May ?, lSt5. ] 



JOTJETs^AL OF HOETICTTLTTJEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



353 



is raised on a third, tlie top one being ultimately removed 

 fall of honey. Access is obtained to the hive through a row 

 of fifteen holes, "three in the midst for the great Bees, and 

 sii smaller on each side for the lesser." The drones are, I 

 anppose, meant by " the great Bees ; " but the whole 

 arrangement is worthy of that celebrated genius who, having 

 made a hole in the barn door to admit his cat. afterwards 

 ■ cut a smaller one for the accommodation of her kitten ! 



We next have "a new kind of excellent food for Bees," 

 ■which is said to be "a notable secret," had from "an old Ger- 

 mane Captain," and consists of " the planting of Anise near 

 them." This is "proved the best meanes for multiplying 

 and keeping of them, as also for their breeding of gi-eat store 

 of honey." " The Heavb being taken and the inside of the 

 Hives rubbed therewith, causeth great multitudes of Bees to 

 enter and become close retainers to those Hives." " That 

 the feeding upon this plant will cause each Stock to en- 

 gender and thrust out three young ones in one year, within 

 which space they doe else not use to doe so above once. 

 That against the time of their thrusting forth, other Hives 

 ought to be placed next to those from whence they thrusc 

 forth, which, as well as also the way leading to the Orifices, 

 are to be rubbed with the Anise in such sort, that the juyee of 

 the Hearb may come forth and stick thereunto, and the young 

 Stocks that come forth from the old, will certainly enter into 

 those, and not repair any where else. But in case that 

 upon the neglect any be swarved forth and settled unto 

 some tree, the fault may be amended by rubbing the inside 

 of the new Hire with Anise, and holding it on the top of a 

 long pearch unto the bees, who will enter thereinto of them- 

 selves as soon as they scent the sweetnesse of the Anise." 

 We are informed, moreover, that "a Baron in Austria so 

 thrived by this secret that he furnished many Countries 

 with Honey and Was:, and thereby abundantly inereaseth 

 his wealth and revenue ! " 



Then we have "A Translate of a Letter written in High- 

 I>ntch," which recommends the prevention of swarming and 

 describes a round straw hive made in sections and very 

 nearly identical with a German '•' lager " hive shown in the 

 International Exhibition of 1862. 1 may explain that by 

 " High-Dutch " is meant high-Deutsch or German, so that 

 the fashion of the hives appears to have varied but little 

 daring the last two hundred years. 



"Tostes of bread sopped in strong Ale" would probably 

 suit Dr. Gumming, and when put into a bee-hive are stated 

 to be " very good and cheap food for bees, of which they wiU 

 not leave one crum remaining." Flour or meal as a substi- 

 tute for pollen would also auoear to be no new idea, since 

 we are told, that "It wiU be fit some time to lay some dry 

 Meal or flower of beanes, which dry Meal is given them 

 sometimes as Hey or Corn is to Conies, or upland pasture 

 to Sheep in times of great rain to prevent the rott, and such 

 diseases, as will necessarily follow from continual moist 

 food." 



We can, however, only exclaim credat Judtsv.s .' in respect 

 of the following " notable and approved experiment for 

 improving of Bees.— Take an handful of Melissa (that is a 

 hearb which we commonly caU Baume). One drachm of 

 Camphire. Half a drachm of Musk dissolved in Eose water. 

 As much yellow Bees-wax as is sufficient. Oil of Eoses as 

 much. Stamp the Baume and Camphire very well, ajad 

 put them into the Wax melted with the Oyle of Eoses, scud 

 to make it up into a masse ; let it cool before you put in 

 the Musk, for othervrise the heat wiE fume away most of the 

 scent of it. Take of this masse as much as a haseluut, and 

 cleave it within your Bee-hive. It will much increase the 

 ifJ^tier of your Bees, not onelyby provoking them to multi- 

 plication, but also by enticing m'anv strange Bees to come 

 thither, and abide there. Ton shaU "also find, both in Honey 

 and Wax, three times more profit than otherwise you should 

 have had " ! 



The letters of "Mr. William Mewe, Minister at Eastling- 

 ton, in Glocestershire " are, however, remarkable as proving 

 ttiat gentleman to have been much in advance of his age in 

 bee management. Xot only had he "transuarent Hives" 

 whereby he could show his friends "the Queens Cells and 

 sometmies her person, with her retinue," but he placed 

 stocks of bees in his " bay windowes," of which he declares 



theii company very harmonious, especially for those that 

 lodge m their Chambers, whether they would wake or sleep. 



in so much as I have heard some say (that there have 

 lodged) they would give twenty pound to have and here the 

 like at home." 



