96 Insects. 



I am glad to find the subject of bees has been introduced ; this has 

 been a favourite study with me. I have a word or two to say under 

 this head. I have kept bees for upwards of twenty years, and have 

 tried every variety of hive that has been offered to notice during that 

 time, with various success, never losing sight of the principle of neve?- 

 destroying a bee to obtain the honey. Of all the various descriptions 

 of hives that have been submitted to public notice to obtain this im- 

 portant end, the " Improved Cottage Hive," as brought into notice in 

 this country by my friend J. H. Payne, Esq., of Bury, Suffolk, in his 

 little work entitled ' The Apiarian's Guide,' is, in my opinion, decid- 

 edly the most practicable for the cottager. During the past season I 

 took from three common cottage hives, by means of caps, 38|- lbs., 

 334 lbs. and 3*2 lbs. of honey, of a veiy superior quality, without de- 

 stroying a bee, for which I obtained 2s. per lb., and at the same time 

 leaving an ample store of honey, for on the 1st of October these hives 

 severally weighed, exclusively of the hive, board, &c., 244, 24, and 

 28 lbs., being an abundant supply for their maintenance during the 

 present winter. My brother in Rutland, upon the same plan, took 

 fi'om four cottage hives, leaving an average of 24 lbs. of honey for 

 each stock,— 48| lbs., 48| lbs., 35 lbs. and 421 lbs., total 175 lbs. of 

 honey of a very superior quality to that which is obtained by the bar- 

 barous mode of suffocation. My hives have consumed, from the 1st 

 of October to the 31st of December, a trifle below 6 lbs. each stock, 

 being about 2 lbs. per month ; and I expect a similar diminution per 

 month during this and the next month, after which the consumption 

 will materially increase. The leading article in the last number of 

 *The Quarterly' is upon bees, and is highly interesting ; I am quite re- 

 joiced to find that this subject has at length attracted the attention of 

 so powerful a journal. I hope and trust it maybe the means, through 

 the instrumentality of the rich, of placing in every cottage garden, a 

 row of bee-hives upon the humane system. A few prizes annually 

 given by the Agricultural and Horticultural Societies of the kingdom 

 would do wonders towards accomplishing so desirable an end. I have 

 invariably found the cottager who keeps bees a steady and industrious 

 man, indeed I think it impossible he should be otherwise, the lesson 

 they inculcate must have a beneficial effect upon him, more particu- 

 larly when the humane system is adopted. — J. D. Salmon ; Godal- 

 ming, January 9, 1843. 



