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u 
 
 A TREATISE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 Nature, fSctmomp, aittr practical HBaitagement, 
 
 BEES; 
 
 IN WHICH 
 
 THE VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN 
 APIARIANS ARE EXAMINED, 
 
 AND TnE 
 MOST IMPROVED METHODS LAID DOWN FOR EFFECTUALLY PRESERVING THE 
 
 LIVES OF THE BEES. 
 
 CONTAINING ALSO 
 
 AN ACCURATE DESCRIPTION, ILLUSTRATED BY PLATES, 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HIVES 
 
 INVENTED BY LOMBARD, DUCOUEDIC, HUBER, VICAT, L'ABBE DELLA ROCCA, 
 AND OTHER FOREIGN APIARIANS; 
 
 AND or 
 
 A NEWLY INVENTED HIVE 
 
 FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEPRIVING THE BEES OF THEIR HONEY, WITH 
 SAFETY AND EXPEDITION: 
 
 C&e moat complete <&uibt 
 
 TO THE 
 
 STUDY AND MANAGEMENT OF THOSE VALUABLE 
 INSECTS. 
 
 BY ROBERT HUISH, 
 
 AUTHOR OF THE PKRUVIANS, A POEM, &C. &C. : FKLLOW OF THE URIVERSITY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, 
 OF GOTTINGEN : HONORARY MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL APIARIAN SOCIETY OF VIENNA : ANI- 
 CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES OF rAVARIA AND SILESIA. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS. 
 
 Admiranda tifoi leviam spectacula rerum 
 
 Maguanimosque duces, totiusque ex ordine gentis, 
 
 Mores et stadia et populos etjiraelia dicam, 
 
 In tenui labor, at tenuis non gloria. Virg. Georg.i. 
 
 Hontrott: 
 
 PRINTED FOR BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY 
 
 47, PATERNOSTER.KOW, 
 
 1817. 
 
Sctueattott 
 
 TO 
 
 SIR THOMAS CLARGES, BART. 
 
 AND 
 
 GEORGE ISAAC CALL, ESQ. 
 
 OF 
 
 Caploto^ill, 
 
 NEAR MAIDENHEAD, 
 
 BY WHOSE SKILL AND PATRIOTIC EXERTIONS THE 
 
 CULTURE OF THE BEE 
 
 HAS RISEN 
 
 TO AN UNPRECEDENTED STATE OF PERFECTION 
 
 IN THIS COUNTRY, 
 
 AND 
 
 Co toflom 
 
 THE MOST GRATEFUL OBLIGATIONS ARE DUE 
 
 FOR THEIR ACTIVE CO-OPERATION 
 
 IN THE MORE GENERAL DIFFUSION 
 
 OF 
 
 apiarian Science; 
 
 THE SECOND EDITION 
 
 OF 
 
 THIS TREATISE 
 
 IS WITH SENTIMENTS 
 
 OF THE HIGHEST RESPECT AND ESTEEM, 
 
 DEDICATED, 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 79 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Notwithstanding the numerous Works 
 which have appeared in this Country, and in 
 France and Germany in particular, relative to 
 the Management of Bees, still, the foundation 
 stone only may be said to be laid towards an 
 accurate and distinct knowledge of the internal 
 Economy of those surprising Insects. Many 
 prejudices require to be extirpated, and an en- 
 tirety new feature given to this interesting part 
 of Agricultural Science, before those national 
 advantages, with which it is so pregnant, can be 
 derived from it. The Natural History of Bees, 
 and the method of managing them, have, it is 
 true, exercised the skill and ingenuity of both 
 ancient and modern Authors of every class and 
 of every age. Some have applied themselves 
 principally to the study of their Police, to the 
 investigation of their respective Operations, and 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 to the development of those Mysteries, which 
 are so essentially connected with their Natural 
 Economy : amongst these, the Ancients cer- 
 tainly claim precedence, who, to a few truths 
 joined a considerable number of fabulous stories. 
 Others have written only on Bees, in regard to 
 the manner of rearing them, and to the -plus or 
 minus of Profit to be extracted from them. If 
 in their Works some Traits of the History of 
 these Insects present themselves, they are con- 
 founded with romantic Anecdotes, Prodigies, 
 and Wonders, of which no proof is exhibited, 
 and which never existed, but in the Georgics 
 of Virgil, or in the exuberant imagination of 
 certain Ancients, whose Commentators are 
 merely the echo of an echo. These are the 
 Authors of those numerous little Treatises, the 
 whole merit of which consists often in the re- 
 petition of what is generally known, or in the 
 enumeration of certain Experiments or parti- 
 cular Observations on the ordinary method of 
 managing Bees. Certain Authors finally and 
 successfully united Practice and Theory, Truth 
 and Speculation ; but able and skilful as those 
 Authors shewed themselves, they have left a 
 number of objects indefinitely explained, which 
 repeated Experiments would have confirmed, 
 owing to an inability of dedicating to that par- 
 ticular Study all the time and application 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 which were requisite. M. de Reaumur, in par- 
 ticular, assisted by the Experience of his Pre- 
 decessors, has brought the Natural History of 
 the Bee to a high state of perfection, or at least 
 as high as could be expected from a Person, 
 whose entire application to that particular 
 branch of Physiology, did not exceed four or 
 five years ; but notwithstanding all the light 
 which was cast upon the subject by that able 
 Naturalist, there is an obscurity thrown over 
 certain parts, and a Vacuum observed in re- 
 gard to certain Minutiae, the repletion of which 
 gave ample scope to the skill and perseverance 
 of his Successors. Reaumur is very defective 
 in the precepts which he lays down for the 
 practical Management of Bees; and it is on 
 this particular point in which (I may almost 
 call it) a culpable ignorance prevails in this 
 Country. Notwithstanding the laudable efforts 
 of many Individuals, and the Premiums offered 
 by many of our Agricultural Societies, the Cul- 
 ture of the Bee is most glaringly neglected, as 
 if neither profit nor advantage were to be de- 
 rived from it. What is begun by Ignorance is 
 completed by Superstition, and it is an anomaly 
 in the History of the most enlightened People 
 of the World, that a considerable national ad- 
 vantage is entirely lost by the blasting influence 
 of Superstition. I can affirm, that I know a 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 number of Persons who would keep Bees, pro- 
 vided they could have a Stock given to them : 
 but who, were they to purchase it, would consi- 
 der their Money fruitlessly expended, owing to 
 the ridiculous prejudice, that a purchased Hive 
 never prospers. It was this circumstance that 
 first gave rise to the idea in my mind of esta- 
 blishing an Apiarian Society, for the purpose of 
 giving Hives to those prejudiced Persons, and 
 in return obliging them to dispose of the Produce 
 of their Apiaries to the Society alone, and in a 
 given time to refund the Hive or Hives, with 
 which they had been originally furnished; or 
 the Plan of the Apiarian Society of Vienna 
 might have been adopted, of having general 
 Apiaries in different Districts, which are placed 
 under the superintendence of a skilful Person, 
 and in which the Peasants have the liberty of 
 depositing their Hives, on paying a small Sum 
 towards the Expense of the Establishment. 
 Excepting the Spanish, I know of no Nation 
 which entertains such superstitious prejudices, 
 in regard to Bees, as the English. It will 
 hardly be credited, that in some parts of Eng- 
 land the Bees are not permitted to leave the 
 Hive on a Friday, and this is founded on a re- 
 ligious scruple : — can it then be expected that 
 the Culture of the Bee can flourish, or be aug- 
 mented in a Country where such deplorable 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 prejudices exist? It is not however verbal nor 
 written Instruction which can remedy those 
 evils; the cure must be effected by the powerful 
 influence of example, and the obstinate and pre- 
 judiced Cottager must be led to actual truth by 
 a perspicuous display of practical Science. 
 
 If we take a view of the modern Authors, 
 with the exception of Bonner, we shall find 
 their Works burthened with Precepts, difficult, 
 if not impossible in the execution, and which 
 tend rather to instill a dislike and aversion to 
 the Culture of the Bee, than a desire to promote 
 it. Hypothesis has been heaped upon hypo- 
 thesis, and the ebullitions of fancy have been 
 taken for the sober dictates of truth. It is only 
 from the Authors of this Country, or of France 
 or German)*, that any expectation can be form- 
 ed of the impediments being removed, which at 
 present throw such a chilling influence over an 
 extended Culture of the Bee. In Italy, the 
 People appear to be wrapped in the darkest 
 cloak of ignorance on every point connected 
 with Bees ; for excepting the Work of Joseph 
 Falchini, printed at Florence in 1747, and that 
 of Jerome Maroni, printed at Verona in 1761, 
 both of which are filled with mythological 
 fooleries, the Italians are wholly destitute of 
 any practical Treatise, b} r which Apiarian Sci- 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 ence can be extended, and in the present de- 
 graded state of Literature and the Arts in that 
 Country, no rational hope of an improvement 
 can be founded. 
 
 In regard to the Work now offered to the 
 Public, any Eulogium on my part would be 
 indecorous. My aim has been to simplify the 
 mechanical Operations of the Apiary, to sti- 
 mulate those who are already engaged in the 
 Culture of the Bee to greater exertions, and to 
 induce others to undertake it, from a full ex- 
 posure of the great advantages to be derived 
 from it, not only in an individual but national 
 point of view ; and finally, to render this Coun- 
 try independent of all foreign supply of the 
 Produce of the Bee. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 Previously to my entering upon any in- 
 vestigation of those points connected with 
 the Natural History of the Bee, which have 
 particularly excited the attention of Apiarians, 
 and respecting which, my individual senti- 
 ments, as expressed in the former Edition, 
 have been canvassed by the Reviewers, I shall 
 briefly expose the state of Apiarian Science, 
 and the progress which it has made since the 
 first appearance of this Work. Proud indeed 
 I am to acknowledge, that the ignorance and 
 prejudices which have so long had a depressing 
 influence on the culture of the Bee in this 
 country, are rapidly dispersing, and the bright- 
 est prospects present themselves of this country 
 being soon made independent of all foreign 
 supply of the produce of the Bee. It is not 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 however, my own exertions which could have 
 produced this pleasing issue to my efforts, had 
 I not met with a corresponding degree of un- 
 remitting attention, of the closest application, 
 and the most disinterested action, on the part 
 of several patriotic individuals, who, above be- 
 ing deterred by trivial obstacles, and discarding 
 those unfortunate prejudices which have hitherto 
 blasted the growth of Apiarian Science, have 
 co-operated with me in the prosecution of an 
 extensive plan, which will in time render the 
 culture of the Bee a national benefit, and a 
 positive source of individual profit. 
 
 Whilst an enormous sum is annually paid to 
 Germany and France for honey and wax, the 
 people of this country are discouraged from 
 keeping Bees, by the difficulty of procuring a 
 market for their produce. I have been lately 
 informed by several persons residing in Hamp- 
 shire, that the whole of their honey is made into 
 mead, from a want of purchasers for the honey 
 itself: then what encouragement have those 
 people to extend the culture of the Bee, when 
 even the present produce of their Apiaries is re- 
 garded by them as a superfluity, and bringing 
 with it no positive remuneration ? Yet it is not 
 that the produce of this country in honey is 
 adequate to the demand or to the consumption 
 of the article, or why import those great quanti- 
 ties from foreign parts ? and with regard to the 
 
PREFACE. Xlii 
 
 quality, with the exception of the Mediterra- 
 nean honey, the produce of this country is by 
 no means inferior to either that of Germany or 
 the north of France : on the contrary, it is in 
 many respects superior, for there is little or no 
 honey which is imported, that is not mixed with 
 farinaceous and other noxious substances, for 
 the purpose of increasing the weight. The de- 
 pot which is now forming in the metropolis for 
 the sale of native produce only, will, I trust, in 
 time supersede the necessity of importation, and 
 give a stimulus to the keeper of Bees, as he will 
 then experience a positive satisfaction in their 
 management, knowing that a market is open 
 for the immediate sale of his produce. 
 
 In these times of unexampled difficulty and 
 distress, when the landed interest is labouring 
 under the deepest depression, and the rental of 
 the kingdom may be considered as merely nomi- 
 nal, it becomes the duty of every landed proprie- 
 tor to point out to his tenants every source by 
 which an amelioration of their situation can be 
 effected, and of the advantages of which they 
 have hitherto been kept in ignorance. In re- 
 commending a greater degree of attention to 
 the management of Bees, than that which has 
 been hitherto observed, I mean not to induce 
 the farmer or the cottager to exclude any of the 
 other branches of agricultural pursuit to which 
 a certain degree of profit is attached, merely as 
 it maybe called, for the purposeof making room 
 
Xiv PREFACE. 
 
 for the Apiary, but I wish the management of 
 the Bee to be considered as an integral part of 
 the occupation of the farmer or the cottager, 
 and that it should become a matter of regular 
 study, equal to that of any other department of 
 Agricultural Science. 
 
 The objection which has been frequently 
 urged to me as a reason for not keeping Bees, 
 namely, that they are subject to so many acci- 
 dents, which occasion a total failure in the pro- 
 duce, is not a valid one. It must be allowed that 
 every species of stock is more or less exposed to 
 accident, but that it is prevented or remedied 
 according to the knowledge which prevails of 
 the mode of management, of the incidental dis- 
 eases and their cure, and the positive symptoms 
 of prosperity or decay. If therefore, a certain 
 degree of ignorance prevails in regard to the 
 management of Bees, and a failure should at- 
 tend the first efforts of the Apiarian, it should 
 not be attributed to the stock itself, but to the 
 utter want of knowledge of the treatment of it. 
 The individual, who thinks to manage an Apiary 
 from the supposed possession of intuitive know- 
 ledge, will certainly fail in the attempt. If he 
 disdains to be guided by the hand of experience, 
 and will venture to be his own leader through 
 the intricate labyrinth of science, without being 
 even acquainted with the road which leads to it, 
 his failure is by no means problematical, for it 
 is fixed and determined at his very outset. 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 When I view the faulty and destructive man- 
 ner in which Bees are managed in this country, 
 especially by the cottagers, in open defiance of 
 every principle of Science, my surprise is excit- 
 ed — not at the smallness of the profit which is 
 obtained, but that any profit is obtained at all. 
 It may appear a bold assertion, but it is never- 
 theless founded on truth, that I never yet met 
 with a cottager, who managed his Bees with any 
 regard to an established system, or in consistency 
 with those rules which he might have gained 
 from the experience of others. If he has 
 stumbled by chance on the right method of 
 treatment in one particular case, he adopts a 
 faulty one in twenty others. If he happens to 
 have given his Hives a right aspect, he will be 
 found to have placed them on the ground, or 
 so close to it, that every species of reptile and 
 insect can crawl into the hive at pleasure ; and 
 then to what is the ruin of the Hive to be attri- 
 buted — to the extreme liability of the Bees to 
 failure, or to the ignorance of the proprietor in 
 the mode of management ? 
 
 It is to eradicate this gross ignorance in the 
 management of Bees, that my present exertions 
 are directed. I am well aware, that in regard 
 to prejudices, I have an Augean stable to cleanse, 
 but I am not to be deterred by the sneers of 
 the ignorant, nor the obstacles which may be 
 thrown in my way by interested individuals ; 
 I shall coolly pursue my course, and will turn 
 
xvi PREFACE. 
 
 into every bye path in which I can hope to ob- 
 tain the slightest scintillation of truth. I shall 
 ever be open to conviction, where the proof is 
 established by the test of experience, but I 
 shall always look with a suspicious eye upon 
 the splendid though baseless theories of the 
 closet Apiarian. 
 
 This naturally brings me to an investigation 
 of the objections which have been brought for- 
 ward, especially by the Monthly Reviewers, to 
 the system as laid down in the former Edition 
 of this work, respecting the fecundation of the 
 Queen Bee. To enter into an elaborate ana- 
 lysis of the various grounds on which I have 
 been induced to differ from Huber, on this im- 
 portant point of the Natural History of the Bee, 
 would far exceed the limits of a prefatory dis- 
 course ; 1 shall therefore briefly confine mj'self 
 to those particular points on which a dissentient 
 opinion has been expressed by the Reviewer. 
 
 1 am well aware of the infallibility of two 
 things — His Holiness the Pope, and the opinion 
 of a Reviewer. I could never expect to con- 
 vince the former, that he is not the deputy of 
 St. Peter, nor does the slightest expectation rest 
 on m}' mind, that any argument which I may 
 adduce will bring conviction to the Reviewer, 
 that although in his study he may have ob- 
 served the embraces of the common domestic 
 fly whilst on the wing, not the slightest analogy 
 exists between that insect and the Queen Bee, 
 
PREFACE. XV11 
 
 in regard to sexual union. I certainly did treat 
 the idea of the Queen Bee mo?itant sur le dos du 
 male " with contemptuous sneers," but I am 
 now informed that it is an appointment of na- 
 ture, as in the words of the Reviewer, " any one 
 may be convinced, who will attentively watch 
 the proceedings of the common domestic fly/' 
 But barring the mistake in which the Reviewer 
 has fallen in regard to the sexual union of the 
 common fly being in a reversed position, can 
 any just inference thence be drawn, supported 
 by the most distant analogy, that the sexual 
 union of the Queen Bee and Drone takes place 
 in a reversed position, and exterior to the Hive, 
 whilst on the wing? This idea may appear 
 plausible to those who are ignorant of the 
 cloistered life of the Queen Bee; but it will 
 only excite " the contemptuous sneers" of those 
 who, by positive experience, grounded on re- 
 peated experiments producing the same results, 
 are convinced that the only periods when a 
 Queen Bee leaves the Hive are, when she, as 
 the founder of a new colony, puts herself at 
 the head of a swarm, or when she is constrained 
 to quit her ancient domicile, on account of the 
 ravages of the Moth or other obnoxious circum- 
 stance, and at that time all her subjects follow 
 her to her new abode. 
 
 I give to Huber all the credit which he de- 
 serves ; he has done much and more than any of 
 his predecessors in removing the veil which has 
 so long hung over the Natural History of the 
 b 
 
XV111 PREFACE. 
 
 Bee. I acknowledge to have profited by his 
 discoveries, but I am not so wilfully blind to 
 his errors, as to adopt every thing which he 
 asserts, as mathematically demonstrated, when 
 my own experience positively denies it. I will 
 not even put my abilities in the scale with those 
 of Huber ; but having acknowledged two infalli- 
 bilities, I am not much disposed to admit an- 
 other in the person or in the opinion of Mr. 
 Huber. 
 
 The sentiments which I have so unequivo- 
 cally expressed regarding the fecundation of the 
 Queen, are not the result of a day's reflection, 
 nor of a single year's experience in the practi- 
 cal management of the Apiary ; and certainly it 
 must be admitted, that two more discordant 
 opinions cannot be entertained on one subject, 
 supposed by many to be easy of solution, than 
 those entertained by Huber and myself on the 
 fecundation of the Queen Bee. Both of us 
 however, found our arguments on conjecture 
 and slight analogical reasoning, and not on ac- 
 tual observation. The Reviewer calls the hy- 
 pothesis advanced by myself, as inconsistent 
 with the analogies of Nature. I may not indeed 
 be so thoroughly versed in the analogies of Na- 
 ture as the Reviewer, but so far as my own ex- 
 perience extends, I cannot discover the slightest 
 degree of inconsistency. The fish deposits its 
 roe, which is afterwards fecundated by the melt. 
 The Queen Bee lays her egg, which is afterwards 
 impregnated by the Drone. Where then is the 
 
PREFACE. XIX 
 
 inconsistency of the latter hypothesis with the 
 analogies of Nature ? 
 
 Mr. Huber was aware of the dilemma into 
 which he would be thrown by making the 
 Queen Bee and the Drone copulate in the Hive ; 
 and he therefore gives her a roving commission 
 to search the woods for her paramour. Now, 
 to quote the words of the Reviewer : " At all 
 events human reasoning and conjectures, on 
 the propriety and fitness of any particular mode 
 of animal re-production, can never for a moment 
 be put in competition with ascertained facts f 
 that this is a clear and positive truth must be 
 admitted by every one, but is it, on the part of 
 Mr. Huber, an ascertained fact that the Queen 
 is impregnated in the open air? Neither he 
 nor his assistant, Francois Beurnens, who has 
 certainly witnessed some prodigies respecting 
 the natural economy of the Bee, and which no 
 other person will ever witness again, can, with 
 any regard to veracity, depone that they have 
 actually witnessed the amours of the Queen 
 Bee and the Drone in the woods, or in any si- 
 tuation exterior to the Hive. It therefore follows 
 that positive truth cannot be applied to the 
 system of Huber, and that it does not deserve 
 that implicit faith with which some of his ad- 
 herents regard it. The Reviewer, however, and 
 many thanks to him for it, has, in order to re- 
 concile the conflicting sentiments on this sub- 
 ject, devised a new method, by which both 
 b2 
 
XX TREFACE. 
 
 Huber and myself come off in a triumphant 
 manner: and this is, that the eggs shall not 
 only be fecundated by sexual union in the body 
 of the Queen, but that they shall be further 
 vivified by the addition of a fluid in the breeding 
 cells. — Excellent! we have here two distinct 
 operations for the Drones to perform, and a 
 species of double duty, for which I am certain 
 the Drones will not consider themselves under 
 any obligation to the Reviewer for imposing upon 
 them. The adoption of this method would, 
 however, be a positive abuse of Nature, and in- 
 consistent with its analogies. I will therefore 
 give it the meed of originality, and say no more 
 about it. 
 
 Notwithstanding the support which is given 
 by the Reviewer to the fortifications of the Bees, 
 engendered in the head of Mr. Huber, and 
 ushered into the world as a wonderful abortion 
 of genius, I must be excused if the smile of de- 
 rision should always sit upon my countenance 
 whenever they are mentioned. The Genevese 
 Bees may indeed, according to the suggestions 
 of the Reviewer, be gifted with a greater portion 
 of ingenuity than our less-favoured English 
 Bees ; and the art of creating these fortifications 
 may not yet have travelled further north than 
 the Lake of Geneva. It is certain, from the 
 report of the Abbe della Rocca, that the art 
 is not known in the Archipelago ; and I have 
 examined the Hives of France, Germany, of 
 
PREFACE. XXI 
 
 Russia, Denmark, and Sweden, I have con- 
 versed with the most intelligent Apiarians of 
 those countries, and their Bees were all ignorant 
 of the art of erecting gates, battlements, and 
 defiles, to protect them from the encroachment 
 of their enemies. The patent must be therefore 
 vested in the Bees of Geneva, or those which 
 are so fortunate as to come under the immediate 
 care of Mr. Huber. 
 
 The sphinx atropos is very common in the 
 southern part of Germany ; but not a single 
 gate has ever been constructed by any of the 
 German Bees to prevent the ingress of that 
 insect to their stores ; but the Reviewer, for the 
 purpose of invalidating that statement, informs 
 us, that the Bees on the other side of the water, as 
 he elegantly expresses himself, did actually 
 make these fortifications, but that the pro- 
 prietors ; not possessing the sagacity and pene- 
 tration of Mr. Huber, omitted to notice them. 
 I believe I could enumerate thirty celebrated 
 foreign Apiarians who possess an equal skill 
 with Huber in the management of an apiary, 
 but whose discoveries have not been made 
 public, yet who consider the erection by the 
 Bees of any " temporary fences" as a protection 
 against the Hawk-moth, to be ridiculous and de- 
 lusive. I requested the opinion of the most 
 celebrated Apiarian of Vienna on the subject ; 
 and, in his answer, dated 23d December, 1816, 
 he says, " You may well express your disbelief 
 
XX11 PREFACE. 
 
 in the fortifications erected by the Bees, as 
 described by Huber, to protect them from the 
 attack of the Hawk-moth. We have that insect 
 in great numbers in the environs of this city ; 
 and the ravages which it commits on the Hives 
 are very considerable ; but, during the whole 
 course of my experience, which has lasted above 
 forty years, during which period I have regu- 
 larly had under my care from sixty to one 
 hundred Hives, I never could discover any 
 erection made by the Bees, intended as a pro- 
 tection against the ravages of the Hawk-moth; 
 on the contrary, we are so convinced that the 
 Bees possess in themselves no positive means of 
 defence against this insect, that we place lighted 
 torches in the vicinity of our Apiaries for the 
 purpose of entrapping it." 
 
 In a letter from W. F. Schlegel, an active 
 Member of several of the Agricultural Societies 
 of Germany, dated Munich, January 18, 1817, 
 he says, " Your Work is now translating into 
 German, and I am certain it will not be much 
 admired by Huber and the adherents of his for- 
 tifications. I hope you will not relax in your 
 exertions to explode one of the most singular 
 fancies which distinguish this age of discovery." 
 
 On laying aside all irony on the subject, and 
 viewing it with a dispassionate eye, I trust it 
 is not the lively imagination of the French and 
 Italian writers, as expressed by the Reviewer, 
 which will induce the sober minded English 
 
PREFACE. XXlli 
 
 Apiarian to convert a bit of the Combs, fallen by 
 chance from the upper works, into bastions and 
 demi-bastions, into a counterscarp and glacis, 
 and to form the Bees into a military people, 
 when their natural habits, like those of a certain 
 European nation made military also, are those 
 of industry and economy, and possessing at the 
 same time an ardent attachment to their excel- 
 lent constitution. 
 
 It merely now remains for me to justify some 
 errors which have been ascribed to me in the 
 genuine spirit of hypercriticism, and the disco- 
 very of which reflects the greatest credit on the 
 critical acumen of the Reviewer. Fair and le- 
 gitimate criticism is an admirable occupation ; 
 and the liberal mind will always thank the pre- 
 ceptor who will point out his errors to him, that 
 they may not occur again in future ; but, when 
 the critic descends to make a false quotation, 
 for the purpose of transcribing an error, or will 
 convert a typographical error into a grammati- 
 cal one, and attach it indiscriminately to the 
 Author as his own, his office then loses all its 
 dignity, and sinks into insignificance and pueri- 
 lity. As an instance of false quotation, for the 
 purpose of attaching an error to me, the Re- 
 viewer copies part of a sentence, the construc- 
 tion of which in itself is correct, but, being mu- 
 tilated by the Reviewer, is wrong. He thus 
 quotes, as an error, " boats resembling the manner 
 of the Egyptians." The text is ; " they load the 
 boats resembling the manner of the Egyptians!' 
 
XXIV PREFACE. 
 
 Where is the error now, thou sapient Reviewer ? 
 The construction of the sentence, I grant, might 
 be amended, as it is in the present edition, but 
 it is its mutilation, of which I may with the 
 greatest propriety complain. Suppose I were 
 called upon to criticise a Work, in which ap- 
 peared the following passage : — The opponents 
 of the Monthly Reviewer are fools, and in the full 
 spirit of the critic, hunting after grammatical 
 errors, I were to mutilate the passage, and quote 
 it — the Monthly He-viewer are fools, would it 
 be fair criticism ? My readers, I am told by 
 the Reviewer, will inquire what are the antilhe 
 of a Bee. Being myself ignorant, I cannot 
 answer the question. It is merely one of those 
 typographical errors which will creep into every 
 printed Work, in the same manner as enthusiam 
 is printed for enthusiasm, and hithero for hitherto, 
 in the 80th vol. pages 10 and 106 of the Monthly 
 Review ! 
 
 I shall not enter into any further justification 
 of the errors which have been imputed to me 
 by the Reviewer, some of which would disgrace 
 a school boy, and ought not to have been attri- 
 buted to ignorance, but to an oversight in the 
 correction of the proof-sheets. 
 
 I cannot close this Preface without publicly 
 acknowledging the obligation which I am under 
 to Sir Thomas Clarges, Bart, to G. I. Call, Esq. 
 of TaplowHill; to J. II. Payne, Esq. of Bury 
 St. Edmunds ; to G. Williams, Esq. of Bangor; 
 
PREFACE. XXV 
 
 to H. Drummond, Esq. of Hcrnehill; and to se- 
 veral other scientific individuals, for the zeal 
 and spirit with which they have seconded my 
 apiarian plans ; supported by their talents and 
 interest, every obstacle will in a short time 
 be surmounted, and, at the close of my labours, 
 it will be a pleasing reflection to me that I have 
 promoted the interests of my country, and been 
 the humble instrument of establishing a perma- 
 nent source of emolument to the humble cot- 
 tager or the more opulent farmer. 
 
 I solicit information from every one who may 
 have it in his power to transmit it to me, and, 
 on the other hand, I profess my perfect readi- 
 ness to impart whatever knowledge I may pos- 
 sess in the management of an apiary to any 
 person who will favour me with the application. 
 My aim is general utility, and the establishment 
 of a national advantage. 
 
I 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 JUDICATION 1U 
 
 Preface v 
 
 Preface to the second Edition xi 
 
 Introduction 1 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 6N BEES IN GENERAL. 
 
 Natural History of Bees, imperfectly known. — Simplified by 
 Swammerdam, Maraldi and Reaumur. — Various species of Bees. 
 — Activity of Bees. — Honey solely produced by them. — Different 
 substances on which they feed. — Flowers fecundated by them. — 
 Governed by a Queen. — Know the Persons who work in the Api- 
 ary. — Dislike certain Persons. — Experiment to ascertain that 
 fact. — The Ancients not ignorant of the Attachment of the Bees 
 to their Queen. — Extent of their Lives not yet ascertained.— 
 Their Cleanliness. — Their instinctive sense of Labour 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE QUEEN BEE. 
 
 Her make.' — Fecundity. — Various Systems of the Manner of her 
 Fecundation. — The Queen knows not coition. — Reluctance of the 
 Queen to sting.— Attachment of the Bees to the Queen. — Her 
 importance to the Hive. — Supernumerary Queens massacred at 
 the end of the Season. — Description of the Queen's Cell.— Erro- 
 neous Opinion of certain Naturalists respecting the Fructification 
 of the Eggs.— Method of laying her Eggs.— Analogy of the 
 Queen Bee and the Wasp. — Experiment to ascertain the exist- 
 ence of Eggs during the Winter. — Method of driving a Hive 
 explained 17 
 
XXV11I CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 ON THE DRONES. 
 
 Page 
 Characteristics of tlic Drones. — Number of Drones in a Hive. — 
 Possess no Sting'.— The Eggs of the Queen fructified by them. — 
 Natural make of the Drone. — Not brooding Bees. — Refutation of 
 the Opinion of Reaumur and Debraw, respecting two kinds of 
 Drones. — No Swarms produced, if a Deficiency of Drones. — A 
 Remedy for this Disadvantage. — Experiment to prove its Effi- 
 cacy. — Drones massacred at the End of the Season. — Opinion of 
 Keys. — Drones always found in a Swarm. — Manner in which 
 they are killed. — Bees should be assisted in this Operation. — Not 
 killed by the Sting. — The Opinion of L'Abbe della Rocca ex- 
 amined. — The Drones not starved by the Bees 28 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 ON THE COMMON BEES, 
 
 Called Mules, in some Parts of England. — Their Use. — Erroneous 
 Opinions respecting their Economy. — Four Kinds of Bees men- 
 tioned by Naturalists. — One Sort only known in England. — Dif- 
 ference in the Size of the Bee accounted for. — Physical Descrip- 
 tion of the Bee. — The Honey Bag. — The Honey contained in it, 
 not intended for the Support of the Bee. No Honey to be found 
 in it in the Winter. — The Sting. — The venom Bladder. — The 
 Poison most virulent in Summer. — Remedies for the Sting. — 
 Suggestions of M. Lombard respecting the Sting. — Swammer- 
 dam's Method of preventing a Bee from stinging. — Specific used 
 in Prussia for the Sting of the Bee. — Eulogy on the Bee 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 ON HIVES IN CENERAL. 
 
 The Forests, the natural Domicile of the Bees — Origin of the Do- 
 mestication of Bees. — Manner of forming Hives in Poland. — 
 Method of punishing the Robbers of Hives. — Forms of the Hives 
 in Spain, Germany, Russia, France, and Italy. — The present 
 Shape of the Straw Hives in England reprobated. — Straw the best 
 Material with which to form a Hive. — Denied by the Abbe della 
 Rocca. — Glass Hives of no Use to the Naturalist. — Disadvantages 
 attending the common Hive. — List of Foreign and English Apia- 
 rians who have improved it. — Description of Huber's Hive. — 
 Thorley's Hive. — White's Hive.— Yicat's Hive. — Gelieu's Hive. 
 —Exposition of the storying System. — Description of Ducoue- 
 dic's Hive. — Advantages and Disadvantages of the storying 
 System. — The Error of flat Hives demonstrated/— The Vapours 
 in the Hive proved injurious : Occasion the Deroi of the Bees.— 
 
CONTENTS. XXIX 
 
 Page, 
 Key's on the storying System. — Description of the Hive of Lom- 
 bard. — Ingenious Method of Lombard to construct Hives of a 
 uniform Diameter. — Glass Hives only tit for the Amateur. — Des- 
 cription of the Author's Hive. — Great Harvest of Honey and 
 Wax. not attainable at pleasure. — Bees will work in Hives of 
 any Shape. ...„ 51 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 ON THE rOSITION OF THE APIARY. 
 
 In England, the Aspect to be to the Southward and Eastward. — 
 Aspect varies with the Climate. — Anecdote of a Susses Farmer. 
 — The South-west Wind to be guarded against. — Anecdote related 
 by the L'Abbe della Rocca. — Hives to be placed in a right Line. 
 — Error of placing several Hives on the same Bench. — The 
 single Pedestal to be preferred. — Description of a Machine to pre- 
 vent the Robberies of Hives. — Erroneous Plan adopted in Sussex. 
 — The Apiary to be kept clean from Rubbish. — No high Plants 
 to be allowed to grow near the Apiary. — The Vicinity of great 
 Towns detrimental to Bees 89 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 ON THE ENEMIES OF BEES. 
 
 Man the principal Enemy. — The common Field and Shrewmoose. 
 — Description of a Trap to catch them. — The Spider, the Cause 
 of Bees abandoning their Hive. — The Wasp. — The Queen Wasps 
 to be destroyed in the Spring. — Rules for destroying Wasps' 
 Nests. — The Humble Bee to be destroyed. — Erroneous Method 
 of killing Wasps' Nests. — Wasps the Ruin of Hives. — Bees not 
 kept in America and West India Islands, on Account of Wasps. — 
 Toads, devourers of Bees. — Also of Wasps. — The Woodpecker. — 
 The Tom Tit. — Lepoutre's Account of this Bird. — The Ant.— 
 Method of preserving - the Hives from the Ant. — Destruction of 
 an Ant's Nest. — The Wax Moth. — Anecdote of a Hampshire Lady. 
 The death-headed Sphinx. — Huber and Lombard's Discovery of 
 the Fortifications of Bees. — The Fox. — The Bear. — The Badger. 
 — Manner in which the Bears destroy the Hives. — The Sparrow. 
 — The Lizard. — The common Newt 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 OX THE MALADIES OF THE BEES. 
 
 Difficulty of obtaining a precise Knowledge of the Nature of 
 the Maladies.— The Dvsentery the most frequent Malady.— 
 False Opinion of Ducouedic respecting the Excrement of 
 Bees. — Symptoms of the Dysentery. — Experiment of Reaumur 
 to ascertain the Cause of it". — Occasioned by long Confinement. 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 Other Causes stated. — Remedies proposed.— Recipe of Ranconi. 
 — Remedy of Lombard. — Opinion of Duchet on the Cause of 
 the Dysentery. — Remedy proposed by Wildman. — The Dysente- 
 ry less prevalent by the Sea-side. — Management of the Hives 
 during the Disorder. — Disease of the Antennee. — Its Rarhy.— . 
 Opinion of Ducouedic concerning- it. — The Vertigo. — No Remedy 
 for it. — The abortive Brood productive of Diseases. — Lice sel- 
 dom found in new Hives. — Bee Bread considered by some Apia- 
 rians as a Malady j 117 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 ON THE BROOD. 
 
 Definition of the Brood. — Different States of the Brood. — Descrip- 
 tion of the Eggs. — The. Larvae. — The Nymph. — Gradual Growth of 
 the Bee. — Its Emancipation from the Cell. — Attention of the Old 
 Bees to the Young. — The Irascibility of the Bees in Proportion to 
 the Quantity of Brood. — Disputes respecting the Nature of the 
 Food administered to the Brood. — Opinion of Ducouedic respect- 
 ing it. — Analogy between the Bee and the Butterfly.— -The Larvae 
 not fed with Honey- — Experiment to determine it. — Objections 
 thereto. — Investigation of the Contents of the Bladder of the Bee. 
 — Conclusions drawn from it 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 ON THE COMBS OF THE BEES. 
 
 New Hives to be smoked. — Propolis, the only Substance made Use 
 of in the Construction of the Combs. — Different Substances men- 
 tioned by the Ancients. — A Swarm provided with the Requisites 
 for the Construction of Combs. — Method of their Construction. 
 — Description of the Cells. — Mathematical Proportion of them.— 
 The Drone Cells.— The Queen Cells.— Attempt of Buffon to ex- 
 plain the Construction of the Combs. — Curious Definition of 
 Lewenhoek. — The Combs originally White. — Become Black by 
 Perspiration 135 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 ON THE DIFFERENT SUBSTANCES WHICH ARE FOUND IN A HIVE. 
 
 Propolis. — Its Nature. — Trees from which it is gathered. — The Use 
 to which it is applied. — Opinion of M. Reaumur concerning it. 
 — Contradicted by M. De Bomare. — Its Medicinal Qualities. — A 
 Substitute for Varnish. — Crude Wax. — Definition of it. — Opinion 
 of the Ancients regarding it. — Difference between Propolis and 
 Wax. — The Fragility of Propolis not so great as Wax. — Not an 
 individual Substance".— Anecdote of the dead Mouse.— Proof of 
 
CONTENTS. XXXI 
 
 Page. 
 the Propolis being fabricated by the Bees. — [ts Analysis by Vau- 
 «melin and Cadet. — Opinion of 31. Lombard 146 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 ON POLLEN OR FARrNA. 
 
 Natural History of Pollen. — The Bee never mixes the Species of 
 Pollen. — The Farina not swallowed by the Bees exterior to the 
 Hive. — The Manner in which the Bee is delivered of its Load. — 
 A Cell seldom full of Pollen. — The Farina not Wax.— Experi- 
 ment to determine the Same. — Opinion of Delia Rocca. — Expe- 
 riment of Mr. Geer. — Experiments of Reaumur. — Opinion of M. 
 Ducouedic. — Refutation of the same. — Curious Calculation of 
 Reaumur. — Use of the Pollen for the Brood. — Experiment of 
 Huber decisive of the Use of Pollen. — Objections thereto urged 
 by certain Persons. — The same examined and refuted. 151 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Analogy between Wax and Propolis. — Importance of Wax as an 
 Article of Commerce. — Advantage derived by Germany from 
 the Sale of it. — The Suffocation of Bees, the Cause of the Scar- 
 city of Wax in this Country. — Various Opinions of the Qualities 
 of Wax. — Moisture of Old Hives detrimental to the Wax. — Diffi- 
 culty of its Remedy. — Contradictory Opinions of Authors re- 
 specting the Substances contained in the Hive. — The Experiments 
 of Huber examined. — Extract from the Memoir of Blondelu, on 
 the Nature of Wax. — His Opinion examined and refuted. — Opi- 
 nion of Bonnet on the Origin of Wax. — Fact related by Swam- 
 merdam. — Extract from the Encyclopedique Methodique. — Exa- 
 mination of the Opinion of M. Jussieu. — Description of the Wax 
 Tree of America and China 16& 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 ON HONEY. 
 
 Its general History. — Origin of it. — Difference of Opinion as to its 
 Origin. — Varies according to the Climate of the Country. — The 
 Honey Dew. — Examination of its Nature. — Considered as an 
 Exudation from the Plants. — Primary Destination of Honey. — 
 Two Kinds of Honey. — Opinion of Ducarne on the Fall of the 
 Honey Dew. — The Honey Dew on the Oak and the Bramble, 
 not the same.— Opinion of the Ancient Naturalists. — Descrip- 
 tion of the Honey-dew, observed by M. Boissiers de Sauvages and 
 Ducouedic. — Proved to be the Excrement of Insects. — Des- 
 cription of their Nature. — This Honey also gathered by the 
 Ants. — Manner in which the Bees collect the Honey . .„ 174 
 
XXX11 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 ON SWARA1S IN GENERAL. 
 
 Pas 
 Nature of a Swarm.— A small Hive generally Swarms before a 
 large one. — Time of Swarming; varies in different Countries. — ' 
 In Cuba, tin- Hives swarm during the whole Year. — In England, 
 in May or June. — No Queen, no Swarm. — The first Swarm, the 
 Produce of the Eggs of the preceding Year. — Signs of a 
 Swarm. — Implicit Confidence not to be placed in them. — Person 
 to be appointed to watch it. — Description of a Swarm leaving the 
 Hive. — Question discussed whether the Bees send out a Scout. — 
 Confirmed by Mr. Knight. — Opinion of St. Jean de Crevecoeur. 
 — Duchet. — Ducarne. — Dubest. — New Hives to be kept in 
 Readiness for the Swarms. — No specific Rules for Hiving a 
 Swarm. — Depend on Circumstances. — Inutility of beating Frying 
 Pans, &c. — Description of the Dress to be used when hiving - a 
 Swarm. — Method to be adopted with a Swarm having no Queen. 
 — Swarm divided into Clusters! — Junction of Swarms. — Method 
 to be adopted in that Case. — Practice of the Ancients to induce 
 the Bees to enter the H.ve. — The Value of a Swarm determined 
 by its Weight. — Second Swarms. — Signs of them. — Supernu- 
 merary Queens massacred. — Second Swarms seldom worth pre- 
 serving. — Method of uniting Swarms. — Fond to be given to a 
 Swarm in rainy Weather. — Virgin Swarms. — Clustering of Bees. 
 — Artificial Swarms. — Different Methods. — Method of obtaining 
 Queens. — Suggested by Ducarne ! 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 
 ON THE METHOD OF PRLPARING HONEY AND WAX FOR THE MARKETS. 
 
 Situation of the Place proper for the Manipulation of Honey. — 
 Implements required for the Purpose. — Method of extracting 
 primary Honey. — Particular Rides to be observed. — Method of 
 obtaining secondary Honey. — The Operation not to be per- 
 formed in cold Weather. — The Implements used to be taken to 
 the Apiary for the Use of the Bees. — Directions for the same. — 
 Rules for the Preservation of Honey. — Proportion of Honey 
 and Wax. — Adulteration of Honey. — Two Methods of discover- 
 ing it. — Rules for choosing Honey. — Medicinal Properties of 
 Honey ,. 22/ 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 ON THE CAUSES OF THE MORTALITY OV UEE6. 
 
 Two Kinds of Mortality. — Cold not injurious to Bees. — Error of 
 keeping Bees warm in Winter.— Travels in Russia. — Bees kept 
 in Siberia. — Never die from cold. — Travels in Lapland. — Experi- 
 ment to determine the Interior Temperature of a Hive in this 
 Country.— Error of Keys in Regard to the Effect of Cold.— More 
 
CONTENTS. XXX1H 
 
 Page. 
 Hives destroyed by Heat than Cold.— Hives ruined by the too 
 great Influence of the Sun. — Method of averting it. — Danger to 
 a Hive from Humidity. — Bees to be prohibited leaving the 
 Hive in Time of Snow. — One of the Causes of Mortality. — Fa- 
 mine the chief Cause. — Ducarne's Method of immuring Bees. 
 — Fewer Hives die of Hunger in the Northern Countries than in 
 the Southern. — Precautions to be used in weighing Hives. — 
 Danger of Famine may be averted. — Hives to be weighed a 
 second Time in January.— Food to be regularly administered 233 
 
 CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 ON THE LIFE OF THE BEE, AND THE PERIOD OF DURATION OF A HIVE. 
 
 General Estimate of the Life of the Bee. — Opinion of Reaumur. — 
 Experiment by which the Life of the Queen has been ascertained. 
 — Its Duration beyond Four Years. — The Longevity of a Hive 
 difficult to be determined. — The Causes thereof. — Duration of 
 Hives in the Archipelago. — The Age of a Hive may be determined 
 by the Combs. — Opinion of Lapoutre. — Duchet and Pequet. — 
 Hives may be preserved by Paint 246 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 ON THE DEPRIVATION OF THE HIVES, AND WHETHER IT BE BETTER TO 
 SUFFOCATE THEM, OR TO DEPRIVE THEM OF A PART OF THEIR HONET 
 AND WAX. 
 
 Question considered. — Suffocation mostly practised in England. — 
 111 Success of Bonner to prevent it. — Process of the Depriva- 
 tion of a Hive. — Instructions to be observed. — Seasons of the 
 Year in which it is to be performed. — Various Opinions thereon. 
 — Deprivation easy in the Author's Hives. — Opinion of Varro. — 
 Method of Deprivation invented by Columella. — La Grenee an 
 Advocate for Suffocation. — Calculation of the comparative Profits 
 of Hives suffocated and deprived. — Transversing of Hives 
 not beneficial. — Deprivation by the stc.rying System. — The 
 Bell-shaped Hive improper for Deprivation. — Disadvantages of 
 the storying System. — The System of Suffocation examined. — 
 Examination of the Opinion of La Grenee. — His erroneous Cal- 
 culation 251 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 ON THE MANNER OF FEEDING BEES. 
 
 Seasons for Feeding.— Food to be given at Intervals.— Artificial 
 Food often candies in the Cells.— Too much Food not to be 
 given to a weak Hive.— Danger thereof. — In feeding, the Iras- 
 
XXIV CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 cibility of the Bets a good Sijn of Health. — Bees rejecting; 
 Food to be united to another Hive. — In Spring Feeding, Rob- 
 beries to be presented. — Method to be pursued. — Feeding of 
 Bees not to be deferred until they are in actual Want. — Erro- 
 neous Opinion respecting feeding Roes in the Spring. — Materials 
 propel for Fond.— Honey alone injurious. — Recipes for Food.— 
 Manner of supplying the Hives. — Erroneous Method of feeding 
 Bees practised in Hampshire. — Salt to be mixed with the Food. 
 — Farinaceous Substances not to be mixed with the Food. — 
 Quantity of Food consumed by a Hive in a Month. — Treacle to 
 be used instead of Sugar < 267 
 
 CHAP. XXf. 
 
 ON THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF HIVES, THE BEES OF WHICH HAVE PERISHED 
 BY ACCIDENT OR WANT. 
 
 General Custom adopted with perished Hives. — Error thereof.— 
 Eggs left in the Cells in a fecundated State. — Singular Fact rela- 
 tive to an old Hive, the Eggs of which were hatched by th© 
 Summer Heat, — Hypothesis of Ducouedic on this Subject. — 
 Method of managing a Hive under similar Circumstances. — 
 Combs of a perished Hive not to be melted. — Precautions neces- 
 sary on this Head. — A regenerated Hive not to be placed in the 
 Apiary. — Reasons thereof. — No Swarm to be expected from it. — 
 The contrary aflirmt d by Ducouedic 279 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 ON THE rilSTOM OF TRANSPORTING HIVES FROM FI.ACE TO PLACE, FOR 
 THE PURPOSE OF FRESH PASTURAGE, \< COK&ING TO THE PRACTICE Oi 
 THE ANCIENTS AND THE MODERNS. 
 
 Frofit attending the Removal of Hives to the Vicinity of Heath. — 
 Its Adoption in Scotland particularly- recommended. — Objections 
 stated. — The same refuted. — Removal, particularly beneficial to 
 weak Hives. — Hives to be removed in the Spring to the Vicinity 
 of Furze. — Custom of removing Hives in Egypt described.— 
 The same practised by the Greeks and Chinese. — Ingenious 
 Plan adopted in Piedmont. — Manner of transporting the Hives 
 in France.— Rules laid down by M. de Romaic. — The different 
 Systems of Removal examined. — Examination of the System 
 of transversing of Hives.— Contradictory Statements of the Quan- 
 tity of Wax and Honey in a Hive. — The Plan of Transportation 
 disapproved of by Ducarne. — His Opinion refuted. — The travel- 
 ling Apiaries in Germany described. — Increase of the Weight of 
 a Hive on being removed to the Vicinity of Heath. — General Re- 
 commendation , , |t o$4 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 ON THE ROBBERIES OF BEES, AND THE METHOD OF PREVENTING THEM. 
 
 Page. 
 The Bee the natural Enemy of the Bee. — Weak Hives only suffer 
 from Pillage. — A populous Hive often in Want of Provisions. — 
 Resorts to Robbery. — A Hive defended weakly from Pillage, if 
 infected with the Moth. — Different Causes of Pillage. — After 
 Rain Pillage most frequent. — Two Seasons of Pillage in the 
 Year. — Symptoms of an attacked Hive. — Regular Visit to be 
 paid to the Hives, in the robbing Season. — Method of discovering 
 young Bees from Robbers. -—Plan to be adopted with a weak 
 Hive, — Food to be given to weak Hives. — Removal not always 
 a Cure. — Method to be adopted in that Case. — An Artifice to be 
 employed to mislead the Bees. — Instructions respecting- a neigh- 
 bouring Apiary 298 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 ON THE ADVANTAGES WHICH ACCRUE TO THE STATE AND TO INDIVIDUALS 
 PROM THE CULTURE OF THE BEE. 
 
 Importance of the Wax and Honey Trade to this Country. — De- 
 graded State of the Culture of the Bee in this Country. — 
 Calculation of the Profits of an Apiary for five Years.— The com- 
 mon Straw Hive a great Impediment to the extended Culture 
 of the Bee. — Advantages of their Culture. — Immense Quantity 
 of Wax and Honey pruduced in the Island of Corsica. — Extract 
 from a French Newspaper.— Great Quantity of Honey and Wax 
 produced in Hanover. — Causes of the Decline of the Culture of 
 the Bee in France. — The Bee much cultivated in Turkey. — 
 Commerce of Moldavia, Wallachia, &c. in Wax. — Culture of 
 the Bee in the Island of Cuba. — Cause of the Neglect of the 
 Bee in St. Domingo. — Extensive Culture of the Bee in Africa. 
 —Objections to encourage the Bee in the Sugar Islands. — Pre- 
 judice entertained in the Country respecting- Bees. — Doubt of 
 Linnaeus 307 
 
 CHAP. XXV. 
 
 DIRECTIONS FOR THE PURCHASE OF HIVES. 
 
 Caution to Purchasers. — Presence of Mind to be observed. — The 
 Interior of the Hive to be examined first. — An old Hive to be 
 rejected. — Signs thereof. — A Number of Queen Cells a Proof 
 of the Oldness of a Hive. — Proper Seasons for the Purchase of 
 Hives. — Signs of a thriving Hive. — Hives not to be purchased in 
 the immediate Vicinity. — The Weight the best Criterion of a 
 Hive. — Precautions to be used in this respect. — Method of 
 transporting purchased Hives. — Proper Time for the same. — 
 Difference in the Price of Hives. — Number of them kept in the 
 \ icinity of London , 321. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 ON THE COUNTRIES MOST BENEFICIALLY SITUATED FOR THE CULTURE 
 OF THE PEE, AND THE NUMBER OF HIVES WHICH EACH COUNTRY CAN 
 SUPPORT. 
 
 Page. 
 The Southern Counties most advantageous to Bees. — Opinion of 
 La G re nee on the Number of Hives a Country can support. — 
 The same examined. — A Country not to be overstocked with 
 Hives. — Different Positions advantageous to Bees. — The same 
 described. — A cultivated Country not beneficial to Bees. — The 
 Knowledge of the Country necessary to form a good Apiarian. — 
 Number of Bees to be kept in a District according to its fer- 
 tility 327 
 
 CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 ON THE DISTANCE WHICH BEES FLY FOR FOOD. 
 
 Importance of the Question. — Its Solution most necessary. — Va- 
 rious Opinions concerning it. — Huber's Decision upon the Sub- 
 ject. — German travelling Apiarians. — Their Opinions. — Carious 
 Circumstance attending an Excursion to the Isle of May. — Erro- 
 neous Opinion of Bonner. — Errors which the Translators of 
 Foreign Books have fallen into. — Experiment to determine the 
 Range of the Flight of the Bee. — Number of Journeys which a 
 Bee can make in a Day. — Difference in the Number performed 
 by the Bees who collect Honey and those who collect Wax 
 
 CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 The Apiarian's Monthly Manual, or Directions for the Management 
 of Bees in every Month in the Year 338 
 
 CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 List of Trees, Plants, and Flowers, from which the Bees extract 
 their Honey and Wax 354 
 
 CHAP. XXX. 
 
 ON THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF EKES IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 The Bee varies in different Countries.— Very numerous in Africr. 
 — I he Beesol Ceylon, Chin;-., Muscovy, and the Indies.— Guade- 
 loupe.— Louisiana.— Hottentot Country.— Archipelago.— Spain. 
 —Method of discovering theft Nests in Spain.— North Ame- 
 rica 36G 
 
CONTEXTS. XXXVll 
 
 CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 METHOD OF INCREASING THE CULTURE OF THE BEE, BY THE FORMATION 
 OF AN APIARIAN SOCIETY. 
 
 Page. 
 No Encouragement in this Country to the Culture of Bees. — la 
 Germany made a Part of Education. — Bee Gardens of Vienna. — 
 Apiarian Society of Bavaria. — Excellence of its Laws. — Reward 
 bestowed on Peasants in Germany to prevent them killing their 
 Bees. — Objections to the Culture of Bees in this Country. — 
 Stated Arguments in Favour of the Culture of Bees. — Forma- 
 tion of an Apiarian Society suggested 372 
 
 CHAP. XXXII. 
 On the 3Ianufacture of Mead , , 380 
 
The Bee ©bseryej 
 
 She too an artist is, and laughs at man, 
 
 Who calls on rules the sighlly hexagon 
 
 With truth to form : a cunning architect, 
 
 That at the roof begins her golden work, 
 
 And builds without foundation. How she toils S 
 
 And still from bud to bud, from flow'r to flow'r, 
 
 Travels the live-long day. Ye idle drones, 
 
 That rather pilfer than your bread obtain 
 
 By honest means, like these, look here and learH 
 
 How good, how fair, how honourable 'tis 
 
 To live by industry ! The busy tribes 
 
 Of Bees so emulous are daily fed 
 
 With heaven's peculiar manna. 'Tis for their*, 
 
 Unwearied alchyruists, the blooming world 
 
 Nectareous gold distils ; and bounteous Heaven 
 
 Still to the diligent and active, good, 
 
 Their very labour makes the certain caus^ 
 
 Of future wealth. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 J.F we take a retrospective view of the apiarian 
 knowledge of the ancients, as far back as Democri- 
 tus, who lived four hundred and sixty years before 
 the Christian era, we shall find that they occupied 
 themselves more with the Natural History of the Bee 
 than with its Economy. The major part of their 
 writings is lost, and the traces of them are only to 
 be found in two works of the seventeenth century; 
 the author of which was Alexander De Montfort, 
 Captain in the service of his Imperial and Catholic 
 Majesty, and who was born in the country of Lux- 
 burg. 
 
 One of these works is entitled, " The Portrait of 
 the Honey Fly ; its Virtues, Form, and Instructions 
 how to reap advantage from them." Printed in 1646, 
 the other, printed in Antwerp, in 1649, and entitled, 
 44 The Spring of the Honey Fly, divided into two 
 Parts, in ^hich will be found a curious, true, and 
 new History of the admirable and natural Conduct 
 of the Bit, drawn solely from the Hand of Ex- 
 perience" 
 
 De Montfort estimates the number of authors who 
 wrote upon B^es, before his time, at five or six hun- 
 dred ; and he quotes a few, such as Galen, Aristeus, 
 
 B 
 
2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Aristomachus, Menus, Misald, Philistrius, Solin, John 
 of Lebanon, &c. &c, whose works, however, on that 
 subject, are wholly unknown to us. He, however, 
 cites a few with whose works we are conversant ; viz. 
 Aristotle, Columella, Varro, Moufet,* Aldrovan- 
 dus,j- 8cc. &c. 
 
 The writings of De Montfort are valuable, on ac- 
 count of their uniting the reveries of the ancients, 
 with some weak scintillations of modern knowledge. 
 Some of the ancients imagined that the Bees were 
 bred from the purest juice which could be extracted 
 from the flowers in summer; others conceived that 
 they were bred from putrid animals. They were ac- 
 quainted with the existence of one superior Bee, 
 whom they called the King, and who was supposed 
 to originate from a flower, or an animal, more dis- 
 tinguished and noble, than that, from which the com- 
 mon Bees originated. They regarded the drones, or 
 males, as idle lazy flies, of no particular use, even of 
 a noxious nature, and only fit to be exterminated. 
 They called them hornets, or flies of an ugly shape. 
 When they saw two Queens in a swarm, they be- 
 lieved that one of them was a false King, or a Tyrant ; 
 they therefore called him the usurping Prince, who 
 plays on the flute to divert the Bees : all due homage 
 was however paid to him. 
 
 De Montfort, and his predecessors, attributed to 
 the Bees a skill in architecture, which surpasses that 
 
 * Thomas Moufet, an English Physician, who died about 1600, 
 known by a work written in Latin, entitled, Theatrum Inseclorum, 
 Londini, 1634. in fol. with plates. 
 
 + A celebrated professor of physic, at Bologna; one of the many 
 authors whose labours have been most extensive in natural history. 
 His works are almost incredible ; they are contained in thirty volumes, 
 in folio. They did not however enrich him, for he died blind in the 
 hospital at Bologna, at the age of eighty. 
 
INTRODUCTION. S 
 
 of Archimedes.* They endowed them with fore- 
 sight; they spoke of their science in mathematics, in 
 arithmetic, geometry, astrology, logic, philosophy, 
 painting, poetry, music, pharmacy, medicine, che- 
 mistry, &c.-j* 
 
 In medicine, for example, bees pounded, and 
 taken in a beverage, assuaged the maladies of the 
 stomach, and prevented vomiting ; they cured the 
 dysentery, and diminished the freckles in the face ; 
 incorporated with nut-oil, they restored lost hair. 
 Honey was a universal remedy : it dissipated melan- 
 choly, anger, and purified corrupted blood ; it as- 
 sisted those who had short breath, inveterate cough, 
 pain in the side, sciatica, gout, flatulency ; it as- 
 suaged mental distress, restored the health impaired 
 by age, hunger, or sickness, &c. &c. 
 
 Among the authors quoted by De Montfort, Mou- 
 fet deserves particular notice. He says " that the 
 " Bee breeds by copulation ; that the male and fe- 
 " male search for each other in the woods, and in a 
 " place so very retired, that no person has ever yet. 
 " seen them." De Montfort calls this a bold conjec- 
 ture, and not founded on any demonstration, nor 
 experience. This circumstance would not have been 
 mentioned, had it not so happened that some api- 
 arians of the present dayj entertain the same opinion, 
 although they cannot produce a single fact to esta- 
 blish their doctrine. 
 
 Those, who in the seventeenth and at the com- 
 mencement of the eighteenth century, wrote after De 
 
 * Virgil says that a Bee is a ray of the divinity ; Plutarch, that 
 it is the magazine of virtues; Quintilian, that it is chief of geome- 
 tricians. 
 
 + V. le Portrait de la Mouche a miel, ses vertus, forme, sens,et ia- 
 ftruction par A. de Montfort. Liege, 1646. 
 
 + Huher, Lombard, and others. 
 
 B2 
 
4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Montfort, have repeated his reveries, and have taken 
 possession of his engraving: it is to be seen in the 
 eleventh edition of his Maison Rustique. It is that 
 in which there is the figure of a man attempting to 
 put a swarm into a sack. 
 
 On finishing with the ancients, I cannot refrain 
 from quoting Plato, who said that the Bee has some 
 spark of the celestial anger, which animates the 
 poets; in consequence of which, he advises his dis- 
 ciples, who wish to preserve their repose, not to irri- 
 tate either the Bees, or the poets. 
 
 At the close of the seventeenth century, three 
 celebrated naturalists appeared : Swammerdam, a 
 Dutch physician ; Maraldi, an astronomer, and 
 member of the Academy of Sciences ; and Ferchault 
 de Reaumur, also a member of the Academy of 
 Sciences, who, by their observations and dissections, 
 began to raise the veil which concealed from us a 
 great part of the natural history of the Bee. It must 
 however be observed that John Baptiste Hodierna, 
 Archdeacon of Palma in Istria, was the first, who 
 promulgated the opinion, that all the eggs, which 
 are laid in a hive originated from a single Queen 
 Mother. This hypothesis was confirmed by the 
 three above mentioned naturalists, who decided that 
 there were males and females amongst the Bees, and 
 from that period, the idea, and the conjecture of 
 Moufet ceased to be considered so hardy. The writ- 
 ings and experiments of these three learned men made 
 a total change in the technical terms of Apiarian 
 Science, and their works were translated into every 
 language. 
 
 Among those who in later times have written 
 upon Bees, may be distinguished particularly (1) 
 Schirach, who discovered that the Bees, which have 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 lost their Queen, dan raise another for themselves 
 from maggots of their own kind, by giving them a 
 particular nourishment ; (2) Riems, who discovered 
 that there are common Bees, which lay eggs : (3) De 
 Braw, who attempted to establish, by experiments 
 and specious arguments, that the eggs, which the 
 Queen lays, are fecundated by the drones in the 
 manner of fish ; and, lastly, Butler, who attributed 
 a song to Bees.* The points rendered clear by these 
 writers were, that amongst the Bees there were male 
 and female, and no neuter; but they were not able at 
 the same time to tell us, in what manner the Queen 
 Bee was fecundated. Reaumur alone believed that 
 he had witnessed the fact, without avowing it posi- 
 tively. 
 
 This is the second epoch of the Natural History 
 of the Bee. 
 
 At the close of the eighteenth century, appeared, 
 M. Huber, an able naturalist, but labouring under a 
 defect of vision, who directed his servant, Francois 
 Beurnens, with so much sagacity, that, after a mul- 
 titude of experiments, the following are the results ; 
 and they are merely quoted to shew how far the en- 
 thusiasm of a man can extend, who wishes to be the 
 founder of a system. A smile will no doubt sit upon 
 the countenance of every one in the least conversant 
 with Bees, when he reads the following wonderful 
 discoveries of M. Huber; and his surprise will also 
 be great when he finds, that such a wild and incohe- 
 rent system has its advocates and defenders amongst 
 men, whose science and general knowledge should 
 have prevented them from giving any support to such 
 
 * To quote all the writers upon Bees would be a most superfluous 
 task : their various theories will, however, be investigated in the course 
 of the present work. 
 
Jb INTRODUCTION. 
 
 gross absurdities. The following are a few of the 
 discoveries of M. Huber : 
 
 1st. That the Queen Bee is not fecundated in the 
 hive, but in the open air ; and this was conjectured 
 by Moufet some centuries ago. Lombard, a French 
 apiarian, gravely informs us that this discovery con- 
 sequently destroys the system of De Braw. 
 
 2d. That the pollen, which until his time was 
 known by the name of crude wax, is not the raw 
 material of the wax, but that it is the nourishment 
 of the Bees in their earliest stage. 
 
 3d. That it is the saccharine part of the honey 
 which produces the wax in the bodies of the Bees, 
 which they even extract from sugar.* 
 
 4th. That the young Queens make such a clapping 
 noise, as to strike the Bees immovable. 
 
 As, however, the absurdities of M. Huber will be 
 often reverted to in the course of the present work, 
 they shall not in this place be further enlarged upon. 
 
 In regard to our English apiarians, very little has 
 been done by them towards the establishment of a 
 perfect knowledge of the Bee. Bonner, a Scotch- 
 man, was certainly a good practical apiarian, but he 
 was, unfortunately, beset with most of the preju- 
 dices of the more ancient authors. He took Schirach 
 for his guide, and, by following that particular track, 
 fell into the glaring errors and inconsistencies of 
 that naturalist. He is^ne of those apiarians, who 
 pretend to have actually vieiccd the operations of 
 the Bees ; and, although I here acknowledge to 
 have gained much valuable information from his 
 conversation, yet I have sacrificed many hives at his 
 
 * This is the general opinion of the foreign apiarians, from L'Abbe 
 della Rocca to Mr. Ducouedie. It has, however, been successfully 
 combated by Duchet, Ducarne, and others. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 suggestion, in hopes of discovering the deep secrets 
 of these winged freemasons ; and the only result 
 was, the murder of a few thousands of my favourites. 
 He has, however, in one respect, been a benefactor 
 to his country ; he implanted a desire in his coun- 
 trymen to cultivate the Bee, and many are now 
 ready to acknowledge, with gratitude, the advantage 
 which they have derived from his counsel. I shall 
 feel myself happy if the end of my labours be the 
 same. 
 
A 
 
 PRACTICAL TREATISE 
 
 ON 
 
 B E E 8. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 ON BEES IN GENERAL. 
 
 JL SHALL not here give a description of the dif- 
 ferent species of Bees, which the Author of Nature 
 has disseminated throughout Creation ; the only 
 question is of those which we cultivate, and the 
 produce of which ought to form one of the principal 
 branches of our rural economy ; the others belong 
 more properly to entomological science, which has 
 already been ably investigated by Reaumur, and other 
 skilful naturalists. 
 
 The common Bee, or Honey Fly, is an insect of 
 the species of the fly with four wings. This fly is 
 of the number of those who live in association. 
 Man has subjected them to his dominion, in order 
 to profit by their labour; and he has assembled 
 
 D. H. HILL LIBRARY 
 North Carolina State ColleaS 
 
10 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 them in kinds of baskets or boxes, called Hives, 
 which vary in form and size in different countries. 
 
 The order which reigns in the different operations 
 of the domesticated Bees, their mode of government, 
 their industry, the exquisite art manifested in their 
 works, and the great utility of their labours, have 
 attracted towards them the attention of ancient and 
 modern philosophers, some of whom have passed the 
 major part of their lives in the study and contempla- 
 tion of those wonderful insects. Some individuals, 
 however, allowing themselves to be carried away by- 
 enthusiasm, have attributed almost miracles to them; 
 and in this class, Huber and Bonner certainly hold 
 the first rank. In the earlier period of the history of 
 the Bee, Svvammerdam, Maraldi, and R,eaumur, cer- 
 tainly divested their history of much that was mar- 
 vellous and ridiculous, and they rendered the study of 
 it more interesting, by the exposition of many truths, 
 which they announced, and by a multitude of new 
 and various particularities, which came under their 
 immediate observation. But in the vast field which 
 they have traversed, notwithstanding the abundance 
 of their harvest, there yet remains much to glean. 
 Since their time, science has been gradually unlock- 
 ing her stores, and the mists of prejudice have been 
 dispersed by the penetrating rays of philosophy. The 
 treasures of Nature are inexhaustible, and there is 
 certainly no department in her vast domain, in 
 which curiosity and amusement are more intimately 
 blended, than in the study of the Bee. 
 
 There is no doubt that there are various species 
 of the working Bee ; some large, and some small. 
 The latter is always to be preferred. The Abbe 
 Rosier, one of the best-informed of the French agri- 
 culturists, particularizes four species of the domestic 
 
ON BEES IN GENERAL. 11 
 
 Bee, with which it is essential to be well acquainted, 
 as they differ much in their good qualities. Those 
 of the first species are large, long, and very brown ; 
 those of the second are not so great, their colour is 
 almost black ; those of the third are grey, and of a 
 less size ; those of the fourth are much smaller than 
 the two former, of a bright yellow, shining, and 
 polished. The latter are called in France, Little 
 Dutchmen, or Little Flemings, because they are 
 the only sort which are bred in Holland or Flan- 
 ders. 
 
 The Bee is the most active and the most industri- 
 ous of all insects. It works from the very first ray 
 of day to the twilight, in those countries in which 
 there is a perpetual Spring. In the Southern Coun- 
 tries, it is occupied during nine months; there is 
 even in the Winter, only a few days in which it ap- 
 pears to repose. It is solely in the more Northern 
 Countries that the Bee ceases absolutely to collect 
 its sweets, from the latter end of September until 
 the return of Spring. 
 
 It is to this insect, and to this only, that we are 
 in Europe indebted for the honey, and the wax, 
 which form an important branch of our rural econo- 
 my ; it gathers the substances, which enter into the 
 composition of honey, from the majority of plants, 
 and trees and from the most humble of the shrubs 
 and simples. The forests and heaths belong equally 
 to its domain. 
 
 Indeed, during the time of the rising of the sap, 
 all the vegetables are full of nutritious juices, which 
 are laid under contribution by the Bee, whose only 
 embarrassment is in the selection. Independently 
 of the juice of the plants, and the nectar of the 
 flowers, which it extracts from their chalices, with- 
 
12 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 out tarnishing their purity, and with an art which is 
 derivable solely from nature, it is often observed to 
 be busily occupied with the bark and moss of trees, 
 on which its piercing eye, and penetrating sense and 
 smell, have enabled it to discover those substances 
 which are necessary to the completion of its melli- 
 fluous store: it is sometimes seen on rocks, and on 
 walls, the stones of which appear to be completely 
 bare. This insect appears to collect salts, which are 
 wholly imperceptible to us. Water is actualty ne- 
 cessary to it, and its instinct enables it to discover 
 springs, which to us are unknown. 
 
 The Bee is particularly delighted in roaming from 
 flower to flower; and if it does not insert its whole 
 body into each, it at least introduces its proboscis into 
 the chalices. It enriches itself from every flower, and 
 the attentive eye of the observer, who watches its 
 motions, perceives the growth of the pellets of pollen, 
 or farina, with which it furnishes the cavities of its 
 hinder legs. But the eye cannot perceive any altera- 
 tion in the flowers ; they have not lost any part of 
 their beauty, nor of their colours, nor of their faculty 
 of fructification ; on the contrary, it is by the Bee that 
 the seminal matter of the male flower is conveyed to 
 the female, as in cucumbers, melons, currants, goose- 
 berries, &c* 
 
 In this kingdom many hundreds of hives are to be 
 seen, and in every species of our harvests, we do not 
 miss a single particle by the labour of the Bees, nor 
 by the transportation of those substances which are 
 necessary to them. 
 
 * There can be no doubt that the sole use of the honey with respect 
 to the plant is to tempt insects, who, in procuring it, fertilize the flower 
 by disturbing the dust of the stamina, and even carry that substance 
 from the barren to the fertile blossoms. Smith's Botany. 
 
ON BEES IN GENERAL. 13 
 
 During the summer, to whatever quarter the. Bee 
 directs its flight, it is certain of a greater or less har- 
 vest of those substances, which are proper for its 
 habitation and support. With these substances im- 
 bibed into tht stomach, or fixed to its thighs, back, 
 or wings, it continues its flight in search of more 
 food, and so great are its perseverance and~ ardour, 
 that it prolongs its flight, until its load be perfectly 
 complete, with which it returns to the hive. 
 
 Immediately on its arrival, it hastens to a cell, and 
 evacuates from its stomach the substance which is 
 converted into honey, or it is assisted by the other 
 Bees in discharging from its thighs the load of farina, 
 which it has collected in its journey. It is no sooner 
 unburthened of its treasure, than it prepares for a 
 fresh flight, cleans its wings, refreshes its antennae, 
 and in an instant darts from the hive to the fields of 
 its harvest. 
 
 The Bees live in a state of society; the individuals 
 of a hive are perfectly known to each other, and they 
 never admit a stranger into their community, except- 
 ing accidentally at swarming time, when circum- 
 stances can so combine, that several swarms may 
 unite, and form a social brotherhood. Every society is 
 a monarchy governed by a Queen, subordinate to 
 whom are several hundred drones, and a multitude 
 of labourers, according to the size of the colony. 
 
 All the working Bees are armed with a sting for 
 their defence, which is placed at the posterior extre- 
 mity of their body, but as soon as it has been used, it 
 is left in the wound that has been inflicted, and the 
 Bee perishes : the injury, which is occasioned by the 
 eruption of the intestines, to which the sting is affix- 
 ed, is always mortal. 
 
14 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 The Bees in general know the persons who are 
 accustomed to work in the apiary, and they seldom 
 attack them. It is however singular, that they en- 
 tertain a particular dislike to certain persons, and 
 I once conceived, that it might arise from the colour 
 of the dress, knowing that they have an antipathy to 
 particular colours ; but L tried the experiment of dress- 
 ing a person in different colours, to whom, on his ap- 
 proach to my apiary, the Bees testified a dislike, and 
 the result was always the same. He no sooner came, 
 as it may be called, within the range of the Bees, than 
 he was instantly attacked, and obliged to make a pre- 
 cipitate retreat. On the whole, the Bees are very 
 bold and irascible insects. They know all the vari- 
 ations of the atmosphere, and seldom quit the hive if 
 the weather be uncertain. When they are overtaken 
 by a storm, theyshelter themselves under the branches 
 and the leaves of trees. 
 
 The ancients were not ignorant of the great attach- 
 ment which the Bees entertain for their Queen, whom 
 they knew by no other title, than that of King. Varro 
 informs us, that they are constantly occupied in pro- 
 viding for her preservation ; that they animate her in 
 her flight, even to the length of carrying her, if she 
 appears to them to be too much fatigued. 
 
 The extent of the life of these insects has not yet 
 been ascertained, and it is one of those events in 
 nature, to the certainty of which we can never attain. 
 Few however die of old age, in comparison with those, 
 who perish by the violence of the tempests, by birds, 
 wasps, field-mice, toads, and a whole host of other 
 enemies. The dysentery is the only serious malady 
 which is known amongst them, and with which whole 
 colonies are sometimes infected. A singular strictness 
 
ON BEES IN GENERAL. 15 
 
 however prevails toward all those who have been 
 so unfortunate as to lose a wing, a leg, the proboscis, 
 or any other part ; they are without any mercy 
 banished from the hive, in which no infirm members 
 are allowed, and they then fall victims to the voracity 
 of other insects or birds. 
 
 Their cleanliness in the interior of the hive is most 
 extraordinary : if a Bee dies in it, it is immediately 
 dragged from the hive, as well as all the deceased 
 embryoes. They clean all the cells, in which the 
 Queen has laid her eggs, and as soon as a young Bee 
 emerges from its cell, it becomes the operation of 
 several of the old Bees to clean it. 
 
 Every Bee, immediately on quitting its nymphal 
 state, knows its particular department of labour. 
 There is never the least disorder nor confusion 
 amongst them, neither in entering nor leaving the 
 hive, nor in their labours, nor when the inclemency 
 of the weather prevents them from going into the 
 fields. Every one knows its duty, with an instinct 
 more admirable, than it is easy to conceive. The 
 prodigies of nature are wonderful in these insects. 
 They are born, and, without any subsequent instruc- 
 tion, perform their destined labours, which consist in 
 collecting the substances which are useful, and ne- 
 cessary to the fabrication of honey, wax, or propolis, 
 according to the respective wants of the colony. 
 
 How shall we account for that certain and ready 
 manner, in which the Bees know their own hive from 
 a hundred others, and all of which have in their exte- 
 rior form a perfect resemblance to each other? It is in 
 this point of view that Nature appears in her greatest 
 power, and the hand of the Great Being, who gives 
 to the meanest reptile the instinct necessary for its 
 
16 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 preservation, is visible and demonstrative. The ex- 
 istence and conduct of these insects in their govern- 
 ment present a series of phenomena which are pecu- 
 liarly interesting and instructive to persons curious in 
 the prodigies of nature. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE QUEEN BEE. 17 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE QUEEN BEE, 
 
 _L HE Queen, or Mother Bee, holds the first rank 
 in the colony. She is the mother of all the young 
 Queens, Drones, and Working Bees ; in fine, of the 
 whole family, who emigrate from an old hive to 
 create a new establishment, and to form for them- 
 selves a colony in another place. 
 
 The make of this wonderful insect is wholly dif- 
 ferent from that of the other Bees. Like the Drones, 
 she has no triangular cavities in her hinder legs, 
 which are appropriated, in the common Bee, to the 
 reception of the farina of plants. Her teeth are 
 smaller than those of the common Bee, but larger 
 than those of the Drones, and she has no brushy 
 substances at the end of her feet. The Queen in her 
 body is longer and more taper than the Drone, but 
 the most certain characteristic of the Queen Bee is 
 the shortness of her wings, which only extend to 
 the third ring of her body, whilst the wings of the 
 Working Bees, and especially those of the Drones, 
 extend the whole length of it. (See Plate I. Fig. 1.) 
 With these short wings, the Queen flies with greater 
 difficulty than the working Bees ; and, indeed, dur- 
 c 
 
IS MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 ing her life, it seldom happens that she has any oc- 
 casion for them. The belly of the Queen is of a 
 golden colour, and the upper part of her body is of 
 a brighter hue than that of the common Bee. In 
 the interior of her body the eggs are distributed in 
 two ovaria ; each ovarium is an assemblage of vessels, 
 which terminate in a common channel, and which 
 are all filled with eggs during the breeding season. 
 
 The Queen is of an astonishing fecundity, which 
 is not to be equalled by any other insect, nor ani- 
 mal. Fish, indeed, may form an exception. The 
 Queen Bee lays her eggs, as long as there is a cell, 
 in which to deposit them ; and the question now to 
 be decided is, in what manner, and at what time, are 
 the eggs fecundated ? On this subject, various and 
 contradictory have been the opinions, and hypotheses 
 of apiarians. Some of the most extravagant systems 
 have been adopted, and the whole force of human 
 sagacity and invention has been called in to discover 
 this great secret in the works of nature ; but, after 
 all these exertions, the same doubt exists as at the 
 commencement of the investigation. The English 
 apiarians, Thirley, Varder, Wildman, Bonner, Keys, 
 &c. have each had his respective system, and each 
 believed, that he was the fortunate discoverer of the 
 secret. 
 
 The fact is, the Queen knows not coition ; she is 
 both virgin and mother, although this is denied by 
 Reaumur and other modern apiarians, against the 
 opinion of Maraldi, Swammerdam, and other cele- 
 brated naturalists. 
 
 The sting of the Queen Bee is bent, and it pene- 
 trates to a considerable depth. A French naturalist, 
 M. La Grenee, says, " that he held a Queen Bee in 
 his hand for some length of time, and even tor- 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE QUEEN BEE. 10 
 
 merited her, without having had the honour of being 
 stun?." In regard to myself, I have experienced 
 that honour in retaining a Queen in my hand, and 
 pressing her closely ; although I must confess that 
 the sting was slight, and not accompanied with much 
 pain.* 
 
 This indolence, or reluctance, on the part of the 
 Queen to revenge an affront, which does not display 
 itself in the common Bee, arises entirely from a con- 
 sciousness, which she possesses, of the welfare of the 
 hive entirely depending on her preservation : the 
 monarchy would be exposed to very frequent and 
 alarming danger, if she were addicted to the same 
 ebullitions of passion as the common Bee. The 
 Queen Bee is the soul of the hive ; if she perishes, 
 the labours of the colony cease, and the Bees imme- 
 diately forsake their domicile. This is another verv 
 cogent reason why she is not fructified a la Huber ; 
 for, were she in the habit of leaving the hive for the 
 purpose of copulation with the drones, she would 
 have to encounter such a host of enemies, who are 
 ever on the watch for the Bees, that no insurance- 
 office could be found, which would underwrite a 
 policy for her life. 
 
 The attachment of the Bees to the Queen is equal 
 to the utility which she displays in the Hive, and 
 the power which she possesses is employed solely to 
 the benefit of her subjects. Without her, the spe- 
 cies would disperse, and be annihilated ; without 
 her, or, at least, without the hope of another being 
 soon born, every thing would be in languor, dejec- 
 tion, and consternation. The Bees would immedi- 
 ately forsake the hive, without the hope of a return. 
 
 * Pliny says, that the King of the Bees has no sting: it is, how- 
 ever, certain that the Queen has one, but she seldom makes use of it- 
 
 c 2 
 
20 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 They would become a horde of vagabonds, falling a 
 prey to their enemies, or dying with the weight of 
 their chagrin and sorrow. If the Queen forsakes her 
 ordinary dwelling, whether it be, that it is not com- 
 modious enough for her, or that the combs have 
 been spoiled, or attacked by other insects, the Bees 
 still follow her with a constancy and fidelity beyond 
 all conception, and they repair to the spot, which 
 they have chosen for their repose. 
 
 To this extremity extends the attachment of the 
 Bees for their Queen ; without her, their labour ap- 
 pears useless and unfruitful, because they are totally 
 bereft of the hope of seeing their species perpetuated 
 in their descendants. 
 
 Essentially necessary however as she is to the 
 monarchy, she is not burthened with the govern- 
 ment, nor with the police, nor the preservation of 
 the laws. Each Bee performs that part which the 
 good of the society demands, and it never neglects 
 its duty. The intimation of any order is useless, or 
 the prescription of any particular labour; it follows 
 invariably that plan of conduct, which has been laid 
 down for it by the Creator from the commencement : 
 thus that regular distribution of employment, that 
 choice of talent, that vigilance and foresight, which 
 have been attributed to the Queen Bee, are, merely 
 the fancies of the fabulists, and the vagaries of the 
 poets. It is mere chance, or the occasion which, 
 divides the species of labour to which every Bee is 
 to dedicate itself: all are equally fitted to gather 
 honey, to collect the wax, or to build a cell. No 
 variety of talent, no diversity of taste, nor inclination, 
 has ever been observed amongst them. Each under- 
 takes the first labour which presents itself. If a 
 Bee abandons one occupation to perform another, it 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE QUEEN BEE. 21 
 
 is for the purpose of refreshing itself, or because par- 
 ticular circumstances demanded it. The supernu- 
 merary Queens ought to be considered still less, as 
 ministers of the state. No hive requires, nor will 
 suffer, more than one Queen, If there be more, 
 they are all murdered without distinction. 
 
 In regard to the young Queens, it is certain that 
 they never lay any eggs in the hive in which they 
 were born ; they wait the departure of the swarms, 
 to place themselves at the head, and to form an 
 establishment, independently of the Mother Queen. 
 Those who have the misfortune not to be chosen to 
 conduct the swarms, are massacred at the end of the 
 summer, in the same manner, and at the same time, 
 as the Drones, because the Bees will only suffer one 
 Queen to govern them.* 
 
 The cell, in which the Queen Bee is born, is of a 
 wholly different construction from that of either the 
 Drones or the common Bees. (See Plate VI. Fig. 1.) 
 The cell of the latter is horizontal, whereas that of 
 the Queen is perpendicular ; the former is an exact 
 hexagon, the latter is circular. Some apiarians dedi- 
 cate a particular cell, to which the Queen retires to 
 repose from her labours, or to transact the affairs of 
 the state ; but this idea must have been begotten in 
 the brain of the poet, or of the visionary enthusiast, 
 the only purpose for which the Queen ever enters a 
 cell being to lay her eggs, or to extract that nutri- 
 ment which is necessary for her preservation. 
 
 On the side of the middle combs, the cell is con- 
 structed, which is to serve for the reception of the 
 
 * Miles asserts, that two Queens govern sometimes in the same 
 hive, and that a large comb then forms a barrier of the two kingdoms. 
 He would have been as near the truth, had he placed two kings at 
 once on the throae of England. 
 3 
 
22 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 egg, from which the young Queen is to spring ; and 
 it is wonderful to conceive the certainty with which 
 the Mother Queen knows the particular nature of 
 the egg which she is about to lay. The cell, in 
 which the egg of the drone is deposited, is differently 
 constructed from that of the common Bee, the for- 
 mer being of an irregular shape, whereas the latter is 
 a complete hexagon. It has been supposed by some 
 naturalists, that there is no difference in the egg, but 
 in the manner of its fructification ; and that, instead 
 of all the eggs being fructified by the drones, that 
 each is impregnated by its like ; the drone by the 
 drone, the common Bee by the common Bee, and 
 the Queen by herself; and to substantiate this hy- 
 pothesis, some have declared that they have disco- 
 vered males amongst the common Bees. This is, 
 however, one of the crotchets of the enthusiasts, who, 
 rather than not account for the secret operations of 
 nature, which are concealed from the prying curiosity 
 of man, will give water the property of flowing back 
 to its source, and deny to light the inherent principle 
 of vegetation. 
 
