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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 18, 186i. 



their consideration this evening. He said, The truth is, I 

 am accustomed to spend the summer months with my wife 

 and children at a cottage in Kent, where for the last fifteen 

 years I have sought out amusement, in hours that I could 

 spare from those duties that devolve on me as a minister 

 and teacher of Christ, in attentively studying the economy 

 of the hive ; and my lecture to-night will therefore be the 

 result of my personal experience of the habits of bees. Some 

 of you will perhaps say, "Dr. Cuinming must have a bee in 

 his bonnet, and but occupies his time for the moment with 

 them." I have read few books on the subject ; but I have 

 twelve hives, some of which have glass windows and some 

 have not, the bees in which know me so well that they would 

 rest on my hands, face, and hair, and not one of them dare 

 to sting me. I often sit for hours watching my bees, and 

 when I observe anything interesting or unusual in their 

 proceedings " make a note of it." 



Virgil has given an account of bees in one of his Eclogues ; 

 but by far the most attentive watcher was the blind ento- 

 mologist, Huber. I do not think that apiarians have suc- 

 ceeded in bringing any new facts to light, or noting anything 

 concerning their habits which he (Huber) did not. 



The component parts of a hive are three— workers, queen, 

 and drones — not three different kinds of bees, but three 

 different species. 



Workers. — The worker is a little tiny insect, with four 

 wings, and beautiful colour on its body. AU the work of 

 the hive is divided amongst the workers — -some of them 

 collect honey — (and it is a curious fact that the bee never 

 goes fi-om flower to flower, but picks out a flower — thyme, 

 borage, or clover — and keeps to it) — some collect food for 

 the young grubs, some act as guards to the hive, to keep 

 out intruders ; and there are others whose duty it is to 

 ventilate the hive. I can play with my bees, and take a 

 swarm in my hand ; but if a stranger approaches the hive 

 the guards instantly fly at him. But I think the most 

 curious thing in the economy of the hive is its ventilation — 

 four or five bees go to the mouth of the hive, and, using their 

 wings as fans, by moving them backwards and forwards, 

 keep up a cool current of fresh air through the hive. It is 

 worthy of notice that, if a bee-master, in order to ventilate 

 his hive, cut a hole in the top of it, the bees immediately 

 cement it up with a wax-like substance which they collect, 

 and which is called " propolis." From this we may learn 

 that, while ventilation is necessary to healthy life, draughts 

 are hurtful. 



Queen. — The queen is twice the size of the common bee, 

 and is the most elegant creature you could imagine —you 

 would take her for an empress. Queen as she is, she springs 

 from the ranks. The previous queen lays precisely the 

 same egg in the royal as in the common cells, but the 

 young princesses are fed with a peculiar kind of food 

 called " royal jelly." If the queen dies, and there are no 

 princesses, the hive falls into a state of anarchy, and one 

 of three things will usually happen : either the bees will all 

 take flight and perish, or pine away and die, or, more fre- 

 quently, if there is a very young worker grub in the hive, they 

 enlarge its cell and feed it with "royal jelly," and it in due 

 time becomes a perfectly developed queen. I have seen the 

 queen going round the hive giving instructions with twelve 

 or thirteen ladies in waiting, who — this is a well-known fact 

 — never turn their backs on her majesty, exactly like our 

 own Queen's court. Bees are very fond of strong drink, 

 particularly Scotch ale. Whiskey and brandy they will not 

 touch, but give them rum with sugar in it and they will sip 

 it up eagerly. The only time I ever saw bees turn their backs 

 on their queen, was in a weak hive to which I had given 

 some rum medicinally, and they all drank to excess, and, her 

 majesty included, became intoxicated and tumbled about 

 the hive. They eventually became so excited that, though 

 November, they attempted to swarm, but as soon as they 

 felt the cold wind outside they returned to their hive. 



Drones. — In a good hive of about 20,000 bees, there are from 

 1500 to 2000 drones. There is no such thing as polygamy 

 among bees. The queen selects one to be her husband, and 

 he remains so until he dies, when she does not take another 

 but remains a royal widow. You will ask, What then is the 

 use of so many drones P I have made a discovery which has 

 led me to adopt a theory, which has been opposed by many 

 able apiarians. The temperature of the hive in the breeding 



time (for I have thermometers in some of my hives), ranges 

 from 90° to 95° Fahrenheit. The drones remain in the hive 

 during the cool morning until twelve o'clock, when they go 

 out and enjoy themselves for an hour, and then remain in 

 during the evening. The only time when this high tempera- 

 ture can be kept up naturally is in the middle of the day, 

 and during the months of June, July, and August, before 

 which time the drones are killed. Drones, therefore, keep 

 up the requisite temperature of the hive. They are lazy, 

 idle, good-for-nothing fellows, and when the queen has 

 selected her husband begin to sip the honey. When the . 

 workers perceive this they drive them out of the hive. 

