242 



Tlie Bee Culture. 



VoL.VL 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 The Bee Culture. 



Mr. Editor, — There is notliing better cal- 

 culated to strengthen our local and home at- 

 tachments than a proper attention to those 

 little matters which evince a correctness of 

 taste, and impart a neatness to the grounds 

 around our dwellings. They heighten our 

 domestic comfort ; give lessons of experimen- 

 tal instruction, and in a little time afford us 

 luxuries almost " without money and without 

 price." This remark, if carried out, might 

 apply to many branches of quite a domestic 

 nature, and immediately connected with the 

 gardens and grounds adjacent to our domicils; 

 but in this article it is my purpose to speak 

 only of the advantages and pleasures derived 

 from a proper attention to that little insect that 



"Gathers sweets from every opening flower," 



and which ought to receive the care and at- 

 tention of every family whether rich or poor. 

 There are but few who do not consider that 

 the sweets extracted from the nectary of the 

 flowers of the field and forest, manufactured 

 by this industrious insect, as one of the great- 

 est of luxuries. What then can be the ob- 

 stacles to a more general introduction of this 

 branch of domestic luxury but carelessness 

 and inattention ! But perhaps it would be 

 as well to modify the conclusion implied in 

 the question, by attributing this want of at- 

 tention to a want of correct information on 

 the subject, to which may be added a know- 

 ledge of the fact that almost all bee-breeders 

 resort to the mistaken, cruel and repulsive 

 practice of destroying the bees to obtain their 

 honey, and also, as a difficulty, the frequent 

 destruction of swarms by the larva of the bee- 

 moth when reared in the common hive. The 

 bee-house, the bee-palace, and other hives 

 that have been constructed for the better se- 

 curity of bees from the motli and other depre- 

 dators are objectionable, not only as bad pro- 

 tectors, but from their inconvenience and the 

 expense attending them without a correspond- 

 ing advantage. The bee-breeder wants a 

 hive that is simple in its construction, porta- 

 ble, cheap ; and at the same time afibrding 

 every facility to extract the rich surplus 

 stores from the habitation of his numerous la- 

 bourers, without putting them to a cruel death 

 as practised under the old system, or inter- 

 fering with their labours. These important 

 advantages, I may safely say, have been com- 

 bined in the construction of HalVs Patent 

 Self-protecting Bee-hive. Sometime in the 

 latter part of last spring I had occasion to call 

 at a public house in my neighbourhood, where 

 one of these hives was exhibited by Messrs. 

 Benton and Doming, the purchasers from the 

 patentee to make, use and vend the same in 

 the eastern counties of Pennsylvania. On 



discovering that it contained many important 

 principles judiciously arranged, I at once pur- 

 chased an individual right for which I gave 

 four dollars, I also took a hive at ijj*! 75. I 

 would here state for the information of such 

 of your subscribers as may feel interested in 

 this subject, that Mr. Samuel Guss, of the 

 borough of West Chester, is now the proprie- 

 tor of the patent-right tor this, and, if I be 

 correctly informed, of several adjoining coun- 

 ties. The new hive was taken home and 

 secured in a suitable place to receive the first 

 swarm that should appear from the old hives. 

 On the morning of the eighth of June a fine 

 vigorous swarm issued from a two years' old 

 hive, and in a little time settled on a cherry- 

 tree limb, about ten feet from the ground. 

 The new self-protecting hive was taken from 

 the stand — the bottom detached — the hive 

 held up inverted under and near the swarm 

 — the limb was then suddenly and rather vio- 

 lently jarred, causing the bees to fall in the 

 inverted hive, which was then restored to 

 its proper position on a sheet that had been 

 spread under the tree, the four corners of the 

 hive resting on blocks some three inches 

 thick, leaving a space sufficient for the scat- 

 tering bees to make their way in. The bees 

 settled down and became reconciled to the 

 hive in a very short time, and in the course 

 of two or three hours thereafter, the hive was 

 set on the detached bottom, hooked on, and 

 the inclined planes also hooked up to keep 

 the bees from escaping ; it was then carried 

 to the place where it was intended to remain 

 — the planes unhooked, and the bees left in 

 full and undisturbed possession of their new 

 habitation. The hiving, as I have above 

 stated, took place on the 3th day of June. On 

 the 24th day of June I discovered that the 

 bees had filled the body of the hive with ho- 

 ney, and had commenced working in the 

 boxes above. On the 29th day of July I took 

 a well-filled box from the hive, the honey in 

 which weighed 6 pounds 6 ounces, and on 

 Sept. 27th, I took from the same hive two 

 boxes containing 11 pounds 4 ounces, making 

 altogether in the three boxes 17 pounds l6 

 ounces of surplus honey. One of my neigh- 

 bours has four self-protecting hives, from each 

 of which he took four boxes of honey last 

 summer and fall ; but again there are others 

 that did not succeed so well, owing 1 have no 

 doubt to weak swarms. In what way, I 

 would ask, could a man invest a few spare 

 dollars to better advantage than in a good 

 swarm of bees'? If placed in a self-protect- 

 ing hive, or in any hive of equal advantages, 

 in an ordinary season the surplus honey 

 would almost, if not quite, pay the original 

 cost of the swarm the first year. In conclu- 

 ding this article, which I have run to a great- 

 er length than I had at first intended, I trust 



