FARMERS' REGISTER— MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 



75 



lid at all during; the first year. When the swarm 

 is hived, the bees will remain if the queen is with 

 them, but if she is not, they will desert the hive to 

 rejoin her, and it will be necessary to hive them a 

 second time. After the bees are settled in the 

 hive, the little stick which is on the board at top, 

 must be gently withdrawn, and the lid tied on and 

 luted to the hive ; the whole may then be removed, 

 if necessary. 



31. If, during this month, several swarms leave 

 the apiary at the same time, we must endeavor to 

 prevent their uniting, by casting handfuls of dust 

 between them. If, notwithstanding, the swarms 

 unite, the bees must be separated when settled, and 

 put into two hives ; this succeeds when there hap- 

 pens to be a queen in each, but otherwise the hive 

 in which there is no queen will soon be abandoned 

 by the bees to go into the other. In this case the 

 lid of the hive in which both swarms are, should 

 be raised ; and when it is observed to be nearly 

 full, it must be set upon an empty hive, taking 

 care to put another lid on the first. Should this 

 foil, and the bees still persist in occupying the same 

 liive, it must be marked and managed as will be 

 directed in the following month. 



32. When two swarms issue at the same mo- 

 ment, or nearly so, if the one is a first swarm from 

 a hive and the other a second swarm, although 

 they may be hived separately, if the two new hives 

 are placed near each other and in sight, the bees 

 of the second swarm, although they have a queen, 

 generally quit her to go and join the queen of the 

 hrst swarm, because this last being the mother- 

 queen of the hive from which she issues, is impreg- 

 nated, while the other is yet in her virgin state. 

 This happens because the bees have but a slight 

 attachment to their queens when in their virgin 

 state, while their affection is very strong for those 

 that are laying. When a case of this kind occurs, 

 to prevent the union of the two swarms the hives 

 must be quickly carried to a distance from each 

 other. 



33. If swarms issue soon after others have been 

 liived, the leaders of the last, attracted by the odour 

 which the first have left behind them, rusii into 

 the hive and are mixed with those recently se- 

 cured. To remedy this inconvenience we must 

 quickly destroy tiie traces of the queens. For this 



Iiurpose, as soon as a swarm is in its hive it should 

 )e removed and carried to a distance ; if there is 

 not time for this, and the mixture has commenced, 

 the lid of the hive containing the first swarm should 

 be removed immediately and put upon another 

 hive, which is to be carried away from the first. 



34. Persons desirous of forming an apiary v>fith 

 swarms should take advantage of this season, for 

 then they will be sure to have their bees in the 

 best condition. Such only, however, as live within 

 a league of an apiary can enjoy this advantage, as 

 the bees must be carried gently, and in the arms, 

 on the very day that they are hived. 



35. When new hives are raised to supply the 

 bees with food, it should be done very carefully, 

 without shaking them or inclining them to one 

 side, because the structures having as yet no con- 

 sistence, and being surcharged with bees, might 

 fall and occasion disorder in the hive. Except for 

 this purpose new swarms should never be touched, 

 nor even examined till a month after their estab- 

 lishment, because not until then will lijeir works 

 have acquired solidity. 



Jane. 



36. When the springs are backward the swarms 

 do not appear before the first of June, and there 

 are exposures in which they never appear till this 

 time. In these circumstances the swarming sea- 

 son is protracted until the first days of July ; but 

 generally in our climate as the season of flowers is 

 departing by the middle of June, the bees which 

 swarm after this time being engaged, at first, in 

 preparing cells for the eggs of their queen, have 

 not time to construct*the combs necessary for re- 

 ceiving abundant stores. It is necessary, there- 

 fore, to conform to the course of nature, and to keep 

 the swarms in the mother-hives when the season 

 is advanced. 



July and August. 



37. The destruction of tlie males takes place 

 sometime in the month of May or of June in weak 

 hives, and in this case we are to expect no swarms. 

 In the other hives, this destruction occurs in the 

 course of July and August. Once commenced, the 

 slaughter continues till all the drones are killed, 

 and occupies four or five days for each hive. 



38. At the end of this month, as the structures 

 of the new swarms have then acquired some so- 

 lidity, they may be examined to ascertain if they 

 have thriven ; this may be judged of also by the 

 weight of the hives 



39. Some persons preserve all their swarms, 

 however weak they may be, hoping that they will 

 be strengthened by the laying of the queen : but 

 these swarms, particularly those whicli are hived 

 about the end of June, can often make only combs - 

 enough to fill the lids of their hives. There are 

 two ways of turning these swarms to account; the 

 first is to take oft", in July or August, a full lid 

 from an old hive, and to substitute for it a lid con- 

 taining a weak swarm; this way of uniting them 

 is the easiest, causes no strife, and furnishes a 

 strong hive. The second way is, when a hive is 

 suffering from pillage, to take off' its lid and put 

 in the place of it another, containing also a feeble 

 swarm ; the disorder will soon cease, the bees which 

 have lost their queen will attach themselves to her 

 who is given to them, and form a good hive. If 

 the weak swarms should already have constructed 

 some pieces of comb in the body of the hive, it 

 should not be regarded ; but in this case, when we 

 wish to put the Aveak swarm on another hive, we 

 must drive the bees into the lid by smoking them 

 for a little while. 



40. At the end of July the owners of bees which 

 are on level and unsheltered districts, -where they 

 now rather consume than add to their stores, will 

 transport their hives to the vicinity of forests ; this 

 transportation may be made by water, or by land 

 in wagons. If the transportation is made by water 

 several owners may imite ; and the hives, after 

 having been wrapped up in cloths, should be car- 

 ried on hand-barrows to the boats, into each of 

 which three or four hundred may be put. They 

 are then to be conveyed to the vicinity of forests 

 adjacent to rivers. Boats and boatmen who will 

 take charge of the bees, may be easily procured 

 at the rate of eight or ten sous per hive. 



The boatmen should take care to keep shel- 

 tered from the hard winds which usually blow 

 about the end of September, the time of the equi- 

 nox ; and av hen they desire to move to a new place, 

 it should be done in the evening after the bees have 



