FARMERS' REGISTER— MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 



67 



vessel throws up to the surface all the foreign mat- 

 ters that it may contain, which will make a kind 

 of froth. At the end of thirty-six hours, the hole 

 at the bottom of the vessel may be opened, so as to 

 draAv off the honey into iittle casks, or jars, in 

 which it is intended to be preserved, and which 

 must be closed immediately. These filled vessels 

 should be put into a place that is cool, without be- 

 ing moist, and soon the honey will take such a con- 

 sistence, that sometimes it causes the breaking of 

 the vessels of earthen-ware which contain it. 



Honey is kept easily from one year to another, 

 in cool and dry cellars. If left in a warm place, 

 it would ferment and become sharp; then it is good 

 for nothing but to make vinegar. Honey readily 

 takes the flavor that we may wish to give to it ; it 

 suffices to place it in contact with the flowers, the 

 flavor of which is desired. . I have seen honey 

 which was said to be of Mahon, and which smelt 

 of the rose, which could not have come from the 

 bees, since they never go upon roses. 



Pollen is the seminal powder which is bonie by 

 the threads surrounding the pistils which we see in 

 the middle of all the simple flowers ; and which 

 the bees, in the season of flowers, continually col- 

 lect on their legs, and carry to their hives. It was 

 long supposed tliat the pollen was used by the bees 

 as a material of which to make wax ; and it was 

 also believed to serve as food for tlie grown bees, 

 and in many districts, it is called by the name of 

 bee-bread. These were errors. It is now fully 

 proved that the bees use the pollen only to make, 

 with honey, a kind of pap for the sustenance of the 

 young brood. 



IVax, which is the material for forming the 

 combs, is fabricated by the bees from saccharine 

 matters only, such as honey, sugar, or the sirop of 

 fruits. 



The propolis is a kind of resin, or gum, of which 

 the bees make use for several purposes. With 

 fhis material they plaster the interior of their dwel- 

 ling, and make of it a sort of circumvallation about 

 their edifices. They make use of it to stop the little 

 openings that are not wanting; and also to lessen 

 the size of the entrance of their hive, when they 

 wish to be better sheltered from the injurious in- 

 fluence of the air. They cover with a coat of pro- 

 polis the bodies of animals that have gotten into 

 the hive, when after having killed them by sting- 

 ing, the bees are unable by uniting their forces, to 

 drag them outside. In this state, the bodies are as 

 if embalmed, and give out no bad odour. It is yet 

 unknown from Avhat sources the bees obtain their 

 propolis.] 



CHAPTER VI. 



Of Swarms. 



Swarms are the bees which leave th^ mother- 

 hive to seek a new habitation ; and each of these 

 swarms is composed of one queen, many drones, 

 and an immense number of working bees. 



It is not easy to judge of the number of bees 

 composing a swarm, because the warmer the wea- 

 ther is, the larger the swarm appears when it is 

 attached to the branch of a tree, or other substance 

 on whicli it has settled, but we may estimate tlie 

 goodness of the swarm pretty nearly by its weight, 

 as it is known that five thousand bees weigh about 

 one pound. A swarm which weighs only three 

 pounds is inferior; a common one weighs from 

 tJiree to four pounds; and if the weight exceed 



this, the swarm is a good one. Some swarms, 

 hoAvcver, weigh as mucli as six or seven pounds; 

 but these are not desirable, as they exhaust the 

 hive from which tliey proceed. 



A swarm consists both of young and of old bees; 

 and we shall explain here the causes and manner 

 of their swarmivg. 



We have said that when the queen has finished 

 her annual laying, she is active and able to fly with 

 ease. At this time, then, which, in our climate is 

 about the end of May, or beginning of June, she 

 should set out with the first swarm, if the wea- 

 ther allows, that she may soon after recommence 

 her laying of working bees. 



The queens have an insurmountable aversion for 

 each other ; and upon the first sight engage in a 

 battle, which continues until but a single one re- 

 mains in the hive. As soon as the young queens 

 are formed, or in the state ofnymjyhcB, the mother- 

 queen entertains such a horror of them that she 

 seeks to destroy them in their cells. If, then, the 

 season is unsuital)le for the issuing of the swarms, 

 cither because the laying of the queen has been too 

 much hastened by a mild winter, or the weather 

 still continues cold, the mother-queen destroys the 

 young queens one after the other, and we have few 

 or no swarms. If the weather suits the departure 

 of the swarms, tlie horror of the mother-queen for 

 the young queens forces her to abandon the hive, 

 carrying with her a great number of the working 

 bees and drones. These compose the first swarm, 

 which is caused in the following manner : 



The number of royal cells which are seen at the 

 same time dispersed in the hive, inspire suddenly 

 in the mother-queen a terror which she cannot 

 overcome; her agitation becomes excessive; she 

 runs about on every side, flapping her wings and 

 jostling the working bees, to which she communi- 

 cates her own fury. All, then, is in an uproar; 

 and , the warmth of the hive, which is generally 

 from 93° to 97° (of Farenheit) rises to 104°. Una- 

 ble to bear this sudden heat, the bees and the mo- 

 llier-queen rush out of tlie hive, and thus make the 

 first annual swarm. When the first swarm has 

 set out, the order of the hive changes. 



The first of the young queens that comes out of 

 her royal cell after the departure of the mother- 

 queen, is queen of the hive. The working bees 

 surround the other royal cells and keep a close 

 guard upon them, retaining the rest of the young 

 queens captive in their cells, and feeding them 

 there ; while at the same time having no attach- 

 ment to the reigning queen, who is yet unimpreg- 

 nated, whenever she attempts to approach the royal 

 cells they drive her off, bite and harass her. Una- 

 able to contain her impatience at this treatment and 

 at the horror with which the royal cells inspire 

 her, the queen becomes excessively agitated, hur- 

 ries about in every direction, and communicates 

 her own disorder to the bees; the heat rises to 104°, 

 and to escape from it the bees and the young queen 

 desert the hive. Thus is formed the second swarm. 

 The third and fourth swarms are formed in the 

 same way ; and when there are no longer bees 

 enough left in the hive to guard the remaining 

 royal cells, tlie first of the young queens which 

 comes out of lier cell, after the departure of the 

 second, third, or fourth swarm, exei'ciscs her fury 

 without opposition on the royal cells, and the 

 swarming ceases. 



It happens sometimes from the disorder which 



