416 OPINION OF MR. DUCARNE. 



the brood, which ought to be very abundant in those hives 

 which have swarmed. In answer, however, to that recom- 

 mendation, we say, that it is not merely sufficient to impress 

 that caution upon the bee-master, but that it is actually 

 necessary to impart to him the most easy and expeditious 

 method of succeeding in that difficult department of apiarian 

 practice. It is further to be observed, that the chief aim of 

 the apiarian is to have his hives well peopled ; but what are 

 the methods to be adopted in order to effect that aim ? We 

 answer, by carefully abstaining from every act which can in 

 any manner injure or diminish the brood in the combs ; and 

 is not that very act most punctually performed by the re- 

 moval of the bees from a full hive to an empty one at a 

 season of the year when the combs abound with brood ? 



In regard, however, to the transportation of hives, it is 

 but just to hear both sides of the question, and Mr. Du- 

 carne, who has a great claim upon our consideration in all 

 matters relative to the bee, totally disapproves of the system, 

 and the following are the grounds on which his opinion is 

 founded. "A friend *of mine," he says, " who was a great 

 advocate for the transportation of hives, sent them four years 

 successively to the buck-wheat, and only in one instance did 

 success attend him ; for in the other three, the bees actually 

 lost in their weight. The disadvantages and losses attend- 

 ing the removal appear also to be carefully concealed by its 

 advocates; for they forgot, and I suppose wilfully so, to men- 

 tion, that sometimes a quarter, and even half of the hives 

 are destroyed on the journey, especially if the buck-wheat 

 be situate more than three or four miles from the place 

 whence they set out ; for although on conducting them, 

 every attention be paid to cover them with very fine net 

 work, or some other substance, for the purpose of admitting 

 plenty of air to the bees ; yet, if the weather be at all hot, 

 a great number of them die by suffocation. Another very 

 important injury is sustained during the removal, for it 



