79S A P 
the top, and then a third, and fo on fo the fourth, if the 
bees increafe, and.continue to lie out at the mouth: and 
yet many of my hives have fwarmed, and left their glades 
only half full of honey, in order to follow the mother 
bee, to fettle a new colony. What 1 call a mother , moft 
writers on bees call a queen ; but I am fatisfied flie is the 
real mother of the whole empire and bock; and hence 
may be deduced that filial affedtion and love fo confpicu- 
ous in the whole community for the mother bee, which 
lias been vaguely and erroneoully compared to the mere 
loia’ty of fubjefts for their fovereign. Thofe docks, the 
mothers of which do not breed fo fab as others, of courfe 
cannot fvvarm fo early ; therefore I put on them glalfes, or 
fmall hives : if the flocks fo glaffed keep working without 
fwarming, you moft likely will get iixteen or feventeen 
pounds of honey in a month’s time, and fave all the bees 
alive; and fuch a flock will, except by accident, make a 
good dock next feafon. 
“ My hives, made as before defcribed, have a board at 
the top, feventeen inches wide, that is a full inch wider 
than the outfide of the hive, that one may hand on ano¬ 
ther; and thus you may make complete colonies of bees 
with a fmall expence, for three hives make a complete 
colony. When hives are made in this manner, they cod 
but 12S. but, in odfagon boxes, il. ios. I much prefer 
draw hives, well made, to wooden ones, becaufe the joints 
of the wood often give way, by being expofed to the wea¬ 
ther and the fweat of the bees; and the moth-fly (the 
greated enemy they have) gets in and lays her eggs in the 
comb, and the warmth of the bees hatches them to their 
own dedruftion; therefore draw hives are preferable, as 
well as cheaper than wood. My method of managing 
draw hives is thus: when 1 make life of an old draw hive, 
I dip it into a copper of boiling water, fo that, if there 
fhould be any moth’s eggs, they mud be dedroyed; but I 
let the hive be perfectly dry before I ufe it. 
“ The bed fituation for an apiary is a little to the wed 
of the fouth ; for the fun, Alining into the mouth of the 
hive too early, calls the bees abroad before the cold deam 
is exhaled from the (lowers, and the vernal juice turned 
into honey: but in this fituation the fun will reach the 
front of your apiary about nine o’clock. I would have 
the front leaning a little inwards, that the mouth of the 
hive may flt clofe to the mouth made in the boards, which 
ihould be three inches long in dimmer, and one in winter, 
and about one-fourth of an inch high, the better to keep 
out cold and the bevel ing moth, which you may often fee, 
at the latter end of Augufl, (when the working of the 
bees begins to decline,) handing at the mouth of the hive, 
bevering their wings, as if jufl flying in among the bees : 
they are then laying their eggs, and with the wind of their 
wings fan them within the hive; and the warmth of the 
bees hatches them. In Odtober every dock (hould be well 
examined, and all the maggots brufhed out, to prevent 
danger: for the grub or maggot forms a chryfaljs, with a 
covering fo ftrong, that the bees cannot difplace them ; 
and in the fpring they creep out of their little fepulchres, 
and fpin a thin web before them, as they march up into 
the hive among the combs; and the bees, endeavouring to 
dillodge them, are hitangled in the web, and there die : 
and thus, for the want of a little trouble, many docks are 
dedroyed. 
“ To cleanfe the hive of thefe maggots, it mud be turn¬ 
ed up, and the dud and vermin picked out, and then 
gently let down in its-place. If your bees are well, and 
in a condition to (land the winter, and have a mother with 
them, they will ding, otherwife not, unlel's you hurt them : 
liowever, a yard and a half of Scotch gauze, fewed round 
the brim of your hat, and then tied round the waid, ha¬ 
ving holes for your arms, will completely fecure your 
face. The hive fliould alfo be brudied on the outfide very 
clean, and walhed all over with a fponge dipped in brine 
made with clean fait; a fmall quantity of lime and hair, 
made fine, fhould be put round the bottom, and the hives 
be covered with hay or hay-bands. 
