for their subsistence, as there was no honey in the 
nor bees to procure it. I thought it perhaps possible to 
establish these hives, which were believed to be enti 
lost. 
I forthwith gave honey to these nascent bees. I plac 
the honey on plates, covered with paper, pricked full of 
holes, with pins, that these young bees might not englue, 
or bedaub themselves, while pumping up this nourishment 
with their trunks or probosces. I was very soon convinced 
of the happiest results, from this method of hatching the 
couvain remaining in the combs, after the families had e 
pired, and also from the manner of subsisting the nascent 
bees. oo j 
I only furnished seven plates of honey to each of these 
new families, one each day in succession, and the wh 
couvain (of the hives submitted to this proof) were entirely — 
hatched, and sufficiently strong to fly abroad and gain their 
own subsistence without any other support. ie 
I have repeated my experiments, and have constantly 
obtained the same results. - 
In the spring of every year, when it is rainy, a very con- 
siderable number of swarms perish, either from want 
food, or the continuation of humidity, which produces dys- 
entery more than any thing else, or by the pillage of foreign 
bees. The combs are then generally melted down, wit 
_any consideration for the couvain contained in them. The 
ignorance of the value of this couvain is the cause of great 
prejudice in the culture of bees. a 
When hives are thus and so frequently depopulated, the — 
boxes should be removed from their stands and put in a 
dry place, secure from inimical insects, such as candle mil 
_ ters, spiders, moles, mice, &c. and wait for the fine days 
of summer. 
On the arrival of hot weather, the boxes may be plac 
in the open air, in a southern exposure, in a place separa 
. from the other bees. In a short time, the couvain will be 
_ observed to hatch, and we shall very soon have worki 
bees, drones, and queens, and the hives will appear to re- _ 
novate and experience a sort of resurrection. The observa- 
tions which I have made, and the results obtained, leave 
be of the value of this new discovery in the culture of 
ebse is <i 
- While I was occupied in this sort of resurrection, in e 
posing the hives submitted to my experiments to the great- 
