BEE 



which is their proper food, not lefs than a pound and a 

 half or two pounds at a time. The honey fliould befiift 

 dihited with water, or fiiiaU beer, and then poured into an 

 empty comb. A drone comb is the ftrongell: and bed for 

 the purpofe ; and in the evening, when the bees are quiet, 

 the iiive fliould be gently raifed on one fide, and the comb 

 put under it, the contents of which will be conveyed away 

 the next day into the feveral magazines. 



Reaumur recom.mends a plats of liquid honey unmixed 

 with water, crofied with ftraws, and covered wich a paper 

 full of holes, through which the bees will fuck the honey 

 without daubing themfclves. But care (hould be taken that 

 the hive be well guarded from robbers, whenever it is pro- 

 vided with a frefii fupply. The winter quarters of the bees 

 fliould hkewife be well fecured, both againft the weather 

 and the enemies that would annoy them. Mild winters, as 

 well as fevere cold, are injurious ; funfliine in winter tempts 

 them to go abroad, and expofes them to the fatal effeSs of 

 fudden changes either of cold or rain. Bees are moil likely 

 to furvive in cold winters, becaufe they are then in a torpid 

 ftate, and require very little nourifliment, provided the api- 

 ary be well fecured from the keen effects of northerly and 

 cafterly winds ; whereas a fmall degree cf wanntli enlivens 

 them, when they too often confum.e their winter flock, and 

 are left deftitute of food in a wet unfavourable fpring. 

 \\Tien bees arc chilled with cold, and to all appearance 



*dying with cold, and the clutters of them are broken, fo 

 that they drop down in the hive, they may be recovered 

 oftentimes by the means of heat. Some have advifcd the 

 application of hot or warm aflies to be laid about the hives, 

 or fprinkled over the clufl;ers of bees which lie feemingly 

 dead at the bottom of the hive. A fufficient warmth may 

 be given them by putting them into an handkerchief, and 

 breathing upon theci, or by laying them before a fire. This 

 precaution fliould be taken immediately when the fymptoms 

 of difeafe are fliewn, otherwife their vitals may be impaired, 

 and the bees be irrecoverably loft. Reaumur made many at- 

 tempts to preferve the bees from the ill effects of cold in the 

 winter without removing the hives out of the places where 

 they ftand in the fummer. With this view, he covered feme of 

 the hives with ftraw, by means of fticks fixed round them, 

 and reaching a few inches above the top ; but the moft 

 fuccefsful method he found to be that of preferving them 

 in large tubs, with earth or hay, contriving at the fame 

 time to convey air to them through a fquare tube of wood 

 two inches in width, and half an inch in depth, which 

 paflcd through the fide of the tub, and was of fuch a length 

 as to reach the mouth of the hive, projecting at the fame 

 time three or four inches beyond the fides of the tub. Since 

 the time of Rcaum.ur, many ingenious contrivances have 

 been devifed to obviate this, and otl^r objeflions againfl: the 

 hives that were formerly in ufe. A new kind of hive, con- 

 trived by M. Huber of Geneva, feems to have obtained ce- 

 lebrity upon the continent at this time. There are alfo others 

 conftrufted by Paiteau, Maflac, Boisjugan, Blangy, Saint 

 de Foy, Ravenal, &c. well deferving the attention of the 

 farmer. The agricultural committee in Paris has been re- 

 cently engaged in the examination of the beft, moft econo- 

 mical, and advantageous kinds of hives, when M. Lombard, 

 a gardener near that city, prefented one for their infpeftion 

 on a plan entirely new, under the name of " ruche -AUa- 

 gcoife," the contrivance of which was very much approved. 

 For the fakt of preferving the bees, due attention lliould 

 be paid" to the fituation in which the hives are placed : they 

 ought to be ftationed in gardens ttored with fweet-fcented 

 plants, fruit trees, and the like. The hives fliould not be 

 placed too near to thefe, becaufe they harbour vermin inju- 



' nous to the bees, and ftill more, weeds muft not be allowed 

 Vol. IV. 



BEE 



to fluurifl) clofc to tl'.c hives, fince they uourilli others far 

 more detrimental to the bees than the fonner. 



