25 
me one of the best informed agronomists among its mem- 
ers. 
M. De la Bourdonnaye had read, in the memoirs of the 
Academy of Sciences, the mode which is practised in. 
Scotland. To prevent swarms coming off too late in the 
Season, the Scotch set a box under the mother hive; the 
bees then continue to occupy it because there is room, and 
the swarms are retained till the succeeding spring. 
This learned cultivator had also read with attention, in 
the memoirs of the Academy, of an event which took 
place in a swarm of bees belonging to the curate of Tilley, 
near Orleans. The swarm was put into a hive, and set on 
the top of an empty tierce, where it was forgotten. The 
open end of the box was set over an aperture in the head 
of the tierce. When the hive was filled with wax and 
honey, the bees descended into the tierce, and continued 
their labours. ‘The tierce was filled with wax and honey 
in less than five years, and weighed about five hundred 
pounds, when the bees were destroyed to obtain their pro- 
duce. 
- In the reports of the Academy, M. Duhamel, the secre- 
_ tary, has developed the practice and habit of bees, where 
they find a situation suited to their accommodation. M, 
De la Bourdonnaye, availing himself of the observations in 
these memoirs, thought, that by placing an empty box, with 
a hole on the top, under a full box, the bees would neces- 
sarily descend from the full into the empty one, and that 
afterwards, the upper box might be taken off without the 
least prejudice. 
M. Bourdonnaye communicated his observations to the 
Society. He had hives made of straw, with flat tops, with 
a hole of from fifteen to eighteen lines in diameter, for the 
passage of the bees. ‘These empty panniers were put 
under the full hives; and after the bees had completed 
their work above, they descended into the empty panniers 
below, and continued their labours as he had anticipated. 
To this union of two boxes, placed one under the other, 
we give the name of the Scottish hive, because the Scotch 
thus dispose their hives in the latter part of the summer, — 
tu prevent late swarms, which cannot collect sufficient. 
‘nourishment for the winter. But the Scotch put boxes 
without tops, under their hives, and on the return of spring, 
they remove the lower box, to facilitate the issue of swarms. 
But M. Bourdonnaye is chiefly indebted to the observa- 
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