418 TRAVELLING GERMAN APIARIES. 



to sustain by the removal of the hives, we are enabled 

 positively to contradict that statement, and, in refutation of 

 it, we can produce the testimony of some of the most skilful 

 apiarians and naturalists. During our travels in Germany, 

 and particularly in Hanover, we had frequently an oppor- 

 tunity of witnessing the travelling apiaries, and we were 

 informed by one proprietor, who had followed that occupa- 

 tion for above twenty years, that he never lost a single hive 

 by the mere casualties of the journey. Intelligent, however, 

 as this apiarian was in many respects, and well instructed as 

 he appeared to be in the natural history of the bee, he was 

 a decided enemy to the system of deprivation. He uni- 

 versally suffocated his bees at the close of the season, 

 although not, he confessed, until he had tried every method 

 which different authors have recommended for the preserva- 

 tion of his bees. We have, however, some notion, that he 

 entered upon the practice of saving the bees with a deeply- 

 rooted prejudice against it; his adherence to it, therefore, 

 would have been a matter of considerable wonder. 



The great advantages attending the removal of bees afford 

 an excellent lesson to the bee-keepers in this kingdom, 

 especially where large rivers afford the means of easy trans- 

 portation. They direct in particular the inhabitants of the 

 rich vales, where the harvest for bees ends at an early 

 period of the year, to remove their hives to places which 

 abound in heath, that plant continuing in bloom during a 

 considerable part of the autumn, and yielding a great supply 

 of honey to the bees. Those in the neighbourhood of hills 

 and mountains will save the bees a great deal of labour by 

 taking also the advantage of shifting their places of abode. 



