BEES. 



want of strength, or perhaps courage to 

 trust to her wings for the first time, or 

 possibly from a consciousness of her not 

 being impregnated. 



When a swarm is too few in number 

 for a hive, another may be added. The 

 usual method of thus uniting swarms is 

 very easy ; spread a cloth at night upon 

 the ground close to the hive in which the 

 two casts or swarms are to be united, lay 

 a stick across this cloth, then fetch the 

 hive with the new swarm, set it over the 

 stick, give a smart stroke on the top of 

 the hive, and all the bees will drop down 

 upon the cloth in a cluster; this done, 

 throw aside the empty hive, take the 

 other from off' the stool, and set this last 

 over the bees, who will soon ascend into 

 it, mix with those already there, and be- 

 come one and the same family. Others, 

 instead of striking the bees down upon 

 the cloth, place with its bottom upper- 

 most the hive in which the united swarms 

 are to live, and strike the bees of the 

 other hive clown into it. The former of 

 these hives is then restored to its natural 

 situation, and the bees of both hives soon 

 unite. If some bees still adhere to the 

 other hive, they may be brushed off on 

 the cloth, and they will soon join their 

 brethren. Or we may take the following 

 jnethod, which gives less disturbance to 

 the bees ; set, with its mouth upmost, the 

 hive into which the young swarm has 

 been put, and set upon it the other hive. 

 The bees in the other hive, finding them- 

 selves in an inverted situation, will soon 

 ascend into the upper. A large swarm 

 may weigh 8lb. and so gradually less to 

 lib. : consequently, a very good one may 

 weigh 5 or 6lb. All such as weigh less than 

 4lb. should be strengthened, by uniting to 

 each of them a less numerous swarm. 



Providence has ordained that insects 

 which feed on leaves, flowers, and green 

 succulent plants, are in an insensible or 

 torpid state, from the time that the win- 

 ter scold has deprived them of the means 

 of subsistence : thus the bees, during the 

 winter, are in so lethargic a state that lit- 

 tle food supports them ; but as the wea- 

 ther is very changeable, and every warm 

 or sunny day revives them, and prompts 

 them to return to exercise, food becomes 

 necessary on these occasions. 



Many hives of bees which are thought 

 to die of cold in winter, in truth, die of 

 famine, when a rainy summer has hinder- 

 ed the bees from laying in a sufficient 

 store of provisions. The hives should 

 therefore be carefully examined in an- 

 tumn, and should then weigh at least 18 



pounds. The common practice is, to feed 

 them in autumn, giving them as much 

 honey as will bring the whole weight of 

 the hive to near 20 pounds. The easiest 

 and most rational method is, to set under 

 the hive a plate of liquid honey, with a 

 paper pierced full of holes, through 

 which the bees will suck the honey with- 

 out daubing themselves. In case honey 

 cannot be procured, a mixture of brown 

 sugar, wetted with strong beer, will an- 

 swer every purpose. Another circum- 

 stance, which may render it very neces- 

 sary to feed the bees is, when several 

 days of bad weather ensue immediately 

 after they have swarmed ; for then, be- 

 ing destitute of every supply beyond what 

 they carried with them, they "may be in 

 great danger of starving. In this case, 

 honey should be given them in propor- 

 tion to the duration of the bad weather. 

 In this country it is usual, in seizing the 

 stores of these little animals, to rob them 

 also of their lives. The common method 

 is, that when those which are doomed for 

 slaughter have been marked out, (which 

 is generally done in September, "> a hole is 

 dug near the hive, and a stick, at the end 

 of which is a rag that has been dipped in 

 melted brimstone, being stuck in that 

 hole, the rag is set on fire, the hive is im- 

 mediately set over it, and the earth is in- 

 stantly thrown up all around, so that none 

 of the smoke can escape. In a quarter 

 of an hour all the bees are seemingly 

 dead, and they are rendered soon after 

 irrecoverably so, by being buried in the 

 earth that is returned back into the hole. 

 By this last means it is that they are abso- 

 lutely killed; for it has been found by 

 experiment, that all the bees which have 

 been affected only by the fume of the 

 brimstone recover again, excepting such 

 as have been singed or hurt by the flame. 

 Hence it is evident that the fume of brim- 

 stone might be used for intoxicating the 

 bees, with some few precautions. The 

 heaviest and the lightest hives are alike 

 treated in this manner ; the former, be- 

 cause they yield the most profit, with an 

 immediate return; and the latter, because 

 they would not be able to survive the 

 winter. Those hives, which weigh from 15 

 to 20 pounds, are thought to be the fittest 

 for keeping. Various methods have also 

 been adopted in England, to attain the 

 desirable end of getting the honey and 

 wax without destroying the bees ; the 

 most approved of which is Mr. Thorley's, 

 who, in his " Inquiry into the Nature, Or- 

 der, and Government of Bees," thinks co- 

 lonies preferable to hives. He tells us, 