 When the Queen feels an inclination to lay an 
 egg, she is by Nature endowed with the instinct of 
 knowing the proper cell in which to deposit it. For 
 this purpose she enters the cell retrogradely ; and, 
 having deposited the egg, she retires from it, and 
 hastens to another. The drones enter the cell in the 
 same manner, and emit the seminal fluid which fe- 
 cundates the egg. The size of the drone prevents 
 him, however, from introducing the whole of his 
 body into the cell, but the organ of generation extends 
 to the bottom, in order to touch the egg which has 
 been just deposited by the Queen.* 
 
 * Liittichau, Janscha, Kratzer, Muller, and other German apiarians, 
 
DESCRIPTION OP THE QUEEN BEE. 23 
 
 The advocates of this system have had several dif- 
 ficulties proposed to them, and the unsatisfactory 
 manner in which they have been solved, has been the 
 cause of triumph to the adherents of the copulating 
 system. Notwithstanding the assertions of many 
 apiarians, and which are said to be founded upon 
 actual and repeated observation, it is certain that not 
 a single drone is permitted to remain in the hive 
 during the winter. I have examined several hives, 
 from the month of October to March, and I never yet 
 could find a single drone. Here then the first diffi- 
 culty presents itself: — In what manner are the eggs 
 fructified in the spring, as there is not a single male 
 to be found in the hive? The adherents of the sys- 
 tem of coition assert, that previously to the destruc- 
 tion of the drones they fructified the Queen, and that 
 she remains in that state until the spring. According 
 to this hypothesis, it is not the e^ which is fructi- 
 fied, but the body of the Queen; for in this case, 
 how could the eggs be fructified which were not 
 in the ovarium of the Queen, at the time of the last 
 coition with the drones? The analogy of the Bee 
 with the wasp, may be here fairly quoted. It is cer- 
 tain, from the simple circumstance of the wasp 
 hoarding no food, that the Queen or Mother Wasp 
 is the only one, which survives the season, unless 
 it be supposed that the Wasp is an hibernating 
 insect, for the belief of .which, we have not the slight- 
 est ground. It must then necessarily follow, that 
 the Mother Wasp must have been fructified previ- 
 ously to the decease of the male Wasps at the end of 
 the season, and that at the commencement of spring, 
 
 have discovered seminal matter on the posterior of the Queen. They, 
 however, evidently laboured under a most egregious error, for the 
 matter which they observed* was only the feeces of her Majesty 
 
 4 
 
24 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 she sallies forth to build the nest, in which to de- 
 posit her eggs. It cannot have escaped the obser- 
 vation of those, who are in the least acquainted 
 with the natural history of the Wasp, that the 
 Mother Wasp is the only one existing at the com- 
 mencement of the season, and that she builds her 
 habitation without any assistance from the common 
 Wasp. It may however be possible, that the eggs 
 in the ovarium of the Wasp, may have been all 
 fructified, for there is no proportion between the 
 number of eggs which the Queen Bee lays, and 
 that which is laid by the Mother Wasp. My rea- 
 sons, however, for not coinciding in the belief of 
 the system of copulation, have been already stated, 
 and it now then only remains to solve the difficulty 
 of the fructification of the egg in the cell, when 
 there is no drone to be found in the Hive. To 
 ascertain the solution of this problem, I acknow- 
 ledge that I have ruined several very fine hives, 
 but the following is the result of my experiments. 
 In the month of September, 1811, I observed 
 one of my hives busily employed in killing the 
 drones, and I pitched upon this hive on which 
 to commence my researches into this great arcanum 
 of natural history. In a few days the work of 
 slaughter had ceased, and I then drove the hive,* 
 to satisfy myself that no drone remained; after an 
 hour's arduous search 1 was convinced that not a 
 single one was in the hive. Leaving the Bees 
 
 * As this expression may often occur in the course of this work, 
 I beg that by driving a hive may be understood, the act of obliging 
 the Bees to leave their own domicle, and take refuge in another. 
 This is performed by placi.ig the full hive under an empty one, and 
 by gently tupping the lower hive, the Bees will all ascend into the 
 upper, and the lower one then remains vacant, for experiments or 
 the purpose of deprivation. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE QUEEN BEE. 25 
 
 then in the empty hive, I took the full one into 
 the house, and began to examine the combs. My 
 design in this instance was to discover some cells, 
 in which the egg was in that state as if just laid 
 by the Queen, and which might have been fruc- 
 tified by the drones previously to their expulsion. 
 I was not long before I discovered the object of my 
 search, and after cutting a small piece of the 
 comb away which contained the cells in which 
 the eggs had been deposited, I returned the hive 
 to its place, and restored the Bees to it. I then 
 proceeded to examine the eggs in the bit of comb, 
 by the aid of a microscope, and I observed they 
 were glossy and full, there was not, however, any 
 mucous matter in the cell which could indicate the 
 injection of the seminal matter by the drone. I 
 conceived, however, that it might have been absorb- 
 ed by the egg previously to my examination. These 
 eggs were deposited in the regular hexagon cells, and 
 consequently the common Bee was to be the produce. 
 My next aim was to discover if there were any 
 eggs in the drone cells, but the difficulty here was 
 great, as the drones are always bred in the middle of 
 the combs, and towards the upper end of the hive. 
 To reach the drone cells I was therefore obliged to cut 
 away a considerable part of the brood combs, which 
 I knew was tantamount to the destruction of the 
 hive. I arrived, however, at the drone cells with 
 a comparatively small sacrifice of the brood combs, 
 and having satisfied myself that there were eggs in 
 the cells, I left the hive to repose for a month. 
 In November, I again examined it, and found but a 
 very trifling alteration in the eggs. They were rather 
 larger, but I did not see a single cell closed, from 
 which I could conclude that the process of genera- 
 
V() MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 tion was proceeding. During the whole winter 1 
 examined the hive at stated periods, and saw no vi- 
 sible alteration in the eggs. By the month of March, 
 however, the whole of the eggs were hatched, and I 
 found some drones in the hive. 
 
 From these experiments I draw the following con- 
 clusions : — That at the end of the season, the brood 
 combs are filled with fructified eggs, which, as heat 
 is necessary to their growth through the different 
 stages, cannot be hatched in the coldness of winter,* 
 that the warmth of the Bees at that time is not of it- 
 self sufficient to bring the eggs to maturity, and that 
 as the warm weather declines, the hatching of the 
 eggs also gradually decreases, until it entirely ceases, 
 awaiting the return of spring. Nor is there any thing 
 in this hypothesis which is inconsistent with the usual 
 operations of nature ; on the contrary, it perfectly 
 harmonizes with them. Moths, and other insects, 
 deposit their eggs, covered with a silky film, and they 
 remain in that state, until the genial warmth of spring 
 hatches them. The creature, which fructified them 
 is no more, and the only thing which is then neces- 
 sary for the production of life, is heat. 
 
 When a Queen Bee has not a sufficient number of 
 labourers to construct the cells which are necessary 
 for the laying of her eggs, she generally forsakes 
 
 * It was the opinion of M. Ducarne, a most able French naturalist, 
 that the Queen even lays her eggs in winter, He says, " Quelquefois 
 me*me il fait assez doux dans Phiver pour eugager lareine a pondre, et 
 a deposer quelques ceufs ; mais ces o-ufs ne pourront guere eclore 
 qu'apres l'hiver, quand les abeilles iront aux champs leur chercher de 
 lanourriture." From this sentiment of M. Ducarne, we may draw the 
 conclusion, that the Queen was impregnated by the drones previously 
 to their expulsion. M. Ducarne should have mentioned what sort of 
 nourishment the Bees collect in the fields, in order to effect the hatch- 
 ing of the eggs. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE QUEEN BEE. 27 
 
 the hive, although it be full of provisions. To re- 
 medy this inconvenience, some empty combs should 
 be placed in the hive. The ancients were acquainted 
 with this method, and it is recommended by Varro. 
 A more simple and efficacious method is, instead of 
 putting into the hive detached pieces of combs, to 
 place under it the hive of a colony which has died 
 during the year. The brood of this hive will hatch 
 with the warmth of the Bees, and thus the colony 
 will be increased in numbers. 
 
98 MANAGEMENT OF BEESo 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 ON THE DRONES. 
 
 J. HE drone is easy to be distinguished from the 
 other Bees of the hive : he is rather shorter than the 
 Queen, but is much larger; and when he departs 
 from, or enters the hive, he is always announced by 
 his flight, which occasions that humming from which 
 he derives his name. (See Plate I, Fig. 2.) 
 
 The number of drones in a hive, varies according 
 to its size ; in some are 4 or 500, in others from S00 
 to 1200. Their number, however, is always in 
 proportion to the number of working Bees. 
 
 The construction of the cells advances also in pro- 
 portion to the number of working Bees, and the 
 fecundity of the Queen in proportion to the number 
 of cells ; and when all the cells are constructed and 
 filled with the eggs of the Queen, the drones imme- 
 diately commence the office of fructification. If the 
 laying of the eggs be more or less considerable, in 
 proportion to the number of cells, the number of the 
 drones ought to be also greater in order to effect the 
 fecundation of the eggs of the Queen. She can lay 
 about 4 or 500 eggs in the course of a day, and the 
 work of fecundation by the drone requires for its 
 execution a much greater number of the species : 
 thus Na.ture, with her usual foresight and wisdom, 
 proportions the number of drones to that of the work- 
 
ON THE DRONES. 29 
 
 ing Bees, by which all the operations of the hive 
 proceed with the greatest harmony and exactness. 
 
 The drone has no offensive weapon like the work- 
 ing Bee : at the place where the sting of the latter is 
 placed, is situated the orifice of the case which en- 
 closes the organ of generation, destined to the fecun- 
 dation of the eggs of the Queen. 
 
 Nature is too systematic in her mode of action to 
 have formed the drones, as some modern apiarians 
 have represented it. The fate of the Queen Bee 
 would be indeed unfortunate, if the work of gene- 
 ration were to be performed by these insects, as by the 
 greater number of animals. A Queen Bee, the only 
 one of her sex in the hive, with about 7 or 800, or 
 even a thousand males, would be in the situation of 
 the Queen of Acham, who kept a seraglio of men; 
 I have however, enlarged upon this subject in an- 
 other place. 
 
 The antennae of the drone have eleven^ajlicjula- 
 tions, those of the other Bees have fifteen. Their 
 eves, constructed with the reie mirabile, cover the 
 whole of the upper part of the head, whilst the 
 same eye of the common Bee forms a kind of oval 
 on each side. Their teeth are smaller than those 
 of the common Bee, nor are they required for the 
 same purposes. Their proboscis is shorter, and more 
 slender ; for as they never gather any honey from the 
 fields, but live entirely upon the stock of the hive, 
 Nature has furnished them only with the means of 
 imbibing the honey from the cells. Their proboscis 
 would not be sufficiently long to extract the honey 
 from the flowers, where it is often hidden at a great 
 depth in the glands. They have no triangular cavi- 
 ties on their legs ; and Nature, in having refused to 
 them the proper instruments for labour, appears to 
 
30 MANAGEiMENT OF BEES. 
 
 have exempted them from it. Their only occupation 
 is the fecundation of the eggs of the Queen,* al- 
 though it be asserted by some naturalists, that a part 
 of their office is the hatching and rearing of the 
 young brood. It is certain that they assist this 
 operation by the increased heat which their presence 
 occasions in the hive ; but how then is it performed, 
 when there is not a single drone in the hive, and this 
 is at the commencement of the spring ? It might also 
 be supposed that this aid was more necessary at that 
 period than at any other, when the exterior state of 
 the atmosphere is not of that degree of heat, which 
 is conducible to the hatching of the young brood* 
 It is however agreeable to experience, that the drones 
 always attach themselves to those combs which are 
 filled with brood; but I believe their design, in this 
 instance, has no relation whatever to a distinct occu- 
 pation of hatching the brood, analagous to that of 
 the male pigeon, in the office of incubation, but that 
 they frequent those combs only, as it is there, and 
 in no other part of the hive, that the Queen deposits 
 her eggs, and consequently that their presence is not 
 required in any other place. This opinion of the 
 occupation of the drone is of a very remote date, as 
 I find in an anonymous work, printed in \5T~2, that 
 the drones are there called Broodhig Bces.-f 
 
 If by any accident, or untoward circumstance, a 
 hive of Bees is deficient in drones, the fecundation of 
 the eggs of the Queen does not take place, and con- 
 
 * In a work entitled, Praktische oekonomische Jbhandlung von der 
 ftienenzucht, von Ladislaus Reichsedlen von Stoixner, printed at 
 Nurnberg, in 17S9, the drones are called liahrmeisler, or Brunnen- 
 knechte, which may be translated Water Carriers, and the occupation of 
 these insects is supposed, by tins visionary author, to be the convey- 
 ing of water into the hive. 
 
 t Reaumur and Dcbraw asserted, that they found in the same hiv« 
 
ON THE DRONES, 31 
 
 sequently no swarms are produced.* Whenever 
 this is observed, the adoption of the following method 
 will be found to be of great service : — Watch at the 
 entrance of one of your strongest hives, from the 
 hours of eleven to two, the time at which the drones 
 
 two specie* of drones, some large and others smaller; the latter of 
 which were, however, in the greater number. The destination of the 
 former was to become the father of the Queen, and the drones of the 
 first class ; and the latter to be that of the common Bees, and the 
 drones of their own species. I have attended to this particular in the 
 examination of all my hives, but I never could discover more than 
 one species of drones. The following may be perhaps the cause which 
 led those naturalists into this error: — The drones, arising from the 
 brood of the preceding year, and which were hatched early in the 
 spring, had attained their full growth, when those of the first brood 
 of the spring being just born, had not vet attained their full size. 
 I know that, in contradiction to tnls sentiment,"it is held by some" 
 apiarians, that the Bee, in emerging from its cell, has attained its full 
 growth ; I would, however, recommend to those Gentlemen to try to 
 thrust either a Bee, or a drone into one of the breeding cells, and he 
 will find that the capacity of their bodies is too large for the dimen- 
 «ion of the cell. 
 
 * The Rev. Mr. Thorley is the only apiariaa who asserts that a hive 
 will swarm without drones. He says, in his Enquiry into the Nature, 
 Order, and Government of Bees, p. 74, 2d edit. " that to his certain 
 knowledge, the Bees sometimes breed all the summer season without 
 drones. Several poor and weak stocks, which have but few Bees, and 
 but little honey, have not any drones among them all the season, and 
 yet these shall increase, prosper, and breed drones the following sum- 
 mer. I will give my readers," he says " only one instance instead of a 
 multitude: 
 
 " Once 1 had a stock of Bees, which not only bred great numbers all 
 the spring time, but also swarmed without any drones, as I was fully 
 assured from the most strict and constant observation. Had there been 
 one single drone in it, my eye or ear would certainly have discovered 
 him. 
 
 " The old stock continued to prosper, and in about a month or six 
 weeks, some drones, though few comparatively, appeared in it. 
 
 " The new swarm increased in numbers all the summer, but had no 
 drones among them till the following spring. And I add further, that 
 I have oftentimes known weak stocks, which have not bred drones for 
 the space of about two years." 
 
 There is no wonder in Nature which an apiarian has not seen. 
 
32 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 take their flight, and as they come out, or return, 
 catch about thirty or forty of them, and as they have 
 no sting, no danger awaits this operation ; confine 
 them in a bottle, or other close vessel until the even- 
 ing, when you may introduce them to their new ha- 
 bitation. The hive will most readily receive them, 
 the eggs will be fecundated, and in a short time a 
 good swarm may be expected. 
 
 It may however happen, from circumstances of 
 a particular and unavoidable nature, that the Bees 
 of the hive may take a dislike to the drones in- 
 tended to be introduced, and may immediately com- 
 mence a murderous attack, which ends in the death 
 of all the drones. In the performance of this ex- 
 periment I would therefore advise, to introduce al- 
 ways two or three drones, and await the manner of 
 their reception before others are attempted to be in- 
 troduced. Should any hostility be observed, then 
 raise the hive and take about two or three hundred 
 Bees prisoners, and confine them with the drones 
 in a close vessel until late in the evening, they may 
 then be all restored to the hive, and no hostility will 
 ensue. 
 
 I had an excellent opportunity of verifying the 
 truth of this experiment during the course of last 
 October: I was walking in the fjelds contiguous to 
 my house, when, to my great surprize, I observed a 
 swarm of Bees passing at a short distance from me ; 
 I knew it could not be a natural, or regular swarm, 
 as the drones in all my hives had been long since 
 killed, and I had no doubt that the same circum- 
 stance had taken place in other apiaries. I was 
 therefore convinced that it was a hive which, from 
 some particular reason, had forsaken its dwelling. 
 With great satisfaction I saw the strangers alight on 
 
ON THE DRONES. 33 
 
 a hedge, and hastening home for a hive, I soon took 
 possession of my unexpected treasure. My diffi- 
 culties, however, now were only at their commence- 
 ment. In what manner were my new guests to be 
 supported ? Unfortunately I had not then in my 
 possession any hive with combs, and the season 
 was too far advanced to expect that any combs 
 could then be constructed. By most indefatigable 
 attention, I was enabled to preserve the Bees during 
 the winter, and in the spring some combs were con- 
 structed. On taking possession of the hive in Octo- 
 ber, not a single drone was to be found, and I was 
 consequently in despair of obtaining any swarms 
 from it. I therefore determined to adopt the ex- 
 periment already stated, and the greatest success at- 
 tended my labours. I introduced about fifty drones, 
 the eggs of the Queen were fecundated, and I ob- 
 tained two swarms from my hive in the course of 
 the summer. I however advise the person under- 
 taking the above experiment, to move the hive, into 
 which he introduces the drones, to some little dis- 
 tance from his apiary, as the drones in their flight on 
 the following day will be apt to return to their pa- 
 rent hive. This single experiment alone will refute 
 the hypothesis of the fecundation of the Queen by 
 the drone at the end of the season, and of her re- 
 maining in that state until the spring. 
 
 The drones are born at the commencement of the 
 spring ; they are called by nature to fecundate the 
 eggs of the year in which they themselves are 
 born. Having fulfilled the object of their existence, 
 they all perish, without exception ; they are mas- 
 sacred, and dragged from the hive by the working 
 Bees.* 
 
 * Considering the high and well deserved reputation which Mr. 
 D 
 
i 
 
 34 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 I will venture to assert, in the most positive terms, 
 and I am privileged to do it by nearly twenty years, 
 experience in Bees, that no person ever yet beheld 
 the act of copulation performed by the Queen Bee 
 and the drone. There appears to be almost an im- 
 penetrable veil spread over the operations of these 
 insects, and it is that very mystery which makes 
 their study so interesting. Keys says, " He never 
 saw a drone with his tail in a cell," I believe him 
 most firmly ; but this is no proof that a drone never 
 puts his tail in a cell. 
 
 When a hive swarms, a number of drones in the 
 proportion of the working Bees, always follows the 
 emigrants, for the purpose of the fecundation of the 
 eggs of the young Queen, during the remainder of the 
 season. They meet with the same tragical end as their 
 fathers, as soon as they have fulfilled the duties of 
 their vocation ; and become, like the paupers of a 
 parish, chargeable on the community. They have, 
 however, previously fecundated the eggs, which are 
 to hatch in the spring, and from which their suc- 
 cessors are to originate. The drones consume much 
 more than the common Bees, and the latter would 
 not be able to amass a sufficiency for the support of 
 
 Reaumur enjoys as a naturalist, I am surprised that he should have 
 advanced so singular a doctrine, as that the drone, like the moth of 
 the silk-worm, dies immediately after copulation.* Had he advanced 
 this hypothesis upon his bare surmise, I should have been induced to 
 ascribe it to a redundancy of fancy ; but that he should assert it upon 
 ocular demonstration, authorises me to call in question his skill and 
 knowledge as an apiarian. 
 
 * I find this opinion also advanced in Der Oesterreichische Bienen- 
 7neister, oder volkldrtdiger in Cesl&lt eines Katechismus abgefasster 
 Unt"rricht in der Bienenzucht, von J. M, C. Midler, printed at Vienna, 
 in 1783. 
 
 \ 
 
ON THE DRONES. 35 
 
 the Drones during the winter. How wonderful and 
 regular are here the operations of Nature ! 
 
 It now remains for me to describe their tragical end. 
 When the Queen has exhausted her ovarium, and the 
 laying of eggs has ceased for the season, the common 
 Bees declare war against the males, and during three 
 or four days the most cruel massacre continues. Al- 
 though by their make, the drones appear to possess a 
 superiority over the Bees, yet they do not appear to 
 offer any resistance to the attack. Three or four of 
 them seize upon the drone, and leave him not until 
 he is murdered. The whole sex must be annihi- 
 lated, and the Bees cease not until it is accomplished. 
 During this period of carnage, the front of the hives 
 is a scene of murder, and horror. In some hives, 
 this tragedy takes place earlier than in others, but. 
 in general, it is in the month of September, although 
 in some climates, it takes place in August. 
 
 The state of agitation and inquietude in which the 
 Bees are plunged, at the time of the massacre of the 
 drones, obstructs them til their daily labour, and 
 consequently a great quantity of honey is lost which 
 would have been amassed during that period. I 
 am therefore of opinion, that the Bees should be 
 assisted in this undertaking, and the apiarian should 
 watch at the entrance of the hive, with a small piece 
 of wood, and kill every drone which appears. It 
 is rather singular, that this plan is even recommended 
 by some apiarians, who assert, that only a portion 
 of the drones is murdered, and that the remainder 
 is to be found in the hive during the winter. On 
 this principle, it would be very imprudent in any apia- 
 rian to interfere with the murder of the drones, as he 
 might kill too many : the case, however, being dif- 
 d 2 
 
36 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 ferent, he may, with safety, undertake the office of 
 an indiscriminate executioner. 
 
 It has been the opinion of some naturalists, that 
 the Bee kills the drone by means of his sting, and 
 in order to account for the circumstance of the Bee 
 not leaving his sting in the drone, and consequently 
 proving his own murderer, as well as that of his 
 victim, they pretend, that the cuticle of the drones 
 is so very delicate that the Bees can extract their 
 sting without danger. This is really begging the 
 question, for certainly, no one will dispute the pro- 
 portion of delicacy, or fineness of texture between 
 the cuticle of the drone, and the epidermis of the 
 human frame ; but in the many hundred, and I may 
 add thousand times, in which I have witnessed the 
 destruction of the drones, 1 never yet observed that 
 the Bee made use of his sting. I have invariably 
 observed that they attack the drone at the root of the 
 wing, in the same manner as they do a wasp, or a 
 marauding Bee. Whether they have the power of 
 injecting a poisonous, or mortal matter into the body 
 of the drone, at a certain vulnerable part, I have 
 never been yet able to ascertain, but I once took a 
 drone which had been killed by the Bees, and exa- 
 mined him by the means of a powerful microscope. 
 I observed, that the roots of his wings had been, as 
 it were, nibbled away, which accounts for the wings 
 being always stiff and perpendicular in those drones, 
 Bees, or wasps, which have been murdered in their 
 sanguinary battles. The drone, being a perfectly 
 harmless insect, is unable to make any resistance 
 against the attack of three, four, or five Bees ; but 
 we will suppose that a wasp, in his predatory travels, 
 scenting the sweet contents of the hive, dares to 
 
ON THE DRONES. 37 
 
 venture into the apiarian monarchy for the purpose 
 of spoil, and is entrapped in his base designs by the 
 wary centinels, would he suffer himself to be re- 
 peatedly stung by them when he could return the 
 compliment ? and at all events, although he might 
 be overpowered by numbers, yet he would sell his 
 life dearly, as some of the warriors would fall by the 
 venom of his sting; and in this instance, the wasp 
 would have the superiority, for he does not leave his 
 sting after employing it, and no person, who is ac- 
 quainted with the make of the Bees' sting, but will 
 allow, that the cuticle of the wasp is of that hard 
 nature, that the sting of the Bee would most cer- 
 tainly remain in it, and of course the Bee would die. 
 The sting of the wasp would here have the superiority, 
 for as it is not of that barbed nature as to prevent 
 the insect from retracting it, the wounds occasioned 
 by it would cause the death of every Bee which 
 came in contact with it. Now I would ask the api- 
 arians, who assert that the drone dies by the sting of 
 the Bee, whether they ever examined one of the 
 massacred drones, and if they did, whether they ever 
 found even a scar or wound indicative of the sting of 
 the Bee ? Besides, a very important question here 
 arises, and which is particularly interesting to na- 
 turalists. The drone is evidently a species of the 
 Bee, though differing in its make and form from the 
 common working Bee : the question which arises 
 then, is, would the venom of one Bee, which, in its 
 nature and constituent parts, is perfectly the same as 
 in another, have the effect of causing instant death to 
 any Bee in which it might be injected by the means 
 of a sting ? I can easily conceive that the venom of the 
 wasp might have the effect of causing death to a Bee, 
 as being different in its constituent parts to the venom 
 
38 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 of the Bee, which is itself a constituent part of its 
 body ; but that the venom of one Bee should cause 
 death to another of its own species, is to me one of 
 those paradoxes, which time and experience alone 
 can solve. 
 
 It is curious to observe the contradictions and in- 
 consistencies which often attend the observations of 
 some noted apiarians, and on whose judgment many 
 persons are disposed to rely with implicit faith, car- 
 ried away with the sound of a noted name. I shall 
 have frequent occasion, in the course of this work, 
 to notice the experiments and discoveries of L* Abbe 
 Delia Rocca ; and although I acknowledge that the 
 natural history of the Bee is much indebted to him 
 for some very important discoveries, yet, his relation 
 is often tainted with those contradictions, which sully 
 the integrity of his remarks. In the case now under 
 consideration, he says, " In the destruction of these 
 unfortunate insects (the drones) the Bees not only 
 make use of starvation, but they also employ their 
 teeth and their stings. Whichever method they 
 adopt, no injury whatever accrues to themselves ; for 
 if, in stinging their victims they left the sting in the 
 wound, it would be found in the cc pse of the 
 drone ; a part also of their entrails would be seen ; 
 and the number of those which would die, would 
 cover the base of the hive, and prevent the ingress 
 and egress of the surviving Bees. The stings of the 
 Bees do not remain in the wounds which they inflict 
 on the drones." 
 
 I think it will be allowed that the argumentative 
 part of this passage goes to prove, that the Bee, in 
 piercing the drone with its sting, does not leave it in 
 the wound, owing to the thinness of the cuticle of 
 the drone. This is very plausible, and to the inex- 
 
ON TIIE DRONES. 39 
 
 penenced apiarian it might appear as decidedly con- 
 vincing ; but suppose we penetrate a little deeper 
 into the opinion and observations of the Abbe, and 
 we shall find, that he says ' I have often seen the 
 Bees at war with the drones ; and the former, on 
 being anxious to disengage themselves, found them- 
 selves attached to the latter by their sting, but they 
 succeeded in extricating their sting, without dragging 
 away their entrails, which is a convincing proof that 
 the Bees " wound each other with the sting, without 
 any mortal consequences.'" 
 
 I must acknowledge that it is not to me a con- 
 vincing proof, for I confess myself an infidel in the 
 principle, that the Bees make use of their sting at all 
 in their wars with each other, or in the expulsion of 
 the drones. Any person may convince himself of the 
 truth of my opinion, by taking a Bee from a hive, 
 and attempt to introduce it into another, and he will 
 immediately perceive that the Bees attack the intru- 
 der, by seizing him at the root of the wings ; and it 
 would be a natural conclusion to draw, that the in- 
 truding Bee would attempt his freedom, by wound- 
 ing his antagonists with his sting ; but the case is 
 otherwise, for he never makes the slightest indication 
 of using his sting ; and considering, that if he should 
 not be so fortunate as to effect his escape, he will 
 be killed in less than a minute, the person can soon 
 convince himself of the manner of his death, by a 
 little examination. He will not be able to find a 
 single scar nor puncture effected by the stings of the 
 Bees, but he will find the roots of the wings gnawed, 
 and almost in a perpendicular position. Amongst 
 the numerous authors, foreign and domestic, which 
 I have perused, on the Natural History of the Bee, I 
 do not recollect to have met with any mention of this 
 
40 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 manner of effecting the death of the drones, but in 
 one anonymous French author. He says, " The 
 Bees either strangle the drones, or starve, or stab 
 them with their stings ; sometimes they content them- 
 selves with simply breaking their wings at the roots, 
 and then leave them to become vagabonds and va- 
 grants on the ground, where they soon become vic- 
 tims to hunger, cold, birds, and other insects." 
 
 In regard to the starvation of the drones by the 
 Bees, for which purpose they expel them from the 
 combs, 1 do not consider that it has any foundation 
 in truth. It is certain, that as the time of their mas- 
 sacre approaches, they are gradually driven from the 
 upper combs, and during the time of their murder, 
 not a single drone is to be found in the upper part of 
 the hive. The Bees then become most avaricious 
 of their store, and they grudge every drop which goes 
 to the nourishment of a drone ; it is possible therefore 
 that their murder is rendered more easy to the Bee, 
 by the weakness of the drone, which is produced by 
 the scanty supply of food which the Bees allow him 
 to take ; but I have no reason to believe that the 
 death of a drone is ever occasioned by complete 
 starvation. 
 
ON THE COMMON BEES. 41 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 ON THE COMMON BEES. 
 
 THEY are called common, because they in fact 
 compose the community of the hive ; of which the 
 drones only form a part, during a short period of time. 
 They are also called working Bees, because they alone 
 bring provisions into the hive, construct the combs, 
 nourish the brood, defend the monarchy, in one word, 
 because they perform all the labour useful to the com- 
 munity. In some parts of England they are called 
 mules, because they are not considered to possess any 
 distinct sex. Experience has fully proved them to 
 be neuter.* 
 
 Some authors maintain, that in the monarchy of 
 the Bees, a regularity and an admirable subordination 
 
 * Few nations have studied the economy and management of the Bee 
 more than the Germans, and the books which have appeared on that 
 subject in Germany may really be said to be innumerable. It is how- 
 ever singular, that the apiarians of that country still maintain the 
 greatest errors in regard to the natural history of the Bee. They call 
 the common Bees unveltkommene weibchen (imperfect females), and 
 assert that they lay the eggs from which the drones originate, and that 
 this office is performed solely by young Bees. The fallacy of this opi- 
 nion is too apparent to require any formal refutation; but it is sur- 
 prising that such an opinion should be still maintained by the majority 
 of the German apiarians. Hampel, a noted German apiarian, considers 
 the hive to consist of two sort of Bees, the common Bees, and the work- 
 ing Bee, and they are distinguished by the former breeding only com- 
 mon Bees, whereas the latter breed drones. This appears to be a fa- 
 vourite doctrine of the German apiarians. 
 
42 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 are to be observed ; that a well regulated distribution 
 of employment is remarked, as well as perfect order 
 and concert, which must result from minds, con- 
 spiring to the execution of the same plan ; but that, 
 which, in men, would be the effect of reason, cor- 
 respondence, or co-operation, is in the Bees but the 
 effect of that instinct which is implanted in them by 
 the great Creator. In regard to the diversity of the 
 employment and occupations, which some have pre- 
 tended to have observed amongst them, such as, that 
 there are particular Bees, destined to the collecting 
 of honey, others of wax, some to construct the cells, 
 and others to nourish the brood, by which those who 
 are adapted to one employment would not succeed 
 in the performance of the others, is in fact all ideal, 
 as will be proved in the sequel of this Treatise. 
 
 We are acquainted in England but with one sort of 
 Bees, although the foreign naturalists mention three, 
 and some even four, but this latter kind is very rare, 
 and has not yet been naturalized. In the islands of 
 the Archipelago, it is said to be rather numerous, and 
 maintains a continual war against the domesticated 
 Bee, for the purpose of stealing its honey. The 
 generality of apiarians mention two sorts of the com- 
 mon bee, a larger and a less, but I conceive them in 
 this instance to labour under the following error. 
 The Bees which are bred the first in the combs of a 
 hive, will always be larger than those which are bred 
 in an old stock hive, and for this reason, the cells of 
 the old stock, having repeatedly had young ones in 
 them, are each time diminished in their capacity by 
 a small film, which the Bee on quitting the cell, leaves 
 behind it, and consequently the Bee, which is sub- 
 sequently bred in that cell, will be smaller in propor- 
 tion to the thickness of that film. On the other 
 
ON THE COMMON BEES. 43 
 
 hand, the Bee bred in the cell of a new hive will 
 be larger, on account of the cell being of its full and 
 natural size, and no film remaining in it from any 
 former brood. The larger the Bee the greater is its 
 indolence, and in other respects the small Bee has 
 always the advantage over the larger. 
 
 It is to this small but wonderful insect that we 
 are indebted for all the honey and wax, which form 
 a part of our domestic and commercial relations. 
 When we consider, that the former is amassed from 
 those small, and to us almost imperceptible globules, 
 which are found either in the chalice of the flowers, 
 or exude from the trees, we cannot be sufficiently 
 impressed with admiration at the perseverance and 
 labour of the Bee. It appears to labour less for the 
 preservation of its own existence, than for that of its 
 species, and the prosperity of its populous state. 
 The days, on which the honey abounds in the flowers, 
 and on the leaves of certain trees, the Bee is observed 
 to be uncommonly industrious, entering, and leaving 
 the hive with wonderful rapidity ; the office of col- 
 lecting the farina from the plants, is not, however, 
 neglected, and it is very easy to discriminate between 
 the Bee which has been collecting honey, and that 
 which has been collecting only farina. The shape of 
 the former is always cylindrical, whereas that of the 
 latter is oval.* 
 
 In regard to the physical description of the Bee, 
 the most remarkable parts of it are the head,f the 
 
 * Some apiarians assert that a Bee collects both honey and farina at 
 the same time. To refute this opinion, it would be only requisite to 
 watch at the entrance of the hive during the hours of labour, and the 
 fact will disclose itself, that many Bees enter with the farina on their 
 legs, whose body has not a cylindrical and highly glossy appearance, 
 whilst others, which have that appearance, have no farina. 
 
 + Herr Von Stoixner, a German naturalist, undertook to anatomize 
 
44 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 breast, and the belly. On the former are observed 
 two rete mirabileeyes placed in theside,two antennae, 
 two hard teeth or jaws, which play on opening and 
 shutting, from the left to the right. These teeth 
 enable it to collect the wax, to knead it, to construct 
 the cells, and to remove from the hive every obnoxious 
 thing. 
 
 Below these two teeth, we observe a proboscis, 
 which has the appearance of a thick fleshy substance 
 of a very shining and chesnut colour. This sub- 
 stance is divided into two parts, very supple at the 
 end, and it is only seen at its full length, when the 
 Bee is employed in collecting honey or sipping water. 
 This proboscis is a most wonderful machine, the use 
 and construction of which, have been developed by 
 M. Reaumur with wonderful sagacity. To the sim- 
 ple view, it appears enveloped with four kinds of 
 scales, which form together a channel by which the 
 honey is conveyed. The proboscis which is in this 
 channel is a muscular body, which, by the means of 
 its muscular motions, makes the honey ascend into 
 the gullet. If the teeth be separated, we observe at 
 the orifice of the proboscis an opening, which is the 
 mouth, and above it a fleshy substance which is the 
 tongue. The uses of these parts will be explained in 
 the sequel. The breast is attached to the head by a 
 very short neck ; it carries four wings on it, the two last 
 of which are longer than the other. It has six feet, 
 on the two hinder of which are two triangular cavi- 
 ties, in which the Bee by degrees collects the particles 
 of the farina from the plants. At the extremity of 
 the six feet are two sorts of fangs with which the 
 Bees attach themselves to the sides of the hive, and 
 
 the body of the Bee, and found brains in the head, a heart, and all other 
 animal viscera. This opens a new field for the Craniology of Dr. Gall. 
 
ON THE COMMON BEES. 45 
 
 to each other. From the middle of these fangs, on 
 the four hinder legs, project, four brushy substances, 
 the use of which is to collect the dust of the flowers, 
 attached to the hair of their body. These brushes 
 have the same use as hands. 
 
 The body, properly called, or the belly, is united 
 to the breast by a species of thread and is composed 
 of six scaly rings. The whole body of the Bee 
 appears even to the naked eye to be well clothed. 
 Age makes a little difference in them in point of 
 colour, those of the present year are brown, and have 
 greyish hair ; those of the preceding year have reddish 
 hair, and the scales less brown, rather inclining to 
 black ; their wings are also often torn, and fringed, 
 at the ends by their former flights. On the breast, 
 and on the wings of the body are observed small 
 orifices, or pores in the shape of a mouth, by which 
 the Bee respires, these are the lungs, and they are 
 technically called Stygtnates ; this part, which is of a 
 wonderful construction, is common to them, as to all 
 other insects. 
 
 The interior of the belly consists of four parts ; the 
 intestines, the honey bag, the venom vessel, and 
 the sting. The intestines, as in animals, serve for 
 the digestion of their food. The honey bag, when 
 it is filled, is as large as a small pea, transparent as 
 crystal, and contains the honey which the Bees have 
 collected from the flowers, and which is disgorged 
 into the cells to nourish the hive during the winter. 
 
 I have great reason to believe, and I am justified 
 in the opinion from repeated experiments, the results 
 of which have been always similar, that the honey 
 which the Bees secrete in this vessel is only ap- 
 propriated to the provision of the hive ; that which 
 fh destined for their own nourishment never enters 
 
46 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 into it, it passes through the viscera destined to the 
 purpose of digestion. I was first led to this opinion 
 by never having observed any communication be- 
 tween the vessel and the entrails, and until some de- 
 cisive discovery be made on this head, I may be per- 
 mitted to retain this opinion. 
 
 In order to convince myself of the above cir- 
 cumstance, I have repeatedly committed murder, 
 though with reluctance, on someof my Bees, duringthe 
 middle of the very severe winter of 1813, when I was 
 certain that no honey was to be obtained exteriorly to 
 the hive. In not one single instance, did I find any 
 honey in the bag of the Bee ; it appeared to be shrivel- 
 led up. and was scarcely perceptible ; I, however, 
 extracted the bag, and examined its interior most 
 minutely, and I was persuaded that no honey had 
 been in it for some time^. 
 
 The vessel which contains the venom is at the root 
 of the sting, along which the Bee ejects some glo- 
 bules, as along a tube, in order to spread into the' 
 wound. The sting is situated at the extremity of the 
 belly of the Bee. It is about two lines* in length, 
 and enters with great rapidity, by means of certain 
 muscles, which are placed very near the sting, and 
 which are very perceptible on squeezing the hinder 
 part of the Bee. Its extremity is barbed, the teeth 
 of which are turned in the direction of an arrow, 
 which enter with facility, and cannot be extracted 
 without causing a laceration. The wound which the 
 Bee makes is almost always fatal to it ; when it wishes 
 to withdraw its stiug, it remains in the wound, and 
 with it the Bee loses the vessel of venom, which is at 
 the root of the sting, and the ligaments to which it is 
 
 * A line is the twelfth part of an inch. 
 
ON THE COMMON BEES. 47 
 
 attached. The Bee thus wounded cannot live a long 
 time ; it perishes after having- made war, in the man- 
 ner of the savages, with poisoned arrows. 
 
 The poison is the most virulent in the summer, but 
 the swelling- which it occasions is more or less con- 
 siderable according to the constitution of the person. 
 To some individuals the sting of a Bee is of little im- , 
 portance, occasioning only a slight inflammation. I 
 have seen the head of Bonner, who was very bald , 
 literally studded with stings, and yet no swelling 
 whatever took place, nor were they attended with any 
 great pain ; but had any other person experienced a 
 twentieth part of those stings, the consequences might 
 have been very serious. 
 
 Many remedies have been suggested for the sting 
 of the Bee. Vinegar, urine, the juice of certain 
 plants, as the dandelion, dock, and others, and olive 
 oil, which is said to be a remedy even for the bite of 
 the viper. All these applications, and even water 
 itself, assuage the pain for the moment ; but the pain 
 and the inflammation gradually return, as the virtues 
 of the application decrease. The surest method to 
 diminish the effect of the sting, is to extract it imme- 
 diately, and strike the wound with some goulard or 
 laudanum. I have universally found this application 
 to be the most efficacious. It must however be con- 
 sidered, that the remedy must be suited to the con- 
 stitution ; for that which will succeed with one per- 
 son will fail with another. There are some persons 
 who assert that, after a certain number of stings re- 
 ceived in any period of time whatever, the inflamma- 
 tion does not take place. I totally dissent from this 
 opinion ; for after an experience of twenty years 
 amongst Bees, in which time the number of stings 
 which I have received is innumerable, I am as much 
 
48 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 affected by one, as at the commencement of my career. 
 M. Lombard is however of the former opinion, for he 
 says, that the stings which he now receives are not 
 attended with such painful consequences as when he 
 was first stung ; and he wishes to know, if in length 
 of time a species of inoculation of the venom of the 
 Bee does not take place which neutralizes its effects. 
 If this visionary apiarian could verify this fact, I 
 would place his statue in the next niche to Dr. Jenner. 
 The nineteenth century could then boast of one im- 
 portant discovery, and which would excite the gra- 
 titude of all future apiarians. The sting of the Bee 
 so formidable and appalling to the young apiarian 
 would then be a mere nullity, as he would only have 
 to be inoculated with the venom, to be in future, and 
 for ever more, rendered venom-proof.* 
 
 To prevent the swelling arising from the sting of 
 a Bee, I know of no remedy more efficacious than 
 treacle of Venice, or olive oil. In regard to the 
 former, it is well known to be a specific for all ve- 
 nomous stings, and olive oil has been known to cure 
 the venomous bite of the viper. In the Archipelago, 
 it is customary to keep a phial of olive oil close to 
 the apiary, and as soon as the Bee has inflicted his 
 sting, a few drops of oil are applied to the wound, 
 and the pain is instantly assuaged, and the swelling 
 prevented. The apiarian might carry a small phial 
 of oil in his pocket, without any inconvenience, and 
 be thereby fully prepared for any accidental sting 
 which he might receive. 
 
 * Swammerdam speaks of the possibility of avoiding the sting of 
 the Bee, on which an experiment is to be made. He advises to present 
 a piece of old hat to the Bee, and to cut away the point of the sting. 
 He adds that the Bee does not die, but that it is rendered incapable for 
 ever after of stinging. 
 
ON THE COMMON BEES. 49 
 
 About thirty years ago a fly, the sting of which 
 was venomous, was very troublesome in many parts 
 of Prussia, and a specific was published, which was 
 not only a cure for the sting of that fly, but also for 
 that of bees, wasps, &c. It is as follows : — Beat 
 an onion on a hard body to extract the juice, to which 
 add a pinch of common salt, apply the juice to the 
 sting, and the pain and inflammation will instantly 
 cease. 
 
 All these details can only produce in every rational 
 man a more distinct and extensive knowledge of that 
 infinite intelligence, which has arranged the creatures 
 of this earth, presided at their organization, and re- 
 gulated their existence and configuration. There is 
 nothing in nature which can so forcibly demonstrate 
 to us an equally wise and powerful author. The in- 
 sects the most vile are, perhaps, more admirable in 
 their construction, than the sun, and the most brilliant 
 stars. What proportion ! what harmony ! what cor- 
 respondence in every part of the Bee ! How many 
 combinations, arrangements, causes, effects, and prin- 
 ciples, which tend to the same end, and concur in 
 the same design ! What exactness, what symmetry 
 in its little body, apparently contemptible, and so little 
 admired by ignorant and inattentive persons ! As in 
 the greater number of animals, so we observe in the 
 Bee, vessels without number, liquids, motions often 
 united in an imperceptible point — all the organs of 
 life, the instruments of labour, the means of escap- 
 ing from their enemies, weapons to command vic- 
 tory, and a thousand beauties which adorn its exterior 
 form ! 
 
 Every thing in these insects announces that su- 
 preme wisdom, which presided at the formation of 
 a work, so perfect, so industrious, so superior to 
 
 E 
 
50 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 every thing which art could ever produce. Every 
 thing here is for our use and benefit. The Bees, in 
 fact, make use of their wonderous qualities only for 
 our good. It is for us that they work ; and it is to- 
 wards Him, therefore, who has given to them these 
 inclinations, that we ought to express our love and 
 gratitude. 
 
OX HIVES IN GENERAL, 31 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 ON HIVES IN GENERAL. 
 
 AMONGST those animals, or insects, who live in 
 society, there are some, who are obliged to select for 
 themselves a dwelling, to co-operate in the procuring 
 of the necessary provisions, and to amass a certain 
 quantity, a part of which is to be allotted for the 
 winter food. In this class must be reckoned the do- 
 mestic Bees, who, either in their natural or artificial 
 dwelling, collect a quantity of honey, not only for 
 the support of their young and their Varvge, but also 
 for the Queen and themselves, during the time in 
 which the weather will not permit them to collect it 
 in the fields. 
 
 The forests were certainly the first domicile of the 
 Bees, and it is the moderns only who conceived the 
 idea of transporting them to their farms, or cottages, 
 in order to make their honey an object of domestic 
 economy: it might also have happened, that this 
 transportation of the Bee owes its origin to some 
 philosopher, for the purpose of satisfying his curi- 
 osity. Pliny informs us, that the philosopher Aristo- 
 machus was so prejudiced in favour of these insects, 
 that he studied them for fifty-eight years. 
 
 There are some countries in Europe, however, in 
 which the Bee may be said, still to exist in its savage 
 state. In Poland, for instance, the inhabitants have 
 E 2 
 
5Q MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 no regular Bee-hives: every peasant who is desirous 
 of rearing Bees, goes into the forest or district 
 belonging to his master, without even his leave, makes 
 a longitudinal hollow aperture, or apertures, in the 
 trunk of a tree, or in the collateral branches, about 
 three feet long, one foot broad, and about a foot deep, 
 in which he deposits his Bees, Leaves them some food, 
 but pays very little farther attention to them, until 
 late in the autumn, when after cutting out some of 
 their honey, and leaving the remainder for their main- 
 tenance, he secures the aperture properly with clay 
 and straw against the frost and inclemency of the 
 approaching season: these tenements (if they maybe 
 so called), with their inhabitants and the produce 
 of their labour, then become his indisputable pro- 
 perty: he may sell or transfer them, in short, he 
 may do whatever he pleases with them; and never 
 is it heard that any depredation is committed on 
 them, except by the bear. In Poland, the laws are 
 particularly severe against robbers, or destroyers of 
 this property, punishing the offender, when detected, 
 by cutting out the navel, and drawing out his intes- 
 tines round and round the very tree which he has 
 robbed.* 
 
 When Bees were first cultivated in Germany, the 
 hives consisted of excavated trunks of trees, which 
 were placed perpendicularly in a row. In Spain 
 they are formed to this day of an excavated trunk 
 of box. It is asserted that this species of wood pos- 
 sesses the advantage of attracting the swarms, and 
 contributing to their health and fecundity, which is 
 an advantage perhaps peculiar to the climate. 
 
 * Varro is the first who mentions hives as a receptacle for the Bee ; 
 since his time, the form, as well as the materials of them, has been 
 much altered, and they are to be found of all sizes and forms in dif» 
 ferent parts of the world. 
 
 6 
 
OX HIVES IN GENERAL. 53 
 
 In Russia, the swarms are placed in earthen ves- 
 sels ; and in Provence and different parts of Italy 
 they are made of four planks well fastened together. 
 In the latter country they are also made of the 
 trunks of trees. 
 
 It is universally known that the hives in this 
 country are generally made of straw, in the form 
 of a bell (see PI. Ill, Fig. 6.) ; and I am convinced, 
 that it is the most incommodious shape, not only 
 for the apiarian, but for the Bees. It is a most 
 difficult operation to extract from these hives any 
 part of the honey, especially as the operation is im- 
 peded by the sticks which are placed horizontally in 
 the hive, and even by some persons, perpendicularly. 
 I am, therefore, not in the least surprised at the ill 
 success which attended the exertions of Bonner in 
 Scotland, to induce his countrymen to refrain from 
 suffocating their Bees, and instead of which, to take 
 from them all their superfluous store. It is however 
 to the form that I object, and not to the materials 
 of which they are made; for of all the materials 
 which have been selected for the formation of a 
 hive, I conceive no one to be more eligible than 
 straw. The Abbe della Rocca says, that it is inju- 
 rious to the health of the Bees. This opinion I can 
 positively contradict; but I am convinced that it is 
 from the shape of the common hive, and the atten- 
 dant difficulty of extracting any part of the honey, 
 that the system of suffocating the Bees originated. 
 I never yet performed the operation of depriving 
 one of these hives of some honey without murdering 
 a number of Bees, and running a very great risk ot 
 massacring the Queen. It is high time that the 
 bell-shaped hive should be exploded ; but it is for 
 the reasons above quoted, and not that I conceive a 
 
o4 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 greater pleasure, or advantage, is to be derived from the 
 use of the glass or wooden hive. By means of the 
 former, some apiarians have pretended that they have 
 witnessed the most secret operations of the Bees, 
 from the formation of a cell, to the copulation of the 
 Queen with a drone. I am certain that every infor- 
 mation which is gained of the interior economy of 
 these insects, is extracted from them unwillingfy, 
 and by the mere dint of incessant curiosity and force. 
 I have kept glass hives of every sort, in hopes of 
 obtaining some clue to the development of their 
 secrets; but I candidly confess, that light was no 
 sooner admitted to the hive, than the utmost con- 
 fusion prevailed in that particular part, and the Bees 
 were seen running about in the greatest conster- 
 nation : consequently I never attained to the know- 
 ledge of a single operation of the Bees by means of 
 a glass-hive. A Bee will only work in complete 
 darkness;* and I always call the truth of those ex- 
 
 * In a letter, which I received from Mr. Robert Smith, of Kingston, 
 Jamaica, this position is contended, and he says, " I have frequently 
 taken a keg, with one end out, (securing the other and all the hoops 
 well), put a swarm of Bees therein, and suspended them from an ar- 
 bour or branch of a tree by a rope, and they have immediately begun 
 to work— filled the keg and continued their comb a considerable way 
 below the keg, and of greater diameter ; in one instance upwards of 
 eighteen inches below, which became so heavy, that it broke the cord, 
 and you may judge in a fine state of irritation. There is now in the 
 garden of a French gentleman in this city several flour barrels laid on 
 their side, with one end out, in which swarms are working with avi- 
 dity ; he tells me, this is the manner they used to be kept in St. Do- 
 mingo." I am fully aware of the justness and accuracy of these re- 
 marks, and I have myself experienced, that Bees, from a want of room 
 in their hive, will work underneath the stool, on which the hive is 
 placed; but neither this circumstance, nor those mentioned by Mr. 
 Smith, lead in the slightest degree to invalidate the original position, 
 that Bees will only work in complete darkness. It is true that the 
 Bees are apparently exposed to the full influence of light, when work- 
 ing in the manner above stated, but Uie actual working Bees, are in 
 4 
 
ON HIVES IN GENERAL. 55 
 
 periments into question, which are said to result 
 from an examination, or a view of the hive, which 
 could not have been effected without the admission 
 of light. 
 
 Other disadvantages which attend the common 
 hive, are, that as the interior cannot be inspected, 
 nor cleaned, it is almost impossible for the common 
 apiarian to protect his Bees from the ravages of the 
 moths, which generally commence their depredations 
 in that part of the hive, to which the particular form 
 denies all access to the attention of the proprietor. 
 
 Although the Bee will work in a vessel of almost 
 any shape, yet the choice of that shape is by no 
 means of that inferior importance, which is attached 
 to it by certain persons. The country people, in 
 general, make use of no other hive than the common 
 straw one: they are sensible of its inconveniences 
 and defects, but their prejudice in this instance gets 
 the better of their interest. They will not be ad- 
 vised to try another shape, because their forefathers 
 did not use it : custom has also reconciled them to it, 
 and so long as they can obtain the honey, the life 
 of the Bees is of little consequence. 
 
 The amateurs have departed from the common 
 track in the invention of hives of different forms, 
 and it cannot be questioned, that each person thinks 
 his own invention the best. One improvement na- 
 turally gave rise to another, and with wealthy api- 
 arians we now see hives of different models, whilst 
 the simple villager remains immovably attached to 
 the common one. 
 
 As the defects in the construction of the habi- 
 
 darkness ; they are so surrounded by other Bees, that to judge super- 
 ficially, the Bees might he supposed to be in a complete state of in- 
 activity ; but were the interior of the groupe to be examined, a comb 
 would be found in a state of progressive completion, 
 
56 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 tations of the Bees gradually manifested themselves, 
 some skilful and well intentioned persons undertook 
 the reformation of them, and endeavoured to bring 
 their form to perfection. Among many others I must 
 quote Huber and Gelieu, in Switzerland; Falchini, 
 in Italy; Abbe Delia Rocca, in the Archipelago; 
 Wildman, Keys, White, Bonner, and Thorley, in 
 England; in France — Palteau, Duchet, De Bois- 
 Jougan, De Mossac, Beville, Caignard, Ducouedic, 
 Lombard, &c. ; and in Germany — Engel, Cuinghein, 
 Rompel, Wintzel, Riems, Kastner, Schirach, He- 
 rold, Steinmetz, Neidhardt, Possl, and others. I 
 shall investigate the merits of the several inventions 
 separately, and the apiarian will then be guided in his 
 adoption according to the degree of excellence which 
 each presents. The hive of M. Huber is composed of 
 eight frames, instead of twelve. The frames are 
 eighteen inches in height instead of twelve, without 
 the clear: within, the height is seventeen inches, 
 and in breadth ten inches. The Figure 4, PL I, re- 
 presents one of these frames. The uprights A, have 
 an elevation of eighteen inches and one in thickness, 
 and fifteen lines in breadth. The upper cross bar 
 B, is of the same thickness and breadth. The cross 
 bar C, is ten lines broad, and four lines thick ; it is 
 placed at the height of six inches and a half. The 
 lower one D, is square, six lines in thickness: it is 
 placed at an inch from the bottom. At the two ex- 
 tremities of the eight leaves, there is at each side, a 
 frame E E, each of which is destined to receive a glass 
 partition at the side of their interior, and at their 
 exterior, a shutter. This frame is eighteen inches 
 in height, to thirteen and a half inches in breadth; 
 the opening of the frame to receive the glass partition 
 and the shutter, is ten inches in breadth, and fifteen 
 
ON HIVES IN GENERAL. 57 
 
 in height, the whole within the work. The shutters 
 ought to be hinged, that they may be opened and 
 shut at pleasure. The eight leaves are made of deal, 
 the two outer ones are of walnut-wood, of one inch 
 in thickness, and the shutters must be ten lines in 
 thickness. The frames and the shutters may be 
 made of oak. The leaves are only united on one side 
 with the hinges, as it would otherwise possess the 
 disadvantage of exposing the Bees to be crushed in 
 shutting the frames. Instead of the hinges, two cross 
 bars, nineteen inches long, fifteen lines broad, and 
 four thick, enter at the middle of the height ; and 
 from the two sides of the two glazed frames, into the 
 part which projects along the side of the eight leaves, 
 and receive in the holes regularly bored, a small iron 
 pin ; and, in order to fix the whole firmly, there are 
 four wooden pins, or wedges, sloping gradually to 
 the end (see Fig. 5.). They are driven under the iron 
 pin, which they close upon until the whole is solidly 
 united. The entrances of the Bees, which were at 
 the bottom of the leaves in the great front, are re- 
 duced to a single one, at the bottom of one of the 
 little sides, bored in the thickness of the foundation 
 board, with a small projecting plank for the walk of 
 the Bees (Fig. 7 and 8, A). This disposition renders 
 the deprivation of the honey more easy, because the 
 honey-combs are found in the frames of the two ex- 
 tremities, where the Bees deposit it, in order to obey 
 the law of their instinct, which obliges them to place 
 their treasure in that part most distant from their 
 entrance. To determine the Bees to work on the 
 plane of each leaf, M. Huber places at the top of 
 each a small piece of honey-comb, and this is the 
 most advisable method. But Mr. J. Hunter, in a 
 letter inserted in the Memoirs of the Royal Society of 
 
f)$ MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 London (Philosophical Transactions), having proved 
 that a ridge, forming a salient angle, or even a re- 
 turning angle, determined the foundations of the 
 combs of the Bees ; and M. Huber, having acknow- 
 ledged the general truth of it, formed a salient angle 
 under the cross bar B and C of each leaf (see 
 Fig. 6.). 
 
 Finally, M. Huber adds to his Hive a covering 
 composed of three pieces, two of which are placed on 
 the side of the cross bars, and the third in the manner 
 of a roof, rests on these two pieces, and this is intend- 
 ed for those Hives that remain in the open air. (See 
 
 Fig. 7.). 
 
 Mr. Thorley has added to the edition which he has 
 given of his father's book, a postscript, purporting that 
 persons, who choose to keep bees in glass hives, may, 
 after uncovering the hole at the summit of a flat-topped 
 straw hive, or box, place the glass over it, so close 
 that no Bees can go in or out but at the bottom of 
 the Hive or Box ; the glass hive must be covered 
 with an empty Hive or with a Cloth, that too much 
 light may not prevent the Bees from working. As 
 soon as they have filled the straw Hive or Box, they 
 will begin to work up into the glass Hive : he tells 
 us, that he himself has had one of those glass Hives 
 filled by the Bees in thirty days in a fine season, and 
 that it contained thirty-eight pounds of fine Honey. 
 When the glass is completely filled, slide a tin plate 
 between it and the Hive or Box, so as to cover the 
 passage, and in half an hour the glass may be taken 
 off with safety. The few Bees that remain in it will 
 readily go to their companions. He has added 
 a glass window to his straw Hives, in order to see 
 what progress the Bees make, which is of some im- 
 portance, especially if one Hive is to be taken away 
 
ON HIVES IX GENERAL. 39 
 
 whilst the season still continues favourable for the 
 collecting of Honey ; for when the combs are filled 
 with Honey, the cells are sealed up, and the Bees 
 forsake them and reside mostly in that part of the 
 hive in which their works are chiefly carried on ; 
 observing, also, that the Bees were apt to extend 
 their combs through the passage of communication 
 into the upper hive, whether glass or other material, 
 which rendered it necessary to divide the comb when 
 the upper hive was taken away, he now puts in that 
 passage a wire screen or netting, the meshes of which 
 are large enough for a loaded Bee to go easily through 
 them ; this prevents the joining of the combs from 
 one box to the other, and consequently obviates the 
 necessity of cutting them and of spilling some of the 
 honey, which running down amongst a crowd of 
 Bees used before to incommode them much, it being 
 difficult for them to clear their wings of it. Fig. 5, 
 Plate VI, is a drawing of one of his colonies. 
 
 The Reverend Mr. White, of Holton, in Suffolk, 
 has contributed very much to improve the colonizing 
 system. In his directions for making the bee-boxes 
 of his own invention, and regarding the manner 
 of constructing a single one, he says, that it may be 
 made of deal or any other well-seasoned boards, 
 which are not apt to warp or split. The boards 
 should be nearly an inch thick, the figure of the Box 
 square, and its height and breadth nine inches and 
 five-eighths every way, measuring within. With these 
 dimensions it will contain nearly a peck a&d a half of 
 Bees. The front part must have a door cut in the 
 middle of the bottom edge, three inches wide, and 
 nearly half an inch in depth, which will give free 
 liberty to the bees to pass through, and yet not be 
 large enough for their enemy, the mouse to enter. 
 
60 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 In the back part, a hole must be cut, with a rabbit 
 in it, in which a pane of the best and clearest crown 
 glass must be fixed about five inches in height, and 
 three in breadth, and fastened with putty; the top 
 of the glass must be placed as high as the roof within 
 side, that the upper part of the combs may be seen, 
 where the Bees with their riches are mostly placed. 
 By these means, a better judgment will be formed of 
 their state and strength, than if the glass were fixed 
 in the middle; the glass must be covered with an- 
 other piece of board by way of shutter, which may be 
 made to hang by a string, or turn upon a nail, or 
 slide sideways between two mouldings. 
 
 The side of the Box which is to be joined to an- 
 other Box of the same form and dimensions, as it will 
 not be exposed to the external air, may be made of 
 a piece of split deal not half an inch thick, this is 
 called the side of communication, because it is not 
 to be wholly enclosed : a space is to be left at the 
 bottom, the whole breadth of the Box and a little 
 more than an inch in height, and a hole or passage is 
 to be made at the top three inches long, and more 
 than half an inch wide ; through these the Bees are 
 to have a communication from one Box to the other : 
 the lower communication being on the floor, the 
 Bees with their burthens may readily and easily 
 ascend into either of the Boxes ; the upper commu- 
 nication is only intended as a passage between the 
 Boxes, resembling the little holes or narrow passes, 
 which may be observed in the combs formed by the 
 Bees, to save time and shorten the way, when they 
 have occasion to pass from one comb to another, 
 just as in populous cities, there are narrow lanes and 
 alleys passing transversely from one large street to 
 another. 
 
ON HIVES IN GENERAL. 61 
 
 In the next place a loose board must be provided 
 half an inch thick, and large enough to cover the side 
 where the communications have been made ; several 
 little iron staples must be kept in readiness an inch 
 and a half long, with two points or ends bended down 
 more than half an inch. 
 
 No directions are necessary for making the other Box, 
 which must be of the same form and dimensions. The 
 two Boxes differ from each other only in this respect, 
 that the side of communication of the one, must be on 
 your right hand ; of the other, on your left. Fig. 4, 
 Plate VI., represents two of these Boxes with their 
 openings of communication ready to join to each other. 
 Fig. 2. Plate VI, represents the front of a frame for 
 twelve Colonies ; a a, are two sills of Oak lying flat on 
 the ground, more than four feet long. In these sills, 
 four oaken posts are to be fixed. 
 
 The two posts b b, in the front, are about six feet 
 two inches above the sills, the other two standing 
 backwards, five feet eight inches. 
 
 Some boards of split deal must be next nailed hori- 
 zontally from one of the fore-posts to the other, to 
 screen the Bees from the sun : these boards must be 
 seven feet seven inches in length, and nailed to the 
 inside of the posts, and be well seasoned, that they 
 may not shrink or gape in the joints. 
 
 CC, are two splints of deal to keep the boards even, 
 and strengthen them. 
 
 Fig 3, Plate VI, represents the back of the frame, 
 d d d d, are four strong boards of the same length with 
 the frame, on which the Boxes are to be placed ; let 
 the upper side of them be very smooth and even, that 
 the Boxes may stand true upon them, or it may be 
 still more advisable to place under every pair of Boxes 
 p smooth thin board, as long as the Boxes and about 
 
62 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 a quarter of an inch wider: the Bees will soon fasten 
 the Boxes to this board in such a manner, that you 
 may move or weigh the Boxes and board together, 
 without breaking the wax, which for many reasons 
 ought to be avoided. These floors must be supported 
 by pieces of wood or bearers, e e, which are nailed 
 from post to post at each end. They are likewise to 
 be well nailed to th j rravne, to keep them from sinking 
 with the weight of the Boxes. 
 
 F, represents the roof which projects backwards 
 about seven or eight inches beyond the Boxes, to shel- 
 ter them from the rain. 
 
 Niches or holes must now be cut in the frame, over 
 against each mouth or entrance into the Boxes, at hh 
 hhhh, in Fig. 2. These niches must be 4 inches long, 
 and under each a small piece of wood must be nailed 
 for the Bees to alight upon. 
 
 The morning or evening sun will shine upon one or 
 both ends of the frame, let its aspect be what it will ; 
 but it may be prevented from overheating the Boxes 
 by a loose board set up between the posts, and kept 
 in by two or three pegs. 
 
 Mad. Vicat, a native of Switzerland, has contri- 
 buted very largely to the knowledge of the natural 
 history of the Bee, and having observed great incon- 
 venience attending the use of Boxes or Hives, which 
 are placed on one another, she contrived a Hive 
 formed of collateral Boxes, and the construction of 
 which appears to be very simple. 
 
 Plate II, Fig. 1, A B C D, represents the inside of 
 the Hive composed of its four Boxes put together, 
 laid on their sides a a ; E E, are rods with screws, 
 which serve to connect the Boxes of the Hive; F F, 
 mark the front and the back of the Hive; G the 
 mouth of the fore-part of the Hive ; b b, are the bot- 
 toms of the Boxes seen in their insides, but more 
 
ON HIVES IN GENERAL. 03 
 
 properly the tops, as they stand in the Hive : c c, are 
 notches which serve to fasten the Hive to the ledge 
 of the table ; d d d d, are the rods destined to support 
 the combs ; these rods are eight in number, two to 
 each Box, which they traverse breadthwise ; e e, are 
 two screw nuts movable along the rods E E, and 
 which serve to fasten the Boxes (more or less) closely 
 to each other ; f f, are the wooden rings through 
 which the screw-rods pass. 
 
 Fig. 2, represents one of the Boxes separated from 
 the Hive ; it shews the same parts marked with the 
 same letters as in Fig. 1, namely a a, the sides, b, the 
 bottom, d d, the rods, and f, the ring of the Box. 
 
 Fig. 3, shews the Table of the Hive seen from 
 above ; A B C D, E is the fore-part of this Table : F F 
 are hollows made in the under side of the Table to 
 receive the legs which are nailed to it. G, a groove to 
 receive the slider of the Table represented in Fig. 5, 
 bb, ledges which enter into the notches, c c, of Fig. 1, 
 a a, ledges, which fix the cover represented in Fig. 7, 
 c c is the opening made in the Table of the Hive, in 
 order to its being visited and cleaned by means of the 
 drawer, Fig. 6. 
 
 Fig. 4, represents the under surface of the Table, 
 A B C D, E is the fore-part of it. F F are the hol- 
 lows of the preceding figure. G, is likewise the same 
 groove as that of Fig. 3 ; and c c, the same opening as 
 the preceding figure represents. 
 
 A, Fig. 5, represents the drawer of the Table B B ; 
 is a linen slider intended to let air in at the bottom of 
 the Hive, a, is the handle of the Drawer, b b are the 
 ledges which serve to secure it in the groove C, of 
 Fig. 3 and 4. 
 
 Fig. 6. A B, is the entire Hive, composed of its 
 four Boxes a abb, of its screw rods E E, of its Table 
 
64 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 abed, the fore-part of which is marked E, the fore- 
 part of the Hive is marked F, and its mouth is G. 
 The ledges of the Table are marked with the same 
 letters a abb, asm the foregoing figures, and the feet 
 f f, are nailed in the notches in each side of the groove, 
 g, made to receive the Drawer represented by Fig. 5. 
 
 A B, Fig. 7, is the cover with its movable circle, 
 in which the part e is pierced with holes, f is quite 
 open, g g g g g are five little arched openings for the 
 passage of the Bees, and of the close part d is to shut 
 entirely the opening g of the foregoing figure, when 
 the weather is too cold for the Bees : the screw-rods 
 should not be made to project on each side of the 
 Hive so much as they do in Fig. 1 ; but they should 
 be as represented in Fig. 6, where they are fastened 
 behind by means of an iron rod. 
 
 When one of these Hives or Colonies is just peo- 
 pled, the upper piece, or top of one of the Boxes is 
 taken off, and the straw Hive is placed upon the open- 
 ing, putting a grate of wire in the hole, to prevent a 
 union of the combs in the Box with those in the Hive, 
 which would render the separation more difficult. 
 
 When a Box is to be taken away, the rod, which 
 holds the Boxes firmly connected, is unscrewed. The 
 Boxes which are to remain untouched may be secured 
 by staples. The opening in the bottom of the piece 
 of deal, which forms the back part of the Hive is then 
 to be opened, and the smoke of linen rags is blown 
 into the Box : as soon as a judgment can be formed 
 that the Bees are by these means driven out of the 
 furthest Box, the end is loosened and taken away ; 
 then the Box itself is loosened from the next, and the 
 combs, if they run in a longitudinal direction, must 
 be cut through with a wire, or a sharp thin knife : if 
 the combs run crosswise, they must be taken out 
 
ON HIVES IN GENERAL. 65 
 
 singly before the Box is taken away. The Box being 
 then removed, the piece of deal forming the back of 
 the hive, is immediately joined to the remaining 
 Box and secured as it was before. The smoke should 
 be kept up all the time, to prevent interruption from 
 the Bees. If the first Box is to be taken away, the 
 same steps are to be exactly pursued, and if it be 
 done when most of the Bees are abroad, scarcely a 
 Bee will be lost. 
 
 The Hive of Gelieu, is composed of Boards of an 
 inch in thickness at least. It is of an oblong form, a 
 foot in height, nine or ten inches broad, and fifteen or 
 eighteen long ; this species of Box, open underneath, 
 is closed only by the Table on which it stands, the 
 entrance of the Bees is at the bottom of one of the 
 great sides. This square, thus constructed, is divided 
 from the top to the bottom, in order to make two 
 equal parts, in such a manner, that the door at which 
 the Bees enter is cut in two ; the open slides are 
 closed by two light boards, in each of these two last 
 planks, two openings are made, viz. one in the centre 
 of three or four inches, for the communication of the 
 Bees from one part to another, and the other at the 
 bottom, like that of the entrance, by which the Bees 
 can communicate from one part to the other by the 
 openings at the centre, and those at the bottom. 
 These two demi-hives are kept united by means of 
 eight projecting pegs, two of which placed on each 
 side, top and bottom, in the thickness of the boards, 
 enable the apiarian to attach an iron wire from one 
 peg to the other, which prevents the separation of the 
 two demi-hives. 
 
 This species of hive presents the facility of making 
 artificial swarms, by dividing at a proper time, and 
 adding to each demi-hive two empty parallel por- 
 
06 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 tions ; but I do not believe that the deprivation 
 of Honey from them is easy without extracting 
 the Brood on that side from which the honey is 
 taken. 
 
 The storied hive is formed by the union, and 
 position on each other of several pieces of the same 
 diameter, and the same elevation, the number of which 
 is augmented, or diminished at pleasure. This is the 
 hive, which has been so warmly recommended by 
 Bonner, although it was originally invented by Ge- 
 lieu.* It has however been much modified by differ- 
 ent apiarians. Some have made them of straw of 
 cylindrical parts ; others of wood, of a square or octa- 
 gon form ; the diameter has however in general been 
 one foot, and the elevation of each part three, four, 
 and five inches. f 
 
 The apiarians of France are at this time abusing 
 each other, with all the civility belonging to that po- 
 lished nation, on the merits of this particular kind of 
 hive. At the head of its advocates stands M. Du- 
 couedic, resident of the canton of Maure, who has 
 been violently assailed by Messrs. Bosc, Feburier, 
 Lenormand, and others. It is certain that the starv- 
 ing system has its advantages ; but I am a decided 
 opponent to every method of deprivation by which 
 the middle combs are molested, and in the storying 
 system, it is impossible to obtain the honey from the 
 different compartments without interfering with the 
 
 * As the inventor, he demanded of the minister, Cardinal de Fleury, 
 the privilege of establishing it in France. Letter of Reaumur, of the 
 29th January, 1757, related in the Memoirs of the Society of Agricul- 
 ture of Brittany, 1759 and 1760. 
 
 + Swammerdam, who may in-some respects he called the father of 
 the storying system, mentions that he once possessed a colony of 
 thirty stories. 
 
OX HIVES IX GEXERAL. 07 
 
 brood combs. As I however well know, that it is not 
 only in France that this system is recommended, but 
 that it has its adherents also in this country, and espe- 
 cially in Scotland, I shall give a brief description of 
 its advantages ; and, I trust, I may be allowed, of 
 its disadvantages too. 
 
 By a reference to the Plate III, it will be seen that 
 No. 1 . is the common straw hive, placed on a pe- 
 destal or table. The Bees, which it contains, were 
 a swarm of the 21st June, 1812. In this state they 
 passed the summer, the autumn, and winter, and 
 on the 21st March, 1813, it would be nine months 
 old. 
 
 On the 21st March, 1813, the first story will be 
 added to it (see No. 2.), and this the French apia- 
 rians call La ruche ecossaise, or Scotch hive. This 
 hive will remain in the state of a single story for an 
 entire year, that is, from the 21st March, 1813, to 
 the 21st March, 1814. If the population of the hive 
 has been considerable, and the season favourable 
 during its first year, it may be expected in the second 
 to throw off one or two strong swarms. On the re- 
 turn of the spring of 1814, this hive will be twenty- 
 one months old, nine months as a simple hive, and 
 twelve with one story. 
 
 No. 3, represents the hive with two stories, and it 
 then assumes the name of the pyramidal hive. It 
 commences on the 21st March, 1S14, and becomes 
 pyramidal at the age of twenty-one months. 
 
 These three hives, or boxes, are plastered with 
 mortar or clay at their junction, by which they appear 
 to form but one distinct hive, and the Bees can only 
 depart and enter by a single opening made in the. 
 lower story. By the means of holes bored in the 
 f 2 
 
68 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 top of the lower stories, there is a free communica- 
 tion for the Bees from one story to the other (see 
 No. 4.). 
 
 This colony will exist in the state of a two storied 
 hive from the 21st March to the 21st September, of 
 the same year. It will then be twenty-seven months 
 old. Several swarms will have been obtained through- 
 out all the different stages, from the single hive to the 
 pyramidal one. The swarms of the latter are con- 
 siderable, especially those of the second and sub- 
 sequent years. They generally weigh from twelve 
 to twenty pounds, of sixteen ounces. 
 
 On the 21st September, either a few days sooner 
 or later, as soon as the Drones have been destroyed 
 by the Bees, the first story of this colony can be dis- 
 posed of: it will be found full of wax and honey, 
 without Bees and brood. The honey will be of the 
 present year, as the Bees will have consumed that of 
 the preceding years. 
 
 When on the 21st September the first story is re- 
 moved, the hive will cease to be pyramidal, and will 
 return to its former state of the two storied hive r in 
 this state it will pass the six months of the autumn 
 and winter, but on the return of the spring another 
 story will be given to it, and it will then resume the 
 name of the pyramidal hive. 
 
 The Bees of a pyramidal hive never perish by hun- 
 ger nor cold. It is too rich to want provisions, and 
 too numerous to be affected by the most rigorous win- 
 ter. When the Bees are in groups, they maintain 
 the necessary heat in the hive, and the brood on the 
 return of spring- is always hatched one month sooner 
 than in any other hive. 
 
 Such is the character given by Mr. Ducouedic of 
 the advantages of the storied hive; but I do not 
 
ON HIVES IN GENERAL. 69 
 
 think it will require much ability to shew that these 
 advantages are exaggerated, and its inconveniences 
 concealed. One of the advantages which it possesses, 
 is said to be the power of proportioning the hives to 
 the magnitude of the swarms. This advantage is a 
 little chimerical, because the greatness of a swarm 
 cannot be ascertained at the moment of its settling,, 
 The hotter the weather, the larger the swarm will 
 appear. The Bees in a group hang to each other 
 by their feet, and if the weather be hot they extend 
 themselves to admit the air between them. The 
 cluster will then appear very great; but the cool- 
 ness of evening coming on, the size of the swarm 
 diminishes in such a manner, that we can scarcely 
 believe that it is the same. 
 
 Supposing, however, that themagnitude of a swarm 
 can be ascertained by its weight, it will be still diffi- 
 cult to regulate the number of stories, which ought to 
 be given to it, because two swarms of the same day, 
 and the same weight, will not work equally well. 
 One will fill four stories in fifteen or twenty days, 
 whilst another will not fill three in a whole season. 
 But, it may be answered, three only may be given at 
 first, and then a fourth to that, which works the best, 
 whilst to that, which is the least laborious, the three 
 only remain. We thus fall into those minute details, 
 to which these sort of hives give rise, and for which 
 they have been exposed to so much reproach. 
 
 An advocate* of the story ing system says, " No 
 cause exists why a certain number of stories should 
 not be placed for several months, and even for a year ; 
 that much is gained by it, provided for this period of 
 time the boxes are made of a convenient and proper 
 
 * See Le Traite pratique de l'education des Abeilles. Vendome, 
 1806, No. 69. 
 
 3 
 
70 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 size." To enter into the sense of this author ; I merely 
 observe, that the Bees, which escape, often lodge 
 themselves in places out of all proportion to the 
 magnitude of the swarm ; for example, in chimneys, 
 in the hollow trunks of trees; and I have known 
 some which have lodged under the tiles of a garret 
 for a series of years.* They work in these places, 
 and throw off their swarms, notwithstanding the dis- 
 proportion of the dwelling which they occupy. 
 
 Another advantage is, to be able to gather the upper 
 stories full, by substituting empty ones at the bottom. 
 By these means the combs of these hives are renewed. 
 
 This manoeuvre has an influence not only on the 
 quality, but the quantity of the honey. In the first 
 place on the quality, because the Bees having stored 
 up some pollen in the combs, when they were in the 
 centre, and being able to extract it only imperfectly, 
 the honey which is deposited in them, when that parti- 
 cular story becomes the upper one, contracts a bitter- 
 ness of which it is difficult to deprive it : f in regard 
 to the quantity, because the capacity of the cells is 
 diminished by the little film, which every worm of 
 the Bee winds round itself, and which it cannot 
 wholly extricate from the cell. % 
 
 * A swarm of this sort inhabited the roof of Dimsinnan House, in 
 Perthshire, for a number of years, and was facetiously called by it§ 
 amiable owner, " My apiary." 
 
 t See the reports made to the Society of Agriculture of Paris, and to 
 the Institute, by Messrs. Bosc and Olivier, 18th April, and 3d September, 
 1810. 
 
 + Swammerdam, in his General History of Insects, says, " that, in 
 cutting some cells, the basis is found to be about the thickness of a 
 shilling, whilst in general it is extremely thin." This arises, he says, 
 from many films being placed one above the other. Maraldi observed, 
 during one summer, that the cells served five times for the brood of 
 Bees : therefore, in oneseason five films were placed on one another. 
 See Les Meuioires de lAcademie, 1713. p. 314. 
 
ON HIVES IN GENERAL. 71 
 
 By the use of the storied hives, it is said, that the 
 invasion of the moth is prevented. I have, however, 
 seen a storied hive, or colony, the combs of which 
 w r ere devoured by the moth, not from the negligence 
 of the proprietor, but because there being neither 
 brood nor queen, and the hive being in fact in a 
 steril state, the Bees were deprived of all defence ; 
 the invasion of the moth in the disorganized hives, of 
 whatever form they may be, is so rapid in the month 
 of August, on account of the heat, that it is only to 
 be perceived by a strict and daily attention. 
 I Another advantage of this system is said to be 
 the facility, with which artificial swarms are made 
 with the stories taken from the centre, which, in the 
 season, bordering on that of the swarms, ought to 
 contain the cells of the young Queens, or at least the 
 brood from which the working Bees would know how 
 to raise themselves a Queen. 
 
 I merely observe that it is not an easy operation to 
 take the stories full of brood ; it is an actual siege 
 against the fury of the Bees. I shall have occasion 
 to enlarge upon this point under the head of artificial 
 Swarms. 
 
 One great inconvenience arising from the diminu- 
 tive elevation of the stories, each of which is sepa- 
 rated, is, that it obliges the Bees to live, as it were, 
 in different families, whereas their own preservation, 
 and that of the brood, necessitate them to live in the 
 strictest union. According to this method, there 
 would be one cluster in one story, another in the se- 
 cond, and so on, by which the interior heat, being only 
 in proportion to the partial junctions, would not pro- 
 duce the same advantageous results, as if there were 
 no points of division. I once saw an amateur, who 
 attempted to remedy this inconvenience, by making 
 
72 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 in each separation, holes of fifteen lines in diameter, 
 very near to each other ; but he found that the holes 
 embarrassed him very much, when he came to take 
 off the upper stories. 
 
 Another inconvenience is the transversal incision of 
 the combs with the wire to separate the stories, they 
 being placed at the lower part, to be taken away 
 when they have attained the top. In crossing the 
 centre, the Queen has deposited her eggs in it ; the 
 brood having wound a film, which remains waxed to 
 the sides of the cells, when the story is to be raised, 
 the films resist the wire, and, before they will yield, 
 the combs fall upon each other, the Bees are crushed, 
 and, amongst them, perhaps the Queen. This incon- 
 venience can be remedied, it is said, by cutting the 
 combs at the sides ; but then the particular direction 
 of the combs must be distinctly ascertained, which 
 is not an easy matter, as there are some, which are 
 crooked. Besides, I have attempted to cut the combs 
 at the side, and I discovered that the film prevented a 
 clean incision.* 
 
 The upper part of these hives is on an erroneous 
 plan, because it is necessarily flat. This is the rock 
 on which the partizans of the storying system have 
 been wrecked. The Bees, when in health, never 
 vent any excrement in the hive, and, being never 
 benumbed, they continually consume their food, and 
 consequently evacuate by a considerable perspiration, 
 which rises in vapour to the top of the hives : this 
 circumstance takes place daring the nights of spring, 
 at the epoch when the Queen is the most prolific, 
 
 * Doctor Chambon says, that the cells which have contained larva 
 possess a softness, which embarrasses the person who cuts, because they 
 rather tear, than allow themselves to be cut, by bending under the 
 cutting instrument. (See hit Manual on the Education of Beet, note 19)- 
 
ON HIVES IN GENERAL. 73 
 
 and during the days and nights of winter, when the 
 Bees are concentred in their hive. 
 
 This perspiration is necessary during the laying of 
 the eggs by the Queen, for the purpose of preserving 
 the brood in a state of moisture proper to facilitate its 
 development : the heat of the days, the motion of the 
 Bees, and their absence attenuate the superfluity of 
 these vapours. During winter these vapours are also 
 necessary to a certain point, in order to preserve the 
 honey in a state fit for the health of the Bees, it 
 being ascertained, after repeated experiments, that 
 granulated, or crystallized honey, is not salutary for 
 Bees, nor is indeed of any positive use to them ; * 
 but as in winter, these vapours are almost continual, 
 it is proper that they should be carried off without 
 falling on the Bees. 
 
 According to the writings of the ancients, and the 
 form of their hives, the abundance of these vapours 
 was not unknown to them ; and it is from the prin- 
 ciple of removing them from the centre, that they 
 adopted the convex form of the top of their hives, in 
 order to facilitate the flowing of the superabundant 
 water formed by the vapours, which rise to the top. 
 
 Schirach was the first who perceived these vapours. 
 To try his experiments he had some boxes made Jlat 
 at the top, in which he introduced some combs, con- 
 taining brood of an early age, and some Bees. He soon 
 found that the Bees perspired, and discovered some 
 large drops of water at the top of his boxes. f As a 
 remedy, he made a large opening, over which he 
 placed a plate of tin pierced with little holes, to which 
 
 * See the experiments of Madame Vicat, in the Memoirs of the 
 Economical Society of Berne. 
 
 + Schirach'* Natural History of the Queen of the Bees.— Cap. III. 
 p. 19. 
 
74 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 he added some vent holes to assist the evaporation of 
 the superabundant vapours, which exhaled from the 
 Bees contained in the boxes. 
 
 In 1769 Madame Vicat, of the Society of Berne, 
 repeated the experiments of Schirach, and by the top 
 of her boxes, on which she also placed a plate of tin 
 bored with little holes, she ascertained that a warm 
 vapour exhaled, and sometimes very sensibly.* 
 
 On the other hand, the amateurs, astonished at per- 
 ceiving these waters, attempted to attenuate them, by 
 either making their stories of light and porous wood, 
 or by boring holes in the separation of every story, 
 which holes in the upper story, are covered with 
 plates of perforated tin. The anxiety in this respect 
 determined many to adapt a glass to each story, in 
 order to ascertain the effects of the vapours, which 
 were perceived. It was during the excessively hard 
 winter, of 1814, that, having a storied hive, the par- 
 titions of which were glass, I was particularly anxious 
 about them, knowing the porosity of that material, 
 and I examined them in the month of December, 
 when, to my great vexation, I found a sheet of ice 
 in the upper part of each hive, j- 
 
 The question hence arises, what is the most com- 
 mon cause of the loss of the hives during the winter ? 
 I do not speak of hunger, for that is the fault of the 
 proprietor ; but I maintain, that it is the moisture of 
 the combs, occasioned by the fall of the water collect- 
 ed at the top of the hives which are flat : it is also the 
 fall of these waters on the Bees, which, stopping their 
 perspiration, sours and corrupts the matter which is 
 
 * Memoirs of the Economical Society of Berne, Letters of Madame 
 Vicat to Vogel, H70. It is also found at the end of Scbirach's work. 
 
 + Dubost, a French apiarian, made the same discovery in the winter 
 of 1788 and 1789. 
 
ON HIVES IN GENERAL. 75 
 
 in their body, causes the dysentery, and carries in- 
 fection and death through the whole community. 
 But, it maybe said, the vapours exhale equally from 
 the Bees lodged in hives with a convex top, and that 
 they freeze in severe winters. This is all granted : 
 but the convex top, receiving the waters of the steam, 
 cannot retain them ; they follow continually the de- 
 clivity which conducts them to the circumference ; 
 if severe cold intervene, the waters freeze, but it is in 
 the course of their fall, that is, against the interior 
 sides of the circumference, and at a distance from the 
 centre. Another point is, that, for the welfare of the 
 brood, it is necessary that it should be concentred in 
 the middle of the hives, as being the warmest place : 
 and that the temperature should be the same through- 
 out the whole extent of the centre. The Bees always 
 beginning their work in the most elevated part of their 
 hive, naturally find this centre point. If the top be 
 flat, and especially if it be as spacious as in the hives 
 called pyramidal, the Bees will not find this centre ; 
 they will work one year in one part, and the follow- 
 ing year in another : this is without doubt one of 
 the causes, which obliges a proprietor to wait three or 
 four years, before any honey can be gathered from 
 these hives. * 
 
 The last reason is, that fifty years have now ex- 
 pired since the storying hives were invented : that 
 since that time, they have been vehemently extolled, 
 but still they have never extended further than 
 the limited apiary of the citizen. The country 
 apiarian refuses to use them, although he be not ac- 
 
 * Rapport desCommissaires de la Societed'Agriculture, Sciences et 
 Arts de Rennes, du 15 Xovcmbre, 1809. 
 
76 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 quainted with their inconveniences; but he has been 
 shewn the hives made of wood, which are expensive 
 and require the most minute and assiduous care, and 
 they yield but a poor harvest in numerous portions, 
 which is embarrassing to the proprietor, and unwor- 
 thy of the attention of the wax merchant. 
 
 Keys is an advocate for the storying system, but 
 no person can read his sentiments on this subject 
 without being struck by his numerous and gross 
 contradictions. He asserts, " that the method of 
 storying undoubtedly yields much the greatest pro- 
 fit," and in the very subsequent passage, he says, 
 " that three pecks of Bees in one hive will collect 
 more honey than a bushel divided in two." Now I 
 would wish to ask this sapient apiarian, what is the 
 storying system, but dividing the Bees ? It may be 
 answered, that, although divided, they are still one 
 family. It is granted ; but it is that very division, 
 which is injurious to the interests of the proprietor. 
 The reasons of this have been already stated ; but 
 Mr. Keys must be a very shallow apiarian to assert 
 that the Bees, being limited to a small compass, in- 
 crease more than when an appropriate space is given 
 to them. As to a hive ever containing three pecks 
 of Bees, it is an idea that must be scouted by every 
 apiarian : and how will Mr. Keys account for the 
 great mortality, which, according to his system, takes 
 place in the hive, when he calculates that, of a hive 
 which contains three pecks in the summer, scarcely 
 a quart will remain at the close of the winter. Ac- 
 cording to this method of reasoning, twenty-three 
 quarts of Bees must have perished during the winter. 
 