It is no unufual circumflance for one colony of bees to 

 attack and plunder tK-; hive of arother. This' happens 

 chiefly in the fpring and autumn. The moft efiedua! way 

 to guard agaiiift their incurfions, is to leffen the entrance 

 into the hive, fo as to leave room for only two or three bee? 

 to pafs a-breaft, or to ftop up the hives that are attacked, 

 till the rovers difappear ; or if flrangers have gained admit- 

 tance, the proper inhabitants of the hive may be roufed to 

 fclf-defence by diihirbing them with a bunch of i'inking 

 madder fattened to the end of a fmall ftick, which will iii- 

 ftaiitly raife tiieir refentment, and make them feizc upon the 

 robbers. This is indeed needlefs while the queen of the hive 

 attacked is fafe. 



Bees, Enemies of. In the domcftic ftate the bee ha« 

 many enemies ; but in a ftate of nature thefe are far more 

 numerous. While in the apiary, wafps and Lomtts arc 

 among the moft formidaLle of thofe enemies ; they will of- 

 ten contrive to enter the hive, and build their nefls in it, and 

 harafs the bees without mercy, till they leave their habita- 

 tion, unlefs proper care be taken to prevent fuch encroach- 

 ments. The fox is a dangerous enemy in the winter, as he 

 is able to make a pafTage into the hive, and devour the ho- 

 ney. Rats are equally injurious ; the houfe and field-mice 

 fliould alfo be guarded againft, by diminifliing the entrance 

 into the hive, as the cold com.es on, when the bees become 

 lefs able to defend tliemfelves. The hives may be placed in 

 fuch a manner that it will be impoiTibk for the mice to reach 

 them. Birds are bitter enemies to the bees ; the fparrow, 

 houfe -lark, and fwallows in particular. Toads and frogs will 

 place themfelves at the entrance of the hive, and devour 

 many. Spiders will expand their fnares near the hive, and 

 entrap numbers. The fpecies aranea caL'ma Hes in ambufn 

 for the bees in the corolla of flowers, and faftens upon thtm 

 when they come to fip the nectareous fluids: Ants of ai- 

 moft ever)- kind penetrate into the hive, attack the young 

 brood, and plunder the combs of the honey. The ftink of 

 certain fpecies of ants is fo offenfive to bees, that they will 

 quit their hives to avoid it, or if they remain, become fickly. 

 Some larvce, or caterpillars, are likewife exceedingly injurious 

 to the bees, the honey, the comb, and hive. Phalxra inel- 

 lomella, or honey moth, too frequently fecures its refidence 

 iu the hive, and depofits its eggs ; which hatching produces 

 a larva of a pale flcfli colour, that fubfifts entirely on the 

 honey. The eggs of another phal^r.a, the wax moth, P. 

 cerelLi, give birtli to far more deftructive larvx than the for- 

 mer : for thefe no fooner burft from the eggs, than their ope- 

 rations commence ; they attack the comb, which they per- 

 forate in a variety of intricate paffages, burrowing and feed- 

 ing as they pioceed, till they reach the bottom of the cells in 

 which the bees are lodged ; here they remain in fecurity, and 

 not uncommonly compel the colony of bees to leave their refi- 

 dence. Theold combs are thofe that are generally infefted by 

 this creature. Athird fort oiinot\\,phal£nafociel!a, breeds liur- 

 wife in the honey-combs of foint bees. Hives of bees that 

 have fwarmed more than once, and fuch alfo as contain but 

 little honey, are moft expofed to the depredations of thtfe 

 infefts ; for the haif-exiiaufted combs fes-ve to flicker them, 

 and the fcanty ftore of h.oney or wax fupplies them at lealt 

 with food to the detriment of the coiony. B^es are fubjeft 

 alio to a peculiar fpecies of psdicuhts, called the bce-loufe. 

 Hives of bees that have fwarmed more than once, and fuck 

 as contain but little honey, are moft expofed to thofe 

 troublefom.e vermin. The hives in this cafe fliould be clean- 

 ed at the farthtft once every week, and the rtools on which 

 they ftand every morning, for the latter are hkely to har- 

 bour the krvK and moths, or other infcAs, as well as the 



Q yvc 



