126 
APIS. 
this precious store, enters into the cup of the 
flower, particularly such as seem charged 
■with the greatest quantities of this yellow fa- 
rina. As the animal’s body is covered over 
with hair, it rolls itself within the flower, and 
quickly becomes quite covered with the dust, 
which it soon after brushes off with its two 
hind legs, and kneads into two little balls. 
In the thighs of the hinder legs there are two 
cavities, edged with hair; and into these, as 
into a basket, the animal sticks its pellets. 
Thus employed, the bee flits from flower to 
flower, increasing its store, and adding to its 
stock of wax, until the ball upon each thigh 
becomes as big as a grain of pepper: by this 
time having got a sufficient load, it returns, 
making the best of its way to the hive. After 
the bees have brought home this crude sub- 
stance, they eat it by degrees; or, at other 
times, three or four bees come and ease the 
loaded bee, by eat : ng each of them a share, 
-the loaded bee giving them a hint so to do. 
Hunger, however, is not the motive of their 
-thus eating the balls of waxy matter, espe- 
cially when a swarm is first hived ; but it is 
their desire to provide a speedy supply of 
real wax for making the combs. At other 
times, when there is no immediate want of 
wax, the bees lay this matter up in reposito- 
ries, to keep it in store ; and it is then known 
by the name of bee-bread. 
It is agreed by the most judicious observers 
that the apiary, or place where bees are kept, 
•should face the south, and be situated in a 
place neither too hot nor too much exposed 
to the cold; that it be near the mansion- 
house, on account of the convenience of 
watching them ; but so situated as not to be 
-exposed to noisome smells, or to the din of 
-men or cattle; that it be surrounded with a 
wall, which, however, should not rise above 
.three feet high ; that, if possible, a running 
-stream be near them ; or, if that cannot be, 
that water be brought near them in troughs ; 
as they -cannot produce either combs, honey, 
or food for their maggots, without water: 
and that the garden in which the apiary 
stands, be well furnished with such plants as 
.afford the bees plenty of good pasture. Furze, 
broom, mustard, clover, heath, &c. have been 
found excellent for this purpose. 
Hives have been made of different mate- 
rials, and in different forms, according to the 
fancy of people of different ages and coun- 
tries. Not only straw, which experience 
now proves to be rather preferable to every 
thing else, but wood, horn, glass, &c. have 
-been used for the construction of them. Single 
box-hives, however, when properly made, 
•answer very well, and when painted last long. 
They have several advantages above straw 
hives: they are quite cleanly, and always 
.stand upright ; they are proof against mice ; 
and are cheaper in the end than straw hives, 
for one box will last as long as three of them. 
They are, however, rather colder in winter; 
but a proper covering will prevent all danger 
•from that quarter. Straw hives are easiest 
obtained at first, and have been used and re- 
commended by the best of bee-masters. If 
the swarm be early and large, it will require 
a large hive ; but if otherwise, the hive should 
be proportionably less, if the bees appear 
to want more room, it can easily be enlarged, 
fyy putting a roll or two below it; but if it be 
heavy enough for a stock hive, it will do, 
although it -should not be quite full of combs. 
Any person (says Mr. Bollner) who in- 
tends to erect an apiary, must take particu- 
lar care to have it filled with proper inha- 
bitants. He must be peculiarly attentive to 
this, as all his future profit and pleasure, or 
loss and vexation, will, in general, depend 
upon it. He must therefore pay the utmost 
attention to the choice of his stock hives; 
for the man who takes care to keep good 
stock hives will soon gain considerably by 
them ; but he who keeps bad ones, will, be- 
sides a great deal of trouble, and little or no 
success, soon become a broken bee-master. 
In September every stock hive ought to con- 
tain as much honey as will supply the bees 
with food till June following; and as many 
bees as will preserve heat in the hive, and 
thereby resist the severity of a cold winter, 
and act as so many valiant soldiers to defend 
the community from the invasions of foreign 
enemies in spring. They should be full of 
combs, and well stored with bees and honey, 
and should weigh at least 30lb. each ; if hea- 
vier, so much the better ; for light hives run 
a great risk of perishing bv famine, unless 
the bees are supplied with food; whereas a 
well-chosen hive of 30lb. weight, allowing 
121b. for the empty hive, bees,, combs, &c. 
will cont ain 181b. of 'honey, which will sup- 
ply the bees with food till June: a time 
when, it may be presumed, they null find 
abundance of provisions for themselves 
among the flowers. When a choice can be 
obtained, the youngest hive should always 
be preferred, because old hives are liable to 
vermin, and other accidents. But although 
a hive should be four or five years old, it 
should not be rejected, if it possess these two 
essential qualities, plenty of bees, and abun- 
dance of honey. 