There is also a letter " written by that much acoomplisli'd 

 and very ingenious Gentleman, Fellow of All-Soules Col- 

 ledge in Oxford, Mr. Chiist. Wren* with the figure and 

 description of the Transparent Bee-hive." This so-caUed 

 transparent bee-hive consists of a set of three octagonal 

 boxes placed one on the other, and is scarcely to be dis- 

 tinguished from the modern Stewartou hive, except in respect 

 to the means of intercommunication between each, which 

 I consists of a central aperture instead of bars. There is a 

 i window 6 inches by 4 inches at the back of each box, and, 

 what is not a little curious, every box is lined with " rush 

 matt," a plan which I tried some few years ago, believing 

 it to be quite original, and having no idea that I was merely 

 resuscitating a contrivance more than two hundred years old. 

 Such is a brief transcript of those passages in this ancient 

 bee-book which appear to me the most remarkable, and 

 which may not be without interest to the apiarian readers 

 of " our Joiu-nal." — A Devonshtee Bee-keepeb. 



AJf APIAELOI" EEVrVAL. 



That the old adage, "Where there's life there's hope," 

 may, in apiarian matters, be pushed a little further, even to 

 the extent, that where there's no seeming life there may yet 

 be a ray of hope, was once well illustrated by an incident in 

 my apiary, a narration of which at this particular season 

 may prove useful as well as interesting. 



On a very cold day in the month of March, some few springs 

 ago, towards the close of a three-weeks tack of withering 

 easterly wind, putting aU apiarian operations out of the 

 question, I was mounted on a pruning-ladder, giving some 

 finishing touches to a fruit ti'ee on the garden wall behind 

 the hives, yet could not resist casting an approving sidelong 

 glance at the daring little foragers, who had braved the 

 blast, and now and again were going in with their yellow 

 loads. The extreme quiescence of one stock arrested my 

 attention, causing me to descend from my eminence and ad- 

 minister a sharp tap or two at the entrance ; but, alas ! no 

 answering, sleepy buzz. The hackle was quickly removed, 

 and then the binding cords securing it to the board, and 

 the stock raised. Ah ! how light ; its inversion realised my 

 worst fears, causing that pang of regret known only to the 

 bee-keeper, who finds a fine, healthy, well-peopled colony 

 dead, solely from his inadvertence in not administering, 

 possibly, but a few ounces of sugar. 



The history of the colony was this. A 3 lbs. 14 ozs. prime 

 swarm hived on the third day of the preceding July in a 

 Stewarton-box, subsequently eked with the intention of its 

 being wrought on my " adapter plan," it was the most 

 liberally fed of all my hives ; but the food, as was now too 

 apparent, had been applied at the end of the season to other 

 purposes than winter store. The hive as well as eke were 

 completely combed to the board, while the abundance had so 

 stimulated the breeding of one of the most fertile queens 

 I ever met with, as to cause an addition of late brood 

 seldom seen ; besides the little mound of dead on the board, 

 the spaces betwixt the combs were filled to a surprising 

 extent. These loose bees were swept off and the hive re- 

 placed. What mattered it, though the foot of my ladder 

 should be entangled with the binding- cord and bring the 

 hive down with a thud on its side, prostrate, on a bed of 

 arabis — the bees were dead. It was only in consonance with 

 its ruined condition that the east wmd should for the re- 

 mainder of the day whistle in its accustomed melancholy 

 strains a requiem through the silent streets of this little 

 city of the dead, varied only by the sharp chirping chuckle 

 of one Titmouse after another hopping triumphantly over 

 the combs, pausing merely to regale himself now and then on 

 all that remained of the once active little workers. 



Late in the evening passing with a mat to protect a peach 

 from the keen fr-ost rapidly descending, my eye rested on 

 the fallen hive. I set it on a board and carried it in, placing 

 it in an out-of-the-way comer of the parlour, with the in- 

 tention of picking out at leisure the dead bees from the 

 vacant cells, so as to put it away prepared for future use. 



• Afterwards Sir CliriBtopher Wren, the great arcMtect. 



I 