 The only excuse I can make for Mr. Keys, in this 
 instance, is, that he speaks figuratively, for he surely 
 
ON HIVES IN GENERAL. 77 
 
 can never mean that a hive of Bees ever amounted in 
 number to a bushel.* 
 
 I shall not, however, follow Keys through all his 
 arguments respecting the superiority of the storying 
 system, as its inconveniences have been already stat- 
 ed, and no new arguments in its favour have been 
 adduced. 
 
 A French apiarian, M. Lombard, being sensible of 
 the disadvantages attending the storying system, 
 has invented a hive, which he calls the village hive, 
 on account of its resemblance to the common hive, 
 generally in use in this country : it differs however 
 in this respect, that it is divided in two, and in the 
 interior there is a species of separation, which facili- 
 tates the deprivation of the honey, without obstruct- 
 ing the circulation of the Bees. The convex form 
 of the top has been preserved to facilitate the flowing 
 of the steam, which during the winter is exhaled by 
 
 * In this estimate of the size of a hire of Bees, and in general, in all 
 my calculations respecting the quantity of their produce, I must be 
 considered as referring to the average crops obtained in this country. 
 A correspondent at Kingston, in Jamaica, in the plenitude of his 
 strictures, considers me to be in an error, in my assertion, that a hive 
 of Bees ever amounted in number to a bushel ; and he says, " A gen- 
 tleman of my acquaintance in the interior of this island, keeps no 
 smaller hives than beef or flour barrels, frequently casks of much 
 larger dimensions. I have known seven or eight baskets, each about 
 two bushels, taken out of a hollow tree. One cave in this island, *he 
 roof of which is about 20 feet square, is three or four feet thick of 
 Honey-comb and Bees, from which the Negroes on the property fre- 
 quently with poles break off some for their own use. Considerable 
 quantities of honey and wax are sometimes brought here from the 
 Spanish Main, where no hives are kept, the natives procuring it from 
 hollow trees and caves, some of which take several days toempty." 
 
 This may be all very true, when speaking of the hives of Jamaica ; 
 and should it ever fall to my lot to write the history of the State of 
 Apiarian Science in that Island, I will not forget the flour barrels, 
 nor the cave ; but in the mean time, I am obliged to confine myself 
 to the more moderate sized hives of this country. 
 
78 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 the union of the Bees. He discards the transversal 
 cutting of the combs by the wire, of which he allows 
 that he is sensible of the inconvenience, and the only 
 difficulty which he meets with, is in detaching the 
 upper part from the lower, which sticks together by 
 the nropolis used by the Bees to close the joint. He 
 declares that he adopts that particular hive, after a 
 trial of twelve or fifteen years of hives of different 
 forms. 
 
 The hive, as it is above stated, is composed of two 
 parts, the body of the hive B, and the cover A, (see 
 PI. IV, Fig. 1.) forming together an elevation of 
 seventeen to twenty inches, on a uniform diameter 
 of one foot within the clear, excepting the upper part 
 which ought to be convex. He adopted the above 
 dimensions, because the brood is more concentred 
 than in the hives of wider extent. If the elevation 
 be at all varied, it is merely to proportionate the hives 
 a little to the magnitude of the swarms, according to 
 the season being more or less advanced. These pro- 
 portions are however seldom exceeded, because, as 
 the too great capacity of the hives does not allow of 
 an annual deprivation, the honey deteriorates,* and it 
 has also been ascertained, that the hives which ex- 
 ceed those proportions when they are full, are beyond 
 the strength of men in general, and it is then painful 
 aiid troublesome to manage them. Some amateurs 
 
 * In speaking of the too great capacity of the pyramidal hive of 
 M. Ducouedic, Messrs. Bosc and Olivier, members of the Institute, 
 and the commissioners chosen to examine that kind of hive, thus ex- 
 press themselves in their report made to the society of Agriculture of 
 Paris and to the Institute. " It is a fact that the honey becomes co- 
 loured and deteriorates in proportion as it remains in the hive, on 
 account of the reaction of those principles on themselves, a reaction 
 strengthened by the great heat which reigns in the hive : the honey of 
 the present year is always the best." 
 
ON HIVES IN GENERAL, 79 
 
 have adopted a less diameter, being consequently 
 enabled to give their hives a greater elevation. On 
 this head, M. Huber justly observes, " If too great 
 a diameter be not given to the abode of the Bees, it 
 may without danger be increased in the elevation ;" 
 their success in the hollow trees, their natural domi- 
 cile, incontestibly proves the truth of this position. 
 
 The body of this hive is composed of bands of 
 straw, similar to that of the cottager in this country. 
 At the top and bottom of the body of each hive, an 
 exterior band is made C C. The hive ought to be 
 bordered without, top and bottom — that is, at the 
 bottom to give the hive a firm station on the pedestal, 
 and at the top, to be able to unite together two hives 
 placed on one another, should this be necessary. At 
 the top of the body of the hives, within the clear, and 
 even with the last band, is placed a flooring board 
 D D, made of a light plank often inches in breadth 
 in all directions, the four corners are sawed off in 
 such a manner, that in measuring the board from one 
 corner to another, the measurement is one foot. This 
 board js fixed with nails inserted in the upper double 
 band, entering a little into the front ; the four open- 
 ings which the board leaves are necessary for the 
 circulation of the Bees, and the evaporation of the 
 vapours which, in the winter, exhale from their union, 
 and for their passage, when it is necessary to smoke 
 them. The effectof this board is seen (PI. IV. Fig. 2); 
 it is the top of the hive viewed longitudinally. Under 
 the board a flat rod E E, traverses the hive, project- 
 ing from the two sides, about fifteen or eighteen lines; 
 it answers the purpose of lifting the hive with the 
 two hands, and facilitates the fastening of the cover, 
 which has also a projecting rod, corresponding with 
 that of the hive. At the bottom is an opening, two 
 
 6 
 
80 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 inches broad, and nine lines in height, for the ingress 
 and egress of the Bees. 
 
 The two first bands of the cover A, ought to be 
 of the same diameter as the hive, the third ought to 
 be insensibly contracted, and so on progressively, un- 
 til the cover at its elevation is of four or five inches. 
 At the top an opening is left of fifteen or eighteen 
 lines, in which the dagger F is placed, one foot in 
 length, and diminishing insensibly in its apparent 
 height, which is only ten inches, the remainder being 
 buried in the cover. In order that this dagger should 
 not penetrate deeper from the weight of the outer 
 covering, of which mention will be made hereafter, a 
 rod a little curved, of six or eight inches long, is 
 placed, which passes across the dagger, and bears on 
 the convexity of the cover, and in a contrary direc- 
 tion to that of the interior, as is explained by the 
 Fig. 1 and 3. 
 
 The base of the covers is traversed by the project- 
 ing rod, the use of which has been already mentioned, 
 and which also serves to support the combs, which 
 the Bees construct in the covers. It is proper to 
 have the covers of about four or five inches in depth, 
 that they may be proportioned to the size of the 
 swarm. Were they to be made of a greater depth, 
 some comb would be found, which could not possibly 
 be extracted. In the interior of the hives two bars 
 are placed crosswise, one above the other, in order 
 to support the combs. They are required to project 
 a little that they may be drawn out with pincers, 
 when the hive is deprived of its honey. * 
 
 * I consider these sticks, or cross-bars, to be the greatest incon- 
 venience attending the common straw hive, and also, of this hive of 
 M. Lombard. I have always found, in my attempts to deprive these 
 hives of their superfluous store, that these sticks are the greatest 
 
ON HIVES IN GENERAL. 81 
 
 Finally, it is necessary that all the hives and all the 
 bases of the covers should be of one uniform diameter, 
 in order that the hives, if occasion require it, may be 
 placed upon each other, and the covers be then fitted 
 to all the hives. 
 
 An ingenious method has been devised by M. Lorn* 
 bard of constructing the hives and covers of a uniform 
 diameter. The following is the description of it : — 
 A piece of wood is taken (walnut-tree is the best) of 
 about two inches thick and fourteen inches in diame- 
 meter ; it is rounded until it is reduced to thirteen 
 inches, eight lines. The board is hollowed about an 
 inch, leaving at the circumference a border of about 
 ten lines, which will give a diameter of one foot, from 
 the interior edge to the other. (See Fig. 4.) If the 
 segment of the circle be not at hand, forty-two spaces 
 are marked, an inch between each ; at every mark a 
 hole is made with a small centre bit, and the band 
 which is used to fasten the straw to the board is flat ; 
 a small red-hot flat iron of about two or three lines 
 broad, is passed through every hole. On the border 
 of ten lines, forty-two notches are made, of two lines 
 broad, and as many deep, at a distance of an inch 
 from each. These notches on the border are made 
 between two holes made in the segment of the circle, 
 
 impediment. As to the method recommended of drawing them out 
 with pincers, it is perfectly chimerical ; it is impossible to effect it 
 without tearing the combs, and even the brood combs. The Bees na- 
 turally become suffocated in their own sweets, and the general damage, 
 which is done to the hive is irreparable. Even in the case of suffocating 
 the Bees, these sticks prove an injury; for the hive must be either 
 cut to pieces, to obtain the combs in their perfect state, or the sticks 
 must be extracted, as described above. The country people, in gene- 
 ral, stick their hives ridiculously, one single stick put horizontally 
 through the middle, being sufficient; but in Scotland, for instance, 
 three or four are inserted. In this respect, the great advantage of my 
 hive will be apparent. 
 
 G 
 
S2 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 (See Fig. 5). In this state, the board will be a guide 
 for the beginning of the hive and the covers. 
 
 In regard to the glass or bell hives, they are fit 
 only for the amateur. They have been recommended 
 by some apiarians, as an excellent invention for dis- 
 covering the internal economy of the Bee. I am, 
 however, convinced, that not a single discovery has 
 ever been made by means of glass hives. As condu- 
 cive to the prosperity of the Bees, they are unques- 
 tionably opposite, and I can, with the greatest pro- 
 priety, recommend them to those persons, who wish 
 to have a little fine honey during the season, but who 
 have no inclination to preserve the Bees for the benefit 
 of the succeeding year. 
 
 Having now examined the different hives, which 
 are in use in this country and on the continent, it 
 merely remains for me to describe the hive, which, 
 although its general principle be of a very early date, 
 yet its improvements have been entirely suggested by 
 myself. 
 
 As it has always been my invariable study to save 
 the lives of these valuable insects, and at the same 
 time, to reap the utmost possible profit from their 
 labours, the selection of a proper abode for them was 
 a matter of no secondary consideration ; for on this 
 must depend the degree of success in the undertaking. 
 Aware of the several disadvantages, which are con- 
 spicuous in the construction of the various kinds of 
 hives, that are in general use, I considered it possible 
 to erect one on those principles, which would obviate 
 every disadvantage, and at the same time combine 
 beauty with utility. 
 
 My first object was to select those materials, which 
 I judged most suitable for the construction of a hive, 
 and after repeated experiments on the various mate- 
 
ON HIVES IN GENERAL. 83 
 
 rials, I was convinced, that no one was more pro- 
 per, than straw. This I know is denied by Huber; 
 but I must be allowed, in this instance, to differ from 
 that celebrated apiarian. The shape of the hive was 
 my next consideration. I had been so often defeated 
 in my expectations, regarding the deprivation of the 
 common straw hive, and especially by the sticks, with 
 which they are superfluously furnished to prevent 
 the combs from falling, that I was persuaded it was 
 a shape fitted only for those persons, who suffocate 
 their Bees ; but to the deprivator, it was the most 
 inconvenient and unmanageable form that could be 
 suggested. It was a flower-pot, which first gave me 
 an idea of the shape, and which appeared to possess 
 peculiar advantages. It would, in the first place, 
 supersede the necessity of sticks ; for the combs then 
 acting like a wedge, being larger at the top than at 
 the bottom, could not fall on the board. Thus one 
 great difficulty was overcome ; but then the impos- 
 sibility of extracting the combs from the bottom of 
 the hive presented itself; for upon the same principle, 
 that the combs acting as a wedge, would prevent 
 them falling down, so it would be impossible to ex- 
 tract them from the bottom, as they would be smaller 
 there, than at the top. One only method therefore 
 presented itself of extracting the combs, and this was 
 from the top, but this I knew could not be effected, 
 were the combs to be all constructed on one basis, 
 which is the case in the generality of hives. I there- 
 fore set my invention at work, to devise a method, 
 by which each comb could have its separate founda- 
 tion ; but I was aware of the perverse and untracta- 
 ble temper of the insects under my management, and 
 that from the very spirit of opposition, which, were 
 I inclined to be severe, I might say, arises from their 
 g2 
 
 
S4 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 being under the government of a female, they would 
 not construct their combs in the particular manner 
 consonant to my wishes. I had tried a hive on the 
 principle of Huber, and I found that, notwithstand- 
 ing the scientific and philosophical elucidation of 
 Mr. John Hunter, that an edge forming a salient or 
 even a returning angle, determined the foundation of 
 the combs of the Bees ; they had nevertheless disre- 
 garded this principle, and had worked in the interstices 
 between the frames. To give to each comb its own 
 foundation was not a matter of any great difficulty ; 
 but in what manner the Bees were to be prevented 
 from working in the interstices, and at the same time, 
 to be forced to work on the foundations prescribed 
 to them, cost me some little pains to determine. It 
 suggested itself to me that a Bee will never work on 
 an°unstable foundation, and therefore I considered 
 that I should succeed in my design, if I could insert 
 some network between the pieces of wood. Having 
 obtained seven pieces of well seasoned wood, about 
 one and a half inch broad, and a quarter inch thick, 
 I laid them equidistant on the top of the hive (See 
 PI. V. Fig. 2.), and having fastened them to the outer 
 projecting band, which serves as their basis, I cover- 
 ed them with network, over which I placed a circular 
 board the whole size of the hive. In this circular 
 board, a very great improvement has suggested itself. 
 As the Bees always reside at the top of the hives, I 
 found that on taking off the board, the whole of the 
 Bees became exposed, and the difficulty of depriva- 
 tion is thereby considerably increased. I judged it 
 therefore expedient to devise some method, by which 
 the side combs could be extracted, without exposing 
 the middle of the hive to the light, and the depriva- 
 tion could be then effected without the knowledge of 
 
ON HIVES IN GENERAL. $5 
 
 the Bees. I therefore divided the circular board into 
 five separate pieces, which are attached to each other 
 by small hinges : each individual one can then be 
 opened, as occasion may require. Were the Bees 
 to attempt to fasten their combs in the interstices, 
 they would find the network, which, being an 
 infirm foundation, would oblige them to construct 
 the combs on the single boards. I had however now 
 given to my hive a flat top, which I knew was inju- 
 rious to my Bees, as it prevented the evaporation of 
 the steam arising from their bodies. To obviate this, 
 I made six holes in the circular board, which was 
 placed upon the net, and which I closed with plates 
 of tin perforated with small holes. (See PL V. Fig. 4.) 
 The whole I covered with a convex cover of straw, 
 manufactured in the same manner as the hive ; the 
 interior form of which facilitates the flowing: of the 
 vapours down the sides of the hive, and the exterior 
 form prevents any rain from lodging on it. This 
 cover is well plastered down to prevent the admission 
 of any light into the hive. At any time and season, 
 when I require some honey-comb, or at the end of 
 the season, when I deprive my Bees of their super- 
 fluous store, I open the top and take the sideboards 
 out, from which having cut the honey-comb, I replace 
 them in the hive, and the operation is facilitated by 
 having some vacant boards ready to supply the places 
 of the full ones. This operation is very easily and 
 speedily performed ; it has the advantage of not dis- 
 turbing the middle combs, and I have often deprived 
 these hives of their honey without the loss of a single 
 Bee, excepting those few, who were foolish enough, 
 to leave their stings in various parts of my dress. In 
 the month of August, 1810, I obtained from one of 
 these hives eighteen pounds of beautiful honey-comb ; 
 
86 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 by the end of September the void was again filled, 
 and I extracted ten pounds more, leaving a sufficiency 
 to supply them through the winter. No. 1. PI. V., 
 represents the hive as it appears in my garden ; and 
 No. 3, one of the horizontal boards, extracted from 
 the hive, with the comb pendent from it. Two very 
 considerable advantages arise from the use of this 
 hive : — In the first place, there is never any occasion 
 to make an addition to the hive at the bottom, when 
 the Bees, by lying out in clusters, declare that they 
 stand in need of room ; for the operation of depriving 
 them of a part of their combs from the top, will give 
 them the room which they require, and which they 
 will soon replenish with honey. In the common 
 hive, it is customary, in this predicament, to place, 
 what is called in Scotland, an eek, which consists of 
 from four to six bands of the same diameter as the 
 hive ; but, on taking away this eek in the autumn, 
 I have seen the most injurious consequences result 
 to the hive. It is, in general, performed by cutting 
 the combs with a wire between the hive and the eek, 
 and then, whilst one person lifts up the hive, another 
 draws the eek away : the hive then rests on the stool. 
 Few persons, however, consider that, as the combs 
 are cut parallel with the bottom of the hive, they 
 will all touch the stool on which it stands, and I 
 have thus known a whole hive perish. 
 
 The second advantage is, that the whole of the 
 interior of the hive is open to your inspection, and 
 you are thus enabled to examine the devastation of 
 the moth, or to ascertain the presence of any other 
 enemy. 
 
 It has been considered by some, that the shape of 
 the hive has a particular influence on the labour of 
 the Bee. During a period of nearly twenty years. 
 
ON HIVES IN GENERAL 87 
 
 in which I have studied the economy of the Bee, I 
 have been favoured with the visits of many authors, 
 who have written on the subject, and a number of 
 amateurs and proprietors. My correspondence with 
 some of the most skilful apiarians of France and Ger- 
 many, and of Scotland, has been very extensive. 
 The conversation and correspondence which I have 
 had with one and the other ; the perusal of all the 
 ancient aud modern works which have appeared upon 
 Bees, few of which have escaped me ; and finally 
 my own experience and experiments have convinced 
 me of a truth, which ought to be considered as in- 
 controvertible, by all those who do possess, or who 
 intend to keep Bees, which is, that in general, in the 
 natural state, there is no certain method, nor will 
 one be ever discovered, by which a great harvest of 
 wax and honey, and great swarms can be obtained at 
 pleasure : these are chimeras, which it is folly to pur- 
 sue, because the former depends on the seasons being 
 more or less favourable to the secretion of honey ; 
 on the countries which the Bees inhabit, being more 
 or less wooded and covered with flowers, and which 
 have a particular influence on the fecundity of the 
 Queen ; from which arises that annual difference be- 
 tween the harvest of honey and wax, and the large- 
 ness or smallness of the swarms. To the same causes 
 may be attributed why a mode of treatment, which 
 has succeeded one year, will not succeed the next, al- 
 though the circumstances be almost the same in ap- 
 pearance. It is these differences and variations, 
 which, for the period of fifty-five years, have given 
 rise to hives of different forms and materials, which 
 have only tended to instruct us, that Bees can inhabit, 
 work, and collect provisions in vessels of every form, 
 from the excavated trunk of the tree, as it is used in 
 
88 MANAGEMENT OF EEES. 
 
 Poland and the northern countries, to the expensive 
 and useless glass-hive, or to the hive of Duhamel ;* 
 and, where no hollow trunk of the tree can be found, 
 in the holes of walls, in chimneys, and under the 
 roofs. It is this species of uncertainty, which is 
 the cause of apiarians and amateurs soliciting infor- 
 mation from each other. They always hope by this 
 communication, to acquire that knowledge, in which 
 they now feel themselves so deficient. This species 
 of fraternity is useful, because the experiments and 
 observations, which are made, conduce to the advan- 
 tage and improvement of this branch of rural eco- 
 nomy. In this view, I have been induced to give a 
 description of the different forms of hives, and to 
 place the proprietor in a state to select that hive which 
 appears to him the most easy of deprivation, without 
 destroying the Bees, and leaving them a sufficiency 
 to support them during the winter. The natural 
 state of the Bee may be ameliorated, and the harvest 
 of honey and wax augmented. 
 
 * In the Memoires de V Academie, Duhamel relates tint the curate of 
 Lillay-ie-Pe!ieux, having deposi led a strong hive of Bees in the bottom 
 of a subverted tub, in which he made a hole, the Bees filled the tub 
 with thick combs, in such a manner, that the deep cells resembled a 
 goose's quill; and that M. Dubois, who purchased it of the curate, 
 extracted from it five to six pounds of wax, and 420 pounds of honey. 
 The fact comes from too respectable a quarter to be disputed ; but it 
 is so very extraordinary, thai it ought to have been accompanied with 
 more minute details. Duhamel ought to have informed us if he saw 
 the tub full, and if the Bees had no other entrance than the hole which 
 the hive covered. A number of apiarians have since that time placed 
 their Bees in tubs, buckets, and perforated barrels, and the result has 
 never been attended with the same success. Those persons, who are 
 acquainted with the disposition and construction of the combs of the 
 hives have some difficulty in conceiving, how the Bees, who always 
 place their provision of honey at the top of their domicile, should 
 have descended into the tub, which was a kind of cellar to them, and 
 have collected there 420 pounds of honey. The length of time should 
 also have been mentioned, in which the Bees collected this amazing 
 quantity of honey. 
 
ON THE POSITION OF THE APIARY. 89 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 ON THE POSITION OF THE APIARY. 
 
 XHE apiary is the spot where the Bee-hives are 
 assembled. Some are in the open air, others are con- 
 tained in houses built on various constructions. In 
 the southern countries the aspect which is preferred 
 is always to the eastward ; in the northern countries 
 it is always to the eastward and the southward ; but 
 in England little or no attention is paid to the aspect. 
 During a perambulation through Hampshire and 
 Sussex, I saw the apiaries facing all the points of the 
 compass. 
 
 In the vicinity of East Grinstead I visited a farmer, 
 who had a small apiary consisting of about five hives, 
 the aspect of which was due north, and the hives 
 were ranged over a pigstye. I expostulated with 
 him on the badness of the situation, and remarked 
 the particular dislike which Bees entertain for any 
 offensive smell. The answer I received was, that his 
 Bees had been in that situation for about four years, 
 that they were now accustomed to it, and were he to 
 remove them, they would regret the change. I used 
 every argument which my experience in Bees could 
 suggest ; but my labour was in vain. The Bees were 
 attached to the north and the pigstye, and they were 
 not to be removed. 
 
t)0 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 It is certain, however, that the aspect of the apiary 
 should vary with the climate of the country ; but in 
 this climate, there can be little doubt that the aspect 
 should be two points to the eastward and one to the 
 southward. The variable temperature of our spring 
 is such, that there are some days, in which the 
 honey harvest is wholly obstructed, it is prudent 
 therefore to place the hives in that position, which will 
 enable the Bees to go early into the fields, on those 
 days, when the flowers abound with honey, because, 
 at that time, they will be able to make a more abun- 
 dant harvest, than when the heat of the day has ab- 
 sorbed the mellifluous Globules from those flowers on 
 which a multitude of other insects has alighted since 
 the early part of the morning. 
 
 In whatever position the hives are placed, they 
 should be protected from the winds. In this country, 
 therefore, a protection from the south-west is advisable. 
 The high winds not only prevent the Bees from leav- 
 ing the hive in quest of honey, but they also surprize 
 them in the fields, and often kill them by dashing 
 them against the trees and rocks, or into the rivers. 
 The following anecdote is curious ; it is related by 
 the Abbe della Rocca, whose veracity in some in- 
 stances is unimpeachable, but whether it be so in this 
 case, must depend on the credulity of the reader : 
 " One day," he says, " I was sitting on the top of 
 a mountain, on which the wind raged with the great- 
 est violence ; I saw a number of Bees, which came to 
 gather the honey ; the north-wind blew with violence, 
 but as soon as the Bees presented themselves, they 
 were repulsed, and their resistance was useless : fa- 
 tigued with this eternal combat, many of them fell 
 upon an expedient which I had never heard men- 
 tioned, but of which I had read in books ; thev col- 
 
ON THE POSITION OF THE APIARY. 91 
 
 lected some little stones, and taking them up with 
 their feet, they took their flight afresh, and succeeded 
 in their design." 
 
 The hives in an apiary should always be placed in 
 a right line, but should the number of the hives be 
 great, and the situation not capacious enough to admit 
 of their being placed longitudinally, it is more ad- 
 visable to place them over one another than in double 
 rows. A Bee on leaving the hive generally forms an 
 angle of about forty-five with the horizon ; the eleva- 
 tion of the hive should, therefore, be about two feet 
 from the ground, in order to protect it from humiditv. 
 The greater the elevation of the hive, the longer is 
 the flight of the swarm ; and when they are at a certain 
 point of elevation, the swarms are lost for ever to the 
 proprietor.* If the hives are to be placed in a double 
 row, the hinder ones should be at such a distance from 
 the front ones, that when the Bees take their flight, 
 no obstruction is offered to their ascent ; at all events, 
 if the situation will not allow of the hives being placed 
 in a right line, they should be ranged in the form of 
 a checquer, thus : — 
 
 P Q Q a Q o 
 
 q q a a q 
 
 By this method the flight of the Bees in the hinder 
 row, will not be obstructed by the hives of the front 
 one. 
 
 The plan which is often adopted, of placing several 
 
 * In a memoir addressed to the Society of Agriculture of Paris, in 
 1811, an apiarian, speaking of a swarm that had been lodged in an ele- 
 vated part of his house for eighteen years, says, " this hive has uni- 
 formly sent forth a number of swarms, which, however, have always 
 escaped, because the height of the place from which they direct their 
 flight, facilitates their removal to a greater distance." 
 
92 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 hives upon the same bench is very injurious, and 
 during the swarming season, it is often attended with 
 very destructive consequences. I was once requested 
 by a gentleman to perform an experiment upon a hive, 
 which was placed on the same bench with six others, 
 and in attempting to move the hive destined for the 
 operation, the others were agitated, and the whole 
 apiary became in a little time in a state of confusion. 
 The easy access also, which the Bees of one hive 
 have to those of another, promotes quarrels and mur- 
 derous battles. It is an erroneous opinion, though 
 held by some skilful apiarians, that all the Bees of 
 one apiary know each other, and that it is only the 
 Bees of a foreign apiary, with whom they quarrel. I 
 have been too often witness of the destructive ani- 
 mosity of these little insects, and the wars, which they 
 wage upon the weaker hives in their own establish- 
 ment, not to impress it strongly upon the attention 
 of every apiarian, to place every hive upon a respect- 
 ive pedestal. In general, a post is placed at each 
 corner of the stand, as some prejudiced people be- 
 lieve that a hive stands firmer upon four feet, than 
 upon one. The numerical power, I grant, is against 
 me, but I am certain, that they, who have once used 
 the single pedestal, will never have recourse again to 
 the four-legged stool. 
 
 Another advantage particularly arises from the use 
 of a single pedestal. 
 
 I have reason from sad experience to know, that 
 the Bear is not the only animal who robs a Bee-hive ; 
 there is a two-legged animal of a more vicious dispo- 
 sition still, for if the Bear attacks your apiary, he is 
 kind enough only to regale upon the honey, but leaves 
 the hive ; whereas the two-legged animal takes honey, 
 hive and all. I had so frequently suffered from the 
 
ON THE POSITION OF THE APIARY. 93 
 
 depredations of this animal, that I determined to 
 guard against them for ever in future. The pedestal, 
 on which I place my hive is about three inches in 
 diameter, through which a hole is bored of sufficient 
 magnitude to admit a chain of a tolerable size. I 
 then place the machine over my hive as represented 
 PI. Y, Fig. 5. the two chains meet, and a good 
 strong padlock being attached, I consider my pro- 
 perty safe from depredators. I would, however, re- 
 commend that the board on which the hive is to stand, 
 should be nailed to the pedestal in a very firm man- 
 ner, but rather in a slanting direction, that a fall may 
 be given to rain, which prevents the hive from being 
 subject to humidity. I have however often seen that 
 the board, on which the hive stands, has been made 
 of such thin and green wood, that it is warped as 
 soon as the warm weather sets in ; this circumstance 
 is often attended with serious consequences to the 
 hive, for if the whole circumference of the hive does 
 not rest on the board, the open interstice proves a 
 ready admission to wasps, or any other predatory 
 enemy, who, being too much of the coward to enter 
 the hive by the regular passage, are rejoiced to find 
 any secret opening, by which they can penetrate into 
 the hive, and carry on their marauding actions with- 
 out fear of discovery. 
 
 The best method of preventing the warping of the 
 stand, is to have two strips grooved in it, contrary to 
 the grain of the wood of which the stand is made ; it 
 will thus always remain even. 
 
 Every facility should be removed, by which the 
 enemies of the Bees can ascend into the hives. In 
 some counties of England the hives are placed ex- 
 tremely low, and by way of assistance to the mice, 
 toads, and other enemies of the Bees, a piece of board 
 
9i MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 is placed gradually inclining from the opening down 
 to the ground. In Sussex, this plan is generally 
 adopted, and as 1 once passed through that country, 
 I stopped at several cottages, where I saw the above 
 plan adopted, and reasoned with the proprietors on 
 the injury, which must necessarily arise to their Bees, 
 by an adherence to such an injurious practice ; but to 
 my great mortification, the hives generally belonged 
 to, and were under the management of, the female 
 part of the family, who were so much devoted to the 
 old method of managing Bees, that they literally 
 looked upon me as a person who knew nothing about 
 the business, and my ignorance was considered the 
 greater, in proportion as my advice departed from 
 the long established custom of the country. I met 
 indeed with one person, who appeared open to con- 
 viction ; and in the several letters which I have re- 
 ceived from him, I have been highly gratified in 
 observing, that an improvement is gradually taking 
 place in some parts of Sussex, and that this branch 
 of rural economy is likely soon to emerge from the 
 difficulties which have hitherto surrounded it. 
 
 The apiary should be kept particularly clean ; all 
 noxious weeds carefully removed, and no rubbish be 
 left, in which the enemies of the Bees can conceal 
 themselves. A few low trees or shrubs planted in 
 the vicinity of the apiary, will be found useful in 
 arresting the flight of the swarms, for they very often 
 alight on espalier trees, or on currant and gooseberry 
 bushes. 
 
 It is essential however to observe, that the apiary 
 should not be incommoded with herbs nor plants, 
 which rise to a height equal to, or exceeding the en- 
 trance of the hive ; because the Bees on their arrival 
 from their journeys, being much fatigued, are impeded 
 
ON THE POSITION OF THE APIARY. 95 
 
 by these plants, and regain their habitation with 
 difficulty. If they touch these plants on passing, 
 they often fall to the ground, and become victims to 
 their enemies, or are unfortunately trodden under 
 foot. These plants also serve the purpose of a ladder, 
 for the enemies of the Bees to ascend into the hive, 
 and especially the ants, which in some districts are 
 particularly numerous. These little insects are a 
 great detriment to a hive, and they baffle the most 
 vigilant attention of the apiarian to prevent their 
 depredations. I have found that a small leaden re- 
 servoir of water, placed at the bottom of the pedestal, 
 is of great service in preventing the ascent of these 
 insects. 
 
 The stand on which the hive is placed should be 
 often cleaned, that is, about four times in a year. 
 The first cleaning should take place at the commence- 
 ment of the spring, for a great deal of trouble will be 
 thereby saved to the Bees, who are of that cleanly 
 disposition, that they will not endure any obnoxious 
 substances in the hive, and thus a portion of time is 
 sometimes very unprofitably spent in clearing away 
 extraneous matter, which the apiarian could brush 
 away in a moment. 
 
 The vicinity of great towns is not a proper situation 
 for an apiary. The smoke of a city is very detri- 
 mental to Bees, as the chimneys are in general the 
 resort of the swallows and martins, who are great 
 destroyers of these insects. 
 
 The proximity of a large river is also injurious, as 
 the Bees in their homeward flight are often dashed 
 into it by the high winds, or fall into it from fatigue. 
 
V6 
 
 MANAGEMENT OF BEES, 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 ON THE ENEMIES OF THE BEES. 
 
 IYjLAN may be considered as the principal enemy 
 of the Bee, although the advantage is great, which he 
 derives from its labours. The annual massacre, 
 which he makes of that insect, to obtain its provision, 
 is a sufficient voucher of his hostility. 
 
 TheBees have, besides, many enemies, because they 
 are laborious, and live in abundance. In the winter 
 and summer they are equally open to their attacks, 
 and especially to those of insects, who have no other 
 provision, than what they gain by plunder and theft. 
 The common and field-mouse, the shrew-mouse, and 
 the rat, are not the most dangerous, as it is in the 
 winter only that the attack of these animals is to be 
 looked for, and this can be prevented by contracting 
 the entrance of the hive, so as to admit but a single 
 Bee to come out at a time. In the spring and the 
 summer, the Bees are in sufficientforce todivestthem- 
 selves of all fear for that class of enemy, but being 
 less numerous and vigorous in the cold season, and 
 being then consolidated for their mutual preservation, 
 these animals profit by the occasion, and being im- 
 pelled by hunger, often gnaw the hive, and having 
 obtained an opening, devour the wax and the honey, 
 and what they do not consume, they defile by their 
 
ON THE ENEMIES OF THE BEES. 97 
 
 excrement and urine, which are sometimes so offen- 
 sive to the Bees, that they leave the hive altogether. 
 As the mouse is the principal enemy in winter, 
 every method should be taken for its destruction. I 
 keep constantly round my apiary some traps of the 
 following construction. Let a pea be soaked in water, 
 then draw a thread through it, and tying a small 
 stick at each end, place them in the ground, the exact 
 distance of the width of a brick ; the brick is then 
 placed on the thread, and the mouse coming to eat 
 the pea, gnaws also the thread, and the support of 
 the brick being then taken away, it falls, and kills the 
 mouse. For the prevention of the attack of these 
 animals, the single pedestal for the hive is particularly 
 advantageous, for, as it is well known that these 
 animals cannot proceed in a reverted direction, the 
 difficulty of attaining the hive is very great; and it 
 is only by some neglect on the part of the proprietor, 
 in leaving some object near the hive, by which the 
 animal can ascend, that the interior of the hive can 
 become a prey to its depredations. 
 
 It is the great spiders only, which dare attack the 
 Bees, which are caught in their web, and even then, 
 it is done with the greatest precaution. The spider 
 has no attachment to the honey, although it has been 
 asserted by some writers: they are voracious and 
 carnivorous insects, and if they succeed in gaining 
 admission into the hive, without the knowledge of 
 the Bees, they lodge themselves in the corners, where 
 they spin their web, and catch those Bees who are 
 so imprudent as to allow themselves to be entrapped ; 
 the havoc, which they make is too inconsiderable to 
 affect the population of the hive, but the Bees, who, 
 cannot accommodate themselves to thisuncleanliness. 
 
98 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 abandon their hive, if they be not soon delivered from 
 the intruders. 
 
 It is during the winter, that the spiders introduce 
 themselves into the hives, without being perceived 
 by the Bees. The entrances are too well guarded in 
 summer to allow of their admission, and the Bees are 
 themselves at that season so full of vigour and courage, 
 as to be well able to defend themselves. When the 
 hives are cleaned, it is very essential to examine the 
 interior, in order to extirpate the spider, which ex- 
 tends its web generally in the corner of the hive, and 
 which cannot be removed by the Bees themselves. 
 
 The Wasp is a terrible enemy of the Bee during 
 the summer months. It has been asserted by some 
 writers, and especially by the French apiarians, that 
 the Wasps devour the Bees : this is however perfectly 
 erroneous ; it is the honey only, which is the aim of 
 the Wasp, and I never saw a Wasp enter a hive, that 
 did not shew the coward immediately on being at- 
 tacked by a single Bee, and his whole endeavour 
 appeared to be, to effect a good retreat. I am, how- 
 ever, convinced that the Wasps have the instinct of 
 discovering a weak hive, and the attack on it then 
 becomes so furious, that the Bees are constrained to 
 quit it, and leave the conquerors in quiet possession 
 of their prey. * 
 
 It is in the spring, that the apiarian should be active 
 in preventing the increase of these marauding insects. 
 About the month of March, or April, theQueen Wasp 
 emerges from her winter habitation, in which she has 
 
 * I have a letter by me, dated Paisley, September 12th, 1814, in 
 which it is said, " many of the hives in the county of Renfrew are 
 already lulled by the Wasps, which prevail very much this season; and 
 many of the Bee-hives which remain, are so much reduced by the 
 ravagns of the Wasps, that they arc of little or no value-" 
 
ON THE ENEMIES OF THE EEES. 99 
 
 resided in a truly hermit-like manner, and then im- 
 mediately commences to build her habitation. For 
 every Queen Wasp, that is destroyed at this season, 
 a whole nest is exterminated in embryo ; and I was 
 once so fortunate, as to destroy twenty-nine Queen 
 Wasps in one morning. They are easily known, as 
 being much larger than the common Wasp, and more 
 brilliant in colour. 
 
 I do not know a more efficacious method of de- 
 stroying a Wasp's nest, than by sulphur. They are 
 found in banks, decayed walls, and are often seen 
 pendent from gooseberry bushes. 
 
 Independently of the personal enmity, which these 
 two animals entertain for each other, there is another 
 very cogent reason, why the apiarian should be soli- 
 citous to destroy the Wasp. It is an insect, that lives 
 by rapine and plunder ; its food is the sustenance of 
 the Bee, and wherever the Wasp abounds, it is a na- 
 tural consequence, that the Bee must be deprived of 
 food, in proportion to the number of Wasps, which 
 must be supported. In this respect, the common 
 Humble Bee should also be destroyed : indeed I con- 
 sider the finding of a Humble Bee's nest as no mean 
 treasure, for as they are like the common Bee, great 
 hoarders of honey, I always rob them of their labour, 
 and give it to my Bees, who banquet on it with truly 
 epicurean gluttony. I formerly stationed a boy in 
 my garden to kill all these insects, but experience 
 taught me that it was better to look for their nests, 
 and rather rob, than kill them, I thereby added to my 
 own riches ; but like many other people in this world, 
 I did not hesitate much upon the means by which that 
 addition was effected, for I certainly obtained it by 
 the crime of murder. 
 
 The method recommended by some apiarians of 
 h 9 
 
100 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 stopping up the holes of the Wasp's nests, as deem- 
 ing it sufficient to destroy the Wasps, is altogether 
 fallacious. It is wonderful in what manner those 
 insects will work their way through what might be 
 supposed an impenetrable barrier ; besides, it often 
 happens, and especially when the nest is in an old 
 wall, that there are several outlets to it, and therefore 
 the only certain method of destruction is to penetrate 
 to the nest, and suffocate the inhabitants with 
 sulphur. 
 
 It is a remark, which I have universally'made, that 
 the season, which is favourable to the increase of 
 Wasps, is also favourable to the increase of Bees ; 
 and this is in one respect very fortunate, for were the 
 Wasps to increase in an undue proportion to the Bees, 
 the destruction of the latter would be inevitable. 
 
 It is in the months of September and October, that 
 the attack of the Wasp upon the Bee is mostly to 
 be dreaded. The flowers have then ceased to yield 
 their nectareous juices, and the Wasps, finding them- 
 selves pressed for food, fly to attack the magazines of 
 the Bees. If a strict watch be not kept at this sea- 
 son, a hive may be ruined before the proprietor is 
 aware of it, and he will then have only his own inat- 
 tention and negligence to accuse, for the loss of his 
 valuable property. 
 
 Many persons are in the habit of suspending bottles 
 filled with honey and water on the trees in the vici- 
 nity of the hives, for the purpose of killing the Wasps ; 
 but this is like hangingout cards of invitation to them, 
 for on coming to partake of the feast, which is provided 
 for them, they discover that a much richer repast is in 
 the vicinity, and they will never feed on honey and 
 water, when they can regale on honey itself. 
 
OX THE ENEMIES OF THE BEES. 101 
 
 In some of the American and West India Islands, 
 some travellers relate that Bees cannot be kept, on 
 account of the number of Wasps, which swarm so 
 numerously as totally to destroy every hive. 
 
 Toads may be considered as great devourers of 
 Bees : when the hot weather sets in, and the Bees 
 from the increased number in the hive, and the con- 
 sequent perspiration, lie out in clusters, the toads 
 will repose during the night under the hives, for the 
 purpose of catching the Bees as they accidentally fall. 
 I once discovered one of these animals waiting tor his 
 prey, and consequently I immediately despatched it. 
 I had then the curiosity to open it, and I had the 
 mortification to find the bodies of nineteen Bees in 
 its stomach. The toad is also particularly partial to 
 theWasp. As I invariably destroy every Wasp's-nest 
 which I find, and as the evening is always the time 
 selected for that purpose, I have often, on arriving at. 
 the spot, found a toad at the entrance of tne nest, 
 waiting for the Wasps coming out. On mentioning 
 this circumstance to a great naturalist in Edinburgh, 
 he assured me that it was the fragrance arising from 
 the nest, which attracted the toad, and that its visit 
 was not for the purpose of slaughter : L howev r 
 afterwards convinced him that his opinion was found- 
 ed on error, for one evening we opened a toad and 
 found undigested Wasps in its stomach. In what 
 manner this animal guards itself from the sting or' the 
 Wasp or Bee, I have never been able to ascertain. 
 There may be that affinity between the constitutional 
 parts of the two beings, that the venom of the Bee or 
 Wasp, has no influence on the toad, — but I should 
 rather conjecture, that the toad entraps the Bee, or 
 Wasp by the head, and divides it near to the extre- 
 mity of the body, where the sting is placed. I have 
 
102 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 however seen a Wasp march over the body of a toad, 
 without the latter shewing any propensity to seize his 
 prey ; but it must be observed that most animals, as 
 soon as they are conscious that they are noticed by 
 man, appear to be under the influence of that fear, 
 which prevents them following the usual dictates of 
 their nature. It is mentioned by some authors, that 
 the toad, in seizing its prey, gathers itself together 
 and makes a spring upon its victim ; I am however 
 convinced of the contrary, and believe, that from the 
 slowness of its gait, it comes, as it were, unperceived 
 upon it ; at all events, it should be the endeavour 
 of the apiarian to destroy a toad, wherever he meets 
 with it ; and in the day time, the newly-turned earth 
 in the garden is the best place to find the reptile, in 
 which it conceals itself, with only the head project- 
 ing out of the ground : its resemblance to the colour 
 of the earth makes it, however, very difficult to be 
 perceived. 
 
 The woodpecker is a very destructive bird to Bees. 
 He will often be seen hovering about the hives ; but 
 it is not close to the apiary, unless he is much pressed 
 by hunger, buf in the fields, that this bird commits 
 its depredations. At the time when the honey-dew is 
 on the oak, and the Bees are busy sipping the sweets, 
 this bird falls suddenly upon and devours them. 
 This bird is easily shot, as its presence is announced 
 by the noise, which it makes in piercing the trees with 
 its beak, to obtain the worms and maggots deposited 
 under the bark, and whilst it is busy in its operations 
 it becomes the easy prey of the vigilant apiarian, who 
 should always be on the alert to protect his Bees from 
 their enemies, 
 
 In time of snow and frost, I once saw a woodpecker 
 perched upon one of my hives, expecting no doubt to 
 
ON THE ENEMIES OF THE BEES. 103 
 
 catch the Bees as they came out. I however pre- 
 vented him from troubling my hives again, as in 
 a short time he formed a dainty morsel for my cat. 
 
 The tom-tit is also a terrible enemy of the Bee : this 
 bird, of which we are acquainted with twenty species, 
 is too well known to require a description. It often 
 alights on the bushes and shrubs in the vicinity of the 
 hive ; and Buffon says " that, with its beak and 
 claws, it provokes the Bees to come out, and then 
 immediately seizes them. I must however confess 
 that I never saw a tom-tit perform that operation, yet 
 I am convinced that it is a great destroyer of Bees, 
 and that its nest should be destroyed wherever it is 
 to be found." Lapoutre, a French naturalist, assures 
 us, " that he saw under a tree, in which there was a 
 torn-tit's nest, a surprising quantity of the scaly 
 parts of Bees, which this bird had dropped from its 
 nest." 
 
 The ant is another enemy of the Bee, but its at- 
 tack is never that of physical strength ; against this 
 act the proverbial prudence of the ant is a sure gua- 
 rantee. It was the opinion of Reaumur, that the 
 ants, although they are particularly fond of honey, 
 dare not enter an inhabited hive, supposing it to be 
 in full vigour. Their diminutive size, however, gives 
 them the power of effecting their entrance into the 
 hive without being perceived by the Bees, and then 
 the havoc, which they make amongst the combs is 
 indescribable. To preserve my hives from these ver- 
 min, I always fasten a piece of sheep's skin, with its 
 wool on, round the bottom of the pedestal, or I have 
 found that the reservoir of water, which I have al- 
 ready mentioned as a preventive to the mice, pos- 
 sesses also the advantage of impeding the ascent of 
 the ants. 
 
104 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 The destruction of the ants' nest is very easily ef- 
 fected by boiling water: this operation must be per- 
 formed either at night, or in the morning, when they 
 are all assembled. It has also been remarked, that 
 these insects dislike both garlick and shalots, and 
 that they will not harbor in the ground, in which 
 those vegetables are grown. This method of remov- 
 ing them is very easy. They love to conceal them- 
 selves under the straw tops, with which the hives are 
 covered, to protect them from rain, and they will 
 even form their nests in that quarter, if not prevented. 
 When this is perceived, the top of the hive should be 
 cleaned, and a root of garlick or shalot being de- 
 posited, will make them change their quarters. 
 
 When the Bees forsake a hive, it is generally taken 
 possession of immediately by the ants, and for this 
 reason, every method should be taken to destroy 
 them. 
 
 The moth* is the most redoubtable and dangerous 
 enemy of the Bee. It is the caterpillar, which gnaws 
 our trees, paper, books, in short, every inanimate 
 matter which comes within its reach. f It has a 
 
 * Entomology designates two species of wax moths ; the greater is 
 the most common, ga/lerea cereuna ; and the smaller, gallerea alvea- 
 ria. Reaumur has designated them them under the name of fausses 
 tcignes (false moths), to distinguish them from the red moths, the 
 caterpillars of which enclose themselves in cases, which they transport 
 with them, whilst those of which we are now speaking construct 
 themselves immovable edifices, in which they place themselves under 
 cover. 
 
 + I enclosed two hundred moths in a chest without a particle of 
 wax, but with some paper. They devoured the paper, pierced the 
 planks of the chest, and spread themselves in a small medicine chest. 
 They ate the manna, unguents, corks ; they touched every thing, ex- 
 cepting some propolis, which I had amassed. With these aliments 
 they did not attain to the same size as if they had been fed on the 
 substances, which are contained in a hive. The butterflies of them 
 were also smaller. 
 
ON THE E3EMIES OF THE BEES. 105 
 
 particular predilection for the produce of our hives, 
 where it experiences a congenial heat, which encou- 
 rages its multiplication and growth. The combs of 
 the Bees would soon be destroyed by these insects, 
 if the Bees did not offer such opposition to their ra- 
 vages, that the moths can only invade those hives, 
 which are not properly guarded by the Bees, and 
 which are on the decline. 
 
 The butterfly of this vermin appears about the hives 
 in the month of April, and it is observed until, and 
 during the whole of October. This butterfly is of 
 the family of phal&nce, which only fly in a mild light, 
 such as that of the morning and twilight, or in nights 
 which are brilliantly illumined by the moon.* Its 
 wings are flat, of a darkish grey, with some blackish 
 spots. Its eyes are of so great a sensibility, that the 
 light dazzles them, and it remains immovable on that 
 spot, where the light of the day has surprised it. The 
 female profits by a little light to introduce itself into 
 the hive, and deposits its eggs on the side of the 
 combs. From every egg a smooth caterpillar bursts 
 forth, of a pale white, its head brown and scaly. It 
 encloses itself in a little web of white silk, which it 
 attaches to the combs, and in which it finds its food 
 by projecting its head beyond its case. When the 
 food around it begins to fail, it prolongs its silken 
 web, which, though at the beginning it was a mere 
 thread, becomes almost insensibly of the, size of a 
 quill. This insect, having attained its point of growth, 
 submits to the metamorphoses common to all cater- 
 pillars : it quits its residence, returns to a corner of 
 
 * Buffon says, that we must not consider that the vision of those 
 animals, which are accustomed to a moderate light, can perform its 
 functions with the total deprivation of light, or that it can penetrate 
 the most profound darkness. When the night is fully closed, these 
 animals also cease to see. 
 
106 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 the hive, or departs from it ; spins a white covering, 
 emerges as a butterfly, copulates, and re-enters into 
 the hive to deposit its eggs. During fifteen or sixteen 
 years, these noxious vermin have made me lose 
 annually a fifth or sixth part of my hives ; but since 
 1808 I have collected a series of observations on this 
 moth, which have convinced me, 1st. That its butter- 
 fly penetrates into all hives, whether weak or strong, 
 probably by means of its wings, or by the celerity of 
 its gait, for it runs oftener than it walks. 2d. That 
 the female never lays her eggs in the centre of the 
 combs of the Bees, but at their extremities ; that the 
 caterpillar is there hatched; lodges itself and grows 
 to a certain point at that particular season of the 
 year, when the Bees, having no brood to tend, re- 
 main inactive in the centre, in order to maintain the 
 heat necessary for their mutual preservation. 3d. 
 That during this time, some of the caterpillars arrive 
 at the crisis of spinning their web in the nooks, which 
 they find in the interior base of the circumference 
 of the hive ; and that the Bees, on perceiving these 
 cocoons, cover them with propolis, which, however, 
 does not prevent the butterfly emerging from it. 
 4th. I am also convinced that in the spring, during 
 the time when the Queen is most prolific, and is 
 most busily employed in laying her eggs, the Bees 
 returning to their activity, and running continually 
 over the interior of their hive, in the fulfilment of 
 those duties which the brood requires, and in the 
 collection of provisions, which at that time are in 
 abundance, eradicate a great number of these moths 
 from their domiciles, and drag them out of the hive.* 
 But the activity of the Bees decreasing, after the 
 
 * Reaumur says, that there is a time when the Bees appearto wage 
 war on the moths. 
 
ON THE ENEMIES OF THE BEES. 107 
 
 Queen has finished laying her eggs, the moths which 
 survive, and the butterfly of which appears for six 
 months in succession, always succeed in laying their 
 eggs on the combs the most distant from the centre. 
 The Queen dying, or becoming infirm, the Bees hav- 
 ing no more brood to tend, and resting in a state of 
 inactivity, the moths, by degrees, reach the centre, 
 devouring the combs without any obstacle, and the 
 wax and honey are consequently lost. 
 
 Since the first edition of this work, I have had an 
 opportunity of extending my researches into the 
 nature of these insects, and the injury which they 
 cause to a hive. I am in the first place inclined to 
 think, that all the eggs of this moth are not laid in 
 the hive ; but that the butterfly often lays its eggs 
 on the stamens of the flowers, and that the Bees 
 afterwards, in collecting from those flowers their store 
 of pollen, carry with it some of the eggs which the 
 heat of the hive afterwards brings to maturity. The 
 following circumstance induced me to form this con- 
 clusion. 1 took a piece of comb from the hive of a 
 swarm, in the cells of which was a considerable 
 quantity of pollen. The swarm had been put into a 
 hive perfectly new and clean, and which, according to 
 my general custom, had been fumigated, in order to 
 destroy the larvae of any insects which might have 
 harbored in it. Every precaution had been taken to 
 prevent the entrance of the moth into the hive, and 
 therefore my surprise was great to discover the larvae 
 of the moth in the pollen contained in the cells. 
 This circumstance gave rise to another idea in my 
 mind, that the wax of the hive is not the food of the 
 moth, and that it is a complete misnomer to call it 
 the wax-moth. I believe the food of the moth to be 
 the pollen or bee-bread, and other heterogeneous sub- 
 
103 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 stances which may be found between the wax and 
 the pollen, especially the films or refuse which the 
 nymphs leave in the cells, and which are more 
 abundant in the old combs than in the new. The 
 following facts are, I presume, corroborative of this 
 opinion. Wax is an indissoluble body, and resists 
 every chymical operation ; although means have been 
 discovered by the force of art of decomposing metals 
 and the hardest stones ; yet wax, although of a com- 
 parative softness, has hitherto resisted every solvent. 
 Neither the human stomach, nor that of any other 
 animal, can possibly digest it. It may therefore be 
 concluded analogically, that the moth is not able to 
 digest it. 
 
 I have further observed, that when the wax is 
 pure and clean, it is never attacked by the moths, 
 but that it becomes immediately their prey, as soon 
 as any heterogeneous matter is incorporated with it. 
 It is also to be remarked, that the new combs, which 
 have not contained any larvae, and consequently the 
 wax of which is very pure, are never attacked by 
 the moth. This hypothesis obtains some confirma- 
 tion from the following opinion of Abb6 della Rocca, 
 who, speaking of the moth says : " En France, j'ai 
 vu dans les Ruches, dont les essaims avoient peri, des 
 morceaux de rayons qui y restoient attaches dans la 
 partiesuperieure, pendant plusieurs annees, sans etre 
 attaques des teignes, et cela parceque la partie supe- 
 rieure des rayons est composee d'une cire pure et 
 sans melange. ,, 
 
 In the melting of the combs, when the wax is 
 poured into the moulds, a certain portion of refuse is 
 generally to be seen at the top : if this be not scraped 
 off, and entirely removed from the wax, it is imme- 
 diately attacked by the moths ; but when the wax 
 
ON THE ENEMIES OF THE BEES. 109 
 
 has been once well cleaned, I never knew it to be in 
 the slightest degree attacked by the moth. It is not 
 therefore the wax, which is the nourishment of the 
 moth, but other substances, which are mixed with it, 
 as pollen, the refuse of the nymphs, &c. 
 
 Consistently with this hypothesis, the precaution 
 of the Bee is to be accounted for, in only filling a 
 cell half full of pollen, and the other half with honey; 
 and then covering the whole with a pellicle of wax. 
 Their design in this act is perhaps to prevent the air 
 from penetrating to the bottom of the cells, where 
 the pollen is deposited, in order that no fermentation 
 may take place, and that the eggs of the moth, if 
 there be any, may not be allowed to hatch. 
 
 An objection to this hypothesis may be raised, 
 that the moth feeds on the wax, because it gnaws the 
 combs : it is not, however, a valid one, but rather 
 tends to confirm my opinion ; for if wax were the 
 real food of the moth, it would not crumble and grind 
 it as it does, but as it feeds only on the other sub- 
 stances which are found in the cells, it gnaws and 
 tears the combs, for the purpose of extracting those 
 substances ; and it is well known, that all the little 
 shreds which are occasioned by its gnawing, are com- 
 posed of wax and of no other substance. 
 
 It has been said that burning torches ought to be 
 placed near the hives, in which the butterflies would 
 consume themselves; that the hives ought to be 
 sprinkled with urine, or salt, or vinegar: all these 
 supposed remedies are, however, inefficacious. The 
 former would be dangerous to the Bees, inasmuch as, 
 attracted by the light, they would come out of the 
 hive, and fall into the snare designed for their enemies. 
 
 During an excursion into Hampshire, accidentally 
 walking in a village, I observed a little garden, splen- 
 
110 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 didly illuminated with flambeaux ; and on inquiring 
 the cause, I was told that an old lady, who kept Bees, 
 was frip"htning away some hobgoblins, who had at- 
 tacked them. Though not a female, my curiosity 
 was powerfully excited to behold these Hampshire 
 hobgoblins, as it was a species of enemy to the Bee, 
 with which during the course of my long experience, 
 I had not hitherto met. Without any further cere- 
 mony, therefore, I entered the garden, and by the 
 w r ild stare of the old lady, I suspected that she con- 
 sidered me to be one of the hobgoblins. I, however, 
 soon contrived to convince her of the contrary ; when 
 she informed me, that her hives were much infested 
 with the moths, and she had been told that, by plac- 
 ing lights in the vicinity of the hives, the moths 
 would be attracted to them, and burn themselves. I 
 smiled at the remedy ; and, taking her to the hives, 
 I shewed her that her Bees were all in commotion, 
 and some were on the wing, which would be inevita- 
 bly lost. This alarmed the old lady, and the lights 
 were extinguished. On the following morning, I 
 visited my antiquated apiarian again, and we found 
 fifty-seven Bees on the ground, which had been burnt 
 on the preceding night. A remedy against the ra- 
 vages of these insects is very difficult, and the only 
 advice I can give on this subject is, that whenever a 
 person has any reason to suspect that his hives are 
 devouring by the moths, he should join the Bees to 
 another hive, and save the little, which the moths 
 may have left him. 
 
 I would always advise an apiarian to fix his atten- 
 tion particularly on a hive, the Bees of which appear 
 to be in inaction, whilst the Bees of the other hives 
 are in activity. If this inaction continue for ten days. 
 Or a fortnight, not a moment then should be lost in 
 
ON THE ENEMIES OP THE BEES. Ill 
 
 examining the hive, and the ravages of the moth 
 will soon present themselves.* It is useless, in this 
 case, to attempt a cure ; and if the Bees be saved, 
 it is all that can be expected. 
 
 The death-headed sphinx or hawkmoth [sphinx 
 atropos, Linn.) is a great butterfly, and belongs also 
 to the family of phcclena. It is one of the most for- 
 midable enemies of the Bees, as it alarms them very 
 much, and, in a short time, probably in the space 
 of a single night, will rob them of a great portion of 
 their store. This butterfly emits a sharp and plain- 
 tive sound, which, with the spot on its breast, rudely 
 representing a death's head, gives rise to its name. 
 By the common people, some most superstitious ideas 
 are attached to it. It feeds on the leaf of the potatoe, 
 and appears in the month of September : it is con- 
 founded with the bat, on account of its size, and 
 because it flies at the same hour. As soon as the 
 Bees perceive its approach, they are all in commotion, 
 and retreat into their hive. 
 
 It now falls to my lot to notice one of the most 
 extravagant and absurd fancies which ever entered 
 
 * An excellent opportunity presented itself of verifying this state- 
 ment, in a hive belongiug to G. 1. Call, Esq. of Kimbers, near Maiden- 
 head. It was an old stock-hive, and in the course of the summer had 
 thrown two swarms. In a short time afterwards, an evident relaxation 
 in the labour of the Bees took place, which did not escape the obser- 
 vation of Captain Call ; and in his letters he expressed his fears to me, 
 that some internal evil existed in the hive. The inactivity of the Bees 
 contiuued until they finally deserted the hive. On my next visit to 
 Kimbers, Captain Call and myself inspected tbe deserted hive, and on 
 cutting off" the top, and examining the upper combs, we found them 
 in many places eaten away, and the remainder had been so completely 
 taken possession of by the moths, that the Bees had forsaken the hive 
 in disgust. Not a globule of honey was in the rells, and thus a colony 
 was lost, which, had the hive been of such a construction, so as to ad- 
 roit an inspection at the top, would from the indefatigable attention 
 and growing skill of Captain Call, have been certainly saved. 
 
 2 
 
112 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 into the head of a rational being. M. Lombard, 
 speaking of this moth, says, " the art, which the Bees 
 employ in rendering ineffectual the attacks of this 
 insect is so extraordinary, that the Vaubans of the 
 present age might take their models from them :" — 
 " When they see," continues M. Lombard, " one of 
 these moths approaching, they immediately retire 
 to the very extremity of the hive, contracting the 
 entrance with a mixture of wax and propolis." They 
 sometimes erect a double wall! then a covered way! 
 then a secret gate ! and then battlements — bastions ! 
 glacis ! and counterscarp !* And can it be credited 
 that Huber has, in the twenty-seventh volume of the 
 Bibliotheque Britannique, actually given a draught 
 of the fortifications which the Bees make on this oc- 
 casion: and he closes his description with this sub- 
 lime apostrophe, " how has this foresight been ac- 
 corded to those creatures, which, as we believe, have 
 
 * In the edition of Huber just published at Paris, in two vols. 8vo. 
 these fortifications are more minutely described. " The Bees," he says, 
 " barricade the entrance of the hive, construct a wall behind it, and leave 
 only a passage sufficiently large for themselves, or they sometimes 
 erect a circumvallation, pierced with holes, only wide enough to admit 
 of one Bee entering at a time. The most vigilant Bees are chosen as the 
 sentinels, and they examine most rigorously every thing which dares 
 to enter into this besieged place. At another time, they construct 
 several parallel walls, in which they form some masked gates, the 
 outlets being at the sides, and when the enemy appears to threaten 
 an immediate attack, a labyrinth is constructed, in which the passages 
 cross each other at angular points, and thereby present the most 
 dangerous defiles to the enemy." 
 
 Heraclitus himself would smile at these absurdities, but that the 
 Aristarchi of the Edinburgh and Monthly Reviews should believe in 
 these fortifications of the Bees, is not more wonderful, than the be- 
 lief of the devotee in the existence of the staves of the ladder, which 
 Jacob saw in his dream. 
 
 . For the opinion of the aforesaid reviewers, respecting the fortifica- 
 tions of the Bees, see the Preface to the present Edition. 
 
ON THE ENEMIES OF THE BEES. 113 
 
 not received the gift of intelligence ! These obser- 
 vations are continual hymns of adoration addressed 
 to the Author of all things," 
 
 I would not utter an unseasonable pleasantry on a 
 human being, on whom the hand of Heaven was 
 heavily laid. M. Huber was almost blind ; some ro- 
 mantic and perverted vision of his servant must, there- 
 fore, have created these fortifications, and they must 
 have been reported to his credulous master with the 
 same enthusiasm, as Trim reported the attack of the 
 enemy to my uncle Toby in his sentry-box, on the 
 bowling-green. The fault was not with thee, honest 
 Huber ; but that a naturalist of the present day, who 
 has dared in an authoritative tone to question the 
 system of others, should be himself so weak, as to 
 consider, the fortifications of the Bees as real, deserves 
 to be recorded as another instance of mental imbe- 
 cility being often the attendant of genius. 
 
 On this subject M. Lombard further says, " that 
 in the month of September, 1802, my hives were 
 almost wholly closed by the Bees ; but I did not 
 know to what cause to attribute this singularity. 
 M. Huber has informed me of the cause, and the 
 effects of which can only be prevented in those 
 countries, where potatoes grow, by closing the hives 
 from the commencement of September." 
 
 Now, I should have expected from M. Lombard, 
 that he would have mentioned the state, in which he 
 observed the fortifications of his Bees, and whether 
 any mine had been prepared to blow the death-headed 
 sphinx to the d— 1 whenever he appeared at their 
 gates. This however is all omitted, and I suppose 
 from a particular reason, which it were here super- 
 fluous to state. 
 
 Amongst the larger quadrupeds, the Bee can also 
 
114 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 reckon its enemies : the fox,* the bear,f and the 
 badger, have truly an epicurean taste for honey. The 
 former however is seldom known in this country; the 
 second is fortunately not known as indigenous, and the 
 latter, but rarely. In some countries, however, they 
 are very formidable enemies, and in particular parts 
 of France, the fox appears to like honey as well as he 
 relishes a chicken, or a turkey in England. In regard 
 to the bear, the Abbedella Rocca mentions some sin- 
 gular traits of sagacity. It appears the bear seldom 
 attacks a hive openly, from a fear of the stings ; but 
 he will in the most gentle manner take a hive in his 
 paws, and carry it out to the first river, or pond, in 
 which he plunges it until the Bees are drowned. 
 The proprietors therefore in those countries which 
 are frequented by bears attach their hives to walls, 
 and other places, from which the bears cannot tear 
 them. It is certain that amongst the feathered tribe, 
 
 * Speaking of the fox, M. Ducarne says, "these rascals of foxes eat 
 the Bees as well as the honey ; but it is the honey to which they are 
 most partial. For two years, a particular fox came every winter to 
 overthrow ray hives. 1 put a chicken and some bread to amuse him, 
 and some poison to kill him ; but, no, the cunning thief would not 
 touch either, he went directly to the hives. Mark the sagacity of the 
 animal -, he would not come in summer when the Bees were in full 
 vigour, as he knew in what manner he would be. received; but he 
 steals slily to the hives, when the inhabitants are in a state of torpor, 
 and thus obtains their treasure without incurring any danger himself." 
 
 + In the north of Europe, many of the nobles ground a cruel amuse- 
 ment on the passion of the bear for honey. They confine a cat in a 
 small barrel, which they rub over on the outside with honey, and in 
 which they bore some holes, through which the cat can extend its 
 paws. They place the barrel in the middle of a place, which they call 
 Palkan ; the bear is unchained, and he immediately runs to the barrel 
 to lick the honey : the cat, believing that the bear is coming to devour 
 her, scratches his tongue, on which the bear grows furious, and hugs 
 the barrel to his breast in order to break it. Seeing his efforts in vain, 
 he throws the barrel into the air until it breaks, when the cat run* 
 away, or is sometimes devoured by the bear. 
 3 
 
ON THE ENEMIES OP THE BEES. 115 
 
 the common domestic poultry are great destroyers of 
 Bees; but in this case, it is the fault of the proprietor* 
 if he ever admits them near his apiary. 
 
 The sparrow also preys upon Bees ; and it is sin- 
 gular that in Turkey, where the culture of the Bee 
 is much practised, that a house is never built with- 
 out building at the same time, in the upper part of it, 
 an apartment for the sparrows. They even give to 
 these apartments a degree of elegance.* 
 
 The lizard and the common newt also devour the 
 Bees. In the islands of the Archipelago, the former 
 animal is considered as truly formidable, and as the 
 time of its visit is generally known, a person is usually 
 in readiness to shoot it.^ 
 
 I cannot too strongly impress it upon the mind of 
 
 * In the travels of Sparrman in the Hottentot country, the following 
 interesting description is given of a bird, which is called the honey' 
 guide: It is rather larger than a sparrow, is very fond of honey, and 
 it points out in the most sagacious manner, the nests of the Bees to the 
 bears. When these brutes destroy a nest of Bees, this bird feeds vora- 
 ciously upon the honey, which is spilt. As soon as it is has discovered 
 a nest of Bees, it looks out for some companion to attack it. It entices 
 a bear by its piercing cries, and conducts it to the vicinity of the nest. 
 The bird flies before it, and rests at intervals, awaiting its companion 
 in the chase, and exciting it by fresh cries to follow it. But, in pro- 
 portion as it approaches the nest, it shortens the space of its stations, 
 and its cry becomes less frequent. If, sometimes impatient of arrival 
 at the nest, it has left its companion far behind it, it returns to him, 
 and appears, by its redoubled cries, to reproach it for its slowness, 
 Having arrived at the nest of the Bees, it alights and rests quietly on 
 a neighbouring tree or bush, awaiting the end of the expedition, and 
 that part of the booty, which belongs to it. The Hottentots never 
 fail to leave it that portion of the comb, which contains the eggs and 
 young, of which this bird is more voracious than of honey itself. 
 M. Sparrman having offered to the Hottentots, who accompauied him, an 
 ample recompense of tobacco and glass beads, if they would assist him 
 in catching a honey-guide; they rejected his proposal, saying, that this 
 bird was their friend, and they would not betray it. 
 
 + In Germany the stork is a great enemy to the Bee ; but as it is not 
 a domesticated bird in this country, the mention of it would be irre= 
 levant. 
 
 I 2 
 
116 MANAGEMENT OP BEES. 
 
 every apiarian, who wishes to reap any profit from 
 his hives, to be constantly upon the alert to effect the 
 destruction of those enemies, by which his property 
 is so materially injured. Let him remember, that 
 they carry on their depredations in secret, and that 
 in this instance, as well as in every relation of life, a 
 false security is the most dangerous situation, in 
 which a person can repose. 
 
ON THE MALADIES OF THE BEES. 117 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 ON THE MALADIES OF THE BEES. 
 
 A acknowledge that it is difficult to obtain a 
 precise knowledge of the nature of the maladies, with 
 which Bees are afflicted, and consequently, the diffi- 
 culty of finding the means of remedy is in the same 
 ratio. It must however be admitted, that the case 
 is not impossible ; or were it so, the naturalist 
 would be disheartened in his experiments, and no 
 effort would be made to prolong the life of these 
 valuable insects. Still it is my opinion, that he, who 
 is rich in hives, will find it his interest to rid himself 
 of those few, which appear to labour under any par- 
 ticular malady ; but to him, who is not an opulent 
 capitalist in this species of property, every method 
 should be pointed out of curing the diseases, with 
 which his Bees may be afflicted, by which he gains 
 that experience, which may be valuable to him in his 
 future undertakings. 
 
 Of all the maladies to which the Bee is subject, 
 the dysentery is the most frequent and dangerous. 
 Every amateur of Bees, who has written on their 
 culture, maintains a different opinion respecting the 
 cause of this malady, and consequently, of the 
 most efficacious remedy to be employed. The Bees 
 in a healthy state, never emit any excrement in 
 the hive ; if they have been confined for a length of 
 
118 MANAGEMENT OF BEES, 
 
 time by a continual frost, on the first opportunity 
 which presents itself, they leave the hive, and void 
 a yellowish red matter, of a fetid smell, which is the 
 natural colour of their excrement. On a day of 
 December, when the sun shone bright, I have visited 
 my apiary, and seen my Bees circling the air in great 
 numbers ; my clothes however, during the short 
 time of the recreation of the Bees, have been literally 
 covered with yellowish spots,' which had rather an 
 offensive smell. 
 
 What opinion, however, must be formed of the prac- 
 tical knowledge of a French apiarian, M, Ducouedic, 
 who asserts that the Bees void no excrement at all ; 
 and that they do not even possess the organ necessary 
 for its emission ? Every thing, he says, which enters 
 into the bodv of these insects for their nourishment is 
 never emitted by any other channel than by the mouth, 
 and is converted either into honey, wax, or propolis. 
 When they are afflicted with the dysentery, it is then 
 even by the mouth that they disgorge the substances, 
 which have been corrupted in their stomachs, instead 
 of being converted into one of the above three sub- 
 stances. 
 
 Further, he says, the Drone even, who has no 
 sting for its defence, never voids any excrement. 
 The new food, which it takes, is converted into wax 
 in its second stomach, and is disgorged by the mouth. 
 The opening, which is observed in its posterior extre- 
 mity, is nothing more than the orifice of the sheath of 
 the organ proper for the fecundation of the eggs of the 
 Queen. Even the Queen herself never emits any 
 excrement. The orifice of the organ, which is per- 
 ceived at her posterior extremity, is merely for the 
 purpose of the laying of her eggs, 
 
 I ought to make some apology for the introduction 
 
ON THE MALADIES OF THE BEES. 119 
 
 of this most absurd and unnatural system, but its 
 author deserves to be lashed with the utmost severity, 
 for the little mercy, which he has shewn to Huber, 
 who dared to advance a contrary opinion. — He says, 
 " that, as Huber was blind, he supposes, that he 
 smelt at the excrements of other animals in the vici- 
 nity of his hive, and thence concluded, that the Bees 
 emitted their's in a similar manner." M. Ducouedic 
 promises another edition of his treatise on Bees, and, 
 I hope, he will then retract his sentiments on this 
 subject. 
 
 The apiarian may know when his Bees are infected 
 with the dysentery, when he perceives in the interior, 
 and at the entrance of his hives, large spots, like lin- 
 seed, of a colour approaching to black, and of an in- 
 supportable smell : this malady is contagious. The 
 Bees being afflicted with it, have not the strength to 
 retain their excrement, and suffer a viscid matter to 
 fall on the Bees below, which spoils their wings, and 
 stops the organs of respiration. This is, however, 
 only one of the causes, to which this malady is attri- 
 buted. By some authors it has been ascribed to the 
 new honey, which the Bees eat in .winter ; by others 
 to the deficiency of propolis, or bee-bread, which is 
 regarded as an essential part of their food, and by 
 others to the flowers of the elm, and lime, from which 
 they collect their honey ; not one however of these 
 opinions has been proved. The only experiment, 
 which deserves attention is one made by M. Reau- 
 mur, who fed, for a certain time, some Bees which 
 he kept confined, entirely on honey : they were all 
 attacked with the dysentery; but M. Reaumur has 
 not defined, by this experiment, whether the malady 
 was owing to the Bees being deprived of propolis, 
 or to the principle of the malady, which developed 
 
120 MANAGEMENT OF BEES.- 
 
 itself during the experiment, or to the alteration of 
 the air, which the Bees were obliged to respire dur- 
 ing their confinement. 
 
 I am inclined to believe in this instance, that the 
 malady arose from the too long confinement of the 
 Bees in the hive, for I never experienced that my 
 own Bees or those of my neighbours were attacked 
 with this dangerous malady, except towards the 
 close of the winter, or at the beginning of the spring. 
 Two reasons confirm- me in this idea ; the first of 
 which is, that after. the winter, during the second or 
 third days of the appearance of the Bees out of the 
 hive, they are seen to void an excrement of a yellowish 
 red colour, with which their stomachs are always 
 filled. This appears to me the more probable, con- 
 sidering that the majority of the Bees, if they have 
 only been confined for a short time, even for fifteen 
 days, display the same phenomenon. I am therefore 
 inclined to believe, that the Bees which are attacked 
 with the dysentery, are those of the weakest constitu- 
 tion, and the disposition of which was not found 
 sufficiently good to maintain the excremental matter 
 for any length of time in their bodies. This matter 
 would without doubt become in time corrupted, and 
 those Bees, which are not of a sound constitution, 
 cannot resist the effects of it, and are attacked with 
 that malady, which is called the dysentery. I am 
 in a great degree borne out in this hypothesis, by the 
 circumstance, that in the infected hives, the excre- 
 mental matter has changed its colour, and instead of 
 a yellowish red, it is become almost black, and of a 
 most offensive smell. This is the most unfavourable 
 symptom of an infected hive 
 
 There is no doubt, that all these causes can some- 
 
ON THE MALADIES OF THE BEES. 121 
 
 times concur, or may operate singly, in producing 
 this malady in the hives, but it is also my opinion 
 that the Bees may be afflicted with it from some 
 fault in the pasturage, that is, from some pestilential 
 dew, with which the flowers are infected, which con- 
 sequently taints the honey and the propolis, on which 
 the Bees feed. This opinion is founded on analogy; 
 for quadrupeds, particularly sheep, who feed on 
 herbs, whilst the dew is still on them, or which are 
 decayed, are subject to the dysentery ; even men 
 who eat grapes, or other fruit, are subject to the 
 diarrhoea. 
 
 Many remedies have heen prescribed by various 
 authors for this malady : I consider it however in- 
 curable, though its prevention may be effected. As 
 soon therefore as I perceive any of my hives infected, 
 I give them a little of the following composition ; 
 and I have invariably found that it has checked the 
 malady when administered at an early stage, or that 
 it has strengthened the Bees, and enabled them to void 
 those noxious substances, which have acquired a 
 degree of corruption in their bodies. 
 
 To a quart of old white wine, add a pint of honey, 
 and two pounds and a half of sugar ; put the whole 
 in a tin saucepan, and let it boil gently over a slow 
 fire, skimming it at different times, until it is reduced 
 to the consistency of sirup. It may then be put into 
 bottles, and kept in the cellar, to be used as the occa- 
 sion requires. Whenever it is administered, it must 
 be gently heated, until it partakes of the consistency 
 of honey. 
 
 M. Ranconi, an Italian author, recommends the 
 placing of small plates in the vicinity of the hive, 
 filled with fresh urine ; or he has found the follow- 
 ing remedy very efficacious.— Boil some old sweet 
 
122 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 wine with an adequate proportion of sugar, to which 
 add some cloves and nutmegs, and some dried rose- 
 leaves ; the hark of pomegranates well pounded and 
 sifted, and mixed with honey and sweet wine has 
 been found very conducive to the health of the 
 Bees. 
 
 M. Lombard transmits a curious remedy, which is 
 that of smoking the Bees. He takes an earthen or 
 iron vessel, in which some very live coals are put, 
 on which are thrown some shreds of white linen, or 
 pieces of call's dung well dried. The linen shreds 
 must not however flame, but only smoke. When 
 the smoke is at the height, the hive is raised, and 
 the vessel is held under it for about half a minute. 
 M. Lombard says, " that it is very seldom that this 
 smoke did not remove the dysentery :" with great 
 deference to the apiarian skill of M. Lombard, I con- 
 sider this remedy as possessing no intrinsic virtue ; 
 and a little reflection would have convinced M.Lom- 
 bard, that an interior malady arising from corrupted 
 food, or from an unnatural retention of the faeces, is 
 not to be cured by an exterior application ; but this 
 is not the only remedy of M. Lombard, that ends in 
 smoke. 
 
 M. Duchet, in his Treatise on Bees, asserts that 
 the dysentery generally proceeds from famine and 
 hunger, and also in the spring, when from a defi- 
 ciency of honey in the hive, and in the fields, the 
 Bees are reduced to the necessity of eating the 
 farina of plants, and drinking snow-water. — He re- 
 commends generous living as a certain cure, and 
 good old port mixed with honey, as the most proper 
 medicine. 
 
 Wildman recommends the sprinkling of common 
 salt well pounded on the stand ; but Keys suggests 
 that the diseased stocks should be taken as soon as 
 
ON THE MALADIES OF THE BEES. 123 
 
 discovered into a warm room, and the parts of the 
 combs which are black and mouldy, should be cut 
 away. I cannot conceive what effect this operation 
 can possibly have upon an internal malady of the 
 Bees ; but Keys is in general so very deficient in his 
 knowledge of the natural history of the Bee, that it is 
 not surprising that he commits an error in prescrib- 
 ing a remedy for a disease, with the nature of which 
 he is wholly unacquainted. 
 
 The prescription of Wildman, I have great reason 
 to believe is founded on truth and experience, for it 
 is certain that Bees have a great partiality to saline 
 waters, having myself observed them in great num- 
 bers drinking from the drains of stables, or from the 
 cesspools, into which the urine flows. This may 
 howwer proceed from an instinct of nature, which 
 teaches them to have recourse to certain substances 
 as a cure for the maladies with which they are afflict- 
 ed, in the same manner as the dog eats grass ; for it 
 is certain, that the Bee in a healthy state prefers a 
 running water to a stagnant one. 
 
 The dysentery is less prevalent by the sea-side, 
 than in the inland countries ; and this corroborates 
 the opinion, that salt is beneficial to the Bee. * 
 
 Through every stage of this disease, the proprietor 
 should pay particular attention to the cleanliness of 
 his hives. I am certain that the ravages of the 
 dysentery maybe arrested by a proper attention to 
 this advice. It is self-evident, that the accumulation 
 
 * In the memoir on Bees by M. L'Abbe Bienaime, he recommends 
 that oatmeal should be given to the Bees labouring under the dysen- 
 tery. This recipe having but lately fallen into my hands, I cannot de- 
 termine its virtues ; I am not however inclined to attach great faith to 
 it,— nor am I willing to reject it as useless, until the experiment has 
 been tried. The result shall be made public. 
 
124 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 of the feces on the stand of the hive must add to 
 the virulence of the disease, by the pestilential va- 
 pours which must arise; the stand should be cleaned 
 therefore every morning, and washed with salt and 
 water : some persons recommend an infusion of 
 odoriferous plants ; but the benefit of this applica- 
 tion is to me most questionable, for I never disco- 
 vered that the Bees had any predilection for particu- 
 lar odours, although they have a great aversion to 
 noxious smells. The admission of fresh air into the 
 hive, is generally attended with success ; the humi- 
 dity becomes absorbed, and the foul air is dispersed. 
 In regard to the disease of the antennae, it is very 
 seldom noticed by apiarians. It has not, however, 
 escaped the observation of Schirach, Rosier, and 
 some others. It is a consequence of numbness, inac- 
 tivity and idleness ; but it is singular, that I never 
 observed this malady at the end of the winter, which 
 is the period, when the Bees are the most indolent, 
 but in the fine days of May, I have seen the working 
 Bees very much afflicted with it. It is known by 
 the extremities of the antennae assuming a very yel- 
 low colour, the end rather swelled, resembling the 
 bud of a flower just ready to burst; the fore-part of 
 the head is also rather yellow. * It is not, however, 
 a malady of a dangerous nature, as it seldom shews 
 itself above a fortnight in a hive, and does not appear 
 to affect the labour of the Bee. 
 
 * M. Ducouedic considers that this disease arises from the farina of 
 the bloom, with which the Bee literally covers itself when that shrub 
 is in flower; but M. D. forgets to mention, why the farina of this 
 plant has the noxious quality of infecting the Bee with this disease, 
 and on what particular circumstances he founds his hypothesis. It is 
 easy to assert a cause for an effect, but the proof is required that this 
 cause is the real one, and M. Ducouedic gives us no reason to believe, 
 that he has discovered the true one. 
 
ON THE MALADIES OF THE BEES. 125 
 
 The vertigo generally attacks the Bees in the 
 months of May and June : it is very easily perceived, 
 for the Bees run in a retrograde manner, and often turn 
 about so long, until they drop, as it were, lifeless on 
 the ground ; in this situation they generally become 
 the prey of the birds or other enemies. There is no 
 remedy known for this malady, and even the cause of 
 it, is all conjecture ; the most plausible, which strikes 
 me is, that it arises from the flowers of the family 
 Vmbellce. * The hives should, therefore, be removed 
 from the vicinity of those plants. -j* 
 
 The abortive Brood, although it cannot be classed 
 as an epidemical disorder, is still of very injurious 
 
 * The Monthly Reviewer insinuates, that in regard to the maladies 
 of the Bees, there is a contradiction on my part, as will appear from 
 the following passage, in the No. for May, 1816, page 61. " Although 
 in one passage of the present publication, we are assured that a con- 
 tagious dysentery is the only serious disorder to which Bees are sub- 
 ject, in another we are told, thatthey are sometimes much afflicted with 
 yellowness of the antennas, and with vertigo, which is supposed to be 
 incurable." Now with all due deference to the critical acumen of this 
 Reviewer, I am still obstinate enough to maintain ray original position. 
 I affirm that the dysentery is the only serious malady incidental to 
 Bees, and for this reason, that it is contagious. The diseases of the 
 antennae and the vertigo are very rare, and I have reason to believe, 
 that not a single hive was ever lost by their ravages ; but many hun- 
 dreds are annually lost by the contagious influence of the dysentery. 
 Had I expressed myself that the dysentery was the only malady with 
 which Bees are afflicted, and then, in a subsequent page described 
 two other diseases, I should have fairly exposed myself to the lash of 
 the Reviewer ; but I call the dysentery the only serious malady, admit- 
 ting at the same time, others of a less virulent nature. Besides, the 
 Reviewer, in the genuine spirit of hypercriticism, attaches a signifi- 
 cation to my words, which is not warranted. In the passage above 
 quoted, he attributes the sentiment to me, that the vertigo is incurable. 
 By referring to the text, it will be found, that I say,— that no remedy 
 is known for this malady ; but that is no reason why no remedy exists. 
 I do not despair at some future period of discovering it, for the first 
 insight into its cause will be the first step towards the discovery of its 
 remedy. 
 
 t See the Researches of Dr. Paulet, on Epizootic Maladies. 
 
126' MAX AC. EM EXT OF BEES. 
 
 consequences to the Bees.* It arises from the two 
 following causes ; first, when the Bees have given 
 the larvae a vicious food : — and secondly, when the 
 worm is placed in its cell, with its tail towards the 
 orifice ; in this state the young Bees, incapable of 
 extricating themselves from their prison, die, and 
 putrefy. 
 
 The cells, which contain the [ brood in a healthy 
 state, are closed at the top with a thin cover of yel- 
 lowish wax, which is rather convex ; if the brood be 
 abortive, the top is concave and rather black. The 
 Bees in general know how to rid themselves of 
 the abortive brood before it putrefies ; but should 
 this accident take place during the winter, the infect- 
 ed combs should be cut out when the hives are exa- 
 mined in the spring. The brood is sometimes killed, 
 when, after a mild winter, a severe cold suddenly 
 comes on, and deranges the whole atmosphere. A 
 number of embryos are then killed in the hive, and 
 being extricated from the cells by the Bees, they 
 drop on the stand. To save the Bees the trouble of 
 dragging the corrupted bodies out of the hive, the 
 stand should be frequently cleaned. 
 
 Some authors assert, that the Bees are infected 
 with lice. I am well convinced that these vermin 
 may be found in old hives, but I never yet observed 
 any in the new ones, j- 
 
 * the Abbe della Rocca, speaks of an epidemical disease, which 
 from 1777 to 1780, attacked al! the hives in the Island of Syros, in the 
 Archipelago, and was -very near annihilating all the Bees. He attri- 
 butes it entirely to infected comhs, or to the brood being placed in 
 the cells in an inverted manner. See Cap. VI. Vol. III. Traite com- 
 plet sur les Abeilles, par L'Abbe della Rocca. 
 
 + Madame Vicat, in the ' Memoircs pour servir a I'Histoire natu- 
 relle des Abeilles,' says, " that the lice which stick to Bees are not 
 generally thought to be prejudicial to them, and this may be true. 
 
