APIS. 
of famine, u hen a rainy summer has hin- 
dered tiie bees from laying in a sufficient 
store of provisions. The hives should there- 
fore be carefully examined in autumn, and 
should then weigh at least 18 pounds. The 
common practice is, to feed them in autumn, 
giving them as much honey as will bring 
the whole weight of the hive to near 20 
pounds. The easiest and most rational me- 
: thod is, to set under the hive a plate of liquid 
honey, with a paper pierced full of holes, 
through which the bees will suck the honey 
1 without daubing themselves, in case honey 
cannot be procured, a mixture of brown 
i sugar, wetted with strong beer, will answer 
every purpose. Another circumstance which 
may render it very necessary to feed the 
bees is, when several days of bad weather 
ensue immediately after they have swarmed ; 
for then, being destitute of every supply be- 
yond what they carried with them, they may 
be in great danger of starving. In this 
case, honey should be given them iq propor- 
: tion to the duration of the bad weather. 
In this country it is usual, in seizing the 
stores of these little animals, to rob them also 
of their lives. The common method is, that 
when those which are doomed for slaughter 
have been marked out, (which is generally 
done in September,) a hole is dug near the 
hive ; and a stick, at the end of which is a rag 
that lias been dipped in melted b.imstone, 
being stuck in that hole, the rag is set on lire, 
the hive is immediately set over it, and the 
earth is instantly thrown up all aro.nd, so 
that none of the smoke can escape. In a 
| quarter of an hour, all the bees are seemingly 
dead ; and they are rendered soon after ir- 
recoverably so, by being buried in the earth 
that is returned back into the hole. By this 
last means it is that they are absolutely killed; 
for it has been found by experiment, 'that all 
the bees, which have been affected only by 
the fume of the brimstone, recover again, ex- 
cepting such as have been singed or hurt bv 
the flame. Hence it is evident, that the 
fume of brimstone might be used for intoxi- 
cating the bees, with some few' precautions. 
The heaviest and the lightest hives are alike 
treated in this manner ; the former, because 
they yield the most profit, with an immediate 
return; and the latter, because they would 
not be able to survive the winter. Those 
hives which weigh from 15 to 20 pounds 
: are thought to be the* fittest for keeping. 
Mr. Wheler, in his Journey into Greece, 
(p. 4l 1) tells us, that at Mount Hymethus 
they have a method of saving the bees, which 
4s as follows : The hives they keep the bees 
in are made of willow’s or osiers* fashioned 
like our common dust baskets, ,wide at top 
and narrow’ at the bottom, and plaistered over 
with clay. They are set with the wide end 
uppermost. The tops are covered with 
broad fiat sticks, which are also plaistered 
over with clay; and, to secure them from 
the weather, they cover them with a tuft of 
straw, as we do. Along each side of these 
sticks, the bees fasten their combs : so that 
a comb may be taken out whole, without the 
•least bruising; and with the greatest ease; 
imaginable. To increase them in spring 
time, that is, in March or April, until the 
beginning of May, they divide them;- first 
scparating : the sticks on which the combs and 
• bees are fastened, from one another, with 
a knits; so, taking oat -the first comb and 
bees together on each side, they put them 
into another basket, in the same order as they 
were taken out, until they have equally di- 
vided them. After this, when they are both 
again accommodated with sticks and plaister, 
they set the new basket in the place of the 
old one, and the old one in some new place. 
All this they do in the middle of the 
day, at such time as the greatest part of the 
bees are abroad ; who, at their coming 
home, without much difficulty, by this means 
divide themselves equally. This device 
hinders them from swarming and flying away. 