I s. 
“ I come now to my method of feeding them, which, 
I think, is new. Sink a cavity in the middle of the floor, 
about fix inches diameter, like a trencher, deep enough 
to hold a quarter of a pint of honey, and no more : if the 
cavity be too deep, the bees may be fuffocated. A chan¬ 
nel mud be made from the outfide of the floor, to com¬ 
municate with the cavity ; and a piece of wood to fit clofe 
into it, to keep out the fiermin. If your bees do not 
weigh Iixteen or feventeen pounds, exclufive of the hive, 
they mud be fed in September, October, March, and 
April, and fometimes in May : they mud not be fed in 
cold weather, for that calls them from deep, and they 
then never return to the hive again: nor mud they be fed 
in the fundline; for, when the honey fmells drong, it lets 
them a quarrelling and fretting, and the drong injure the 
weak. The bed time is evening, when I take the piece 
of wood out of the channel, and gently pour a quarter of 
a pint of honey into the cavity : if the honey will not run 
freely, I boil tip four ordve pounds with a quart of drong 
fweet-wort, which brings it to a proper liquid. This 
food will be of great lervice to the mothers, and make 
them lay eggs in abundance in the fpring. 
“If a dock has been gladed two fumniers, it diould 
not be worked a third; but, if it increafe, take a new 
hive, or a clean old one, and take off all the covers from 
the top of the hive: let it be duck the fame as if you were 
to have a new fwarm; place it on one of the floors ; and, 
having opened the hole on the top neared the back, place 
a piece of lath diagonally from that hole to the dde of 
the mouth; let it be made fad with pegs, not nails, led 
the honey be dained; then place the old hive upon the 
new one, and dop the old mouth clofe; and the bees will 
then gradually work down the new hive: that will give 
them fulficient room for the dimmer. And, next fpring, 
take another clean hive, and place the two upon it, in the 
fame manner as before: this will ferve for the next year. 
Now r , having had no honey for two years, the upper hive 
will mod likely be full, and may be taken away as fol¬ 
lows: With a drong cliifel feparate the top hive from the 
other two; and in a dne day take it away, twenty or thirty 
yards, and place it on the ground bottom upwards; and 
fecure the holes on the top of the fecond hive. The bees 
no doubt will rage; but you mud fecure yourfelf with 
gauze, as before directed, and wear black dockings, for 
that colour is lead obferved. Place a table even with the 
mouth of the lowed hive, and fpread a cloth over it, near 
the mouth, and by this time the greater part of the bees 
that were out will come home : the middle hive being the 
breeding-place, it is mod likely the mother is in that; but, 
if (he was in the top, die may yet be fafe. Place a clean 
hive, of the fame diameter as that you have taken away, 
upon it; then tie a cloth over both, (glalfes and all, if 
there be any,) fo tight, that the bees within may be in 
darknefs : let them remain thus half an hour; then, with 
a dick, rap the bottom hive, but not lb hard as to injure 
the combs; continue rapping half an hour; then untie 
the cloth, and take away the upper hive, into which the 
noife has driven the bees, and place it on the table and 
cloth from whence you took them, and lhake them out on 
the cloth, and they will run into the mouth of their pro¬ 
per hive. If neceffary, repeat this operation, and ail the 
bees will be preferved : this dives the trouble and lofs of 
fmothering them with fulphur, as is the cudom ; and the 
bees, in one day, will forget the injury, and work as ufual. 
But, in cafe little honey is left in their two hives, they 
mud be fed ; thus, in two hours, your honey may be ta¬ 
ken, and the bees preferved : the honey you have obtained 
in this way may be dark, but will make excellent mead ; 
but better and brighter will be produced by thofe which 
work in glalfes. 
“ Apiaries will not be benedcial in barren countries; but 
^muld be near gardens, dirubberies, orchards of cherries, 
or farms where clover, beans, faintfoin, or French wheat, 
grow. Lime-trees, or green-houfe plants, fet out in the 
fpring, and orange or lemon trees, are ufeful, and produce 
excellent 