ON THE MALADIES OF THE BEES. 127 
 
 The Bee-bread has been considered by some as a 
 malady, but this is an error : it is merely the farina 
 deposited in the cells by the Bees as provision, and 
 for the formation of their combs, and which from the 
 interior heat of the hive, has gained such consistency 
 as to become of no further use. As the Bees waste 
 a great deal of time in ridding themselves of it by 
 gnawing it away gradually, it ought to be cast away 
 with the cells containing the abortive brood ; but 
 great judgment is necessary in this operation, and 
 unless a person bean adept in the practice, it would 
 be more prudent for him to leave the business to be 
 performed by the Bees. 
 
 when there are few of those vermin; but when every Bee in a hive has 
 perhaps two or three lice upon it, as is often the case, we may believe 
 that the Bees are greatly incommoded by them ; indeed we may be 
 assured of it, by their using every means in their power, though 
 ineffectually, to get rid of them." M. Reaumur declares that he 
 cannot think well of a hive, in which the greater number of Bees have 
 lice upon them. 
 
12S MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 ON THE BROOD. 
 
 XXAVING described the origin of the Bees, the 
 natural constitution of the Queen and of the Drones, 
 I now proceed to treat of their brood, and the man- 
 ner, in which it is nourished. 
 
 By the brood, we understand the three different 
 states of. egg, worm, and nymph, and it is on these 
 states, that the prosperity, the conservation, and mul- 
 tiplication of the Bees depend for the establishment 
 of new colonies. 
 
 The daily loss, which the Bees experience in their 
 families, must be a matter of regret to every well- 
 wisher of those valuable insects : although desertion 
 be never known amongst them, still their lives are 
 always in jeopardy, from disease, high winds, the 
 feet of animals, which crush them, or which devour 
 them in their flight. Some lose their lives in the 
 wool of animals, to which they attach themselves, or 
 in the webs of the spiders ; others die in defence of 
 their habitation and their provisions, by which means, 
 their army, although very numerous, would be soon 
 reduced, were it not continually recruited. 
 
 The cells, of which I shall speak hereafter, are for 
 the purpose of containing the honey and the propolis 
 which the Bees collect, and also for the eggs 
 which the Queen Bee lays. 
 
ON THE BROOD. 12$ 
 
 These eggs are broad at one end, and pointed at 
 the other. At the end of three days, the egg is 
 hatched, and a white worm is produced, which is 
 visible at the bottom of the cell. It remains always 
 in the same position, that is, in the form of a ring. 
 In this state it is known by the appellation of larva. 
 Although this maggot appears without action, and in 
 a state of stupefaction, it contains within it every 
 principle of life. According to the season, it grows 
 for five or six days ; it then weaves around itself a 
 whitish silky film, and then changes into a white 
 chrysalis. In this state it is called a nymph. This 
 transformation, which is one of the most admirable 
 works presented to us by Nature, is common to all 
 flies, as well as to the Bee ; a circumstantial detail 
 is therefore not necessary. I shall, nevertheless, 
 enter more largely into the distinction of the two 
 words, nymph and chrysalis, which are often con- 
 founded together. 
 
 The Bee, in its state of nymph, is enveloped in a 
 pellicle so delicate and fine, that its six legs may be 
 distinctly seen arranged under its belly, and the pro- 
 boscis bent in its whole length. The Bee in this 
 state is white ; in the sequel, all the parts of the 
 body become gradually covered, and insensibly 
 develop themselves. In this point, we acknowledge 
 the progress of Nature, who in all her operations 
 proceeds by insensible shades. The Bee is generally 
 in its state of perfection from the 21st to the 23d 
 day. The drone takes its flight usually about the 
 27th ; the queen about the 16th. These develop- 
 ments are slower in the hives, which are but indiffe- 
 rently peopled, or during the temperate season ; they 
 are entirely suspended during the cold weather. 
 
130 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 The young Bee mokes use of its teeth to liberate 
 itself from its prison, and to break the envelop, in 
 which it has been wrapped : this is an operation very 
 difficult to the young Bees, and there are some, 
 which cannot succeed in effecting it. The Bees 
 shew, however, like all other animals, every imagin- 
 able care for their young ones, until a particular time 
 marked out by Nature: this period being passed, 
 their love is changed into indifference, a contrast, 
 which renders susceptible the difference between 
 instinct and reason. 
 
 The young Bee has no sooner emancipated itself 
 from its cell, than the common Bees flock around it, 
 and with their proboscis cleanse it of any extraneous 
 matter, which it may have brought from its cell. At 
 the same time, the young Bee seems delighted with 
 the attention, which is shewn to it. It first tries its 
 winsrs, then cleans its antennae, and in a few minutes 
 is in the fields gathering provision for the hive. 
 
 As soon as the young Bee has left the cell, the old 
 Bees immediately proceed to clean it, and prepare it 
 for the reception of a new egg, or for honey. The 
 film, which enveloped the young Bee, is found at- 
 tached exactly to the side of the cell, which is the 
 cause of its appearing of a different colour. These 
 films accumulating one upon the other, form that 
 species of button, which is found at the bottom of the 
 cells of the old combs. 
 
 In proportion to the quantity of brood in a hive, is 
 the irascibility of the Bees ; the least motion, the 
 least novelty, which presents itself before the hive, 
 rouses their anger, and makes them run in crowds to 
 defend it. At this time, they should be suffered to 
 remain tranquil, and no experiment should be made 
 upon them. As the brood diminishes, this agitation 
 
ON THE BROOD. 131 
 
 ceases ; and when it has arrived at maturity, the 
 Bees become tractable and quiet. 
 
 Many disputes have taken place among naturalists 
 on the particular nature of the food which is adminis- 
 tered to the brood, whilst in the state of larvae : some 
 have determined it to be pure honey ; others, a mix- 
 ture of honey and farina ; and others assert that no 
 food whatever is administered to them. M. Du- 
 couedic is of the latter opinion ; and in the postscript 
 to his Ruche Pyramidale, he handles all those apia- 
 rians very roughly, who maintain the contrary opinion , 
 In a case of this kind, where truth cannot be posi- 
 tively ascertained, analogy is the next surest method ; 
 and I will, therefore, select the common butterfly as 
 an example in point : The female butterfly lays her 
 eggs, as also does the Queen Bee ; but what is the 
 immediate produce of these eggs ? It is not a butter- 
 fly, but a caterpillar, which devours the herbs ; has 
 strong jaws, a prodigious stomach, a r^reat number 
 of legs, and which weaves round itself a web with 
 considerable art. The egg of a Bee bursts, and a 
 small caterpillar is the result. Its nature and con- 
 stitution prevent it from finding its own food, as is 
 the case of the caterpillar from the eg? of the butter- 
 fly ; and as no instance can be produced in nature, 
 in which an object, the vital principle of which is 
 set in motion, can subsist without some nutriment 
 being brought to it, or procured by its own powers ; 
 it is therefore, a natural conclusion, that, in order to 
 enable the larvae of the Bees to perform those func- 
 tions, which are inseparable from vitality, and to 
 attain to that growth, when Nature has appointed a 
 change in their form, it is necessary that food of some 
 kind should be administered to them. The question 
 then arises, what is the nature of that food ? In re- 
 k2 
 
132 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 gard to its being pure honey, experience contradicts 
 it, as the following experiments will testify. Being 
 convinced of the existence of brood in one of my 
 hives, I opened it, and extracted a small piece of 
 comb ; the cells of which were filled with larvae. 
 In one cell, in which the larva was very young, there 
 was perceptible at the bottom, a whitish liquid, 
 which was insipid to the taste. In another, in which 
 the larva was further advanced in age, the liquid in- 
 clined to the yellow, and had a saccharine taste. In 
 a third, in which the larva had attained its full 
 growth, the liquid had a saccharine acidulous taste. 
 In determining the nature of these liquids, I acknow- 
 ledge myself surrounded with difficulties, and beset 
 with incongruities and contradictions. In the first 
 place, this whitish liquid must be collected in the 
 fields, or prepared at home. If the former were the 
 case, we ought to find the bladder of the Bee some- 
 times full of this liquid. This, however, has never 
 happened. If this mucus were a compound of honey, 
 farina of flowers, and water, how can it be always 
 white, as the farina is almost always yellow, and 
 sometimes of a dark brown ? Besides, in what part 
 of the body of the Bee is it formed ? Is it in the 
 bladder ? It is certain, that nothing but water and 
 honey have ever been found in it. If it be prepared 
 in the bag of the intestines, which is the only stomach 
 of the Bees, it requires, in the first place, that this 
 matter in the intestines of the Bees, should be some- 
 times white, which it never is ; — secondly, that from 
 this stomach it might be disgorged into the cells ; 
 but the Bee has never been forced to disgorge the 
 smallest drop, which is in the bag of the intestines, 
 whatever compression may have been made upon its 
 belly. Thirdly, it is known, that farina causes a quan- 
 
ON THE BROOD. 133 
 
 tity of faeces ; and it would not suit the larvae to be 
 filled with it, as they never void any excrement until 
 they leave the hive. 
 
 These are the arguments of those who maintain 
 that honey is the only food which is administered to 
 the larvae ; but these objections are not of sufficient 
 weight to induce me to alter my opinion. The first 
 objection turns on this point, that the Bees extract 
 from the flowers and shrubs, the materials with which 
 they compose the food of their embryos, that is, 
 honey, farina, and water; but it is in the hive, and 
 perhaps, at the very instant when it is required, that 
 they compound those materials according to their 
 own method, in order to form the requisite food. It 
 is certain, that the Bees make a considerable collec- 
 tion of pollen every year, and in a well constituted 
 and healthy hive, there is always an abundance of it. 
 The Bees, supposing them to be in a state of con- 
 finement, can extract it from their magazines, to form, 
 with the assistance of honey, the necessary nourish- 
 ment for their brood. In regard to water, the Bees 
 can procure it from the sides of their hives, where 
 the perspiration, in a state of condensation, is to be 
 seen. I have mentioned these three circumstances 
 in refutation of an argument, which has been brought 
 forward by a celebrated apiarian, founded on the cir- 
 cumstance of his having found in a hive, the Bees 
 of which were confined for three months, some brood 
 in a very advanced state ; and he therefore concludes, 
 that as the substances, namely, honey, farina, and 
 water, could not at that time be found in the hive, 
 the only nourishment of the brood was honey. 
 
 If this food be never found in the bladder of the 
 Bee, the cause is, that the Bees only form it as the 
 occasion demands ; further, if this liquid or mucus 
 
134 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 be of a different colour from farina, it is because the 
 Bees extract only the finest part of it, or the essence : 
 they afterwards mix it with water and honey, which 
 give a greater clearness to it. The proportions and 
 necessary mixtures for forming the nourishment of 
 the brood can be easily performed by the proboscis, 
 the tongue, the mouth, and the teeth of the Bees ; 
 from which it results, that there is no necessity, that 
 this whitish liquid should sometimes be found in the 
 entrails of the Bees, nor that they should be made 
 to disgorge it. 
 
 Although the farina be the cause of the faeces of 
 the Bees, that is no positive ground from which the 
 conclusion ought to be drawn, that it should produce 
 it also in the embryoes. If a young chicken be fed 
 with eggs only, a quantity of fasces will be produced ; 
 but as long as it is enclosed in the egg no excrement 
 is produced. 
 
ON THE COMBS OF THE BEE. 135 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 ON THE COMBS OF THE BEE. 
 
 IMMEDIATELY on a swarm taking possession of 
 a hive, they begins to clean their new habitation, and 
 to deprive it of all obstacles, which might impede the 
 construction of the combs. In a new straw-hive, 
 there are always some projecting straws left ; the 
 cutting away of which, costs the Bees a great deal of 
 trouble. I invariably smoke the interior of my hives, 
 and then rub them with a hard brush, until all the 
 projecting straws are removed. 
 
 It is universally admitted by all apiarians, that the 
 Bees employ no other substance for the foundation of 
 their combs than propolis. The ancients, however, 
 make mention of two other substances which the 
 Bees make use of before the propolis in the construc- 
 tion of their combs. Pliny informs us, that the first 
 substance, with which the Bees cover the place, 
 where they begin the construction of their combs is 
 called commosin; it is bitter to the taste. On this 
 first layerthey spread a second of a weaker consistency, 
 which is called pissocosos* It is not until after 
 these two layers are made that the Bees make use of 
 propolis, which Pliny designates as being less viscous 
 
 * Albert believes that this pissocosos is nothing more than pinguc 
 oleum instar certs pice admixlx, that is, a mixture of a species of 
 thick oil, arising from a mixture of wax and pitch. 
 
136 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 than the two others, and approaches proportionally to 
 the nature of wax. 
 
 On leaving the parent hive, the Bees are provided 
 with all the necessaries requisite for the commence- 
 ment of their labours, and also a sufficiency of food 
 to support them for some days. The most convinc- 
 ing proof of the truth of this position is, that if the 
 proprietor be too tardy in housing his swarm, the 
 Bees will begin to form their combs on the spot where 
 they have alighted. 
 
 The activity of the Bees at this period is most 
 surprising, and the order, which is observed is not 
 less so. Some of the Bees are employed in removing 
 every obnoxious thing from the hive ; others are 
 observed stopping up every little crevice by which 
 the light can penetrate ; others are busy in the con- 
 struction of the combs, whilst a certain number hasten 
 into the fields to collect the necessary materials. 
 
 The Bees always begin their labours at the top of 
 the hive, and generally in the middle, as their fore- 
 sight teaches them that their Queen must be imme- 
 diately provided with cells, in which to deposit her 
 eggs, and it is only in the middle combs, that eggs 
 are ever laid. The direction of the combs is always 
 perpendicular to the base of the hive. This method, 
 at the first view, appears to be charged with great 
 inconvenience ; for their habitation seems, as it were, 
 suspended in the air. 
 
 The weight of the cells, and the magazines of 
 honey and pollen, would excite some fear as to the 
 solidity of the work, but our skilful architects never 
 fail. They attach their combs with a very viscous 
 glue ; thpy multiply this fastening on ail sides, and 
 neglect npthing which can insure the stability of 
 their works. At the same time, to diminish the 
 
ON THE COMBS OF THE BEE. 137 
 
 weight of their edifice, they give the least possible 
 thickness to the cells ; hut as one inconvenience ge- 
 nerally grows out of another, and as the thinness of 
 the ceils would disable them from resisting the per- 
 petual motion of the Bees, the skilful insects have 
 the precaution to strengthen the entrance of their 
 cells with a border of wax, as being the particular 
 part most liable to suffer, and to be the most fre- 
 quently attacked. This border round the top of the 
 cell, has, however, another use, and in this particu- 
 lar, the beautiful symmetry of the edifice of the 
 Bees is most striking. Were the cell not to be fur- 
 nished with this border, it would not retain the 
 honey ; and the Bees, in this respect, display a per- 
 fect knowledge of the law of fluids. By means of 
 this border, the cell can be entirely filled with honey, 
 even to the taking of a convex form, and then the 
 pellicle of wax, with which it is covered for the win- 
 ter's use, presses closely upon it, and prevents the 
 admission of any humidity. * 
 
 The Bees erect several cells at a time parallel with 
 each other, and which, attached to the roof of the 
 hive, fall perpendicularly to the base. There is always 
 a space between the combs sufficiently large to admit 
 the passage of two Bees : these may be called the 
 streets of their city. Some persons have seen hori- 
 zontal streets, -j* but I never yet could discover any. 
 
 * Huber, in the fulness of his conceits, says, that the Bees are not 
 satisfied with simply closing their works, but they also colour their cells, 
 not with propolis, but with a substance of the nature of which he is 
 wholly ignorant ; and long — long, indeed, will he remain in ignorance 
 of it. At all events, it cannot be any thing else than a colour in 
 distemper, arising from some malady in his own head. 
 
 + That Bees will construct their cells in n horizontal direction, 
 cannot now admit of a doubt, as it has been verified in a hive belong- 
 iag to G. I. Call, Esq. of Kimbers, who was so obliging as to send me 
 a piece of the comb, which I consider as a real curiosity : it was form- 
 
138 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 Every comb is composed of a double row of cells, 
 which are placed back to back, having one common 
 base. The figure of the cell is an exact hexagon. 
 Pappus,* the famous geometrician of antiquity, de- 
 monstrated that this figure possesses the double ad- 
 vantage of fillinga space, withoutleaving any vacuum, 
 and of enclosing a larger space in the same circum- 
 ference : and it is most wonderful, that the Bees have 
 chosen amongst an infinity of figures, the only one, 
 which could exactly fulfil the essential conditions 
 to which their nature restricted them. The figure of 
 the base is a pyramid formed of three lozenges per- 
 fectly equal ; the four angles of these lozenges are 
 again so happily combined, and their opening is in 
 such proportion, that the wax is used with the great- 
 est possible economy, in such a manner, that any 
 other lozenge, composed of any other size, would 
 not yield the same results. Samuel Kcenig, who 
 made use of the analysis of infinite units to resolve 
 this problem, which was given to him by M. Reau- 
 mur, arrived, after all his calculations, at the mere 
 result furnished him by the Bees. The choice of the 
 figure, is, however, not surpassed by the astonishing 
 manner in which they construct all the sides of their 
 hexagons, all the lozenges of their bases, and all the 
 angles of the lozenges. 
 
 The thickness of each of the combs is rather inde- 
 finite. It may, however, be stated in the aggregate 
 
 ed on the plane of the pedestal, but neither eggs nor honey had been 
 deposited in the cells. The cause of this departure of the Bees from 
 their natural mode of action, is to me unknown : perhaps it was some 
 clumsy attempt of our English Bees to imitate the fortifications, in 
 the construction of which the Swiss Bees are such proficients. 
 
 * Pappus lived about the year 340, aud Samuel Kcenig about the 
 middle of the last century. The works of the former were printed in 
 1588, and those of the latter after his death. 
 
ON THE COMBS OF THE BEE. 139 
 
 at one inch ; the upper is, however, generally larger. 
 The depth then of each cell is about half an inch, 
 and their breadth is constantly two lines two-fifths. 
 This is the invariable measure all over the world 
 wherever Bees are known. 
 
 Independently of the kind of cells, which are the 
 most numerous, others are constructed of rather a 
 larger size, which are appropriated to the reception 
 of the eggs from which the drones are to spring. 
 The Bees, in the construction of the cells, have an 
 eye to these two combinations, — that of the size, and 
 that of the number of the Bees, which are to be ge- 
 nerated. Thus the cells of the drones differ in their 
 depth and breadth, but they have, in general, a re°ular 
 diameter, which is three lines and a half ; from which 
 it appears that twenty of the drone cells would cover 
 a space of five inches ten lines, whilst twenty cells of 
 the working Bees cover exactly a space of four inches. 
 All this labour is performed with so much skill and 
 firmness, that three or four of these sides, placed on 
 each other, do not exceed the thickness of a sheet of 
 common paper. * 
 
 * The Monthly Reviewers accuse me of treating the systems of the 
 foreign apiarians in an ironical manner, and especially the system of 
 Huher. I acknowledge, that many interesting facts relative to Bees, 
 are to he gained from the Swiss apiarian ; but at the same time, his 
 brain appears to teem with the wildest and most discordant fancies 
 that, as bearing any reference to positive or ocular observation, 
 have ever been engendered in a human head. I know of only one 
 weapon, with which they can be attacked,and that is— ridicule. Did 
 they bear any analogy to truth, I would be the first to give them ray 
 applause, and defend them to the utmost of my ability ; but I pledge 
 every tittle of the character, which I may possess as an apiarian, when 
 I affirm, that the following description by Huber, of the formation of 
 the combs of the Bees, is one gross tissue of error and misrepresenta- 
 tion. Fancy is a fascinating power when employedj'on certain subjects j 
 but in those particular cases, the truth or falsity of which depends 
 on actual observation, the exercise of fancy is culpable and improper. 
 
140 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 A different species of cell is also constructed, des- 
 tined to be the cradle of the Queens. The architects 
 now abandon their ordinary form of building, and 
 construct the cells of a circular and oblong figure, 
 
 Although the anathemas of the adherents of Huber may be hurled up- 
 on me, yet, I will venture to affirm, that Huber, in order to enable 
 him to verify the secret operations of the Bees, with that apparent 
 depth of research and incomparable skill, which distinguish his writ- 
 ings, must have metamorphosed himself into a Bee: for as Man, I 
 boldly pronounce, that he never saw a cell constructed by a Bee; and 
 this accounts for the strange vagaries and laughable combinations 
 which mark the following description. It is literally translated from 
 the second edition of " Nouvelles Observations sur les Abeilles, par F. 
 Huber." 
 
 Speaking of the formation of the combs, he says,—" A working Bee 
 detaches itself from the centre of the pyramidal group — breaks 
 through the crowd — drives his companions away by some knocks on the 
 head, (.with what?) and clears a circular space of about an inch, where 
 it fixes itself for the purpose of establishing the foundation of the 
 combs. It immediately detaches a piece of wax from its rings, carries 
 it to its mouth, works it between its teeth, and bruises the whole 
 compass of it. The fragments thus detached, are again mixed and 
 crammed into the mouth : they then come from it in the shape of a 
 thread. The tongue, performing by turns the office of a spatula, a 
 trowel, and pincers, moistens this thread, which passes in a direction 
 contrary to the former, (query, by the posterior ?) and is afterwards 
 applied to the top of the hive, and placed in the direction, which the 
 combs are to assume. The Bee, having thus laid the foundation, 
 yields its place to another, who, as an old labourer, examines the state 
 of the work, and if it be correct, continues it in the same direction. 
 A third Bee appears, (a young apprentice, I suppose,) and he commits 
 a blunder in placing his little heap of wax in a crooked direction, and 
 contrary to the line which has been traced out. — (Had Nature an Attor- 
 ney-General, Huber ought to be indicted for a most foul and infamous 
 libel). Another Bee then comes ; (the supervisor of the works, I sup- 
 pose ;) he discovers the blunder, sends the blundering fool about his 
 business, removes the wax, which the ninny had placed in a wrong 
 direction, and adjusts it according to the rules of science. From this 
 course of labour arises a block of wax, in the form of a semi-circular 
 wall, (still upon the fortifications, friend Huber !) of about an inch and 
 a half in height, and rather more than half an inch in breadth. A work- 
 ing Bee then places itself before one of the sides of this wall, and bores 
 in it a small vertical channel : this is the commencement of the foun- 
 dation of one of the cells of the first tier. Another Bee rectifies the 
 contour of this first channel, and fashions the cavity of it according 
 
ON THE COMBS OF THE BEE. 141 
 
 which possess much solidity. One of these cells will 
 weigh as much as 100 or 150 of the ordinary cells. 
 There is less economy used in the construction ; the 
 wax is used with profusion ; the exterior is waved ; 
 in fine, they are really royal cells. They are very 
 trifling in number in proportion to the other cells.* 
 
 Fig. 1. PI. VI. represents a piece of comb com- 
 posed of common cells, drone cells, and four royal 
 cells, in different stages of their growth, a, repre- 
 sents the cells in an empty state ; b, is composed of 
 the cells of the drones ; they are represented as full 
 cf brood, with this difference, that those which are 
 covered are convex, and less united than those of the 
 common Bees. 
 
 The letters C, D, E, F, represent four royal cells, 
 more or less advanced towards perfection. The 
 cell C is still empty. That marked by the letter D 
 is more advanced, and contains a royal embryo. 
 The cell E is almost finished, and ready to be closed, 
 because the caterpillar is on the eve of transforming 
 itself into a nymph, and has then no further occasion 
 for the aid of the common Bees. The cell F is en- 
 tirely finished and closed. It is then that the won- 
 derful transformation of the caterpillar into a nymph 
 takes place, and from the nymph into a perfect 
 Bee. 
 
 A piece of honey-comb is a most beautiful sight, 
 jevery thing is regulated with so much symmetry, and 
 so well finished, that on the first inspection we are 
 
 to the form of an inclined plane. Whilst the labour of this Bee is pro- 
 ceeding, two other Bees pass behind the wall, and each bores a chan- 
 nel similar to the first ; and thus, by degrees, the cells assume their 
 hexagon form." 
 
 Katerfelto wondered at his own wonders : it would be wonderous 
 "mdeed if Huber did not wonder at his own most wonderful discoveries. 
 
 * The Bee*, in the swarming season, seldom bring to maturity mor^ 
 
142 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 tempted to consider it as the master-piece of the in- 
 dustry of insects.* 
 
 M. BufTon, astonished at the wonders of the archi- 
 tecture and the geometry of the Bees, and being un- 
 willing to acknowledge an intelligence superior to 
 that of man, has attempted to explain the labour of 
 the Bee by the rules of simple mechanism. f " These 
 hexagons/' he says, " so much admired and ap- 
 plauded, furnish me with another argument against 
 enthusiasm and admiration. This figure, all geome- 
 trical, and all regular, as it may appear, and which 
 it actually is in theory, is in this instance nothing 
 but a mechanical result, and sufficiently imperfect, 
 which is often found in nature, and is observed in 
 the most inanimate productions ; such as crystals 
 and other stones. Some salts constantly assume 
 this figure in their formation. Observe the little 
 
 than fifteen or twenty royal eggs ; nevertheless it is certain, that the 
 Queen, in the course of a year, lays a great number, which the com- 
 mon Bees however destroy, knowing them to be useless. Contardi 
 relates, that in the third part of the Memoirs of the Apiarian Society 
 of Berne, established at Lusace, mention is made of a swarm, which 
 had a prodigious number of Queens. 
 
 * M. Latreille, in his History of Insects, on the article " Bees" 
 thus expresses himself : " In the vast creation of insects, there is no 
 one, whose history presents to us such a prodigious number of wonders 
 as that of the Bee. In regard to industry, these insects are the master- 
 piece of the creation, and man himself, so proud of his natural gifts 
 is in some degree humiliated at the view of the interior of a Bee-hive. 
 How is it possible to refrain from those transports of admiration in 
 contemplating the Bee ! This insect, so weak, so small in appearance, 
 works without relaxation in collecting the materials of its habitation, 
 forms them with inimitable art, and constructs those wonderful edi- 
 fices, the architecture of which has been the subject of the medita- 
 tions of the most profound geometricians !" 
 
 + Our modern Archimedeses, admiring the dispositions of the form 
 of the cells, have found the solution, by a natural mechanism, of one 
 of the most beautiful and most difficult problems of geometry : viz. To 
 make the greatest number of cells in the least possible space, and the 
 greatest number possible, with the least possible matter. 
 
 6 
 
ON THE COMBS OF THE BEE. 143 
 
 scales of the skin of the sea-calf, they will be found 
 to be all hexagon, because every scale, growing at 
 the same time, presents an obstacle, and tends to 
 occupy the most space, which is possible, in a given 
 space. These same hexagons are seen in the second 
 stomach of ruminating animals :* they are also found 
 in seeds and certain flowers. Fill a vessel with 
 peas, or rather with any other cylindrical grain, and 
 close it tight ; after having poured in as much water 
 as the intervals between the grains will admit, boil 
 the water, and all the cylinders will become columns 
 of six fronts. The reason is evident, which is purely 
 mechanical. Every grain, the figure of which is 
 cylindrical, tends by its expansion to occupy the 
 most possible space in a given space ; they therefore 
 necessarily become hexagon by reciprocal compres- 
 sion. Every Bee attempts to occupy in the same 
 manner the greatest possible space in a given space ; 
 it is therefore necessary as the body of the Bee is 
 cylindrical, that their cells should be hexagon by the 
 same cause of reciprocal compression/' 
 
 This definition, I acknowledge to be most ingeni- 
 ous ; but with all due deference to so great a natu- 
 ralist as Buffon, it is insufficient. One of the most 
 certain facts in the history of these insects is, that 
 all the labours of their little republic are performed 
 only by the common Bees ; and that the drones and 
 the queen, so far from contributing to the public 
 works, have not even received from Nature, the 
 organs and instruments necessary for the purpose. 
 
 * M. Buffon, in this instance, evidently labours under an error. 
 It is certain that a part of the second stomach of ruminating animals 
 assumes a configuration similar to that of the cells of the Bee; and, 
 indeed, there is a particular part of tripe which is known by the name 
 of honey-comb ; but no person, I believe, yet discovered in it the ex- 
 act hexagon of the Bee, 
 
144- MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 But, if the regularity of the cells had no other cause 
 than that assigned by Buffon ; if it were only pro- 
 duced by a mechanical law, and by the reciprocal 
 compression of the Bees combined with their figure, 
 it is certain, that all the cells would have the same 
 form and the same dimensions, as they are all con- 
 structed by the working Bee. Those of the drones 
 would be of the same size ; those of the queen would 
 be of the same form and size ; and we should not 
 behold that astonishing proportion in the number of 
 the different cells with the number of the different 
 Bees, which are to be generated. 
 
 The theory of Buffon is most ingenious, although 
 not founded on truth ; but what character can be 
 bestowed upon the following theory of Lpwenhoek ? 
 He examined the eyes of the Bee with a microscope, 
 and he believed that he observed the light, mixed 
 with shade, depicting on their retina, the cells similar 
 to those of their combs, and which led him to the 
 conjecture, that the Bees in their labour could only 
 execute that, which was presented to their vision. I 
 shall not stop to discuss the falsity of this singular 
 definition. 
 
 The combs, when first constructed, are white, but 
 as they grow old, they lose by degrees, their original 
 colour, and from yellow, they become, through 
 every shade, almost black: the steam which per- 
 vades the interior of the hive may be considered as 
 the cause. The wax, which was originally white, 
 recovers its colour, if exposed to the influence of the 
 dew ; but all Bees do not make the wax equally 
 white : this depends less on the insect, than on the 
 nature of the farina which it collects.* It is also 
 
 * The quality of the wax and its greater or less degree of whiteness 
 depend on the quality of the plants. In the Archipelago, for instance, 
 
ON THE COMBS OF THE BEE, 145 
 
 experienced by the wax-bleachers that some parti- 
 cular wax will not take a perfect white. 
 
 As the construction of the comb is particularly 
 connected with the origin and use of wax, I beg 
 leave to refer the reader to Chap. XIII. for a further 
 elucidation of this subject. 
 
 the wax which is collected from the thyme is the best and whitest. The 
 diversity of the farina of plants carries with it, not however, that 
 weight, which is attached to it by some naturalists, for the flowers of 
 the thyme are very poor in farina, although rich in boney ; and at the 
 time when thyme blossoms, there are few flowers which produce 
 farina. It is, however, at this particular period, that the best wax iff 
 produced, and also in the greatest quantity, L'Abbe delta Roccu. 
 
146 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 ON THE DIFFERENT SUBSTANCES WHICH ARE 
 FOUND IN A HIVE. 
 
 On the establishment of a swarm of Bees in a hive, 
 their first care is to close all the crevices with a 
 gluey matter, which is of a viscous nature, soft at 
 the moment when it is used, but which hardens 
 afterwards, and to which the name of propolis* has 
 been given. Its colour is brown or blackish, and 
 even sometimes of a reddish brown. That which is 
 found in the hive presents other varieties: it some- 
 times emits a very agreeable aromatic smell when it 
 is heated ; and the ancients affirm that the odour of 
 the propolis may be placed in the rank of the best 
 perfumes. 
 
 It is supposed that the Bees gather the propolis 
 from the poplar, birch, fir, yew, and willow. M. De 
 Reaumur was never yet able to discover the Bees 
 employed on this particular harvest ; and he has seen 
 the Bees make use of the propolis in countries in 
 which not one of the above mentioned trees was 
 known. M. de Bomare very justly observes, on this 
 
 * Propolis, a word compounded of «pg;, which signifies before, and 
 roxJj, c%, denoting before the city, because it is with this matter that 
 the Bees slop fill the crevices and openings in their hive, which is like a 
 
 ritv. 
 
ON DIFFERENT SUBSTANCES IN A HIVE. 147 
 
 point, that the discovery of M. de Reaumur is yet 
 to be made.* 
 
 In regard to the nature and the qualities of the 
 propolis, it is a resin soluble in spirit of wine and oil 
 of turpentine. Independently of the use, to which 
 it is applied in medicine as a digestive, from some 
 experiments which have been made, it has been dis- 
 covered, that this substance, dissolved in spirit of 
 wine, or in oil of turpentine, is an excellent sub- 
 stitute for the varnish which is used in giving the 
 colour of gold to silver, or to tin made into foil. If, 
 for example, it be incorporated with mastich, or 
 sandarac, it is excellent in the gilding [of lea- 
 ther. It is very suitable to expedite the maturity 
 of abscesses ; its vapour inhaled by means of a fun- 
 nel, during the time that it is thrown on the fire, 
 softens the most inveterate and dangerous cough. 
 
 The crude wax, which is called in Italian pane 
 delleapi, in French cire brute, or matiere de cire, and 
 in English Bee-bread, is precisely that coloured dust 
 which attaches to the fingers when the stamina of the 
 flowers are touched ; or to speak in the apiarian lan- 
 guage, it is the farina which the Bees collect for 
 the various purposes of their hive. 
 
 Nothing is more common than to see a Bee covered 
 with the dust, which could only have been obtained 
 from a flower. Common observation teaches us the 
 particular parts of the flower which have yielded it, 
 
 ♦L'Abbe della Rocca mentions that, in the Archipelago, the Bees 
 are constantly observed on the mastich-tree, which furnishes the excel- 
 lent mastich of Scio, and also on the wild cypress, which is a resinous 
 tree, from which they gather the propolis, and from which the idea 
 must originate, that this matter is produced by different sorts of plants 
 indifferent parts of the globe, more or less aromatick, according to the 
 greater or less heat of the climate. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 and it demonstrates also, that this dust is the element 
 of wax. 
 
 I do not consider myself guilty of an error, when I 
 assert, that the little pellets of farina, which are visible 
 on the legs of the Bees, are the elementary parts of 
 wax, and are transformed into that substance by a 
 particular process in the stomach of the Bees : this 
 however will be further discussed in the chapter on 
 Wax. 
 
 I consider propolis to be a gummy aromatic sub- 
 stance, similar in its constitution to wax, but dif- 
 fering in its fabrication. Its chief element, like the 
 wax, is the farina of plants, which, undergoing a 
 particular process in the second stomach of the Bees, 
 forms that firm, gluey substance, which is known by 
 the name of propolis. It maybe considered in some 
 respects as a species of wax, but stronger in its con- 
 stitution. This may arise from a greater or less 
 quantity of water, employed in its formation, or from 
 a more protracted process in the stomach of the Bee. 
 It is strongly argued by some naturalists, that the 
 Bee forms but one substance, which is wax. I would 
 however recommend to those persons to examine the 
 constitution of wax, and the substance, which the 
 Bees make use of in closing any crevice in the hive, 
 or in covering the dead body of any animal, which 
 they have killed, but which from its size, they have 
 not been able to drag out of the hive, and they will 
 find a most essential difference. The fragility of 
 propolis is not so great as that of wax ; the latter is 
 more easily reduced to a paste, and possesses not the 
 fragrance of the propolis. 
 
 One of the most convincing proofs, that propolis 
 
ON DIFFERENT SUBSTANCES IN A HIVE. 149 
 
 and wax are not collected by the Bees, as separate 
 substances produced by certain plants, and conse- 
 quently not indebted for their formation to a particular 
 process in the stomach of the Bee, may be gained 
 from the following circumstance: In the month of 
 November, 1 8 1 1 , at the request of a friend, I deprived 
 one of my hives of a little honey, and I took the 
 opportunity of cleaning the stand on which it was 
 placed : having performed that operation, I fastened 
 the hive down again, contracting the entrance to 
 those dimensions, so as to admit only one Bee to come 
 out at a time. I now judged my hive to be safe from 
 its enemies, but, in this, it appears I was mistaken. 
 In the month of December, on inspecting my apiary, 
 I perceived the hive to be in an unusual bustle, and 
 the Bees in great agitation. I was convinced that 
 some accident had occurred in the interior of the hive, 
 and I resolved to examine it. To my great surprise, 
 I found a dead mouse on the stand, and it was almost 
 covered with propolis. I at first resolved to remove 
 this nauseous object, but, on more mature reflection, 
 I was not willing to forego the opportunity of expe- 
 riencing, by actual observation, one of the most pro- 
 found acts of foresight and wisdom, which can pos- 
 sibly be found in the works of the animal creation. 
 What power is that, which taught the Bee the ne- 
 cessity of covering the dead mouse with a plaster? 
 It might have been thought sufficient to kill it, that 
 their property might be saved, and then leave it to 
 waste away by the common process of putrefaction. 
 But were this process to be allowed to take place, 
 the health and safety of the whole hive would be 
 endangered ; to prevent therefore this occurrence, 
 the body of the mouse is, as it were, embalmed in a 
 case of propolis, and the object rots away without 
 emitting any offensive odour. 
 
150 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 The question, however, which now presents itself 
 for solution is, of what materials was this covering 
 composed ? The Bees were not able to collect any 
 farina in the fields, and they must therefore have 
 composed it from a substance which they possessed 
 in the hive, and this could be no other than the pro- 
 polis or Bee-bread deposited in the combs. This 
 circumstance plainly evinces that the propolis is 
 fabricated by the Bees, and is not a natural substance 
 collected by them. 
 
 This substance has been analyzed by M. Vauquelin, 
 in the Annates de Chimie, 1802, and 1808, and in the 
 Bulletin de Pharmacie by M. Cadet. By distillation, 
 a very sweet essential oil is obtained. If it be placed 
 on burning coals, it emits an odour similar to that of 
 aloes ; it mollifies, and in this state, it cannot be 
 broken, until it is stretched to the fineness of a 
 thread. 
 
 M. Lombard says, " that a perfect ignorance pre- 
 vails regarding the matter, of which propolis is made, 
 or whence the Bees extract it ;" this is a most singu- 
 lar confession on the part of M. Lombard. He should 
 have consulted his great and infallible M. Huber, 
 and although the sentiments of that apiarian might 
 not have been correct, M. Lombard might have 
 adopted them with the same confidence, which he 
 has so lavishly bestowed on the fortifications of M. 
 Huber. 
 
ON POLLEN, OR FARINA. 151 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 ON POLLEN, OR FARINA* 
 
 JLHE botanists designate by the term pollen, or 
 farina, that fecundating dust, which hangs on the 
 stamina of all simple flowers, and which the Bees 
 collect and transport to their hive in little balls, or 
 pellets attached to the cavities of their hinder legs. 
 The Bee roams from flower to flower in quest of this 
 substance, and never returns to the hive until it has 
 collected an equal quantity on each leg. I have ob- 
 served that the Bee never changes the species of 
 flower, on which it first alights, that is, it never 
 mixes in the same journey the farina of different 
 flowers ; it always finishes its load on the same spe- 
 cies on which it began : it is asserted by some persons 
 that the Bee often swallows the farina before it enters 
 the hive; this is, however, incorrect, for it is only 
 swallowed by those, whose office it is to construct 
 the combs, or feed the young. 
 
 The manner in which the Bee is delivered of its 
 load, is both curious and interesting. Immediately on 
 its arrival in the hive, it ascends the middle combs, 
 and is there met by a party of labourers, who in- 
 stantly proceed to unburthen the traveller of his load. 
 This operation is performed with the teeth, and the 
 treasure is deposited in a cell, in which it is pressed 
 
£52 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 close down, with the hinder feet. I cannot compre- 
 hend how some naturalists can assert, that the Bee 
 unloads itself, by entering the cell backwards, and 
 scraping off its load with its middle feet. In the 
 first place, from the size of the two pellets, it would 
 be impossible for the Bee to enter with both legs at 
 once into the cell; and I believe it has never yet 
 been maintained among the numerous fancies which 
 have arisen on this subject, that the Bee first enters 
 w.th one leg, and then with the other ; how the Bee 
 then could manage to divest itself of its load, must 
 b- reckoned as one of those secrets, the elucidation 
 of which, that insect appears determined to withhold 
 from the curiosity of man. 
 
 It is, however, probable, and not at all inconsistent 
 $yith reason, that as the Bee placed its load on its 
 legs by its teeth and feet, it could also unload itself 
 by the same means, and I make no doubt that this 
 method is often adopted by the Bee ; but common 
 sense flatly contradicts the idea of any retrograde 
 motion of the Bee into a cell, for the purpose of un- 
 loading itself. 
 
 It is singular, that a cell is very seldom found full 
 of pollen ; it is in general only half full, and the rer 
 mainder is filled with honey. In this instance, the 
 foresight of the Bee is again conspicuous. Were the 
 pollen exposed to the influence of the humidity of 
 |he hive, it would soon corrupt and turn sour, but 
 being covered with honey, it is kept in a proper state 
 of preservation, and fit for use, as occasion may re- 
 quire. 
 
 Experiments of an easy nature demonstrate that 
 .the farina of the stamina contains the principles of 
 wax, but it is not wax itself, as some authors main- 
 tain, If a small ball, composed of several small 
 
ON POLLEN, OR FARINA. 153 
 
 pellets of farina, be put into a silver spoon over hot 
 coals, instead of melting like wax, the pellets preserve 
 their figure, dry, and carbonize. If a slight thread 
 be made of these pellets, by rolling them between the 
 finders, and presenting it to the flame of a taper, it 
 will burn without running, like a piece of dry and 
 resinous wood. If pollen be thrown int owater, it 
 sinks to the bottom ; whereas, on the contrary, wax 
 floats : all these distinctive characteristics prove in an 
 incontestible manner, the elaboration of the farina, 
 which takes place in the body of the Bee.* 
 
 M.de Reaumur made several experiments for the 
 purpose of trying, if it were not possible to extract by 
 art, the genuine wax from pollen, and he proposed 
 to himself to enter into a kind of partnership with 
 the Bees in the manufacture of wax ; but all his ex- 
 periments have only tended to convince him, that it 
 is not less difficult to make the genuine wax with the 
 farina of plants, than it is to make chyle with the 
 different substances which serve us for food, or to 
 make silk by distilling the leaves of the mulberry tree. 
 
 I have had occasion to mention M. Ducouedic, as 
 a French apiarian of no mean celebrity : he has suc- 
 cessfully refuted the system of Huber and his adhe- 
 rents, in regard to the propagation of the Bee, and 
 therefore, I am sorry to differ from him on some very 
 
 * On this head the Abbe della Rocca says, " that supposing the 
 Bees to form the wax only from the pollen, it is necessary that it 
 should be digested in the stomach of the Bees ; and this he positively 
 denies to be the case, and he founds his opinion on the result of the 
 experiments of Mr. Geer, who, in his Memoir on Insects, says, * ac- 
 cording to the opinion of all chemists, it is impossible to effect the 
 decomposition of wax, in any manner whatsoever, and even if the 
 lame means were employed, as in the decomposition of stones and 
 metals, from which it is apparent, that the strongest stomach cannot 
 digest it, excepting that of the wax moth. 
 
154 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 essential points, and in no one more so, than in his 
 opinion of the nature of pollen. The naturalist, as 
 well as the apiarian, will be gratified to investigate 
 his sentiments on the subject, and I will therefore 
 translate them as they appear, page 1 17 of his Ruche 
 Pyramidale, second edition. I request particular 
 attention to those passages printed in italics. 
 
 " We see in fine weather the Bees, loaded with 
 pollen, convey it in a state of nature into the hive. 
 It is on the part of the Bees a superfluity of booty, 
 and is prepared by the Bees of the interior of the hive, 
 for their nourishment. This pollen, which is con- 
 sumed by them, becomes honey, wax, or propolis, 
 according as the demand for the different materials 
 require it. The pollen is, therefore, what may be pro- 
 perly called a portion of the nourishment of the Bees, 
 and is one of the principles of honey, wax, and pro- 
 polis. It is a saccharine substance, transported in 
 its crude state into the hive, by a certain number of 
 working Bees of the most avaricious disposition, 
 who, not being satisfied with having filled their first 
 stomach, (' with what ?') also load the triangular ca- 
 vities, which they have on their hinder legs. The 
 much talked of crude wax does not exist in nature, 
 and the pollen is, in reality, nothing more than a 
 balsamic substance, which is converted into honey. 
 I even believe that this substance, before changing its 
 nature, may be a sort of a feast for the Bees of the 
 interior, who subsist, in general, only on honey, or it 
 may be a balsamic remedy, necessary for the preser- 
 vation of the health of the Bee in the interior of the 
 hive, and finally, it is only in these relations that 
 pollen ought to be considered." 
 
 I do not know in what point of view to consider 
 the author of this theory. The mere desire of assert- 
 
ON POLLEN, OR FARINA. \55 
 
 ing a novelty certainly cannot have led him into the 
 commission of so gross an absurdity, and it must 
 therefore have arisen from downright inconceivable 
 ignorance. The veriest tyro in natural history knows 
 that the farina or pollen of flowers, and the saccha- 
 rine substance which is contained in their nectarium, 
 are two distinct and separate matters. No art, no 
 elaboration in the stomach of the Bee, could possibly 
 convert the farina into honey ; there is no analogy in 
 the substances, and when it is distinctly proved 
 that honey exists in nature as a separate substance, 
 and is to be found by the Bee on projecting its pro-" 
 boscis into the nectarium of the pestule of a flower, I 
 cannot but conceive, that the most direct ignorance 
 could alone have urged any person to promulgate a 
 story so wild and improbable, as that farina or pollen 
 is the fundamental principle of honey. Were pollen 
 analyzed into one hundred parts, I do not believe, 
 that it would contain five of saccharine matter. Its 
 constitution is diametrically opposite, nor can any 
 analogy be found by the profoundest skill of the 
 chemist, or the elaborate intestinal powers of the 
 Bee. 
 
 Considering that M. Ducouedic must have had 
 before him the ingenious examination of M. de 
 Reaumur, on this subject, my surprise is the greater, 
 that he should have fallen into so palpable an error. 
 It is most certain, that the Bees consume a consider- 
 able quantity of this pollen, the greater part of 
 which is converted into excrement, and a very small 
 portion of it, being digested in the stomach of the 
 Bees, is transformed into perfect wax, that is, into 
 a paste, which is emitted from their mouth in a 
 species of white froth, and with which they construct 
 their combs of wax. 
 
t .30 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 M. c\e Reaumur calculates that in a hive of 18,000 
 Bees, every one may make four or five journeys a day, 
 and that eight pellets of farina are required to form a 
 grain in weight. The Bees during six or seven suc- 
 ceeding months collect 100 pounds and more of this 
 matter, and yet if, at the end of a year, the wax be 
 extracted from a hive, only about two pounds of real 
 wax will be found ; from which the natural conclu- 
 sion may be drawn, that the pollen lorms a part of 
 the nourishment of the Bee, and that very little real 
 wax is extracted from it. Another very important 
 use to which the Bees apply the pollen, is in the 
 nourishment of the young brood, and on this account 
 it is called in Holland, Flanders, Brabant, Italy, and 
 the Archipelago, Bee-bread. I am entirely of the 
 persuasion, that a mixture of the pollen with the 
 honey is very necessary to preserve the Bees in good 
 health. This is confirmed by the following fact ; 
 if Bees be obliged to live entirely upon honey, after 
 having exhausted their stock of pollen, they are in 
 general attacked with the dysentery, and the best 
 method, which has been adopted of curing them, is 
 to place some combs in their hive, the cells of which 
 are filled with pollen. 
 
 M. Huber's experiments on the appropriation of 
 pollen in the nourishment of the young brood, are, 
 in my opinion, decisive. He had a stock of Bees in 
 a glass hive with twelve partitions, the Queen of 
 which was barren. The cells were destitute of pol- 
 len, and possessed some honey. On the 16th July, 
 he removed the Queen, as well as all the partitions, 
 excepting the first and twelfth combs, the cells of 
 which were occupied by eggs and larvae of all ages ; 
 the cells, in which pollen was perceived, were cut 
 out, and the hive was closed with a grate. On the 
 
ON POLLEN, OR FARINA. 15? 
 
 17th the Bees appeared to tend their young ; on the 
 18th, after sun-set, a great noise was heard in the 
 hive, the shutters were opened, and it was remarked, 
 that the whole community was in a tumult, the 
 brood combs were abandoned, the Bees gnawed the 
 grating of their enclosure, and they were set at liberty. 
 They flew out in great numbers, but the time not 
 being proper for field-work, and the darkness and 
 coolness of night coming- on, they were obliged to 
 return to their combs. Order appeared to be re-estab- 
 lished, and the hive was closed as formerly. On 
 the 19th, the sketch of two equal cells was distinctly 
 seen. On the evening of the same day, and at the same 
 hour as on the preceding night, the tumult re-com- 
 menced, the Bees were again let loose, and having 
 returned, the hive was again closed. On the 20th, 
 the fifth day of their captivity, the brood was examin- 
 ed, with a view to discover the cause of the periodical 
 agitation of the Bees. The hive was carried into 
 a chamber, the windows of which were closed ; the 
 Bees were set at liberty, and it was discovered that 
 the royal cells had not been continued ; — not a single 
 egg, nor larvae, — not an atom of matter necessary to 
 the aliment of the larvae, were to be found,— all had 
 disappeared ;— the larvae had perished from hunger. 
 Can this be supposed to arise from any other cause, 
 than the absence of pollen ? As to this point, it was 
 therefore, only necessary to carry conviction, to re- 
 store to them some pollen, and then to observe the 
 results. For this purpose, the Bees were restored to 
 their prison, after having substituted new combs, 
 containing eggs and young larvae in the place of those, 
 which had perished. On the 22d, the observation 
 was made that the Bees had fastened their combs, 
 
 and fixed themselves on the new brood : some fra°-- 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
.5S MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 ments of combs were then given to them, in which 
 other Bees had stored some pollen, and they were 
 placed openly on the stand of the hive. In the course 
 of a few minutes, the Bees partook of the pollen, 
 devoured it greedily, attached themselves to the cells 
 of the young larvae, into which they entered, head fore- 
 most, and remained in them for a greater, or less time. 
 The hive was gently raised, and the Bees, which de- 
 voured the pollen were powdered, and it was remark- 
 ed, that the powdered Bees returned to the pollen, 
 then again repaired to the brood, and entered into 
 the cells of the larvae. On the 23rd, the royal cells 
 were begun. On the 24th, it was observed that all 
 the larvae had some mucous matter upon them, 
 that some of the cells had been very lately closed, 
 and that the royal cells had been elongated. On the 
 26th, two royal cells had been closed during the 
 night. On the 27th, full liberty was granted to the 
 Bees ; the mucous matter was still found in the cells, 
 which contained the larvae, and a greater number had 
 been closed with a covering of wax, and on opening 
 several of them, the larvae were found employed 
 in spinning their cocoon. 
 
 After this experiment, no further doubt can be 
 entertained, that the pollen was the aliment of the 
 young Bees, and it was the deficiency of this sub- 
 stance, which caused their death, and the evident 
 agitation, in which the old Bees remained during their 
 former captivity. 
 
 One argument of those persons, who maintain that 
 pollen is not the constituent principle of wax, is, that 
 other flies, except the Bee, collect the farina of 
 plants, that they carry it to their nest on their hinder 
 legs like the Bee, but that they do not make any wax, 
 therefore, the farina on the legs of the Bee can have 
 no affinity to wax. 
 
ON POLLEN', OR FARINA. lo9 
 
 The force of this argument, however, does not 
 strike me ; besides it is not consistent with truth, 
 nor experience. The cells, in which the honey of 
 the Humble Bee is deposited, are a species of wax, 
 and have all the properties of the wax of the com- 
 mon Bee. The Humble Bee is observed to collect 
 the farina on its legs, and to convey it to its nest for 
 the nourishment of its young, and the formation of 
 its cells. It is, besides, an assumed conclusion, 
 that because no other fly nor bee makes wax with 
 the pollen, therefore the common Bee cannot effect 
 it. Nature may, and has endowed the Bee with 
 those distinct and peculiar properties, by which the 
 substance called pollen, is converted into wax, as 
 being necessary for its support, and propagation. No 
 analogy can, however, be traced, say the opponents to 
 this system, between the pollen and the wax, — but 
 in answer, I ask, what analogy can be found between 
 the thread of a spider's web, which is evidently pro- 
 duced by an elaboration of its aliment, and the fly, 
 which it entraps for that aliment ? What analogy is 
 there between the thread of the silk-worm, and the 
 mulberry-leaf on which it has fed? These things 
 may appear impossible, or improbable to the limited 
 capacity of man, but these phenomena are daily pre- 
 sented to his eyes, and if he cannot immediately dis- 
 cover a clue to their elucidation, he should bow with 
 humility to that Power, who by concealing some of 
 the operations of nature from us, teaches us to ad- 
 mire his omnipotence, power, and wisdom. 
 
160 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 ON WAX. 
 
 In the description of this substance, it is scarcely 
 possible to avoid a repetition of what has been already 
 said in the preceding chapters on propolis and pollen. 
 There exists so strong an analogy between the former 
 and wax, that some authors consider them as one 
 and the same substance : they possess the same 
 unctuosity and inflammability; and when melted 
 together, no visible difference takes place in the 
 nature of the wax. 
 
 Previously to entering into an analysis of its natu- 
 ral constitution, it may not be irrelevant to take a 
 cursory glance of its importance, as an article of 
 commerce, and to suggest some means, by which the 
 production of it may be increased in this country. 
 
 If it be true, that a country is impoverished in 
 proportion as it pays for the commodities of another, 
 (which commodities could be produced on its own 
 territory) this country is annually impoverished in 
 the sum of nearly 80,0001. by the mere purchase of 
 the article of wax. The chief market for this article 
 is in the north of Germany : at the ports of which, 
 and particularly at Danfzic, is concentrated the 
 whole annual collection of the interior of Germany, 
 and those countries immediately bordering upon it. 
 A considerable quantity of it is thence shipped to 
 
on wax. 161 
 
 Efigtand, and the question here arises, how far it is 
 prudent or politic in England, to pay annually an 
 immense sum for a commodity, which could be ob- 
 tained in superfluity from her own domain, and 
 which is suffered to perish for want of encourage- 
 ment and attention. 
 
 In our fields, our plains, our heaths and woods, 
 We everywhere see a number of those flowers from 
 which an abundance of wax and honey might be 
 extracted, far exceeding the wants of the kingdom ; 
 but this advantage appears to be most lamentably 
 neglected, because the culture of the Bee, which is 
 a species Of rural economy the most interesting and 
 profitable, is discarded, and we disdain to pay atten- 
 tion to the cultivation of that industrious insect, 
 which proves a source of affluence and prosperity to 
 neighbouring nations. The remedy is in our own 
 hands ; but until the system of the management o 
 the Bee is entirely changed, no rational hope of ulti- 
 mate success can be entertained. 
 
 The barbarous custom of suffocating the Bees to 
 obtain possession of their treasures, impedes their 
 multiplication. How is it possible that Bees should 
 not be scarce, when, on the one hand, very few are 
 reared, and on the other, the whole produce of the 
 year is generally destroyed ? The true cause of the 
 scarcity Of wax in the kingdom is thus not difficult 
 to be accounted for. 
 
 In regard to the various qualities of wax, there is 
 sometimes a great distinction between the wax made 
 by different Bees in different countries and cli- 
 mates. This difference consists principally in one 
 being more difficult to bleach, than the other. A 
 dear white can be given to the wax of one country, 
 and in the same country, the wax, which is obtained 
 
 M 
 
162 MANAGEMENT OP BEES. 
 
 from some hives cannot possibly be made to assume 
 that whiteness, which is obtained from the wax of 
 tohcr hives. 
 
 The circumstance, which is the most detrimental to 
 the wax, is the moisture incidental to old hives, 
 because, when the rain beats violently against the 
 hive, it penetrates with facility, and the humidity, 
 which is imbibed by the straw, pierces in a short 
 time to the interior of the hive. It spoils and cor- 
 rupts all the labour of the Bees, inspires them with 
 disgust for their habitation, and obliges them at last 
 to abandon it.* This accident is very common in old 
 hives, and, whatever precautions may be taken, it is 
 almost impossible to prevent it. Its remedy is still 
 more difficult : — Sometimes the entire combs of the 
 hives must be cut away, within four inches of the 
 top, aud this operation is attended with peculiar diffi- 
 culty ; it also disconcerts and afflicts the Bees so 
 much, that if they do not forsake their domicile, it 
 takes them at least a whole season to repair the loss. 
 
 It is rather a singular circumstance in the history 
 of the Bee, that in all its operations there are few 
 persons who are of one accord. If we consult Aris- 
 totle, and, from him, all authors in gradual succession, 
 who have written on the Bee, we shall find the most 
 contradictory sentiments prevailing, respecting the 
 origin and formation of those substances, which com- 
 
 * The cottagers of this country appear to be wholly blind to the 
 dangerous effects of extreme moisture on their hives, for in some 
 places, they literally place them on the ground. Some hives, which 
 were shewn to me by Sir Thomas Clarges, in the vicinity of Brighton, 
 were in this state ; and on inspecting some hives, which Sir Thomas 
 had purchased, I found some of the combs, from the above cause, in 
 a complete state of mouldiness. I attempted to cut these combs out, 
 but they were so saturated with moisture, that the knife crushed, but 
 yould not rut them. Hives in this state cannot possibly prosper. 
 
 9 
 
ON WAX. 163 
 
 pose the interior of a hive. The origin of wax has 
 been the shuttlecock of contention, and has been 
 bandied about from the earliest period to the present 
 time, and is still kept up; for although experiment 
 has been heaped upon experiment, and each indivi- 
 dual pronounces the infallibility of his own theory, 
 yet another theorist immediately starts up, and pre- 
 tends to demonstrate its fallibility. 
 
 The experiments of M. Huber on the origin of 
 wax, might be considered by some persons to be con- 
 clusive, and the plausibility of them has no doubt 
 gained many adherents to his system. I will examine 
 these experiments, and, I trust I shall be able to 
 prove that pollen contains in itself the principle of 
 wax, which is produced by an elaboration in the 
 second stomach of the Bee. 
 
 The first experiment which M. Huber performed, 
 consisted in lodging a swarm in a hive, to which he 
 gave honey and water for its consumption. The 
 Bees were confined, giving them a sufficiency of air. 
 After five days of captivity, they were permitted to 
 take their flight in a close chamber ; and on inspect- 
 ing the hive, it was found to contain five combs of a 
 perfectly white wax suspended from the top. This 
 experiment was repeated five times, with the same 
 Bees, and the same precautions ; the honey was 
 each time devoured, and new combs const— eted. 
 
 In answer to this experiment. I consider it by no 
 means decisive of the question ; ^nd *br the following 
 reasons: — It is well known to those persons, who 
 have paid due attention to a swarm on its being hived, 
 that many Bees are to be perceived amongst them, 
 who have the pellets of farina on their legs ; and 
 there is no doubt, from an experiment I have myself 
 m 2 
 
1)64) MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 tried, that a considerable number has the undigested 
 pollen in the stomach. M. Huber had furnished 
 them with every requisite necessary for the construc- 
 tion of combs, and one , which was indispensable, viz. 
 water. There is no doubt, that when a swarm leaves 
 its parent hive, the Bees are fully provided with the 
 requisites for the construction of combs, and the only 
 extraneous aid, which is required, is that of water : 
 until that be obtained, not a single cell will, nor can 
 be made. I once hived a swarm, and in half an hour 
 afterwards the sky became overcast, and a rain set in, 
 which continued two days ; at the end of that time, 
 not a single cell was constructed in the hive ; on the 
 third day, the weather being clear, the Bees were 
 observed to take their flight to their favourite rivulet, 
 and the construction of the combs immediately com- 
 menced. They possessed within them that substance, 
 which was necessary for the construction of the 
 combs, and they required only a certain degree of 
 moisture, to render it malleable and ductile. 
 
 The second experiment of M. Huber was : — 'He 
 confined the Bees in the same manner, and gave them 
 only pollen and fruits for their food during their cap- 
 tivity. This lasted eight days, and not a single cell 
 was formed during that time. This experiment was 
 tried upon sixty-five hives, and the result was always 
 the same. The conclusion is therefore drawn that 
 pollen does not contain the principles of wax. Had 
 this experiment been tried upon one hundred and 
 sixty-five instead of sixty-five hives, I do not doubt 
 that the result would have been always the same ; 
 and my surprise would have been great, had a single 
 cell been constructed. It must be particularly ob- 
 served, that to these Bees, M. Huber gave no water. 
 
ON WAX. 165 
 
 and therefore, he deprived them of the very means, 
 with which he had supplied the others, of forming 
 their combs. 
 
 The third experiment of M. Huber is as follows ; 
 and it is on this particular one, that he founds his 
 demonstration, that wax results from honey, and not 
 from pollen. M. Huber was desirous to know, if it 
 was the saccharine part of honey, which enabled the 
 Bees to produce wax; and, for this purpose he con- 
 fined two swarms in glass-hives, one with a pound of 
 lump sugar reduced to a syrup, and another, with a 
 pound of very coarse moist sugar reduced also to a 
 syrup. The Bees of both these hives produced 
 wax, but it was not in that quantity, which was 
 produced from the honey and water, as in the first 
 experiment. The production of wax, however, 
 from mere saccharine matter convinced M. Huber 
 that wax was indebted to its origin to honey, and 
 not to pollen. This experiment was repeated seven 
 times successively, and always employing the same 
 Bees as prisoners. 
 
 I do not think that the result of this experiment 
 tends by any means to establish the position, that 
 wax is formed from honey. The former objection 
 which I stated, rested upon this ground, that water 
 was necessary to the Bee to enable it to construct its 
 cells. Now M. Huber does not inform us with what 
 liquid he reduced his sugar to a syrup, whether with 
 water, or ale, the two most common solvents in this 
 case ; but take whichever he pleases, M. Huber will 
 gain nothing by the bargain : the mere addition of a 
 saccharine matter, which at a certain temperature 
 becomes itself a liquid, and, although glutinous, is 
 modified by the incorporation of common water or 
 <tle, does not, by any means, deprive those two liquids. 
 
166 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 of any virtues which they may possess individually, 
 and unincorporated with any extraneous matter. We 
 will state the case : supposing a Bee leaves the hive 
 in search of water for any particular purpose con- 
 nected with the welfare of its society, and, by way of 
 experiment, two vessels are placed, one filled with 
 water, and the other with water sweetened with sugar; 
 it is a liquid ojily, which is required for the purpose^ 
 and it will then certainly choose that, which is most 
 gratifying to its taste. The syrup, which M. Huber 
 gave his Bees was literally nothing more nor less than 
 sweet water ; and it was therefore most probable, that 
 the Bee preferred the sweetened water to that which 
 was unadulterated : but it does not follow that the 
 sweetened water would not answer all the purposes of 
 the genuine water, and therefore, it is as proper to 
 be employed by the Bees in rendering their pollen 
 malleable, as the pure water of the rivulet. I am even 
 inclined to believe, that honey itself may be used by 
 the Bees in rendering the pollen malleable for the 
 purpose of constructing their combs ; but I do not 
 mean thereby to infer, that wax can be produced 
 from honey without any other concomitant, but that 
 in the absence of water, or other liquid, the Bees 
 may have recourse to honey as a substitute, and this 
 may have led M. Huber into the error of supposing 
 that wax is produced by honey, and honey only. 
 
 M. Huber's experiments appeared conclusive to 
 the majority of foreign apiarians ; and some even, 
 wishing to carry their researches to a still greater 
 extent, pretend to have analyzed wax, and to have 
 found its affinities perfectly analogous to honey. 
 These discoveries can, however, only excite a smile 
 on the countenance of the chemist and the naturalist ; 
 but the adherents of M. Huber were still more rivet- 
 
ON WAX. 1(57 
 
 ted to their opinion by a Memoir on Bees, which was 
 addressed in May, IS 15, to the Society of Agricul- 
 ture of Paris, by M. Blondelu, an apiarian at 
 Noyou, from which I translate the following extract. 
 
 " About two years ago, in the course of the month 
 of October, when the flowers had died away in the 
 meadows and the woods, and the hives were on the 
 eve of being securely protected for the winter, the 
 Bees having finished their harvest of honey, I emp- 
 tied the Bees of a common hive into one of my boxes, 
 which was quite empty. I placed under it a sort of 
 trough filled with honey ; the Bees immediately de- 
 scended, and never desisted until they had imbibed 
 the whole. This honey was of the common sort of 
 Brittany, thick, and of a brown colour ; but my sur- 
 prise was great, that, with this material alone, they 
 constructed combs as ichitc as snow, which they 
 filled with honey of a brownish colour, but much 
 more clear and pure, and of a more saccharine nature, 
 than that which 1 had given them. I repeated this 
 experiment during the last summer with several of 
 my boxes, and always with the same result, and the 
 same success. Many persons were witness of the 
 fact. According to this experiment, it appears to me 
 that the Bees constructed their combs only with the 
 honey which I had given them, as the box was quite 
 empty, and as they never left the hive, owing to the 
 season not yielding to them any resources : the con- 
 clusion may be drawn, that wax is the produce 
 of honey elaborated in the stomach of the Bees, and 
 not that of the farina of flowers, which they carry 
 on their legs, and which is known by the name of 
 pollen." 
 
 This memoir was no sooner published, than it was 
 bruited abroad as a triumphal confirmation of the 
 discovery of M. Huber ; but I do not see that M. 
 
l6S MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 Blondelu has, by any means, confirmed the theory of 
 honey being the origin of wax. He places a hive of 
 Bees in an empty box, with some honey, as their food, 
 not examining, nor informing us, whether the Bees 
 had in their stomach, at the time of their removal, 
 the necessary ingredient for the formation of wax. 
 The substances contained in the two stomachs of the 
 Bees are so very different, that no person can mistake 
 them : the one is a transparent fluid, the other a 
 muddy yellowish substance, which is the pollen in 
 a state of elaboration, and from which the Bee can 
 form its wax as occasion requires. We are not in- 
 formed in this experiment whether the Bees were 
 totally deficient of the substance in their second sto- 
 mach ; and if they were not, (and I will venture to 
 affirm that they were well provided with it) they 
 possessed in themselves the full capability of making 
 wax without the aid of any exterior substance. M. 
 Blondelu further declares, that he found the honey 
 which he gave his Bees deposited in the cells, of the 
 same brown colour, though much clearer. The test 
 of this experiment would have been, to have weighed 
 the honey given, with that deposited in the combs, 
 and I am convinced, even after making due allow- 
 ance for the quantity, which the Bees may have 
 appropriated to themselves as food, that the weight 
 of the combs would have been greater than that of the 
 whole of the honey. The inference therefore must 
 be drawn, that if honey be one of the constituent 
 parts of wax, it must be considered only as an. auxi- 
 liary, and not as the principal. 
 
 There is one particular circumstance, which, in the 
 report of these experiments, appears to have escaped 
 the observation of these naturalists. It cannot be 
 questioned that every liquid will deposit a sediment 
 if suf-ered t - fa at rei t, or which can be effected by 
 
ON WAX. 169 
 
 the incorporation of a denser body, which weighs 
 down the floating particles to the bottom. But, 
 wonderful as are the operations of Nature, and indis- 
 dinctly as we may be acquainted with them, we 
 have yet no positive experience of a solid body being 
 obtained from a liquid only, whose constituent parts 
 bear no homogeneousness. The elements of the 
 thread of the silk-worm, the web of the spider, 
 and the film of the caterpillar, are vegetable sub- 
 stances. The pollen, which serves for the aliment 
 of the young Bee, and which enables it in the state 
 of larva to spin its silken web, is as much a vegetable 
 substance as the mulberry r leaf on which the larvae 
 of the silkworm feed, or the cabbage-leaf which is 
 devoured by the caterpillar. 
 
 In the Memoirs of Mi Bonnet on Bees, another 
 opinion on the origin of wax is hazarded, and which 
 has been adopted by Mr. Duchet. It is there as- 
 serted, that wax is nothing more than the honey 
 congealed in the stomach of the Bees, which, be- 
 coming wax, exudes through the scales of their body. 
 The origin of this singular opinion is to be found in 
 the circumstance of particles of wax being sometimes 
 discovered between the scales of their body. 
 
 Swammerdam says, " that the Bees are sometimes 
 seen carrying real wax into the hive. They pillage 
 it from other hives, cut it into little pieces with their 
 teeth, and attach it to the cavities which they have 
 on their hinder legs." 
 
 This case is possible, but it has never fallen under 
 my observation. * 
 
 * M. Chambon, in his scientific notes at tlie close of the manual of 
 Madame A. Chambon, positively denies this circumstance, and Reau- 
 mur himself acknowledges that he never observed it. Speaking of this 
 observation of Swammerdam, M> Ducouedic says, " I never saw the 
 Sees pillage the wax from another hive; the following, however, may 
 
170 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 In the Encyclopedic Methodique, under the word 
 " Bee'' are found the following observations on the 
 origin of wax. 
 
 " If reliance can be placed on the most exact ob- 
 servations, the wax is contained in the stamina of the 
 flowers. M. Bernard de Jussieu, a man of science, 
 and who would not suffer himself to be easily im- 
 posed upon, asserts this fact after the most particular 
 experiments. The grains of the farina of the stamina, 
 which he put into water, swelled until they burst. 
 At the time, when one of these grains burst, there re- 
 suited from it a little globule of an oily and unctuous 
 liquor, which floated on the water, without ever in- 
 corporating itself with it. I have repeated this expe- 
 riment several times, and with the same success, but 
 I do not believe that it is sufficient to prove that the 
 matter, which is destined by nature for the produc- 
 tion of the species, is that, which serves for the for- 
 mation of wax, although it contains the principles. 
 I procured Mr. Fourcroy, a great quantity of the 
 farina from the stamina of hemp, but he was never 
 able to extract any wax from it." 
 
 Now, according to the experiments of M. de Jus- 
 sieu, it may be said that this oily matter, which is 
 found in some grains of certain farina, when it is ripe, 
 and has acquired its full perfection, exudes by the 
 
 be considered as a fact in regard to a broken piece of comb, which 
 took place in my apiary during the winter of 1S06; a piece of comb 
 without honey, detached itself from the remainder, and it was mincci 
 by the Bees, and reduced to pieces as little, and as fine as the smallest 
 sand. This minced wax disappeared insensibly from the stool, without 
 it being perceived that it was taken up into the hive, and I remained 
 convinced that the Bees had made a fresh use of all those little pieces 
 of broken wax, and had employed it for the continuation of their cells, 
 which they constructed during the whole winter from the top to the 
 bottom of Ihcir hive. These events are not rare, but proper attention 
 i» ndt paid to them, because among the amateurs of Bees, there are 
 few possessed of discrimination, or observation." 
 
ON WAX. 171 
 
 pores of those grains, and that the Bees collect and 
 load themselves with it to convey it to the hive. It 
 may also be believed, that several species of plants, 
 especially the aromatic, are gifted with this unctuous 
 matter, which exudes equally by the pores of their 
 bark, the stamina of their flowers, and even by the 
 pores of their leaves, and that this matter is the ge- 
 nuine wax which the Bees collect.* 
 
 The question has been long agitated among natu- 
 ralists in regard to other animals, and plants which 
 produce wax. By some, it has been totally denied, 
 that there is any other insect than the Bee, to whom 
 the formation of wax is natural ; although I cannot 
 coincide in this opinion, as it is flatly contradicted 
 by experience, yet, it is equally certain, that it is not 
 formed by any other insect in so large a quantity as 
 to make it worthy of being collected. In regard to 
 the plants, there is a species known in America, 
 under the name of Myrica, but which is not the 
 species, called royal pimento. It is an aquatic 
 shrub, some branches of which bear the fruit, and 
 others,, the fecundating flowers. There are two 
 very curious species of them ; one grows in Louis- 
 
 * I am convinced, says the Abbe della Rocca, ' ; that the Bees which 
 ■we see on the branches and the leaves of the fig tree, are employed 
 only in amassing the exudations of wax, which are visibly perceived 
 flowing on these trees, and even on the figs, round the openings of 
 which are seen small globules of an unctuous matter, from which 
 even the honey is seen to flow.* 
 
 * The father Hardouin relates a circumstance in his notes on Tliny, 
 which tends in some degree- to confirm this observation of the Abbe, 
 Ex oleaccramapescarpere Varrodocet, Lib. 3, de re mstica, Cap. XVI. 
 page 114. Non ex floro quidem, ut Plinius recte observat Lib. 21, 
 sect. 41, sed ex frondium partibus, quae cum crasssiores sint quam 
 florium, cerae fingends videntur esse accommodatiores. Id a se visum 
 observatumque seepius scribit Aibertus, Lib. S, de animal, tract. IV, 
 Cap. III. p. 268. 
 
172 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 iana, where it is called the wax-tree; and the other, 
 rather smaller, grows in Carolina, and is known by 
 the same name. 
 
 The wax-tree grows to the height of a small cherry 
 tree; it has the appearance of the myrtle, and its 
 leaves are almost of the same odour. 
 
 These trees have been thus called, because their 
 berries, which are of the size of a coriander-seed, and 
 of an ashen colour, contain kernels which are covered 
 with a species of wax or rather of rosin, which has 
 some affinity to wax. 
 
 The natives extract from these berries, on boiling 
 them in water, a species of green wax, which floats, 
 and of which tapers are made. One pound of seeds 
 produces two ounces of wax ; a man can collect 
 easily fifteen pounds in a day. They have succeeded 
 for some time past in obtaining this wax sufficiently 
 white, or at least of a yellowish hue. For this pur- 
 pose, they put the berries in a caldron, and pour 
 boiling water upon them, which is received in troughs 
 or buckets, after letting the wax melt for a few mi- 
 nutes. When the water is cold, a resinous wax ap- 
 pears at the top, of a yellowish hue, but the rosin 
 which floats afterwards in repeating the operation, is 
 of a greener colour. This resinous wax is dry, and 
 has a sweet, aromatic, and agreeable smell. Mixed, 
 with a little wax, or soap, it assumes a more solid 
 body, and a greater whiteness on the field, but always 
 less than the genuine wax. 
 
 The water, which has heeu used in the melting of 
 this wax, is astringent. It is said; that in melting 
 soap in this water, it takes as great a consistency as 
 Wax. Many persons of Louisiana have been informed. 
 by the slaves of Carolina, that no other taper is burnt 
 there, than that, which is made of the wax, of which I 
 
ox wax. 17I 
 
 have just now treated. A tree well loaded with fruit 
 can produce four ounces of wax, from six pounds of 
 berries, and one of fruit. 
 
 When the wax is extracted from under the fruits, 
 a layer of matter is perceptible on their surface, which 
 is of the colour of lake ; hot water does not dissolve 
 it, but spirits of wine extracts a tincture. 
 
 There is also a species of wax-tree in China, which 
 is very scarce: it is called pe-la-chu. Some small 
 caterpillars attach themselves to the leaves of this 
 tree and form on them some combs of wax, but much 
 smaller than those of the Bees. This wax is hard, 
 of a great polish, and scaly, and costs much more than 
 the common wax.* 
 
 In regard to the bleaching of wax in this country, 
 it is a process too well known to require in this place 
 any comment. The plan recommended by Butler, 
 in his Feminine Monarchy, is considered the best, 
 and it is the same which is mentioned by Dioscorides, 
 in his second book, chap. 105. 
 
 The Venetians may be said to have invented the 
 art of colouring wax, and they were for a long time 
 in the habit of sending fruits made of wax, to orna- 
 ment the seraglioes of the Turks. 
 
 * According to a letter from P. Yncarville, written from China, to 
 M. GeofFroy, white wax is obtained even from the caterpillars them- 
 selves. In a province of this Empire, he says, "some little caterpil- 
 lars are found which feed on a tree ; they are collected, boiled in water, 
 and yield a species of wax which, being congealed, is the white wax 
 *>f China. 
 
17* MANAGEMENT OF BEES, 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 ON HONEY 
 
 JtiONEY is a gummy, saccharine, fermentative 
 substance, and the immediate principle of all vegeta- 
 bles without exception * This elementary substance 
 appears destined to the nourishment of all plants, 
 and particularly in their infancy, in the same manner 
 as milk is destined to nourish the young viviparous 
 animals. It is found in all flowers, but principally 
 in the single ones : its presence is afterwards perceiv- 
 ed in all fruits ; it shews itself in the humblest flower 
 of our meadows, in the ears of corn of our fields, and 
 in the leaves of the trees. It exists in the roots, as 
 well as in the body, and even in the bark of all vege- 
 tables ; it exudes from the trunks of trees ; finally, it 
 appears to be the soul and vital principle ofall plants. 
 On losing this substance, the plants in general decay, 
 and it is the period of their existence. The aliments 
 
 * In the kingdom of Imerethi, which constitutes a part of Georgia, 
 and lies at the east end of the Black Sea, at present subject to Russia, 
 there is found a kind of wild honey, which is called by the inhabitants 
 stone honey, because it is quite solid, brittle, and not viscous. It has a 
 pleasant and aromatic 8avour, and is found in the clefts of the rocks. 
 Honey and wax form one mass, and are as hard as sugar-candy. The 
 cakes are commonly white, but turn yellow with age, and will keep 
 for a long time. The lmerethians carry it with them in their pocket. 
 
ON HONEY. 175 
 
 of the human body are impregnated with this fluid, 
 and the Bees know how to obtain it from almost 
 every substance. It is still, however, but a gummy 
 saccharine substance, which must pass into the sto- 
 mach of the Bee before it is converted into honey. 
 As the productions of nature are infinitely varied, 
 the honey, its consistency, its taste and colour, vary 
 according to the productions of each country ; the 
 same species of flowers yields a different kind of 
 honey, according to the districts, and the greater or 
 less humidity of the season. Even honey of a diffe- 
 rent quality is extracted from the same hive ; that in 
 the cells, in which there has been no brood, is less 
 acrid; the honey of the swarm is superior to that 
 which has been exposed for one year to the vapours 
 of the hive, and the honey of the spring is better 
 than that of the autumn. 
 
 The honey extracted from the flowers is the nectar 
 which they enclose, and which was so much boasted 
 of by the ancients, who formed from it the celestial 
 beverage of their gods, to which they gave the name 
 of ambrosia. Honey is particularly to be ascribed 
 to the motion and circulation of the sap at the return 
 of spring. 
 
 In order, to become acquainted with the origin of 
 honey, it is sufficient to develop that of a sweet, or 
 saccharine vegetable salt, which is the element of it, 
 and which appears under a fluid or viscous form, or 
 in little globules. It is the object of the research of 
 the Bees, and it is the substance, with which they 
 nourish themselves and their families, or which they 
 place in their reservoirs or cells, where time and heat 
 preserve it in its proper consistence. 
 
 Like the other productions of the Bee, naturalists 
 have differed as to the origin of honey. Some modern 
 
£?G MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 authors, led away by a vulgar opinion, have though* 
 that honey is a moisture in the air, or a dew which 
 falls upon the flowers and leaves of trees, and on no 
 other objects. It is not a difficult matter to convince 
 these persons of their error, who ought in the first 
 place to consider, that the dew and rain are very inju- 
 rious to honey, as they dilute it, and prevent the 
 Bees from finding it. It must be open to the most 
 limited observation, that the Bees, so far from fixing 
 themselves on the flowers during the heavy dews, are 
 obliged to wait until the sun has imbibed them, and 
 if some Bees be observed during that time to visit the 
 flowers, it is merely for the purpose of adapting the 
 dew to the same use, as water. It is on a close and 
 sultry day, without dew, that our valuable insects 
 find their richest harvest of this valuable nectar. If 
 dew were the principle of it, the Bees would find 
 it indiscriminately on all the leaves of vegetables, 
 and on all flowers : this however is not confirmed by 
 experience ; and besides, how many flowers are there 
 which being in themselves fertile in honey, and hav- 
 ing an horizontal or perpendicular inclination to the 
 earth, consequently, do not allow the dew to be re- 
 ceived into their orifices ! 
 
 It is, therefore, most consistent with reason and ex- 
 perience to suppose, that the honey-dew is an exuda- 
 tion of the vegetables themselves, or a sensible trans- 
 piration of that sweet and mellifluous juice, which, 
 after having circulated with the sap in different parts 
 of certain vegetables, separates itself, and bursts quite 
 prepared, either at the bottom of the flowers, or at the 
 upper part of the leaves, and in some plants displays 
 itself in great abundance.* 
 
 * According to the principle of Linnaeus, that generation is only 
 carried on by humidity, the difficulty, -which here presents itself has 
 
ON HONEY. 177 
 
 The primary destination of this mellifluous liquid, 
 or honey dew, appears to be the nourishment of the 
 fruit in its infancy, but an objection here presents 
 itself, why are the male flowers, which never produce 
 fruit, also provided with honey ? Linnaeus himself 
 was aware of this objection, and could not solve it to 
 his satisfaction. The utility, which the honey is of 
 to the flowers, and the reason of its having been ac- 
 corded to them by the Supreme Being, are but very 
 imperfectly known to us. No botanist has as yet 
 given a direct and convincing elucidation of it, nor 
 has demonstrated either its destination or utility in the 
 vegetable economy of flowers. On this account, the 
 solution of this question appears to be wholly aban- 
 doned to the researches of our successors. With 
 some degree of truth, however, it may be advanced, 
 that this viscous liquid is necessary for the continual 
 moisture of thegerme during the time of fecundation. 
 It is well known that the process of fecundation is 
 carried on only by humidity. I do not, however, 
 therefore suppose, that in advancing that reason, all 
 the motives of the Creator for forming this mellifluous 
 liquid have been exhausted, as it is evident that this 
 liquor exists in the male flowers, which never pro- 
 duce any fruit, but if a secondary reason be requir- 
 ed, it is very palpable. This is effected by the mo- 
 tion of the wings of the Bees and the smaller birds, 
 who, in passing over the flowers, detach and disperse 
 
 no force against the destination of honey, in regard to flowers ; for 
 although the male flowers never produce any fruit, they however pro- 
 duce the farina of the stamina, which are the germes that fecundate 
 the female flowers. The honey is therefore necessary to the male 
 flowers for the constant moistening of the farina, and, inr fact, on 
 tasting this farina collected by the Bees in their cells, a sort of sweet- 
 ness is perceptible 
 
 N 
 
178 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 the farina of the stamina, by which it can penetrate 
 easily into the stygmates. 
 
 From the supposition, that the honey transpires 
 from the plants and trees by the action and admixture 
 of heat and humidity, our surprise need not be great 
 to find it at the bottom of the nectarium of the 
 flower, which is the proximate part to the bark or 
 peel, and it may therefore be easily conceived, why 
 in certain days it is very abundant, in others very 
 scarce, — because it follows the motion, more or less 
 strong, of the sap. Also, why certain vegetables sup- 
 ply a greater quantity than others, — because they are 
 more favoured with a soft humidity, and more abun- 
 dant in sap. Why the honey possesses qualities so 
 various in different climates, — from the diversity of 
 the vegetables. Why the cold rains, the north wind, 
 frost and snow, are unfavourable to honey, — because 
 they impede the circulation of the sap. Why this 
 mellifluous liquid can abound without dew, — provid- 
 ed the sap circulates freely. Why, with an ardent 
 sun, the harvest of it can be great, — when the vegeta- 
 bles are full of humid juices. And why, finally, dur- 
 ing excessive heat, honey is scarce, — because from the 
 aridity of the soil, the trees and plants cannot extract 
 the proper juices. 
 
 It is evident, that there are two species of honey, 
 one, which is contained in the nectarium of the 
 flower, and the other, which is an exudation on the 
 leaves of trees. The oak and the laurel are particu- 
 larly abundant in the latter, and on the first view, it 
 appears paradoxical, that the juice of a plant, which 
 is of a very deleterious kind, should produce an exu- 
 dation of a saccharine and wholesome nature. This 
 circumstance has been one great ground, on which 
 certain persons found their argument, that the sac- 
 
ON HONEY. 179 
 
 charine matter observed on the laurel cannot possibly 
 be an exudation from the plant, but must have fallen 
 upon it in the shape of dew. The homogeneousness 
 of this liquid is another argument against its being an 
 exudation, unless it can be proved that the sap of all 
 plants is homogeneous, and this, I believe, the most 
 hardy disputant will not maintain. It is also certain, 
 that the most credible writers on this subject,* men 
 of science and knowledge, have maintained that they 
 have actually witnessed the fall of this honey-dew ; 
 and M. Ducarne, one of the most intelligent of those 
 writers, thus expresses himself on the subject : " You 
 know," he says, in one of his letters, " what that 
 honey is, which the Bees collect with so much ardour 
 in the flowers, but you do not perhaps know that 
 there are two kinds, — one, which is the real honey, 
 is a juice of the earth, which, proceeding from the 
 plants by transpiration, is collected at the bottom of 
 thenectariumof the flowers, and thickens afterwards ; 
 it is, in other words, a digested and refined sap in the 
 tubes of the plants ; the other, which is called the 
 honey-dew, is an effect of the air, or a species of 
 gluey dew, which falls earlier or later, but in general 
 a little before, and during, the dogdays. This dew 
 alights on the flowers and the leaves of the plants 
 and trees, but the heat, operating on it, coagulates 
 and thickens it, whilst on the other hand the honey, 
 which falls on the flowers, is preserved a much longer 
 time. 
 
 " It is said that an abundance of this honey-dew 
 renders the Bees idle, and makes them careless of 
 collecting the common honey from the nectarium of 
 the flowers. I however never saw them collect it but 
 upon the flowers ; one great disadvantage therefore 
 of this honey -dew is, that if the season be foggy and 
 n2 
 
180 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 moist, and especially if attended with small rain, this 
 rain, or the too great humidity of the air, mixing with 
 this honey-dew, corrupts it, and forms a composition 
 very inferior to the honey of the first species, or to 
 that which has not undergone this adulteration. 
 
