BEES. 
swarm may weigh 816. and so gradually less 
to lib.: consequently a very good one may 
weigh 5 or 6lb. All such as weigh less than 
416. should be strengthened by uniting to 
eacli of them a less numerous swarm. 
Providence has ordained that insects 
which feed on leaves, flowers, and green 
succulent plants, are in an insensible or 
torpid state, from the time that the winter’s 
cold has deprived them of the means of sub- 
sistance : thus the bees, during the winter, 
are in so lethargic a state, that little food 
supports them ; but as the weather is very 
changeable, and every warm or sunny day 
revives them, and prompts them to return 
to exercise, food becomes necessary on 
these occasions. 
Many hives of bees which are thought to 
die of cold in winter, in truth die of famine, 
when a rainy summer has hindered the bees 
from laying in a sufficient store of provi- 
sions. The hives should therefore be care- 
fully 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 method 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 without daub- 
ing themselves. In case honey cannot be 
procured, a mixture of brown sugar, wetted 
with strong beer, will answer every pur- 
pose. 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 in 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 has been dipped in melted brim- 
stone, being stuck in that hole, the rag is 
set on fire, the hive is immediately set over 
it, and the earth is instantly thrown up all 
around, so that none of the smoke can es- 
cape. In a quarter of an hour all the bees 
are seemingly dead, and they are rendered 
soon after irrecoverably 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 brim- 
stone, recover again, excepting such as have 
been singed or hurt by the flame. Hence 
it is evident, that the fume of brimstone 
might be used for intoxicating 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. Va- 
rious methods have also been adopted in 
England, to attain the desirable end of get- 
ting the honey and wax without destroying 
the bees; the most approved of which is 
Mr. Thorley’s, who, in his “ Inquiry into 
the Nature, Order, and Government of 
Bees,” thinks colonies preferable to hives. 
He tells us, thas he has in some summers 
taken two boxes filled with honey from one 
colony, and yet sufficient store has been 
left for their maintenance during the win- 
ter, each box weighing 40 pounds. His 
boxes are made of deal, and an octagon, be- 
ing nearer to a sphere, is better than a 
square form ; for as the bees, in winter, he 
in a round body near the centre of the hive, 
a due heat is then conveyed to all the out- 
parts. The dimensions which Mr. Thorley, 
after many years experience, recommends 
for the boxes, are 10 inches in depth, and 12 
or 14 inches in breadth in the inside. 
The best and purest honey is that which 
is gathered in the first five or six weeks : 
and in boxes of less dimensions, we may 
take within a month, provided the season 
be favourable, a boxful of the finest honey. 
The top of the box should be made of an 
entire board, a full inch thick after it has 
been planed, and it should project on all 
sides, at least an inch beyond the dimen- 
sions of the box. In the middle of this top 
there must be a hole five inches square, for 
a communication between the boxes ; this 
hole should be covered with a sliding shut- 
ter, of deal or elm, running easily in a 
groove over the back window. The eight 
pannels, nine inches deep, and three quar- 
ters of 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 
. 
