364 REMARKS OF VARRO AND COLUMELLA. 



indeed happen, that if the deprivation take place immediately 

 after the swarming season, the bees will have time to fill 

 up the vacuum before the winter sets in, but we very 

 seldom knew it to be the case. One of the objections 

 urged against the spring deprivation is, that it is apt to 

 prevent the hive from swarming, and we admit that there 

 is some validity in the objection ; but an isolated case ought 

 not to operate to the injury of a whole system, for although 

 it may happen in particular cases that the deprivation will 

 prevent the swarming, yet as it cannot be urged as a general 

 principle, a great part of the objection is thereby rendered 

 invalid. On the other hand, the great objection to the au- 

 tumnal deprivation is, that the proprietor, from an over 

 greediness to obtain a considerable booty from his bees, is 

 apt to take more than he ought to do, and consequently 

 exposes his bees to the danger of famine. It is bad practice 

 to deprive a hive on both sides, but it seldom happens that 

 more than two combs can be extracted on one side, without 

 interfering with the brood combs, which, in other words, is 

 tantamount to the destruction of the hive. 



In the works of Varro and Columella, we find some in- 

 teresting remarks relative to the deprivation of hives, for it 

 would appear in their time as if suffocation were totally 

 unknown. The former of those naturalists mentions two 

 methods of proceeding ; one by changing the bees from one 

 hive to another, and the other by deprivation. He is how- 

 ever very sparing of his information relative to the details 

 of those operations, but he is manifestly in an error when 

 he says, that nine- tenths of the honey may be extracted. 



The method of collecting the produce of a hive by suf- 

 focation is adopted in most countries, but especially in 

 England, France, and Italy. In Germany, the great bee 

 masters are more inclined to the storifying system, which in 

 their opinion renders the act of deprivation easy and safe. 

 Ranconi, in his Dictionary on Italian Agriculture, says, 