 " Those persons, who have not viewed the honey- 
 dew fall, as I have done, assert that it is nothing 
 more than the juice or sap of the plants, which, in 
 hot weather, experiences perhaps a greater fermen- 
 tation, by which it is forced through the leaves. 
 In contradiction to this I assert, that it is perceived 
 much better in the morning before the sun has been 
 able to dry and harden it. Those persons are however 
 deceived. I have not only seen this honey-dew fall a 
 hundred times in the form of a fine rain on the leaves 
 of an ash, but I have also shewn it to others, and the 
 globules were most distinctly perceived." * 
 
 I have long adhered to the opinion, that the honey- 
 dew dispersed on the leaves of the trees was only an 
 exudation, although the globules scarcely bore any 
 resemblance in form to each other, but were rather 
 an imitation of a species of rain. On examining more 
 minutely different trees, on which the honey-dew was 
 apparent, chance led me to the discovery of a holm 
 oak, on which the honey-dew had recently appeared, 
 and in its primitive form, which is that of a transpired 
 humour. The leaves were covered with several 
 thousands of globules, or small round and compact 
 drops, without however either touching or intermix- 
 ing, similar to those which are seen on the plants after 
 a thick fog. The position of each globule appeared 
 
 * I cannot refrain here remarking, that the whole of the testimony 
 of M. Ducarne runs the risk of being invalidated by the circumstance 
 that the honey-dew never appears in moist weather : it is indeed pre* 
 *«ited by its being only produced by a sultry heat. 
 
ON HONEY. 181 
 
 to indicate, not only the point from which it exuded, 
 but also the number of the pores or the glands of the 
 leaf in which this mellifluous juice had been prepared. 
 I assured myself that the honey-dew possessed the 
 real colour of honey, which alone was sufficient to 
 decide on its origin, without at the same time remov- 
 ing the doubts, which a contrary prejudice establishes. 
 The honey-dew of a neighbouring bramble was not 
 constituted the same, the little globules had no doubt 
 commixed ; or being united to each other, either by 
 the humidity of the air, which had dilated them, or 
 by the heat, which had promoted their extension, 
 they formed large drops, or broad layers, the dried 
 matter of which had become more viscous. It is un- 
 der these latter forms that the honey-dew is commonly 
 perceived, and our surprise need not be great that 
 exudation is not suspected as the cause. 
 
 In the season when I remarked the honey-dew irr 
 globules on the evergreen-oak, this tree bore two sorts 
 of leaves ; the old ones of a close tissue, like those of 
 the holly, or of those trees which, on the approach 
 of winter, do not shed their leaves ; and the new ones, 
 which were yet tender, and which had shot forth 
 only a short time. The honey-dew appeared con- 
 stantly only on the leaves of a year old : the leaves 
 were however still covered with the tufts of the new 
 shoot, and consequently sheltered from all species of 
 rime, or drizzling rain, which might have fallen ; this 
 is in itself a convincing proof that the honey-dew is 
 not foreign to the leaves of the trees, which are mois- 
 tened with it, and that it never appears in any other 
 place, as it is commonly supposed, as the new shoot 
 of our evergreen-oaks, which ought to have been 
 touched the first, as being the most exposed, did not 
 exhibit the smallest drop. 
 
182 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 The same singularity struck me in regard to the 
 honey-dew of the bramble, although, by the confor- 
 mation of this shrub, all its leaves are exposed nearly 
 alike to the air, or to the fall of dew which would take 
 place in a vertical direction. The honey-dew only 
 appears on the old leaves, the new ones had not a 
 greater quantity than the new shoot of the oak, of 
 which mention has just been made : the mellifluous 
 juice not having had a sufficient time to be formed 
 in the tender part of these vegetables, or to be extract- 
 ed from the sap. It is probably only the long expo- 
 sure to the air, perhaps to its in temperature, and 
 especially to the sun, which ought to be regarded as 
 the true agent of this secretion. 
 
 To elucidate this subject further, the plants and 
 the shrubs of different species in the vicinity of the 
 trees, on which the honey-dew appears, and of a na- 
 ture less suitable to the formation of the juice of 
 which I am now speaking, do not carry the least ves- 
 tige of it. This honey never appears on the rocks 
 or stones under the trees, on which it is generally 
 . found, which is a fresh proof that this species of 
 liquid manna does not fall from the clouds like rain, 
 as it would diffuse itself indifferently on all kinds of 
 bodies, and would not appear solely on certain vege- 
 tables, and even on some of their parts, to the exclu- 
 sion of the remainder. 
 
 The only objection, which presents itself to this 
 theory (and I must acknowledge that the experience 
 of the most able naturalists is against me) is, that the 
 dew is attracted by certain bodies, whilst it is not by 
 others. But it is known that this phenomenon, which 
 often rises from the earth, always floats in the air, 
 where it obeys the least breath and the weakest attrac- 
 tion, and often attaches itself to the upper as well as 
 
ON HOXEY. 183 
 
 the lower part of the leaves of the trees. If it fell 
 like rime, it would moisten indifferently every object. 
 The acceleration of its fall would enable it to sur- 
 mount the obstacle of the weak repulsions, which it 
 would find in its course. 
 
 The ancient naturalists, of whom the historians were 
 the mere echo, for a long time deceived their credu- 
 lous readers with a recital of deluges of blood, and other 
 more solid matters. It was the honey-dew, from its 
 partaking less of the marvellous, that the persuasion 
 of its existence became more easy, as it was scarcely 
 ever perceived on the trees, but at a time when heavy 
 clouds appeared in the air, during the sultry weather 
 of June or July. It is not however thence that the 
 honey-dew takes its origin, the clouds do not in this 
 case concur in its production, excepting that they 
 occasion an excess of heat by reflecting the rays of 
 4^je sun to the earth. The ordinary heat has no other 
 effect than to make the most volatile juices of the 
 plants transpire, whereas, that which is extended to 
 a higher degree expresses from them the fixed, or 
 more viscous juices, like that of the honey-dew. 
 
 The niters, through which the mellifluous juice 
 passes to the bottom of the flowers, are as large or 
 larger than those of the leaves, as there is always 
 some of this juice in the nectareum, in whatever time 
 the plant flourishes, ared in the season by no means 
 favourable to transpiration. It has been found in the 
 field-flower, the arbutus, during the cold of Novem- 
 ber, and the Bees, invited by a flattering ray of the 
 sun, hastened to collect it. 
 
 The circumstance, however, which favours in the 
 greatest degree the illusion of the pretended fall of 
 the honey-dew from the upper regions of the air, is, 
 that it is only the upper part of the leaves which is 
 
184 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 moistened with it. It has also been seen that the 
 moisture appears only on certain leaves, that is, on 
 the new ones, and those which are the least exposed, 
 and this attraction or attachment is not the effect of 
 chance. It is further known, that it is on the side 
 of the leaf, where the pores are most open and distin- 
 guishable, that the greatest exudation of the plants 
 takes place. It is there that the excretory vessels 
 unite, by which the humours of the plants escape in 
 the same manner as the absorbents, which serve for 
 their nutrition in attracting the water of the rain, and 
 the vapours which are diffused in the air. 
 
 If the different proofs be now collected which have 
 been advanced, it may be considered as undeniably 
 proved that this honey-dew exudes from the leaves 
 of certain trees, and does not fall from the atmo- 
 sphere. 
 
 Having now investigated the nature of that mel- 
 lifluous substance which is found on the leaves of 
 trees, it merely remains for me to notice the source 
 of another species of honey-dew, for which we are 
 indebted to the sagacity of M. Boissier de Sauvages, 
 of the Royal Society of Sciences at Montpellier. 
 
 " This second honey-dew," says M. Boissier de 
 Sauvages, " is far removed from heing celestial, being 
 produced immediately by a vile and hideous insect, 
 or which carries with it that appearance : it proceeds 
 from a mean grub, and it is nothing else than its ex- 
 crement; still it is the most delicate part of that 
 honey, with which we regale ourselves. It is cer- 
 tain that this excrement, which is fluid, and which 
 deserves rather the name of elixir, is not in any de- 
 gree inferior to the other honey-dew in sweetness and 
 flavour. 
 
 " These grubs imbibe this fluid through the bark 
 
ON HONEY. 185 
 
 of certain trees, without committing any other injury, 
 or causing any deformity, similar to that which is 
 produced by the species which shrivels up the leaves, 
 or that, whose stinging gives birth to a kind of gall- 
 nut on the buds of the elm and other trees. They 
 remain immovable during several months of the year 
 occupied with their labour, which is in extracting the 
 sap with which they nourish themselves. 
 
 " It is in their stomach, or in the posterior part, 
 that this juice, at first rough and harsh under the 
 bark, assumes a sweet savour, perfectly similar, 
 judging by the taste, to that of the vegetable honey, 
 but more analogous to that which exudes from the 
 leaves, than that which is extracted from the chalice 
 of the flower ; and if this latter possesses it in a greater 
 quantity, it arises from its mixture with the essential 
 oil of the flowers, which impart their different per- 
 fumes to the honey, 
 
 " These grubs are the only insects with which I am 
 acquainted that are the real fabricators of honey. 
 Their bowels are the true laboratories of it. This 
 mixture, or the greater part of it, is only the over- 
 plus or residue of their nourishment, which they 
 void by the ordinary channels. The Bees, to whom 
 the honour is given of fabricating the honey, are but 
 the collectors of it ; they discharge it into their cells, 
 or magazines, without having made any sensible 
 alteration in it.' ? 
 
 Having now spoken of the origin of honey, I shall 
 proceed to describe the manner in which the Bees 
 collect and deposit it in their cells. When a Bee 
 enters a flower, which has near to its bottom those 
 glands or reservoirs destine^ to contain a mellifluous 
 liquor, and with which they are well filled, it finds a 
 certain quantity of that liquor, which has exuded 
 
186 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 through the membranes of the cells, in which it was 
 enclosed. 
 
 The bottom of a flower may thus be said to be 
 covered with a species of honey, or saccharine juice, 
 like the leaves of the trees, of which I have already 
 spoken. 
 
 The proboscis, of which a description has been 
 already given, is the instrument with which the Bee 
 collects this liquor. It is very easy to perceive the 
 activity and address with which it makes use of it. 
 
 It is probable, that when the Bees do not find a 
 sufficient quantity of honey in a state of exudation, 
 they make use of their teeth, and exercise them in 
 opening the veins or glands which contain the melli- 
 fluous liquid. It is by means of their teeth that they 
 open the cells in the hive, in which the honey has 
 been stored ; and why may they not make use of 
 them in effecting a passage into the vessels which are 
 filled with honey ? 
 
 The Bees give no other preparation to the honey 
 than the purifying of it in their stomach. It is in this 
 laboratory, that it assumes that thickness and con- 
 sistency, which it did not naturally possess, and also 
 that constitution of fragrance and taste, which is 
 peculiar to it. When their stomach is properly filled, 
 they return with it immediately to the hive, and dis- 
 gorge the contents into the cells. 
 
 It is owing to the consistency which the honey 
 has obtained in the stomach of the Bee, that it is 
 prevented from running out of the cell ; and the 
 Bees, in constructing their cells, form a border round 
 them, which enables them to fill the cell to the brim, 
 and even to give the liquid a convex shape. From 
 what has been advanced in this chapter, it may be 
 confidently asserted, that there is no fact more firmly 
 4 
 
ON HONEY, 187 
 
 established in the natural history of the Bees, than 
 that they swallow the honey, which they collect from 
 the flowers, and afterwards deposit it in their cells. 
 The existence of a stomach, which has no commu- 
 nication with the orgapg of digestion, is a sufficient 
 demonstration. 
 
188 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 ON SWARMS IN GENERAL, 
 
 IN the spring, when a hive is well-peopled with 
 many thousands of young Bees, a particular period 
 arrives when they look out for another asylum than 
 that of their mother. A swarm is therefore nothing 
 more than a colony of Bees, which we see forsaking 
 their native home, to establish themselves in another 
 place. 
 
 It has been asked by many authors, why a swarm 
 forsakes a favourite habitation, which is provided 
 with every necessary for its support, to expose itself 
 to an uncertain situation, and one in which every 
 requisite is wanting. The emission of the swarms 
 is, however, nothing more than the execution of the 
 law of the Creator — increase and multiply. In fact, 
 if this emigration of the Bees did not take place, their 
 species could riot propagate, and the ra.ce would 
 have been long since extinct. There are, indepen- 
 dently of this general law, other particular, circum- 
 stances and foreign causes, which in certain years 
 render the Bees more or less prolific, and there are 
 some, in which they appear to be wholly struck with 
 sterility. Certain causes may combine to render one 
 hive more forward than another, and consequently 
 enable it to throw its swarm earlier than any other 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 189 
 
 hive in the apiary. In general, the small hives well 
 furnished with provisions and Bees, at the com- 
 mencement of spring, swarm two or three days be- 
 fore the larger ones, although both have the same 
 aspect, and feed upon the same pasture. 
 
 It appears, therefore, that a great number of Bees 
 in a small space, and their natural heat augmented 
 by that of the atmosphere, oblige the swarms to 
 abandon either sooner or later their mother hive. 
 
 In regard to the time when the Bees cast their 
 swarms, it differs in all countries. According to M. 
 Mentelle, the hives in the Isle of Cuba throw their 
 swarms during the whole of the year, and Don Ulloa 
 says, that one is cast every month, and sometimes 
 two. In Europe, however, the spring, or the begin- 
 ning of the summer, is the time when the swarms 
 appear, but this is regulated according to the forward- 
 ness or backwardness of the season. 
 
 In England, the swarms generally appear in the 
 months of May and June. I have however known 
 a swarm in the vicinity of Stirling, in Scotland, so 
 early as the 24th of April. In France, the time of 
 swarming is generally reckoned from the 15th May 
 to the 1.5th June, according to the forwardness of the 
 season. In Italy, the swarms take place about the 
 first week in May, and sometimes in the latter end of 
 April. In Sicily, the swarms appear in the latter end 
 of May. It is therefore evident that their emission 
 from the hive depends on the greater or less mild- 
 ness in the temperature of the climate, and on the 
 appearance of fine weather. These two events not 
 depending on human interference nor ability, we can- 
 not in this particular point, offer any assistance to our 
 swarms. 
 
 The emigration of this colony does not take place, 
 
190 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 if there be not a young queen to perpetuate the em- 
 pire, which is about to be established. When a 
 young queen has emerged from her nymphal state, 
 she is capable of laying eggs in the space of three or 
 four days, and she would lay them, if she had a par- 
 ticular establishment of her own, independently of 
 the mother hive, in which, the young queens never 
 possess the privilege of laying their eggs. She is, 
 however, in a state qualified to place herself at the 
 head of a colony disposed to share her fortunes. 
 Such is the attachment of the Bees for their queen. 
 
 The first swarm that appears in the spring is 
 always in part the produce of the eggs which were 
 laid in the preceding year. These eggs have subsist- 
 ed in the hive during the autumn and winter, in the 
 ^rate of eggs fecundated by the drones. These eggs 
 are not hatched until the return of the warm weather 
 in April or May, and the drones, which are the pro- 
 duce of these eggs, as soon as they have quitted their 
 nymphal state, fecundate the eggs which the queen 
 has already laid in the cells of the present year. 
 
 The most important points with which the young 
 apiarian should be made acquainted, are the signs 
 which generally present themselves for some days 
 previously to the actual appearance of the swarm 3 
 and they may be reckoned seven in number: — 1st. 
 An extraordinary number of Bees which hang in 
 clusters about the entrance of the hive; 2d. an appa- 
 rent idleness reigning amongst the Bees ; 3d. a par- 
 ticular noise made by the young queen, similar to 
 chip, chip, which is distinctly heard two or three 
 nights preceding the swarming;* 4th. an unusual 
 
 * The capability of the queen to utter any noise has been much 
 doubted : on this subject the Abbe della Rocca relates a curious anec- 
 dote. A person, not •very skilful in the management of Bees was ap- 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 191 
 
 bustle amongst the drones ; 5th. a suddeu silence 
 succeeding a violent uproar ; 6th. the continual 
 motion of the wings of the Bees, which stand at the 
 entrance; 7th. violent commotions at the entrance of 
 the hives, and the Bees crowding out in great num- 
 bers. 
 
 Implicit confidence must not however be placed on 
 any of these signs, for although they be certainly 
 indicative of an approaching swarm, yet they may, 
 and also do happen at other seasons, when there is 
 no prospect of a swarm. The clustering of the Bees 
 will, tor instance, take place when the heat of the 
 interior of the hive is too great, or when the Bees 
 have not sufficient room, in which to work. The 
 cause of the motion of their wings has long been an 
 object of investigation amongst naturalists, and, as 
 may be supposed, it has been attributed to various 
 causes. 1 think, however, the most rational one is, 
 that it is for the purpose of ventilation, although I am 
 convinced at the same time that it is a sign of joy. 
 I have experienced this so often in the recovery of 
 Bees chilled with snow, or suffocated in anvglutinous 
 substance, that no doubt can be admitted of it. On 
 a summer evening, ten or a dozen Bees will be often 
 
 pointed to deprive a hive of a part of its honey, and in the operation 
 he wounded the queen. She immediately issued a most plaintive cry, 
 and the Bees attacked instantaneously all the spectators and the ani- 
 mals in the vicinity. A horse of the archhishop's was by chance tied 
 to a tree contiguous to the apiary, and it was attacked with so much 
 fury, that it broke the reins, and took refuge in a country house ; but 
 the Bees pursued it with so much acrimony, that it mounted the stairs 
 of the first story, and burst into a room full of company, to whom it 
 was no doubt an unwelcome visitor. 
 
 The German apiarians give a singular reason for the tones, which 
 are supposed to be uttered by the queen. They assert that this noise 
 denotes the existence of some rival queens in the hive, who, at the 
 moment when the mother queen is in the act of coition with a drone s 
 make that chirping shrill noise, as a mark of jealousy and envy. 
 
192 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 seen in the attitude of moving their wings, and some 
 will be at such a distance from the entrance, that no 
 possible benefit could accrue from their motion. 
 
 To guard against the fallacy of these signs, the most 
 prudent method is to keep or appoint a regular watch, 
 from the hours of nine A. M. to three P.M. Many 
 persons select children for this purpose, who are often 
 led away by a trifle, and thus the swarm, the chief 
 profit of the proprietor, is lost to him. The follow- 
 ing anecdote will verify this fact : 
 
 A farmer, resident in the neighbourhood of my 
 house, was obliged to absent himself from home, and 
 he charged his son to watch one of his hives, which 
 was expected to swarm. The father, on his return, 
 inquired of his son if the hive had swarmed. O yes, 
 replied the son, and he pointed out the place where 
 the swarm had alighted, but it had disappeared. The 
 farmer reprimanded his son ; but the latter exculpated 
 himself by saying, " you only told me to watch if 
 the hive swarmed, and I did not know that I had 
 then any thing more to do.'* The swarm was conse- 
 quently lost from the ignorance of the person ap* 
 pointed to watch it. * 
 
 The departure of a swarm is one of the most gra- 
 tifying sights to an apiarian, and it well repays him 
 for many hours of anxious watching. The hive 
 seems in a state of the greatest commotion ; the 
 
 * I was once witness to a singular circumstance respecting a swarm, 
 which ought to be a warning to persons not to fasten any animals 
 in the vicinity of an apiary, during the swarming season. A man, 
 who did not perceive that he was in the vicinity of a hive ou the point 
 of swarming, tied his ass to a post : the hive swarmed, and fixed itself 
 on the muzzle of the ass; the patience of the animal could not brook 
 the strangers, and it began to rub its muzzle on the ground. The in- 
 dignation of the swarm was roused, and the animal was so stung that 
 t died in three days. The swarm was consequently lost to th« proprietor. 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 193 
 
 Bees appear as if some powerful enemy had taken 
 possession of their hive, and were expelling them 
 from it by force ; the whole community appears in a 
 state of emigration, and thousands are seen circling 
 the air in all directions. The first Bees, which leave 
 the hivej return, hover for an instant before the hive, 
 and rise into the air ; the whole swarm then leaves 
 the hive, attended by the queen, and repairs either to 
 some previously chosen spot, or fixes on the branch 
 of an adjacent tree or bush. 
 
 It has long been a matter of doubt with apiarians, 
 whether the Bees send out, what may be called, their 
 advanced guard, to select a proper place for the esta- 
 blishment of their new colony. As far as my opinion 
 may be valid, I have not the slightest doubt of the 
 fact, for I have witnessed it so very often. I once 
 possessed a small apiary at a gentleman's house in 
 Scotland, and the time of swarming of one of the 
 hives was regularly known by a scout appearing in 
 one of the chimneys, which we were always obliged 
 to cover with a sack, to prevent the swarm from 
 entering. 
 
 Mr. Knight, in a letter addressed to Sir Joseph 
 Banks, which is inserted in the Philosophical 
 Transactions for 1807, has verified this fact: — It is 
 not however of recent discovery, for various writers 
 have mentioned it, especially Saint Jean de Creve- 
 cceur, in his Letters Du Cultivateur Americain ; the 
 first of which is of 1770, and at the sixty-second page 
 of the first volume, he thus expresses himself: " One 
 of the problems most difficult to solve, is to know 
 when the Bees will swarm, and whether the swarm 
 will remain in the hive provided for them, or escape 
 to establish themselves in the cavity of some tree ; 
 o 
 
19* MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 for when, by means of their emissaries, they have 
 chosen themselves a retreat, it is not possible to retain 
 them in any hive which you may select for them. I 
 have several times forced swarms to enter into hives, 
 which I had prepared for them, but I always lost 
 them towards the night : at the very moment when I 
 the least expected it, they flew away in a body to the 
 woods. '* 
 
 In regard to this observation of St. Jean de Creve- 
 cceur, it is also my opinion that Bees kept in an 
 apiary in the vicinity of woods, when they send forth 
 their swarms, have always a propensity to lodge 
 themselves in a tree which is in their vicinity, be- 
 cause it is their natural and primitive habitation. 
 
 It is only by a particular mode of management, 
 that a swarm of Bees can be reconciled to a hive, 
 when a distant domicile has been chosen, previously 
 to swarming, by its advanced guard. If a swarm 
 leaves the hive on the day subsequently to its being 
 hived, it is a certain sign that the Bees have chosen 
 an abode for themselves. The method then to be 
 pursued is, to discover the spot to which the Bees 
 have repaired, and hive them again. On placing 
 them in the garden in the evening, the tin sliders of 
 the machine (Fig. 9, PI. IV.) must be let down, and 
 the Bees kept prisoners until the evening of the fol- 
 lowing day, when, about an hour before sun-set, the 
 sliders may be lifted up, and libeTty granted to the 
 prisoners- At a late hour of the same night, or very 
 early on the following morning, before any of the 
 Bees have left the hive, the tin sliders must be again 
 let down, and the Bees kept prisoners as before. This 
 plan must be repeated for five or six successive 
 days, not forgetting each day, to give the Bees a little 
 
OX SWARMS IN GENERAL. ] 9 J 
 
 food. During that period, the queen will have begun 
 to lay her eggs, and then the swarm may be consi- 
 dered as safe. 
 
 Duchet, in his Work on Bees, printed at Vevay, 
 in 1771, says, p. 25. "I have seen more than once 
 that swarms, before leaving the hive, have sent forth 
 their foragers to provide a dwelling in the cavity of a 
 tree, about a quarter of a mile distant, and the swarm 
 repaired to it in a direct line, and with a celerity, 
 which would have defied the fleetest horse." 
 
 M. Ducarne says, " that he has seen this advanced 
 guard sent forth before the swarm," I can only re- 
 mark that, although I am positively convinced of the 
 fact, yet I will venture to assert that the ocular veri- 
 fication of it never yet took place. 
 
 Dubost, in his Work on Bees, says, p. 69. " Let 
 it not be supposed that a swarm departs on mere 
 hazard ; it would be forming an erroneous opinion of 
 those insects, which, to the eye of the observer, pre- 
 sent so many proofs of intelligence. This assertion 
 is not mere conjecture; it is founded on facts, of 
 which I have been witness, and the following is the 
 most striking ; — I was walking one morning about 
 nine o'clock before my apiary, examining the motions 
 of the Bees, when I perceived some Bees enter and 
 depart from a hive, which I knew was empty, and 
 which had never been made use of. Anxious to 
 know the purport of their visit, I inspected the inte- 
 rior, and found about a hundred Bees, who ran about 
 the hive apparently in great confusion. I was struck 
 with this singularity, without being able to attach 
 any particular cause for it. During dinner, I was 
 informed that a swarm was seen on the wing, and was 
 believed to come from one of my hives. Although 
 I was certain that it did not belong to me, I could 
 o2 
 
196 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 not resist the pleasure of observing its flight. I had 
 no sooner arrived in my garden than I saw it direct 
 its flight to my apiary ; recollecting the observation 
 which I made in the morning, I conjectured that 
 they were going to take possession of the empty hive. 
 The case was really so ; and two other apiarians after- 
 wards informed me, that the same occurrence had 
 taken place amongst their hives." 
 
 According to all these observations, and the certi- 
 tude which exists that, in the forests in the north of 
 Europe, the wild Bees seek their own habitation, either 
 in trunks of trees, or in blocks hollowed by the art of 
 man, I repeat it to be my firm belief, that a swarm, 
 previously to emigration, sends forth an advanced 
 guard in search of a dwelling, in which the colony 
 can establish itself, and where it can shelter itself 
 from all the accidents of the weather. 
 
 I have known many proprietors lose their swarms 
 from a negligence in providing themselves with new 
 hives : this is unpardonable, and to such persons, any 
 advice is like a pearl thrown to swine. Circumstances 
 may, however, combine to thwart the precaution of 
 even the attentive apiarian : in this case, there are 
 various vessels and utensils, which may be used in 
 the interim, until a proper hive can be obtained. A 
 pail, a box, or even a large garden-pot, will enable 
 the proprietor to retain the swarm. I once knew an 
 old woman, who, not having any other utensil at 
 hand, took one from under her bed, but as it hap- 
 pened to be glazed in the inside, the Bees could not 
 obtain a footing, and they forsook their unique habi- 
 tation in search of a better. 
 
 One of the greatest errors of the cottager in the 
 management of his Bees, is, giving his swarms old 
 and decayed hives. They are generally so overrun 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 197 
 
 with vermin of an obnoxious nature to the Bee, that 
 even should the swarms condescend to remain in 
 them, the ensuing winter will place the hive in such 
 a ruinous state, that the Bees will forsake it in search 
 of a more salubrious domicile, or the contents of the 
 hive will be devoured by the insects. 
 
 It seldom happens that the first flight of a swarm 
 is to any great distance, but it generally alights on a 
 neighbouring bush. Every exertion should be then 
 immediately made to hive it, for it will not stop 
 above two or three hours, especially if the sun beats 
 upon it with violence, and even when it is hived, it 
 should be covered with a sheet or table-cloth, to pro- 
 tect it from the heat. 
 
 No specific rules can be laid down for the manner 
 in which a swarm is to be hived, as it depends on the 
 particular situation in which it has fixed itself; if on 
 a bush, all that is required, is to put the hive under 
 it, and with a bough, or the wing of a goose, brush 
 the Bees into it ; or the branch may be well shaken 
 and the Bees will fall into the hive. Some persons 
 place the hive over the swarm, and then, by teasing 
 and provoking, induce the Bees to ascend into it ; 
 but this system is very faulty, for the Bees will never 
 ascend until the queen Bee sets the example, and it 
 is very seldom that she can be caught on the swarm, 
 being generally in the middle. 
 
 In general, various devices are resorted to, to induce 
 the swarm to fix themselves ; such as beating frying- 
 pans,* throwing water and sand ; and some persons 
 
 * This method is strenuously recommended by Wildman, but I dis- 
 approve of it. I believe the origin of beating a sonorous body is to 
 be traced to an intention on the part of individuals to apprize their 
 neighbours of the departure of their swarms, and that it was afterwardt 
 considered as conducive to the settling of the Bees. 
 
 M. I, 'Abbe- de Lille, in one of his notes to the Georgics of Virgil, 
 
198 MANAGEMENT OP BEES. 
 
 keep their guns and pistols loaded ready to discharge 
 them in the air, as soon as the swarm has left the 
 hive. I am not, however, an advocate for any of 
 these experiments : the best method is to watch the 
 swarm in silence, and after it has once collected, to 
 lose no time in hiving it. Many persons perform this 
 operation without any safeguard to their person ; 1 
 would, however, always recommend some covering 
 being applied to the legs, the hands, and the face ; 
 for the consciousness of security imparts a greater 
 degree of boldness and presence of mind, and these 
 are two qualities, which are indispensable in all oper 
 rations connected with the apiary. 
 
 In all operations with the interior of the hive, or 
 in the management of swarms, the head should be 
 covered with a cap, over which a linen hood should 
 be thrown, having a mask of iron wire, which is more 
 commodious than glass, horse-hair, or gauze, through 
 which it is difficult to respire. The hood should fall 
 below the shoulders, that it may be fastened round 
 
 gives a more striking origin to this custom of making a noise at the 
 departure of the swarms. " It is probable," he says, " that this 
 strange custom takes its origin from Pagan superstition, and from the 
 custom which prevailed in the fetes of Cybele, of striking on copper 
 vessels, in memory of a similar noise, which the Corybantes made in 
 favour of Jupiter. It is known, that old Saturn being possessed with 
 the mania of devouring all his children, his wife Cybele was anxious 
 to save young Jupiter from his fury. He was therefore carefully con- 
 cealed in a cave of Mount Ida, called Dictce, and there she engaged 
 the Corybantes, Who were her ministers and priests, to make around 
 the cradle of her son such a thundering noise, that the cries of her in- 
 fant should not be heard. It is also known, that the Bees played a 
 conspicuous part with the Corybantes in this business, and it was 
 owing to their honey, that Jupiter wis indebted for the preservation 
 of his life ; they had therefore the honour of being the nurse of the 
 greatest tii ihe gods. It is strange,' concludes M. L'Abbi* do Lille, 
 " that a custom in itself so useless, so ridiculous, and founded on a 
 f - lili d equally absurd and puerile, should in our days be persisted in, 
 and that our fa.-mers perform daily, without knowing it, the honours, 
 radle of Jupiter." 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 199 
 
 the body, to prevent the Bees slipping beneath (see 
 PI. V. Fig. 6 and 7). The gloves should be of the 
 coarsest worsted, through which the sting cannot so 
 easily penetrate as through leather; they should be 
 lengthened with linen so as to extend far up the 
 sleeves : gaiters should be used for the covering of 
 the legs. On the supposition that this dress may be 
 too expensive for the cottager, I recommend as a 
 substitute, a piece of common canvas, to be drawn 
 closely round the hat, the brim of which prevents 
 the canvas from coming close to the face. Two old 
 stockings may be substituted for sleeves, and the 
 canvas must be again tied closely round the waist. 
 The canvas is joined at the back, by which no Bee can 
 effect an entrance ; being armed with this apparatus, 
 the most timid apiarian may wholly divest himself of 
 all fear of the stings, and boldly undertake any ope- 
 ration with the most enraged and angry hive. The 
 Bees sometimes excite each other to anger by a par- 
 ticular motion of their wings on the stigmates of their 
 body, which occasions rather a sharp noise. The 
 agitation of the Bees of the hive, on which an opera- 
 tion is performed, soon communicates itself to the 
 whole apiary; the smoke of linen or of dried calf's 
 dung* must then be used. For the operation of 
 smoking, it is proper to have one or two iron stew- 
 pans, to which a wooden handle may be affixed. A 
 cover is attached to it, bored with holes, and fastened 
 with a hinge. This cover prevents all danger of fire, 
 and also the Bees from falling into it (see PI. III. 
 No. 5.) On altering your position, the smoking pan 
 
 * In order to procure the dried calf's dung, it must be gathered 
 when it is fresh, and thrown against a wall exposed to the sun. It will 
 «oon dry, in such a manner, that, on taking it away, it may be re= 
 duoed with ease to powder. 
 
200 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 must be carried with you, as the Bees will not then 
 approach you, fearing nothing so much as smoke. 
 
 Bees should never be breathed nor blown upon at 
 the entrance of their hives, because the air which we 
 respire, irritates them much. If they be blown upon 
 with a bellows, they rather fly, than put themselves 
 in a rage. A great light dazzles them ; it is therefore 
 much better to perform any operation upon them 
 when the sun shines bright, than in cloudy weather, 
 or from ten o'clock in the morning to two in the after- 
 noon, and at twilight, rather than in the obscurity of 
 night. 
 
 In the management of swarms, some attention 
 should be paid to the dress. The clothes should not 
 be of a dark colour, neither black, brown, nor blue, 
 for in their rage, the Bees fly immediately to the hair, 
 the eyelids, and other exposed parts of the body. 
 
 AVhen the swarm is hived, and the Bees appear 
 restless and confused, it is a certain sign that the 
 queen is not amongst them, and the Bees will soon 
 return to the parent hive. The most prudent method 
 to be adopted in this case is to examine the parent 
 hive, and, as at this particular season there is in 
 general a number of queens in a hive, to take pos- 
 session of one of them, and unite her to the swarm : 
 they will receive her with every demonstration of joy, 
 which will be perceptible by the motion of their 
 wings occasioning a loud humming noise. 
 
 It sometimes happens that a swarm divides itself 
 into different clusters; this is a certain sign, that 
 there are several queens, each cluster having one. It 
 is advised by some apiarians to leave them in this 
 state, as the lesser cluster will attach itself to the 
 larger, and the queens, finding themselves forsaken, 
 will also join the general group : this is, however, 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 201 
 
 a useless waste of time. The Bees, in forming a 
 spontaneous junction, evidently shew the method 
 which ought to be adopted ; and therefore the clus- 
 ters ought to be joined with all possible despatch, 
 leaving it to the judgment of the Bees to kill the 
 superfluous queens. 
 
 It frequently happens, in an extensive apiary, that 
 swarms from different hives will form a junction, in 
 spite of every endeavour to prevent it. In the case of 
 them being second swarms, this circumstance would 
 not be prejudicial to the proprietor ; for, on being 
 hived, the Bees would kill the superfluous queens, 
 and one good stock would then be formed, which 
 at any time is better, than three weak ones. But, 
 supposing them to be first swarms, it is the interest 
 of the proprietor to keep them separate, and their 
 junction is therefore a calamity :* it has however its 
 
 f In one of the letters received from Sir Thomas Clarges, Bart, that 
 strenuous patron and advocate of science, he suggests, that an artifi- 
 cial adjunction of several swarms must he beneficial, on the supposed 
 principle, that, if 10,000 Bees produce 40 pounds of honey, 20,000 
 ought to produce SO pounds. From these premises, Sir Thomas draws 
 the conclusion, that large hives are preferable to the smaller ones: 
 There is great apparent truth in this conclusion ; and I grant, as in the 
 case of weak swarms, that a concentration of numbers cannot but 
 prove highly beneficial; but I am convinced, that Bees would not 
 thrive in this country, were the hives to be extended to a much greater 
 capacity, than those which are now in use. There appears to be a 
 limit placed to the labour of every individual swarm, beyond which 
 no augmentation of number can induce them to proceed. This may 
 be proved by examining the state of the swarms, which have lodged in 
 cavities of trees, in chimneys, and under the roofs of houses. The 
 space, there presented to them fur their labour, may be called indefi- 
 nite, and yet, having constructed their combs to a certain extent, they 
 never shew any disposition to enlarge it. But the question here arises, 
 were 10,000 Bees to be added to any given hive, aud a proportionate 
 capacity provided for them in which to extend their works, would 
 they not on receiving that accumulation of force, proceed to extend 
 their combs, and tdereby furnish to the proprietor a greater harvest 
 of wax and honey ? I answer decidedly in the negative. Two fuM 
 
202 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 remedy, and the following is the process to be pur- 
 sued. 
 
 The swarm being collected into one hive, a sheet 
 must be spread on the ground; the hive must be 
 held over it," and giving it a smart knock, the Bees 
 will all fall upon it : no fear whatever need be enter- 
 tained of their flying away, and the search must be 
 immediately instituted for the queens. The presence 
 of them may be ascertained by small groups being 
 collected around them. Having attained to the cer- 
 tainty of a queen being in the midst of a group, 
 cover it with a small bell glass, and then proceed to 
 divide the Bees, as nearly as possible into two equal 
 proportions. For this purpose, two hives must be 
 in readiness, and having given a proper number to 
 the queen, who is at large, the hive is placed in a 
 remote part of the garden, and as far from the parent 
 hive as possible. The imprisoned queen is then set 
 at liberty, and she is conducted to her hive, with 
 that proportion of subjects, which has been assigned 
 to her by the division. The whole being placed in 
 the hive, it is carried as far as the premises will ad- 
 mit, in a contrary direction to the former hive. A 
 
 and well peopled swarms, furnished with hives of suitable dimensions, 
 will produce more than if those two swarms were joined. An over- 
 grown and excessive population, effected by artificial means, appears 
 to be revolting to the nature of the Bee : a swarm is the effect of a 
 population increased by natural means, and its departure from the 
 parent hive exhibits the course which Nature points out to the ab- 
 origines, to free themselves from a redundancy of numbers. The 
 Bees in the cavity of a tree, which have not filled the space that they 
 have selected for their domicile, still throw off their swarms, but 
 testify no disposition to extend their works beyond a certain point, 
 and which a de'ention of the Bees, comprising the swarm, would have 
 en-ibled them to effect. The Queen of the Bees appears to know the 
 number requisite for the offices of her government, and an artificial 
 and unnecessary adjunction of subjects would tend only to endanger 
 the safety of the whole monarch v- 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. §03 
 
 little confusion may at first occur, but if a certainty- 
 exist that there is a queen Bee in the hive, and this 
 must depend on the attention and experience of the 
 proprietor, perfect tranquillity and peace will be 
 found restored on the following^morning. No further 
 fea;- then remains of a reunion. 
 
 Supposing the swarm to be hived in the morning, 
 which is the general time of swarming, the hive must 
 not however, be moved until late in the evening, in 
 order that sufficient time may be given for thes tracr- 
 glers to return. I have always observed that for two 
 or three days subsequently to the swarming, the Bees 
 are always hovering near the spot on which the swarm 
 first alighted. I have even seen them cluster, but at 
 night they invariably disappeared. 
 
 A great number of swarms is annually lost by be- 
 ing moved too soon from one apiary to another. If 
 a swarm be not moved on the evening of its being 
 hived, it should be allowed to remain in its original 
 spot for at least a month or six weeks. The combs, 
 in the earlier period of their formation, have not at- 
 tained their natural tenacity, and the slightest motion 
 is apt to break them. I saw a very fine swarm totally 
 ruined this season (IS 16,) by being moved too soon. 
 The combs broke in the carriage, a number of Bees 
 was drowned in the honey, and the young brood en- 
 tirely destroyed. 
 
 It is advisable in every point of view not to disturb 
 the young swarms : nothing can be gained by it, and 
 a considerable risk is run of offending the Bees to 
 such a degree, that they ultimately forsake the hive 
 altogether. 
 
 It sometimes happens that a swarm will fly to a 
 great distance from the apiary, perhaps three or four 
 miles ; in this case, it is very inconvenient to carry 
 
904 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 the hive so far, and in some instances it is impracti- 
 cable. Let me therefore recommend the apiarian to 
 provide himself with a bag, somewhat of the shape of 
 a jelly-bag, and if the swarm settles on the branch of 
 a tree, or on a bush, which is the case nine times out 
 of ten, he has merely to cut the branch or slip as 
 short as possible, and having put the branch with the 
 swarm on it into the bag, to tie the orifice close, so 
 that no Bees :an escape, he may then return home- 
 wards with his treasure. 
 
 In re^ trd to the different methods, which have 
 been adopted, not only by the ancients, but the mo- 
 derns, to encourage the swarm to enter the hive, by 
 rubbing it with odoriferous herbs and honey, I am 
 convinced that the best preparations are cleanliness, 
 neatness, and absence of all offensive odours ; but it 
 is not the most aromatic odour, which would induce 
 the Bees to take possession of the domicile which is 
 offered to them, if they were not properly provided 
 with a queen. In Italy and France they rub the 
 hives with the leaves of garlick and onions; and 
 Contardi, who was well instructed in the economy 
 of the Bees, goes so far as to assert that the Bees 
 accustom themselves to this odour from the want of 
 a better.* 
 
 The only method of discovering the value of a 
 swarm is by its weight, although it is still asserted, 
 by many, that the size is a true criterion. This latter 
 opinion is erroneous; for the size of a swarm, in a 
 
 * If we compare this statement with that of the Abbe della Rocca, 
 and take into consideration at the same time the experience of apia- 
 rians in general, some surprise at the hardy assertion of Contardi must 
 necessarily be excited. " It is certain," says L'Abbe, " that we should 
 particularly refrain from approaching our Bees when we have been 
 touching either garlick or onions, or even when we have been eating 
 cheese, as we are then sure of being attacked with great acrimony." 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 205 
 
 great measure, depends on the temperature of the 
 air ; if it be very hot, the Bees will extend themselves, 
 to admit a greater influx of air: and, on the other 
 hand, if it be cold, they will crowd together, to in- 
 crease the heat by reciprocal action. The weight is 
 therefore the best criterion, and this can be effected 
 by first weighing the hive when empty, and then 
 again immediately after the swarm has been put into 
 it. 
 
 The best swarms are from five to six pounds. I 
 have known one to weigh eight, but this is a pheno- 
 menon ; * nor are these very large swarms desirable, 
 as they impoverish the parent hive too much. Five 
 thousand Bees weigh about a pound ; a good swarm 
 consists therefore of about 20,000 Bees. The quan- 
 tity of honey, which a swarm carries along with it 
 for its sustenance, has been ascertained from the fol- 
 lowing curious circumstance : In some countries, 
 particularly to the south and south-east of Europe, 
 it is customary to put a swarm into a bag, and this 
 originates in the propensity of the Bees to lodge 
 themselves in the woods, in which it is the particular 
 office of certain persons to collect them. A person, 
 having once collected a swarm in a bag, suspended 
 it to a tree, whilst he went in search of some other 
 swarms: a most ardent sun killed the Bees, but 
 more than three pounds of honey were collected from 
 them, leaving some behind. It may therefore be 
 quoted, that about four pounds are the quantity of 
 provision, which a swarm takes with it. 
 
 In regard to the second swarms, or casts, the diffi- 
 culty of ascertaining the precise time of their flight is 
 
 * M. Ducouedic affirms that he has had swarms from twelve to 
 eighteen, and twenty pounds. " I would not put ray # name to such a 
 tale." 
 
$06 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 very great, as none of those evident signs are dis- 
 played, which mark the rising of the first. I will, 
 however, describe those secondary signs, by which 
 some tolerably accurate notion may be formed of the 
 departure of a second swarm.* It may be generally 
 
 * I am certain the following account of a second swarm will be 
 read with great interest: it is extracted from the Feminin' Monarchi' 
 of Butler, and it is another proof what singular crotchets enter into 
 the heads of apiarians. It is in the edition of 1634. 
 
 Wen de prim swarm is gon ; (if de stok sail cast any rnor') de eigt 
 or nint revning after, (soomtim 1 de tent or elevnt) de next Princ' when 
 see perceivt a competent number to bee fledg and reddy, beginnet to 
 tun' in hir treble voic' a nioornful and begging not,' as if see did pray 
 her qeen-moder to let them go'. Unto wic voic' if de qeen' voucsaf' to 
 reply tuning hir Bas i to de yung Princes Treble; (as commonly see 
 will, dowg soomtim' scare'ly entreated in a day or two) den doo't see 
 consent; and der'for', (unless foul weder stay den til it bee too lal') 
 you may assuredly look for a swarm. Wic seldom ariset de next day, 
 aldowg de weder bee very pleasant, or de next day, miles de weder bee' 
 very pleasant ; but after de tird nigtc warning dey will accept indiffe- 
 rent weder; sue as de prim' swarms will not coom abroad in. And as 
 de qeens voic is a graut so hir silenc is a flat denyall ; de proverb heer 
 hat no' plac' (qui tacet consentirc videtur) for witout dis concent der' 
 is no' conceut. 
 
 Dis songbeeing conteined witin de coompass of an Eigt (from c-sol- 
 fa-ut to C sol-fa) de Princ composet hir part, witin de fowr upper 
 cliefs (G A B and C) usually in triple mood; beginning wit an od minim 
 in G'sol, rent, and tuning de rest of hir not's wer'of de first is a semi 
 brief in A-la-mi-re. Soomtim' see taket a higcr key, sounding de ad 
 minim in A-la-mi-re, and de rest in Bfa-b-mi. Soomtim' specially to- 
 ward deir cooming foort', see riset yet higher to C sol-fn ; holding de 
 tim' of tree or fowr sernibriefs, rnor' or less. Nou and den see begin- 
 net in duple tim' soom two or tree sernibriefs; but always endet wit 
 minims of de triple mood. 
 
 De queens part conteined witin de fowr lower cliefs, consistet of 
 minims altogeder in triple mood; commonly iu F fa-ut, soomtim' in 
 C solfa-ut, soomtim' in dc oder two cliefs between 'dein ; continuing 
 her tun' de tim of nin' or ten sernibriefs. rnor' or less. 
 
 Soomtim' a tird Princes imitating de qcen's voic 1 in tim' dowg differ- 
 ing haply in tun', joynet witdem ; de mor' wit deir ful-noys, to incit* 
 de swarm to go dal hir turn may coom dc sooner. And soomtim a 
 fowrt also inlcrposit hir minims to fil up de qir. But non' dar' coun- 
 terfeit de voic of dc cief Princ; for dat wer treason to hir person; 
 and yet soomtim' on' of dem in hop' to part de swarm, will steal out 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 207 
 
 looked for on the 8th or 10th day after the first swarm. 
 After the 12th day, it is needless to expect a second 
 swarm ; but it must not be understood, that a second 
 swarm never departs before the 8th or 10th day : for 
 I have known it to take place on the 5th, and in four 
 days afterwards, the same hive threw a third swarm. 
 I wish to be particular as to this point, as I know 
 many persons who lose their second swarms, from the 
 idea which has been inculcated by Wildman, that a 
 second swarm never rises before the 10th day after 
 the first. 
 
 Some hives however, never throw a second sw T arm 
 at all, and this may in some degree be ascertained by 
 inspecting the hive immediately after the first swarm 
 has departed. If the combs be bare and destitute of 
 Bees ; if the supernumerary princesses be seen dead 
 before the hive ; if the Bees tear from the cells the 
 nymphs of the drones, no second swarm is then to 
 be expected. 
 
 Independently of the dead queens, which are 
 thrown out of the hive, it must also be examined 
 if the Bees withdraw the royal nymphs from the cells : 
 the massacre of the queens is then a certain sign that 
 
 wit her ; wic if de swarm bee not parted, or being parted be put toge- 
 der, costet her hir liff, v. as well as de liv's of soom of hir followers. 
 Notwitstanding eac' of des -when hir elder sister is gon and hir turn 
 next, can get her not, begging in Orithyas tun leave to bee gone too, 
 wic as soomtim' de qeen grantet unasked, beginning first hirself, so 
 sooratim' by hir silenc see denyet, dowg moornfully intreated, and 
 then de swarm tarryet, and de poor lady must di. 
 
 Wit des various and harmonious not's answering on an oder, and 
 soom paus between ; dey go solemnly round about de hiv, so to giv 
 warning unto all de coompany. Dis dey continu daily until deir 
 swarming, but you may hear dem best eevnings and mornings. Wic 
 musick as it cannot but pleas and deligt dem dat listen to it, so must 
 it bee most sweet and pleasant to de yung Princ hir self unto worn 
 der' by is proclaimed a warrant not only of ber lif,' but of a kingdom 
 also, but wic oderwis see wer sur to los'. 
 4 
 
203 MANAGEMENT OF BEESJ 
 
 there will not be a second swarm, but if the Bees b£ 
 satisfied with only killing some queens, without 
 destroying the nymphs at the same time, the chances 
 of a second swarm then are great, and for the fol- 
 lowing reason : — It often occurs, that previously to 
 the departure of the first swarm, there are three or 
 four queens in the hive* and each ready to place her- 
 self at the head of the new colony. Of these three 
 or four queens, only one, and seldom two depart 
 with the first swarm, and the others remain in the 
 hive, probably to place themselves at the head of the 
 second ; but the Bees seeing that the population is 
 not sufficient to support a second emigration, before 
 the brood could furnish fresh recruits, sometimes kill 
 all the supernumerary queens which are hatched, es- 
 pecially if they have exhibited an} r proof of rebellion 
 against the mother queen ; for it has often happened 
 that the young queens, full of ambition, have suc- 
 ceeded in dethroning and usurping her place.* Thus 
 
 * I have had frequent occasion to eulogize the wonderful discove- 
 ries of M- Huber, and it is now with peculiar satisfaction that I lay 
 before an admiring world an account of the duels which are fought 
 in a hive, between the rival queens. As to the truth of their chivaK 
 rous deeds, I express not an opinion, for to doubt them, after the 
 positive assurance of M. Huber, that he has witnessed them, would be 
 tantamount to a gross suspicion of his veracity not only touching the 
 courage of those Boadieeas, but also the other wonderful spectacles, 
 with the sight of which, the Boes have especially favoured him. I limit 
 not the credulity of others, but I hope I may be allowed to place twenty 
 years experience in Bees in the scale towards the refutation and ex- 
 tinction of some most erroneous and ridiculous notions, which the 
 pretended discoveries of Huber have introduced iu the natural history 
 of the Bee. In order to study this remarkable part in the manners 
 and police of the Bees, Huber placed them iu every possible situation, 
 and obtained an exact view of the diftercnt kinds of contests which 
 take place between any particular queens and her rivals, whose 
 ambitious views tend to her dethronement. He first examined the cou« 
 duct of a young queen just emerged from her cell, killing in her rage 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 209 
 
 whilst the population of the second swarms is con- 
 pleting, other queens are born, who depart with 
 them. 
 
 For this reason the massacre of the queens ought 
 to be accompanied with the expulsion of the royal 
 nymphs, in order to form the just conclusion that 
 the hive will not throw a second swarm. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these indications, it still some- 
 times happens that a hive throws a second swarm, 
 and if some reason be required for it, I am inclined 
 to attribute it to a certain number of Bees collecting 
 round one of the queens destined for the second 
 swarm, and whom they have acknowledged for their 
 rightful sovereign. 
 
 Although none of these signs present themselves, 
 I would still advise the proprietor to keep an atten- 
 tive watch upon his hive, from nine o'clock till 
 
 in their cells, the remaining queens, one after the other, and deliverimg 
 to the working Bees the mutilated remains of her rivals, to be dragged 
 •without mercy from the hive. At another time, he placed in front of 
 each other, two young queens emerging at the same time from their 
 cells — and the battle immediately commenced. Thrice they fell fu- 
 riously upon each other — and thrice they retreated. Twice they were 
 in the situation, in which each could have given the other a mortal 
 blow — and twice all-conquering Nature, which demands but one vic- 
 tim, awakened in them that powerful instinct which taught them to 
 run away. Both ran — and a dreadful suspense reigned in the hive. 
 The combatants having received some refreshment, returned to the 
 fight. At first they could not meet each other — both afraid, yet both 
 anxious to engage : at last the most daring espies her antagonist— » 
 supported by her seconds, — the fatal moment is at hand — she pounces 
 unperceived on her unsuspecting rival — seizes her by the weak side, 
 (query, right or left) — darts into her the mortal sting, and in her ex- 
 piring moments hurls her to the ground, in the midst of a numerous 
 circle of working Bees, who have been tranquil spectators of these 
 singular combats." Singular indeed ! and bold must be the hand 
 which dared to write such nonsense with the view of palming it upon 
 the world as the effect of actual observation. 
 
210 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 about three, from the 5th to the 12th day, after that 
 time, he need not look for any second swarm. 
 
 A second swarm in this country is very seldom, 
 worth preserving through the winter, as the stock of 
 honey which it collects is not sufficient to maintain 
 it through a mild season. Should two second swarms 
 be thrown off at one time, the junction should then 
 be immediately made, and by a combination of 
 strength and power, a sufficiency of provision will be 
 collected; but should that fortunate circumstance 
 not occur, the Bees of a second swarm should be 
 joined to some strong hive at the close of the season. 
 This operation will repay the apiarian, as he possesses 
 himself of the honey which the second swarm has 
 collected, and his stock hive will be enriched by an 
 accession of inhabitants. Various methods have 
 been adopted to effect a junction of two hives ;* and 
 Bonner affirms that he has effected it by simply re- 
 versing one hive, and placing the other upon it, by 
 which means the Bees in the latter ascend into the 
 former, and they are received in the most hospitable 
 manner. I have tried this method, and the result 
 was — that I lost both my hives, from the sanguinary 
 contest which took place, and the murder of both of 
 the queens. On mentioning this circumstance, I was 
 told that I had neglected the most important part of 
 the operation ; as I should in the first place have 
 obtained about a handful of Bees from the second 
 swarm, and, like a master of the ceremonies, have 
 presented them at the entrance of the hive, which 
 was destined to receive the new inhabitants, and I 
 should then have seen, by the manner of the Bees, 
 
 * Some apiarians make use of fumigation for stupefying the Bees 
 when they wish to form a junction, but I do not think it effectual. 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 211 
 
 whether they were willing to receive the intruders. 
 On the first opportunity, I performed this preliminary 
 step, and with great humility and condescension, I 
 introduced the strangers ; but the result was, that I 
 set one hive in complete commotion, and occasioned 
 the murder of the intruding Bees, who may justly be 
 called the forlorn hope. 
 
 After mature reflection, I fell upon the following 
 plan, and I have invariably found it attended with 
 complete success. From long and repeated observa- 
 tion, I am convinced that the Bees do not know each 
 other from any distinctive personal marks, but from 
 an odour peculiar to them, which differs in every 
 hive. From this conviction, I was led to consider, 
 that if by any means I could impart the same odour 
 to two different families, I could then unite them ac- 
 cording to the purpose, required.* To put my design 
 in execution, I made a mixture of sugar and ale, and 
 a small quantity of honey. I diluted the whole with 
 water until the quantity amounted to about four gal- 
 lons. This liquid I placed in a tub, rather higher 
 than the Bee-hives which I generally use for receiv- 
 ing the Bees when I drive them. I then take the 
 stock hive to which the weaker one is to be joined, 
 and, having gained possession of the Bees, I imme- 
 diately immerse the whole in the liquid, and retain 
 them there until life is almost extinct. I then drive 
 the Bees from the weaker hive, and immerse them in 
 the same liquid with other Bees ; and having well 
 
 * The German apiarians are so fully convinced that it is by the par- 
 ticular smell that Bees recognise a stranger, that they always adopt the 
 following plan on giving a queen to a hive : they confine her in a little 
 cage which is placed in the hive, and in which she is suffered to remain 
 about three days. She is then set at liberty, and the Bees accept of her 
 as their monarch. 
 
 p 2 
 
212 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 mixed them, by turning them round with a stick, I 
 pour the whole mass into a sieve, and having drained 
 all the liquid from them, I return them to the stock- 
 hive ; then closing the entrance, I take the hive and 
 place it at a short distance from the fire. In a short 
 time a humming is heard, which is the sound of re- 
 turning life: in. the course of an hour, the Bees are 
 perfectly recovered, and I never knew that a single 
 quarrel existed between them. This system is how- 
 ever not exempt from that danger which must neces- 
 sarily accompany the junction of two hives ; and that 
 is, the possibility, and I may add the probability of 
 both the queens being killed ; I therefore, if possible, 
 contrive to catch the queen of one of the hives, and 
 become myself a regicide. 
 
 Since the first edition of this work, I have tried 
 several experiments, in order to effect the junction 
 of my second swarms with greater facility, and a 
 smaller sacrifice of the lives of my Bees. As to the 
 junction of those swarms, which have been already 
 hived, I cannot recommend a better plan, than that 
 which has been before described ; but having had 
 two second swarms thrown off on the same day, and 
 they having alighted very close to each other, I con- 
 sidered it might be possible to join the swarms pre- 
 viously to my hiving them. Both had alighted on 
 the branch of an apple-tree, and having diluted a 
 small quantity of ale and honey, I cut the branch 
 on which the smaller swarm had fixed itself, and 
 sprinkled the Bees with the liquid. Having also 
 sprinkled the Bees of the other swarm, I held the 
 first swarm over it, and as it is the nature of Bees 
 always to ascend, I considered the great probability 
 which existed of the lower swarm ascending to the 
 uppermost; nor was I mistaken in my conjecture : 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 213 
 
 in about a quarter of an hour, the undermost swarm 
 had formed a junction with the uppermost, and hav- 
 ing given the whole mass a copious sprinkling, I lost 
 no time in hiving them. On the following day, not 
 the least disturbance was visible, and the hive remains 
 to this hour in perfect harmony and health.* 
 
 If the day subsequently to the hiving of the swarm 
 be rainy, and if it should continue so for a few days, 
 it becomes advisable to give the Bees a little food. 
 The quantity of honey which they bring with them 
 from the parent hive, will be wholly exhausted in a 
 short time, and should they be prevented by bad 
 weather from collecting some food in the fields, they 
 will in time become so weak from the want of food, 
 that, on the return of fine weather, they will be un- 
 able to take their customary flights. The food should 
 be always given them at night, that no fear may be 
 entertained of robbery by other Bees. Whenever 3 
 hive is lifted, in which a swarm has been lately placed, 
 particular care should be taken to perform it with 
 great gentleness, because the combs, not having yet 
 acquired a proper consistency, and being loaded with 
 Bees, are very apt to break, which causes great con- 
 fusion in a hive. I would in general advise, except 
 it be for the purpose of feeding, not to meddle with 
 the swarms for two months. They may then be in- 
 spected without fear of incurring any risk of breaking 
 the combs. 
 
 It sometimes happens in very fine seasons, that a 
 first swarm will throw a swarm : this, however, is 
 
 * M. Lagrenee affirms that the only difference between a first swarm, 
 and two or more second swarms united, is, that the latter always 
 throw off weak swarms. I confess that this difference is wholly strange 
 to me, nor do I believe that M. Lagrenee can assign any solid reason 
 for it. 
 
214 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 not very common in this country,* and in some 
 respects, it is not much to be desired, as from the 
 lateness of the season, in which the swarm appears, it 
 can scarcely amass a sufficiency for its winter sup- 
 port. I The produce of this swarm is always called 
 virgin honey, and is considered of the purest and 
 most genuine quality. It would be more conducive 
 to the advantage of the proprietor to prevent his 
 swarm from swarming than to encourage it ; and this 
 can be effected by giving more room to the Bees, and 
 by killing one of the superfluous queens. 
 
 Some persons are very apt to mistake the cluster- 
 ing of the Bees for an indication of an approaching 
 swarm, and I have known them wait, with the great- 
 est anxiety, for a fortnight or more, in daily expecta- 
 tion of the forthcoming treasure. It is always with 
 great regret that I see my Bees in this clustering 
 state, and sometimes at the beginning of summer, two 
 reasons can be assigned for it, — either some accident 
 has befallen the queen, who was to place herself at 
 the head of the swarm, or the whole space of the 
 hive being filled with combs, and those combs full of 
 honey and brood, the Bees, having no further room 
 
 * A swarm of Bees belonging to Lord Melville, at his seat in Fife- 
 shire, in the year 1815, threw off two -virgin swarms, a circumstance 
 which perhaps has never before occurred in the history of Bees. 
 
 + M. L'Abbe Tessier says, " On doit vciller a ce qu'un nouvel essaim 
 ne donne pas d'essaim la meme annee afin de ne le pas affoibler. Je 
 suis cependant certain, ajoute il, qu'une ruche ayant produit un es- 
 saim a la mi-mai, quinze jours apres en donna un second, et dix jours 
 apres celuici uu troisieme. 
 
 " De ces trois essaims, Is premier dans la meme annee en donna un ; 
 ensorte qu'une meme ruche a produit quatre essaims qui tous out pros- 
 pered mais cecas extraordinaire dependoit de circonstances qHi n'ont 
 lieu que tres rarement. Un printems favorable, une abondance de 
 micl, unete chaud, voila les causes d'une multiplication si etonnante. 
 Dans l'etat ordinaire on doit se contenter d'un essaim, et emp^cherque 
 celuici n'en donne un a son tour la meme annee." 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 215 
 
 to work in, betake themselves to idleness. The for- 
 mer case will be treated of under the head of artificial 
 swarms, but the latter meets with a speedy remedy. 
 In my own hive I open it, and take out the two side 
 bars, by which means I obtain an immediate supply 
 of honey : and, having replaced them, the Bees will 
 soon replenish the cavities. In the common hive it 
 is merely necessary to give it an eek, of about four or 
 six inches high, and the Bees will no longer lie out 
 in clusters, but will immediately resume their active 
 operations. I once visited a gentleman's garden, in 
 which a few hives were placed, I believe more for 
 ornament than for use, as no pains had been spared 
 to make them a pleasing object to the eye. The 
 proprietor had however been so careless of the actions 
 of his winged tenants, as to suffer them from a want 
 of room in their own hive, to work underneath the 
 stand, and under two of the hives there were at least 
 six large combs. He admired the curiosity of the 
 thing, and I pitied his folly. 
 
 It is not possible to determine the precise number 
 of swarms which a hive will throw, as this depends 
 upon the fertility of the country and on [the climate. 
 It seldom however happens that any but the two first 
 are worth preserving, and every method should be 
 pursued of preventing any more from leaving the 
 hive. 
 
 After the departure of the swarms, it is difficult to 
 conceive in what manner the hives remain peopled : 
 and there are some hives which are so enervated by 
 the departure of the swarms, that they perish in the 
 following winter, if some method be not adopted of 
 increasing the population ; but this even must be 
 done with great caution, or the Bees will exceed the 
 quantity of provision which has been collected. 
 
216 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 Of artificial forms, Schirach may be quoted as the 
 great advocate and abettor ; I am not however so 
 thoroughly convinced of their utility as to recommend 
 their general adoption. There are several methods 
 of procuring artificial swarms ; that of Wildman is, 
 in extracting from a hive which is on the eve of 
 swarming, or which has already swarmed, a piece of 
 comb in which there are some royal cells : this comb 
 is placed in an empty hive, and he introduces at the 
 same time a certain number of common Bees, proper 
 to form a swarm, but he does not explain in what 
 manner he introduces the said Bees into the hive, in 
 which he has placed the comb containing the royal 
 nymph. 
 
 It is however the opinion of Schirach, that it is not 
 necessary that the egg so transported should be a royal 
 one :* on the contrary, the Bees have the power of 
 creating any egg, which they may select, into a royal 
 one ; but I can most positively deny the metamor- 
 phosis of an egg, or a maggot, whose original destina- 
 tion was a common Bee into a perfect queen, because 
 such a metamorphosis is absolutely impossible. It 
 is in vain to allege against this assertion, the experi- 
 ment which has been so often repeated, and which 
 has always succeeded, of enclosing in a hive a certain 
 number of common Bees, with a piece of brood-comb 
 full of eggs and maggots of common Bees ; and that 
 the Bees have almost always formed a perfect queen. 
 Without calling the fact into question, and admitting 
 it in its full entity, I may suggest, and I believe with 
 a great deal of probability, that amongst those eggs 
 
 * This opinion is also supported by L'Abbe della Rocca, who says, 
 that the queen lays all her eggs in the common cells, and the working 
 Bees select a particular egg, which is to be a royal one, which is im- 
 mediately transported by them into one of the royal cells. 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 217 
 
 supposed to be simple, there may have been one 
 which would have naturally produced a queen. If 
 this be the case, these facts do not prove any thing 
 in favour of the pretended transformation of an egg 
 into a queen. 
 
 An artificial swarm may be procured as soon as the 
 drones appear, which is generally at the end of April, 
 but the operation must be performed only in fine 
 weather, which may be looked for in the beginning 
 of May. The time when it should be performed is 
 from nine in the morning till one, the weather being- 
 serene, and the sun shining. 
 
 The chief point is to force a proportion of the Bees 
 of a full hive to pass into a second one, which some 
 persons effect by knocking at the sides of the hive, 
 but this method is not advisable, as it is apt to loosen 
 the combs. Fumigation therefore should be used ; 
 but as it is known that the Bees which are driven, 
 by whatever process it may be, from a full hive into 
 an empty one, pass very slowly, proceeding in a 
 group, and not flying, the transition may be observed 
 without fear, in order that the number of Bees may 
 be ascertained that passes from one hive to another, 
 and that it is neither too small nor too great. 
 
 I proceed in the first place to open my hive at the 
 top, and having taken away the board and the net- 
 ting, I apply immediately the board (Fig. 8, PI. V.) 
 This board is necessary, as the lower part of the hive 
 being smaller in diameter than the upper, no junction 
 could be formed so exact as to prevent the Bees from 
 getting out at the sides. It has also this advantage, 
 that as the Bees inhabit generally the middle of the 
 hive, the expulsion of them is more easily effected. 
 
 I then provide a box of the following shape and 
 
 3 
 
218 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 dimensions: fifteen inches square, and seventeen 
 high. Three of the sides are closed, and one open, 
 hating but two cross bars; one at the top, and the 
 other nine inches downwards. The upper part of 
 the box is pierced six inches square in the middle, 
 which is covered with wirework, so close as to pre- 
 vent any of the Bees from falling into the fumigating- 
 pan, which, being placed within the box, the hive is 
 put upon it. 
 
 These arrangements must be made with the great- 
 est expedition and coolness. 
 
 The smoke driving the Bees from the full hive into 
 the empty one, which is easily ascertained by a loud 
 humming noise, the upper hive may be then gently 
 raised, and the particular part will be seen, by which 
 the Bees are ascending. When it is supposed that a 
 sufficient number has left the parent hive, the fumi- 
 gating-pan is removed ; the upper hive is taken away, 
 and placed on a moveable board, and the old one is 
 restored to its former position. 
 
 The most important iquestion now comes to be 
 decided, which is, to which proportion of the Bees 
 does the queen belong? or, in other words, Iras she 
 ascended into the new hive, or remained in the old 
 one ? This can hardly be determined for the first 
 twenty-four hours. If a swarm be placed in an empty 
 hive, without a queen, it will soon be seen that they 
 construct no combs, that they are continually agi- 
 tated, and never cluster. But the Bees of the same 
 hive, being divided into two, consider themselves as 
 being in their own domicile, and they do not imme- 
 diately perceive that there is not a queen amongst 
 them. It is also a singular circumstance attendant 
 upon thue absence of a queen, that the Bees appear 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 219 
 
 to lose a great portion of their irascibility, and are 
 not so ready to make use of their stings as when pro- 
 perly domiciliated. 
 
 The question of the presence of the queen being 
 decided, which nine times in ten proves to be in the 
 new hive, the two hives must be removed to the dis- 
 tance of two or three hundred paces from each other, 
 that the inhabitants of the new swarm may lose all 
 remembrance of their former habitation ; and it were 
 also advisable that the old hive should be removed 
 from its former position, that the Bees, not finding 
 their habitation in its accustomed place, should be 
 obliged to return to the hive from whence they de- 
 parted. 
 
 The first artificial swarms, which I made in this 
 manner, succeeded very well, because they happened 
 to have their queen ; but some that had not the queen 
 deserted it very shortly to return to the parent hive, 
 which caused a considerable agitation in the apiary. 
 To remedy this evil, I confined the new swarms in 
 the hive, giving them air, and this succeeded very 
 well, when the queen was amongst them ; but if she 
 was not, the imprisoned Bees became so anxious to 
 effect their liberty, that the majority perished. 
 
 When it is ascertained that the queen is not in the 
 new hive, the most prompt measures should be adopt- 
 ed of procuring a queen, either from the parent hive, 
 or from some other that has swarmed once ; for it is in 
 the latter, that the supernumerary queens in general 
 abound. Several methods have been devised by dif- 
 ferent apiarians for obtaining queens,* and as it is a 
 
 * M. Contardi mentions a curious circumstance relative to obtain- 
 ing queens. In Germany and France, he says, it is the custom to 
 preserve the queens to make use of them as occasion requires, and he 
 adds, that in some parts of France a species of traffic is carried on 
 with them, by selling them at so much a head. He recommends the 
 
220 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 most important and interesting part in the manage- 
 ment of Bees, I shall investigate them fully. 
 
 The first method is, when a hive swarms the second 
 time, immediately that the swarm is seen to leave the 
 hive, to run quickly to it, but you must in this case 
 be an old warrior, and not fear a sting ; place yourself 
 almost in front of the hive, inclining rather to that 
 side which is the most convenient, and observe the 
 departure of the swarm with attention ; it seldom 
 happens that you will not see a queen depart, and 
 sometimes several, who stop, and turn about for a 
 certain time at the entrance of the hive. She may 
 then be either caught with the fingers, or imprisoned 
 under a glass, and the object of your endeavours is 
 then obtained. 
 
 In regard to this method, which originates with 
 M. Ducarne, I can only say, that I defy the boldest 
 apiarian to approach a hive in the manner required 
 by M. Ducarne at the moment of the departure of a 
 swarm, without covering his face with a mask, and 
 keeping up a Vesuvian smoke about him ; and what- 
 ever precaution he may adopt, he cannot prevent a 
 number of Bees from perishing, by fixing their stings 
 in different parts of his clothes. It appears also to 
 me next to an impossibility, in this moment of con- 
 fusion and disorder to notice a queen, much less to 
 catch her. 
 
 The second method is, if you are not skilful, nor 
 fortunate enough to catch a queen at the time, when 
 the swarm leaves the hive, not to be discomfited, but 
 to follow the swarm, and as soon as it has settled in a 
 
 introduction of this method in all countries in which the culture of 
 Bees is carried on. I grant that it would he a great advantage, could 
 such a system be adopted, but I believe that it would not be possible 
 to preserve a queen separated from the Bees longer than two or three 
 days. 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 9 C 21 
 
 particular place, or rather begun to settle, to examine 
 with attention all the Bees, which occupy the super- 
 ficies of the cluster, and you will then perhaps ob- 
 serve a queen, which you can seize with your fingers. 
 
 The author of this method declares that it has al- 
 most always succeeded with him, and it very sel- 
 dom happens, if attentive observation be paid, that 
 you do not perceive two or three queens walking 
 about. He adds, that he once caught three queens 
 in this manner, in one swarm. 
 
 I grant, that this would be an excellent plan, if 
 during the settling of a swarm, a queen could be 
 distinguished. I have however great doubts of its 
 feasibility, for I am persuaded, that the queens are 
 too confounded, too mixed with the Bees, and too 
 much in the centre of the cluster, to render it possi- 
 ble to procure them in this manner. I am also per- 
 suaded, that although it may be easy to seize a queen, 
 when she is walking on a swarm, yet it is impossible 
 to take possession of her at the precise time, when the 
 swarm is settling, because at that particular juncture, 
 the Bees cluster so quick upon one another, as to 
 render the queen not cognizable. Besides, a very 
 serious question here arises, on taking a queen from 
 a swarm, what certainty have you that there is ano- 
 ther, and you may be ruining one hive to save another. 
 The queen, which is seen on the exterior of the 
 swarm, may be the only one, and being incommoded 
 with the heat, she may have forced her way to the 
 outside, for the purpose of obtaining fresh air. 
 
 Another method is, to return the swarm to the pa- 
 rent hive, and place before the entrance of the hive, 
 in which the swarm has been put, a tin plate pierced 
 in such a manner, and of such dimensions, that a Bee 
 only, and not the queen can pass through. This is 
 
222 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 taking it for granted, that the common Bees are 
 smaller than the queen, which is denied by Wildman, 
 and I am myself convinced that the passages must be 
 cut to a truly mathematical nicety to prevent the 
 egress of one and admit that of the other; but why, 
 I repeat, should a queen be taken from one hive to 
 form another? It is only the supernumerary queen, 
 that ought to be taken, and this can only be effected 
 by a full examination of the swarm, which must be 
 either stupefied with smoke, or immersed in water 
 until they are nearly dead, and then a queen can be 
 obtained with great facility ; in the case, however, 
 of forming an artificial swarm from a hive, in which 
 there is a considerable quantity of brood, no danger 
 can exist of giving the queen to the artificial swarm, 
 as it is most likely that the Bees of the old hive will 
 soon raise for themselves another queen from one of 
 the eggs, or the probability is in favour of there being 
 two or more queens at that particular season. Al- 
 though I am by no means favourably inclined towards 
 artificial swarms, yet to those of an opposite tendency 
 the following easy method of obtaining artificial 
 swarms from one of my hives, may prove an addi- 
 tional inducement to their adoption. 
 
 When the season appears to be favorable for Bees, 
 and some symptoms of swarming present themselves, 
 the bars of the hive ma} r be taken out one after the 
 other, in order to examine if there be any royal cells, 
 and if the hive be generally in a good condition, re- 
 garding the population and the brood. Having at- 
 tained to the certainty of the combs having several 
 royal cells, partly in the state of nymphs, partly as 
 larvae, and that they are in other respects well fur- 
 nished with the brood of the common Bees ; then the 
 proprietor, accordingly as the season is more or less 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 223 
 
 favourable, and himself more or less in want of 
 swarms, for die purpose of stocking his apiary, may 
 distribute the bars with tneir combs in a greater or 
 less number of hives, and thus form a certain number 
 of artificial swarms. 
 
 We will suppose one of my hives to contain eight 
 bars, on four of which are combs filled entirely with 
 honey ; for example, the four side combs ; and on 
 the other four, are combs appropriated for the brood, 
 and on which are some royal cells. Were it my wish 
 to extend my apiary, I should not hesitate to distri- 
 bute the eight bars amongst four hives ; that is, two to 
 each hive, with this precaution, that in one of the two 
 there is a comb furnished with a royal cell, and that 
 the population is nearly equally distributed in regard 
 to bees and brood. In the case, where the Bees are 
 fewer in proportion, a greater quantity of brood must 
 be given,— and vice versa. I do not entertain any 
 doubt of the swarms thus formed, succeeding perfect- 
 ly well, and especially as they will be established 
 early in the spring, before any natural swarms could 
 be expected ; and it is well known, that early swarms, 
 although small, succeed better than those of a later 
 date, although superior in size. 
 
 1 have also observed, that the formation of an arti- 
 ficial swarm, does not prevent the same hive from 
 throwing a natural swarm, and in this respect, I con- 
 sider artificial swarming to be prejudicial, as it is 
 diverting nature from her usual track, and by impo- 
 verishing a hive of its inhabitants, may be the means 
 of losing it altogether. 
 
 The following circumstance respecting an artificial 
 swarm has lately occurred to me, and I am convinced 
 that, in many cases, the same plan of operation might 
 be pursued with a certainty of success. An appli- 
 
224 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 cation was made to me by a person who kept a small 
 apiary, informing me that he was under an apprehen- 
 sion of losing a hive of Bees, and, under such circum- 
 stances, that he knew of no immediate remedy. He 
 told me, that he was obliged to hive his swarm in a gar- 
 den which did not belong to him, and was therefore 
 compelled to remove it immediately on hiving it, into 
 his own premises. On inspecting his swarm on the 
 following day, it appeared to him to have decreased 
 in numbers, and on visiting the spot where the swarm 
 had alighted, he discovered a cluster of Bees which ap- 
 peared to be in inaction, and not in the least disposed 
 to return to their hive. It immediately occurred to 
 me, that if these Bees had a queen at their head, 
 they might in time form an excellent colony. Hav- 
 ing never succeeded in any of my experiments, per- 
 formed on the principle of Schirach, I considered in 
 what manner a queen was to be obtained. I had 
 then in my possession a hive, which contained a very 
 weak swarm, and I was acquainted with a person who 
 possessed another equally weak. By purchasing 
 that and joining the Bees to my own hive, I gained 
 two important points : I strengthened my own hive, 
 and obtained a queen necessary for the experiment 
 which I had then in view. Having stupefied the 
 Bees of the two hives, I took possession of one of the 
 queens, extracting at the same time from one of the 
 hives, a piece of comb in which some honey had been 
 deposited. Having confined my captive queen in a 
 little box, I fastened the honey-comb on one of the 
 boards of my hive, and then brushed the Bees, which 
 were still hanging in a cluster, on the spot where 
 they had swarmed, into the hive. They appeared at 
 first in great confusion, which was in some degree 
 increased by my disturbing them, in order to come 
 
ON SWARMS IN GENERAL. 225 
 
 to the positive certainty that no queen was amongst 
 them. Having ascertained the absence of a queen 
 to my entire satisfaction, I released my captive 
 monarch, and I could immediately discover, by the 
 motions of the Bees, that she was a most welcome 
 personage. The hive with my unexpected treasure 
 was removed to my own apiary, and I regarded it 
 with the partial feelings of a favourite. 
 
 This experiment however did not end here. Late 
 on the evening of the same clay I visited my new 
 hive, and I was truly rejoiced to observe the success 
 of my experiment. I opened the hive,— the Bees 
 were clustering upon the piece of comb, and I had 
 no doubt that the monarchy was established. Some 
 fear however rested on my mind, that the number 
 of Bees was not sufficient to effect the general pur- 
 poses of the hive ; but how to obtain a reinforcement 
 was a matter of some difficulty. In my apiary, I 
 had a hive, which, though very populous, had 
 from some particular cause, not thrown a single 
 swarm.* I therefore resolved to try the followingex- 
 periment on the subsequent day about eleven o'clock, 
 when I judged that a considerable number of Bees 
 was in the fields : I removed my populous hive from 
 its station to the distance of about a mile from my 
 apiary, and in its place I deposited the hive contain- 
 ing the small number of Bees and the captured 
 queen. I gave this hive the same covering, and 
 dressed it out in all respects perfectly similar to that, 
 which I had removed. The deception succeeded 
 to the full extent of my wishes. The Bees, hurrying 
 from the fields, hesitated not to enter into the hive, 
 
 * In Italy and the Archipelago, those hives which do not swarm are 
 called male hives. 
 
226 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 which they mistook for their parent one, and I thus 
 obtained an ample reinforcement for my hive, which 
 is at this time in a flourishing condition. 
 
 I have every reason to believe that this plan may be 
 successfully adopted in all cases, where the swarms are 
 weak in Bees, and the second swarming of a hive 
 might be altogether prevented by thus taking from it 
 its superfluous population. The supernumerary 
 queens of a hive might thus be turned to great ad- 
 vantage ; and particular hives might be forced to give 
 a portion of their redundant population, in order to 
 strengthen those, which are weaker. 
 
 I am, on the whole, thoroughly persuaded, that 
 artificial swarming may please the amateur, but it 
 will never be generally adopted, nor will it tend to 
 the ultimate advantage of the proprietor. 
 
PREPARATION OP HONEY AND WAX. 227 
 
 CHAP, XVL 
 
 On the method of preparing honey And 
 wax for the markets. 
 
 XF a large quantity of honey be gathered annually, 
 a specific place should be appropriated for its mani- 
 pulation, and its aspect should be invariably to the 
 south. Having deposited the whole quantity, which 
 has been collected from the Bees, the doors and win- 
 dows, and even the chimney should be closed, that 
 no access whatever may be granted to the Bees. 
 Should some however, make their way into the apart- 
 ment, they need not be feared, because on finding 
 themselves imprisoned, they will attempt to free 
 themselves by flying towards the window, which can 
 be opened, and they will immediately depart : pre- 
 caution however becomes now doubly necessary, for 
 it is certain, that Bees have a method of imparting 
 to each other the discovery of any sweets to which 
 they are attached, and it will soon be seen that the 
 windows will be besieged with Bees eager to gain 
 admittance. 
 
 When only a small quantity of honey is collected, 
 it will be sufficient to have two, or three earthen 
 vessels with the same number of sieves of horse-hair 
 eloth, and also some vessels necessary for the recep- 
 tion of the honey, in which it is to be preserved. A 
 Small press is indispensable, and some strong liner* 
 Q2 . 
 
228 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 cloths, which are to contain the matter to be pressed, 
 and finally some great buckets, or glazed earthen 
 vessels with two handles, having a hole about half an 
 inch from the bottom, through which the honey is 
 to be poured as it flows from the combs, and which 
 must be kept constantly closed with a cork. 
 
 To obtain the primary honey, heat, celerity and 
 cleanliness are necessary. The honey should be ex- 
 tracted from the combs as soon as possible after being 
 taken from the hive, as it will then flow more readily. 
 The deprivation should take place on a fine day, 
 merely for the purpose of the manipulation of the 
 honey, and the operator should place himself in such 
 a position in the chamber, that the rays of the sun 
 may fall on the combs from which the honey is to be 
 extracted. Particular care must be taken to clear 
 the combs of all dead Bees, and those cells, which 
 contain brood or pollen, must be cut out, as they 
 will injure the quality of the honey. If the season 
 be far advanced, a stove should be placed in the 
 room, which will make the honey run more co- 
 piously. 
 
 The sieves are now placed over the earthen ves- 
 sels, and the combs are cut into small pieces ; but it 
 must be observed, that they must always be cut in a 
 horizontal direction, and it is better to slice them 
 twice, that is, at the top and the bottom, than in the 
 middle, as it is almost impossible to cut the combs so 
 regularly through the middle, that an incision shall 
 be made into each cell : some persons crush the 
 combs, but this is not advisable, as it is not possi- 
 ble to divest the combs wholly of the brood and 
 bee-bread, and the honey becomes thereby adulte- 
 rated. 
 
 Some water should be kept in readiness to wash 
 
PREPARATION OF HONEY AND WAX. 229 
 
 the hands of the operator, and the utensils, and the 
 water should be preserved for a purpose, which will 
 be afterwards mentioned. 
 
 When a certain quantity of honey has flowed into 
 the pans, it is then poured into the buckets, having 
 the hole at the bottom : these buckets must be care- 
 fully covered. On the following day, the honey may 
 be poured into the vessels, in which it is to be pre- 
 served, or carried to market. In regard to the pre- 
 servation of it, the method will be afterwards de- 
 scribed. 
 
 The honey thus obtained may be considered as 
 the prime sort ; a second inferior kind is procured in 
 the following manner. If the combs from which the 
 prime honey has been extracted be moist, and the 
 weather warm, they should be kneaded a little, and if 
 there be only a small quantity, they should be wrung 
 in a clean cloth. If a large quantity, they should be 
 pressed ; for this purpose, I generally use a piece of 
 canvass of the strongest sort, fifteen or sixteen inches 
 square ; I pass a strong packthread in a semicircle, 
 on the edge of one side of the cloth, and another 
 thread in a semicircle on the opposite edge ; I make 
 a knot with the ends of the two threads, the cloth is 
 set on a large glazed earthen platter, the combs are 
 put into the middle of the cloth, and I squeeze them 
 with my hands ; I then draw on each side the ends 
 of the threads, forming a kind of purse, which I close 
 on tying the threads ; this purse or bag is placed un- 
 der the press, and the honey is squeezed out. I then 
 place another bag on the first, a third, a fourth, and 
 so on, leaving them afterwards to drop; after which 
 I empty the bags, and the wax is then drawn out in 
 cakes, which I lay apart to be melted 
 
 If the weather be cold, I generally wait for a sunny 
 
230 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 day ; I place my combs near a window, that the 
 rays of the sun may soften them, or I place them in a 
 lukewarm oven, in vessels covered with glasses, and 
 when the combs are soft and warm, I press them as 
 has been already described. 
 
 On depositing this inferior honey in the vessels for 
 preservation, the difference from the former will be 
 very perceptible, as a scum will soon arise on the 
 inferior sort, whilst the prime sort will be as pure, as 
 when it was placed in the vessels. 
 
 The utensils, cloths, and the other apparatus 
 should be taken to the vicinity of the apiary, and the 
 Bees will soon imbibe every particle of honey which 
 may remain attached to them. This however, should 
 be performed in the morning of a fine day, and the 
 utensils, &c. should be removed about two or three 
 o'clock, because, were they to remain all night, the 
 Bees might wait so long, until they were caught by 
 the cold, and would consequently perish. No can- 
 died honey should be given them, nor vessels which 
 have contained honey of any consistency, because 
 the Bees in walking over this paste, daub their feet, 
 which being then almost polished, can not cling to 
 any thing ; they indeed soon clean each other, but 
 this honey bedaubs their whole body in such a man- 
 ner, that they are covered with a kind of varnish, 
 which proves their death. 
 
 In regard to the preservation of honey, it is in ge- 
 neral spoiled by being placed in a damp situation. 
 The chemists affirm that honey is deliquescent, that 
 is, that it imbibes the humidity of the air, or place in 
 which it is deposited ; that it dissolves, and whatever 
 its consistency may have been, it becomes soft and 
 sour. To remedy these inconveniences, the honey, 
 as soon as it is put into the preserving vessels, shoulcj 
 
In the Press, and on April 1 will be published, 
 
 BY 
 
 LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, LON- 
 DON; AND ADAM BLACK, EDINBURGH, 
 
 A SYSTEM 
 
 OF 
 
 UNIVERSAL GEOGRAPHY, 
 
 By M. MALTE-BRUN, 
 
 EDITOR OF THE " ANXALES DES VOYAGES," &C. 
 
 This Work is to be completed in seven octavo 
 Volumes, five of which have been already pub- 
 lished in the original, each containing 660 pages 
 of letter-press, nearly double the quantity of an 
 ordinary volume. 
 
 The Translation will be published in Parts, or half 
 Volumes, price 8s. each. 
 
 Part First, containing the half of the First Volume, 
 comprising the « Theory of Mathematical, 
 Physical, and Political Geography," 
 will be ready on the 2d of April next. 
 
 The History and Theory of Geography, and the Description 
 of Asia, Africa, and of the Continent of Europe, will be 
 corrected and improved by the Author, expressly for this 
 Translation— The Description of the British Empire, and 
 of North and South America, is to be revised by Gentle- 
 men belonging to these Countries, whose access to official 
 Documents will enable them to supply such important and 
 valuable information, as will render this part of the Work 
 in a great measure original. 
 
