Attempts to Foretell the Weather. 103 



I not take the honey without the aid of narcotics and all the 

 attendant puffing and fussing. So, having driven home the 

 slides between the bars, I carefully lifted up a honey-bos, 

 which was then quite full, and carried it away without turning 

 it over, and set it down with the edges resting on a couple of 

 bricks. A smart tap dislodged a mass of bees ; these fell on 

 the ground, and began at once to return to the mouth of the 

 hive. The honey-box was then carried a little distance away, 

 placed on a couple of bricks, and the process of tapping 

 repeated. It was then taken into the house and placed on a 

 board at one of the windows. After remaining thus for ten 

 minutes, the window was opened and the box was tilted on 

 edge with a pencil, so as to afford egress to the bees. 

 Alarmed at their imprisonment, these rushed forth by means 

 of the open window, and in a few minutes the honey-box was 

 nearly empty. The few drones and incapables left were 

 whisked out with a feather, and thus, without losing a bee, 

 without any experience of their anger, without disconcerting 

 the colony, the harvest was obtained in a manner almost as 

 simple as the purchase of a loaf. I have followed this method 

 for five years, and have several times during that period mani- 

 pulated in the presence of bee-keepers, dependent on tobacco 

 and fungus, and the verdict has been in favour of this method, 

 making a clear end of all the troubles, real or imaginary, that 

 beset bee-keeping. 



ATTEMPTS TO FOBETELL THE WEATHER. 



Admiral Fitzroy has brought his system of forecasts to a very 

 creditable amount of perfection, by pursuing a method that 

 may ultimately take into account a greater variety of indicating 

 circumstances, but which is founded essentially upon a know- 

 ledge of the order in which weather changes traverse certain 

 portions of the globe. Barometers and thermometers give 

 local indications of changes of pressure and temperature that 

 may be expected to be followed by certain results. He therefore 

 notices the movements of these instruments in a more scientific 

 way than was commonly done in old times, and by help of 

 the telegraph he ascertains from well-chosen localities, both 

 what weather they have at the moment his message is sent 

 off, and what their barometers and thermometers are about. 

 Putting all his information together, he indicates what sort of 

 weather is on the road to us, and whose arrival we may expect, 

 unless local conditions interfere. A Fitzroy announcement 



