the same as you would collect (hem into 

 your hive, by cutting off the bough, thrust it in- 

 to the bag, and tie it close ; when you arrive 

 at your Apiary, then hive them in the usual 

 way. Some rub their hives wilh aromadc 

 herbs, and in Italy and France, they rub the 

 hives wilh the leaves ol onions, and gallics; 

 , and the noted Apiarian Conlardi says, ' The 

 It should be covered with a sheet or table cloth, . bees will accustom themselves to this odour for 

 to shield It Irom the heat ol the s„u. The best l want of a better;' but f.e Abbe della Nona siys, 

 mode of ol hiving your bees is eillier to cut offU \Vc should refrain from approaching our bees 

 the bough on rthich the bees hang, and place! 



when we have louche' onion-i, or eaten cheese, 

 tor both will excite their acrimony.' 



The Cottager's Manual says, ' The question 

 has been much agitated whether a hive should 

 be rubbed internally wiih b.oney or odoriferous 

 herbs, previously to the sivarm being put into it. 

 Some (ler'sons use bean stalks lor the prepara- 

 tion of a hive, which is something similar to 

 fumigating an apartment wiih assaloetida, as be- 

 ing aijreealde to the olfactory nerves of human 

 beinos. It is my decided opinion that there ex- 

 isia not any necessity for the preparation of the 

 hive at all. II the bees take a dislike to the 

 hive it is not the honey of flybla which will in- 

 duce them to re.T)ain in it ; but should the pre- 

 judice tor this preparation of a hive exist 

 strongly in the mind of any particular individu- 

 al, I will recommend a liquid to him, which sin- 

 gular as it may appear, will be found more grat- 

 ilying to the bee, and possessing a greater in- 

 ducement to it to take possession of the hiie, 

 than all the odor*, real or artificial, which can 

 be administered — and (hat is human urine ; if 

 'XV thing will induce a swarm to remain in a 

 hive it is a cojiious sprinkling of this liquid — 

 it is a cure for almost every distemper of the 

 bees, and Hucklen, (ho celetira(ed German Api- 

 arian, was right when he said, in 'peaking of 

 Ihe liquid, (hat no [lerson had any occasion to 

 apply to an apothecary lor a medicine for his 

 bep«.' 



It is po-ssible (ha: some nice persons may 

 take offence- at (he foregoing mode of preparing 

 hives lor (he reception ofiiees. Cut. when they 

 rellect th.it according In the 'Corpuscular or Ato- 

 mic Theory' Ihe elemenls or primary particles 

 of mailer are the same, in whatsoever shape 

 they may be presented to oursen=es, they may, 

 [lerhaps, be reconciled Io Ihe above prescrip- 

 tion. The same parlicles which compose a 

 manure heap to-day, may constitute a rose to- 

 I morrow. We are inclined, however, to believe 

 [Irom some observations, which we have made 

 relative to the habits and propensiiies of bees, 

 that brine or a solution of salt and water, would 

 answer as good a purpose for preparing hives 

 for bees as any thing which can be used. Still. ' 

 I it may be, that the substance above mentioned 

 is jireferable. Dc gustiLus non est disputandum, 

 and if bees prefer the Uric oxyd to Muriate of 

 Soda, it will be proper (or us to cater for their 

 appetites, hmvever inconsistent they may be 

 with our ideas of delicacy. 



Stveral inc|uiries liave lately been made at our office, 

 for sweet corn. .Any gentleman baring more of it than 

 he wishes to plant this season, will confer a favour by 

 leaving a quantity of it, for distribution, at the oflSce of 

 the New England Farmer. 



In the state of Mississippi the Cotton Plant is a small 

 tree — in Virginia it is a little bush. It is thought the 

 staple grows shorter and finer, as (he culture is car- 

 ried northwardly — and that the yield is not so abundant. 



Carreclion. In the article, puMished in our paper, p. 

 Ol.j ol' the currtnl volume, headetl " lani'JATio.N" are 

 some ( rrors, wliicli occurred in the manuscript, and 

 wlucli we have liceti requested to correct. Mr Ste- 

 vens Inlbrms us tbst the radius of the circle, described 

 by the outward oifremities of the vanes ot the -wind- 

 mill should be 1'2 feet instead of 24 iVet, and that the 

 vanes should be 5 feet broad at the outer extremity, 

 and -1 feet next Ihc wind-shall, instead of 4 feet broad 

 and 8 feet long. 