 A complete geographical work should comprise the sub- 
 stance of whatever is most interesting and authentic in the 
 
relations of voyager3 and travellers — in the topographical 
 works published in different countries — and in the statistical 
 inquiries which have occasionally been made, by governments, 
 societies, or individuals. It should describe, with accuracy, 
 the situation, soil, and climate, raw and manufactured pro- 
 ducts, religious and political institutions, of the different 
 countries of the world, and should give its readers every 
 information respecting the number and social condition of 
 their inhabitants. The extreme difficulty of properly exe- 
 cuting a work of this kind is sufficiently obvious. It requires 
 an extent and variety of reading and acquirements to which 
 very few can have any pretensions, and a patience of inves- 
 tigation, and soundness of judgment, still more rarely to be 
 met with. Notwithstanding the popularity of geographical 
 works, it is not, therefore, at all surprising, that they should 
 be so very generally defective. Previous to the publication 
 of Mr. Pinkerton's work, geographical science was, in this 
 country, at the very lowest ebb. The Grammars of Salmon 
 and Guthrie, and the bulkier, but less valuable, compilations 
 of Martin, Gordon, Bankes, &c. presented only a confused 
 mass of historical and statistical details, mixed together 
 without the least regard to order, or to the relative importance 
 of the subjects. But the inaccuracy of these publications 
 was their principal and radical defect. The last slavishly 
 copied the errors of those by which it had been preceded : 
 statements were frequently inserted directly contradictory to 
 each other ; no authorities were ever referred to ; and the 
 reader had either to trust implicitly to the accuracy of the 
 accounts before him, or to disregard them altogether. Mr. 
 Pinkerton made some improvements on this method of 
 compiling. He excluded the long historical details, which 
 merely swell the size of geographical books; and he engrossed 
 into his publication a considerable body of information de- 
 rived from the relations of Spanish voyagers and travellers, 
 and other works, which had not been consulted by former 
 compilers. But Mr. Pinkerton's, though undoubtedly the 
 best system of geography in the English language, is 
 extremely imperfect. 
 
 The extraordinary changes which have taken place render 
 the existing works on geography obsolete. The political 
 constitution and territorial boundaries of the greater part of 
 the kingdoms of Europe have been totally changed since the 
 oveithiow of Napoleon Bonaparte. The purely regal go- 
 
vernments of France and Spain have given place to con- 
 stitutional and limited monarchies 5 and in the newly erected 
 kingdoms of Bavaria and Wirtemberg, the representatives of 
 the people share the supreme legislative authority with the 
 king and the nobles. The ancient republic of Holland lias 
 been definitively united to the Netherlands, Norway to 
 Sweden, Genoa to Sardinia, the rnost valuable part of Saxony 
 to Prussia, Venice to Austria, and the Duchy of Warsaw and 
 Finland to Russia. These, and aft infinite variety of other 
 changes which have taken place in Europe, joined t 
 rapid progress of the republic of the United Stairs, and the 
 emancipation of South America from the dominion of Old 
 Spain, have essentially altered the political and social con- 
 dition of the inhabitants of the two most important qua 
 of the globe. 
 
 But it is an unquestionable fact, that there is no . 
 phical work in the English language (except mere compila- 
 tions for the use of schools should be considered us such) 
 accommodated to this new order of things. When such is 
 the low state of this most useful and attractive science in this 
 country, it cannot be doubted that a translation of M. Multe- 
 Brun's System of Universal Geography will be acceptable 
 to the public. This gentleman was peculiarly well qualified 
 for executing a work of this kind. In conjunction with M. 
 Mentelle, he had a considerable share in the compilation of 
 the "Geographic de toutes les parti* s du Monde/' in lo vols. 
 Subsequently M. Malte-Brun edited the u Annates des 
 Voyages," a publication continued for several years, and 
 which contains more original and important information on 
 geographical and statistical subjects than is to be found in any 
 similar production. The work, which it is now intended to 
 translate, was begun in IS 12, and it is expected will be com- 
 pleted in about two years. Five volumes are already pub- 
 lished, ihejirst contains the History of Geogiaphv, and of 
 the progress of Discovery, from the earliest ages to the pre- 
 sent day ; the second contains the Theory of Mathematical, 
 Physical, and Political Geography; and the three last 
 contain the description of Asia, Africa, and America ; the 
 description of Euro,-, will be comprised in two additional 
 volumes, which will complete the work. 
 
 The character of Malte-Brun's Geography is now so well 
 
4 
 
 established as fo render it unnecessary to enter into any par- 
 ticular examination of its contents. Every part of it has been 
 elaborated with the utmost care aud diligence ; and it is im- 
 possible to peruse a siugi*: chapter without being satisfied of 
 the variety and solidity ot ilie Author's acquirements. Re- 
 ferences are constantly given for every fact of any importance ; 
 and the author's intimate acquaintance with the German, 
 Danish, and other northern languages, as well as with those 
 of the more southern countries of Europe, has enabled him 
 to avail himself of the information embodied in various works 
 of very great merit, which had not been consulted by any pre- 
 ceding French or English writer on geography. The vo- 
 lumes containing the History and the Theory of Geography 
 cannot fail of being peculiarly acceptable to the English, 
 reader. They are executed with the greatest ability, and there 
 are no works of the same kind in our language. Two large 
 impressions of the first three volumes of the Paris edition have 
 already been sold off. 
 
 Malte- Brim's Geography has been translated into Ger- 
 man (a sufficient proof of its merit), and very valuable notes 
 have been added by the German editors. It is intended to 
 incorporate the greater part of these notes in the English edi- 
 tion. And as arrangements have been made for procuring 
 the assistance of the Author himself, and of gentlemen of 
 distinguished literary attainments, both in this country and 
 America, in the revising and correcting of the present transla- 
 tion, the Publishers entertain a confident expectation that it 
 will be in every respect preferable to the original, and that it 
 will form the most complete body of geographical science 
 ever given to the public. 
 
PREPARATION OF HONEY AND WAX. 231 
 
 be well corked down, and deposited in a dry place. 
 Liquid honey should never be put into a vessel con- 
 taining honey, which has acquired any consistency ; 
 this mixture will make it ferment and turn sour. 
 
 In regard to the proportion of honey and wax, the 
 Abbe della Rocca says, " that sixty pounds of honey- 
 comb yielded six or seven pounds of wax ;" but I am 
 convinced that this is an error, because the whole 
 amount of wax which I once obtained from a hive of 
 sixty pounds, was only two pounds, and conse- 
 quently 100 pounds of honey-comb will only yield 
 about three or four pounds of wax. 
 
 There is scarcely any article in commerce which is 
 more adulterated than honey, and as it is generally 
 sold by weight, it is mixed with heavy farinaceous 
 substances, by which means it is never obtained in 
 its genuine purity. 
 
 There are two methods of discovering if honey has 
 been adulterated with flour ; the first is, to dilute a 
 little honey with cold water, and if it be impregnated 
 with flour, the water will become of a milky colour ; 
 the second is to place some honey in a pot, which 
 must be half immersed in a saucepan of water ; when 
 the water is brought to a boiling heat, the honey be- 
 comes perfectly clarified, but if adulterated, a thick 
 scum rises to the top, which on being taken off, and 
 suffered to grow cold, crumbles into a fine farinaceous 
 substance. 
 
 Honey is however, not equal in its quality, but the 
 choice is as easy, as it is important. That honey is 
 best which is new, transparent, of a ropy consistency, 
 of a fragrant and agreeable smell, rather aromatic, 
 and of a sweet and pungent taste. The white should 
 always be preferred to that of a deeper colour ; the 
 new to the old; the honey of the spring, to that of 
 
532 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 the summer, or the autumn, and that which, when 
 boiled, has a little froth, to that which has an abun- 
 dance. The pungent sweetness is also to be preferred 
 to the mere insipid sweetness ; finally, the honey of 
 a middling odour is preferable to that which has a 
 strong one, as the latter is generally adulterated with 
 certain strong herbs, which contribute much to give 
 it those odours and qualities which render it more or 
 less valuable. 
 
 The Greeks were, and the moderns are also, of the 
 opinion, that the use of honey conduces to the pro- 
 longation of life.* All medical men agree that honey 
 taken internally is pectoral, that it assists respiration, 
 is a good digestive, and when applied externally is 
 a dissolvent. It is used in many remedies, and in the 
 veterinary art it is found almost indispensable. *f 
 
 * In the Bibliotheque Econoraique for 1802, there is a recipe for an 
 opiate, the use of which is announced as proper for persons exhausted 
 •with the infirmities of age. In the months of July and August, some 
 kernels are collected before they have arrived at their perfect maturity, 
 and the skin which envelopes them is taken off; they are then bruised 
 in a mortar, until they are reduced to a paste ; the best or prime 
 honey is then taken, and equal quantities of the kernel paste and the 
 honey are mixed together ; the whole being well incorporated, it is 
 put into china pots, which are placed during summer in the cellar, in 
 order to prevent fermentation ; the heat having subsided, the pots are 
 placed in a dry cupboard. 
 
 A spoonful is taken every morning on rising, and no food should be 
 taken for two hours afterwards, because this conserve is in itself very 
 nourishing. It strengthens exhausted nature, repairs and animates the 
 strength. It must not however be taken in sickness, nor under an ex- 
 isting fever. It may be preserved for two or three years. 
 
 + In 1802, some grafts of trees were sent from Italy to France, ina 
 tin box filled with honey. They arrived in high preservation, and 
 flourished well in the nursery of Luxemburg. This experiment may 
 probably lead to others. 
 
 3 
 
€>N THE MORTALITY OF BEES. 23: 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 ■ON THE CAUSE OF THE MORTALITY OF BEES. 
 
 X HERE are two kinds of mortality, which occa- 
 sion the destruction of Bees ; the one involuntary, 
 which is owing to causes independent of our will, 
 and the other voluntary, occasioned by the pro- 
 prietors obtaining possession of the honey and wax. 
 
 The principal cause, which produces mortality, 
 and consequently the destruction of the Bees, pro- 
 ceeds from a bad season, and especially when two or 
 three come in succession : at that time, the hives be- 
 come very weak, and these poor insects are then ex- 
 posed to all sorts of accidents ; besides, when a hive 
 is weakened to a certain point, it is soon attacked by 
 the moths, which is one of the principal causes of 
 the loss of Bees. 
 
 Many country people are persuaded that extreme 
 cold and frosts occasion a great mortality among 
 Bees, and I know many persons who entertained a 
 great fear for the lives of their Bees, during the seve- 
 rity of the winter of 1814, and some were even so 
 infatuated as to wrap their hives up in old blankets, 
 or any other warm substances which they could pro- 
 cure ; the following remarks, however, will shew the 
 error of the system of keeping Bees warm in the 
 winter. 
 
234? MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 Iii the travels of Gmelin in Siberia, in 1733, for 
 the purpose of making observations on the different 
 parts of the internal history of that country, the fol- 
 lowing intimation will be perused with particular 
 interest by the advocates of preserving Bees in a 
 warm temperature. In the above travels, edited by 
 Solnick, (a physician who accompanied Gmelin,) the 
 following passage is to be found : " Although the 
 city of Casan is more southerly than Petersburg, the 
 cold is nevertheless more intense towards the end of 
 December ; the air appears as if frozen, and resem- 
 bles a fog, although the weather at that time is the 
 most clear and fine : this species of fog, or rather this 
 condensation of air prevents the smoke from rising in 
 the chimneys, and the humidity of the breath falls in 
 rime on the chin. When a room is opened, a vapour 
 is suddenly formed about the stove, and in the night 
 the windows are covered with ice a quarter of an 
 inch in thickness. Walking one fine day a few miles 
 from the city of Casan, I had my face, my fingers, 
 and my ears frozen, although I had not been half an 
 hour on the road. I made use of the remedy gene- 
 rally recommended in such cases ; I rubbed them 
 with snow, and I was almost instantly cured. 
 
 " Notwithstanding the excessive cold, there is a 
 great number of Bees kept in Siberia. On the road 
 from Casan to Catherina Bourg, we found several 
 trees, which were like so many hives of honey. The 
 natives hollow the trunk of an aspin, willow, or lime 
 or any other soft wood to the length of five or six 
 feet : at one of the sides they make an opening of 
 ten or twelve inches long, and four broad ; they close 
 the opening with aboard fitted in a groove, and form 
 some little holes for the ingress and egress of the 
 -Bees. They place these hives on the edges of the 
 
ON THE MORTALITY OF BEES. 233 
 
 woods, and suspend them to the trees by bands of 
 rushes, in order to prevent the bears from eating the 
 honey, of which they are very voracious. The honey 
 and wax which are obtained, form a considerable 
 branch of the commerce of Casan." 
 
 The public journals having informed us, that at the 
 commencement of 1809, the cold rose in Russia to 36 
 degrees of the scale of Reaumur, I inquired of an 
 amateur of Bees in that country, if after the intense 
 colds which take place there, he had ever known the 
 Bees or any other insects perish ; he assured me that 
 it never took place, and that in the summers which 
 succeeded to the intense winters, there were as many 
 Bees in Russia, as after the milder winters. 
 
 In speaking of the commerce of the Russians, a 
 Polish author informs us, " there is so much honey 
 and wax found in the woods, that independently of 
 the considerable quantity, which the Russians employ 
 for their wax tapers and their mead, they sell annually 
 to strangers more than two thousand weight. 
 
 A third proof, that intense cold is not destructive 
 to Bees, is extracted from the relation of the travels 
 in Lapland, by an officer appointed by the King of 
 Sweden to accompany the French academicians de- 
 spatched to the north to measure the most northern 
 degree. w ' In these countries, in the vicinity of the 
 pole," says this officer, M there are three months of 
 continual night in the winter ; the cold is so intense, 
 that spirits of wine freeze in the thermometer ; when 
 the door of a warm room is opened, the exterior air 
 converts the vapour immediately into snow. To ob- 
 serve the solitude in the cities, it might be supposed 
 that the cold had killed all the inhabitants ; it some- 
 times receives such sudden augmentations, that those 
 who are unfortunately exposed to it, lose their arms, 
 
236 MANACxEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 their legs, and sometimes their life. In the summer 
 there are three months of continual day ; and we are 
 sometimes so annoyed by Bees ancljiies of all kinds, 
 that we are obliged to burn green wood to occasion a 
 quantity of smoke, that they may be driven away." 
 
 I have met with many amateurs who pretend, that 
 in the north the winters are too long, and the sum- 
 mers too short, to enable the natives to keep Bees : 
 some travellers, however, attest their existence in the 
 countries bordering on the pole. The summers in- 
 deed are short, but for the Bees they are almost as 
 long as in our climate, because there is no night in 
 the months of June and July, and they are, as has 
 been already noticed, in prodigious numbers, on 
 account of the resinous trees which cover those 
 countries. 
 
 In regard to our own climate, the following expe- 
 riment has enabled me to ascertain the interior tem- 
 perature of our hives, at the time of the greatest cold 
 of the winter of 1814. Being desirous of ascertain- 
 ing the degree of heat which preserves the Bees in 
 our hives during the winter, I had some glass hives 
 constructed, and in their interior, in the middle, I 
 placed some wooden cases, of a diameter proportion- 
 ate to the size of the thermometers, which it was my 
 design they should enclose : these cases were studded 
 all along with holes. I introduced the thermometer 
 into the hives, at the middle of the upper part. I 
 fixed my attention particularly on two hives ; the 
 one in the open air, and the other in a green-house ; 
 and, in order to have a point of comparison, I placed 
 two other thermometers exterior to these hives, and 
 in their immediate proximity. Furnished with this 
 apparatus, I visited my hives daily : I found, on the 
 day of the greatest cold, the thermometer in the open 
 
ON THE MORTALITY OF BEES. 237 
 
 air was twenty degrees below the freezing point, 
 whilst that in the hive was twenty degrees above it, 
 making a difference of forty degrees. In regard to 
 the thermometers in the green-house, that which was 
 exterior to the hive was twelve degrees below the 
 freezing point, and that within, which on the pre- 
 ceding evening was twenty degrees above, had sunk 
 to five degrees below. I became alarmed for the 
 fate of these Bees ; and, on examining the interior, I 
 saw that the Bees had quitted the thermometer, and 
 had retired to another part of the hive, where they 
 were very lively. This incontestable proves two 
 things ; first, that the Bees in a state of union, fear 
 not the greatest colds of our climate ; secondly, that 
 they are not in a state of torpor during the frost, as 
 has been asserted by some authors. * 
 
 I knew one apiarian who obstinately maintained 
 that he had lost twelve hives by the cold during the 
 rigorous winter already mentioned : but I was so 
 thoroughly convinced that some other cause had co- 
 operated in their destruction, that I requested per- 
 mission to examine the hives. This was granted to 
 me ; and I soon discovered the real cause. It was 
 true that the cold had been the virtual cause of the 
 death of the Bees ; but this cold had been able to 
 operate upon the Bees by the negligence of the pro- 
 prietor. His hives were in the most rotten and de- 
 cayed state : the cold had the power of penetrating 
 
 * I must not however take to myself the whole merit of this disco- 
 very : M. Huber says, p. 361, of his Observations, that the Bees are 
 so free from torpor during the winter, that, when the thermometer 
 falls in the open air to many degrees below the freezing point, it re- 
 mains attwentv-four or twenty-five above it, in those hives which are 
 well peopled. "The Bees then press closely towards each other, and 
 thus, by mutual action, increase their natural heat. Dubost also 
 mentions it in bis Mcthode avantageuse de gouvevner les Abeilles, 
 
$3$ MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 into all parts of the hive, and the Bees were therefore 
 unable to preserve their natural heat.* 
 
 It is certain that more hives are destroyed by heat 
 than by cold. The interior heat of a hive in summer 
 is commonly from twenty-seven to twenty-nine de- 
 grees of Reaumur, which is a warmth necessary for 
 the prosperity of the brood. The Bees know, in 
 some degree, in what manner to maintain it at this 
 point, by the varied agitation of their wings on the 
 organs of their respiration, which are underneath their 
 wings. They can endure the heat to thirty or thirty- 
 one degrees, but at thirty-two, and above that, they 
 cannot support it. If the heat rises suddenly to 
 thirty-two, the Bees take immediately to clustering 
 on the outside of the hive, or a certain number leaves 
 the hive with a queen at their head. This forms the 
 first swarm. 
 
 The greatest danger to be apprehended from heat, 
 is the immediate influence of the sun on a hive, 
 which the proprietor has incautiously, or ignorantly 
 left exposed. The rays, darting through the hives, 
 soften the combs, until they fall and crush not only 
 a number of common Bees, but the queen, and destroy 
 also the brood. By these means, the hive is wholly 
 ruined. I once saw three-fourths of the Bees of a 
 
 * The opinion of Keys, in regard to the effect of cold on Bees, is 
 perfectly paradoxical : in the first place, he says, that the milder the 
 ■winter and spring have been, the sooner their store is exhausted. This, 
 ■without doubt, is true; and as it is certain that extreme cold has no 
 injurious effect on Bees, it follows, that a cold winter is beneficial to 
 them, as it preserves the food, and in weak hives this circumstance is 
 of great importance. Mr. Keys, however, in the following page (164) 
 says, the warmer the hives are kept the better. For what use, or of 
 what benefit this warmth can be, I cannot conjecture, unless it dis- 
 poses the Bees to eat more food, which is certainly no benefit, and- 
 warmth in itself i* not of any particular advantage to the Bees in 
 winter. 
 
ON THE MORTALITY OF BEES. 239 
 
 swarm killed by the influence of the sun, in trans- 
 porting them in a mahogany box, after the manner 
 of Wildman, from the vicinity of London to Chisle- 
 hurst, in Kent. 
 
 The best method to avert the influence of the sun, 
 is to cover the hive with straw, in the manner of Fig. 
 7, PI. IV. This material has also the advantage of 
 not permitting the rain to penetrate, which is another 
 cause of the mortality of the Bees, as it creates a 
 humidity in the hive, which is very prejudicial to 
 them. The humidity of our winters, added to that 
 which exhales from the Bees, and retained by the 
 temperature in the hive, is the cause of very serious 
 injury happening to a hive. It renders the combs 
 mouldy and musty, infects the Bees with the dysen- 
 tery, or at least occasions a great deal of trouble to 
 them in gnawing away from their combs that part 
 which is spoiled. 
 
 The inconvenience and danger resulting from humi- 
 dity, may in a great degree be obviated, by placing 
 the hives in a dry situation, facing the north. It is 
 in the mild winters, that the Bees suffer most from 
 the humidity of the hive. During severe cold, the 
 Bees being less vigorous, consume little, whereas 
 during a mild winter, they consume a great deal, and 
 the hive being continually full of vapours, which ex- 
 hale from the numerous population within, becomes 
 at last a humid, unwholesome, and destructive habi- 
 tation, unless the vapours be able to escape, and a 
 renewal of air be effected. For this purpose I think 
 it would be advisable not to plaster the hive to the 
 board during the winter, by which a current of air 
 would be produced. As to the greater admission of 
 cold which would result from this plan, no fear 
 whatever need be entertained ; for the apiarian will 
 
240 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 always find it to his advantage to increase the cold- 
 ness to his Bees, rather than to mitigate it. To pro- 
 tect the Bees from humidity, some persons deposit 
 the hives, during winter, in a dry and dark place ; 
 and it is alleged that another advantage accrues from 
 the adoption of this plan, which is, that the Bees, 
 being in total darkness, consume a less quantity of 
 provision. I grant the truth of this position ; but I 
 would ask whether that advantage be not dearly pur- 
 chased by the immediate disadvantage of the Bees, 
 not being able to take their flight during a sunny day, 
 for the purpose of voiding their foeces ? It is most 
 certain, that these periodical flights of the Bees tend 
 very much to the preservation of their health, by 
 maintaining cleanliness in the hive, and preventing 
 the consequent introduction into it of any infected 
 air. I never yet saw the Bees of a hive, which had 
 been confined during the whole winter, that were not 
 in the spring, weak, sickly, and dispirited. Nature 
 points out the necessity of the Bees taking their win- 
 ter flights : and the prevention of them therefore 
 must necessarily be attended with injurious conse- 
 quences. 
 
 During the time, however, that snow is upon the 
 ground, the Bees should be positively prohibited from 
 leaving the hive, and the tin-wicket, Fig. 8, PI. IV., 
 should be kept constantly down ; or I would advise 
 an entrance of the form Fig. 9, PI. IV., to be affixed 
 to every hive. It is simply composed of three per- 
 pendicular bits of wood, about two inches in height 
 and one in breadth, surmounted by one equally broad 
 and about two inches in length, in which two grooves 
 are made to admit two sliding perforated tin plates, 
 one of which has an incision, merely large enough 
 to allow one Bee to come out at a time. On those 
 
ON THE MORTALITY OF BEES. 2-H 
 
 days, when snow is upon the ground, this plate must 
 be taken away, and another substituted in its place, 
 which is simply perforated for the purpose of admit- 
 ting the air. On a fine genial day, both these plates 
 may be removed, in order that no obstruction may 
 be offered to the Bees taking their periodical flights. 
 Snow is a great cause of the mortality of Bees in 
 the winter. Allured by the great reflection of light, 
 they issue from the hive at the first glimpse of a ray 
 of the sun, and, settling upon the snow, are imme- 
 diately chilled and die. During last winter, I once 
 visited the apiary of a friend, who had been so incau- 
 tious as to omit confining his Bees during the snow. 
 It was a fine, clear, sunny day, and the Bees, enticed 
 by the transitory warmth, had left the hive to take 
 their periodical flight. It was with the greatest mor- 
 tification that I saw the ground literally studded with 
 Bees, apparently dead and dying. I knew, however, 
 that with the former it was but a suspension of life ; 
 and, collecting them all in a small basket, I hastened 
 with them to the fire. In about twenty minutes, or 
 half an hour, they were all recovered, and I had the 
 satisfaction to see them fly back to their parent hive. 
 Jtis, however, impossible to calculate the number of 
 Bees, which may have fallen on the snow beyond my 
 line of observation ; and also the number from other 
 apiaries, in the neighbourhood, where a rooted and 
 deplorable prejudice in favour of ancient customs 
 precludes the introduction of any new improvement. 
 The most determined cause of the mortality of the 
 Bees has however yet to be mentioned, and' that is, 
 famine ; and considering the facility with which that 
 evil is averted, it is deplorable to observe the extent 
 to which its ravages are carried. At the conclusion 
 of the season, it is the duty of every apiarian to weigh 
 
 R 
 
242 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 his hives, and he may with safety be allowed to 
 deprive them of all their honey exceeding twenty 
 pounds. A well peopled hive will subsist during 
 the winter on twelve or fourteen pounds of honey ; 
 but this is taken at the maximum, as the consump- 
 tion in a hive depends in a great measure on the 
 mildness, or coldness of the winter. M. Ducarne, 
 who was a great advocate for the immuring of Bees 
 during the winter in complete darkness, asserts, that 
 by this method a well peopled hive will consume 
 only two pounds of honey. I can give full credit to 
 the truth of his assertion, in the same manner that I 
 would to the asseveration of the physician, that his 
 patient labouring under a high paroxysm of fever, or 
 in a highly debilitated state, was very deficient in 
 his appetite. In proportion to the health of the 
 Bees, so will be the consumption of their food ; and 
 amongst the numerous apiarians and amateurs, who 
 have tried the system of excluding the Bees from all 
 egress from the hive in winter, by confining them in 
 a dark place, I never yet discovered one, who de- 
 clared that the Bees were in good health at the re- 
 turn of spring.* 
 
 It is an undoubted fact that fewer hives die of 
 hunger in the northern countries than in the southern : 
 this, on the first view, may appear paradoxical ; but 
 it is grounded on the following observations : — In the 
 north, the extreme cold preserves the Bees in a state 
 of inanimation, and prevents them from consuming- 
 their winter provender, which, on the return of 
 spring, they find in great abundance, and thus es- 
 
 * The Germans improving upon the system of confining the Bee» 
 during the winter, now adopt the practice of burying their hives. 
 This is out-heroding Herod, and I am convinced that no apiarian will* 
 practise it a second time. 
 
ON THE MORTALITY OF BEES. 243 
 
 tape the great evil of famine. On the contrary, in 
 the southern climates, where the winters are mild, 
 if by any untoward event, a hive has not been able 
 to collect a certain quantitiy of honey, the Bees, 
 being in a state of constant liveliness, consume their 
 provisions without thought or economy, and the 
 stock, not being originally great, is exhausted before 
 the return of spring. 
 
 To this argument an answer may be given,— that 
 as in the milder climates, the* opportunities for the 
 collection of honey are not only various, but also 
 more lasting, than in the northern, it might be sup- 
 posed that there are few hives which are not provid- 
 ed with a sufficiency for the winter season. There 
 are, however, certain casualties, which will occur 
 even in the most favourable climates, and a series of 
 accidents may take place, which baffle the skill of 
 the most attentive apiarian. AH these causes com- 
 bined may prevent the collection of a sufficient quan- 
 tity of honey for the winter season; and at the com- 
 mencement of spring the apiarian is astonished to find 
 himself deprived of many hives, oil the profits of 
 which he had depended during the ensuing summer. 
 
 On the subject of weighing the hive, particular 
 attention should be paid whether it be an old one, or 
 new one. I have known many persons deceived in 
 this respect, who, when they imagined that they had 
 left a sufficiency for the maintenance of the Bees 
 during the winter, were surprised to find on the re- 
 turn of spring that the Bees had been starved to 
 death. This arises from the quantity of Bee-bread 
 generally found in old hives, which, being of a 
 very ponderous nature, deceives the proprietor in 
 his calculations. The difference of three pounds at 
 rS 
 
244 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 least should always be made between the weight 
 of the honey to be left in an old hive, and that 
 which is to be left in a new one : that is, that in an 
 old hive about twenty-four pounds should be left, 
 whereas twenty pounds* will be sufficient in a new 
 one. 
 
 The danger of famine may at all times be averted 
 by an early attention to the wants of the Bees, and 
 an adequate supply of food. There is, therefore, no 
 excuse for the proprietor, who deplores the loss of his 
 Bees by famine, as he had it in his power to save 
 them with very little trouble and expense. The man- 
 ner of feeding will be explained hereafter. 
 
 I would advise that a second weighing of the hives 
 should take place about the middle of January. The 
 state of the hive will then be exactly ascertained, 
 and food administered to it, if necessary. Let this 
 operation however be done on a clear and brilliant 
 day, with no snow on the ground, and about twelve 
 o'clock in the day. Due caution ought also to be 
 observed not to meddle with the hives during the 
 time of frost ; the motion will be apt to disunite the 
 Bees, and not possessing sufiicient vigour to form a 
 reunion, they inevitably perish. 
 
 I have inquired of many persons, who deplored the 
 Iqss of their hives during the winter of 1813, the 
 particular state in which they found their hives 
 after the loss of the Bees. The general answer was, 
 — that they could not find any thing in the hive, 
 
 * Butler's remarks on this subject are very correct. He says, that 
 no hope can be entertained of saving a hive through the winter which 
 weighs only ten or twelve pounds. Those of fifteen pounds may be 
 preserved by feeding ; those from fifteen to twenty have need of very 
 little food, whilst those of twenty pounds and above, are free from 
 all fear of famine Butler's Feminine Monarchy , quarto edit. 1623- 
 
ON THE MORTALITY OF BEES. 245 
 
 which could serve as nourishment to the Bees, and 
 that they were found dead in the cells, and on the 
 stand. Famine alone, then, and not cold, produced 
 their death. I oiler this as a warning to all apiarians 
 to attend to the feeding of their hives, and particu- 
 larly the late swarms ; they will be amply repaid for 
 their trouble during the ensuing summer. 
 
246 MANAGEMENT OF BEES< 
 
 CHAP. XVIIL 
 
 ON THE LIFE OF THE BEE, AND THE PERIOD Q] 
 DURATION OF A HIVE. 
 
 1 HERE are two seasons, which exhaust the hives 
 of their inhabitants ; the spring and the autumn. It 
 may be calculated, with some degree of certainty, 
 that more than a third of a hive dies in the autumn ; 
 and nearly the same number may be reckoned in the 
 spring. The life of a Bee has been generally esti- 
 mated at one year or two at the furthest. M. Reau- 
 mur was of this opinion, although the experiments 
 which he made, produced no positive confirmation.* 
 Notwithstanding the opinion of this able naturalist, 
 I am inclined to believe that, barring the accidents 
 which frequently happen to Bees, and which occa- 
 sion a violent death, they may live three, four, or 
 
 * M. L'AbbeTessier, in the Eqcyclopedie Methodique, says, that the 
 period of the life of a Bee is yet founded only on conjecture. One 
 year may, however, be considered as the extent of it. In the month 
 of April, M. Reaumur marked five hundred Bees with a red desiccative 
 varnish ; he observed them during the following months, but in No- 
 vember not one of them was to be seen. 
 
 The age of the Bee is estimated by the German apiarians at one year; 
 and they hold it as undoubted, that the queen of the present year is 
 not to be found in the hive the following one. The age of the com- 
 mon Bee is estimated at one yeay or one year and a half. 
 
ON THE LIFE OF THE BEE. 247 
 
 even more years. I ground my opinion on the fol- 
 lowing principle : — If the queens, who lay annually 
 a great number of eggs, live, as it is acknowledged 
 by all naturalists, three or four years, the Bees, by a 
 natural conclusion, ought to live as long; for it is an 
 observation founded on general experience, that, in 
 the natural economy of insects and animals, the fe- 
 male, who undergoes the pain and dangers of par- 
 turition, is shorter lived than the male. I can posi- 
 tively affirm, that the same queen has inhabited a 
 hive for four years, and it is proved by the following 
 circumstance : In the spring of 1S09 I had occasion 
 to feed one of my hives, and in the evening, when I 
 took the plate from the hive, to my great mortifica- 
 tion, I found the queen apparently dead., having been 
 drowned in the liquid. I hastened with her to the 
 house ; and by dint of as much attention as was ever 
 bestowed by the most philanthropic member of the 
 Humane Society in recovering a drowned man, I 
 succeeded in restoring my valuable patient to life. 
 The act, however, which I committed, during the 
 syncope of the queen, might be followed with great 
 advantage in certain countries, for I clipped the wings 
 of royalty, and then, with a slight mutilation, returned 
 her to her longing subjects. This queen belonged to 
 a strong second swarm of that year, and I clipped her 
 wings for the purpose of ascertaining on the following 
 year, whether the old queen, or a new one departed 
 with the swarm. In the year 1810, after the swarm 
 had departed from the hive, I drove the Bees from it, 
 and I found my mutilated queen still in the possession 
 of her original kingdom. In the year 1813, I had 
 occasion to unite a weak swarm to this hive, and in 
 joining them, I discovered my old mutilated friend 
 again. This same hive was, however, from some par- 
 
248 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 ticular cause forsaken in the following year, and the 
 fate of my quondam friend, the queen, remains to this 
 day a secret to me. I, however, ascertained the fact, 
 that a Queen Bee can live four years, and I draw the 
 conclusion, that a common Bee could live the same 
 period, were it not exposed to particular dangers, 
 exteriorly to the hive. 
 
 In regard to the duration of a hive, it happens sel- 
 dom in this country that it is permitted to exist dur- 
 ing its natural term. The barbarous method of 
 smoking the Bees is too prevalent in this country to 
 admit of any positive data being given, on which to 
 found an opinion of the longevity of the Bees. Even 
 with myself, and other apiarians, who do not murder 
 the Bees, many circumstances combine to prevent 
 any particular hive from being kept to a good old age. 
 The various calamities to which Bees are subject, 
 their maladies, and their enemies, seldom allow of a 
 hive being kept in the same apiary above five or six 
 years, and indeed the very materials of which the hive 
 itself is constructed, being in themselves highly perish- 
 able, and open to all the vicissitudes of the weather, 
 is in itself, a great drawback to a protracted duration. 
 
 In the Archipelago, where the hives are made of 
 baked earth, it is very usual to observe hives of ten, 
 fifteen, and twenty years of age ; and unless some 
 bad seasons intervene, or they be not wilfully de- 
 stroyed for the honey and wax which they contain, 
 it is supposed that they would last much longer: 
 they have been known in that country, of the age of 
 forty, or fifty years, but this case is very nnv. It 
 must not, however, be supposed, that in fixing the 
 period of duration of a hive at fifteen or twenty years, 
 it is meant thereby to infer, that it is peopled with 
 the same queen, or the same Bees during the whole 
 
ON THE LIFE OF THE EEE. 2-1/) 
 
 of that time. A hive in this respect may be com- 
 pared to a city: the inhabitants who founded and 
 built it, are long since dead, but it still remains peo- 
 pled by their descendants, and many perhaps have 
 emigrated from it, to form a colony elsewhere. 
 
 It is considered, that the constantly increasing ao*e 
 of the combs, is one substantial reason for fixing the 
 duration of a hive at the short period of a few years, 
 as, in proportion to the combs growing old, the Bees 
 are more likely to be infected with a noxious air, 
 which is so prejudicial to them. The common 
 straw hives, which are kept as stocks, and the combs 
 of which are never renewed, by not undergoing the 
 process of deprivation, seldom last above three or 
 four years; but on the other hand, in the hive of 
 which I make use, I have the power, in the course of 
 three years, of renewing all the combs of the hive, 
 and as it is certain that the Bees are in a constant 
 state of renewal to fill up the chasms which are made 
 in the population by various accidents and enemies, 
 it is not an improbable case, that a hive may last 
 fifteen or twenty years, provided the materials of 
 which it is made, will endure that period.* 
 
 One of the most injurious effects attendant on an 
 old hive, is the facility with which the moth commits 
 its ravages, and the observation of Wildman was 
 most correct, when he says, that these little and appa- 
 rently insignificant insects are more injurious to the 
 
 * Lapoutre in his Truite Economique des Jbeilles, asserts, " that he 
 »aw a hive which was thirty years old." Duchet, in his Culture des 
 Jbeilles, says, " that he preserved a hive for twenty-eight years, and 
 then that it died by mere accident. In 1771, he had a hive twenty -one 
 years old. Pequet, of Noyou, preserved a hive for twenty-five year*. 
 I do not, however, mention these circumstances with a view to induce 
 any person to keep a hive for such a length of time, without at times 
 obliging the Bees to renow their combs. 
 
250 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 Bees, than all their other enemies. In proportion as 
 a hive decays, the moths find it more easy to pene- 
 trate through the chasms, and it must be allowed, 
 that the straw hives are particularly open to this in- 
 convenience, unless certain measures are adopted to 
 protect them from the influence of the weather. I 
 therefore recommend that a strong coat of paint 
 should be given to the exterior of the hive, and in 
 proportion as the interior is gradually deprived of the 
 combs, it should also be well cleaned ; this mea- 
 sure will protract the duration of the hive, by pro- 
 tecting it exteriorly from the influence of the weather, 
 and interiorly from the ravages of the moth. 
 
ON THE DEPRIVATION OF THE HIVES. Sol 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 ( ON THE DEPRIVATION OF THE HIVES, AND WHE- 
 THER IT BE BETTER TO SUFFOCATE THEM, OR 
 TO DEPRIVE THEM OF A PART OF THEIR HO- 
 NEY AND WAX. 
 
 ONE of the most important, and serious questions 
 which can be agitated relative to the management of 
 Bees, and that which particularly merits the atten- 
 tion of the amateur, is, whether it be more advisable 
 to suffocate annually the Bees of a certain number of 
 hives, or to save their lives by depriving them of a 
 part of their treasure ? 
 
 The majority of the moderns are of the latter senti- 
 ment, and the ban of the humane apiarian has been 
 fulminated against all those who still adhere to the 
 barbarous system of suffocation, and the epithet of 
 public assassins has been bestowed upon them. It is 
 in England, however, that the system of suffocation 
 particularly exists, nor can any hope be entertained 
 of a reform in this measure, until the form of the 
 hive be changed. The deprivation of honey from the 
 common cottage hive is an operation which few 
 persons have the inclination or the courage to per- 
 form. The enthusiastic Bonner attempted to esta- 
 blish the deprivation of the common hive in his 
 native country, and performed the operation gratui- 
 tously, whenever he was required. By some people 
 3 
 
c 252 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 it was, however, considered as a complete innovation 
 of the general custom, and therefore it should not 
 be encouraged : others could not be convinced that 
 their interest was concerned in saving the lives of 
 the Bees, and the system of suffocation was resumed 
 in all its pristine force. 
 
 As, however, there may be many persons, who 
 entertain a desire of being made acquainted with the 
 process of deprivation, and probably of adopting it, — ■ 
 the following is the description. Having ascertained 
 the weight of the hive, and consequently the quan- 
 tity of honey-comb which is to be extracted, begin 
 the operation as soon as evening sets in, by reverting 
 the full hive, and placing an empty one over it ; par- 
 ticular care must be taken that the two hives are of 
 the same diameter, for if they differ in their dimen- 
 sions, it will not be possible to effect the driving of 
 the Bees. The hives being placed on each other, 
 a sheet, or large table cloth must be tied round them 
 at their point of junction, in order to prevent the 
 Bees from molesting the operator. The hives, being 
 thus arranged, beat the sides gently with a stick or 
 the hand, but particular caution must be used to 
 beat it on those parts, to which the combs are at- 
 tached, and which will be found parallel with the 
 entrance of the hive. The ascent of the Bees into 
 the upper hive will be known by a loud humming 
 noise, indicative of the pleasure in finding an asylum 
 from their enemy ; in a few minutes, the whole com- 
 munity will have ascended, and the hive with the 
 Bees in it may be placed upon the pedestal, from 
 which the. full hive was removed. The hive, from 
 which the Bees have been driven, must then be taken 
 into the house, and the operation of cutting out 
 the homy-comb, commences. A few Bees will be 
 
 2 
 
ON THE DEPRIVATION OF THE HIVES. <253 
 
 found still straggling about the combs, but no atten- 
 tion need be paid to them, for it is certain that the 
 queen is amongst the Bees left in the hive in the 
 apiary, and fear is too much impressed upon them to 
 excite their propensity to make use of their sting. 
 Having extracted the requisite quantity of comb, 
 this opportunity must be embraced of inspecting the 
 hive, and of cleaning it from any noxious matter. 
 In cutting the combs, however, particular attention 
 should be paid not to cut into two, or three combs 
 at once, but having commenced the cutting of one, 
 to pursue it to the top of the hive ; and this caution 
 is necessary, for two reasons. If you begin the cut- 
 ting of two or three combs at one time, were you to 
 extract the whole, of them, you would perhaps take 
 too much, and secondly, to stop in the middle of a 
 comb, would be attended with very pernicious con- 
 sequences, as the honey would drop from the cells 
 which have been cut into, and then the Bees, on 
 being returned to their native hive, might be drowned 
 in their own sweets. The Bees, also, in their return 
 to their natural domicile, being still under the impres- 
 sion of fear, would not give so much attention to the 
 honey, which flows from the divided cells, and as it 
 would fall on the board, and from that on the ground, 
 the Bees belonging to the other hives, would imme- 
 diately scent the wasted treasure, and a general attack 
 upon the deprivated hive might be dreaded. The 
 deprivation of the honey-comb being effected, the 
 hive may be returned to its former position, and re- 
 versing the hive, which contains the Bees, and 
 placing the deprivated hive over it, they may be left 
 in that situation till the morning, when the Bees 
 will be found to have taken possession of their 
 native hive. 
 
2*54 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 In regard to the time of the year, in which this 
 operation is to be performed, various opinions exist % 
 — some maintain that it Ought not to be performed 
 until the end of the season, that is, in October, 
 whilst others are of opinion, that it should take place 
 immediately after the swarming season. I am an 
 advocate for the latter period, and it is founded on 
 this principle, that the Bees from the month of August 
 to October, may replenish the vacuum in the hive 
 occasioned by the deprivation, which cannot fail 
 being of essential benefit to the Bees ; but were the 
 operation to be performed in October, the chasm 
 would remain till the spring, and the quantity of 
 humid air in the hive would be greatly increased. 
 
 In the hive which I use, the deprivation is effected 
 with peculiar facility and neatness, the driving of the 
 Bees, by which a number is unavoidably killed, is' 
 not required, and the comb is taken out in its full 
 and perfect length. 
 
 It is curious to trace the system and opinions not 
 only of the ancients but of the moderns, on this inte- 
 resting topic. Cato, the Censor, who wrote on rural 
 matters, and who died one hundred and forty-eight 
 years before Christ, makes no mention whatever 
 of Bees ; although we find from earlier documents, 
 and even the sacred writings, that honey was well- 
 known. 
 
 Varro, who wrote on the same subject one hundred 
 and twenty-three years after Cato, is the first whose 
 writings make mention of Bees ; and, what is parti- 
 cularly interesting on this point, he informs us of the 
 manner in which honey was collected in his time. 
 He mentions two methods of proceeding ; the first 
 is, by changing the Bees from one hive to another, 
 and the second by deprivation.* 
 
 * Varr. lib. cap. 4.' 
 
ON THE DEPRIVATION OF THE HIVES. 255 
 
 He is, however, silent in regard to the detail of 
 these operations : he merely makes mention of some 
 precautions, which it is necessary to take on those 
 occasions, viz. — the hive into which the Bees are 
 removed, should be rubbed with balm, because the 
 odour attracts them, and some pieces of comb should 
 be placed within, near the entrance, which will pre- 
 vent the Bees from regretting their departure from 
 their native domicile. 
 
 In regard to the deprivation, he gives it as his opi- 
 nion, that nine-tenths of the honey maybe extracted : 
 in this opinion he is in a manifest error. The pro- 
 duce, however, from these methods was probably not 
 great ; for in his time, honey was very scarce : it was 
 only made use of in the sacrifices, or at the tables of 
 the great, in the first and second courses. 
 
 Columella, who lived in the forty-third year of the 
 Christian era, makes no mention of the change of 
 Bees from one hive to another, but merely of the de- 
 privation, on which he descants with greater prolixity 
 than Varro. But it must be confessed, that his senti- 
 ments on this subject are very obscure to the reader, 
 who reflects on the difficulties and inconveniences 
 which result from the operations which he- pro- 
 poses. 
 
 These two authors are, however, wholly silent re- 
 specting the method of destroying the Bees to obtain 
 their honey, which is a proof that it was not in 
 vogue in their time, or they would have either re- 
 commended or condemned it. 
 
 The method, therefore, of removing the Bees from 
 one hive into another, appears to have been first 
 invented for the purpose of obtaining the honey ; for, 
 with respect to the wax, it was regarded in former 
 times as an object of little value, but still it was not 
 
956 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 to be wholly neglected. But the great inconvenience 
 to which this manner of collecting the honey is sub- 
 ject, is that which Varro particularly mentions, in 
 giving an opportunity to the Bees to forsake the new 
 hive, which cannot be remedied but by using the 
 precautions of which I have already spoken ; and it 
 was this very inconvenience which first su^eested 
 the idea of deprivation. In order to effect this pur- 
 pose, Columella invented the hive, which opens on 
 the back, and at the top. 
 
 The second method not answering the expectation 
 of certain proprietors, owing to the paucity of the 
 produce, the last resource was tried, which was 
 massacring the Bees to obtain their honey. 
 
 As habits, whether they be good or bad, which 
 have been once adopted, have always partisans, who 
 perpetuate them from generation to generation, these 
 three methods of gathering the honey have subsisted 
 to the present day. They, who adopt the two former, 
 are probably inclined to them from compassion to 
 these charming insects, to whom they are willing to 
 sacrifice their own interests ; but those, who adopt 
 the latter, practise it, most certainly, as the supposed 
 surest means of obtaining the greatest, quantity of 
 honey and wax. 
 
 The method of collecting the honey by suffocating 
 the Bees, is adopted in most countries, but particu- 
 larly in England, France, and Italy. Ranconi, in his 
 Dictionary on Italian Agriculture, says that the suf- 
 focation of Bees is a most abusive practice, as it 
 tends to destroy this species of insects, so interesting 
 by their ingenious industry. 
 
 Contardi, in his thirty-second note, also says, that 
 the cause of the number of hives in his country being 
 so very small, arises from the custom of killing the 
 
ON THE DEPRIVATION OF THE HIVES. 257 
 
 Bees. Among the French apiarians one very able 
 and skilful one has appeared, M. La Grenee, who is 
 a strenuous advocate tor the suffocation of the Bees, 
 and his arguments carry with them such validity* 
 that I shall think myself exonerated from the charge 
 of prolixity, if I give his opinion in full, and the dis- 
 cussion of it cannot but be interesting to apiarians, 
 as it forms the basis of the economy of the Bees, 
 and on which the excellence of their management 
 depends. 
 
 " Let not any person suppose," says M. La 
 Grenee, " that in adopting the method of suffocat- 
 ing the Bees, I am prejudiced against the reasons, 
 which have been advanced to induce me to relin- 
 quish it. — No, I have scrupulously perused all the 
 writings on the subject. I have weighed them most 
 attentively : I have not only studied their theory, 
 but practised the different methods which have been 
 laid down ; but neither books nor experiments have 
 been able to convince me, that there is a more pre- 
 ferable method than that which I use, which is 
 suffocation. 
 
 " The following are the grounds on which I found 
 my opinion. What is the question between those 
 who argue on the point? It is to procure for the 
 country an abundance of honey and wax, which did 
 not previously exist, and to the proprietor of the 
 Bees, an actual profit and a sufficiency to enable him 
 to bestow the necessary attention, and costs on the 
 maintenance of his apiary. 
 
 " To succeed in these two points, it was supposed, 
 that it was only required to persuade those, who 
 keep Bees, never to Hill them, and to content them- 
 selves with moving them from one hive to another. 
 
258 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 or to partake of their stock by the process of de- 
 privation. 
 
 " But as it has been proved that it is neither easy 
 nor useful to adopt, either of those two methods, the 
 efforts are inconceivable that have been made for 
 some years past to discover the means proper for 
 the collecting of honey and wax, without killing 
 the Bees. 
 
 " I therefore proceed to shew, as briefly as pos- 
 sible, that those authors commit a great error, in 
 hoping, by the plans which they have invented, of 
 equally satisfying the public by abundance, and the 
 individual by a reasonable profit. 
 
 " When the Bees are removed from one hive to 
 another, it should be performed two or three days 
 after the departure of the first swarm, in order that 
 they may have time to collect a sufficiency of food 
 in their new domicile. But what quantity of honey 
 would be found under those circumstances, even in 
 the strongest hives ? — ten or twelve pounds, — and 
 perhaps less. — Can it be compared with that which 
 would have been found at the end of August, or the 
 beginning of September, when the provision is col- 
 lected for the winter, which amounts to thirty, forty, 
 fifty, and sometimes even eighty pounds ? 
 
 " If the answer be given that the Bees have been 
 preserved, I would concede the point, provided the 
 operation had succeeded (for it must not be dissem- 
 bled that it often fails, and that generally, of ten 
 hives, which have been removed, eight or nine perish); 
 but it must also be granted to me, that a second 
 swarm has consequently been lost, which was on 
 the eve of its departure, and perhaps the brood of 
 a third, and that these two swarms united, would 
 
ON THE DEPRIVATION OF THE HIVES. $59 
 
 certainly have made a better one than that which is 
 formed by the Bees which have been removed. But 
 let us compare the produce of this method with 
 that which is produced by the system of suffocation. 
 We will suppose that a proprietor has ten hives: 
 according to the removing system, they will furnish 
 each twelve pounds of honey, which amount in the 
 whole to 120 pounds, and the proprietor will possess 
 twenty hives, ten old, and ten new ones. The sixty 
 pounds of honey may be valued at £9. and £20. for 
 the twenty hives. 
 
 " According to the suffocating system, ten hives 
 will produce thirty pounds of honey each, which 
 amount to 300, and the proprietor will have twelve 
 young hives, that is, ten composed of the first swarms, 
 and two of the second and third, or in other words* 
 the honey will amount to £"22. \Qs. and the hives 
 to £12. In order to facilitate the calculation, I 
 suppose that each hive gives but one swarm in the 
 year. 
 
 " Although these two kinds of profit, as well in 
 honey, as in hives, appear to the two proprietors to 
 amount to nearly the same sum in money, a consider- 
 able difference is still to be remarked ; for in the first 
 case, the public profit only by 120 pounds of honey 
 for their consumption, and the proprietor has realized 
 only £9. in money ; whereas in the second, the public 
 are put in possession of 309 pounds of honey, and 
 the proprietor has realized £22. 10s. in money. 
 
 " It must not either be supposed that in the fol- 
 lowing years, the benefit of the first proprietor will 
 far exceed that of the second, by the greater multi- 
 plication of his hives; this would be tantamount to 
 a voluntary concealment of the frequent, and almost 
 gertertn— mortality occasioned by the method of re- 
 s2 
 
260 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 moving the Bees from one hive to another, and which 
 will indubitably reduce every year the great number 
 of hives of the first proprietor, to a number below 
 that remaining to the second, by which we may be 
 assured, that the annual profits of the former, so far 
 from being more considerable than those of the latter, 
 will always be much smaller. 
 
 " This method, therefore, of removing the Bees into 
 other hives, after the departure of the first swarm, is 
 advantageous neither to the proprietor nor to the 
 public ; and I will now examine if those who are 
 contented with the mere deprivation of the hives 
 meet with better success. 
 
 " There are two sorts of hives in which this ope- 
 ration is performed ; first, in those which are con- 
 structed of a bell shape, which are in general use in 
 England, Scotland, and some parts of Trance, 
 (Plate III. No. 6.) and secondly, in those which are 
 made of wood. These hives are of a new invention, 
 composed of several smaller hives or stories, without 
 a general bottom, but with the bottoms of the stories 
 perforated, that a communication may be obtained 
 from one to the other. It is a well-known fact, that 
 the Bees always commence their operations by filling 
 the upper story, in which they have been immedi- 
 ately placed, and that they afterwards descend into 
 the lower one to continue their labours. When the 
 deprivation takes place, one or two of the upper 
 stories, when they are full, are removed by cutting 
 the communication with a wire, in the same manner 
 as butter is cut in a firkin. The remaining story is 
 then closed at the top, by which the produce of the 
 Bees is easily extracted from them, without their 
 perceiving it. 
 
 " In regard to the common or bell-shaped hive, 
 
U.\ THE DEPR1\ahu.> ut niL HIVES. £61 
 
 every body knows that the principal part of the 
 honey being placed at the top, the sticks, which are 
 absolutely necessary to support the combs, are au 
 insurmountable obstacle to the extraction of the 
 combs in a neat and profitable manner. This ob- 
 jection may be obviated by saying, that these sticks 
 can be extracted by pincers, and the hive can then 
 be managed according to pleasure : it, however, most 
 frequently happens, that these transverse sticks can- 
 not be extracted without great injury to the combs ; 
 and what person does not perceive that this operation 
 must place the Bees in a terrible state of agitation, 
 and be the death of thousands ; one-half would 
 perish by the stings, which they would bestow with 
 profusion on their tormentors in spite of fumigation, 
 and the remainder by the honey, which would stifle 
 them. I have always experienced very great trouble 
 in extracting the honey-comb from a hive, the Bees 
 of which have been smothered, for the sole reason 
 that the cross sticks could not be drawn out.* 
 
 M In regard to those hives composed of stories, I 
 allow that the deprivation of the honey is performed 
 much more easily than in others. But is the pro- 
 prietor always regardful of the important circum- 
 stance, to extract only that particular quantity from 
 the hives, which will prevent the danger of famine? 
 For if the stories be small, and if, from a fear of in- 
 juring the Bees, he extracts but a small portion of 
 
 * M. La Grenee appears in this instance to be wholly ignorant of 
 the system of driving the Bees, by which the operation can be per- 
 form ed without the destruction of a great number of Bees; but in 
 regard to the obstacle which the cross sticks present towards a Useful 
 and advantageous deprivation of the comb, his remarks are perfectly 
 consistent with my own experience; and lam certain that the system 
 of deprivation never can be general in this country whiist the hive of 
 the bell-shape is in use, 
 
 2 
 
262 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 their produce, wherein then does his advantage con- 
 sist? On the other hand, if the upper stories be 
 large, they contain perhaps the whole of the honey, 
 and in taking them away, the Bees are consequently 
 deprived of their winter food, and must inevitably 
 perish. 
 
 " If, to avert this evil, the system of feeding be 
 resorted to, the proprietor will be under the necessity 
 of returning to the Bees the honey which he took 
 from them, and if the Bees escaped from a death of 
 famine, they would inevitably perish by the pillage, 
 which is frequently and almost universally occasioned 
 by these artificial supplies of food. 
 
 m I am well aware that authors in general pretend 
 to prescribe a remedy for all these evils ; they accu- 
 mulate ruies upon rules, whether it be respecting the 
 time of depriving the strong hives (on which, by-the- 
 bye, scarcely two persons agree), or the manner of 
 feeding the weak ones ; and finally, they recommend 
 strong barricadoes to be placed at the entrance of the 
 hives, to protect them from pillage. But in what 
 manner is the mind of the peasant to be instructed 
 in this code of laws, which even to an attentive and 
 reflecting mind, presents matter of very serious, and 
 difficult consideration ? 
 
 " 1 have now detailed the processes which have 
 been imagined for depriving the Bees easily of their 
 provisions without killing them. It is evident that 
 these different methods do not obviate the two prin- 
 cipal inconveniences, which are so conspicuous ; 
 one of which is the entire loss of the hives during 
 the winter, if a great quantity of provision be ex- 
 tracted from them ; and the other is the paucity of 
 supply to the public, and almost no profit whatever 
 to the proprietor, if only a little be taken. " 
 
ON THE DEPRIVATION OF THE HIVES. 263 
 
 I will now briefly examine this important part of 
 the economy of the Bees, and 1 am constrained to 
 say, that if humanity be taken out of the scale, the 
 ideas of M. LaGrenee are founded on truth and de- 
 monstration. In reasoning analogically, humanity 
 ought to plead in the same manner for the ox which 
 has drawn the plough, or the cow which has fur- 
 nished us with her milk. On their arriving at that 
 age, when they are no longer of any use to man, they 
 are fattened, and killed for his nutriment. The only 
 objection to this mode of reasoning may be, that the 
 produce of the Bee may be considered a superfluity, 
 and a luxury ; the produce of the animals above 
 mentioned is actually necessary to the subsistence 
 of man. 
 
 The destruction of Bees, voluntary or forced, con- 
 tributes more than any other circumstance to reduce 
 the culture of those insects to a state of languor very 
 opposite to that degree of perfection of which it is 
 susceptible in this country. But as M. La Grenee 
 observes in another part of his work, of what use to 
 the proprietor and the public are so many researches 
 and experiments to extract the honey and the wax 
 without destroying the Bees, if, notwithstanding all 
 these precautions, a proportion of the hives which 
 have been deprived, die soon after the operation ; 
 and if the other proportion, having escaped the im- 
 mediate danger of the former, die during the winter 
 for want of provisions. 
 
 I have already mentioned the destruction which 
 takes place in hives from a deficiency of provisions, 
 and from which no portion whatever has been extract- 
 ed by the proprietor ; how much greater then must it 
 be in those hives which have undergone deprivation, 
 and from which a moiety of their provisions has been 
 
264- MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 taken ! and the population of which, not having 
 suffered by the deprivation, ought to be supposed 
 equal to that of the hives which have remained un- 
 touched ? 
 
 It is not therefore by a mere shew and affectation 
 of compassion for the Bees, that the system of M. La 
 Grenee must be combated. There must be opposed 
 to it solid and indubitable facts, founded on a sound 
 practice, and exempt from those inconveniences and 
 abuses, which he censures with so much asperity, as 
 existing in the systems invented by the moderns, 
 and adopted by them to obtain possession of the 
 produce of the Bees without killing them. 
 
 M. La Grenee asks, what is the question between 
 those who argue on this point ? I answer, that it 
 consists, in the first place, in finding a sure and cer- 
 tain method of multiplying the Bees and the number 
 of their cultivators: secondly, in supplying the king- 
 dom with that abundance of honey and wax, of 
 which it is capable, owing to its favourable situa- 
 tion : and thirdly, in rendering the culture of the 
 Bees positively advantageous to the state, and the 
 proprietors : this is the wish of the public, and it 
 ought to be the aim of the labours of every r.uthor. 
 These three objects are sq closely united to each 
 other, that they cannot be separated. 
 
 In regard to the multiplication of the species, it is 
 evident, that its voluntary or forced destruction is 
 wholly inimical to it. If to this be added the bad 
 management of the Bees, we shall find the principal 
 cause of objection which presents itself to their more 
 extended culture, and in providing no remedy for it, 
 the country will always be deficient in the necessary 
 quantity of honey and wax. 
 
 The method of depriving the hives, without killing 
 
ON THE DEPRIVATION OP THE HIVES. 965 
 
 the Bees, is therefore preferable to that of killing 
 them to obtain their honey. This truth will be more 
 sensibly perceived, if we reflect that there is not in 
 England a sufficient number of cultivators and pro- 
 prietors, to introduce into the country that desired 
 abundance, nor that number of hives, which every 
 cultivator could support according to his circum^ 
 stances. But this point being once accomplished, 
 the supernumerary hives might then be destroyed, 
 and it is under those circumstances, and those only, 
 that it should be permitted. 
 
 To this position, M. La Grenee would answer, that 
 this system would be good, if the deprived hives 
 could be preserved in a good situation, and escape 
 the keenness and the length of the winters, as no 
 doubt can be entertained that, by adding the new 
 swarms, which they would furnish every year, an 
 abundance of honey and wax would be produced ; 
 but as it has been ascertained that during, or after, 
 the deprivation, a great part of the Bees perish, and 
 almost always in the winter, it is clear that this me- 
 thod of collecting honey is prejudicial to the Bees, 
 and disadvantageous to the proprietors. 
 
 To this I rejoin, that the manner in which my hives 
 are deprived of their honey, is so easy and expeditious, 
 that it very seldom happens that a hive is lost from 
 mere deprivation. During sixteen years I have never 
 lost a single hive, though I acknowledge to have lost 
 many, when my Bees were kept in the common or 
 bell-shaped hive. 
 
 In regard to the hives which perish in the winter, 
 this happens not only to the deprived hives, but also 
 to those which have not undergone that operation ; 
 and it becomes therefore absolutely necessary to pro- 
 vide some means, by which no failure of provisions 
 
266 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 should take place, let the consumption of the Bees 
 in winter be ever so great. 
 
 I have now merely to notice the calculation of M. 
 La Grenee, on the difference of profit accruing to two 
 different proprietors following the opposite methods. 
 I will suppose that he has extracted from one of his 
 hives forty pounds of honey, whilst I have only ob- 
 tained fifteen. If I manage my hive well, and I pre- 
 serve it for ten years, it will yield me the same quan- 
 tity every year. Moreover, the hive destroyed by 
 M. La Grenee will only have yielded him one swarm ; 
 whereas that, which I have preserved for ten years, 
 will have produced me at least ten, without speaking 
 of those, which those ten may have produced. Let 
 me now ask which of the two will have received the 
 greatest profit from his hive at the end of ten years ? 
 whether M. La Grenee, who destroyed his hive, after 
 having obtained forty poundsof honey and one swarm, 
 or myself, who, after having preserved my hive for ten 
 years, have obtained, independently of one hundred 
 pounds of honey, ten swarms, and also the produce 
 of those ten swarms ? Who has contributed the most 
 to supply the country with honey and wax ? Let 
 M. La Grenee judge for himself. 
 
ON THE MANNER OF FEEDING BEES. 267 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 ON THE MANNER OF FEEDING BEES. 
 
 XHERE are two seasons in which the feeding of 
 Bees is necessary, and these are the winter and the 
 spring. At the commencement of the former season, 
 particular attention should be paid to those hives 
 which are supposed to be deficient in food ; and 
 having examined and found them light, an imme- 
 diate supply of food should be given them. It is a 
 question which has been much agitated amongst 
 apiarians, whether the whole quantity should be 
 given to the Bees at one time, which is supposed to 
 suffice them until the return of spring, or whether it 
 should be given at intervals. I am myself a decided 
 advocate for the latter method, and my opinion is 
 founded on the following grounds : It is certain that 
 whatever quantity of food is given to the Bees, they 
 never relax in their exertions to convey it to their 
 combs, until every drop be exhausted. If the sea- 
 son be very cold in which the food is given, the tem- 
 perature in the hive, which is congenial to the health 
 of the Bees, is lost by the time which the Bees must 
 necessarily remain in a state of disjunction, and the 
 whole community then becomes in danger of perish- 
 ing. 
 
268 MANAGEMENT OF BEE*. 
 
 Although it very seldom happens that honey can- 
 dies in a cell ; yet it is very often the case with arti- 
 ficial food, and especially from the manner in which 
 it is given to the Bees by the country people. The 
 candying of the food in the cells is very prejudicial to 
 the Bees ; for in the first place it is wholly useless to 
 them, and in the second, the removal of it from the 
 cells occupies a great portion of the time of the Bees 
 in the spring, when they could be more profitably 
 employed. If the food be given in small quantities, 
 this inconvenience is wholly obviated, as it has not 
 time to candy in the cells before it is consumed by 
 the Bees. 
 
 There is also great danger in giving to a weak hive 
 a great quantity of food at once, unless the hive be 
 .very rich in combs; and which is seldom the case, 
 unless the swarm has been put into a hive already 
 filled with them. The Bees are so greedy of food, 
 that if a great quantity be given, they will even fill 
 the brood combs, rather than relinquish the treasure, 
 and on the return of spring the brood cells will then 
 be found full of food, which ought to be in readiness 
 for the eggs of the queen. I have even known the 
 eggs of the present year, and which are to hatch in 
 the ensuing spring, wholly destroyed by an injudi- 
 cious and lavish method of feeding ; for the Bees 
 appear to have such an intuitive fear of hunger, that 
 every other consideration vanishes before it. The 
 country people are, however, apt to run into the other 
 extreme, and think that they have performed their 
 duty towards their Bees, if they scrape the pith from 
 a bit of elder, and putting some raw sugar into the 
 cavity, shove it into the orifice of the hive. Should 
 they find in the sequel, that their Bees are dead, they 
 will not believe their death to have ensued from a 
 
ON THE MANNER OF FEEDING BEES. %69 
 
 want of food, but attribute it to witchcraft, or that 
 the Bees have taken flight from some wild freak of 
 the queen. Haw sugar in its crude state is of little 
 or no use in the feeding of Bees, and those persons 
 who imagine that they have saved their hives by that 
 method of feeding, are egregiously mistaken. 
 
 The apiarian has it also in his power to select a fine 
 and warm day for the purpose of feeding his Bees, 
 and the danger of the change of temperature in the 
 hive will then be obviated. 
 
 If the Bees seem anxious for the transportation of 
 the food into the cells, and if they display a certain 
 degree of irascibility, it is then certain that they 
 are in good health, and there is no fear of their 
 abandoning their hive ; but it sometimes happens, 
 that when food is given to the Bees, they shew a 
 total indifference towards it ; and although it mav be 
 allowed to remain several days, not a single Bee at- 
 tempts to deposit a drop in the cells. This circum- 
 stance should act as a warning voice to the proprietor, 
 and he should immediately inspect his hive most 
 narrowly ; for he may rely upon something being ra- 
 dically defective in it. Some accident has perhaps 
 befallen the queen, or some other cause exists, 
 which renders them indifferent to their food, from a 
 consciousness, perhaps, that they will not require it. 
 Every exertion should be used by the proprietor to 
 discover the cause of this indifference ; for unless it 
 be discovered, he may depend upon his hive being 
 forsaken by the Bees in a very short time ; should 
 the proprietor not succeed in discovering the defect, 
 I would advise him to join the Bees to one of his 
 strongest hives ; this is better than losing them alto- 
 gether. 
 
 In regard to the quantity of food which ought to be 
 
2J0 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 given to a hive, it may be calculated in the propor- 
 tion of two pounds per month for a well peopled hive, 
 but no particular rule can be laid down in this respect, 
 as the consumption of the Bees depends in a great 
 measure on the state of the weather. If the weather 
 be excessively cold, a much less quantity will suffice ; 
 nor would it be at all advisable to feed them during 
 the inclemency of the season, but to wait for a change 
 in the temperature of the exterior air. I scarcely 
 ever fed a hive, that the Bees did not sally forth, tes- 
 tifying their joy at the bounty of their owner, and 
 should the weather be fine, I always permit it ; but 
 should it be mild, with rain, I invariably close the 
 entrance of the hive until the evening. 
 
 When a hive is fed in the spring, the greatest cau- 
 tion should be used to prevent the robberies com- 
 mitted by the Bees of the other hives. The food in 
 this case should be given very early in the morning, 
 before a single Bee has left the hive, and as soon as 
 the food is administered, the entrance ought to be im- 
 mediately stopped. Unless, however, the operation be 
 performed before break of day, the most disastrous 
 consequences may ensue ; for in this season the Bees 
 are all on the alert, and leave the hive in great num- 
 bers on the first ray of the sun. If therefore you 
 have fed your Bees, and closed the entrance of the 
 hive, you will consequently lose those Bees, which 
 may have departed early on their daily labour, as the 
 hive must not be re-opened to admit them. 
 
 This precaution of closing the entrance of the hive, 
 is so essential, that were it to be neglected, not only 
 the honey, but the whole hive would be lost, An 
 instantaneous robbery would commence, as the 
 stronger Bees would smell the food, and should the 
 hive, to which the food is applied, be a weak one, it 
 
OX THE MANNER OF FEEDING BEES. 2J\ 
 
 will not be able to resist the attack of the robbers, 
 and its destruction will be the consequence. 
 
 The most prudent and sate method is to administer 
 the food after sunset, when the precaution of closing 
 the entrance need not be resorted to ; but care must 
 be taken to remove the vessel which contained the 
 food, before the Bees are in motion on the following 
 morning. 
 
 There are some persons who defer the feeding of 
 their Bees, until the very moment when they suppose 
 that they may be in actual want. This is a most re- 
 prehensible plan ; for should the feeding be too long 
 delayed, the Bees will become so weak and debilitat- 
 ed, that they will be unable to convey the food into 
 their cells. The food ought to be administered to 
 them full three weeks before they may be supposed 
 to be in actual want : it will then be conveyed with 
 the greatest despatch into the cells, and theliive will 
 be saved from a death of famine. 
 
 Some apiarians conceive that the feeding of Bees 
 in the spring renders them lazy and inactive. On 
 what this opinion is grounded, I am at a loss to con- 
 ceive ; for it is in direct contradiction, not only to my 
 own experience, but also to that of many other apia- 
 rians. I consider that a little food granted to even a 
 very populous and well provisioned hive in the spring, 
 is attended with very beneficial consequences. It 
 bestows life, animation, and vigour, throughout the 
 whole community ; it accelerates the breeding of the 
 queen, and consequently conduces to the production 
 of early swarms. I invariably give all my hives some 
 food in the spring, and I can recommend the custom, 
 with the greatest certainty of its propriety, to every 
 keeper of Bees. 
 
272 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 As a proof of the great benefit arising from a liberal 
 system of feeding, I have merely to refer to oppo- 
 nents, the apiary of Captain Call, of Kimbers. 
 Whilst the Bees of his neighbours are dying from an 
 injudicious method of feeding, or no feeding at all, 
 the major part of his hives is in good health, and 
 with a little additional food given at proper intervals, 
 will, I doubt not, survive the winter. But so little 
 did the cottagers in the vicinity of his residence, 
 know of the advantage resulting from liberal feeding, 
 that one morning, on taking a little excursion for 
 the purpose of purchasing some stock hives, we heard 
 of above twenty hives having been suffocated, from 
 a fear that they would not survive the winter. These 
 prejudiced people gained little or nothing by the 
 suffocating mania which possessed them: they killed 
 the Bees, which Captain Call would have taught 
 them to save; and they will amply deplore their folly 
 in the ensuing spring. Several years must elapse 
 before the vacuum can be replenished, which the un- 
 favourable season of 1816 has caused in the apiaries, 
 and which has been augmented by the gross igno- 
 rance which prevailed respecting the advantages of 
 feeding. 
 
 In regard to the substances, which are proper for 
 the feeding of Bees, I am perfectly convinced, singu- 
 lar as it may appear, that honey alone is very injurious 
 to them, as it in general gives them the dysentery. 
 Wherever honey is given, it should be mixed with 
 some good old white wine, in the proportion of six 
 pounds of honey, to one of wine. It should then be 
 placed on a slow fire, and stirred round with a stick, 
 or spoon, until the honey be wholly dissolved, and 
 appears in a transparent and limpid state. It should 
 
ON THE MANNER OF FEEDING BEES. 273 
 
 be then taken from the fire, and when cold, poured 
 into a jar or other vessel to be used as occasion may 
 require. 
 
 The following is a mixture which I have found 
 very conducive to the health and strength of Bees. 
 Take eight pounds of honey, six pounds of water, 
 one bottle of old white wine, and one pound of sugar ; 
 put them all into a saucepan, and let them boil for 
 about a quarter of an hour, skimming it repeated^. 
 Take it off the fire and let it cool gradually, it may 
 then be put into bottles, and kept for use. The most 
 advisable method however is, not to make more than 
 is immediately wanted, as there is some danger of its 
 fermenting. 
 
 This method of feeding is however too expensive 
 for the cottager, and from repeated experience I am 
 persuaded that the following mixture is as appropri- 
 ate and beneficial to the Bees, as that which has been 
 already described, and its cost comparatively very 
 small. To two pints of good old ale, put one pound 
 of moist sugar. Boil them until the sugar is wholly 
 dissolved, carefully skimming it. When it is cold, it 
 will be found to be of the consistency of honey, and 
 it may be given to the Bees in the following manner : 
 If the Bees are in the plain cottage hive, an eek must 
 be provided of the same diameter as the hive, and 
 from three to four bands in height. When the sun is 
 set, and the Bees are all returned from the fields, let 
 the hive be gently raised, and the eek placed on the 
 stool. Then having filled a soup plate with the food, 
 place it in the eek, and replace the hive upon it. To 
 prevent the Bees from being drowned in the liquid, 
 it is necessary to place some straws over the plate, 
 and over the straws a piece of paper, either thickly 
 perforated or cut into nicks. These nicks however, 
 
274 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 must not run parallel with the straws, but either 
 across or diagonally. The entrance must then be 
 closed, and the plate may be removed on the follow- 
 ing morning, wiien the whole of the liquid will be 
 transferred into the combs. I have known the Bees 
 so very greedy after this food, as to eat the paper 
 in the least degree saturated with it, and, in general, 
 the edges of it will be found nibbled with their 
 teeth. 
 
 If the hive be very weak, the feeding should be 
 repeated in about three weeks or a month, but if it 
 takes place in winter, the mildest weather should be 
 selected for the purpose, the reason of which has been 
 already given. 
 
 A farmer in Hampshire once informed me, that he 
 considered the feeding of Bees as wholly useless, for 
 he had often tried it, and his Bees nevertheless died. 
 On inquiring the manner in which he fed them, he 
 answered, that he adopted the same method as his 
 neighbours, which was, to put a handful of sugar on 
 the stool, and pouring a little water on it to moisten 
 it, it was left in that state for the Bees to take into 
 their combs. My surprise was not great at the death 
 of the Bees, for although they will certainly convey 
 the sugar into the combs, yet, as it has not undergone 
 the process of concoction, it invariably candies in the 
 cells, and then becomes rather injurious than bene- 
 ficial to the Bees. I imparted a different system to 
 the worthy farmer, who happened to possess too 
 much good sense to be led away by ill founded pre- 
 judices ; and he not only adopted my method, but it 
 is now become general in that part of the country 
 
 * 
 
 * As I take particular pleasure in imparting any information, 
 which may be solicited, relative to the management of the apiary, I 
 take this opportunity of publicly answering a question which was 
 
ON THE MANNER OF FEEDING BEES. 27o 
 
 I have always found it very conducive to the health 
 of the Bees to put a little salt in their food, especially 
 in those cases, in which there is the slightest fear of 
 the dysentery. 
 
 Mr. Ducouedic recommends that a little flour 
 should be mixed with the food, and I have known 
 some old women practise this method in England, 
 from an idea of giving a greater consistency to the 
 liquid. Let me however warn any proprietor of Bees, 
 from adopting this most injurious method. The 
 admixture of any farinaceous substance acts as a 
 laxative upon the Bees, and instead of invigorating", 
 weakens and debilitates them. 
 
 It has been suggested by some apiarians that the 
 
 transmitted to me by a Nobleman in Scotland, viz. " why the strongest 
 and best peopled hives are often the most liable to perish, considering 
 that a well peopled hive is in general better provided with provision, 
 than a weak one." On the first view, there is an apparent paradox in the 
 question : it is, however, perfectly consistent with general experience, 
 and many apiarians lose their hives from an assumed conclusion, that 
 because the Bees are numerous in a hive, the provision must be plen- 
 tiful also. The stronger the population of a hive, the greater is the 
 consumption of food of each individual ; for instance, if 12,000 Bees 
 consume twelve pounds of honey, 6000 will only consume four pounds, 
 and for the following reason. The air of a strong hive, open and ex- 
 posed to receive every impression of a cold atmosphere, or the warmth 
 of a genial sun, being more temperate on account of the great number 
 of inhabitants which it contains, the Bees are more often in motion, 
 less subject to torpor, and consequently consume a greater quantity 
 of provisions. On the other hand, the Bees of the weaker hives, find- 
 ing themselves in a colder temperature, are obliged to crowd closer to- 
 gether ; they are in a state of greater torpor, and therefore consume a 
 less quantity. Their weakness renders them timid, prevents them from 
 leaving the hive on the first appearance of fine weather, whilst the 
 Bees of a stronger hive being more on the alert, from living in a milder 
 temperature, fly in and out of the hive, when a ray of sun bursts 
 forth, and thus being highly invigorated, the winter food is consumed 
 previously to the return of the honey season, and a death of famine is 
 the consequence. 
 
 X 2 
 
276 Management of bees. 
 
 whole of the food intended to be given to a hive, 
 should be given to it in the month of October, or 
 early in November; and the reason assigned for this 
 system is, that the weather may be so cold in the 
 ensuing month as to render it dangerous to disunite 
 the Bees by giving them any food, and in their en- 
 deavours to transport the food into the cells, they 
 might be seized with the cold and perish. This ar- 
 gument can, however, only be supported by those, 
 who suppose that the Bees have any occasion for 
 food in the intensity of winter, which supposition is 
 contrary to general experience. If the Bees do not 
 consume any provisions, when rendered torpid by the 
 cold, where would be the necessity of administering 
 any food to them, the transportation of which into 
 their combs would prove their death, and of which, 
 the severity of the season will not allow them to make 
 any use ? I am always perfectly easy in regard to the 
 fate of my Bees, during the intensity of frost, so far 
 as relates to the state of their food, for as they con- 
 sume but little, or none, it would be an act of su- 
 pererogation to give them any, especially as the lives 
 of the Bees are thereby put into great jeopardy. It 
 is only in the mild winters that I pay particular at- 
 tention to the state of the food in my hives, and then 
 no danger can be apprehended in admitting the exte- 
 rior air into the hive : on the contrary, I consider it 
 wholly beneficial to the Bees, as the foul air, which 
 has been generated in the hive, is thereby dispersed, 
 and fresh air introduced. 
 
 In a weakly-peopled hive, it will sometimes occur, 
 that intense frost will candy the honey in the combs, 
 and the Bees being thus deprived of their natural food, 
 die for want. This circumstance is, however, scarce- 
 
ON THE MANNER OF FEEDING BEES. 277 
 
 ly known to happen even in the more northern cli- 
 mates of Norway, Sweden or Russia, nor can I say, 
 that it ever befell one of my hives, although Bonner 
 assures me that he has experienced it. Various cal- 
 culations have been made by very able naturalists, of 
 the supposed quantity of honey which a hive con- 
 sumes in a day, and thence the conclusion may be 
 drawn of the quantity requisite for their support 
 during the winter. The data, however, on which 
 that calculation has been made, must depend on 
 such various, and particular circumstances, that 
 scarcely two can be found which have a perfect cor- 
 respondence and coincidence. In the first place, it 
 is almost impossible to ascertain the exact number of 
 the Bees, and as two hives cannot be found to cor- 
 respond exactly in number, the same calculation will 
 not be admissible for both. In the second place, the 
 consumption in a hive is always in proportion to the 
 mildness or severity of the season, and therefore no 
 regular rule can be established by which the con- 
 sumption of a hive can be ascertained.* 
 
 Should the cottager not be able to afford even 
 
 * lathe Philosophical Transactions for 179'2, is a calculation made 
 by Hunter, of the consumption of a hive, and he estimates that from, 
 the 3d October to the 9th February, the Bees consumed within one 
 ounce of four pounds. The hive -was however not a very populous 
 one, and he therefore concludes that a well peopled hive will consume 
 about five pounds during the five months of the winter season. A 
 weak hive generally contains about three pounds of honey, and it is 
 therefore to be concluded, that, if three pounds of food be given to 
 it, it will survive the winter. In 1809, M. Huber made the experi- 
 ment with this quantity on five hives, and he succeeded in saving them 
 all.* 
 
 * Lett. Ined. de M. Huber, du 15 Avril, 1310. 
 
278 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 sugar, treacle will be found an excellent substitute j 
 let it be diluted in the proportion of one-third of 
 molasses to two-thirds of water, and mixing a little 
 salt with it, boil it for about a quarter of an hour ; 
 the same process must then be followed as has been 
 already described, 
 
ON THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF HIVES. 279 
 
 CHAP. XXI. 
 
 ON THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF HIVES, THE 
 BEES OF WHICH HAVE PERISHED BY ACCI- 
 DENT OR WA.NT. 
 
 W HEN Mr. Reaumur gave his explanation of a 
 swarm, he was not far removed from the discovery 
 of the re-establishment of a hive, the Bees of which 
 have perished by accident or want. A very simple 
 reflection on the existence of the eggs of the Queen 
 in the hive, and on the promptitude with which 
 those eggs are hatched on the return of the warm 
 season, would have infallibly led to the discovery of 
 this phenomenon. The greatest discoveries in the 
 mysteries, and the caprices of nature, have almost 
 always sprung more from the wanton frolics of 
 chance, than from the close meditations of the na- 
 turalist. 
 
 It is the general custom, when a hive of Bees has 
 perished in the spring, either from a want of subsist- 
 ence, the intemperature of the season, or the robbery 
 of other Bees, to empty the hive of the combs, and 
 to convert them into wax. This, however, is a very 
 unprofitable plan, for, from my extensive experience, 
 I have ascertained that a much more advantageous 
 use can be made of those hives, which have perished 
 
280 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 during the winter, and which appears hitherto to 
 have escaped the vigilance of the most celebrated 
 apiarians. 
 
 There is no doubt that, in the cells of the combs, 
 which are melted for the purpose of obtaining the 
 wax, there are many eggs, the vital principle of 
 which has not perished with the inhabitants of the 
 hive : these eggs are almost imperceptible, and attach- 
 ed to the bottom of the cells, exactly as the Queen 
 Bee deposited them. These eggs can only hatch on 
 the return of the warm season, and they are conse- 
 quently hatched, if the combs, which contained 
 them, be preserved, because it is the order and 
 routine of nature, 
 
 These eggs may be considered in the first place as 
 the brood remaining in the state of fecundated eggs, 
 at the time of the destruction of the drones of the 
 preceding year, and which ought to compose, on the 
 return of the fine season, the first swarm of the hive, 
 if it had survived the winter. 
 
 In the second place, they may be considered as the 
 brood of the current year, which the queen has de- 
 posited in the cells since the destruction of the drones, 
 during the autumn, or the last month of the winter, 
 or the first of the spring, and which can only be 
 fecundated by the drones of the first swarm. 
 
 In the month of June 1812, I exposed to the open 
 air some hives, the Bees of which had perished in 
 1811 ; but from what particular cause I never could 
 ascertain, nor can it be in this point a matter of any 
 moment. Immediately on discovering that the Bees 
 were dead, or that they had forsaken the hive, I re- 
 moved the hives to a close, dry and dark closet, 
 intending to make use of them in the following sea- 
 
ON THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF HIVES. 2S1 
 
 son for my swarms. Although contrary to law, I 
 acknowledge I placed three of those hives in my 
 apiary, but as a salvo to my conscience, it was for 
 the purpose of arresting my own swarms, and not 
 catching those of my neighbours. 
 
 In the beginning of July, I was surprised to ob- 
 serve that several Bees emerged from the cells of 
 those hives, and their number increased daily. The 
 cause of this phenomenon immediately struck me, 
 and I reflected on the possibility of re-establishing 
 these hives from the mere hatching of their eggs. 
 I gave the Bees some food, and the main question 
 now presented itself respecting the existence of a 
 queen. On this head, I differ from M. Ducouedic, 
 who affirms, by a close attention to this rule, queen, 
 drone, and common Bees, will be produced in the 
 hive ; this, no doubt, may take place in an indivi- 
 dual case, but its completion must ultimately depend 
 on the actual existence of a queen, or drone e<«r j n 
 the hive at the time of the death of the Bees. I 
 cannot say, that during the whole of my experience 
 in Bees, I ever found that they possessed the inhe- 
 rent power of creating at pleasure a queen from 
 any particular egg, which they may select for the 
 purpose. Another difficulty also occurs in this 
 case. It is to be supposed, that as the influence 
 of the temperature would operate equally on all 
 the eggs at the same time, there would not be such 
 a distance of time in the hatching, which would 
 enable the Bees, which were hatched the first, to 
 select any particular egg from which a queen was 
 to be born to them. There are therefore only two 
 methods to be adopted, to turn the Bees thus 
 hatched to any advantage. They must in the 
 first place be either joined to the Bees of another 
 
282 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 hive, or the earliest opportunity must be taken of 
 extracting from another populous hive, a supernu- 
 merary queen, and some drones, and thus the forma- 
 tion of a new colony may be effected. 
 
 In every spring, and especially when it is rainy, a 
 number of hives perishes, either from want of food, 
 from the continuation of humidity, which afflicts the 
 Bees with the dysentery more than any other circum- 
 stance, or finally by the pillage of stranger Bees. 
 The combs of these hives are immediately melted, 
 for the purpose of the wax, without any considera- 
 tion for the brood contained in the cells. This brood 
 not however having died with the Bees, the igno- 
 rance of the value of it, ought to be particularly era- 
 dicated from the mind of every apiarian. 
 
 Whenever the Bees of a hive have perished in the 
 autumn or the spring, the hive should be immediately 
 taken from the apiary, and deposited in a dry place, 
 carefully protected from insects, spiders, mice, &c. 
 When the warm weather has set in, it may be brought 
 from its repository, and exposed to the effect of the 
 sun. Some judgment, however, is necessary in this 
 particular, for I once inadvertently left a hive fully 
 exposed to the rays of a midday's summer's sun, and 
 the consequence was, that when I came to examine 
 the hive in the evening, I found all the combs de- 
 tached from the sides, and in perfect confusion, hav- 
 ing been melted by the excessive heat. 
 
 A hive, thus undergoing (if I may be allowed the 
 term) the process of resurrection, should be placed in 
 a remote and retired spot at some distance from the 
 apiary, and care should be taken that it is not attacked 
 by some pillaging Bees, who would in a short time 
 bring so many of their companions, that the hive 
 
ON THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF HIVES. 283 
 
 must be instantly removed to prevent its complete 
 destruction. 
 