Bees first swarm in May, or in the end of 
April, but earlier or later according to the 
warmth of the season. They seldom swarm 
before ten in the morning, and seldom later 
than three in the afternoon. We may know 
when'they are about to swarm, by clusters of 
them hanging on the outside of the hive. But 
the most certain sign is, when the bees refrain 
from going into the fields, though the season 
be inviting. Just before they take flight 
there is an uncommon silence in the hive ; 
after this, a? soon as one takes flight, they all 
follow. Before the subsequent swarmiugs 
there is a great noise in the hive, which is 
supposed to be occasioned by a contest, 
whether the young or the old queen should 
go out. When the bees of a swarm fly too 
high, they will descend lower, upon throw- 
ing handfuls of sand or dust among them, 
which they probably mistake for rain. For 
the same purpose it is usual to beat on a 
kettle or frying-pan: this practice may have 
taken its rise from observing that thunder, or 
any great noise, prompts bees in the fields to 
return home. As soon as the swarm is set- 
tled, the bees which compose it should be 
got into a hive with all convenient speed, to 
prevent their taking wing again. If they set- 
tle on a small branch of a tree, easy to 
come at, it may be cut off and laid upon a 
cloth, the hive being ready immediately to 
put over them. If the branch cannot be 
conveniently cut, the bees may be swept from 
off it into the hive. Loctge but the queen into 
the hive, and the rest will soon follow.. If 
the bees must be considerably disturbed in 
order to get them into a hive, the most ad- 
visable way is to let them remain in the place 
where they have pitched till the evening, 
when there is less danger of their taking 
wing. If it be observed that they still hover 
about the tree they first alighted upon, the 
branches may be ‘rubbed with rue, elder 
leaves, or any other thing distasteful to them, 
to prevent their returning t© it. The hive 
employed on this occasion should be cleaned 
with the utmost care, and its inside rubbed 
with fragrant herbs or flowers, the smell of 
which is agreeable to the bees, or with ho- 
ney. The hive should not be immediately 
set on the stool where it is, to remain, but 
kept near the place at which the bees set- 
tled, till the evening, lest some stragglers 
should be lost. It should be shaded either ] 
with boughs or with cloth, that the too great 
heat of the sun may not annoy the bees, i 
We sometimes see a swarm of bees, after ; 
having left their hive, and even alighted upon 
a tree, return to their first abode. This never 
happens but when the young queen did 
not come forth with them, for want of 
strength, or perhaps courage to trust to her \ 
wings for the first time ; or possibly from a 
consciousness of her not being impregnated, | 
When a swarm is too few in number for a 
hive, another may be added. The usual 
method of thus uniting swarms is very easy, j 
Spread a cloth at night upon the ground 
close to the hive in which the two casts or 
swarms are to be united ; lay a stick across 1 
this doth; then fetch the hive with the new 
swarm, set it over the stick, give a smart 
stroke on the top of the hive, and all the bees \ 
will drop down upon the cloth in a cluster, 1 
This done, throw aside the empty hive, take 
the other from off the stool, and set this last \ 
over the bees, who will soon ascend into it, 
mix with those already there, and become 
one and the same family. Others, instead of 
striking the bees down upon the cloth, place : 
with its bottom upmost the hive in which the 
united swarms are to live, and strike the 
bees of the other hive down into it. The ; 
former of these hives is then restored to its 
natural situation, and the bees of both hives 
soon unite. If some bees still adhere to the 
other hive, they may be brushed oft on the 
cloth, and they will soon join their brethren* 
Or we may take the following method, 
which gives less disturbance to the bees.j 
Set with its mouth upmost the hive into- 
which the young swarm has been put, and 
set upon it the other hive, 'lhe bees in the j 
lower hive, finding themselves in an inverted j 
situation, will soon ascend into the upper. A 
large swarm may weigh 8lb., and so gra-i 
dually less to lib.: consequently a very! 
good one may weigh 5 or (fib. Ail such as j 
weigh less than 41b. should be strengthened, ' 
by uniting to each of them a less numerous 
swarm. 
Providence has ordained that inserts which 
feed on leaves, flowers, anti green succulent 
plants, are in an insensible or torpid stale, 
from the time that the winter’s cold has de- 
prived them of the means of subsistence : 1 
thus the bees during the winter are in so 
lethargic a state, that little food supports ; 
■them', but as the weather is very change- 
able, and every warm or sunny day revives J - 
•them, and prompts them to return to exer- 
cise, food becomes necessary on these occa- ' 
sions. Many hives of bees which are * 
thought to die of cold in winter, in truth die 
