BOOK III. 



APIARY. 



341 



when put into the well. In putting it in, it should be rammed close, and a space left be- 

 tween it and the wall of the well, by straw being^ placed for the purpose, so as to give 

 passage to any moisture that may be collected by the dissolving of the ice on the top or 

 otherwise. If snow is used instead of ice, it ought to be pressed very firmly together, so 

 as to exclude air, and in fact approach in texture to ice. To aid in consolidating both ice 

 and snow, a little water may be occasionally poured over it from the rose of a watering- 

 pot. In putting the ice into the house, some mix a little nitre or common salt with it, to 

 make it congeal more fully ; but this is not necessary. As the ice becomes solid in the 

 well, an iron crow is necessary to take it up with. 



1731. An ice-cold chamber is found of great use in horticulture, in preserving gathered 

 vegetables, as pease, beans, cauliflowers, &c. in a fresh state, for some time after they are 

 gathered. Potatoes and other tubers and bulbs, also plants in pots, cuttings, &c. may 

 have their vegetation retarded by being placed in so cold an atmosphere. Several ice- 

 houses, Neill informs us, excellently adapted not only for the main purpose, but for these 

 secondary views, which nowise interfere with the other, have lately been constructed in 

 the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, under the directions of Hay, particularly at Dalmeny 

 Park and Dundas Castle. These ice-houses have double walls, a passage being left be- 

 tween the outer and inner. In the thick wall immediately enclosing the ice, are four re- 

 cesses, with stone shelves for receiving the vegetables or fruits. In the outer wall, the 

 same object is provided for. The roof, it may be added, is arched with stone, and has a 

 hole in the top, over the centre of the ice-chamber, for introducing the ice. The passage 

 between the two walls is likewise arched, and has two or three small grated apertures, 

 which are closed with fitted stones, and may be opened for the purpose of admitting light 

 and air when wanted. (Supp. to Encyc. Brit. art. Hort.) 



1732. If an ice-cellar was added to the domestic offices of country-seats, and the ice 

 preserved in it, and placed under the immediate care of the steward or housekeeper, it 

 would certainly be more convenient for culinary use, and attended with less risk of melt- 

 ing when ice was taken out. Ice-cold rooms, which would be found useful for various 

 purposes in domestic economy, might be formed adjoining. It is possible, however, that 

 artificial modes of producing cold and ice as wanted, may supersede the use of ice-houses 

 altogether. A very scientific view of the subject of ice-houses will be found in Rozier's 

 Diet, of Agr., and in Nouveau Cours d? Agriculture, &c. art. Glaciere. 



SUBSECT. 2. Of the Apiary and the Management of Bees. 



1733. The care of bees seems more naturally to belong to gardening than the keeping 

 of ice ; because their situation is naturally in the garden, and their produce is a 

 vegetable salt. The garden-bee is found in a wild state in most parts of the globe, in 

 swarms or governments ; but never in groups of governments so near together as in a 

 bee-house, which is an artificial and unnatural contrivance to save trouble, and injurious 

 to the insect directly as the number placed together. Thus, if ten acres are sufficient to 

 maintain two hives, a hundred acres will be required to maintain twenty ; but while, in 

 the former case, the hives being placed in the centre of the ten acres, each bee need not 

 perform a longer journey than two hundred yards ; in the latter, the colony being simi- 

 larly situated as to the hundred acres, the average journey for each insect will be nearly a 

 mile. Hence, independently of other considerations, one disadvantage of congregating 

 hives in bee-houses or apiaries. The advantages are, greater facility in protecting from 

 heats, colds, or thieves, and greater facilities of examining their condition and progress. 

 Independently of their honey, bees are considered as useful in gardens, by aiding in the 

 impregnation of flowers. For this purpose, a hive is sometimes placed in a cherry-house, 

 and sometimes in peach-houses ; or the position of the hive is in the front or end wall 

 of such houses, so as the body of the hive may be half in the house and half in the wall, 

 with two outlets for the bees, one into the house, and the other into the open air. By 

 this arrangement, the bees can be admitted to the house and open air alternately, and ex- 

 cluded from either at pleasure. 



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