281 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
bees entered being stopped up very early next morning, 
say by two o’clock, the box and its contents were 
removed to the moors to a favourable and somewhat 
sheltered place. Three stakes driven into the ground to 
set the box on, a good thick sod placed on the top, 
and a good large stone on that, was all the attention 
they got at that time; and let it be here observed 
that the progress they made for the next month or so 
was anything but rapid; for though I am not acquainted 
with any plant that affords so much honey as the 
common, wild, pink-flowered Heath, which flowers in 
the latter end of July and August in the north of 
England, and perhaps no description of plant presents 
such an effusion of florets all expanded for so long a 
time, yet the Pine-leaved Heath, Calluna vulgaris, with. 
its beautiful rose-coloured, bottle-shaped blooms, which 
come out much earlier, are nearly useless to the bee by 
that insect being unable to enter them, and, as wild 
wastes do not present many flowers early in the summer, 
the pasturage for bees is very scanty there until the 
Heath is fairly out; but the object of removing the swarm 
immediately after swarming was to get them there before 
they had made much comb. If we were sure they 
would make as much as would fill the box before the 
proper time of removing them all very well; but if they 
only half filled the box it would be almost certain to 
break down in the process of removal, for, as all bee¬ 
keepers know, these tiny little architects lay their 
foundation at the top, and build downwards. It was, 
therefore, essential to have them near their future 
labours at once. 
The mode of removing the larger old hives was some¬ 
what different from only taking a single swarm. The 
single one could be carried by hand; the others were too 
heavy for that, and the roads in many places imprac¬ 
ticable to wheel carriages. The primitive mode of car¬ 
rying them on something like pack-horses was adopted 
—a kind of frame or pannier fitting a donkey’s back, 
and so contrived as to hold a box on each side, and 
sometimes one on the top, completed the load. Generally 
two were sufficient, and the mouths of the boxes being 
stopped up, away we started with the cavalcade in such 
time as to reach our destination by four or five o’clock 
in the morning, taking care that our charge kept all 
right by the way; for though swarming bees may be 
handled with impunity, and at very little danger to the 
operator, they are not to be trifled with at other times, 
and the boldest and most skilful managers are often put 
to the rout when a proper strategy is not put into 
force. Thus I have known an uneasily travelling donkey 
occasion a shuffling of the box so as to cause a leakage 
of its inhabitants, who speedily vented their indigna¬ 
tion against the poor carrier, acting upon him like a 
liberal application of spurs, and the living load was 
got rid of in that shipwrecked manner which few 
like to venture near enough to assist without great 
care. I never but once knew this to happen, and then 
I was not present; but I do not know any better way of 
conveying them to their summer quarters. When once 
there they were simply placed on three or four stakes 
driven into the ground, and a good thick heathy turf 
or two laid on the top, the situation being generally near 
some shepherd’s dwelling, who paid a passing attention 
to them, for they required but little, as we generally 
placed an empty eke on the top of each heavy one, and 
the lighter ones were left to fill what space they had 
got. 
Like pork, beef, and mutton, honey varies in quality 
just as it has been produced, certain foods determining 
the quality of the one, as well as certain flowers do the 
other, the common Heath producing a honey which is 
often more relished than that made from garden flowers, 
or those met with in an ordinary way in cultivated dis¬ 
tricts, and if the weather be fine during the time the 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, August 4 , 1857. 
Heath is out there is every certainty of abundance of 
honey. For this reason the outlandish bee-keeper cares 
very little for bad weather, provided the month of 
August be fine, as the little industrious workers lay up 
sufficient that month for all the rest of the year, and it 
is astonishing the weight of honey they will collect in a 
short time when the weather is fine. After the Heath 
is done the common blue Scabious and other wild flowers 
are often found within easy reach, as they inhabit the 
boggy places between the ranges of hills, and from these 
the bees often gather a good deal of honey ; but if they 
have already filled their combs they are careless of 
searching for more, and cannot do it if the weather be 
unfavourable. Under these circumstances it is best to 
take some of them, which, late in the season, cannot well 
be done any other way than by destroying the bees; but 
if it be in the middle of the season, and there appears to 
be plenty of honey in some of the ekes, let the operator 
secure himself against attack by inclosing his head 
(with hat on) in a large muslin bag, such as he can see 
through, but not to let the drapery be in contact with 
the skin, so as to afford them a chance to sting through, 
and the hands and other vulnerable places being also 
secured, the full eke may be taken off* and removed, and 
an empty one put in its place. It is best to carry it 
some distance away, switching out the bees at the same 
time with a bough; but let not the unprotected venture 
near them at such a time, or they will suffer for their 
temerity. This is often done before taking them to the 
moors if the season has been favourable and they have 
made much honey, as it all depends on that. 
Although there may be nothing absolutely novel in 
the above, and every one is not near enough to benefit 
by ten thousand acres of moor land, still the box system 
of keeping bees in is almost as old as the hills; and 
certainly I have never known so much honey in a straw 
hive as I have seen in a box, for the simple reason 
that straw hives are seldom or never so large. I think 
upwards of 150 lbs. of strained honey have been taken 
out of one of these boxes, and I daresay they might have 
been increased in size to much more than that, but we 
seldom cared for weighing it at the time, and my 
memory may be at fault in the weight; but the process, 
as detailed above, I have often assisted at, and, when a 
boy, was fond of it. Since then, however, I have been 
less amongst them, and would not have troubled you 
now with this communication, only as bee-keeping has 
assumed a fashionable character, I am induced to record 
the way it was done in times long since gone by. I 
daresay in many of the northern counties and in 
Scotland the same process may be adopted still; but as 
all bee-keepers are not readers of your useful serial, 
much less willing writers to it, I have herewith made it 
the subject of my present week’s communication to you. 
, J. Robson, 
GOLDEN STONECROP. 
(Sedum acre , var. aurenm.) 
We received this in good condition at last from a friend 
in Yorkshire (T. S.), who says, “ I received it from Berlin 
under the name Sedum arcticum. The points of each shoot 
turn yellowish white in the autumn, and remain so till 
spring, making it a very ornamental plant during the winter, 
and very useful for putting into jars, vases, or glasses about 
the rooms, where few plants could be trusted in severe 
weather. I send you also Genista cinerea, one of the best 
hardy shrubs I know.” This looks like Cytisus argentens, 
a silvery kind of Broom. 
“ Tulipa sylvestris grows on the banks of the Don in patches 
not much less than half an acre. It produces but few flowers, 
however; the roots are so closely packed together as to 
prevent their flowering except at the edges of the beds. 
About half a mile from the Tulips grow abundantly the rare 
