Book VII. HONEYBEE. 1107 



of the bees. Hives may be killed with hunger while some pounds' weight of sugar remain in this state in 

 their cells. The boiling of sugar into syrup forms a closer combination with the water, by which it is pre- 

 vented from flying off, and a consistence resembling that of honey retained. Howison has had frequent 

 experience of hives, not containing a pound of honey, preserved in perfect health through the winter with 

 sugar so prepared, when given in proper time and in sufficient quantity. 



7609. To protect hives froyti the cold, they are covered v/ith straw or rushes, about the end of September, 

 or later, according to the climate and season. This is an essential business, as well covered hives always 

 prosper better the follov.ing season than such as have not been covered. In October, the aperture at which 

 the bees enter should generally be narrowed, so as only one bee may pass at a time. Indeed, as a very 

 small portion of air is necessary for bees in their torpid state, it were better, during severe frosts, to be 

 entirely shut up, as numbers of them are often lost from being enticed to quit the hive by the sunshine (/ 

 a winter day. It will, however, be proper at times to remove, by a crooked wire, or similar instrument, 

 the dead bees and other filth, which the living at this season are unable to perform of themselves. Ti 

 hives, whose stock of honey was sufficient for their maintenance, or those to which a proper quantity o< 

 sugar had been given for that purpose, no further attention will be necessary until the breeding season 

 arrives. This, in warm situations, generally takes place about the beginning of May ; and in cold, about a 

 month after. The young bees, for a short time previous to their leaving their cells, and some after, require 

 being fed with the same regularity that young birds are by their parents ; and if the store in the hive be 

 exhausted, and the weather such as not to admit of the working bees going abroad to collect food in suffi- 

 cient quantity for themselves and their brood, the powerful principle of affection for their young compels 

 them to part with what is not enough for their suj)port, at the expense of their own lives. To prevent 

 such accidents, it is advisable, if during the breeding season it rain for two successive days, to feed all 

 the bees indiscriminately, as it would be difficult to ascertain those only who require it. 



7610. The swarming of bees generally commences in June, in some seasons earlier, and in cold climates or 

 seasons later. The first swarming is so long preceded by the appearance of drones, and hanging out of 

 working bees, that if the time of their leaving the hive is not observed, it must be owing to want of care. 

 The signs of the second are, however, more equivocal, the most certain being that of the queen, a day or 

 two before swarming, at intervals of a few minutes, giving out a sound a good deal resembling that of a 

 cricket. It frequently happens that the swarm will leave the old hive, and return again several times, 

 which is always owing to the queen not having accompanied them, or from having dropped on the ground, 

 being too young to fly to a distance. Gooseberry, currant, or other low bushes, should be planted at a 

 short distance from the hives, for the bees to swarm upon, otherwise they are apt to fly away ; by attending 

 to this, Howison has not lost a swarm by straying for several years. When a hive yields more than two 

 swarms, these should uniformly be joined to others that are weak, as from the lateness of the season, and 

 deficiency in number, they will otherwise perish. This junction is easily formed, by inverting at night 

 the hive in which they are, and placing over it the one you intend them to enter. They soon ascend, and 

 apparently with no opposition from the former possessors. Should the weather, for some days after 

 swarming, be unfavourable for the bees going out, they must be fed with care until it clears up, otherwise 

 the voung swarm will lun a great risk of dying. 



7611. The honey may be taken from hives of the common construction by three modes, partial depriv- 

 ation, total deprivation, and suffocation. 



