SKILL OF THE GERMAN APIARIANS. 215 



seeing the experimental detachment indiscriminately mur- 

 dered before our eyes. 



It is certain that a great advantage may be derived by 

 fumigating the bees of the two hives to a state of stupefac- 

 tion, and then mixing them together like so many beans in 

 a bushel measure, during which process, one of the queens 

 might be easily caught. This is a plan frequently adopted in 

 Germany, particularly in the great apiaries in the Hanoverian 

 territory, but its success cannot always be relied upon ; still, 

 however, it is a plan far more advisable, than that recom- 

 mended by Bonner. 



Notwithstanding that the practical management of an 

 apiary, as well as the natural history of the bee, are by the 

 Germans tinctured with the grossest prejudices and super- 

 stitions ; yet it must be admitted, that they have in many 

 instances fallen upon some very important discoveries, or 

 they have been the instruments of furnishing those clues, 

 which have led to the discoveries of others. Thus, the 

 Germans have in the various operations in their apiaries 

 always acted upon the principle, that it is by the peculiar 

 odour that bees recognize each other; and so convinced are 

 they of the fact, that when they proceed to give a queen to 

 a hive, they confine her in a little cage, which is placed in 

 the hive, in which she is suffered to remain for about three 

 days. The criterion of the bees being likely to accept of 

 her as their future monarch, is when they are observed 

 projecting their proboscises between the bars of the cage, 

 and administering some nourishment to the imprisoned 

 monarch. In the junction of our second swarms, we how- 

 ever have always been guided by the principle, that it is by 

 the smell that the bees recognize each other ; and, therefore, 

 we taxed our ingenuity to devise those means, by which, on 

 their union, all the bees should have the same odour. In 

 order to carry this plan into execution, we diluted about a 

 pound of sugar with about two gallons of ale, adding a 

 small quantity of honey, and a few drops of the essence of 