 I, however, never experienced that a hive thus 
 regenerated swarmed the same year, although M. 
 Ducouedic affirms the contrary, especially if the 
 apiary be in the vicinity of heath, or buck wheat. I 
 do not think, however, that its swarming ought to 
 t>e promoted, for it must necessarily impoverish it 
 much, and it cannot be supposed to be so strongly 
 peopled as to throw a swarm worth preserving during 
 the winter, but in itself, it will form an excellent 
 stock hive for the ensuing season. 
 
S84 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 CHAP. XXII. 
 
 ON THE CUSTOM OF TRANSPORTING HIVES FROM 
 PLACE TO PLACE FOR THE PURPOSE OF FRESH 
 PASTURAGE, ACCORDING TO THE PRACTICE OF 
 THE ANCIENTS AND THE MODERNS. 
 
 VtHEN the various seasons are considered in which 
 the flowers bloom, from which the Bees extract their 
 honey, it is surprising that the custom of removing 
 the hives to different situations has not yet been prac- 
 tised by the English, and especially by the Scotch 
 apiarians. The profit, which would result from this 
 practice, would more than compensate for the loss of 
 time and trouble, with which their removal would 
 be attended. In Scotland, I have experienced an 
 addition of six or eight pounds of honey, by remov- 
 ing my hives to the vicinity of heath, which is of 
 particular value to Bees, as it blows when almost all 
 the flowers in the gardens and the fields have ceased 
 to bloom. A rich corn country is a desert to Bees, 
 and in the northern countries, and especially in the 
 highly cultivated straths of Scotland, bounded as 
 they are on each side by " heath-covered mountains," 
 the Bees should always be removed in the month of 
 September from the straths to the foot of the hills, 
 
ON THE TRANSPORTATION OF HIVES. 235 
 
 and I will venture to affirm, that the proprietor will 
 find himself amply repaid. I have heard an objec- 
 tion to this system started by several persons, that it 
 is difficult to find a place in those remote regions, 
 where the hives would be safe. This difficulty is, 
 however, very easily obviated, as is generally the 
 case when there is a disposition to remove it : al- 
 though the mountains themselves are but very thinly 
 peopled, yet in their vicinity there are many cottages, 
 the owners of which would be very glad to admit 
 some Bee-hives into their kail-yards, for a very trifling 
 remuneration. For the short time of their stay, they 
 would not require any attention from the proprietor, 
 and having deposited them, he need not give himself 
 any further trouble about them, until the flowering 
 of the heath has ceased, when his hives may be 
 brought home again. 
 
 In most cases, man is inclined to adopt that mode 
 of action from which a promotion of his interest may 
 be confidently expected; — it is strange, however, that 
 although I have exhibited to many apiarians the sig- 
 nal advantages attending a removal of their hives, 
 and they have uniformly listened to me with the 
 greatest attention, yet there the business ended. 
 
 To a weak hive, this removal must be of peculiar 
 advantage, and when the trifling expense which at- 
 tends it, is put into the scale with that, which arises 
 from a constant feeding during the winter, indepen- 
 dently of the trouble which attends that operation, I 
 connot conceive any person to be so wilfully blind to 
 his own interest, as not to adopt it. 
 
 I, however, not only recommend in the strongest 
 manner, the removal of hives in the autumn, but I 
 would also wish to see it adopted in the spring, in 
 those places where the Bees could have the advan- 
 
286 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 tage of furze. It is one of the most early flowering 
 shrubs, and the farina of it is sought with great avidity 
 by the Bees ; the broom and the sallow are also very 
 early in their flowering, and these are seldom to be 
 found in highly cultivated places. I have expe- 
 rienced the greatest benefit from a month's residence 
 of my hives in the vicinity of furze and broom, espe- 
 cially in regard to early swarms, and that is certainly 
 no mean advantage obtained. 
 
 In many countries, the removal of the hives from 
 one pasturage to another is considered as a very im- 
 portant point in the practical management of the Bee. 
 Savary, in his Letters on Egypt, enters into a long 
 detail of the manner in which the inhabitants of that 
 country transport their hives along the banks of the 
 Nile. The Egyptians, he says, " exhibit great skill 
 in their manner of cultivating the Bee, as the flowers 
 and the harvests are much earlier in Upper Egypt 
 than in Lower : the inhabitants profit by this circum- 
 stance, in regard to their Bees. They collect the 
 hives of different villages on large barks, and every 
 proprietor attaches a particular mark to his hives. 
 When the boat is loaded, the conductors descend the 
 river slowly, stopping at all the places where they 
 can find pasturage for the Bees. After having thus 
 spent three months on the Nile, the hives are return- 
 ed to the proprietor, and after deducting a small sum 
 due to the boatmen for having conducted his hives 
 from one end of Egypt to the other, he finds himself 
 on a sudden enriched with a quantity of honey and 
 wax, which is immediately sent to market. This 
 species of industry procures for the Egyptians an 
 abundance of wax and honey, and enables them to 
 export a considerable quantity to foreign countries." 
 
 M. Maillet, in his History of Egypt, also makes 
 
ON THE TRANSPORTATION OF HIVES. 287 
 
 mention of this custom relative to the pasturage of 
 the Bees.* 
 
 These emigrations also take place in China, in the 
 same manner as in Egypt. A very ingenious method 
 is practised by the people, who inhabit the banks of 
 the Po. They load the boats according to the man- 
 ner of the Egyptians, and then transport the hives 
 to the vicinity of the mountains of Piedmont. On 
 setting out, a mark is sketched round the boat, from 
 which a scale is drawn, and as the Bees collect the 
 honey, the boat sinks deeper in the water ; bv look- 
 ing at the scale, the boatmen know when the Bees 
 have gathered a sufficiency of honey, and they then 
 prepare for their return. 
 
 Alexander de Montfort relates, that the people in 
 the vicinity of Juliers, generally convey their hives 
 
 * This system of a periodical removal of the hives -was not unknown 
 to the ancient Greeks. We read in Columella, that the inhabitants of 
 Achaia transported their hives to Africa, where the season of the 
 blowing of the flowers was late. Under the term, Africa, we must 
 suppose, that this author is speaking of Egypt. We know that all 
 the fertility of this province depends on the inundation of the Nile, 
 which takes place in the month of June, and ceases in about three 
 months afterwards. We thus account for the flowering of the shrubs 
 being later in Africa, (that is, Egypt) than in Achaia, where, after the 
 month of September, no further pasturage is to be found for the Bees; 
 whereas, in Egypt, it is in its full force after that period, on account 
 of the retreat of the waters of the Nile. 
 
 We also know that the modern Greeks, who inhabit the coasts of 
 Asia Minor, towards the Islands of the Archipelago, transport their 
 hives by sea, in order to procure an abundance of food for the Bees. It 
 is not long ago, that a hive on one of these vessels was overturned, and 
 the Bees spread themselves over the whole vessel. They attacked the 
 sailors with great fury, who to save themselves swam on shore. They 
 could not return to their boat until the Bees were in a state of tran- 
 quillity, having previously provided themselves with proper ingre- 
 dients," for creating a smoke, to suffocate the Bees, in case of a re- 
 newal of their hostility. 
 
«288 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 to the foot of the mountains, when the wild thyme 
 is in flower. 
 
 M.ValmontdeBomare,in his Dictionary, observes, 
 " Great is the advantage of being in the vicinity of a 
 navigable river," for by these means, the spring of a 
 dry country can be united with the autumn of a fer- 
 tile and umbrageous one, and thereby ample amends 
 be made for the poverty of the country, in which the 
 apiarian may be established. 
 
 M. L'Abbe Tessier, Proutant, and others, inform 
 us, that the proprietors of the Bees, in Beauce, tran- 
 sport their hives every year in the month of August 
 in carts, into the country of the Gatinois, or to the 
 environs of the forest of Orleans, about the distance 
 of ten miles from their habitations. They there find 
 heath, or buck-wheat in flower, at a time when in 
 Beauce, after the gathering of the sainfoin and the 
 vetches, no further addition can be made by the Bees 
 to their winter store. 
 
 This manner of transporting the Bees is called in 
 the country, leading them to pasture. A single cart 
 contains thirty or forty hives. They travel only by 
 night, and at a foot's pace, and, as much as possible, 
 on easy roads. The hives are covered with linen, 
 and are arranged in stories, those of the upper being 
 reversed between those of the lower story. They 
 remain about two months in the place of their pastu- 
 rage. The peasants take care of them for a very tri- 
 fling salary. In this season, nearly three thousand 
 strong hives are seen in a little village. 
 
 When the hives are to be transported, they are 
 placed in the evening individually on a linen cloth, 
 in which they are wrapped, and tied round with bands 
 of straw, osier, or pack-thread. Two men can carry 
 
ON THE TRANSPORTATION OF HIVES. 38$ 
 
 several hives bypassing a long stick through the knot 
 of the cloth which covers them. They are thus often 
 packed on horses or asses. They are placed topsy- 
 turvy on the panniers. If they be placed in the com- 
 mon way, that is, on their bottom, they must be raised 
 and sustained at the height of some inches, espe- 
 cially if the journey be of some days length ; for it 
 is necessary that the Bees imbibe a renovated air. 
 The swarms, which have been newly hived, may re- 
 main in this state two or three days. In cold weather, 
 the hives full of wax, honey, and bees, may be trans- 
 ported to any distance, by taking care only that the 
 combs do not break one against the other: for this 
 purpose they are supported with little sticks. 
 
 To these details of M. L'Abbe Tessier, I will add 
 some not less interesting extracted from the Diction- 
 ary of M. Bomare. The skilful economists in the 
 Gatinois, after the crop of the sainfoin, transport 
 their hives into the plains of La Beauce, where the 
 melilot abounds ; afterwards into Sologne, where the 
 country is covered with buck wheat, which is in 
 flower until the end of September. This practice is 
 universal in the country, and even the humble pea- 
 sant imitates the opulent proprietor in the transporta- 
 tion of his hives.* 
 
 M. Bomare adds — We are informed by a memoir 
 of M. Duhamel, that the profit which is extracted 
 from the Bees, under the system of transportation, is 
 
 * I am obliged to notice a very striking contradiction in the two re- 
 ports of M. Bomare and L'Abbe Tessier. The former tells us, that the 
 transportation of the hives takes place from the Beauce to the Gatinois, 
 and the latter, that it takes place from the Gatinois to the Beauce. It 
 is impossible for me to correct this error, if it be one, nor can I posi- 
 tively say to whom the truth is to be ascribed; but the case may per 
 haps be so constituted, that the transportation may take place at one 
 season from one country to the other, and at another season, vice versa, 
 
 U 
 
§90 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 very considerable. From the month of July, when 
 the Bees have swarmed, and have made an excellent 
 harvest from the sainfoin, the whole of the wax and 
 honey is taken from them, and the Bees are put into 
 an empty hive. The hives are then transported into 
 a country where an abundance of flowers and melli- 
 fluous herbs are to be found. If the weather be fine, 
 and the flowers luxuriant, the hives which have been 
 transported in July are well filled by the latter end of 
 August. They are then changed a second time, and 
 particular care is taken of the brood combs. As soon 
 as the Bees have been thus changed a second time, 
 they are removed into a country in which buck wheat 
 abounds, and supposing the season to be favourable, 
 the hives are so well filled, that a third of their combs 
 may be extracted. 
 
 " Thus," our author concludes, " by the aid of 
 human industry the most surprising collection of 
 honey is obtained ; but it must be confessed, that 
 every year is not equally favourable, and sometimes 
 the hives can be changed only once. On the other 
 hand, some Bees are more industrious than others. 
 I have seen a very active hive, in the space of 
 twenty-four hours, increased six pounds in honey and 
 wax." * 
 
 " In the Gatinois, sixty or seventy pounds of ho- 
 ney are extracted from a good hive, and nearly two 
 pounds and a half of wax.f The great art in this 
 
 * This is perfectly incredible, it is however faithfully translated: 
 some latitude may be given to the enthusiasm of a naturalist, but upon 
 an economical subject, truth should be particularly adhered to. 
 
 t In the Memoirs of the Royal Society of Arts, I find that Mr. 
 Knight, of Great Kardfield, Essex, obtained forty-five pounds of ho- 
 ney and fourteen poundsand a half of wax from one hive. There must 
 he some mistake in this calculation. The quantity of wax is out of 
 
ON THE TRANSPORTATION OP HIVES. 291 
 
 country, and which a good economist ought never 
 to lose from his sight, is, to have the hives always 
 well peopled with Bees. In those countries which 
 are not so abundant in flowers, and where equal care 
 and attention are not bestowed on the hives, the pro- 
 fit obtained from the Bees is much less considerable. 
 In some parts of the kingdom, a good stock of two 
 years old may produce two pounds and a half of 
 wax, and from twenty to thirty pounds of honey or 
 more. 
 
 I grant that these details are interesting, and capa- 
 ble of exciting in country persons and landed pro- 
 prietors, a particular disposition to the culture of the 
 Bee ; but still they are not wholly satisfactory. It 
 is not that I doubt the advantage of transporting hives 
 to a fresh pasturage, having myself experienced the 
 benefit, when it can be done without any great incon- 
 venience or expense: but in the details now given, 
 there is a great inaccuracy, and several contradictions 
 are manifest. 
 
 In the first place, in regard to what M. Bomare 
 informs us, according to the memoirs of M. Duhamel, 
 respecting the ample collection of honey and wax, 
 which is extracted in July from hives which have 
 sent forth several swarms, and the Bees of which are 
 afterwards transferred into empty hives, appears to 
 me to be enveloped in great doubt. It is well known, 
 that the hives, which have emitted two or three 
 swarms in the course of a month, immediately after 
 the departure of the last swarm, are merely occupied 
 with the repeopling of the hive, and until the requi- 
 site number has been sufficiently established, the 
 
 all proportion to that of honey, nor is it credible that such a quantity 
 of wax could be produced from a single hive- 
 
 u2 
 
2.92 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 Bees do not apply themselves seriously to the amas- 
 sing of their winter provision. In a climate, however, 
 similar to that of London, or Edinburgh, the Bees do 
 not beo-in in general to swarm before the month of 
 June, and before the second swarm is thrown, that 
 month is far advanced. But how can we expect to 
 extract from those hives a sufficient crop in the month 
 of July ? Much less then can we expect to form a 
 good stock by removing the Bees into an empty 
 hive. 
 
 We are further recommended to take particular 
 care of the brood, which ought to be very abundant 
 in those hives, which have swarmed. I however 
 answer, that it is not sufficient to recommend that 
 care, but it is also necessary to impart to the inexpe- 
 rienced practitioner the most easy method of suc- 
 ceeding in that particular department. I acknow- 
 ledge ingenuously, that I am not acquainted with any 
 one, which can be adopted with propriety in the 
 common straw hive, when it is to be removed. 
 
 It is further observed, that the chief aim of the 
 country is to have the hives extremely well peopled ; 
 but I ask, what are the methods which ought to be 
 employed by apiarians to effect that aim ? It is how- 
 ever most certain, that the method of removing the 
 Bees from the full hive to an empty one, so far from 
 augmenting the population, diminishes it. 
 
 Jn the second place, M. de Bomare informs us, 
 that from sixty to seventy pounds of honey-comb, 
 nearly two pounds and a half of wax are extracted ; 
 but he subsequently tells us, that two pounds and a 
 half of wax are extracted from twenty or thirty 
 pounds of combs. This appears to me a manifest 
 contradiction. The same contradiction appears com- 
 
ON THE TRANSPORTATION OF HIVES. 293' 
 
 mon to all the authors who have treated of the pro- 
 portion of wax to that of honey. M. Tessier relates, 
 according to Duhamel, that the curate of Tillay-le- 
 Peilleux in Beauce, extracted only five or six pounds 
 of wax from four hundred and eighty pounds of 
 comb ; but I am persuaded that a pound of wax can 
 be extracted from ten pounds of comb. This how- 
 ever may in a great measure depend on the state of 
 the combs which are extracted, whether they be old 
 or new, full or empty. If they be new, a greater quan- 
 tity of wax is produced, in such a manner that a 
 square foot of new comb will yield more wax than a 
 square foot of old. Further, if ten square feet of 
 empty combs be extracted from a hive, the propor- 
 tion of wax to honey ought to be greater than if they 
 were full. This proportion is most evident. I there- 
 fore maintain, that in order to know the true pro- 
 portion of these two productions of the Bee, a comb 
 quite new should be selected, which I will suppose 
 to be a foot square, and full of honey : this comb 
 must be weighed, the wax is then melted separately, 
 and weighed, and the result of this experiment will 
 determine the two proportions of honey and wax. 
 If this same comb were old, we might suppose that 
 it would yield less wax, but experience proves the 
 contrary, for if we take the upper part of three combs 
 of four inches broad to form the square foot, they 
 will yield a much greater quantity of wax; because 
 the upper parts of the combs, which are attached to 
 the superficies of the hive, are more solidly built, 
 and contain more wax in proportion than the re- 
 mainder of the comb. 
 
 In regard however, to the transportation of the 
 hives, it is fair to hear both sides of the question, for 
 ir is oniv from a collision of sentiments, that truth 
 
294- MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 can be elicited. M. Ducarne, no mean naturalist, 
 utterly disapproves of the system, and the following 
 are the grounds, on which his opinion is founded. 
 " A friend of mine," he says, " who was a great 
 " advocate for the transportation of hives, sent them 
 " four years successively to the buck wheat, and one 
 " only succeeded ; in the other hives, the Bees ac- 
 " tually lost in their weight. The disadvantages 
 " and losses attending the removal appear also to be 
 " carefully concealed by its advocates, for they forget, 
 " and I suppose wilfully so, to mention, that some- 
 " times a quarter, and even half of the hives are de- 
 " stroyed on the journey, especially if the buck 
 " wheat be situate more than three or four miles from 
 " the place whence they set out. Although on con^ 
 " ducting them, every attention be paid to cover 
 " them with very fine network, or other substance, 
 " in order to give the Bees plenty of air, and to place 
 " the hives topsy-turvy in the carriage; yet, if the 
 " weather be in the least hot, a great number of Bees 
 " die by suffocation. Another very important in- 
 11 jury is sustained during the removal ; for it gene- 
 " rally happens that the old hives, which have not 
 " been turned, are pillaged by the others, and even 
 " sometimes by the Bees, which are transported on 
 " other carriages. M. Ducarne also says, that the 
 " honey obtained from the buck wheat is of little 
 " value, and sells for half the price of the other 
 " honey." 
 
 The objections of M. Ducarne are however easily 
 answered, for, in the first place, he never tried the 
 system of removing his hives to a fresh pasturage, and 
 his conclusions are therefore drawn from the mere 
 ipse dixit of another. In regard to the circumstance, 
 that one hive only succeeded of a number that were 
 
 1 
 
ON THE TRANSPORTATION OF HIVES. 293 
 
 removed for four years, it is very possible that a com- 
 bination of circumstances might have taken place in- 
 jurious to the collection of honey. Some years are 
 certainly not favourable to the removal of hives, and 
 if it should happen to be undertaken in one of those 
 years, the system itself must not be blamed for the 
 failure. The proprietor has it always in his power 
 to make himself acquainted with the richness or 
 poverty of the pasturage, to which he is going to 
 remove his hives, for as the secretion of the melli- 
 fluous fluid depends in a great measure on the tem- 
 perature of the season, it may happen that, although 
 the extent of the pasturage may be such as to warrant 
 the proprietor in the expectation of a great harvest 
 of honey, yet certain circumstances may coalesce to 
 defeat that expectation, and with which the proprie- 
 tor ought in some measure to have been acquainted 
 previously to the removal of the Bees. 
 
 Respecting the great loss, which the proprietors 
 sustain by the carriage of the hives, I am enabled 
 positively to contradict it, and I can also produce the 
 testimony of some most skilful naturalists and apia- 
 rians. During my travels in Germany, and particu- 
 larly in Hanover, I had frequent opportunities of 
 witnessing the travelling apiaries, and I was informed 
 by one proprietor, who had followed that occupation 
 for above twenty years, that he never lost a single 
 hive by the mere casualties of the journey ; and my 
 surprise increased, when he told me, that he was 
 sometimes obliged to remove them to the distance of 
 thirty miles, which occupied a period of four days. 
 Intelligent however, as this apiarian was in many 
 respects, and well grounded as he appeared to be in 
 the natural history of Bees, he was a decided enemy 
 to the system of deprivation. He universally sufFo- 
 
296 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 cated his Bees at the close of the season, though not, 
 he said, until he had tried every method, which diffe- 
 rent authors have recommended, for the preservation 
 of the Bees. I have, however, some idea, that he 
 entered upon the practice of saving the Bees, with a 
 deeply rooted prejudice against it. His adherence to 
 it, therefore, would have been a great wonder. 
 
 I am particularly surprised at the assertion of M. 
 Ducarne, that the old hives are often pillaged during 
 their removal, and on their arrival at the place of 
 their pasturage. It is universally known, and M. 
 Ducarne cannot have been ignorant of the fact, that 
 the Bees never take to the nefarious system of pillage 
 as long as there is any honey to be found in the fields. 
 It is only in the latter end of September, when the 
 honey is exhausted in the flowers, that the Bees rob 
 each other, but I never experienced it, during the 
 honey season. 
 
 In the vicinity of Paris, the hives are transported 
 to the pasturage of Pierrelaye, a village on the road 
 to Pontoise, where buck wheat is much cultivated.* 
 The hives, which are thus moved, are placed in the 
 gardens, in the fields, and by the sides of the hedges, 
 where they are protected from the strong prevailing 
 winds. The persons, to whose care they arc entrust- 
 
 * M. Ducarne asserts erroneously, that the honey of buck wheat 
 is not of half the value of that extracted from the flowers in general ; 
 still, however, he allows it to be worth something, and he admits it to 
 be a cogent reason for the removal of weak hives or second or third 
 .swarms into the vicinity of buck wheat. A prejudice exists also in 
 this country, respecting the inferior quality of heath honey, and I 
 have in vain attempted to remove that opinion from the mind of seve- 
 ral apiarians. The honey of the plains of Hanover, where heath is 
 the sole food of the Bees, is a suflicient refutation of that opinion ; 
 but I never look for the removal of any prejudice from the mind of 
 those persons who can give me no other reason for entertaining it than 
 that it was the opinion of their grandmother ! 
 
ON THE TRANSPORTATION OF HIVES. 297 
 
 ed, are answerable for them not being stolen, nor 
 overturned. 
 
 It may appear almost incredible, but I can vouch 
 for the truth of the statement, that a hive which, 
 when taken to the vicinity of heath, weighed only 
 twelve pounds, had, at the time of its being brought 
 home, increased sixty pounds, and the expense of 
 removing, with the sum paid to the cottager for al- 
 lowing it to stand in his garden, did not amount to 
 five shillings, and four or six hives might have been 
 moved for the same expense as one. 
 
 These instances, of the great advantage, which at- 
 tends the removal of Bees in search of pasture, afford 
 an excellent lesson to many places in this kingdom, 
 especially where large rivers present the means of 
 easy transportation. They direct particularly the 
 inhabitants of the rich vales, where the harvest for 
 Bees ends early, to remove their hives to places 
 which abound in heath, this plant continuing in 
 bloom during a considerable part of the autumn, and 
 yielding great plenty of honey to Bees. Those in the 
 neighbourhood of hills and mountains, will save the 
 Bees a great deal of labour, by taking also the advan- 
 tage of shifting their places of abode. 
 
298 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 ON THE ROBBERIES OF BEES, AND THE METHOD 
 OF PREVENTING THEM. 
 
 A HAVE, already treated of the enemies of the Bee, 
 in regard to itself, and its provisions, but the greatest 
 evil, which can befal a hive, is an attack from the 
 Bees of a stranger colony. The pillage, which is 
 mutually carried on by the Bees, is the cause of the 
 loss of a greater number of Bees and hives than all 
 the attacks of their other enemies. 
 
 The first cause, which excites the Bees to plunder, 
 is greediness, and a continual desire of collecting pro- 
 visions to convey to their own domicile, and it is in 
 general the Bees of those hives, which are most am- 
 ply provided with provisions, that carry on the pil- 
 laging system to the greatest extent. Strong and 
 vigorous in themselves, they have nothing to fear 
 from the attack of others, and it is only the weak, 
 hives, which suffer from the pillage of their own race. 
 Want and necessity may, however, be sometimes 
 taken into the account, for it may happen that the 
 best peopled hives are precisely those, which are the 
 most in want of provisions, and they therefore fall 
 upon the weaker societies, which from the paucity 
 of their numbers, are better provided with food. 
 
OX THE ROBBERIES OF BEES. 299 
 
 There is, however, another source of this evil, 
 which is very prone to happen in the common straw 
 hive. This arises from the moths, or other insects 
 which penetrate into the hive, and there multiply, 
 devouring and spoiling all the works of the hive in 
 such a manner, that the Bees, judging it most pru- 
 dent to forsake their domicile, defend it but weakly, 
 and then leave it, as a prey to the first comers. After- 
 wards, perhaps, these wandering and vagabond Bees 
 seek in their turn to live at the expense of others. 
 If they be very strong, they besiege another hive, 
 they drive out the lawful proprietors of it, and ravage 
 their provisions without mercy. Those, which have 
 been driven from their dwelling, go in their turn 
 in quest of food, or rather on the pillaging system, 
 and thus the evil becomes contagious ; the best fur- 
 nished hives are from this cause often seen desolated, 
 and reduced to nothing. The Bees of those hives, 
 which have been gnawed by the mice and other ani- 
 mals, and which have experienced the cruel visits of 
 the wasps, and the hornets, are often obliged to for- 
 sake their homes to seek for their subsistence in other 
 hives more healthy or better furnished. 
 
 These are, in short, the principal causes of the 
 pillage of the Bees, an evil which is of so serious 
 and injurious consequence to them. 
 
 There are some days, in which the pillage is car- 
 ried on to a much greater extent than others. This 
 is a circumstance which it is very easy to remark. 
 The pillage is most to be feared after two or three 
 days of rain, when the weather is not suitable to the 
 collecting of honey, because hunger presses more 
 violently on those, which have suffered from a want 
 of provisions, and as idleness is the mother of all vice, 
 \he Bees having nothing better to do, visit their 
 
300 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 neighbours, and rob those, which are weaker than 
 themselves. 
 
 In regard to the seasons, in which the evil exists 
 to the greatest extent, it may be reckoned that there 
 are two in the year. The first may be computed 
 from the month of March, to the 5th or 6th of May. 
 From that time to the end of August, or the middle 
 of September, it is very rare that a hive is attacked 
 by robbers. As soon as the honey begins to decrease 
 in the fields, the pillaging Bees are seen hovering 
 round particular hives, as if reconnoitring the parti- 
 cular point on which the attack is to be made. I 
 would advise the apiarian to pay particular attention 
 to that hive, about which he sees a number of Bees 
 hovering on the wing: their presence bodes no good 
 to it, and he must not be surprised if, in a few days, 
 he iinds it formally and vigorously attacked by a 
 whole host of robbers. 
 
 The present method of arranging the hives in an 
 apiary, is another great cause of pillage ; for in pro- 
 portion to the closeness of the hives to each other, so 
 is the risk of robbery. For this reason : the system of 
 keeping the hives in houses, in which five or six are 
 all placed on one bench or shelf, cannot be too much 
 censured ; the facility of communication between 
 the hives is augmented, and the weaker hives must 
 then infallibly suffer. On following the above course 
 of reasoning with an apiarian in Huntingdonshire, 
 who kept his hives in houses, he asked me which 
 was most to be dreaded, the pillage of the hives by 
 the Bees themselves, by which the actual value is 
 not lost to the proprietor, but is merely a kind of 
 transfer of property, and the positive robbery of the 
 hives by human thieves, which is too often the case 
 when hives are placed in open gardens, by the road 
 
OX THE ROBBERIES OF BEES. 301 
 
 side, and exposed to the observation of every passen- 
 ger. I allow that this question ought to be decided 
 in favour of the Huntingdonian, if no method could 
 be devised of securing hives from human depreda- 
 tions, but with the machine placed over a hive in the 
 manner Plate V. Fig. o, I consider it to be much 
 safer than enclosed in a house, the lock of which can 
 be easily picked, and the whole contents of it carried 
 away. I grant that the confined limits of the cot- 
 tager's garden are against the hives being- placed at 
 remote distances ; but still it is possible to avoid the 
 extreme of the hives touching each other, which is 
 the usual plan in the North of England. In this po- 
 sition of the hives, the pillage of the weaker ones 
 can scarcely be avoided. Hives should never be 
 placed at a less distance from each other than a yard ; 
 for a crowded apiary is subject to many inconve- 
 niences, in the removal of which the simple cottager 
 in general displays the most profound ignorance.* 
 
 As however, in all cases, prevention is better than 
 a remedy, it is most necessary that the apiarian 
 should be acquainted with the principal signs which 
 display themselves, when a hive is about to be pil- 
 laged. 
 
 Jn the first place, when a hive is undergoing pil- 
 lage and plunder, a more than ordinary noise is heard 
 before the hive, and indeed in the whole garden; and 
 if the ear be placed to the hive, the noise is then very 
 considerable. This arises from the motion of the 
 Bees : some defending their provisions, others rob- 
 bing them, and as those Bees, which are seen to enter 
 
 * The Abbe della Rocca, speaking of the pillage of the hives in the 
 Archipelago, says, that they disperse their hives in the fields, -which 
 totally prevents pillage by other Bees, for in his land of innocence, th<* 
 character of a thief is unknown. 
 
002 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 in crowds, come, and depart in the vicinity of the 
 apiary with great glee and precipitation, the in- 
 creased noise is accounted for, which is heard in the 
 garden. 
 
 Battles and duels are then seen at the entrance of 
 the hive, which is besieged at all parts ; some Bees 
 enter, others depart in haste, and almost all of thein 
 are fighting ; some to effect an entrance by force ; 
 others to hinder it, and drive those out, which have 
 already gained admittance. Some are observed pur- 
 suing others, which they catch hold of by their 
 hinder legs, or their wings, and which are hastening 
 away at full speed. Others fall upon those which 
 arrive, and often upon one of their own community, 
 whom they are prevented from recognising, by the 
 anger which they arc in, and to whom they give no 
 more quarter than to the strangers. In fine, it is a 
 disorder, a confusion, a frightful carnage before the 
 entrance of this ill-fated hive, which scarcely knows 
 friend from foe, and attacks each without discrimina- 
 tion. 
 
 1 am here supposing the robbery to exist in all its 
 force, and in that case, 1 am not aware of any remedy 
 which will avail. But at its commencement, the 
 commotion which exists, compared with that which 
 has been just described, is like the battle on the 
 Serpentine river to the fight of Trafalgar. 
 
 When therefore, you see several Bees hovering with 
 rapidity about, and particularly before the entrance 
 of the hive, and you see them alight at times near 
 the Bees, which guard the entrance, and fly away 
 with celerity; and finally, when a Bee of the hive 
 recognises the daring robber, then tremble for your 
 hive. These may be called the foragers or the 
 advanced-guard, who are sent forth to notice the most 
 
ON THE ROBBERIES OF BEES. 303 
 
 vulnerable point of the place, on which the attack is 
 intended to be made. Further, if on closely observ- 
 ing the hive, you perceive a Bee dart upon one, or 
 upon a number of others, which hover about the 
 hive, and that this Bee, after having pursued his ene- 
 my, returns immediately to regain his companions, 
 and places himself with them in a menacing posture, 
 which is not difficult to be discovered by those, who 
 are in the habit of watching the motions of these ex- 
 traordinary insects, the conclusion may be instantly 
 drawn, that this hive is threatened with robbery. 
 These bold and audacious robbers are seen to pass 
 with an astonishing rapidity before the entrance of 
 the hives, where the domiciliated Bees are always on 
 their guard against their enterprise. Sometimes they 
 alight with the greatest effrontery, in the very midst 
 of those, who guard the avenues, and then take to 
 their wings with the utmost precipitation, when they 
 <ee some of the domiciliated Bees, who having no 
 idea of taking a joke, pounce upon them, and like 
 the death-head hussars, give no quarter to their 
 enemy. 
 
 At another time, when the robbers delay their 
 escape too long, a Bee of the hive catches it by the 
 hinder leg, and yields not its hold, until the intruder 
 takes wins;, dra^gin^ hisenemv after him. If durinsr 
 the dispute, two or three other Bees should come to 
 the assistance of their companion, woe then to the 
 robber; he is seized by his legs and wings, and he 
 may think himself fortunate if he effect his escape. 
 
 When these signs present themselves to your view, 
 you then have every thing to fear for your hive, and 
 if instead of one or two Bees hovering about it, you 
 see a number, you may then conclude that the weak 
 ness of the hive has been discovered, and it is on the 
 
3(H MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 eve of being formally and regularly attacked. It 
 becomes therefore a particular part of the duty of the 
 apiarian to pay frequent visits to his hives in the 
 season when the robberies commence. Particular 
 care, however, should be taken not to confound the 
 robbing Bees with the young ones, who from the 
 hours of twelve to four, amuse themselves by flying 
 in great numbers about the hive, and whose motions 
 very much resemble those of the pillaging Bees. 
 There are, however, particular signs by which the 
 attentive observer may distinguish the young Bees 
 from the strangers, who are meditating an attack. 
 The young Bees keep constantly before the entrance 
 of the hive, and they have always their head turned 
 towards its centre; whereas, the besieging Bees 
 surround the hive in all quarters, without maintain- 
 ing any particular position. 
 
 I generally adopt a very simple method of ascer- 
 taining if the Bees, which are in groups before the 
 hives, belong to my own apiary, or if they be robbers. 
 I sprinkle some fine flour on the Bees, and I then 
 watch if any of them enter the hive without opposi- 
 tion, which immediately determines if they befriends 
 or foes. 
 
 In regard to the prevention of pillage, if you have 
 a weak hive in your apiary, for which you entertain 
 any fear, I would advise the following plan to be 
 adopted. 
 
 It must, be instantly removed from the apiary, and 
 placed in a corner of a garden, about 5 or 600 paces 
 or a quarter of a mile distant, and it should be then 
 covered with branches or faggots, to protect it from 
 the view of the Bees, flying into the fields for food. 
 The entrance may be left unclosed, and which 
 must be so contracted as to admit onlv one Bee to 
 
OX THE ROBBERIES OF BEES. 305 
 
 Come out at a time, which is very easily done with 
 putty or clay, or with a piece of perforated tin, of 
 the shape of Fig. 8, PI. VI., and it must be left in 
 this state until you perceive that the hive is tranquil, 
 and is molested no more by the other Bees. 
 
 The removal of the hives may, however, in some 
 measure depend on the discretion and judgment of 
 the apiarian, especially when the pillage is supposed 
 to proceed from two or three bad days for the collec- 
 tion of honey ; because, under such circumstances, it 
 will be sufficient to close the entrance of the menaced 
 hive, leaving only a small aperture for the Bees to 
 respire. I in general follow this plan, whenever I 
 see a hive threatened by robbers, but, if on opening 
 it two or three days afterwards, I still perceive it in 
 danger, I then lose no time in removing it. 
 
 As the majority of the hives which are tormented 
 with robbers are weak, and in want of provisions, it 
 would be advisable to give them a little food in the 
 evening after sun-set, taking care at the same time 
 so to close the entrance, that no strange Bees can 
 gain admittance, for were this not to be done, you 
 will have only increased, not removed the danger of 
 your hives. 
 
 I have, however, experienced that the removal of 
 a hive to a distant place is not always a remedy for 
 the prevailing evil, for so great are the activity and 
 vigilance of the Bees, that they will discover a weak 
 hive at any distance from the apiary. Under these 
 circumstances, I advise the proprietor to take the 
 hive into a granary, or other out-house, in which 
 there is a window fronting the south, at which the 
 hive must be placed; but the entrance must be so clos- 
 ed, that no Bee can come out. A little food should 
 be given them, and in about three or four days, the 
 x 
 
306 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 window may be opened, and the Bees set at liberty. 
 This however, must only be done in very fine wea- 
 ther. Should the hive be discovered by the strangers, 
 the window can be immediately closed, and all fur- 
 ther attack is then prevented. In this case, however, 
 a number of Bees will be necessarily excluded, which 
 actually belong to the hive, and which cannot per- 
 haps be admitted without also admitting the stran- 
 gers ; but in the course of an hour, the strangers, dis- 
 appointed in their expectations will retire, and the 
 lawful Bees may then be permitted to return. 
 
 When a hive is removed, a deception should be 
 practised, by putting an empty one in its place ; this 
 will amuse the robbers returning on the following 
 day, and will prevent them attacking any other hive, 
 which might be too weak to oppose them ; for the 
 same proverb holds good with Bees, as with men, 
 that stolen goods are sweet, and when the Bees of a 
 hive once take to robbing, they follow the occupation 
 with the greatest zeal, and the best apiary will under 
 these circumstances be soon depopulated. 
 
 As scarcity of food is the real cause of the robbery 
 amongst Bees, it may in some degree be prevented 
 by a judicious method of feeding ; but as it is impos- 
 sible to inculcate a proper management of the Bee 
 into the minds of some individuals, it may happen 
 that your neighbour is remiss in feeding his weak 
 hives, and you become thereby exposed to the robbers 
 from his apiary. Against this circumstance, there is 
 no other preventive than a removal of the hive ac- 
 cording to the directions which have been already 
 given. 
 
ON THE ADVANTAGE AND PROFIT OF BEES. 307 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 ON THE ADVANTAGES WHICH ACCRUE TO THE 
 STATE, AND TO INDIVIDUALS FROM THE CUL- 
 TURE OF THE BEE. 
 
 VV AR has its uses, as well as its miseries : it calls 
 forth the energies of a nation, draws its attention to 
 its own internal resources, and renders it at the same 
 time independent of the natural commodities of other 
 nations. Thus, until England was at war with Rus- 
 sia, it was not discovered that we were paying an 
 enormous sum annually to that country for a metal 
 which we possessed in our own native mountains, 
 and also for that timber, which it would take mil- 
 lenaries to exhaust from our own American .colonies. 
 It is also a notorious fact, that this country pays an- 
 nually to the north of Germany from ,£40,000 to 
 i0,000 for the produce of the Bee,* when that same 
 produce could be obtained in this country at a com- 
 paratively small expense, and by which the condition 
 of the lower orders of the peasantry would be essen- 
 
 * In one ship, the Aurora, from Papenhurg, was imported in the year 
 1814 41 casks of honey, weighing 6S cwt. 1 qr. 53lbs. or 7667lbs. ; 
 and in about a week afterwards, another vessel was entered at the 
 Custom-House in London, bringing 8424 lbs. making in two ship* 
 only, the enormous quantity of 16,G38lbs. of honey. The Zeelust, 
 from Amsterdam, entered 19th May, 1814, brought oyer 4hhds. and 
 12 casks of honey, weighing bO cwt. 2 qrs. 14lb. 
 
 x 2 
 
JOS MAKAGEIIEXT OF BEES. 
 
 tially ameliorated. In this country, unfortunately 
 the culture of the Bee is made more an object of 
 amusement than of profit. In the gardens of the 
 nobility and gentry, a few hives are seen ; but you 
 are informed that they are glass, for the purpose of 
 seeing the Bees work ; a circumstance which no per- 
 son ever yet beheld, and I may venture to say never 
 will. If you leave the gardens of the great, and turn 
 your view to the more humble one of the peasant, 
 you in general view it deprived of its chief ornament, 
 which I consider an apiary, whether regarded with an 
 eye to profit or rational amusement. Poverty may 
 indeed be one obstacle to a more extended culture of 
 the Bee ; but prejudice, founded on fear, has a greater 
 share in it. Some farmers are, I am persuaded, not 
 aware of the profit attending a well conducted apiary, 
 or they would not so glaringly neglect such an essen- 
 tial branch of rural economy. There is not one 
 branch in which the profit is so great, compared with 
 the expense attending it, and in which the manage- 
 ment absorbs such a small portion of time. This cir- 
 cumstance alone is one great argument in favour of 
 an apiary, and in the eye of the economist, renders it 
 of great importance. 
 
 The extent to which an apiary may be carried in 
 this country, has been the subject of discussion in 
 many letters which I have received from several emi- 
 nent agriculturists. It is impossible to decide this 
 question minutely, as the extent of an apiary must 
 depend on its local situation, possessing in itself a 
 greater or less degree of natural fertility and other 
 concomitant advantages. The management of an ex- 
 tensive apiary depends on a perfect knowledge of 
 the means of seconding the admirable instinct of the 
 Bees, without whieh it is folly to pursue it, and it is 
 
ON THE ADYAXIAGE AND PROFIT OF BEES. 309 
 
 the very want of that knowledge which has checked 
 the culture of the Bee, and diminished the profits of 
 the apiary. Let it not he supposed that the manage- 
 ment of an apiary is intuitive, which appears to be 
 an idea prevalent in the minds of the majority of per- 
 sons undertaking the management of Bees, for instruc- 
 tion appears to them as an insult on their understand- 
 ing, or a direct attack upon their own profound expe- 
 rience, and the opposition to that instruction is in 
 proportion to its departure from the line of manage- 
 ment which has been originally adopted. Knowing 
 the extreme dearth of honey, which prevailed in the 
 year 1816, I was unremitting in my exertions to 
 save the hives of several cottagers, by recommend- 
 ing a liberal system of feeding, on the plan proposed 
 in this work. By three cottagers my advice was fol- 
 lowed, and their hives, with the exception of one, 
 weathered the winter; with eiaht other cottagers, 
 all I said was built on sophistry and error: their 
 hives had hitherto been fed on raw sugar — and raw 
 sugar was therefore to be their food in future. The 
 consequence has been the loss of IS hives out of 22. 
 Will this bitter experience have any effect on these 
 prejudiced people ? I fear not. 
 
 In regard to the extent of an apiary under the ma- 
 nagement of one individual, I consider that a person 
 might manage c 200 hives, with some slight assistance 
 during the swarming season. Some French authors 
 eulogize the skill and zeal of M. Prouteau of Yonc- 
 la-Yille, who had constantly under his care from 5 to 
 600 hives : this is^ however, a rare example of apia- 
 rian enthusiasm, and indeed it may be quoted as 
 unique. I do not believe that twenty persons could 
 be mustered in England, who possess an apiary of 
 25 hives : and even NJ the most favourable situations., 
 
310 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 the advantages are lost by a depraved system of ma- 
 nagement. I know one humble but meritorious indi- 
 vidual at Blair Drummond, near Stirling, who an- 
 nually pays the rent of a small farm from the profits 
 of an apiary of from 40 to 50 hives ; but on my in- 
 quiring the reason of his example not being generally 
 followed in his part of the country, he informed me 
 of a singular prejudice which besets the minds of the 
 lower peasantry, viz. that Bees will not prosper with- 
 out the exercise of a portion of witchcraft ; and to 
 have recourse to that measure for worldly gain, were 
 indeed a heinous crime. When will the light of rea- 
 son be generally diffused over the human mind ? 
 
 I will state the profit of five years on a fair and 
 equitable scaie, making at the same time ample al- 
 lowance for those losses, which even the most skilful 
 apiarian cannot prevent. I will suppose a person to 
 buy a swarm in 1812, for which he pays one guinea :* 
 there is little doubt of the Bees making a sufficiency 
 of honey to keep them until the ensuing spring ; and 
 after having diminished the entrance, and fastened 
 the hive on the stool, the apiarian has no further 
 trouble until the spring, when his Bees begin to work. 
 In the month of May or June his hive swarms, and 
 in about tendays afterwards heobtainsanother swarm, 
 which is called a cast. His apiary now consists of 
 three hives, from one of which (the cast) it will be 
 most prudent for him to take the honey; as from the 
 comparatively small numberof Bees, and the lateness 
 of the season, it seldom makes honey sufficient for 
 its support. The Bees must be joined to the strong- 
 est of the stock hives. I will suppose the cast to 
 
 * I have here rated the price of a swarm at the maximum. In Ifee 
 country it may be purchased for seven or ten shillings. 
 
ON THE ADVANTAGE AND PROFIT OF BEES. 311 
 
 weigh fifteen pounds : these will bring him, if sold, 
 twenty-two shillings. Thus in the first year the 
 apiarian has received back the price of his original 
 hive, and he has doubled his stock. The second 
 year his two hives produce him four swarms. I 
 would then advise him to sell his casts, which 
 will bring him fifteen shillings each, and add his two 
 swarms to his stock. He has now four good hives, 
 and at the expiration of every year let the apiarian 
 weigh his hives, and take from them all above thirty 
 pounds, that quantity being sufficient for the support 
 of the best peopled hive through the longest winter. 
 I will suppose, on an average, that each hive could 
 spare him ten pounds ; the second year he has there- 
 fore received one pound ten shillings for two casts, 
 and forty pounds of honey comb, which at one shil- 
 ling and six pence per pound, (but which sells in the 
 shops, at three shillings and six-pence or four shil- 
 lings) produce him three pounds. The third year 
 his four hives produce him eight swarms. He fol- 
 lows the same plan as in the preceding years, and at 
 the commencement of the fourth year, his apiary 
 consists of eight stocks. At the beginning of the 
 fifth year, his apiary has increased to sixteen stocks. 
 I will now calculate the actual profit. 
 
 Dr. JE. s. d. Cr. £. s. d. 
 
 1812, — To one swarm 1 1 1S13, — By one swarm 1 1 
 
 1813,— To two new Eee- By one cast 15 
 
 hives 4 By lOlbs. of ho- 
 
 To two new stools 4 ney-comb, ta- 
 
 1814, — To four new Bee- ken from the 
 
 hives 8 first swarm, at 
 
 To 4 new stools ... 8 Is. Gd. per lb... 15 
 
 1815, — To 8 new hives... 16 1314, — By 2 swarms 2 2 
 
 To 8 new stools... 16 By 2 casts 1 10 
 
 1S16,— To 16 hives 1 12 By 20lbs. of ho- 
 
 To l'i stools 1 12 ney-comb, taken 
 
312 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 
 
 
 Dr. 
 
 
 Cr. 
 
 
 
 
 S 1 7 , — To 32 hives 3 4 
 
 
 
 from the two 
 
 
 
 
 To 32 stools .... 3 4 
 
 o 
 
 swarms 
 
 1 
 
 in 
 
 Q 
 
 To 10 pounds of 
 
 
 1815, — By 4 swarms 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 sugar for feed- 
 
 
 By 4 casts 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 ing the Bees, at 
 
 
 By 40lbs. of ho- 
 
 
 
 
 8d. per lb 6 
 
 8 
 
 ney-comb, ta- 
 
 
 
 
 To 20 quarts of 
 
 
 ken from the 
 
 
 
 
 ale, at 6d. per 
 
 
 four swarms .... 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 quart 10 
 
 
 
 1816,— By 8 swarms 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 To incidental ex- 
 
 
 By 8 casts 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 penses 1 1 
 
 
 
 By 80lbs. of ho- 
 ney-comb, ta- 
 ken from eight 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 swarms 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1817, — By 16 swarms 
 
 16 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 By 16 casts 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 By 160lbs. of ho- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ney-comb, ta- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ken from six- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 teen swarms.... 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 £\b 6 8 i£79 1 
 
 Deduct £\b 6 8 
 
 Actual profit in five years .£6314 4 
 
 Thus his profit at the expiration of five years, will 
 be £63. 14s. 4d. and leaving him ten good stocks in 
 his garden. I have not enumerated in this estimate, 
 any probable profit which may be derived from virgin 
 swarms, but I trust I have demonstrated the certain 
 profit which can be obtained from a well-conducted 
 apiary. The former calculation has been made, un- 
 der the supposition of the common straw hive being 
 used ; I will however state the profit of an apiary, 
 when my own hive, which is more expensive, is in- 
 troduced ; and this will be ascertained by simply 
 adding the difference in the price of the two hives, 
 which may be estimated at about five shillings : this, 
 for 32 hives, will make an addition to the debit ac- 
 count of £$, which, deducted from £63. 14s. 4d, 
 
ON THE ADVANTAGE AND PROFTT OF BEES. 813 
 
 leaves a clear profit of £55. 14s. Ad. This difference 
 is, however, amply compensated by the great advan- 
 tages which would accrue to the cottager from the 
 use of my hive, in the practical department of his 
 apiary. * 
 
 I am however fully persuaded that the use of the 
 common straw hive tends more to obstruct the cul- 
 ture of the Bee than any other cause. Its shape is 
 particularly inconvenient for the performance of the 
 different operations which the Bees require, and on 
 which the profit of the proprietor principally depends. 
 The operation of depriving the hives, is attended 
 with those difficulties, which naturally deter those 
 who are not enthusiastically attached to Bees ; and 
 this sentiment must not be looked for in the minds 
 of those, whose only aim in their culture is-pecuniary 
 advantage. It is only my enthusiasm and attach- 
 ment to those insects, which could possibly induce 
 me to persevere in the arduous undertaking of de- 
 priving the Bees of their store from the common hive, 
 and I am not therefore surprised at the general use of 
 suffocation. 
 
 The profit which is obtained from Bees stands in 
 no proportion with the little time and trouble which 
 their culture demands, and this is sufficient to induce 
 those, who calculate things properly, to give the cul- 
 ture of the Bee the preference before all other agri- 
 cultural occupations, especially as no sacrifice of pro- 
 perty, nor extensive capital, is necessary for its pro- 
 secution. From the same fields, which } r ield corn to 
 man and forage to beasts, the diligent Bee extracts 
 its food, without diminishing in the smallest degree 
 
 * In France, the profit of a hive is estimated from ten livrcs to one 
 Louis. 
 
.314 MANAGEMENT OF KEES. 
 
 the crop destined for human or animal support. The 
 same trees, which the Creator has formed to furnish 
 the most delicious fruits, and wood for the use of man, 
 vield also to the industrious Bee the materials with 
 which it forms its combs, and which are afterwards 
 applied to the benefit of man. 
 
 As a proof of the importance which was formerly- 
 attached to the culture of the Bee, Wildman quotes 
 a modern author, who affirms, " that when the Ro- 
 mans became masters of the island of Corsica, they 
 imposed a tribute of wax on the inhabitants, which 
 amounted to 200,000 pounds per annum ;" supposing 
 therefore, that the island retained the same quantity 
 for its own use, we have then 400,000 pounds of wax 
 made in one island, by these wonderful insects. It is 
 known that the proportion of wax to honey, is about 
 one to fifteen or twenty ; at least, it is in that propor- 
 tion that it exists in this country. In multiplying 
 those 400,000 pounds by fifteen or twenty, we have 
 more than six or eight millions pounds of honey, 
 independently of the 400,000 pounds of wax. What 
 a source of riches for the island of Corsica, if the 
 culture of the Bee were carried on to such extent as 
 formerly, especially as the price of honey and wax is 
 so much higher now than it was at that period. 
 
 I must confess, that the above calculation appears 
 to be rather exaggerated, but making every due 
 allowance for that exaggeration, it is sufficient to 
 .shew the actual profit, which a kingdom may derive 
 from the culture of the Bee. 
 
 I have by me a French newspaper of the 21st of 
 September, 1?S7, in which there is an article dated 
 Hanover, August 30th. " The culture of the Bee is 
 a particular object of the industry of the Hanoverian 
 
ON THE ADVANTAGE AND PROFIT OF BEES. 315 
 
 people; the produce of wax is estimated this year, 
 (1787,) at 300,000 pounds ; and if we multiply this 
 300,000 by fifteen, we find that Hanover alone in 
 that year, produced 4 : o00,000 pounds of honey. A 
 most incredible quantity to be collected in globules, 
 by a particular species of insects." 
 
 In France the culture of the Bee was formerly more 
 attended to than at present, although I rejoice to see 
 that it is fast emerging from the obscurity in which it 
 has been so long enveloped.* The cause of the de- 
 cline of the culture of the Bee in France is to be 
 attributed to the excessive imposts with which the 
 country people were burthened, and for the payment 
 of which their hives were taken from them.f 
 
 Although the inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire, 
 are not the richest people in Europe, they may be 
 placed on a level with the people of the majority of 
 
 * In France, the culture of the Bee gave rise to certain laws and 
 seigniorial rights, and especially to that of Aboilage or Abeillage, 
 which is a right possessed by landed proprietors in certain places, of 
 taking the Bees which may be found in the forests belonging to their 
 domain, dboilage is also a right established in several countries, by 
 virtue of which the lords of the soil may take a certain proportion of 
 bees, wax, and honey, from the hives of their vassals. 
 
 T By alaw of the 28th of September, 1791, concerning agricultural 
 effects, Art. 2, of the 3d Section, it was decreed that Bee-hives shall 
 not be seized nor sold for any public contribution, nor for any other 
 debt. By the 524 Art. of the Civil Code, it is decided that Bee-hives 
 form a p;irt of the estate on which they are placed, at least with one 
 positive exception, that he who sells an estate on which there are Bee- 
 hives, cannot take them away, unless it be positively stipulated to 
 that effect in the contract. 
 
 In the work of M. Necker, on the Administration of the Finances, 
 he mentions that the government having demanded of the prefects of 
 the provinces an exact list of all the hives which were kept in their 
 district, the proprietors of the hives on being informed of the circum- 
 stance, were alarmed at the consequences which might result, and 
 destroyed their hives entirely. They feared that a tax was about to be 
 laid upon them, and thus for a length of time the culture of the Bee 
 was wholly neglected in France. 
 
316 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 other states. Thiscan only be attributed to the good- 
 ness and the fertility of the soil, which, although it 
 he slightly cultivated, is sufficient to maintain the 
 people in a sort of ease and independence, and also 
 to the culture of Bees, which is carried on to a 
 great extent in all the provinces of the empire, and 
 especially in the maritime provinces. The immense 
 quantity of wax which the Europeans annually draw 
 from Smyrna, Salonichi, and the Morea, and other 
 countries of the White Sea is well known. In regard 
 to the Black Sea, in the work of Peysonnel, on the 
 Commerce of the Turkish Provinces on the Black 
 Sea, he says, p. 12o, " Wax is the most important 
 article of commerce of Moldavia and Wallachia ; it is 
 of a very fine quality, but the wax of Moldavia, is 
 preferable to that of Wallachia : it is sold at the same 
 price.' 1 Speaking- of the commerce of Bulgaria, he 
 says, p. 162, " an immense quantity of wax is ex- 
 ported from Bulgaria; it is yellow, and of an excel- 
 lent quality. It is sold in a pure state: its price is 
 from thirty-eight to forty-two paras the occa. The 
 para is about Is. 6d. and the occa about three 
 pounds/' 
 
 In the Archipelago, when a peasant has succeeded 
 in raising for himself a capital of twenty or thirty 
 hives, he considers himself fully able to provide for 
 the wants of his family, bj r adding to their profit the 
 proceeds of his weekly labour. 
 
 M. Montelle, in his book entitled, Choi.vde Lectures 
 Geograpliiqaes et Hisloriqucs, Tome 5, Part II, says, 
 in speaking of the island of Cuba : " When the Flo* 
 ridas were ceded in 170.'] by Spain to England, the 
 five or six hundred miserable beings who vegetated in 
 those regions, took refuge in Cuba, and carried with 
 them some Bees : these useful insects repaired to. the 
 
On the advantage and profit of bees. 317 
 
 forests, established themselves in the hollows of old 
 trees, and multiplied with a celerity which appeared 
 incredible. The colony in a short time, which pur- 
 chased a considerable quantity of wax for religious 
 solemnities, soon collected a sufficiency for those 
 pious customs and other consummations. In 1770, 
 there was a small superfluity, and in seven years 
 afterwards, 71«30 quintals were exported to Europe 
 and America. This product necessarily increased 
 under a climate, and on a soil which are equally fa- 
 vourable to it, in an island where the hives yield four 
 crops every year, and where the swarms succeed 
 each other without interruption.*" 
 
 I once inquired of a respectable inhabitant of St. 
 Domingo, why the culture of the Bee was neglected 
 in that island. He answered me, that it was because 
 those insects ravaged the sugar-canes, and because 
 
 * In support of what has been here advanced by M. Monteile, we 
 find in the work of Dun Dlloa, entitled, " Philosophical and Historical 
 Memoirs concerning the Discovery of Spain,*' the following passage : 
 •' I ought not to pass over in silence, that the swarms of Domeslic 
 Bees have much multiplied in the isle of Cuba, in the vicinity of the 
 Havannah, during the short space of time from 1764, after the peace 
 had been concluded with England. There were no Bees in the island 
 before that period, for those which were seen, were wild, and of a 
 different species. The families, which until that period, had resided 
 at St. Augustin, in Florida, having repaired to the island of Cuba, 
 brought with them some hives, which were placed at Guonavacoa, 
 and in other places from mere curiositv. These insects multiplied to 
 such a degree, that they spread to the mountains, and it was observed 
 that they began to be prejudicial to the sugar canes, on which they 
 fed. Their fecundity was so ^reat, that a hive yielded a swarm, and 
 sometimes two in a month. There is not that care bestowed upon 
 them which there is in Europe. The wax is uncommonly white, and 
 the honey of a perfect transparencv and an exquisite taste. According 
 to this statement, it is evident that honey and wax might become one 
 of the most ad\antageous branches of commerce for this island, with- 
 out bestowing much attention on the Cees, nor neglecting the sugar- 
 caue. which will be always the principal object." 
 
318 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 the nudity of the negroes exposed them to be much 
 incommoded. Don Ulloa is of the same sentiment 
 in regard to the havoc done to the sugar-canes, but I 
 confess that I do not see how it can take place ; if the 
 Bees imbibe the mellifluous juice which may flow 
 from the cracks or chasms in the sugar canes, it ap- 
 pears to me that it is not a real loss, for this juice 
 would evaporate, or it would become the prey of 
 other insects ; it would therefore be more advan- 
 tageous for the Bees to profit by it : and even sup- 
 posing that a superabundance of hives occasioned 
 some diminution in the produce of the sugar-canes, 
 would not an indemnity for this loss be found with 
 usury, in the quantity of honey which the hives would 
 yield, and especially by the rich crop of wax which 
 they would furnish ? 
 
 In regard to the negroes, who, on account of their 
 nudity, are exposed to the stings, the answer is very 
 clear: for the Bees never attack any one m the open 
 fields, excepting an attempt be made to catch them 
 when they alight on the flowers. Besides, might 
 not a particular dress be adopted for the purpose of 
 attending the hives ? The advantage which the 
 colonists would derive, would amply repay them for 
 the little extraordinary expense. 
 
 On all the coasts of Africa, the negroes are well 
 acquainted with the management and culture of the 
 Bee, and the quantity of wax which the Europeans 
 derive from that country, is the best demonstration 
 of the fact ; their nudity does not prevent them from 
 paying the proper attention to their hives, and we 
 have no proof that they ever make use of any parti- 
 cular covering or guard. 
 
 There are, however, some persons who fear, that by 
 multiplying the Bees in the sugar islands, the persons 
 
ON THE ADVANTAGE AND PROFIT OF BEES. 319 
 
 employed in the sugar manufactories would be much 
 incommoded. But if the Bees found a sufficiency 
 for their support in the fields, they would not repair 
 to the houses to torment the inhabitants. In the 
 Archipelago, the natives perform the different mani- 
 pulations of honey, without any fear or danger, when 
 the fields yield a sufficiency of food for the Bees; 
 but if St. Domingo, as well as Cuba, always furnish 
 an amplitude of food for the Bees in all seasons, no 
 fear whatever need be entertained of the work-people 
 in the refineries. 
 
 There is, however, one prejudice which exists in 
 this country against the Bees, and although it be 
 confined to the lower classes, it still operates mate- 
 rially towards a prevention of an extended culture of 
 the Bee, and this is, that they are fully persuaded, 
 that the Bees are very injurious to the fruit trees. 
 In imbibing the honey from the flowers, they assert 
 that the Bees derange the fecundation, and the pre- 
 mature fall of the fruit is solely to be ascribed to the 
 action of the Bee.* 
 
 On this subject it may be curious to notice the 6b- 
 
 * Several ridiculous notions exist in the minds of the common peo- 
 ple regarding Bees ; they believe that purchased Bees never prosper : 
 unless therefore, a peasant can obtain the gift of a swarm, or has 
 something -which he can give in exchange, he will rather relinquish all 
 the profit attending the management of a few hives, than purchase 
 one. In some parts of England, the Bees are not suffered to go out 
 on Wednesdays nor Fridays. — A belief is also entertained that they are 
 subject to witchcraft; this prejudice is derived from the Greeks, 
 (Herod, lib. 2. cap. 281,) who had their magicians, who pretended to 
 tell the fortunes of persons with the productions of the Bee. 
 
 The 10th of August is considered by some people as a day of jubilee 
 amongst the Bees, and those which are seen working on that day, are 
 called Quakers, from those people not observing any holidays. 
 
 In Switzerland, when the master of the house dies, the Bee-hives are 
 all lifted up, even in the midst of winter, which is a proof that the 
 Bees do not perish with cold. 
 
320 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 servations of the famous Linnaeus : " It is not yet de- 
 termined," he says, " if the Bees and other insects 
 which teed on honey, occasion any injury to the lit- 
 tle embryos, or cause any obstruction to generation 
 by imbibing the nectar of the flowers. Accordingly, 
 it cannot be actually explained according to the laws 
 of nature, what Quintilian and Seneca report of a 
 villain, who infected the flowers of the trees with 
 poison, in order to kill all the Bees of a poor peasant, 
 which came to imbibe the honey."* 
 
 Notwithstanding the doubt which M. Linnaeus en- 
 tertains on this point, I am very well convinced that 
 the suction of the honey, which the Bees, as well as 
 other insects, perform on the flowers of the trees, is 
 not by any means prejudicial to them, nor in the 
 slightest degree deranges the fecundation. -J- 
 
 * Vtrum veru insecta aliaque mellisuga animalcule sorbendo necta- 
 rium efloribus, damnum inferant tenellis embrionibus, nondum eviction 
 est ; ideoque iste locus Quintiliani el Seneca de divitr inficienle fiores 
 sues teneno, ut pauperis apes mel ejusfurantes perirent, vix acne vis 
 quidem secundum nature legem etiamniim explicari potest. Amffii. 
 Acad. T. 6. Diss. 115. p. -263. 
 
 + All the florists and gardeners in the vicinity of London, with whom 
 1 have conversed, coincide in the opnion, that Bees are of great use in 
 the fructification of flowers and blossoms of trees ; hut at the same 
 time, they agree that in all the species of the radish and cabbage tribe, 
 the purity and genuineness of the seed cannot be depended upon, if 
 the flowers have been visited by the Bee 
 
DIRECTIONS FOR PURCHASING HIVES. 321 
 
 CHAP. XXV. 
 
 DIRECTIONS FOR THE PURCHASE OF HIVES. 
 
 i. HERE is no commodity in which a purchaser can 
 be so soon deceived as in a hive of Bees, and it is 
 only the experienced apiarian, who can detect the 
 particular defects of his intended purchase. For this 
 reason, I would always advise the novice in Bees, 
 never to undertake the purchase of a hive on his sole 
 judgment, but if possible to be always accompanied 
 by a person well experienced in Bees, and who can 
 immediately discern the intrinsic value of the hive 
 which is to be sold. 
 
 The greatest inconvenience attending the purchase 
 of a hive, is, that few persons have the ability or cou- 
 rage thoroughly to examine it; the value of a hive 
 nly be ascertained by a minute and close ex- 
 liiination of its interior; for this purpose, presence 
 ui' mind is an indispensable quality, and in the early 
 attempts of the young apiarian, it has always been 
 my aim to impress on his mind, that coolness and 
 fortitude can alone insure him success. 
 
 The first act of the purchaser should be to examine 
 the exterior of the hive ; if the straw be decayed and 
 rotten, the ligaments loose, and frequent blotches ap- 
 pear, which evidently shew that it has been mended, 
 let him reject it altogether. It is of no consequence 
 
 Y 
 
322 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 that the combs be new, if the hive be rotten, and the 
 purchaser will soon find that he has full reason to re- 
 pent of his bargain, from the incessant trouble and 
 vexation, which the decayed state of his hive will 
 cause him. The country people are in general too 
 inattentive to the condition of the hive in which they 
 put their Bees, and this arises from the supposition 
 that it is of no consequence in what condition the 
 hive is, in which they put their swarms, it being their 
 intention to murder the Bees at the close of the 
 season. 
 
 Being well satisfied with the exterior state of the 
 hive, the most difficult part now arrives, which is the 
 examination of the interior. If the combs be black 
 and ill-flavoured, it is the certain sign of an old hive, 
 but if they be of a pale yellow, it indicates a young 
 hive; even in this point of view, however, a young 
 and inexperienced apiarian may be deceived. In the 
 common straw hive, when the combs have been ex- 
 tracted on either side, the Bees will soon construct 
 new ones, and from the colour of these combs, the 
 purchaser might be inclined to consider the hive a 
 young one; it is not the side combs, however, but 
 the middle ones which should be examined, and the 
 colour will immediately indicate the age of the hive. 
 
 Some criterion may also be formed of the age of a 
 hive by the number of queen cells, which are to be 
 seen ; if they be numerous, no doubt can exist of the 
 oldness of the hive. The purchaser should also ex- 
 amine the combs as high as possible; for it is in the 
 upper part of the hive, that the moths begin their ra- 
 vages; these vile insects are however seldom to be 
 found in a new hive, and whenever the slightest 
 symptom of their presence presents itself, which is 
 known by the sides of the combs being gnawed, let 
 
DIRECTIONS FOR PURCHASING HIVES. 323 
 
 the purchaser immediately reject the hive; for Bees 
 can never prosper, when those insects have once got 
 footing in their domicile. 
 
 The best time for the purchase of a hive is either in 
 the month of February, or at the swarming season. 
 It is to be taken for granted, that a hive in February 
 has survived the dangers of the winter, and the pur- 
 chaser has then only to attend to the population of 
 the hive, and to its apparent age. In February and 
 March, the season has commenced for the operation 
 of the Bees, and the richness of the population of a 
 hive is then determined by the greater or less activity 
 of the Bees. In one hive, the inhabitants will be all 
 bustle and labour, whilst in another, a deadness and 
 stillness will be perceptible, which declare that some 
 natural cause operates to effect a tardiness in their 
 labours, and from such a hive an early swarm cannot 
 be looked for. 
 
 If a person enter an apiary, with an intent to pur- 
 chase, let him stand a few minutes before each hive, 
 and observe the number of Bees which enter loaded 
 with farina, and if an apparently equal number leaves 
 the hive in great hurry and bustle, this circum- 
 stance will determine the health of the hive, and the 
 fecundity of the queen. If a loud humming noise be 
 heard in the interior of the hive, it is a certain sign 
 of its strength, and that the inhabitants are in a pros- 
 perous state. 
 
 A person should not purchase a hive of his proxi- 
 mate neighbour, as the Bees are apt to return to their 
 former place of abode ; for although no fear need be 
 entertained, that the Bees will ultimately forsake the 
 hive, yet they are obstructed in their labours by a 
 confused recollection of their former home, and this 
 proves of great loss to the community. The best 
 y 9 
 
324 MANAGEMENT OF BfiES. 
 
 criterion, however, for the purchase of a hive is the 
 weight, but in this point, very nice discrimination is 
 necessary between an old and a new hive : the for- 
 mer always contains a great quantity of Bee-bread, 
 which is the heaviest substance in a hive, and the 
 purchaser will then be deceived; for instead of ho- 
 ney, he will be buying farina, and also be led astray 
 in his opinion concerning the want of his Bees for 
 food. A hive in February should not weigh less 
 than from twelve to fifteen pounds ; it would be im- 
 prudent to purchase a hive of an inferior weight: if 
 purchased in the autumn, the weight should not be 
 less than thirty pounds; one of twenty-five pounds 
 may survive the winter ; but it is so very dependent 
 on certain circumstances, which, in general, happen 
 nine times out of ten, that without the aid of food, 
 the hive would perish before the ensuing spring. 
 
 Having made the purchase, the next consideration 
 is the transportation of the hives to your own garden. 
 If a navigable river or canal be in the vicinity, it is 
 by far the most eligible mode of carriage, as there is 
 no danger of the combs being broken by the motion 
 of the vehicle ; this advantage is, however, very rare 
 to be met with, but the manner of conveyance is so 
 very easy, as to require in this place no particular 
 description. Land carriage is, however, attended 
 with some difficulty, and the greatest precautions 
 arj necessary to prevent the total ruin of the hive. 
 The first operation is to raise the hive gently, and to 
 place it on a board in readiness for the purpose ; the 
 entrance must then be closed, to prevent any of the 
 Bees from coming out ; but if the distance be great 
 to which the hive is to be conveyed, care must be 
 taken not to stop up the entrance wholly, as the 
 Bees would be in danger of beins: suffocated. Ilav- 
 
DIRECTIONS FOR PURCHASING HIVES. 3 L 2S 
 
 ing closed the entrance properly, a sheet must be 
 then wrapped round it, and tied in a knot at the top, 
 through which a strong pole is passed. It is then 
 carried in this manner by two men, the hindermost 
 one keeping it constantly steady, and no danger can 
 then be entertained of the combs breaking. It is not 
 advisable to carry a hive on the head, for the motion 
 of the body tends very much to derange the combs, 
 and should it happen that the hive is moved in the 
 summer, when the heat of the weather has rendered 
 the wax soft, the least motion is apt to break the 
 combs, and the honey is more ready to flow, as not 
 being so viscous as in winter. * 
 
 The best time for moving a swarm is on the even- 
 ing of its being hived. The motion of the carriage 
 or the body will then not affect the Bees, and they 
 may be carried to any distance without the least 
 risk. 
 
 The hive having reached its destination is placed in 
 the apiary, andafter having allowed it to remain tran- 
 quil for about an hour, the sheet may be taken from 
 it, and the entrance opened, but it will be proper to 
 affix the little machine (see PI. IV. Pig. 8.) which is 
 made of tin pierced with small holes, and which is 
 attached to the entrance with putty. This machine 
 
 * Mr. Lombard mentions a circumstance which shews the facility 
 •with which hives can be moved from the 1st November to the 15th 
 December; and from the 1st February to the- end of March. In the 
 month of February, 1812, 105 hives were loaded on a carriage at 
 Roche-Abeilles, in the Commune of Simousin, in the department De la 
 Haute P'ienne ; they were fifteen days on the road, and after a journey 
 of 100 miles, during which the carriage broke down, they arrived in 
 a good slate, excepting four or five, the combs of which were broken, 
 probablv owing to the breaking of the carriage. He examined a 
 number of these hives ; they were made of osier, of the bell shape, 
 and weighed from forty to umety pounds. They were buried in straw, 
 topsy-turvy 
 
 1 
 
326 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 is applicable in all instances where it is necessary to 
 confine the Bees, giving them, at the same time, the 
 requisite quantity of fresh air. 
 
 The price of a hive varies much in different parts 
 of England. In the vicinity of London, a swarm 
 cannot be purchased under fifteen shillings or a pound ; 
 whereas, in the southern counties, it may be obtain- 
 ed for five or seven shillings. I am certain that it 
 would be a most profitable speculation to purchase 
 the swarms in the southern counties, and convey 
 them to the vicinity of London. There cannot re- 
 main a doubt, that within the circumference of ten 
 miles from London, ample food and provision are to 
 be found for 10,000 hives, and I do not suppose that 
 500 could be mustered. 
 
ON COUNTRIES BENEFICIAL TO THE BEE. 32? 
 
 CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 ON THE COUNTRIES MOST BENEFICIALLY SI- 
 TUATED FOR THE CULTURE OF THE BEE, 
 AND THE NUMBER OF HIVES WHICH EACH 
 COUNTRY CAN SUPPORT. 
 
 J.T may be generally considered that every country 
 of the world, in which flowers are produced, is pro- 
 per for the culture of the Bee ; but it must be allow- 
 ed at the same time, that the southern countries, or 
 those of a temperate climate, are much more favour- 
 able to the Bee, than the cold and northern ones. In 
 regard to the quantity, and especially to the quality of 
 the honey and wax, the balance is certainly in favour 
 of the south. 
 
 The mountainous countries produce in general a 
 richer harvest for the Bees than the flat, because they 
 are drier, and give a better quality to the honey and 
 wax. 
 
 In regard to the number of hives, which a given 
 district can support," I cannot exactly coincide in the 
 opinion of M. La Grenee, (who is certainly one of the 
 most skilful apiarians of the present day) when he 
 says that every district can maintain an unlimited 
 number without any inconvenience arising from it. 
 I however agree with that author, that it is not possi- 
 ble to determine, with precision, the number of hives 
 
*28 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 which this or that country can support, at least it 
 cannot be so exactly computed, as the number of men 
 which a particular district could or could not main- 
 tain. 
 
 Yet, however, as there are some districts which, be- 
 ing infinitely more fertile than others, are conse- 
 quently more able to support a greater or less number 
 of men, so there are certain countries which, although 
 situated under the same climate, are infinitely more 
 fertile in honey and wax ; arising either from the 
 abundance, or the quality of the flowers which grow 
 in them ; it thence follows that those countries are 
 more or less favourable to the multiplication of Bees, 
 and that some can easily provide for any number of 
 hives, whilst others cannot provide for half the num- 
 ber. One of the axioms of M. La Grenee is, u that 
 in a country, as it is certainly proportionate to the 
 number of people which inhabit it, and to the culti- 
 vation which they bestow upon it, there will also be a 
 sufficiency of honey and wax to collect." 
 
 In regard to this assertion, I cannot coincide in it ; 
 it being contrary to experience. Nature is limited 
 in all her productions, and every thing has its end : 
 consequently, if in an island, for example, which can 
 support 10,000 persons, 15,000 were to be placed, 
 famine would soon be felt, and if 20,000 were placed, 
 the death and destruction of all the inhabitants 
 would take place, supposing in these three hypo- 
 theses that the fertility were the 'same. ]>y the same 
 parity of reasoning, if in a given extent of territory, 
 which produces only a certain quantity of honey and 
 other provisions necessary for the support of the 
 Bees, a certain number of hives be placed, in pro- 
 portion to its fertility, for example 100, they could 
 with facility provide themselves with every necessary, 
 
OX COUNTRIES BENEFICIAL TO THE BEE. 329 
 
 and furnish a proper quantity of honey and wax to 
 the proprietor; but, if this number be doubled, 
 they would not find a sufficiency of food, and con 
 sequently, they would yield very little to the master; 
 to which it may be added, that if the season be a bad 
 one^ the hives would not be able to preserve them- 
 selves. Finally, if in the same district, double the 
 number of Bees be kept than it is in a condition to 
 support, they will necessarily perish, not being able 
 to provide themselves with the food necessary for 
 their support, with the exception, perhaps, of a (cw 
 hives, the Bees of which, by their number and supe- 
 iror activity, have been able to collect a greater 
 quantity of honey, than the weaker ones. 
 
 This is a certain rule, when there are tew hives in 
 a country, or only those, which can be well supported 
 in it, the Bees find their food, without giving them- 
 selves much trouble, because, in the course of the 
 day, they can make from twenty to thirty journeys. 
 But when the hives are numerous, and exceed the 
 ordinary and natural fertility of the country, the Bees 
 then find great difficulty in providing themselves 
 with necessaries ; they are obliged to take longer 
 flights, consequently take fewer journeys, and carry 
 Jess provision into their hives. 
 
 M. La Grenee supposes that in those countries, 
 which in some respects are not the most favourable, 
 and are nevertheless well furnished with Bees, there 
 remains a great quantity of honey and wax, which 
 is annually lost on the leaves and the flowers, from 
 not being collected by the Bees. 
 
 I do not deny this position, but it arises from the 
 negligence of some Bees, who, repelled by the diffi- 
 culties which they experience in providing them- 
 selves with necessaries, do not trouble themselves to 
 
330 MANAGEMENT OF BEES, 
 
 extend their flights in search of food; or it may 
 arise from bad weather, or because the honey and 
 wax have actually escaped their researches. The 
 conclusion must not however thence be drawn, that 
 every country can support an unlimited number of 
 hives, and that a too great number cannot be inju- 
 rious to the success of this species of domestic eco- 
 nomy. 
 
 M. La Grenee further adds, in support of his opi- 
 nion, that in the countries where the number of hives 
 has much increased, no diminution has been observed 
 in their produce. The answer to this is very plain, 
 as it could only have happened, because the num- 
 ber of hives which formerly existed in the country, 
 was not in proportion to its extent and its natural 
 fertility in honey and wax, for if the number of hives 
 exceed the just proportion which ought to exist, it 
 is evident that this excessive number of hives ought 
 necessarily to prove injurious to the prosperity of the 
 Bees. 
 
 M. La Grenee concludes, that although, without 
 contradiction, there are some countries more proper 
 than others for the cultivation of Bees, they may still 
 be kept in all countries, and that no one ought to ne- 
 glect providing himself with Bees, whatever may be 
 the soil and the productions of the place which he 
 inhabits. 
 
 I will now mention those positions which are most 
 proper and advantageous for the culture of the Bee, 
 and they may be divided into three, the first, middling, 
 the second, good, and the third, excellent. These 
 three positions may be distinguished as yielding three 
 different productions. The corn fields, the meadows, 
 with little rivulets, are what I denominate the mid- 
 dling position. 
 
ON COUNTRIES BENEFICIAL TO THE BEE. 331 
 
 The proximity of woods — abundance of meadow 
 and arable ground, extensive commons and rivulets, 
 form the good position. 
 
 The vicinity of meadows of heath, woods, great 
 commons and hills covered with odoriferous herbs, 
 removed from lakes and rivers of a certain breadth, 
 may be denominated the excellent position ; the lat- 
 ter will produce four times as much as the first, and 
 will double the second. Although these positions 
 may be considered as the best, there are nevertheless 
 other places where Bees might be placed to advan- 
 tage, but not in such numbers as might be wished. 
 The quality of the country, in which a person fixes 
 his apiary, should be examined, and he should regu- 
 late the number of the hives to the quantity of the 
 food which the district can produce, and not place a 
 hundred hives in a situation, which can only maintain 
 fifty. A highly cultivated country is seldom a good 
 position for Bees : the Bee will pass the luxuriant 
 field of corn to regale on the broom, the furze, and the 
 heath ; and for this reason the " heath-covered moun- 
 tains of Scotia" are more favourable to the cultivation 
 of the Bee, than the highly cultivated fields of Nor- 
 folk or Bedfordshire. After the hay and clover are 
 cut, and the corn is ripe, the country then presents a 
 desert to the industry of the Bee : a few flowers here 
 and there raise their straggling heads, and if the Bees 
 find a sufficiency wherewith to support themselves 
 exteriorly to the hive, they may think themselves 
 fortunate. The knowledge of the country ought to 
 be a part of the study of the apiarian, for it is accord- 
 ing to that knowledge that his management of his 
 Bees should be regulated. In a cultivated country, 
 after the harvest has been got in, the occupation of 
 the Bee is gone, and unless the proprietor has it in 
 
32 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 his power to remove his hives to better pasturage, his 
 profit will be very small, not to speak of the danger 
 which his Bees run of dying with hunger during the 
 winter. 
 
 Respecting the number of hives which may be 
 kept in a middling district, I conceive that 100 are 
 perfectly sufficient ; 200 in a good one, and four or 
 five hundred in an excellent one. In regard to those 
 provinces which I have mentioned, in which, from 
 their high state of cultivation, the harvest of honey 
 ceases in August, they may still be proper for the 
 culture of the Bee, although not to the same extent 
 as the positions previously quoted. 
 
 In concluding this article, I am sorry to say that, 
 from the present degraded state of the culture of the 
 Bee in this country, there is no fear of its being over- 
 stocked with hives. The climate of this couutry is 
 particularly congenial to the multiplication of Bees, 
 but we are either not aware of the profit attending 
 their culture, or some old rooted prejudices are re- 
 quired to be extirpated before the attention of the 
 agriculturists can be invited to this important branch 
 of rural economy. 
 
EXTENT OF THE FLIGHT OF BEES. 333 
 
 CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 OX THE DISTANCE WHICH BEES FLY FOR FOOD. 
 
 A. HE solution of the question, of the distance 
 which a Bee flies for food, is not of that minor im- 
 portance which it may appear on the first view, for 
 on it depends the goodness or badness of the position, 
 which a person may select for his apiary. The im- 
 mediate vicinity of the spot may be wholly destitute 
 of those herbs or flowers from which the Bees ex- 
 tract the materials for the wax and honey, whilst at 
 the distance of a few miles they may flourish in 
 great abundance. The question then arises, whether 
 the flight of the Bee extends to those fertile fields of 
 pasture, and if not, it will be then necessary to move 
 the Bees nearer to them. 
 
 Previously to my giving an account of an experi- 
 ment, which determines the point, I will briefly no- 
 tice the opinions of the most celebrated apiarians, 
 and attempt to reconcile their discordancy. 
 
 In the Encyclopedia, it is affirmed that it has been 
 discovered by the farina of the stamina of certain 
 plants, that the Bees extend their flight to the dis- 
 tance of four miles. The Abbe della Rocca believes 
 that the Bees can smell the honey four or five miles 
 distant, while Doctor Chambers considers it difficult 
 for the Bee to flv a mile. 
 
334 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 M. Huber, from a well founded experiment, has 
 discovered, that the rays of the circle which a Bee 
 performs, does not extend beyond two miles,* and 
 he advises all apiarians to regulate themselves accord- 
 ing to that distance, f 
 
 I have frequently conversed with the proprietors of 
 the travelling apiaries in Germany, on the distance of 
 the flight of a Bee, and they in general extend it to 
 the distance of&stunde, which is about three English 
 miles and three-quarters ; for this reason, when they 
 shift their places of pasture, they generally travel 
 about two stunden, or seven or eight miles, and they 
 then consider themselves wholly beyond the range of 
 the former flight of the Bees, at their previous place 
 of pasture. It was, however, the universal opinion 
 
 * The French as well as the English translators of Huber, have 
 fallen into the same error respecting the distance of the flight of the 
 Bee. Huber describes it to be half a mile, but it should be recollect- 
 ed that half a mile in the country of Huber, is equal to nearly two 
 miles in England, and thus an error has been attributed to Huber, 
 which ought to be attributed to his translators. 
 
 + In a letter of M. Huber, of 1810, he says, that at the epoch of 
 the revolution he lived at Cour, near Lausanne : on one side was the 
 lake, and on the other vineyards. He soon perceived the disadvan- 
 tage of his situation. When the orchards of Cour were out of blos- 
 som, and the few neighbouring meadows mowed, he perceived that 
 the provisions of the mother hives diminished daily; the labours of 
 his swarms ceased to that degree, that his Bees would have died with 
 hunger in the summer, if he had not supported them ; and his apiary, 
 which it had taken him years to collect, was entirely ruined. 
 
 Whilst his hives were thus going to ruin at Cour, the Bees of Renan, 
 of Chabliere, of the woods of Vaux, Cery, &c. places situated about 
 two miles from Cour, without any lakes, woods, or mountains inter- 
 vening, lived in the greatest abuudance, threw numerous swarms, and 
 fdled their hives with wax and honey. If my Bees, says M. Huber, 
 could have cleared the interval, which separated them from the places 
 where they could have found provisions, they would certainly have 
 done it, rather than die of hunger. They did not succeed better at 
 Vevay, although the distance is not quite two miles from Vcvay to 
 Hauteville, Chardenne, where the Bees flourished particularly well. 
 
EXTENT OF THE FLIGHT OF BEES. 335 
 
 of those men, who in the practical management of 
 the Bee, are not to be surpassed by the people of 
 any nation, although in the theoretical department 
 they are greatly deficient, that Bees cannot prosper, 
 which are obliged to fetch their food at a distance of 
 three or four miles ; and this does not arise from the 
 impossibility of the Bee to extend its flight to that 
 distance, but as the prosperity of a hive depends on 
 the number of journeys which a Bee can make in a 
 day to the fields of its pasture ; it follows, that the 
 greater the distance of the food, the fewer the jour- 
 neys will be which the Bees can make, and conse- 
 quently the quantity of honey is proportionately 
 small, which they amass in the hive. 
 
 From my own experience, however, I am enabled 
 positively to prove that the Bee can extend its flight 
 to even a greater distance than four miles, and the 
 following fact will verify the assertion. 
 
 I once accompanied a party of friends on an ex- 
 cursion to the Isle of May, situate at the entrance of 
 the Firth of Forth, and which is at a much greater 
 distance than four miles from any land. Not a sin- 
 gle hive of Bees is kept upon the island : how great 
 then was my astonishment to find a considerable 
 number of Bees busily employed on the heath, and 
 who must have winged their flight across the ocean 
 to collect the honey which the heath of the island 
 contained. What an exquisite sense of smell, and 
 how wonderfully great must be the power of instinct 
 in these little insects, which guides them over even 
 a considerable extent of ocean, in search of their 
 mellifluous treasure ! * 
 
 * A correspondent in the vicinity of Stirling has, in one of his let 
 ters, expressed a doubt of Bees ever traversing a part of the ocean, in 
 quest of food ; the fact hai, however, been verified by several natu 
 
3:3b MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 It was, however, the above circumstance, which 
 made a convert of Bonner, in regard to the flight of 
 the Bee, and we had it once in contemplation to as- 
 certain whether it was from the Lothians, or the 
 coast of Fife, that the Bees had winged their way to 
 the Isle of May. Particular circumstances however 
 prevented us.* 
 
 I had, however, in a short time afterwards, an op- 
 portunity of ascertaining with some degree of nicety, 
 that the uVht of the Bee exceeds two miles. 
 
 o 
 
 1 once possessed a small apiary in the vicinity of 
 the Siedlaw Hills, which bound Strathmore in Perth- 
 shire, to the southward. These hills being covered 
 with heath, I had a great desire to know if my Bees 
 were within range of that rich pasturage, and, if not, 
 it was my intention to move my hives to the foot of 
 the hill. To ascertain this important point, I chose 
 a fine and serene day, and about twelve o'clock, 
 when the Bees were in full work, I repaired to the 
 hill, taking with me some flour, and at the same 
 time leaving a person at home, to observe if any 
 
 raiists, and in order to refute the objection, that the Isle of May is loo 
 far distant for the Bee to effect its flight thither, I extract the follow- 
 ing passage from Le Traite complet sur les Abeilles, par L'Abbe della 
 Kocca, Vol. II. p. 89. " En poursuivant mi cssaiui pour Parreter, 
 nous le vinies se detacher des cotes de Syra, et prendre son vol, en 
 travcrsant la mer, vers Pile de Tine, qui en est a IS millcs, et qui, 
 ttant an nord, est plus fraiche et donue des paturages plus tardifs. Le 
 temps etoit calme, et on a observe que Pessaim, qui eloitbien eleve 
 sur la terre, sc baissa a fleur d'eau, lorsqu'il traversa la mer." 
 