7612. Partial deprivation is performed about the beginning of September. Having ascertained the 

 weight of the hive, and consequently the quantity of honeycomb which is to be extracted, begin the 

 operation as soon as evening sets in, by inverting the full hive, and placing an empty one over it; par- 

 ticular care must be taken that the two hives are of the same diameter, for if they differ in their dimen- 

 sions it will not be possible to effect the driving of the bees. The hives being placed on each other, a 

 sheet or large table-cloth must be tied round them at their point of junction, in order to prevent the bees 

 from molesting the operator. The hives being thus arranged, beat the sides gently with a stick or the 

 hand, but particular caution must be used to beat it on those parts to which the combs are attached, and 

 which will be found parallel with the entrance of the hive. The ascent of the bees into the upper hive 

 will be known by a loud humming noise, indicative of the pleasure in finding an asylum from their 

 enemy; in a few minutes the whole community will have ascended, and the hive with the bees in it may 

 be placed upon the pedestal from which the full hive was removed. The hive from which the bees have 

 been driven must then be taken into the house, and the operation of cutting out the honeycomb com- 

 menced. Having extracted the requisite quantity of comb, this opportunity must be embraced of inspecting 

 the hive, and of cleaning it from any noxious matter. In cutting the combs, however, particular attention 

 should be paid not to cut into two or three combs at once, but having commenced the cutting of one, to 

 pursue it to the top of the hive; and this caution is necessary for two reasons. If you begin the cutting 

 of two or three combs at one time, were you to extract the whole of them, you would perhaps take too 

 much ; and secondly, to stop in the middle of a comb would be attended with very pernicious conse- 

 quences, as the honey would drop from the cells which have been cut in two, and then the bees, on being 

 returned to their native hive, might be drowned in their own sweets. The bees also, in their return to 

 their natural domicile, being still under the impression of fear, would not give so much attention to the 

 honey which flows from the divided cells; and as it would fall on the board, and from that on the ground, 

 the bees belonging to the other hives would immediately scent the wasted treasure, and a general attack 

 on the deprivated hive might be dreaded. The deprivation of the honeycomb being effected, the hive 

 may be returned to its former position, and reversing the hive which contains the bees, and placing the 

 deprivated hive over it, they may be left in that situation till the morning, when the bees will be found to 

 have taken possession of their native hive, and, if the season proves fine, may replenish what they have 

 lost. {Huish's Treatise on Bees.) 



7613. Total deprivation is effected in the same manner, but earlier in the season, immediately after the 

 first swarm ; and the bees, instead of being returned to a remnant of honey in their old hive, remain in the 

 new empty one : which they will sometimes, though rarely, fill with comb. By this mode, it is to be ob- 

 served, very little honey is obtained, the bees in June and July being occupied chiefly in breeding, and 

 one, if not two, swarms are lost. 



7614. Suffocation is performed when the season of flowers begins to decline, and generally in October. 

 The smoke of paper, or linen rag soaked or smeared with melted sulphur, is introduced to the hive by 

 placing it in a hole in the ground, where a few shreds of these articles are undergoing a smothering com- 

 bustion ; or the full hive may be placed on an empty one, inverted as in partial deprivation, and the sul- 

 phureous smoke introduced by a fumigating bellows, &c. I'he bees will fall from the upper to the lower 

 hive in a few minutes, when they may be removed and buried, to prevent resuscitation. Such a death 

 seems one of the easiest, both to the insects themselves, and to human feelings. Indeed, the mere 

 deprivation of life to animals, not endowed with sentiment or reflection, is reduced to the precise pain of 

 the moment, without reference to the past or the future; and as each pulsation of this pain increases in 

 effect on the one hand, so, on the other, the susceptibility of feeling it diminishes. Civilised man is the 

 only animal to whom death has terrors, and hence the origin of that false humanity, which condemns the 

 killing of bees in order to obtain their honey ; but which might, with as m.uch justice, be applied to the 

 destruction of almost any other animal used in domestic economy, as fowls, game, fish, cattle, &c. 



7615. On the produce and profit of bees much has been said by the patriotic apiarians. Both, however, 

 are extremely uncertain ; and as to the profit, it can never be great, while there is the competition of ail 

 Europe to contend with as to honey and wax, and no great demand for swarms. Bees, however, are 

 interesting creatures; are supported at almost no expense ; and a hive or two is' therefore very desirable 

 in the garden of every farmer and cottajie>' 



4 B 2 



