i29 
when this cloth is removed, the bees that have 
remained in it will return to the colony. 'I hus 
a box. of honey is procured, and all the bees are 
preserved, if the bees do not all come out 
in this manner, Dr. Warder's method may 
Toe followed, especially if it be with a hive : 
viz. to place the hive with the small end down- 
ward in a pail, peck, or flower-pot, so as to 
make it stand firm ; then to take an empty 
hive, and set it upon the former, and to draw 
a cloth tight round the joining of the two hives, 
so that none of the bees may get out : after 
this, to strike the full hive so smartly as to dis- 
turb the bees that are in it, but with such 
pauses between the strokes as to allow them 
time toascend into the empty hive ; which must 
be held fast whilst this is doing, lest it fall off 
by the shaking of the other. When by the 
noise of the bees in the upper hive, it is per- 
ceived that they are got into this last, carry 
it to a cloth spread for this purpose before the 
colony, with one end fastened to the landing- 
place, and knock them out upon it: they 
will soon crawl up the cloth, and join their 
fellows, who will gladly receive them. 
Mr. Thorley’s method of preserving bees 
in common hives, is incorporation, or uniting 
two stocks into one, by the help of a peculiar 
fume or opiate, which will put them entirely 
in the heemaster’s power for a time to divide 
and dispose of at pleasure. But as that do- 
minion over them will be of short duration, he 
must be expeditious in this business. '1 he 
queen is immediately to be searched for, and 
killed. Hives which have swarmed twice, 
and are consequently reduced in their num- 
bers, are the fittest to be joined together, as 
this will greatly strengthen and improve them. 
If a hive is both rich in honey and full of bees, 
it is but dividing the bees into two parts, and 
putting them into two boxes instead ot one. 
Examine whether the stock, to which the bees 
of another are to be joined, have honey enough 
to maintain the bees of botli : it should weigh 
full 20 pounds. The narcotic, or stupifying 
fume, is made with the fungus maximus or 
ulverulentus, the large mushroom, commonly 
nown by the name ot bunt, puck-list, or 
frog-cheese. It is as big as a man’s head, or 
bigger . when ripe ; it is of a brown colour, 
turns to powder, and is exceedingly light. Put 
one of these pucks into a large paper, press it 
to | or near half the bulk of its former size, 
and tie it up very dose ; then put it into an 
oven some time after the household bread has 
been drawn, and let it remain there all night : 
when it is dry enough to hold fire, it is lit for 
use. The manner of using it is this : cut oft 
a piece of the puck, as large as a hen’s egg, 
and fix it in the end of a small stick slit for that 
purpose, and sharpened at the other end! ; 
which place so that the puck may hang near 
the middle of an empty hive. This hive must 
be set with the mouth upward, in a pail or 
bucket which should hold it steady, near the 
stock intended to be taken. This done, set 
fire to the puck, and immediately place the 
stock of bees over it, tying a cloth round the 
hives, that no smoke may come forth. In a 
minute or little more, the bees, will be heard 
falling like drops of hail into the empty hive. 
Then beat the top of the full hive gently, to 
get out as many of them as possible: alter 
this, loosing the cloth, lift the hive otf to a 
table, knock it several times against the table, 
several more bees will tumble out, and per- 
haps the queen among them. Slie often is 
APIS. 
one of the last that falls. IT she is not there, 
search for her among the main body in the 
empty hive, spreading them for tiiis purpose on 
a table. Proceed in The same manner with the 
other hive, with the bees ot which these are to 
be united. One of the queens being secured, 
put the bees of both hives together, mingle 
them thoroughly, and drop them among the 
combs of the hive which they are intended to 
inhabit. Then cover it with a coarse cloth 
which will admit air, and let them remain 
shut up all that night and the next day. It 
will easily be known when they arc awaked 
from this' sleep. The second night after their 
union, in the dusk of the evening, gently re- 
move the cloth from off the mouth ot the 
hive, and the bees will immediately sally forth 
with a great noise ; but being too late, they 
will soon return: then inserting two pieces of 
tobacco-pipes to let in air, keep them confined 
for three or four days, after which the door may- 
be left open. The best time for uniting bees 
is, after their young brood are all out, and 
before they begin to lodge in the empty cells. 
As to the hour of the day, Mr. r l honey ad- 
vises young practitioners to do it early in the 
afternoon, in order that having the longer 
light, they may the more easily find out the 
queen, lie never knew such combined 
stocks conquered by robbers. They will 
either swarm in the next summer, or yield an 
hiveful of honey. 
Boxes placed laterally will answer every 
purpose of these of Mr. Thorlev, and they 
may be made square and in the simplest 
manner. 
