1360 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1 



The footnote is as follows, quoting from 

 Ei'€lyn,''s Sylv<(: 



" But I hear an ill report of this tree for 

 bees, that, surfeited of the blooming seeds, 

 they ai'e obnoxious to the lask at their first 

 going abroad in the Spring, which endan- 

 gers whole stocks, if remedies be not timely 

 adhibited. Therefore, it is said they do not 

 thrive in great Elm countries, but the truth 

 of which I am yet to learn." 



Mr. Evans adds to the foregoing: 



"The author, having applied to some 

 friends in Worcestershire (which abounds 

 with Elms) on this subject, remains in the 

 same dilemma; and is equally at a loss to 

 say whether a real poison, or mere repletion 

 after long fasting throughout the winter, 

 produces this effect. Columella has long 

 since observed the circumstance respecting 

 both this tree and the Spurge, and ascribes 

 it wholly to the latter of these causes." 



Mr. Evans does not inform us which spe- 

 cies of the elm produces such fatal I'esults, 

 and it would be interesting to know whether 

 such effects are observed now in England or 

 elsewhere. I regard our American white 

 elm as a pollen-producer of some value in 

 early spring. 



The only i-eferences I find with respect to 

 the management of bees and the production 

 of honey are at footnotes and additional 

 notes at the plose.of each division of the 

 work. 



On p. 11;? of Book III. is an interesting ac- 

 count of Mr. Wildman's methods. Mr. Wild- 

 man is often quoted by the author as a very 

 successful apiarist. 



" A swarm ))eing housed in one of his Mat 

 straw hives, and placed in the shed at night, 

 a large bell glass is then placed on its top, 

 the slider being withdi'awn to allow a com- 

 munication, and covered with a common 

 straw hive, as the bees work best in the 

 dark. If these still linger above, tho' the 

 glass be nearly filled, and cluster without 

 the door, a second Hat hive is placed beneath 

 the other, and the l)ees will soon disappear 

 !)(>th from the glass and the doorway. The 

 slider may then be closed, the glass of honey 

 removed, and an empty set in its room; the 

 same processes being repeated as often as 

 the fineness of the season will admit, with 

 the usual caution to reserve a winter's sup- 

 ply. If a straw hive be used instead of a 

 glass, the same method will apply, with a 

 very slight shade of difference. 



"Thus the fullness of the dark hive being 

 not so easily discernible, the second may be 

 placed beneath alx)ut the end of the third 

 week, the slider of this withdrawn, and the 

 mouth of the upper one closed. 



• ' When the bees ))egin to lie out, a third 

 should be set below the others with the slid- 

 er open; and before the uppermost one is 

 taken away, its mouth should be unclosed, 

 and the slider of the other shut. The few 

 remaining bees will then lly off, and return 

 to the lowest door, as being their unsual en- 

 trance. 



"An old stock in a round-topped hive may 

 1)6 similarly treated, being raised on a fiat 



one ten days after the first swarm; and 

 again upon a second when the bees begin to 

 lie out. It may then be removed and re- 

 placed by a glass, or hive, at pleasure. 



"A correspondent in the Gent. Ma(j(izinc 

 for January, 1803, has adopted another sim- 

 ple and easy plan of taking the honey with- 

 out destroying the bees; which differs from 

 that of Mr. Wildman only in removing the 

 lower instead of the tijrper hive. Thus, be- 

 low a well-tilled stall he places an imp, or 

 lift, consisting of a few straw wreaths five 

 or six inches deep, and covered with a board 

 of well-seasoned wood, in which a hole is 

 perforated (two or thi'ee inches by three- 

 fovirths of an inch) exactly over the mouth 

 of the lift. When the hive is quite full of 

 honey, he sets beneath another large imp, 

 ten or twelve inches deep; and from this, in 

 August, he takes several quarts of tine honey. 



"In the same magazine for 1804, he as- 

 sures us that he had obtained by this meth- 

 od, in the preceding season, frcjm four weak 

 stocks, weighing all together about 53 lbs.. 

 no less than 14o lbs. of honey, and 6 lbs. of 

 wax, having fed each hive in the spring with 

 only 4 lbs. of coarse sugai", syruped with 

 beer. Why his bees bred only in the iipper 

 he does not very clearly explain; but the 

 success is founded on the assertion of a re- 

 spectable clergyman." 



As giving an additional account of what 

 they sometimes obtained from a colony, I 

 quote from a footnote on page ij2. Book llJ . : 



"Mr. Wildman assures us that he pur- 

 chased, in the year 1798, a glass of honey, 

 tilled in the course of one month, which 

 contained sixty-three pounds of exceedingly 

 tine honeycombs; and that the hive off which 

 it was taken had enough remaining for a 

 full winter's supply." 



One thing especially seems to puzzle our 

 author and all the naturalists up to his time. 

 They had a very iiujierfect knowledge of the 

 longevity of intlividual bees. It was before 

 the introduction of the Italian or other yel- 

 low race, and much speculation seems to 

 have been entertained on this point. One 

 line, taken by itself, looks strange at our 

 day— 



And seven fleet summers till her utmost date. 



But Mr. Evans seems to have taken this 

 thought from Virgil, and frankly acknowl- 

 edges that the length of life of the queen and 

 workers "is but a vague conjecture." He 

 suggests a number of experiments to deter- 

 mine the question. 



The title-page of the volume under review 

 says: "A Poem in four books,'' but only 

 three are published in this bound volume, 

 with no explanation why the fourth is ouiit- 

 ted. 



It has been a rare treat to study the book 

 from which I have quoted. It is the work 

 of a poet-naturalist who must have spent 

 years in preparation for the self-imposed 

 task. His wide general information, added 

 to his literary culture and scientific train- 

 ing, make it a book of absorbing interest to 

 the student of to-day. 



