June 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
161 
it with rational and pleasant thoughts. Let me 
urge every lady to try this plan, and I am certain 
she will find it one of increasing health and comfort. 
Let us only hear the voice that speaks in every leaf 
and flower, in every ripple and every breeze, from 
every hough and thicket, and then we shall learn 
lessons of wisdom that will be blest to us when all 
these beautiful things of time shall have passed away 
for ever. 
THE BEE-KEEPER’S CALENDAR,— July. 
By J. H. Payne, Esq., Author of The Bee-Keeper s 
Guide,” d'C. 
Swarming has been much later this year than 
usual, in consequence, I imagine, of May being wet 
and cold, together with the stocks being generally 
very weak. Many persons around me (Bury St. Ed¬ 
munds) have lost several of then’ best peopled hives 
by discontinuing to feed the bees, and this even as 
late as the 15th of May. It is very probable that 
second and tim’d swarms will be coming in July, and, 
should it prove so, I would recommend their being 
united to late swarms, or three or four of them being 
put together. 
Distance Bees Fly. — I have frequently been 
asked, “ How far do bees go in search of honey?” 
and, indeed, tills is a question of considerable im¬ 
portance, for upon it, in a great measure, depends 
whether the position selected for them be favourable 
or unfavourable, and it is a matter that each apiarian 
may very easily ascertain for himself in the following 
simple manner:—Late in the season, when food 
becomes scarce, and upon a very fine morning, select 
a piece of buck wheat or heath (both of which the 
bees are very fond of), that is situated about three or 
four milos from the apiary upon which the experi¬ 
ment is about to be tiled. Let two persons be 
supplied with a dredging-box filled with hair-powder, 
one tinted with Vermillion or any other colouring 
matter, and the other plain; let one of them go to 
the field or the heath, and, at the exact time agreed 
upon by the parties, let each begin the operation of 
dusting the bees, one at the mouth of the hives and 
the other in the field ; the tinted bees returning to 
the hives, and those dusted with plain powder seen 
in the field, will not only prove that the bees have 
gone the distance, but will also shew in what time 
the journey has been performed. 
Ventilation. —Much has been said about ventila¬ 
tion, and many are the inventions for effecting it, 
but 1 have not seen one that is really efficient; its 
advantages, both in preventing swarms and in pre¬ 
serving the colour of the combs, no person at all 
acquainted with the management of bees will deny. 
The best ventilator that I have seen is this of Mr 
Taylor’s. “ The ventilator I 
use,” says Mr. T., “ consists 
of double tubes, both resting 
on a flauncli in the hole pre¬ 
pared for them; the outer 
tube is of one inch diameter 
and six inches long, with six 
half-inch holes dispersed over 
it; it is soon fixed down in 
its place by the bees, and so 
must remain. The inner tube 
is of perforated zinc, with a 
tin projecting top as a handle, 
and a cap to put on or off this 
as required. The bees will 
stop up the zinc tube when 
they can get at it, when it 
may be turned round a little to present a new sur¬ 
face ; when wholly stopped it may be withdrawn 
lfom its place and a clean tube substituted: this ma'y 
be done without the least danger to the operator, but 
it should be inserted carefully to avoid crushing any 
bees that may have crept within the outer tube; an 
exit to these is afforded by the hole at the bottom. 
The substance with which bees glue up all crevices 
and attach their combs is called propolis, a resinous 
exudation from certain trees, of a fragrant smell, and 
removable by the aid of hot water.” 
In adapting Mr. Taylor’s ventilator to the small 
hive, or box, the inner tube must be made without 
“ the projecting top as a handle,” and the cap made 
even with the flaunch. 
After all, however, the most certain, as well as the 
most simple, plan, is to lift the stories apart upon 
small pieces of sheet lead, especially between the 
stock hive and glass, box, or small hive in immediate 
connexion with it; the stock hive itself may also be 
raised half an inch from the floor board by means of 
blocks of wood of that thickness. This precaution 
is necessary only in very sultry weather, and when 
swarming is likely to occur. No fears need be enter¬ 
tained at this time of robbers, for, when honey is to 
be had abroad, the bees will never pilfer it from their 
neighbours at home. As soon as the very hot 
weather is over, it will be necessary to remove the 
blocks and restore the hives to their original posi- 
f ion. 
Taylor’s Amateur’s Bee-hive. —Persons who have 
possessed themselves of this excellent hive are by 
this time (middle of June) anxiously looking for 
swarms to put into them, or quite as anxiously 
watching the progress of those already at work in 
them. The first swarm that I heard of in this 
neighbourhood was on the 30th of May, and was 
safely lodged in one of these hives by a friend of 
mine, at Thetford, in Norfolk. The guide-combs 
being properly fixed will insure their working regu¬ 
larly upon the bars of the stock-box, but not quite 
so surely upon those of the upper one; for, notwith¬ 
standing every precaution being taken to preveilt it, 
they will sometimes commence working their combs 
from the top of the stock-box, which forms the floor 
of the upper one. This must be attentively watched 
for the first three or four days after opening the 
communication between the boxes, and* any comb 
observed in this position must be immediately re¬ 
moved. 
Glasses and Small Hives. —The proper time for 
opening the communication between the boxes, as 
well as for putting glasses or small hives upon 
swarms that are in the improved cottage-hive, must 
in some measure depend upon the season. In a 
good season it may be done from the 18th to the 21st 
day after the time of their being hived. In some 
seasons I have had a glass holding 10 pounds of 
honey-comb filled in less than a fortnight from the 
time of putting it on. When this happens, a box or 
small hive should be placed between it and the hive, 
as directed at p. 104, vol. ii., or, in all probability, a 
swarm will be thrown off; to prevent this every 
possible means must be taken, for the swarm coming 
so late in the season, as this must consequently be, 
is generally of no value, except to unite to others, 
and the stock itself is so weakened by it that it 
seldom lives through the following winter. 
Shading. —Should the weather prove very hot and 
sultry, it will be necessary to shade newly-hived 
swarms for a few hours in the day, say from ten till 
two o’clock; a green bough answers very well for 
