May (»• 
Til K COTTAGE (JAU DI-IN Kit. 
be well covered up with no stint of warm flannels, as a pro 
lection against tlio externul air. 
In hives with barn, supposing them to bo of the same 
diameter at top, the bare being traiiHferablo from any one 
hive to any other hive, the process of artificial swarming 
becomes a matter of still greater simplicity, The stock to 
be operated upon should bo turned up on a fine morning 
when moat of the been are away from home, and alter a 
careful inspection of each aeparale comb, and the choice of 
one which scenes to contain mutable brood, that comb must,, 
by the help of a long knife, be gently severed from its at- 
| tachnient to the huIch of the hive, Next., carefully replace 
' the hive in its usual position, and proceed to remove the 
top, preparatory to taking out the selected brood comb 
attached to its Imr; on taking it out every bee upon it 
should la! carefully swept back into the old hive, and a fresh 
bar put in the place of the one taken away. Now arrange , 
the extracted brood .comb (which must he kept parpen 
diculur, and gently handled, or it would very likely break olf 
j from the Imr; in its fitting place in the now Inve, having 
certainly ascertained that it contains very yountj, IVcsh- 
hatched grubs, untl ri/i/t if possible. The m-w hive must 
now be made to exchange places with the stock out of which 
tlie swarm is to bo made, removing the stock to 11 distance 
of at least several yards indeed, tlm farther the better for 
the first day or two, until the bees have got reconciled to 
the loss of their rpioon, and have set themselves in earnest 
to procure another. There wants no driviny at all in Ibis 
ease, os Mr. Pay no advises at page Idt, vol. vi,, of Tin. 
Cottaok (iAanKNKH; iri fact, such driving is more than 
Hiiperfluoii , it will, if I mistake not, hazard the prosperity 
of both prime swarrn and parent slock, should the old queen 
ascend into the upper hive with her subjects, and she is 
generally among the first, to climb. The grand secret of 
successful artificial swarm management in the. easiest man¬ 
ner i t, to malic the prime unarm rear a young queen, leaving 
the old queen behind if not too old, and still in full vigour. 
Where, however, she must he changed, the swarm must he 
managed a lu-Scudamore, after the plan expounded in I,lie 
Knylinh Urn Krrjirr .—A Cm STKY ClIlATl;. 
P.S.-—The swarm of March SMrd last, which invaded one 
of my hives, was a case of real desertion after all. The 
parent hive is now quite empty of honey and bees. 
THE MISTLETOE. 
As much inquiry has of late been made regarding Uiis 
wonderful production, and some have questioned (be fuel, 
i of its being mode to grow in our northern counties, I 
beg to say, that the largest and finest, plaid, of mistletoe I 
| ever saw was growing iri a garden in the “ county of North 
I nrnbcrland.'’ It was, when f saw it, appropriating to itself i 
| the whole, or nearly the whole, of the energies of an apple | 
I tree, on which it, bad been inserted, and but a few of the 
sickly, diseased branches were seen protruding through the 
, mass of green by which it was shrouded. Now, though 
| there may be doubtless larger specimens than the above in , 
j some parts of the south of England, yet, I have never seen 
any in the counties bordering on l.ondon ; the reason is, 
that its abundance renders it no novelty there, and no 
| means are taken to preserve it, except it. perhaps he on 
| some scraggy thorn on a gentleman's lawn, hut there the 
I prevalence of high winds, and other casualties, give it. such 
repeated primings that it is seldom seen very large ; besides 
I which, there is a barbarous custom of uniting every avail 
I able piece worth cutting at Christmas for decorative pur 
poses. This destruction is carried on everywhere except, in 
the precincts of tin- mansions of the opulent, and very often 
, there also, so that, it is only such pieces as are beyond the 
| reoidi of climbing hoys that escape such ruthless invaders, 
Imt what, is beyond tlic.ir reach is seldom destined to get. to 
any size. The tufts growing on the extremities of the 
twigs of time and maple trees, especially the former, sutler 
so .cvcrely from high winds that very often hasketsful may 
he gathered under them, broken by its violence, as the 
• mistletoe is very brittle, and easily broken. The cause of 
