BEE 



BEE 



and the bottom of the division. The 

 bees are now occupied in the com- 

 partment below, and, should the sea- 

 son be propitious, may also till that 

 with honey. Under these circum- 

 stances, it will be advisable to lift up 

 the hive, after closing the doors, and 

 add another tray beneath. If this 

 hive be sufiiciently enlarged in spring, 

 the young bees can be prevented iVom 

 swarming, or the fresh swarm can 

 be separated with the upper divisions, 

 and carried to a new stand. The 

 hive should be kept perfectly clean, 

 and free from insects, and every crev- 

 ice tight. 



BEES, INSECTS THAT INJURE. 

 They are troubled with a louse {Bran- 

 la ccera.) of the size of a flea, and re- 

 sembling the Hippobosca. These pro- 

 duce great uneasiness. They may be 

 removed by brushing a feather over 

 the bees infested. The most impor- 

 tant enemy is, however, the Miller, 

 or Honey-comb MoLh (Galleria cereana), 

 the caterpillar of which, of a dirty 

 white colour {Fig. 1) and brown head, 



Vig. 1. 



Caterpillar on a piece of lioney-comb. 



eats the honey-comb. The caterpillar 

 grows to twelve lines' length, protects 

 itself from the stings of the bees by a 

 tubular web, and eats only at night. 

 It is changed to a brown grub in ten 

 to twenty-eight days, and the moth in 

 fourteen more days, two generations 

 occurring in the year. One moth 

 appears in the spring, the other gen- 

 eration in July. The male {Fig. 2) is 

 smaller than the female {Fig.Z); he 



Tig. 3. 



is of a clay yellow above, and yellow- 

 ish brown on the abdomen ; the col- 

 our of the upper wings ash-gray ; the 

 under wings lighter, and of a brown- 

 ish tint. The female has a rusty 

 brown back and head ; the under 

 wings almost white ; she lays her 

 eggs in the dirt, at the lower part of 

 the hive, and in chinks, from whence 

 the young crawl into the hive. The 

 miller and its caterpillars are to be de- 

 stroyed by repeatedly inspecting the 

 hives in spring, and clearing them 

 out. Hives are also constructed with 

 inclined or wire gauze bottoms, from 

 which all the feculent matters of 

 the bees fall, so that the miller can- 

 not lay her eggs ; for she will not ven- 

 ture within the hive. Ants, spiders, 

 and wasps are also very destructive 

 to hives. 



BEE-STING. The bee leaves its 

 sting in the wound. It should be ex- 

 tracted, and the part rubbed with soap 

 and a little dilute spirit of hartshorn 

 (ammonia). 



BEET. A plant of the genus Beta, 

 in the natural order ChenopodccB of 

 Jussieu. 



There are tw^o distinct species of 

 beet commonly cultivated, each con- 

 taining several varieties ; the one call- 

 ed Beta cicla or hortensis, producing 

 succulent leaves only ; the other, the 

 Beta vulgaris, distinguished by its 

 large root. The cicla is chiefly cul- 

 tivated in gardens as a culmary ve- 

 getable, and forms one of the princi- 

 pal vegetal)les used by agricullur;il la- 

 bourers and small occupiers of land in 

 many parts of Germany. France, and 

 Switzerland. A variety known by the 

 name of Swiss chard produces numer- 

 ous large, succulent leaves, which 

 have a very solid rib ruiuiing along 

 the middle. The leafy part, being 

 stripped off and boiled, is used as a 

 substitute for greens and spinach, and 



86 