Bees have various enemies ; mice should 
be guarded against, by diminishing the 
entrance into the hives when the cold 
comes on, and- the bees. are less able to de- 
fend themselves; and the hives may be 
placed in such a manner, that it will be im- 
i possible for the mice to reach them. Spiders 
! and caterpillars are very destructive to bees ; 
a species of the latter, called the wax-worm, 
or wax-moth, because it feeds on wax, lays 
its eggs in the hive, which turn to maggots 
that are very noisome and prejudicial. Dives 
of bees that have swarmed more than once, 
and such as contain little honey, are most 
exposed to these insects ; for the empty 
combs serve them for shelter, and t lie wax 
supplies them with food. '1 hese hives should 
be cleaned at least once a week ; and the 
stools on which they rest, where the moths 
are laid by the bees, should be cleaned every 
morning. But they cannot be entirely de- 
stroyed*. without taking away the infected 
hiye, removing the bees, and cleansing it ot 
the moths, before it is restored to its former 
occupiers. Bees are often troubled with 
lice, which may .be -destroyed by strewing 
tobacco over them. The depredations of 
birds, and particularly of the house-lark and 
swallow, should be carefully prevented. 
Ants, woodlice, and earwigs, are also enu- 
merated among the enemies of the begs. Mr. 
Keys says, “ the earwigs steal into the hives 
at night, and drag out bee after bee, sucking 
out their vitals, and leaving nothing but their 
skins or scalps like so many trophies of their 
butchery.” Wasps and hornets are, however, 
the most formidable enemies that bees have 
to encounter. 
Wasps are very destructive to bees, on 
account of their superior strength and pro- 
digious numbers, especially in a year favour- 
able to their breeding; They are most nu- 
merous in July and August. ‘Soon after that 
the workers die ; but the mothers survive the 
w inter, and commence breeding about April. 
If cold and wet weather ensues, the greater 
part of the brood are starved ; because the 
workers cannot fly out for forage, and wasps 
never lay up any store. W et is very inju- 
rious to their nests, and therefore, in a long 
season of heavy rain, few wasps will appear 
till September ; but a mild winter, succeed- 
ed by a hot spring, will so favour the increase 
of wasps, that without the greatest vigilance 
many stocks will fall victims to their power. 
One wasp is a match for three bees.- They 
are very bold, and frequently encounter the 
most evident danger, undauntedly opposing 
a host of bees, to obtain a belly -full of honey, j 
Therefore, when cold weather commences, 1 
knowing that the bees keep no guard then, 
great numbers get quietly in, and carry off 
abundance of honey ; and having once tasted J 
of the sweets, they will not desist till they ’ 
possess the whole. Perhaps the same method 
of destroying them, in this case, as directed 
for bee-robbers, would prove as effectual 
against wasps. 
In the spring the mother wasps may be 
seen about old timber, with the splints of 
which they compose their nests. On the 
blossoms of goosberries and raspberries they 
will be found often, and may easily be knock- j 
ed down and destroyed. Their death, at 
that time, will prevent a like number of 
nests from existing the next summer. A nest ] 
of wasps is said to consist of 30,000. Effec- j 
tuallv to destroy a nest ; in the evening, when 
the wasps have done labour, repair to the 
place, and stop all the holes of their egress or 
regress. Introduce a squib into the chief 
passage, and distantly stopping it with a sod. 
See. they will presently lie suffocated. Dig 
the nest up, and bum it. Perhaps a wild-fire 
of damp gunpowder placed on a piece of 
wood, and introduced, WQ.uld answer tike 
same purpose. 
Hornets, in the spring* will watch the bees 
as they issue from the -hives. When they 
are seen about the hives, they should be 
knoc ked down and trodden upon. They may 
be trepanned, by placing an empty hive* ; 
with its inside smeared with honey, among 
the stocks. Allured by this, the mother hor- 
nets will begin to build in it. Jn the evening 
lift up the hive, which may be done with safe- 
ty, if the mother is there ; then set it down 
again, and in about half an ho.ur after have a 
vessel with. water ready; take the hive and 
plunge it a little way into the water ; then 
strike smartly on the top of the hive, and the 
hornets will tall into the water, and by a pair 
of tongs may be crushed to death. Or, the 
hive may be closely stopped up till monr- 
ing; apd then taking it into a room, raise the: 
edge next the window ; the hornet will fly di- 
rectly to it, and may readily be destroyed. 
Their nests are usually hung on the rafters* 
beams, or roofs of barns, or out-houses, or 
fixed in hollow trees. They resemble a globe 
of brownish paper. 
- The nest may he taken by preparing ,a 
large-mouthed bag, with a running string to 
draw the mouth close. On a rainy day, or 
in an evening,, put on the bee-dress, and w itji 
great stillness approach the nest, and draw' the 
bag gently over it, instantly pulling the moutti 
socipse that -not a hornet may escape. - - j 