the one rioted above getting to such a size is owing hi its 
sheltered position, and the care taken of it. by its skilful 
proprietor. Depredation in that way being there unknown, 
the plant, is held in some veneration, hill, how long it will 
continue to thrive on the ruins of the tree it, occupies 
remains to lie proved, but its present appearance, would in 
timale that a heavy fall of snow would curtail it i own 
dimensions very much, a casually which I believe has 
occurred more than once before. In winding up ihi. ae 
count, I cannot, add anything In the already known method 
of propagating this singular parasite, except that I have 
known the seed bruised and st.uek by its pulpy parts to a 
limb of I ho tree, and there grew, only it, did ,0 very slowly 
for a number of years ; I may add, that an old leaf was hod 
over the seed, and then loosely tied, imply to keep the 
latter in its place and secure it from birds, die, I need 
hardly observe that apple, hawthorn, crab, and lime trees, 
are the most common ones producing it., and, more quo mglj , 
the maple, It is reported to grow on the. oak, hut I have 
never seen it there. A young orchard is seldom attached 
with it, hut it haunts the latter day . of an old one with an 
inveteracy which the knife of the primer in vain wsges win 
against, I think It seizes on young limes snnnci than any 
other young trees, hut. when some enthusiastic, cultivator 
wishes to introduce it, let him try it on some old hawthorn, 
apple, or crab, and, though I cannot Say much from expert 
eoce, I yet. have no doubt bill, he will he successful. H.N.V'. 
I'KAOTICAI, OHHERVATIONH ON THE 
MANAGEMENT OK I 5 EEH. 
tty //<»/// H'l'lirntllt Sen tltltfl, /'ey, 
( tJonti mini' from piiifr It.) 
CNI.vifl.M or JIKI.H 
Am: wasps, mice, moths, hornets (not muchi, lice, ants, 
large greenhouses, large black headed tomtit, sparrows, 
spiders, cobwebs, and, last of all, bee i themselves, and 
viaiiltiiid. 
Every creature has its enemies, and the, little bee is not 
an e ception, The autumn i •• lie time that the ooapn uie 
most troublesome and destructive to bees. I IIrid the brim 
stone squib at. their nests the most radical cure, It is v< ry 
dangerous to place hollies near the hives full of sugar and 
water, us the bees often get, caught and killed themselves. 
v/ho will “squib out" as many more at, further distances. 
As to l.lii! mor, trap , arc the best things to catch them, 
The bee master should try and place his hives, boxes, and 
bee houses, in such a manner, as to prevent, these vermin 
from getting at the hives. One winter, I had two fine stocks 
destroyed in straw hives by mice; they gained an entrance, 
and in severe weather they destroyed nearly the whole of 
the bees, and ate the honey and combs. 
The large Illoclt-liriidiil Tomtit , 01 lici killer, as he i. 
called in Hampshire, is another deadly enemy in the winter 
only. This bird is not so apt to attack wooden boxes as 
straw hives, for the tomtit likes to gnaw away the straw at 
the entrance. Two wiliU is ago, I caught It) of the tomtits 
in the common mouse trap, baited with a little .net or 
bacon, which this bird is as fond of as an alderman is of 
turtle, These birds may also he caught in common bird 
traps. 
Although there, are, some lutnuh in the neighbourhood, 
I never found them attack my hive ; no doubt, if they were 
in numerous as wasps, they would he deadly enemies, 
hnryr yrrrnhmiMH in tie- pririg arc very dangerous, lisps 
for hi es, a", they enter them and seldom find their way out 
alive j after trying the flowers, they fly to the nearest light, 
and remain at the windows until they die of exhaustion, 
In changeable weather, in summer, when the barometer is 
low, If yon arc in doubt about, rain coming, consult the bee i, 
I have often done this from nine to eleven o'clock ; if the 
liees are vmj nrtirr, there will he no rain fur some hours, if 
they lire w nry i/niid, storms may he expected. 
I cannot, leave this subject without, again declaring, with 
great regret, what, is the worst, quality of the hive bee, viz,, 
its inordinate love of plunder. When bees have got into 
this hail habit in a large community, the only way is to 
remove the thieves, or destroy them. When a dog takes to 
killing sle ep, lie seldom leaves it off; so it is with the bees, 
