. pa aaa eee ee 
transparent horn. 
BEE. 
suppose well adapted for enabling the cultivator, at 
all times, to take the honey with ease. Such boxes 
are made of well seasoned wood, nine inches long, 
the same in breadth, and eight inches high; but from 
what we have said, there is no necessity for a rigid 
adherence to these dimensions. In the roof there is 
a communication-hole three inches square, on which 
is placed another box of similar structure; others 
may be raised above this to an indefinite height; and 
the bottom of each is open like the mouth of a com- 
mon hive. When a swarm is lodged in a box, if 
only two be used, it is immediately to be put over 
an empty one, as the bees must have more room; 
and if more than two-are used, a new one 1s succes- 
sively to be supplied below. The bees, beginning 
from above, will soon fill the upper box with honey ; 
and it is then to be separated from that beneath it, 
by drawing through a long thin pliable knife to cut 
the comb. The communication-hole of the lower 
box must then be covered with a board, and the box 
separated carried to a distance, where the bees remain- 
ing in it may be dislodged, by turning it up, and rap- 
ping on its sides with a small stick. The proper time 
to perform this operation is at sunrise.—Collateral 
boxes have also been suggested, from the belief of 
their being attended with greater advantages to the 
bees. The size is nearly the same with that above 
mentioned. ‘There is a communication-hole in the 
side, and an opening low and wide below in the sides 
applied to each other, to allow the bees more ready 
passage. Collateral hoops of twisted straw or wood 
were long ago invented, by which means the inventor 
enlarged his hives to an unlimited extent ; and these 
he kept, with great advantage, in a garret near the 
roof of his house. 
Those who are anxious to view the various and 
progressive operations of bees, may gratify them- 
selves, by procuring hives with glass sides. This 
can hardly be denominated a modern invention, as 
Pliny records, that a Roman senator had something 
of the same kind, made of the thinnest and most 
But those entirely made of glass 
were not known on the continent before the year 
1680, though they were made with panes in England 
earlier in the same century; and hives made com- 
pletely of glass are spoken of in 1655. Glass hives 
ought not to be round, like the common shape, as 
the bees are concealed among the combs; they should 
be square boxes, whose sides consist of four panes, 
Reaumur used them so thin as to admit of no more 
than two combs being constructed, that he might 
the better witness the procedure of the inhabitants. 
A pane on each side of Huber’s hollow frames ex- 
poses both sides of the comb. Such hives must be 
covered with a wooden box, or an opaque substance, 
as light disturbs the operations of bees. 
Site of the Apiary—tThe situation and arrange- 
ment of the apiary claim the cultivator’s atten- 
tion. Hach hive should stand on a wooden sole, 
or rest, supported on a single wooden post driven 
into the ground, or on three close together, near 
the centre of the board, that the enemies of the 
colony may have difficulty in crawling up from 
below. It should be fixed securely, so as to es- 
cape being overturned by the wind; but the 
common custom of laying a turf on the top must 
be avoided, on account of the harbour it affords 
to noxious insects. Hives should stand far apart; 
if there are six hives in one portion or division 
of the apiary, they should not be less than nine 
or twelve feet asunder. But too great a number 
never should be situated in the same district. 
The collections of bees are drawn solely from 
flowers, and perhaps, in some small measure, 
from honey-dew, which at times appears on 
leaves, and is said to produce an inferior honey; 
it is therefore evident, that immense quantities 
of bees, actively employed, would not be long of 
exhausting the whole. The number of hives 
should, therefore, be regulated by the situation 
of the apiary. A district abounding with flowers 
and blossoms will admit of more than one where 
the chief product is grain, An aplary ought to 
stand in a quiet sheltered place, where the bees 
may perform their labours totally undisturbed ; 
flowers, particularly those most fruitful in honey, 
should be copiously disseminated around ; and, 
for the facility of saving swarms, it is better to 
have low flowering shrubs in the vicinity than 
lofty trees. Means should be practised to obtain 
a succession of flowers in successive seasons, that 
the bees may always have the collection of honey 
in their power, and without going to a distance. 
It is not known how far they fly: some think 
they traverse several miles; others, that their 
flight hardly exceeds half a league: but the ac- 
cidents to which they are exposed render it im- 
portant for provisions to be near at hand. In 
the low country, mignonette is said to afford the 
finest honey, and may be kept in blossom a large 
portion of the year. Bromwich, an intelligent 
writer, relates that, in 1779, he planted a great 
quantity of it before two bee hives, at a consi- 
derable distance from any other bees. With such 
abundant supplies as this afforded them, few ever 
left his garden. In September he took the honey, 
and found it exceed, by above a third, what he 
obtained from any other two of his best hives, 
where the bees were obliged to fly farther, and 
equal in fragrance and colour to what is imported 
from the warmer climates. It is a favourite 
flower among bees; for we have observed patches 
of it, in the very centre of the city of Edinburgh, 
resorted to from hives beyond the suburbs. Bon- 
ner affirms, that he has often “ seen a hive, by 
being placed nigh heath, become ten, twelve, or 
fifteen pounds heavier in the month of August; 
whereas, if it had remained in its original early 
situation, it would probably have become every 
day lighter after Lammas.” 
Feeding Bees.— When seasons are peculiarly 
unfavourable for the secretion of honey, some- 
times, we have said, a whole swarm may perish 
in the middle of summer. Then, or when they 
are deprived of too great a portion of their stores, 
it becomes the cultivator’s care to supply the de- 
ficiency. There are various methods of doing 
so, always regulating the supply by the number 
of bees and the temperature of the atmosphere. 
The hive may be placed above a section of an- 
other hive containing several combs with honey ; 
or combs may be laid on the boards of the hive 
before the entrance, which is less to be recom- 
mended from exposing the bees and their provi- 
sions to the invasion of strangers. Syrup of 
sugar, treacle, and other sweet substances, may 