In August, they take out their honey ; which 
they do in the day-time also, while they are 
abroad ; the bees being thereby, say they, 
disturbed least: at which time they take out 
the combs laden wfith honey, as before > that 
is, beginning at each outside, and so taking 
away, until they have left only such a quan- 
tity of combs, in the middle, as they judge 
will be sufficient to maintain the bees in 
winteij; sweeping those bees that are on the 
comb:j into the basket again, and then cover - 
ing it with new sticks and plaister. Various 
methods have also been adopted in England, 
to attain the desirable end of getting the 
honey and wax without destroying the bees; 
the most approved of which is Mr. Thorley’s, 
w ho in his Inquiry into the Nature, Order, 
and Government of Bees, thinks colonies 
preferable to hives. He tells us, that he has 
in some summers taken two boxes filled with 
honey from one colony ; and yet sufficient 
store iias been left for their maintenance 
during the w inter, each box weighing forty 
pounds. His boxes are made of deal, anil 
an octagon, being nearer to a sphere, is 
better than a square form ; for as the bees, 
in w inter, lie in a round body near the centre 
ot the hive, a due heat is then conveyed to 
all the out parts. The dimensions which 
Mr. r \ horiey* after many years experience, 
recommends for the boxes, are ten inches 
in depth, and twelve or fourteen inches in 
breadth in the inside. r l he best and purest 
honey is that w hich is gathered in the first 
five or six weeks : and in boxes - of less di- 
mensions we may take within a month, pro- 
vided the season be favourable, a boxfull of 
the finest honey. The top of the box should 
be made of an entire board, a full inch thick 
aftev it has been planed ; and it should pro- 
ject on all sides, at least an inch beyond the 
dimensions of the box. In the middle of this 
lop there must be a hole five inches square, 
for a communication between the boxes ; 
this hole should be covered with a sliding 
shutter, of deal or elm, running easily in a 
groove over the back window. The eight 
pannels, nine inches deep, and three quarters 
ot an inch thick when planed, are to be let 
into the top so far as to keep them in their 
proper places ; to be secured at the corners 
with plates of brass, and to be cramped' with 
wires at the bottom to keep them firm ; for 
the heat in summer will try th-eir strength. 
I here should be a glass window behind fixed 
in a frame, with a thin deal cover, two small, 
brass hinges, and a button to fasten it. This 
window Will be sufficient for inspecting the 
progress of the bees.. Two brass handles, one 
oiv each side, are necessary to life up the box) 
these should be fixed in with two thin plates . of 
iron, near three inches long; so as to turn up, 
and down, and put three inches below the top 
board, which is nailed close down with sprigs 
*27 
to tlie other parts of the box. Those who 
choose a frame within, to which the bees may 
fasten their combs, need only use a couple 
of deal sticks of an inch square, placed across 
the box. One thing more, which perfects 
the work, is, a passage four or five inches 
long, and less than half an inch deep, for the 
bees to go in and out at the bottom of the 
box. In keeping bees in colonies, a house is 
necessary, or at least a shade ; without which 
the w’eather, especially the heat of the sun, 
would soon rend the boxes to pieces. The 
house may be made of any boards, but deal 
is the best ; and it must be painted, to secure 
it from the weather. The length of it for 
six colonies, should be full twelve and a half 
feet, and each colony should stand a foot 
distant from the other. It should be three 
and a half feet high, to admit four boxes, 
one upon another; but if only three boxes 
are employed, two feet eight inches will be 
sufficient. Its breadth in the inside should 
be two feet. 
The best time to plant the colonies is, either 
in spring with new stocks full of bees, or in 
summer with swarms. If swarms are used, 
procure if possible two of the same day: hive 
them either in two boxes, or in a hive and a 
box : at night, place them in the bee-house, 
one over the other ; and with a knife and 
a little lime and hair, stop close the mouth 
of tlie hive or upper box, so that not a bee 
may be able to go in or out but at- the front- 
door. Within a week or ten days tlie combs 
will appear in the boxes ; but if it be an hive, 
nothing can be seen till the bees have wrought 
down into the box. Never plant a colony 
with a single swarm. When the second box,, 
or the box under the hive, appears full of bees 
and combs, it is time to raise the- colony. 
This should be done in the dusk of the even- 
ing, and in the following manner- Place the 
empty box, with the sliding shutter drawn 
back, behind the house, near tlie colony that 
is to be raised, and at nearly the height of the 
floor : then lifting up the colony as quickly 
as possible, let the. empty box be put in the- 
place where it is to stand, and the colony upon 
it ; and shut up the mouth of the then upper 
box with lime and hair, as directed before. 
When upon looking through the windows iiv 
the back of the boxes, the middle box appears 
full of combs, and a quantity of honey sealed 
up in it, the lowest box half full of combs, and 
few bees in the uppermost box, proceed thus- 
About five o'clock P. M. drive close with a 
mallet the sliding shutter under the hive or 
box. that is to be taken from the colony. If 
the combs are new, the shutter may be forced 
home without a mallet ; but be sure it is close, 
that no bees may ascend into the hive or box 
to be removed. After this shut close the 
doors of the house, and leave the bees thus cut 
off from the rest of their companions, for half 
an hour or more. In this space, having lost 
their queen, they will fill themselves with ho- 
ney, and be impatient to be set’ at liberty.. If, 
in this interval, upon examining the box or 
boxes beneath, all appears to be quiet in them, 
it is a sign that the -queen is there and in 
safety. Hereupon raise the back part of the 
hive or box so far, by a piece of wood slipped 
under it, as to give the prisoners room to 
come oat, and they will return to their fel- 
lows;: then lifting the box from off tlie colony, 
and turning its bottom upmost, cover it with 
a cloth all night ; and tlie next morning 
