68 



FARMERS' REGISTER— MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 



immediately precedes tlie departure of each swarm, 

 that some of the captive queens escape from the 

 royal cells, and thus we occasionally see several 

 queens in the same swarm ; but we should not 

 licnce conclude that more than one queen can con- 

 tinue at liberty in a hive at the same time, for they 

 fight with each other until but one remains. The 

 working bees never interfere in these combats. 



Generally, the young queens which head the 

 swarms, go out of the new hives on the day suc- 

 ceeding that on which they are established in them; 

 and in forty-six hours after, they commence lay- 

 ing. 



In the months of May and June, when we see 

 the hives full of bees, when the drones go out in 

 the heat of tlie day, and the weather is fine, it is 

 necessary to watch the hives from eight or nine 

 o'clock in the morning till three or four in the 

 afternoon, that we may observe the departure of 

 the swarms, for fear of losing some of them. 



When the swarm issues from the hive, there is 

 no use in the clatter which is commonly made in 

 the country, unless the swarm should be leaving 

 your property : in Avhich case the noise serves to 

 warn the neighbors that you are in pursuit, and 

 gives you the right to take the bees on the land of 

 another, by paying for the damage, if any is occa- 

 sioned. 



If the swarm rises and appears to be going off, 

 we should sprinkle it with water by using the 

 branch of a tree, or cast some dust among the 

 bees; either of these methods will make them set- 

 tle quickly : they should then be hived and carried 

 away immediately, that, if anotlier swarm should 

 come out, the two may not interfere with each 

 other. As soon as the swarm is in its hive, it may 

 be removed to the place where it is intended to 

 stand. 



A hive may give annually four swarms in the 

 space of a month ; of these, however, only the two 

 first are usually good ; the last are smal-l, and seve- 

 ral of them should be united to make one good 

 hive. 



Wlien the queen is lost, or removed from the 

 hive, and there remain in it any of the maggots 

 destined to produce working bees, several of tliese, 

 if not more than three days old, are converted into 

 queen bees by enlarging the cells in which they 

 wcx'e deposited, and furnishing them witli a parti- 

 cular sort of food, which is done by the working 

 bees. Hence it is easy to conceive how we may 

 procure artilicial and early swarms. For this pur- 

 pose, in the spring, when the drones appear, which 

 is usually at the end of April or the beginning of 

 May, we drive a part of the bees, with their queen, 

 from a full hive into an empty one, which is then 

 removed to the distance of twenty or thirty paces ; 

 tlie full hive is returned to its place, and the bees 

 in it procure another queen in the manner men- 

 tioned above. 



To drive bees from a fiiU hive into an empty 

 one, there are several simple ways. 



The first is to turn a full single hive upside down 

 on the seat of a chair, to fit the mouth of an empty 

 hive upon it and close the aperture between the 

 two with a cloth; then by beating with a couple 

 of sticks on the full hive the bees are driven up 

 into the empty one; and when we judge that the 

 queen has gone up, which is easy to be known by 

 the sound which the bees make, the two hives are 



separated, the new one carried twenty or thirty 

 paces off, and the old one put back in its place. 



The second way is to make many little holes in the 

 top of a single hive, to set an empty hive upon it, 

 and drive up the bees and their queen Avith a little 

 smoke. When this is done the hives are sepa- 

 rated, and tlie holes in the old one stopped up. 



The third manner, which is still more simple, is 

 employed with double hives, such as I use, and by 

 means of smoke. How easy this is we shall see 

 when I speak of the hive that I have adopted. 



The swarms should always be moved on the 

 same day that they are hived, — and they should be 

 carried in the arms, otherwise, as they have not 

 yet made any combs, they will be shaken and 

 lieated, so as to cause the destruction of a great 

 number of the bees. If, however, they cannot be 

 moved on the same day that they swarm, it should 

 not be done till a month after ; for this time is re- 

 quired to give solidity to their constructions, which, 

 if moved earlier, would fall, or lose their shape, and 

 put the inhabitants of the hive in disorder. 



If the weather should turn cold, the bees of the 

 new swarms having yet no provisions, should be 

 fed with honey or some other SAveet food. 



CHAPTER. Vll. 



Of the Diseases of Bees. 



We know of none of the diseases of bees, with 

 certainty, except the dysentery. That shows itself 

 in the hives during the winter, and most commonly 

 ill February or March. The evidence of it is ob- 

 served in yellow spots about the size of lentils, at 

 the entrance of the hives. Then the hives should 

 be examined, the stands cleaned and sprinkled with 

 a little fine salt; they should be slightly smoked 

 with the fumes of bleached linen or dry cow -dung, 

 and have given to them a sirop composed as we 

 shall direct in the calendar, or manual. 



The bees are subject to one other malady, sur- 

 feit : to prevent this we should give them nothing 

 outside of the hive in cold weather, for when they 

 are gorged Avith honey, the cold strikes them and 

 they perish. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Of the Enemies of Bees. 



The most formidable enemy of the bees is man, 

 who by his ignorance and covetousness, destroys 

 great numbers of them ; next to be dreaded is the 

 wax-moth, which is known to all oAvners of bees; 

 but there is reason to believe that this insect never 

 gains ascendency in a hive till it is on the decline; 

 that is, until the activity of the bees has been re- 

 laxed, or has entirely ceased, in consequence of the 

 old age or death of their queen at a time Avhen the 

 Avorking bees have not the means of supplying her 

 loss. Every hive in which Ave see little or no mo- 

 tion and activity, is in danger of being taken pos- 

 session of by the Avax-moth ; the hive should be 

 immediately turned up and examined. If on the 

 stand there are black grains like gunpowder, they 

 indicate that the moth has already commenced its 

 ravages ; and if upon touching tlie honey-combs, 

 the Avorking bees do not defend the hive, Ave may 

 consider it as lost, and take it to save what re- 

 mains. 



The bees have also other enemies; there is a 

 sort of Av asp Avhich Ave should not fail to destroy: 

 and as it is believed that the tit-mouse, and even 

 the toad destroy bees, they should be kept aAvay 

 from the liives. 