 Hundreds, I may say thousands, of times have I seen a 

 little worker garotte and by sheer force throw out of the 

 hive a great burly drone. 



Hives. — In Kent, the peasantry use the common straw 

 hive, and I have little doubt they do the same thing in 

 Lancashire, suffocating the bees with sulphur when they 

 want to obtain their stores. This is a most foolish proceed- 

 ing, as besides destroying the stock, it utterly ruins the 

 honey, by filling it with poisonous sulphurous acid vapours. 

 It is very wicked, too, and I consider beecide next to ho- 

 micide. I use Stewarton hives, and from ten by the de- 

 priving system I this year obtained 212 lbs. weight of pure 

 virgin honey, leaving the bees about 150 lbs. for their sub- 

 sistence during the winter. I am not a honey-seller, but 

 had I sold this to Messrs. Neighbour & Son, I could have 

 obtained 2s. 6d. per lb. for the best, 2s. for part, and Is. 6cZ. 

 for the remainder. I make it a point never to kill a bee ; 

 but if I kill one accidentally, so good a memory have they, 

 that for two or three days they would sting me did I go near 

 the hive. If any of you have bees in a straw hive full of 

 honey, my advice to you is, Do not suffocate the bees, but 

 when most of them are out, about twelve o'clock, take a knife 

 and firmly and fearlessly cut a hole in the top of the hive 

 of about 3 inches in diameter. Have a board with a similar 

 hole ready to put on the top of the hive, and on it place a 

 bell-glass, put a nightcap over the glass to keep it warm, 

 return in three or four days, and you will find the glass full 

 of pure virgin honey. There is no prettier object on a 

 breakfast-table than a bell-glass full of honey, and a very 

 much better thing it is than fat bacon. Those who eat 

 honey to breakfast always have sweet tempers. There are 

 three kinds of hives in general use — the Ayrshire or Stew- 

 arton-hive ; the collateral, but I do not think it so useful as 

 the former ; and the nadir, from nether, or lower. One 

 great law is to make the hive as little tortuous as possible ; 

 my idea is, the plainer the more successful. Every cottager 

 should keep bees, they will pay the rent, if he only have six, 

 seven, or eight stocks, which, will nett £S to JElOper annum. 

 If any of you are going to begin keeping bees, I would be 

 happy to give any advice in my power. 



Swarms. — If you do not give the bees room they will swarm; 

 the swarm is always headed by the old queen; 10,000 or 

 15,000 bees rush out at once — some say they send out scouts 

 to fix upon a place for alighting — and form a cluster with 

 the queen in the centre, exactly like a bunch of grapes, 

 7 to 9 inches long, and 3 or 4 inches in diameter. Swarms 

 always take place between twelve and three o'clock. A 

 princess arriving at maturity either causes a swarm, or else 

 the rival queens fight until one of them is killed. 



Enemies of Bees. — Wasps. — Every one in the country must 

 have observed the unusual quantity of wasps this year. 

 They dash into a hive, and take a sip of the honey, until the 

 bees collect together, and drive them out. I generally offer 

 3d. or 4cZ. for each wasp's nest destroyed in my neighbour- 

 hood. I know of no more useless insect. He lives by thiev- 

 ing. I often put a piece of barleysugar about 6 inches long 

 at the entrance of the hive. The bees are so fond of this 

 that they collect together in sufficient numbers to resist the 

 wasps. Spider. — This is a great enemy of the bee. If a bee 

 gets entangled in its web, nothing can save her. I have found 

 it impossible to take its adhesive threads off her legs with- 

 out mutilating her. The best remedy — a hard crush — and 

 often used. Tomtit. — This little audacious bird will in winter 

 fly on to the alighting-board, and knock at the door, and 

 gobble up the first bee that comes out to see what is the 

 matter. Death's-head Moth. — This is another troublesome 

 enemy of the bee. The best remedy is to narrow the en- 

 trance so that it. cannot get into the hive. Snails. — Snails 



