74 



FARMERS' REGISTER— MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 



cannot be adopted; and besides, it would be dan- 

 gerous near hives covered with straw. 



23. The gratings directed to be attached to the 

 hives in No. 4, should now be taken ofl". 



24. We should remember that it is only in this 

 season and until the end of June, that the bees 

 make their structures in wax, therefore the lids 

 that are full should be robbed between the latter 

 end of April and the first of June, that the bees 

 may still have time to form new combs in the 

 empty lids which are substituted for those that are 

 full. With the back of the middle finger strike 

 upon the lids; those which return a hollow sound 

 should be left; those which are full will give a 

 dull sound; and the strings which fasten these to 

 the hives should be untied, and the luting taken 

 off with the point of a knife: and as the bees will 

 also have plastered with propolis on the inside the 

 little opening between the hive and the lid, we 

 must, standing at the back of the hive, draw to us 

 the handle of the lid just enough to loosen it. It 

 happens sometimes, that the combs of the lid are 

 attached to the board at the top of the hives by 

 some junctions in wax ; in this case a blade of iron 

 or brass should be passed between the hive and the 

 lid to separate the pohits of junction, which are 

 not numerous ; the blade should be left in its place 

 to allow the bees to become calm after the agita- 

 tion which may have been excited by the motion 

 aroimd and above them. 



Between ten and eleven o'clock in the morning, 

 in fine weather, when many of the bees are abroad, 

 two or three slight blows should be struck with a 

 rod on the body of the hive to attract llie queen to 

 it ; an instant after, the full lid should be taken 

 off without attending to the bees that may remain 

 in it, and an empty lid should be put in its place. 

 The full lid is to be carried into a close room, free 

 from cobwebs; a passage by the door or window 

 must be left to allow the bees to see their way out 

 to go and join their queen ; the cells which con- 

 tain the honey being closed, the bees from other 

 hives will not come to plunder, and those belong- 

 ing to the lid not being daubed with honey, will 

 fly off in the space of an hour. There are, how- 

 ever, some lids which the bees are unwilling to 

 quit; in this case they come from between the 

 combs to congregate on the outside of tlie lid, and 

 they should be swept with the feathers of a quill 

 into some vessel and carried to the entrance of the 

 hive, into which they ^vill soon return. When 

 all the bees have gone from the lids they should 

 be removed into some close place, secure from the 

 farther access of the bees. If any portion of honey 

 comb has x-emained upon the board of the hive, it 

 must be taken off, so that this board may be always 

 clean, and nothing left on it to serve the bees as a 

 foundation ibr a superstructure of new comb. 



May. 



25. As the swarming of the bees commences in 

 this month, we should get ready a sulficient num- 

 ber of hives of the different sizes before directed. 



26. The signs which announce the approaching 

 departure of the swarms, are — 1st. That the drones 

 or males issue from the hives in great numbers 

 from about noon till three o'clock, and have a bold 

 and steady flight. 2d. That the stands are moist 

 in the morning at the entrance of the hives ; this 

 moisture indicates the excessive heat within the 

 liives from the great number of bees that are 



crowded together. 3d. That on listening close to 

 the hive in the evening, a confused buzzing is 

 heard in which a shrill sound is distinguished re- 

 sembling tlie note of the grasshopper, and which 

 appears to be emitted by a single bee. 



27. The swarms do not quit the mother-hives in 

 cold or cloudy weather, nor while it is raining, 

 and seldom when the wind is at the north ; they 

 take their flight when the wind is southerly or 

 easterly, when it is calm and the sun shines ; fre- 

 quently in showery days, when the sun in the in- 

 terval between two showers produces a sultry heat, 

 and sometimes between two gusts or warm rains. 



28. A swarm, when leaving the hive, makes an 

 extraordinary buzzing, which cannot be mistaken. 

 The bees that first go out return, hover for a mo- 

 ment before the hive, and then fly off: at this sig- 

 nal the others rush out, offering the image of a 

 stream flowing with great rapidity. The bees 

 which first left the hive lead the others; the queen 

 comes out afterwards and joins the swarm. If the 

 swarm, after having settled, or been hived, con- 

 tinues in a state of agitation, which is manifested 

 by a great buzzing and a confused hurrying of 

 the bees, it is certain that some accident has hap- 

 pened to the queen. She must then be sought for 

 near the hive from which she should have issued, 

 and may be found the more easily as she is accom- 

 panied by her escort, which never abandons her; 

 she must be taken gently and carried to the swarm, 

 in which an immediate calm will be produced. If 

 the queen should have been unable to leave the 

 hive the swarm will return to it to join her, and 

 they will come out again on the next day, or in a 

 few days after. 



29. The swarms settle either on the earth or on 

 the branch of a tree, on a shrub, or on some solid 

 body. In whatever position they may be, we 

 should hasten to hive them, as they w^ill not remain 

 long quiet, particularly if exposed to a hot sun. 

 But if for any reason they cannot be hived im- 

 mediately, a second departure should be prevented 

 by shelterhig them with bushes, or with a wet 

 cloth. 



30. When the swarm is to be hived every thing 

 should be done gently, without agitation and with- 

 out fear; therefore the head should be muffled up 

 and the arms and legs covered, to guard against 

 the stings of the bees. Quietness and silence should 

 be enjoined on all present. The hive, with its lid 

 separate, is to be brought near to the swarm and 

 set upon the ground, or on a small light plank ; one 

 side of it should rest on a small stick or on a peb- 

 ble, to raise it sufficiently to allow the bees which 

 are to be put into it to go in and out with ease ; a 

 little stick five or six lines thick, should be put 

 also on the board at the top of the hive. The bees 

 must then be shaken from the branch on which 

 they have settled into the lid; or if they are at- 

 tached to any solid body, they must be swept into 

 the lid with a bunch of feathers, or other soft in- 

 strument. The lid should be held for an instant 

 with its mouth upwards, to allow the bees that 

 have fallen on tlieir backs to turn ; it should then 

 be placed upon the hive softly ; this should be done 

 softly to prevent the bees from falling down in 

 clusters on the board of the hive. This mode is 

 easy and less inconvenient than collecting the 

 s^varm in a whole hive, besides that it insures the 

 bees commencing their labors in the lid. I have 

 seen swarms hived in whole hives, not woi'k in the 



