42 
moved, the hole which served as a communication betw 
it and the middle box, which is now become the upper 
must be immediately stopped with a wooden plug, cove 
with cloth. This plug must afterwards be covered 
cement of plaster, or of lime and sand, to prevent the; 
from penetrating the hives and the whole should be cove 
again with a bonnet of straw, or some other material. 
‘It requires three men to perform this operation. On 
holds the middle box fast, another takes off the upper on 
and the third plugs the hole in the top of the box, whic 
was in the middle, but 7s now on the top, to intercept, as 
promptly as possible, the passage by which the bees would ~ 
come out. 
The honey can be had fresh, at any time, when it 
wanted to make comfits or liqueurs. By leaving the upper 
box in its place, as in that case the honey does not dete 
_riorate or candy. 
It sometimes happens, that the queen has not left th 
upper box, on account that the eggs are not all hatched. I 
that case, the box should be replaced, and the robbery de- 
ferred. ‘This is a very rare occurrence. I never witnessed 
it but once. | |. , ies 
—< 
CHAPTER XIV. 
if a “y 
OF THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF HIVES, WHOSE POPULATION: i 
HAVE PERISHED, IN AUTUMN, WINTER, OR SPRING. 
‘¢ When the birth of bees commences, more than a hun- — 
dred may be seen coming out of their cells in one day. The _ 
hive populates rapidly, and in the space of a few weeks, 
the number of the bees become so great that there is scarce- 
ly room to contain them, and this produces that colony 
which is called a jet or swarm.” <i 
__ When M. Réaumur expressed himself thus, he was not — 
‘far from the discovery of the re-establishment of hives, — 
whose population had perished. One single reflection on 
the existence of the queen’s eggs in the hive, and the — 
promptitude with which these eggs hatch on the return of — 
warm weather, would infallibly have Jed him to the dis- 
covery of the phenomenon. For the greatest discoveries in 
the mysteries and caprices of nature, We are oftener in- 