 * Bonner who, in his opinions, is a rigid adherent of Schirach, alive 
 to all the excellence of the system of that famous apiarian, and fos- 
 tering at the same time all his fanciful prejudices, was formerly of 
 opinion that the flight of a Bee never extended a mile, and, as has 
 been observed in aformer note, the same injustice has been done to 
 Schirach, in the translation of his work, which M. Iluber experienced. 
 Schirach determines the flight of a Bee to be about a mile; but it is a 
 German mile, and not an English oi!e 5 and in proportion to each other, 
 Ihey stand nearly as one to four. 
 
EXTENT OF THE FLIGHT OF BEES. 337 
 
 Bees entered into the hives covered with that sub- 
 stance. On my arriving at the hills, I found a con- 
 siderable number of Bees working on the heath, but 
 there being other Bees kept nearer to the hills than 
 mine, I sprinkled every Bee I met with indiscrimi- 
 nately with flour, and on my return home, I was re- 
 joiced to find that my friend had observed a great 
 number of Bees enter the hives covered with flour, 
 and I was then satisfied that my Bees were in full 
 range of that valuable pasture. 
 
 In regard to the number of journeys which a Bee 
 can make in a day, no positive data can be laid down, 
 as it depends in a great measure on the distance of 
 the food. Some criterion may however be formed, 
 from the following circumstance. I one day visited 
 my hives, when the weather was very cloudy, and 
 the Bees were kept prisoners at home ; being de- 
 tained near the apiary for about an hour, the weather 
 in that time became fine, and the Bees were seen 
 crowding from the hives into the fields. I sprinkled 
 some of the Bees with flour, and taking my watch in 
 my hand, and observing the exact moment of their 
 departure, I waited until their return. A quarter of 
 an hour elapsed before the first returned, and both its 
 legs were well loaded with farina ; it was, however, 
 thirty-five minutes before the last returned, but with- 
 out any farina, I was therefore convinced, from the 
 shape of the body, that it had been in pursuit of 
 honey, and this circumstance gave me reason to be- 
 lieve, that the Bee, which collects farina, will make 
 many more journeys in a day, than that, which col- 
 lects honey, and perhaps in the proportion of five to 
 two. 
 
 I consider the velocity of the flight of a Bee, to 
 be about a mile in two minutes. 
 
338 .MANAGEMENT OF BEES* 
 
 CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 THE APIARIAN S MONTHLY MANUAL, OR DIREC- 
 TIONS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES IN 
 EYERY MONTH OF THE YEAR. 
 
 October. 
 
 1 SHALL begin with this month, as I consider it 
 the first in the year of the Bees, it being that, in 
 which the swarms are generally purchased, and the 
 hives are either suffocated or deprived of a part of 
 their honey. The labour of the Bee having now 
 ceased, those hives should be examined, which it is 
 intended to keep as stock hives ; they should be first 
 weighed, and their respective weights carefully noted 
 down in a memorandum-book : in order to prevent 
 mistakes, I always number my hives, and place the 
 weights opposite to the numbers. Having ascer- 
 tained the weight, and finding a sufficiency to sup- 
 port them through the winter, clean the stool and 
 fasten them down for the winter. 
 
 The covering of the hive must be next examined, 
 and should it have been so faulty as to admit -any rain, 
 the opportunity must be taken of a fine day to uncover 
 the hive, that it may dry. A new covering must 
 then be adapted to the hive, making it completely 
 weather-proof. Wheaten straw is the best material 
 
THE APIARIAN'S MONTHLY MANUAL. 339 
 
 for this purpose. Having contracted the entrance of 
 the hive to about half its original size, the apiarian 
 has now done his duty to his standard hives. 
 
 The collection of honey takes place this month. 
 To those, who suffocate their Bees, no particular in- 
 structions are necessary, but to those, who deprive 
 their hives, the following precepts will be found 
 useful. 
 
 A very great risk is run of totally ruining a hive, 
 by taking from it too much honey and wax : the 
 principal art of cultivating these insects consists in 
 making a modest use of the right of sharing their 
 provisions, but at the same time in indemnifying 
 ourselves for this moderation by the use of every 
 means, which tend to the multiplication of the Bees. 
 If it be your aim to procure annually a certain quan- 
 tity of honey and wax, it is better to derive it from 
 a great number of hives, which can undergo the pro- 
 cess of depriving with discretion, than from a small 
 number, from which too great a proportion of their 
 treasures might be extracted. 
 
 It is absolutely necessary to leave a sufficient quan- 
 tity for the support of the hive during the winter, and 
 the proprietor must be regulated in the quantity by 
 the apparent population of the hive ; for although in 
 proportion to the severity of the winter, the smaller is 
 the quantity of the provision which is used, still 
 there is always a greater or less consumption, the 
 Bees not being in that state of torpor, represented 
 by many authors. 
 
 This month is the most proper for the fabrication 
 of those sirups, which are to serve for the feeding of 
 the weak hives. To one bottle of good sound ale 
 put two pounds of sugar, to which add a pinch of 
 common salt : boil the whole to the consistence of a 
 z2 
 
340 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 sirup, and after it is cool, bottle it, cork it close, 
 and keep it for use. 
 
 November. 
 
 In this month, the hives must be again visited, in 
 order to ascertain their internal health and weight, 
 and the stools must be cleaned as before. The con- 
 sumption of the Bees will now be evident, and the 
 difference between the weight of the hive in October, 
 will enable the proprietor to form a clear estimate, if 
 the quantity in the hive be sufficient to maintain the 
 Bees during the winter. If any late swarms have 
 been preserved, particular attention should now be 
 paid to them, and in open weather a little food may 
 be given to them in the manner prescribed in Chap- 
 ter XX. 
 
 If it should be found that any of the hives have 
 perished since the preceding visit, which will some- 
 times take place, notwithstanding the utmost vigi- 
 lance of the proprietor, and from causes which cannot 
 be exactly ascertained, let them be removed imme- 
 diately from the apiary, and placed in a dry situation, 
 carefully wrapped round with a cloth, to prevent 
 spiders, moths, rats, mice, &c. from gaining access 
 to them. In the ensuing season, these hives will be 
 found of great use for the swarms ; but should the 
 Bees, which have perished, belong to an old hive, I 
 would not recommend the preservation of it, as it 
 may contain something noxious to the Bees, which 
 will eventually destroy the swarm which in the en- 
 suing season may be put into it. I can only recom- 
 mend in this instance the melting of the combs to 
 obtain the wax ; it may perhaps contain some honey, 
 but this is very doubtful. 
 
 The entrance of the hive must now be contracted 
 
THE APIARIAN S MONTHLY MANUAL. 341 
 
 to such a size, as to admit only one Bee to come out 
 at a time. This is the season, when, not only the 
 house, but the field-mouse, attempts to lodge itself 
 in the hives, and the coverings must be again exa- 
 mined to discover if none have sheltered themselves 
 under it. As in this month some tempestuous wea- 
 ther may be expected, due precaution must be taken 
 that the hives are firm on their pedestals, and that 
 the straw coverings cannot be deranged by the winds. 
 I once saw six hives out of ten overthrown by the 
 wind, and a heavy snow falling at the time, the whole 
 were destroyed. 
 
 This month is the proper season for the practice 
 of the hibernating system, or, of confining the Bees 
 in dark granaries or chambers ; but as it is scarcely 
 known in this country, nor is, in my opinion, either 
 advisable or profitable, this brief mention of it will be 
 sufficient. 
 
 December. 
 
 The same attentions are necessary this month as 
 in the two preceding, but should the cold be intense, 
 no operation whatever should be performed on the 
 hives. The motion attending the examination is apt 
 to disunite the Bees, and being caught by the ex- 
 cessive cold, inevitable death is the consequence. If 
 snow be on the ground, close all the entrances of your 
 hives, and open them not until the snow be thawed: 
 as however it sometimes happens, that snow remains 
 a long time on the ground, and the confinement of 
 the Bees for such a length of time might prove detri- 
 mental from a want of fresh air, it would be advisable 
 in the evening sometimes to open the entrances, and 
 close them again in the morning, or a cloudy day 
 
342 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 might be selected for the renovation of air in the 
 hives, as there is no danger of the Bees leaving them, 
 but the bright reflection of the snow is very apt to 
 allure them abroad, when they fall upon it and die. 
 The safest method is, however, to fix the machine 
 (PI. IV. Fig. 8.) to the hives, which prevents their 
 departure from the hive, at the same time furnishing 
 them with a constant succession of fresh air. In the 
 winter months, a number of hives is destroyed by 
 the imprudence of the proprietor, in allowing the 
 Bees free egress from the hives : their flight should 
 be only permitted on those days when the sun shines 
 bright, and no snow lying on the ground. 
 
 The feeding of Bees during the cold of December, 
 ought to be carefully avoided ; the Bees consume 
 very little, and grouped together at the top of the 
 hive, they appear almost in a state of torpor : should 
 there however be any very weak hives in the apiary, 
 select a mild and dry day for the purpose of feeding, 
 and be not niggardly in the quantity; it is better to 
 give a sufficiency at on.e time, than to disturb them 
 often by giving them food in driblets. This applies 
 particularly to winter feeding. In the spring and 
 towards the close of the autumn, the feeding of Bees 
 by small quantities is preferable ; as in those seasons, 
 they cannot suffer by disjunction, which is too often 
 the case in the process of winter feeding. 
 
 Examine the covers : — spiders, moths, mice, &c. 
 now shelter themselves under them from the incle- 
 mency of the season, and the mice will by degrees 
 perforate the straw, and gain the interior of the hive. 
 
 Place the sirup made in October, in a warm situa- 
 tion, otherwise the cold will candy it, which will 
 render it useless to the Bees, 
 
THE APIARIAN S MONTHLY MANUAL. 343 
 
 January. 
 
 The processes of this month are so exactly similar 
 to those of the preceding, that it would be merely a 
 repetition to recite them. At the latter end of it 
 however, the air becomes more humid, and it is cer- 
 tain, that fewer hives perish by the cold than by the 
 humidity which the negligence of the proprietor has 
 permitted to penetrate into them. Many persons 
 allow the snow to remain on their hives from a false 
 notion, that it tends to keep them warm. A little 
 reflection would, however, teach those persons that 
 there is nothing so penetrating as snow in a state of 
 dissolution ; and I here particularly enforce the pre- 
 cept, never to suffer the snow to melt on the hives, 
 but to brush it off every day as it falls. Were it to 
 rain on a hive for a week, it would not do it so much 
 injury, as to permit one day's fall of snow gradually 
 to melt upon it. 
 
 A due circulation of air is now actually necessary 
 to the health of the Bees, and it will tend much to 
 their preservation, if the hive be gently raised on some 
 small supporters, and suffered to remain in that situa- 
 tion during the eight. The air however must be dry, 
 at the time when this operation is performed, and the 
 humid air in the hive will then escape: this advice 
 is particularly salutary to those, who still use the 
 common straw hive. There being no vent at the top 
 for the foul air, it must be dispersed by the admis- 
 sion of fresh air at the bottom. 
 
 By these little precautions, which are more mi- 
 nute, than troublesome or difficult, the prosperity 
 and health of the Bees are preserved. 
 
 I 
 
344 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 February. 
 
 The season now approaches for the labour of the 
 Bee, and the attention of the apiarian should be 
 particularly directed to the exact state of food in his 
 respective hives. With the return of spring, returns 
 also the vigour of the Bee ; and the quantity of food, 
 which is consumed in a hive, is now treble to 
 that which was consumed in the winter months. 
 The country as yet offers no food to the Bee, it must 
 therefore be supplied by the bounty of the proprietor. 
 A liberal distribution of food at this season will am- 
 ply repay the trifling expense and the trouble of the 
 apiarian: even to those hives, which appear to pos- 
 sess a superfluity of food, an additional donation will 
 prove of essential benefit. 
 
 Enlarge the entrance of your hives a little ; the 
 Bees in mid-day will now take their flight, which is 
 an infallible sign of their health, and a contracted en- 
 trance prevents a certain number from coming out, 
 which is very detrimental. 
 
 It is towards the latter end of February, or the be- 
 ginning of March, that the dysentery in general shews 
 itself, and the vigilance of the proprietor is now ne- 
 cessary to prevent or to cure it. Let him not how- 
 ever mistake the excrement of the Bees for the dysen- 
 tery ; for there are some apiarians, who are so fully 
 rivetted to the opinion, that the Bees void no faeces, 
 that in the spring, when the Bees take their periodical 
 flight, and little yellowish globules of fetid liquid are 
 seen on the stool of the hive, and on the clothes of 
 the person who stands near it, they immediately de- 
 clare their hives in an infected state, and would, if 
 
THE APIARIAN S MONTHLY MANUAL. 345 
 
 possible, place every Bee under quarantine. This 
 malady has, however, been treated on so fully i n 
 Chapter VIII. that no instructions are here necessary 
 for either its cure or prevention. Cleanliness is the 
 groundwork of the health of the Bees : therefore in 
 this month clean all your stools well from the accu- 
 mulated filth of the winter. 
 
 This is a good season for the purchase of hives, — 
 they have now weathered the dangers of the winter, 
 and with the donation of some food, even the weakest 
 hive will succeed. 
 
 If the proprietor has confined his hives during the 
 winter, they may now be moved into the garden, but 
 this operation must be performed on a mild and serene 
 day ; for the Bees, feeling the influence of the air, 
 will make every exertion to taste the sweets of liberty, 
 and should the weather not be fine, the death of 
 many of them will be the consequence. 
 
 The crocus appears this month ; the Bee rouses 
 itself from its lethargy, and the hive soon becomes the 
 scene of labour and activity. 
 
 March. 
 
 The proprietor may now divest himself of all fear 
 of famine. The genial warmth of spring has called 
 vegetation into activity, and the gardens and the 
 fields now yield abundance of food for the Bees. 
 
 Clean the apiary throughout, and if it be not in 
 the immediate vicinity of water, it must be procured 
 for the Bees without delay. It is in the spring, that 
 Bees have the greatest occasion for water, and should 
 it not be provided for them by nature, nor by the 
 care of the proprietor, he will soon discover the total 
 decline of his hives. In order to supply them with 
 water, the following plan may be adopted. Three or 
 
346 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 tour troughs either of stone or wood, the latter well 
 pitched, of eight or ten inches in depth, may be sunk 
 In the earth, into which some mould may be put, and 
 then filled with clear water. Rain or river water is 
 to be preferred. In each of the troughs, three or four 
 sprigs of water-cresses must be planted. These cresses 
 will soon cover the troughs, their vegetation will 
 preserve the purity of the water, and the Bees will 
 soon make it their drinking place ; for it is a curious 
 fact, that Bees in those favourable situations, where 
 a small rivulet runs near the apiary, always select one 
 particular spot, whither they go to drink; and it is 
 in general where the water is shallow, and a number 
 of small stones project above the water on which 
 they can alight to drink. The troughs in summer 
 should be kept constantly supplied, for the absorption 
 of the sun will soon dry them. The cresses may be 
 picked and eaten, without which they will become 
 too luxuriant, and the Bees will not be able to pene- 
 trate to the water. 
 
 If there be any very heavy and full hives in the 
 apiary, I now recommend the proprietor to give them 
 an eek of about four bands ; although the diminution 
 of a hive is very proper at certain seasons of the year, 
 and especially in autumn, yet in the spring, a mode- 
 rate, enlargement of it will be found of particular 
 benefit, as it frequently happens, that the queen has 
 not a sufficient number of cells in which to lay her 
 eggs, and the population of the hive is thereby im- 
 peded. It must be understood, that I am now 
 speaking of the common straw hive. To those, who 
 use the storying method, an additional story at this 
 season will be found beneficial. 
 
 As one important step towards the preservation 
 of a hive, is the renovation of the combs, I invariably 
 
THE APIARIAN S MONTHLY MANUAL. 347 
 
 at this season, extract from the hives, which I use, a 
 part of the combs of the preceding year. The form 
 of my hives presents considerable facility in this ope- 
 ration ; I can at one view discover the combs grown 
 brown with age, and especially those combs in the 
 middle of the hive, which are known to be the breed- 
 ing ones. Should any of those combs not contain 
 brood nor eggs of the preceding season, I cut a part 
 of them out, but this must be done with great care 
 and moderation. I am not at all afraid of the queen 
 being impeded in the laying of her eggs, for the Bees 
 will soon replenish the vacuum, perhaps in the space 
 of forty-eight hours. 
 
 As the weather in this month is often very variable 
 and cold, and the Bees are kept confined for several 
 days, and sometimes weeks, consequently unable to 
 collect any food in the fields, and as the population 
 has increased, the proprietor should not neglect his 
 weak hives, but give them some little food in the 
 evening, remembering to take away the plate on the 
 following morning; for as it might happen that the 
 weather would enable the Bees to resume their la- 
 bours, the Bees of the strong hives would scent the 
 food administered to the weak ones, and a system of 
 robbery would commence which might eventually 
 prove the destruction of the latter. 
 
 The full entrance may now be restored to the Bees, 
 but not until the close of the month. 
 
 April. 
 
 At the beginning of this month some traces of the 
 dysentery very often exhibit themselves, and especi- 
 ally if the Bees have not had that attention paid to 
 them, which is too often the case with the Bee-masters 
 pf this country. Under these circumstances, a sirup 
 
348 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 should be immediately given to the Bees, in which a 
 small quantity of salt has been mixed, but rather in 
 greater proportion than in the fabrication of the sirup 
 mentioned in the month of October. Clean thestool 
 every three or four days, and sprinkle it with a little 
 salt. The malady will soon cease, if taken in proper 
 time ; but I know of no cure for it when it has 
 reached its crisis. 
 
 The butterfly of the moth, that redoubtable enemy 
 of the Bee, appears in this month, and continues un- 
 til October. Destroy them as much as possible ; 
 frighten not away the bats which fly about the hives, 
 as they devour a great number of them. 
 
 The season of the swarms approaching, the provi- 
 dent apiarian will supply himself with new hives 
 ready to receive them. He ought in general to pro- 
 vide himself with double the number of his stock 
 hives, but their dimensions ought to be different. 
 Those intended for the second swarms ought to be 
 one quarter less than those intended for the first. 
 Having purchased the requisite number, proceed to 
 divest their interior of all projecting straws, or other 
 objects which will impede the labour of the Bee : 
 set them apart ready for use in a dry place. 
 
 Towards the middle or the end of this month, 
 watch for the appearance of the drones. Having as- 
 certained their existence, keep a watchful eye upon 
 that hive : in ten or fourteen days, a swarm may be 
 expected. 
 
 Considerable robberies take place this month 
 amongst the Bees. The utmost vigilance is neces- 
 sary on the part of the proprietor to discover if any 
 of his hives be attacked ; should he find this to be the 
 case, follow the instructions given in Chapter XXIII, 
 
 Artificial swarms may be made at the end of this 
 
THE APIARIAN'S MONTHLY MANUAL. 349 
 
 month, but not until the existence of drones in the 
 hive has been completely ascertained. 
 
 Keep a vigilant eye on the Queen Wasp, which is 
 now to be seen in the gardens : the destruction of a 
 single one deprives the Bees of a host of enemies. 
 
 Should any hive appear to be inactive, fail not to 
 examine it : the cause may be ascertained in time to 
 apply the remedy, but delay will prove the destruc- 
 tion of the hive. 
 
 May. 
 
 This is one of the busiest months in the year for 
 the apiarian. If his Bees lie out in clusters, and pre- 
 sent the other signs of swarming, let him watch from 
 ten in the morning until three P. M. Artificial 
 swarms may now be made with certainty of success. 
 This is also the season for the transversion of hives, 
 which must be effected immediately after the first 
 swarm has departed. 
 
 The apiary must now be kept particularly clean, 
 vermin now abound, and a little attention on the 
 part of the proprietor, will save perhaps many of his 
 hives towards the latter part of the year. No danger 
 of famine now exists, but particular attention must 
 be paid to resist the depredations of the different 
 enemies, which at this time begin their attack. 
 
 In this country, swarms may still be expected, and 
 sometimes towards the latter part, a virgin swarm 
 may be obtained. 
 
 The business in the apiary this month is chiefly 
 confined to the swarms. The proprietors who still 
 make use of the common straw hive, will do well to 
 
350 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 add an eek or skip to each of his hives, for the honey 
 season is now fast approaching, and the Bees will 
 soon fill the combs. 
 
 Persons wishing to establish an apiary, should 
 purchase the first swarms of this month ; if possible 
 they should be purchased within a mile or two miles 
 at furthest of the intended apiary ; move them on the 
 evening of the day on which they have swarmed. 
 
 The hives, the Bees of which have perished in the 
 spring, should be now exposed to the influence of the 
 sun. I n this month, I first obtained the discovery of 
 the re-establishment of a perished hive, and I would 
 advise every proprietor on being convinced of the 
 existence of eggs in the cells to follow the advice 
 now given. 
 
 If the weather prove rainy on the days subsequent- 
 ly to the hiving of the swarms, omit not to give them 
 a little food, carefully keeping in view the instruc- 
 tions given in the Chapter on the Feeding of Bees ; 
 second swarms should be particularly attended to. 
 
 July. 
 
 The honey harvest is now commencing in its full 
 vigour ; the swarming season is over, and the atten- 
 tion of the apiarian must now be solely directed to 
 ascertaining if his Bees be within the range of the 
 pastures of honey ; if not, they should be removed. 
 
 The influence of the sun is now great ; shade your 
 hives in the mid-day, especially the swarms, as from 
 the newness of the combs they are more apt to be 
 melted by the heat. More hives destroyed by heat 
 than cold. 
 
 The swarms having departed, this is the proper 
 season for the deprivation of the hives, as sufficient 
 
THE APIARIAN S MONTHLY MANUAL. 351 
 
 time will be then given to the Bees to replenish the 
 vacuum. Moderation to be observed in the depriva- 
 tion. 
 
 The deprived hives to be removed with all possible 
 speed to the vicinity of buck-wheat or heath. 
 
 Look for wasp nests, — and destroy them as de- 
 scribed, Chapter VII. 
 
 In this month the virgin swarms are cast ; they are 
 however so very rare, and in all eases ought to be so 
 particularly prevented, that no instructions for their 
 preservation are necessary. Should one however be 
 thrown, join it to a weak second swarm, or to its 
 mother hive. 
 
 It is generally from this month to October, that a 
 hive shews the strongest symptoms of approaching 
 decay. The following are some of the most striking 
 signs. First, when few Bees are seen to enter the 
 hive, with the load on their thighs. Secondly, when 
 at the hour of exercise, which the Bees take in fine 
 weather from twelve o'clock to three, the Bees of 
 any particular hive remain tranquil. Thirdly, when 
 on turning them up to examine them, the Bees shew 
 no signs of anger. Fourthly, when ants and other 
 strange insects are seen to enter the hive without op- 
 position. Fifthly, when the food which has been 
 given to them, has not been deposited in the cells. 
 These signs announce the death of the queen, or that 
 she is incapable of further peopling the hive, — or that 
 there is no brood, — or that the moth has carried its 
 depredations so far as to render the hive untenantable. 
 The proper steps to be taken under these circum- 
 stances have been already detailed. 
 
 August. 
 
 The proprietor is now looking forward to his har- 
 
352 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 vest. In this month the Bees collect a prodigious 
 quantity of honey. The second vegetation of the 
 trees has taken place, and their transudation offers to 
 our insects a vast store of food. 
 
 The middle of this month is not too late to deprive 
 the hives of a part of their honey, provided it be in- 
 tended to remove them afterwards to the vicinity of 
 heath. Be careful to weigh the hives previously to 
 the operation ; do not meddle with a hive that does 
 not weigh thirty pounds. 
 
 Determine this month on the hives which you in- 
 tend to keep as stocks, and to these hives particular 
 attention must be paid, to observe if the necessary 
 signs are shewn, which indicate a healthy and popu- 
 lous hive. 
 
 The pillage of the hives by stranger Bees often 
 takes place in this month. The remedy for this dis- 
 aster has been already given. 
 
 Towards the close of the month, prepare the utensils 
 necessary for the final deprivation of the hives, and 
 the manipulation of the wax and honey. 
 
 The part of the proprietor is chiefly this month 
 passive ; a regular survey must be taken of the hives, 
 and if they be found in a full state of labour, and 
 present other signs of health, which have been already 
 described, the Jess they are disturbed the better. 
 
 September. 
 
 In the beginning of this month the humane apia- 
 rian will ascertain if any of his neighbours intend to 
 suffocate their Bees. 1 invariably adhere to the cus- 
 tom of purchasing these unfortunate victims, and 1 
 have always found my account in it by adding them 
 to my other hives. 
 
 The time is now arrived when all the useless 
 
THE APIARIAN S MONTHLY MANUAL. 353 
 
 mouths are discarded from the hive ; the drones are 
 now killed, and the honey season draws to its close. 
 
 Remove your stock hives to better pasture. The 
 heath now in bloom. This is the proper season for 
 founding- an apiary, by purchasing the swarms of the 
 current year, the directions for which have been al- 
 ready given. 
 
 Observe those hives particularly which do not kill 
 their drones, — some radical defect exists, and if suf- 
 fered to pass without discovery, the ruin of the hive 
 may ensue. 
 
 Examine well the exterior of your hives ; a new- 
 covering should now be given them, made of the 
 straw of the present harvest ; this will stand the 
 winter. 
 
 If the attack of the wasp be perceived to be for^ 
 midable, which frequently occurs in this month, let 
 the entrance to the hives be contracted, or let them 
 be removed to a distant pasture, and especially as the 
 heath still continues in bloom. 
 
 The stools of the hives should be cleaned this 
 month, particularly those of the stock hives. 
 
 A A 
 
30* MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 LIST OF TREES, PLANTS AND FLOWERS, FROM 
 WHICH THE BEES EXTRACT THEIR HONEY 
 AND WAX. 
 
 APPLE. — The blossom of this tree is eagerly 
 sought after by the Bees. 
 
 Arbutus. — This is a small shrub, which preserves 
 its leaves, and produces rather an oval fruit, of a 
 yellowish red colour ; rich in farina. 
 
 Apricot. — The blossom of this tree is much fre- 
 quented by the Bees. 
 
 Ash. — The flower of this tree is rich in farina. 
 
 Almond. — This tree blossoms early, and emits a 
 smell similar to honey; the Bees extract a copious 
 harvest from it. 
 
 Althea frutc.v., — Flowers in May, and continues in 
 bloom for three months. 
 
 Amaranth. 
 
 Aspin. — The Bees gather a great quantity of pro- 
 vision from the buds of this tree. The resinous or 
 gummy matter, with which they are covered, is very 
 tenacious, and of a brown colour. From this tree, it 
 is supposed that the Bees fabricate their propolis. 
 
 Balm. — Much frequented by Bees. 
 
 Blackberry. — Ofgreat value to Bees both in honey 
 ind farina. 
 
PLANTS AND FLOWERS PROPER FOR BEES. 355 
 
 Barrage. — This may be called the king of plants 
 for the Bees. It produces many flowers, and conti- 
 nues in bloom for several months, during which time 
 the Bees appear actually to swarm upon them. This 
 plant should be particularly cultivated by every apia- 
 rian. 
 
 Betony. — The produce of this plant is supposed to 
 give a bitter taste to the honey, although Gallo con- 
 siders it as the most perfect of all herbs. 
 
 Box. — The flowers of this shrub yield a considera- 
 ble quantity of farina. 
 
 Beans. — Every species of this pulse yields a plen- 
 tiful harvest to the Bee. The common horse bean, 
 the kidney, and the scarlet runner, are the most pro- 
 lific in honey. 
 
 Back wheat. — Bees cannot fail to thrive where this 
 grain is cultivated. Its culture, however, in Eng- 
 land is very confined ; but on the Continent, where 
 it is more extensive, the quantity of honey amassed 
 by the Bees is very considerable. 
 
 Broom. — This is a most valuable shrub for the 
 Bees. It blossoms early, and excepting the furze, 
 there is no plant from which a greater quantity of 
 farina is extracted. 
 
 Burnet. — Very prolific in honey. 
 
 Cabbages, Cauliflowers, and every species of these 
 vegetables, are much sought after by the Bees. 
 
 Cherry. — Few trees present greater gratification to 
 the Bees than the Cherry, the flowers yield a profu- 
 sion of honey, and M. Contardi asserts that a single 
 flower contains a sufficiency to fill the bladder of the 
 Bee. This may take place in the country of which 
 M. Contardi was a native (Italy) ; but this fecundity 
 of honey certainly does not exist in this country. 
 
 Clover, — The common white clover, generally 
 a A 2 
 
356 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 known by the appellation of cow-grass, is, on account 
 of the shortness of its pistils, the particular choice of 
 the Bees ; the red clover is very prolific in honey, 
 and affords excellent pasturage for them. In the 
 Levant, the flower of the clover is yellow. The 
 white clover, or cow-grass, growing spontaneously, is 
 invaluable to the apiarian. 
 
 Chestnut and Horse Chetsnut^re both rich in farina. 
 In the vicinity of Arundel, where the former is in 
 great abundance, the Bees thrive uncommonly. 
 
 Currants. — The early flowering of this fruit, and 
 the extraordinary quantity of honey which it contains, 
 renders the culture of it particularly desirable in the 
 vicinity of the apiary. 
 
 Cypress, — like the Box, yields a considerable quan- 
 tity of farina. 
 
 Dandelion. — This flower is much frequented by the 
 Bees. 
 
 Endive. — In flower, valuable to Bees. 
 Elm. — During the time of the flowering of this 
 tree, the Bees obtain a precious harvest, and as it 
 flowers early, it is very desirable in the vicinity of an 
 apiary. 
 
 Elder. — The Abbe della Rocca says, that he ne- 
 ver saw a Bee alight on the flowers of the elder. I 
 believe that very little honey is extracted from it ; but 
 I have been too often an eye-witness of the particular 
 attention which the Bees pay to the flower of the 
 elder, to doubt that a considerable quantity of farina 
 is obtained from it. 
 
 Furze. — The early blowing of this shrub, renders 
 it highly valuable in the vicinity of an apiary. Its 
 fecundity in farina is surpassed by very few of the 
 plants, from which the Bees extract their materials 
 for wax. The absence of this plant is one reason 
 
 4 
 
PLANTS AND FLOWERS PROPER FOR BEES. 3.37 
 
 why a highly cultivated country is not beneficial to 
 the culture of Bees. But why might not the hedges 
 be constructed of it ? As a defence and boundary it 
 is certainly unquestionably good, nor would the pro- 
 prietor or farmer be injured by its adoption. In a 
 season of scarcity of fodder, it has been found an ex- 
 cellent substitute, and as fuel, it is now used in some 
 counties of England by the poorer classes. 
 
 Gooseberry. — The blossom of this fruit possesses 
 the same good qualities as the currant. It is even 
 richer in honey, and generally forms the first source 
 from which the Bees extract their honey in the 
 spring. 
 
 Golden-Rod. — As this flower blooms only about 
 Michaelmas, it is very valuable to Bees. Some of 
 the German apiarians consider the honey of this 
 plant to be of a deleterious nature. I inquired of the 
 keeper of one of the Hanoverian Bee-caravans, his 
 grounds for believing in the injurious effects of the 
 golden-rod, and his only reason was, that his mother 
 told him so. I should have anticipated this answer 
 from nine-tenths of the keepers of Bees in England ; 
 but coming from a German apiarian, it furnished me 
 with another proof, that knowledge and practice are 
 not always combined. 
 
 Gourds, Melons, Cucumbers, all supply Bees with 
 food. 
 
 Ha k thorn ; black and white, both equally advan- 
 tageous. 
 
 Heath. — It is impossible to describe the value of 
 heath in the collection of honey. It is very possible, 
 and it is even certain, that Bees will thrive without it ; 
 but its vicinity to the apiary is a great acquisition. 
 
 Hyacinths (single) yield a little produce ; but it is 
 too trifling, to encourage their culture, 
 
JoS MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 Iris Jonquil. — A considerable quantity of honey is 
 extracted from the flower of this plant. 
 
 Lucerne. — This is a valuable pasturage for the 
 Bees, and especially as it is cropped a second time, 
 which brings the flowering late. 
 
 Lavender. — The honey extracted from this plant is 
 supposed to possess an aromatic flavour, and it is 
 asserted that the flavour which the Sicilian honey 
 possesses, is to be ascribed to the lavender with which 
 the island abounds. 
 
 Laurel. — This shrub is particularly valuable, as 
 during the sultry weather its leaves are always cover- 
 ed with the honey dew. Its flowers also abound 
 with farina. 
 
 Lily. — Almost every species of this flower yields 
 an abundant harvest to the Bees. It is however sin- 
 gular, that the common white lily, which abounds so 
 much with farina, appears to be almost wholly re- 
 jected by them. 
 
 Lemon-tree. — This is a luxurious tree for the Bees. 
 No great advantage can, however, be expected to be 
 derived from it in this country, as the climate is not 
 congenial with its growth. The same rule holds good 
 with the orange-tree. 
 
 Mignionette. — Of all cultivated flowers, this is the 
 richest in honey. Its cultivation ought to be parti- 
 cularly attended to. 
 
 Melilot — (Trifolium melilotus officinalis J. This 
 plant is biennial, and grows in the hedges and thick- 
 ets. It produces a great quantity of honey, and the 
 Bees are very eager in their search for it. It blows 
 in the months of July and August, and is in some 
 respects superior to the buck-wheat, as the honey ex- 
 tracted from it is supposed to be of a high flavour. 
 
 Mustard — (Wild and cultivated). — Of the former 
 
PLANTS AND FLOWERS PROPER FOR BEES. 359 
 
 the Bees are particularly avaricious, and the difficulty 
 with which it is eradicated from the ground, gives 
 great reason to suppose that this food of the Bee will 
 never be exhausted. 
 
 Marsh mallows. — Rich in farina. 
 
 The following may be considered as providing 
 abundance of food for Bees, and the cultivation of 
 which ought to be encouraged. 
 
 Oak. 
 
 Pars ley. 
 
 Pear Tree. 
 
 Parsnip (in flower.) 
 
 Poppy. 
 
 Primrose. — This flower is quoted by some French 
 apiarians as yielding honey, but I never saw a Bee 
 alight upon it. 
 
 Plum Trees of every species. 
 
 Rosemary. — This shrub is particularly rich in ho- 
 ney, and it gives to it a very pleasant flavour. 
 
 Radishes, 
 
 Ragweed. — This plant yields excellent honey, and 
 as it flowers late, is very valuable. 
 
 Raspberry. 
 
 Strawberry, particularly the Alpine. 
 
 Sage. 
 
 Savory. 
 
 Saffron. 
 
 Sainfoin. 
 
 Sunflower. 
 
 Sycamore. 
 
 Single roses of all kinds. 
 
 Turnips. — The flower of this root is very rich in 
 farina, and eagerly sought after by the Bees. 
 
 Thyme — (Wild and cultivated).— Invaluable to 
 Bees. 
 
 Willow, 
 
J60 management of bees. 
 
 Wild mar jorum. 
 
 Vetches. 
 
 Violets (single.) 
 
 Viper s bugloss. 
 
 All resinous trees. 
 
 In the list of these plants and flowers, the golden- 
 rod must be particularly noticed, as it begins to bloom 
 when all the other flowers have faded, and continues 
 to blow until the middle of November. This flower 
 is always covered with Bees, during the last months 
 of the summer, and the two first of autumn* provided 
 the weather will permit the Bees at that season of the 
 year to leave the hive. This plant should be particu- 
 larly cultivated in the vicinity of an apiary. It will 
 grow in the worst of soils, and an acre of unarable 
 land planted with the golden-rod, would furnish at 
 the close of the season a sufficiency for a hundred 
 hives to complete their winter stock. 
 
 In general, all those plants ought to be cultivated 
 which begin to blow in February and March, and 
 those which keep flowering to the close of the season. 
 The Bees, always active and laborious, turn to ad- 
 vantage, with the same ardour, the last as well as the 
 first moments of vegetation and the flowering of the 
 plants. 
 
 All vegetables contain more or less the principles 
 of honey, only in a greater or less degree. Conse- 
 quently, the Bees can maintain themselves every 
 where, and gather a stock of honey proportionate to 
 the abundance which is offered to them in the country 
 which they occupy. It is, however, the rich and vast 
 meadows well studded with flowers, in which the 
 useless daisy is not seen, the fields whitened with 
 buck-wheat, the plains gilded with the flower of the 
 wild mustard, the turnip and the cabbage, and the 
 forests of oak, ash, elm, &c, that present to the Bees 
 
PLANTS AND FLOWERS PROPER FOR BEES. 36l 
 
 a daily supply of excellent food, and an abundance 
 of provisions, wherewith to fill their magazines. 
 
 I am, however, sorry to be obliged to notice, that 
 in the present state of the culture of the Bees in thi* 
 country, there is no reason to fear a scarcity of food 
 tor that valuable insect. Taking England and Scot- 
 land on an average, it is certain that there is not one 
 hive to ten square miles, whereas one square mile 
 would support twenty hives. 
 
 It is difficult to believe, that there are so many 
 plants prejudicial to Bees, as it is asserted by several 
 authors: if there be any, which might give a perni- 
 cious effect to the honey, it would perhaps be our 
 narcotic plants, such as the henbane, hemlock and 
 others ; but from my individual experience, I am 
 not able to decide this question. 
 
 The Abbe della Rocca mentions but one flower, 
 Which is known in the Archipelago, as giving a bitter 
 taste to the honey, and this is the flower of a particular 
 species of large onion, known by the name of Turcaki, 
 but it was never found to be injurious to the Bees, 
 nor to the health of man. It is true, that of this spe- 
 cies of honey, which the Bees collect in the month of 
 October, no use is made for domestic purposes ; it is 
 generally left for the consumption of the Bees. It is 
 certain that the flowers of the onion and the leek in 
 this country give an unpleasant flavour to the honey, 
 and in certain parts of France, where these vegeta- 
 bles are much cultivated, the hives, during their 
 flowering, emit a very strong odour of the onion. 
 On this subject, a correspondent at Paris, transmits 
 me the following anecdote. " You well know that 
 there is not an apiary .in the vicinity of this city 
 (Paris.) which I have not visited. I one day paid 
 my respects to M, Lemonnier, who possesses a very 
 
362 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 extensive apiary, and we were much annoyed by a 
 very disagreeable smell of onions. We at first sup- 
 posed that some one had been spreading out some 
 onions in the vicinity to dry; and M. Lemonnier was 
 rather uneasy about his Bees, from a fear that the 
 odour might incommode them. We however, after- 
 wards discovered, that the odour proceeded from the 
 hives themselves, and from the honey which the 
 Bees had collected from the flowers of the onions. 
 This odour was so strong, that it was perceptible 
 four or five paces from the hives. The honey which 
 was extracted from those hives, was strongly impreg- 
 nated with the onion odour." 
 
 M. Buch'oz mentions several flowers which are in- 
 jurious to the Bees, namely, the elm, narcissus, elder, 
 lime, and some others. In regard to the latter, it 
 appears to be decided, that this tree, so far from being 
 injurious to the Bees, is wholly the reverse, for it is 
 particularly beneficial to them. In regard to the other 
 flowers, I do not believe that their injurious qualities 
 are so completely demonstrated, as the above author 
 pretends.* To verify the fact, some pieces of the 
 comb ought to be extracted from the hive during the 
 season, when the above plants and flowers are in 
 bloom, and it should be analyzed, in order to disco- 
 ver if it was compounded differently from the com- 
 mon honey of the country collected in another season. 
 
 It may however happen, that the honey of certain 
 countries may possess noxious qualities. Tournefort 
 relates in his Travels in the Levant, some interesting 
 facts on this subject. He says, the chamcerododen- 
 dron is a small shrub which grows in the environs of 
 
 * The German apiarians conceive, that the honey or farina collect- 
 ed from the fields which have been manured with gypsum, is very pre« 
 judicial to the health of the Bees. 
 
PLANTS AND FLOWERS PROPER FOR BEES. 363 
 
 Trebisonde, and which bears a cluster of more than 
 twenty flowers of the greatest beauty. This plant is 
 partial to a humid and fat earth, and is considered 
 unwholesome. The cattle never eat it, unless driven 
 to it by hunger. The inhabitants of Trebisonde, from 
 an ancient tradition, founded, no doubt, on some par- 
 ticular observations, assert, that the honey extracted 
 from it by the Bees stupefies those who eat of it, and 
 causes violent retchings. * 
 
 Pliny has better illustrated the history of this Cha- 
 mcerododendron than either Dioscorides or Aristotle. 
 It was the belief of the latter, that the Bees collected 
 this injurious honey on the box, which rendered those 
 sill}', who ate of it, and who were previously in good 
 health. Pliny thus speaks of it. " There are certain 
 years in which the honey is very dangerous in the 
 vicinity of Heraclius, on the Euxine. The authors are 
 not of accord from what flowers the Bees extract it. 
 All the information which I am enabled to give on 
 the subject is, there is a plant in this country called 
 tegholethron, the flowers of which, in a wet spring 
 acquire a very dangerous quality, when they fade. 
 The honey, which the Bees extract from them, is 
 more liquid than ordinary, much heavier, and of a 
 reddish hue. Its odour excites sneezing ; they who 
 eat it perspire profusely, and lie down on the ground." 
 
 * Dioscorides speaks of this honey nearly in the same terms : " In 
 the -vicinity of Heraclius, on the Black Sea," he says, " at a certain 
 time of the year, the honey stupefies those who eat of it, and it is 
 certainly owing to the properties of the flowers from which it is ex- 
 tracted ; they perspire profusely, but the vomiting is cured by rue, 
 saline draughts, and mead. This honey is tart, and causes a sneezing. 
 It takes away the freckles on the face. If it be mixed with salt and 
 aloes, it effaces the blackness occasioned by bruises. If dogs or pigs 
 swallow the excrements of persons who have eaten of this honey, the 
 same casualties befall them." 
 
3t)4 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 He afterwards adds the some remarks as Dioscorides, 
 whose words he appears to have copied. 
 
 Pliny continues, " There is another sort of honey 
 on the shores of the Euxine, which is called mceno- 
 menon, because it renders those persons senseless 
 who eat of it. It is supposed that the Bees collect it 
 from the flowers of the rhododendron, which is uni- 
 versally found in the woods." The people of this 
 country, although they paid a part of their tribute to 
 the Romans in wax, took particular care not to give 
 them any of their honey. 
 
 When the army of 10,000 Greeks approached Tre- 
 bisonde, a singular accident betel them, and which 
 raised a great consternation amongst the troops, and 
 it is related by Xenophon, who was one of the prin- 
 cipal chiefs. That author says that, as the number 
 of Bee-hives was considerable, the soldiers ate a great 
 quantity of the honey ; they were all seized with 
 vomiting and purging, followed by vertigo : so much 
 so, that those who were the least afflicted, resembled 
 intoxicated persons, and others appeared like madmen 
 in a dying state. The ground was covered with bo- 
 dies, as if a battle had taken place ; not dn individual 
 however died, and the malady ceased on the follow- 
 ing day about the same time as it commenced ; on 
 the third da} r , the soldiers were in that weakened 
 state, which a person experiences after having taken 
 a strong medicine. Diodorus of Sicily, relates the 
 same fact, under similar circumstances. There is 
 every reason to suppose that the honey was extracted 
 from the flowers of some species of the chamcerodo- 
 dendron. The environs of Trebisonde are full of it, 
 and Father Lambert, a missionary, acknowledges, 
 that the honev which the Bees extract from a certain. 
 
PLANTS AND FLOWERS PROPER FOR BEES. 365 
 
 shrub in Colchis and Mingrelia, is dangerous, and 
 causes vomiting. He calls this shrub oleandro 
 gxallo. 
 
 Although the above detail carries with it a positive 
 degree of interest, yet my aim in describing it has not 
 been solely limited to the desire of establishing the 
 point of a particular speciesof honey being injurious to 
 the health ; but I had also in view a direct refutation 
 of the opinion of certain apiarians, (an opinion which 
 is very prevalent in France) that honey is a fabrica- 
 tion of the Bee, and does not exist of itself in the nec- 
 tarium of the flower. If the former were the case, there 
 could be no such thing in existence as an injurious 
 honey, for the produce of the Bee would be the same 
 in all countries ; but if under any particular circum- 
 stances, deleterious honey should be produced, it 
 must be ascribed to some cause not dependent on the 
 Bee, and this cause can be no othei than particular 
 flowers from which the Bee extracted its honey, and 
 which, undergoing no process in its stomach, is depo- 
 sited in its natural state in the cell. 
 
366 
 
 MANAGEMENT OF DEES. 
 
 CHAP. XXX. 
 
 ON THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF BEES, IN VA- 
 RIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 A HE description of the European Bee has been 
 already given ; it is however remarkable, that this 
 insect differs in various countries, not only in its 
 nature, but its economy. Dapper, in his description 
 of Abyssinia, says, that there is a great number of 
 Bees in Ethiopia, especially of little Black Bees, 
 which make excellent honey, and wax of an extraor- 
 dinary whiteness. These Bees, having no sting, 
 have recourse to artifice to defend and preserve them- 
 selves : they conceal themselves in subterranean ca- 
 vities, which they enter by little holes, which they 
 have the address to close as soon as any one appears ; 
 they place themselves four or five at the hole, and 
 adjust their heads so skilfully, that being on a level 
 with the earth, they cannot be discovered. 
 
 On the eastern coast of Africa, there is no district 
 which is not peopled with Bees ; the trade with wax 
 is carried on to a great extent amongst the negroes : 
 the Bees of Guinea produce excellent wax and deli- 
 cious honey. Still they arc not domiciliated, as in 
 this country; they are wholly wild, of a small size 
 and black colour, and nature has so wisely ordered 
 it, that where the inhabitants are naked, the Bee? 
 should be bereft of stings. 
 
ON THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF EEES. 367' 
 
 Knock, in his account of Ceylon, distinguishes 
 three sorts of Bees : the first resembles those of Eu- 
 rope, and lodge themselves in hollow trees. The 
 Indians easily extract the honey, after having driven 
 out the Bees, the stings of which are not an object of 
 fear. The second species fixes itself on the highest 
 branches, where they form their nests, without tak- 
 ing any pains to conceal them. In certain seasons, 
 the towns are depopulated, as the inhabitants repair 
 to the woods in search of this honey, with which they 
 all return loaded. The third species is smaller than 
 our common flies ; they produce honey in such 
 abundance, that the Chyngrelians make it a part of 
 the nourishment of their children. 
 
 In China the number of Bees is immense, but of 
 their culture the Chinese appear to be very ignorant. 
 The wax is merely used in medicinal cases, but ne- 
 ver for tapers or other domestic uses. 
 
 In Muscovy and the Indies, a black wax is found 
 sometimes in the trunks of old trees, and which is 
 formed in small round or oval pieces, of the size of a 
 nutmeg. It is made by little Bees, which construct 
 their cells in the hollows of the branches and trunks, 
 and which contain a honey of a citron colour, and an 
 agreeable taste. This wax, being heated, has the 
 smell of balm. 
 
 The Bees of Guadaloupe, and of all the other West 
 India Islands, are in size fully half as small as those 
 of Europe ; they are blacker and rounder. It does 
 not appear that they have any sting, or if they have, 
 it must be so very weak, as not to pierce the skin. 
 They are perfectly wild in the woods, and lodge them- 
 selves in hollow trees, in which they construct their 
 works. If the space be too great, they make a sort 
 of a dome of wax, which has the figure of a pear, in 
 
368 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 the middle of which they fix themselves, and make 
 their honey and rear their young. Their wax is of a 
 deep violet, soft to the touch and stretching easily 
 between the fingers. Various attempts have been 
 made to change the colour of the wax, but without 
 effect; and owing to its softness, the natives have 
 never been able to make tapers or candles of it. It is 
 used in the country for making stopples to bottles, 
 or taking the impressions of engraved stones. The 
 monks of New Spain and of the coast of Carac make 
 tapers of it, in order that the light may be feeble and 
 melancholy. The natives of the Caribees form a 
 species of mastich with it, which they call muni/, 
 and which they apply to different purposes. 
 
 These Bees form no combs ; they enclose their 
 honey in small waxen cells, of the figure and magni- 
 tude of a pigeon's egg, but more pointed, and re- 
 sembling the bladder of a carp. Although they are 
 easily separated from each other, no vacuum appears 
 between them. The greatest part of these cells or 
 bladders is filled with honey ; in a few, a yellow 
 matter is found granulated like the spawn of fish. 
 The negroes call it the excrement of the Bees.* This 
 honey is always liquid, having the consistence of the 
 oil of olives, and of an amber colour. It grows sour 
 in a vety short time. The Creoles extract it from the 
 trees, and eat it with great avidity. The apothecaries 
 apply it to the same use as in Europe. A consider- 
 able quantity of this honey would be obtained if the 
 Bees were lodged in hives ; but in these countries not 
 the slightest notion exists of that method of keeping- 
 Bees. It was however once tried by P. Labat, who 
 kept them in the sugar moulds and in the refining 
 
 * If we may judge by analogy, this may be our Bee-bread or crude 
 wax, for the purpose of feeding the young Bees. 
 
ON THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF BEES. 369 
 
 houses, in which the Bees worked well ; still how- 
 ever, the plan was not acted upon, as the hives were 
 destroyed by the ants, and the secret had not been 
 discovered of preventing the inroads of those vermin, 
 
 The wax of this species of Bees is, according to the 
 experience of P. Labat, an excellent remedy for 
 corns on the feet, and warts on the hands. 
 
 The Bees of Louisiana resemble those of Europe 
 more than any foreign Bees ; they make their nests in 
 the ground in dry places : by these means they protect 
 themselves from the bears, who are very voracious of 
 their honey. 
 
 Bees are very plentiful in the Hottentot countrv ;* 
 but the Europeans do not give themselves the trouble 
 to rear them, because for a little tobacco, brandy, or 
 some bagatelle, a considerable quantity of honey may 
 be purchased from the Hottentots, which they go in 
 search of amongst the steep rocks ; but the honev is 
 very dirty, as it is put into skins, the fur of which is 
 in the inside. In the Archipelago, and in all parts 
 of Greece, the skins of kids are used for the transpor- 
 
 * In Campbell's Travels in South Africa, he says, speaking of the 
 Bees in the "vicinity of Hardcastle in the Namagua land, the Bushmen 
 over the whole country lay claim to all the honey in the Abestos moun- 
 tains as their property. They mark the hives in the rocks, as farmers 
 mark their sheep, and should they find, in their regular visits, that 
 any hive has been robbed, they are sure to carry off* the first cow or 
 sheep they meet. They say that Corannas, JJatchappees and Moro- 
 longs have cows and sheep that live upon the grass of the land ; that 
 they have none, therefore they have a right to the Bees, who live only 
 on the flowers. Their right is not invaded, because all fiud it their 
 interest to let the Bushmen obtain the honey, and then to purchase it 
 of them. Mr. Barrow in his Travels in the interior of Southern Africa 
 observes, that the nests of the Bees are easily discovered by the Hot- 
 tentots, who implicitly rely on the direction of a little brown bird, 
 denominated the Indicator or Honey-Bird, which, on the discovery of 
 a nest, flies in quest of some person, to whom it makes known the 
 fruit of its research, by whistling and flying towards the place- 
 
 B B 
 
370 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 tation of honey, and although the hair be turned in. 
 side, the honey is nevertheless very clean. 
 
 The method practised in Spain of discovering the 
 nests of wild Bees is very ingenious. In the Com- 
 plete Treatise of Agriculture of Alphonso de Hernera, 
 printed at Madrid in 164-5, the following very natural 
 method of collecting wild Bees is mentioned, although 
 it be only suitable for those countries or districts, in 
 which there are no hives, because the domestic Bees, 
 multiplying in the ordinary manner, are infinitely su- 
 perior to the others. 
 
 In Spain, it is the sole occupation of certain indi- 
 viduals to collect the wild Bees, for which purpose, 
 they place a little honey on a stone, on the brink ot 
 the nearest rivulet. The honey is no sooner deposit- 
 ed than the Bees come in crowds to collect it. They 
 are then sprinkled with red ochre diluted in water, 
 and the great heat which prevails in that country, 
 soon dries the colour, and the Bees remain marked. 
 They may be then watched with the eye to their re- 
 treat. If it be very distant, which is often the case, 
 another expedient is used, which is equally simple 
 and ingenious. 
 
 One of the great reeds is taken, which are so com- 
 mon in Spain, Italy, and the southern parts of France, 
 and it is cut into small tubes, open at one end and 
 closed at the other. They are afterwards smeared 
 with honey, or they are left for some time to soak in 
 honey water. These traps are placed at the edge of 
 a river or spring, and they are immediately visited by 
 the Bees. As soon as it is supposed that a sufficient 
 number has entered the tubes, the opening is closed 
 with the finger, and the Bees are kept prisoners. 
 One is suffered to escape, which is followed with the 
 
ON THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF BEES. 371 
 
 greatest care, and as soon as the view of it is lost, 
 another is let loose, which is followed like the former. 
 This method cannot fail of success, as a Bee always 
 returns to its domicile. When the nest has been 
 discovered, the branch is cut to which the Bees have 
 attached themselves, or they are driven from their 
 retreat by smoke. They are then put into a hive 
 perfumed with thyme and other odoriferous herbs, 
 and are kept in the ordinary manner. In swarming 
 time, they place perfumed hives at certain intervals 
 in the mountains, whither the swarms generally re- 
 pair, and they are thus lost to the real owner, as the 
 law of Spain makes those swarms the property of 
 those who deposited the hives. 
 
 The only difficulty in this method is, that the Bees. 
 imprisoned in the tubes may all belong to different 
 nests, and thus the pursuers may be baffled in their 
 design. Success, however, generally attends the 
 operation. 
 
 In North America, the Bees generally lodge them- 
 selves in hollow trees, and the honey which is there 
 collected is superior to the best honey of Europe. 
 Combs have there been found eighteen feet long, 
 and it is to the bear that they are indebted for the 
 discovery of the mellifluous treasure. The bear pos- 
 sessing a most acute sense of smell, is not long in dis- 
 covering the abode of the Bees; but he sometimes 
 spends several days in his trials to obtain the honey. 
 The people of the country know well, when a bear 
 rubs himself against a tree, that they are certain of 
 finding honey. In this respect, the bear acts the 
 part of a pointer to the game, and he shares the same 
 fate, in regard to the quantity which he obtains of 
 the treasure which he has discovered. 
 
 BB 2 
 
372 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 METHOD OF INCREASING THE CULTURE OF THE 
 BEE, BY THE FORMATION OF AN APIARIAN SO- 
 CIETY. 
 
 As the opinion of several authors disagree respect- 
 ing the decline in the culture of Bees, there must ne- 
 cessarily exist a difference in the means proposed 
 for its remedy. Excepting the premiums offered by 
 the agricultural societies of this kingdom,* there is 
 no positive encouragement for individuals to under- 
 take the foundation of an apiary. I allow that the 
 management of Bees is attended with some difficulty, 
 and I may add some danger, for it is the fear of the 
 stings of these little insects which discourages many 
 persons from keeping Bees. The art of managing 
 Bees is, however, but little known in this country ; 
 in some countries, and particularly Germany, it is 
 actually made a part of education, and certain persons 
 are appointed and paid by the government for in- 
 structing the peasants in the management of an 
 apiary. It is not only theoretically but practically 
 taught, and for this purpose, gardens are kept for the 
 
 *In July, 1801, the Dublin Society adjudged premiums at the rate of 
 ten shillings per stock, over ten stocks preserved during the winter to 
 six persons for preserving 128 stocks, since last summer, in the counties 
 of Waterford, Tipperary, Louth, and the King's County. 
 
INCREASE OF THE CULTURE OF BEES. 373 
 
 sole purpose of containing Bee-hives for the instruc- 
 tion of the peasants. Thus in Vienna, a Bee-master 
 has been appointed, whose name is Posl, who has a 
 garden containing 100 hives, which is provided with 
 every implement and improvement necessary for the 
 elucidation of the practical management of Bees. 
 Particular days are specified, in which public lectures 
 are held in this garden, and it is generally frequented 
 by young men, intended for the clerical life, who are 
 obliged to attend them, that they may impart their 
 knowledge to their parishioners. A regular journal 
 is kept of the proceedings of the establishment, which 
 is open to the inspection of every applicant. 
 
 The Patriotic Apiarian Society of Bavaria is a 
 most laudable institution, and its laws ought to be 
 translated into the language of every country where 
 Bees are known. It is not permitted for a peasant to 
 have his own apiary, but a particular favourable spot 
 is pointed out by the society, in which the different 
 proprietors deposit their hives. This place is under 
 the management of a skilful apiarian appointed by 
 the society, and it is ordained that no more than 150 
 hives shall be kept in one place ; each establishment 
 must be four miles distant. A trifling tax is levied 
 upon each hive not belonging to the society ; and 
 thus the peasant looks forward at the end of the year 
 to a certain profit, with a very trifling out-going, and 
 without any demand upon his time or labour. Should 
 a poor peasant wish to become the proprietor of a 
 hive or hives, he applies to the society, who imme- 
 diately comply with his wishes, and an annual de- 
 duction is made from the profits until the society is 
 repaid the value of the hives, which it bestowed. 
 
 In many parts of Germany the peasants receive 
 
374 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 from the government a florin for every hive which they 
 rear in the season ; and to prevent them from killing 
 the Bees, the florin is not paid until the spring, when 
 the proprietor would not find his advantage in killing 
 
 them. 
 
 On turning my attention to this country, what en- 
 couragement is given to the cultivation of the Bee 
 by government ? it appears totally unworthy of its 
 consideration, although thecountryis annually drained 
 of a very large sum of money for two commodities, 
 which with proper encouragement might be obtained 
 from our own resources. As government, therefore, 
 neglects this important branch of commerce, it can 
 only be brought to a certain degree of perfection by 
 the patriotic exertions of individuals. To effect this 
 purpose, one thing is indispensably requisite, which 
 is, that the number of persons who keep Bees should 
 be increased in the kingdom, and that the most simple 
 method of managing them should be imparted to 
 them. If there be no more hives than what we now 
 see, no rational hope can be formed of obtaining 
 abundance of either wax or hone}' : but by increas- 
 ing considerably the proprietors of Bees and the num- 
 ber of hives, the quantity of those two commodities 
 would be immense, and also without incommoding 
 in the slightest degree the proprietors, because every 
 one would only maintain that number, which his 
 garden, his capital, or business would permit him. 
 Some miracle however, I fear, must be performed 
 before this desirable end can be effected. It could 
 be soon accomplished by the rulers of the country, 
 by grantingexemptions to one, and rewards to another. 
 The golden ears of corn, which Henry IV. of France, 
 distributed to his subjects who distinguished them- 
 
INCREASE OP THE CULTURE OF BEES. 375 
 
 selves in the science of agriculture, soon gave a new 
 face to the country, and shewed the wisdom of the 
 monarch. 
 
 Without previous instruction, or consulting the 
 most esteemed authors on the subject, I would not 
 advise any one to commence apiarian, and it is in 
 acting contrary to this advice, that the culture of the 
 Bee has declined : for of what use is it to multiply 
 the number of Bee-proprietors, and for these persons, 
 at a considerable expence, to augment the number of 
 their hives, if from an ignorance in their management, 
 without a knowledge of their wants, or the accidents 
 to which they are liable, and the method of remedy- 
 ing them, a great part of the hives die in the winter. 
 Of what use is the multiplication of hives, if from a 
 want of an easy and simple method of extracting the 
 profit from our labours without risking the lives of 
 the Bees, and without exposing the hives, thus de- 
 prived to an evident loss during the following winters, 
 we are obliged to kill them voluntarily, in order to 
 obtain their provisions? Can we reckon upon any 
 number of hives, or can we hope to obtain a regular 
 supply of wax and honey, if the present method of 
 governing Bees be not altered ? 
 
 But before the system, which is now acted upon, 
 be changed, it will be necessary to impress on the 
 minds of the country people the great advantages to 
 be derived from the culture of the Bee, and then to 
 impart to them the most simple method of performing 
 the necessary operations. One of the principal causes 
 of the decline of the culture of the Bee in this country, 
 arises from a total want of encouragement, and a truly 
 gothic ignorance on every point connected with it ; 
 it is a natural consequence, that the principal and 
 indeed only method of exciting the country people 
 
376 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 to apply themselves seriously to the management of 
 Bees, is to present them with that sort of hive which 
 is not of great expence, which offers to them an easy, 
 simple, and commodious method of management, and 
 which embraces every part of their economy ; by 
 which means, the poorest cultivator being able to 
 reckon, with a certain degree of probability, on the 
 life and preservation of his hives, may also hope with 
 greater reason to see his labour and pains rewarded. 
 
 As the difficulty of collecting and extracting the 
 honey and wax obliges many proprietors to destroy 
 their hives, it also contributes not a little to disgust 
 the country people, and generally speaking, to render 
 them careless of the prosperity of the Bees ; it becomes 
 therefore necessary that a new system of management 
 should furnish an easy and simple method of depriving 
 the hives without losing many Bees, and without 
 giving much trouble to the proprietor : every object 
 would then be obtained : for to pretend to invent any 
 system by which not a single Bee shall be lost, nor 
 the operator be in the least incommoded by them, 
 would be tantamount to the capture of a cit}', in order 
 to seize upon the effects of the citizens, without the 
 sword being drawn on either side. 
 
 The great mortality which often happens suddenly 
 in a hive, and which destroys the best peopled apia- 
 ries, is the principal cause which commonlv discou- 
 rages persons to persevere in the cultivation of the 
 Bee. In the method which in future is to be adopted, 
 an easy and simple manner must be found of disco- 
 vering the cause of that mortality, and of applying 
 either a preventive or a remedy, by which, even if the 
 Joss be not prevented, at least the general destruction 
 maybe avoided of twenty or thirty hives at a time, 
 for it cannot be expected that any method can be 
 
INCREASE OF THE CULTURE OF BEES. 3?7 
 
 found of wholly preventing the mortality, unless by 
 some means the immortality of the Bee could be 
 established. 
 
 I regret to be under the necessity of mentioning 
 another circumstance which tends very much to dis- 
 courage the culture of the Bee in this country. In 
 an art, which embraces so many operations, it can 
 scarcely be expected that an intuitive knowledge 
 can exist. A person desirous of being versed in it, 
 is therefore obliged to have recourse either to verbal 
 instruction, or to the perusal of those authors, who 
 have written on the subject. In regard to the first, 
 where a general ignorance prevails amongst those 
 from whom instruction might be supposed to ema- 
 nate, it cannot be supposed that any progress can be 
 made ; and in regard to the latter, who is there that 
 has visited the cottages of the lower classes, and has 
 not deplored the total want of all education ? If the 
 most excellent treatise which ever appeared were to 
 be placed in the hands of the cottager, and from which 
 he could discover not only the most approved method 
 of managing Bees, but also could discern that his in- 
 terest was particularly connected with their cultiva- 
 tion, it would remain in his hands, like the diamond 
 in those of the savage. Unable to read, and having 
 no person in the vicinity, who could give him the 
 requisite information on any particular accident or 
 natural occurrence which may have taken place 
 amongst his hives, the destruction of them perhaps 
 ensues, and he is for ever afterwards discouraged from 
 undertaking the management of Bees. I will suppose 
 another case; it cannot be doubted that there are 
 many individuals, who have a particular attachment 
 to the management of an apiary, but the question 
 
578 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 here to be considered is, whether the system followed 
 by those individuals be proper and advantageous. — 
 1 do not hesitate to affirm, that the system at present 
 followed by nine-tenths of the keepers of Bees is built 
 on error, and antiquated prejudices. How are those 
 prejudices to be obviated and annulled ? Accus- 
 tomed from the earliest period to tread in a beaten 
 track, the cottager will not turn into a different one, 
 unless a very powerful example be set before him, 
 and he sees a greater advantage resulting from the 
 adoption of the new system, than continuing in the 
 old one. I have universally found the lower classes 
 of people averse to all instruction in the management 
 of their Bees ; their fathers, grandfathers, and so on 
 up to Noah, followed this or that method, and there- 
 fore it must be good. All innovation is dangerous, 
 and considered as infringing the sanctity of anti- 
 quated custom. 
 
 Should chance place in their immediate neighbour- 
 hood a scientific and intelligent man, who is willing 
 to diffuse the knowledge which he has gained, and 
 who can place before their eyes the immediate bene- 
 ficial consequences resulting from the adoption of a 
 different method than has been hitherto pursued, 
 some hope might be entertained of the culture of the 
 Bee becoming more general ; but then he must not 
 pretend to force instruction upon them. — Conviction 
 must flow of itself, and then, and then only, will it be 
 productive of good. 
 
 The establishment of an apiarian society was a few 
 years ago suggested by myself, and a meeting was 
 held for the purpose ; some spirited individuals 
 stepped forth, willing to second my exertions, and 
 the foundation stone of the society was laid ; the 
 
INCREASE OF THE CULTURE OF BEES. 3?9 
 
 superstructure was however never completed, owing 
 to the want of support from a high quarter, which 
 was promised, but never granted. 
 
 The particulars of the plan will be transmitted to 
 acy gentleman who may be willing to second the in- 
 tentions of the author in the formation of a society. 
 He renounces all profit and advantage to himself, his 
 sole motive being an extension of the culture of the 
 Bee, which opens such an inexhaustible source of 
 emolument to those engaged in it, and in a natural 
 and commercial point of view, is not to be surpassed. 
 
380 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 CHAP. XXXII. 
 
 MANUFACTURE OF MEAD, 
 
 JViEAD is a beverage prepared of water and hone) 
 There are three distinct sorts of it, the simple, the 
 compound, and the vinous. Simple mead is made 
 of water and honey, which does not undergo fermen- 
 tation. The compound mead is mixed with fruits, 
 essences, &c. in order to give it a different flavour. 
 
 The vinous mead is made of honey and water, 
 which is subject to fermentation. Simple mead is 
 made by boiling three parts of water, in which one 
 part of honey has been dissolved ; the quantity of 
 honey may be augmented or diminished according 
 to the taste of the persons who use it. It must be 
 boiled over a moderate fire to two-thirds of the quan- 
 tity ; the liquor is skimmed and poured into a barrel, 
 and particular care must be taken that it is full ; it is 
 allowed to subside for three or four da}'s, when it 
 may be drawn off for use. This sort of mead maybe 
 made more or less generous, according to the quan- 
 tity of honey given to it ; it is an excellent stomachic. 
 In coughs, it excites expectoration, and is gently 
 laxative. 
 
MANUFACTURE OF MEAD. 3S 1 
 
 As an economical apiarian will not allow any part 
 of his produce to be wasted, the linens which have 
 been used for filtering the honey should be rinsed in 
 the water destined for the mead. If the linen has 
 been well saturated with the honey, the strength of 
 the mead will be considerably increased. 
 
 To make the compound mead, the following in- 
 structions must be observed. During the time that 
 the quantity of honey and water, which has been 
 indicated above for the preparation of the simple 
 mead, is boiling, some raisins, cut in two, must be 
 boiled at the same time, allowing half a pound of 
 raisins to six pounds of honey, and four pints of 
 water are necessary to boil them properly. The 
 liquor being diminished one-half, it is strained through 
 a linen, slightly squeezing the raisins ; it is then mixed 
 with the decoction of honey and water, and the whole 
 is boiled together for a short time ; a toasted crust of 
 bread steeped in beer is then put into it, and having 
 taken off the scum, which has formed afresh, the 
 whole is taken off the fire, and allowed to subside. 
 It is gently poured into a barrel, into which has been 
 put an ounce of salt of tartar dissolved in a glass of 
 brandy. Particular care must be taken that the barrel 
 is full. It must then be exposed with the bung out, 
 to the influence of the sun, or in a chamber heated 
 by a stove, taking care that the barrel is kept con- 
 stantly filled, until no more froth is emitted. Having 
 filled it for the last time, the bung is fastened, and it 
 is taken into the cellar, where having remained for a 
 few months, it is fit for use. 
 
 To render it more agreeable, five or six drops of 
 the essence of cinnamon may be mixed with the 
 brandy, in which the salt of tartar has been dis- 
 
382 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 dissolved. Some pieces of lemon peel, or the sirup 
 of gooseberries, cherries, strawberries, or aromatic 
 flowers may be mixed with it, according to the pa- 
 late of the fabricator. 
 
 This compound mead ferments a considerable time, 
 and is preserved like the other. Care must be taken 
 to rinse with brandy all the new barrels in which the 
 different kinds of mead are to be preserved. 
 
 To make the vinous mead, take one pound of honey 
 to three pints of water. This is the beverage of the 
 majority of the northern people; it is called miod. 
 The Russians, for example, compose their mead 
 with honey, cherries, strawberries, gooseberries and 
 mulberries ; they commence the fabrication by soak- 
 ing these fruits for some days in clear water ; to which 
 they add some virgin honey, and a piece of bread 
 soaked in beer. The barrels are placed in a room, in 
 which a heat of IS to 25 degrees is maintained day 
 and night. The fermentation commences at the end 
 of six or eight days ; it lasts for about six weeks, and 
 ceases spontaneously. The common people of the 
 same country make mead with honey which is not 
 separated from the wax, and with combs in which 
 the brood still exists ; they beat these combs in warm 
 water, leave the liquor to subside, strain it through 
 a bag, boil and drink it. 
 
 In the department of Jura in Switzerland, a beve- 
 rage is made by mixing together every thing which is 
 extracted from the hives, even the brood, after hav- 
 ing suffocated the Bees. 
 
 I have made an excellent mead according to the 
 following manner. 
 
 To thirty pounds of honey, add forty-five quarts of 
 water ; the mixture is boiled in a great copper, and 
 when the liquor is reduced to about one half, it is 
 
MANUFACTURE OF MEAD. 383 
 
 sufficiently boiled. I put two-thirds in a new barrel, 
 well rinsed with brandy, and the other third I put 
 into bottles, which I close with fine muslin or coarse 
 linen. If in this state the liquor be tasted, it has an 
 insipid taste, and in order to render it vinous, it must 
 undergo fermentation, which then imparts to it all the 
 fumes of wine, and from which brandy, &c. can be 
 made. 
 
 In order to destroy more readily the honey taste of 
 this beverage, chalk, charcoal, and white of eggs must 
 be added in the following manner. 
 
 The honey, the water, and the chalk are put into 
 a copper vessel, the size of which should be one-third 
 larger than the volume of the mixture, aud the whole 
 must be boiled for two minutes. The charcoal is 
 then put into the liquor, it is well mixed with a 
 spoon, and the boiling is continued for two minute* 
 more, after which the white of eggs is added, and 
 the whole is then mixed with the same care as the 
 charcoal, and it is again boiled for about two minutes ; 
 the vessel is then taken from the fire, the liquor is 
 left to cool, and it is then strained through a sieve or 
 flannel ; the honey is thus deprived of its particular 
 taste. 
 
 To excite fermentation, the liquor must be exposed 
 to heat. Two methods are practised for this purpose. 
 The first is to place the liquor in a stove or the corner 
 of a chimney, in which a constant fire is kept; some 
 bottles are tilled with the same liquor. In about 
 seven or eight days, the liquor emits a thick and 
 dirty froth, which leaves a vacuum in the barrel, 
 which must be filled up from the bottles, which are 
 also in a state of fermentation ; the fermentation lasts 
 for about two months, and ceases of itself. 
 
384 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
 
 The other method is to expose the liquor to the 
 sun, but in this case it must be done in the month of 
 June, and left exposed until the fermentation ceases, 
 which takes place in about three or four months. 
 On placing the barrel in the warmest situation, it 
 must be raised a little from the ground, and attention 
 must be paid to the Bees, and other insects attracted 
 by the odour. During the heat of the day the liquor 
 swells, the froth rises by the bung-hole, and runs 
 down on each side of the barrel. Instead therefore 
 of placing the barrel exactly horizontal, I give it a 
 slight inclination, taking thebunghole as the parallel. 
 As soon as the sun sets or is obscured, the volume 
 of the liquor diminishes, and the barrel has no longer 
 the appearance of being full. In the first case the 
 Bees will lick up without danger to themselves, the 
 liquid which has flowed from the barrel ; but in the 
 second, the bunghole must be closed with a plate of 
 lead, pierced in holes ; without this precaution, the 
 Bees would drown themselves. The plate of lead 
 must be taken off when the liquor begins to froth, 
 and when the barrel is no longer full enough to throw 
 off the froth, it must be filled up from the bottles. 
 
 The fermentation having ceased, the barrel is put 
 into the cellar, taking due precautions that it is full. 
 
 After two or three years, it may be put into bottles 
 which must be well corked. They must be allowed 
 to stand one month, to see if they do not burst. 
 They may then be ranged in bins like other wines. 
 Its taste much resembles that of Malaga ; it is a great 
 cordial, dissipates flatulency, and assists perspiration. 
 It must however be drunk with moderation, as it is 
 of a very intoxicating quality, and the intoxication 
 caused by it lasts a Ions: time. The natives of Poland 
 
 6 
 
MANUFACTURE OF MEAD. 385 
 
 and Lithuania, whose principal beverage is mead, 
 communicate a very agreeable odour to it, by putting 
 into the barrels a certain quantity of dried elder 
 flowers. Medicinal qualities may be given to mead, 
 by mixing with it the juice of different plants. 
 
 The Grecians put into their wine the flour of Se- 
 same* kneaded with the honey of Mount Hymettus. 
 By this method they made their wines delicious. 
 
 At Constantinople and other parts of Turkey, a 
 great quantity of confectionary called chalva-, and 
 pastry, which is called bacluva, is made with honey. 
 Both are of excellent taste and flavour : the chalva 
 is particularly useful to the poor people, who find it 
 a very cheap subsistence. Chalva is made with the 
 flour of Sesame, which is called Tain-ehassi. It 
 is also made with the sesame itself, and is called 
 Sissam-eluassi, and also with nuts, kernels, and 
 various fruits. Two or three ounces of this food, 
 with as much bread, is a good breakfast for a labourer. 
 
 The moderns by means of mead imitate the choicest 
 wines, and in Paris the consumption is very consider- 
 able. The wines of Malaga, Rota, Muscat, Con- 
 stantia, and others, are all imitated by mead, and it 
 is fortunate that the beverage is not rendered un- 
 wholesome by the imposition. It is discovered very 
 easily by the following process. Take a small glass 
 decanter, and pour into it the wine which you wish 
 to consume, stop the entrance of the bottle with your 
 thumb, and turning the bottle topsy-turvy, dip it into 
 water ; then draw away your thumb ; if the wine be 
 genuine it will remain in the bottle, being lighter than 
 water ; if spurious, the honey will precipitate visibly 
 
 * Sesame. A species of com, according to Pliny ; but according to 
 Columella, a species of pulse. 
 
 C C 
 
386 MANUFACTURE OF MEAD. 
 
 into the water, which will become immediately 
 cloudy ; that which remains in the bottle will be a 
 water, insipid and disagreeable to the taste. 
 
 Most excellent vinegar may be made from honey : 
 half a pound of honey must be put to a pint of water, 
 and the honey must be well dissolved. This mixture 
 is then exposed to the greatest heat of the sun, with- 
 out closing wholly the bunghole of the cask, which 
 must be merely covered with coarse linen, to prevent 
 the admission of the insects. In about six weeks, 
 this liquor becomes acid, and changes to a very strong 
 vinegar, and of excellent quality. 
 
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INDEX. 
 
 A 
 
 Abbe della Rocca, his opinion of wax, 167. Anecdote of, 90. 
 Abortive brood injurious to bees, l^S. Cause of the, ibid. 
 Account of a hive that swarmed without drones (note), 31. 
 Advantages of the starving system discussed, 66, 71. 
 
 derived by Germany from the sale of wax, 160. 
 
 Adulteration of honey, method of discovering the, 231. 
 
 Age of a hive to be determined by the combs, 249. 
 
 Analysis of propolis, 150. 
 
 Analogy of the wasp and the bee, 23. 
 
 ———wax and propolis, 160. 
 
 Anecdote of a farmer of East Grinstead, 89. 
 
 -the dead mouse, 149. 
 
 L'Abbe della Rocca, 90. 
 
 ■ a Hampshire lady, 1 10. 
 
 Ant, an enemy to bees, 103. 
 
 Ant's nest, method of destroying an, 104. 
 
 Antennas, the disease of, described, 124. 
 
 Apiarian Society, on the formation of an, 37. 
 
 Apiary, proper position of the, 39. Cleanliness of recommended, 94. 
 
 Apiarian's monthly manual, 338. 
 
 Archipelago, duration of a hive in the, 243. 
 
 Aristomachus, his prejudice for Bees, 66. 
 
 Arrangement of hives, erroneous method of the, 301. 
 
 Artificial swarms, method of forming, 216. 
 
 Artifice to be employed in removing a hive, 306. 
 
 Aspect of the apiary to vary with the climate, 90. 
 
 B 
 
 Bavaria, Apiarian Society of, description of the, 373. 
 
 Bees, why called common, 41. Erroneous opinion of them, 42. Fo- 
 reign naturalists mention four sorts, 42. Difference in the 9ize of 
 the bee accounted for, ibid. Physical description of, 43. 
 
 attachment of to their queen," 19. 
 
 not kept in the West India Islands on account of the wasps, 101. 
 
 notto be allowed to leave the hive when the snow is on the ground, 
 
 240. 
 
 , rejecting food, to be examined, 269. 
 
 , the natural enemy of bees, 298. 
 
 Bee-bread considered by some apiarians as a malady, 120. Description 
 of, 156. 
 
 Bee gardens at Vienna, description of the, 373. 
 
 Bear, an enemy to bees, 114. Sagacious method used by the, in de- 
 stroying hives, ibid. Sport with the bear in the north of Europe 
 (note), ibid. 
 
 G c 2 
 
588 INDEX. 
 
 Bell hives, fit only for the amateur, 82. 
 
 Benefit arising from liberal feeding, 272. 
 
 Bienaime (L'Abbe), his remedy for the dysentery (note), 123. 
 
 Blondelu, bis analysis of wax, 167. 
 
 Bonnet, his origin of wax, 169. _ PAs^as^m hZl 
 
 Bonner, hive of Gelieu, recommended by, 66. ]?6*&/r*'» / &9 j *T J 
 
 Brood, definition of the, 128. Different states of the, ibid. 
 
 abortive, injurious to bees, 126. 
 
 Buck-wheat, advantage of removing hives to the vicinity of, 296. 
 Button, opinion of the wax moth (note), 105. His geometrical ana- 
 
 lysis of the cells, 142, 143. 
 Butler, description of a second swarm (note), 206. 
 
 C 
 
 Cadet, his analysis of propolis, 150. 
 
 Calculation of the profit of an apiary for five years, 310. 
 
 Cause of the dysentery, 124. 
 
 decline of the culture of the bee in France, 315. 
 
 Caution to purchasers of hives, 321. 
 
 Cells, description of the, 138, 139. 
 
 Characteristics of an old hive, 322. 
 
 China, custom of moving hives in, described, 287. Wax tree of, de- 
 scribed, 175. 
 
 Cleanliness of bees, described, 15. 
 
 , the apiary recommended, 94. 
 
 Clustering of bees, uo indication of a swarm, 214. 
 
 Colour given to the cells, supposed by Huber (note), 137. 
 
 Cold, not injurious to bees, 234. 
 
 Columella, method of deprivation, invented by, 255. 
 
 Combs of a perished hive, not to be melted, 282. 
 
 , Huber's description of the formation of (note), 139, 140. 
 
 . — of the bees, description of the, 135. Their thickness, 138. Ori- 
 ginally white, 144. Made black by perspiration, ibid. 
 
 Common bees, why so called, 41. 
 
 straw hive, injurious to the culture of the bee, 53. 
 
 Commosin, a species of wax, so called by Pliny, 135. 
 
 Contradictory statements of the quantity of honey and wax in a hive, 
 292, 293. 
 
 Corsica, immense quantity of honey and wax produced in the island 
 of, 314. 
 
 Country (a,) not to be overstocked with hives, 328. 
 
 Culture of the bee in Hanover, described, 315. In the Archipelago, 
 316. In Cuba, ibid. In St. Domingo, 317. In Africa, 318. 
 
 Custom of Germany, in regard to obtaining queen bees (note), 219. 
 
 D 
 
 Dead mouse, anecdote of a, 149. 
 
 Death-headed sphinx, an enemy to bees, ill. 
 
 Death of the bees occasioned by the vapour of the hives, 75. 
 
 Debraw, two kinds of drones discovered by (note), 30. 
 
 Degraded state of the culture of the bee in this country, 307, 308. 
 
 DeMontfort, number of authors on bees estimated by, 1. Sciences 
 
 attributed to the bees by, 3. 
 Departure of a swarm, description of, 192- 
 Deprivation of hives, 251. Invented by Columella, 254. 
 
INDEX 383 
 
 Description of the hive of Huber, 56. Of Thorley's hive, 58. Of the 
 Rev. Mr. White's, 59. Of Mad. Vicat's hive, 62. Of GelieiTs hive, 
 66. Of Ducouedic's hive, 67. Of Lombard's hive, 77. Of Huish's 
 hive, 83. 
 
 of a machine to prevent the robbery of hives, 93. 
 
 ■ trap to catch field mice, 97. 
 
 ■ the honey dew, 1S5. 
 
 Deserted hive taken possession of by ants, 104. 
 
 Different substances found in a hive, 146. 
 
 positions advantageous to bees, 330. 
 
 1 species of bees in various parts of the world, 383. 
 
 Difference between wax and propolis, 148. 
 
 ————— in the price of hives, 326. 
 
 Directions for the purchase of hives, 323. 
 
 Disadvantages attending the common hive, 53. 
 
 ■ of the storying system, 69. 
 
 Discoveries of Huber, 6. 
 
 Diseases cured by bees, 3- 
 
 Disease of the antenna?, described, 124. 
 
 Dislike entertained by bees to certain persons, 14. 
 
 Distance which bees fly for food, on the, 333. Importance of this 
 question, ibid. Various opinions respecting it, 335. 
 
 Domestic bees, various species of, 10, 11. 
 
 Domestication of bees, origin of the, 51. 
 
 Dress to be used when hiving a swarm, 198. 
 
 Driving a hive, definition of (note), 24. 
 
 Drones, their characteristics, 28. Eggs of the queen fructified by 
 them, 29. Not brooding bees, 30. Two kinds discovered by Reau- 
 mur and Debraw (note), 30. Their opinion examined and refuted, 31. 
 No drones, no swarm, 31. Method of supplying a hive with drones, 
 31. Born at the commencement of spring, 33- Asserted by Reau- 
 mur to die after copulation (note), 34. Killed at the end of the 
 season, 35. No drones in the hive in winter, 35. Keys's opinion of 
 drones, 37. 
 
 Drone cells, description of the, 139. 
 
 Dubost quoted, 74. 
 
 Ducarne's opinion of the honey-dew, 179- 
 
 Duchet's opinion of the dysentery, 122. Of the origin of wax, 169. 
 Estimation of the duration of a hive (note), 249. 
 
 Ducouedic's hive, description of, 67. His opiuion of the cause of the 
 dysentery, 118. Opinion of the nature of pollen, 154. Hypothesis 
 respecting a perished hive, 281. 
 
 Duels between rival queens, described by Huber (note), 208, 209. 
 
 Duhamels extraordinary account of bees in a tub (note), 88. 
 
 Duration of a hive, difficulty of ascertaining the, 248. 
 
 Dysentery, a dangerous malady of bees, 117. Symptoms of, 119. 
 Cause of, 120. Remedies for, 121. Cure proposed by Ranconi, 121. 
 
 E 
 
 Eggs of the queen, manner of their fructification, difficult to be solved, 
 22. Fructification of, in the cells, considered, 23. Experiment to 
 determine it, 24, 25, 26. 
 
 Eggs left m a perished hive in a fecundated state, 2S0. Hatched by 
 "the summer heat, 281. 
 
 Egypt, method of transporting hives in, described. 286 
 
390 INDEX. 
 
 Elevation of a hive described, 91. 
 
 Encouragement to establish apiaries in this country, want of, 374. 
 
 Encyclopedic Methodique, extract from the, 170. 
 
 Enemies of bees, 96. 
 
 Erroneous method of placing the hives in Sussex, 94. 
 
 ■ . killing wasps by bottles, 100. 
 
 Erroneous opinion concerning the food given to bees, 271. 
 Excrement of bees, curious opinion on, advanced by Ducouedic, 118. 
 Excursion to the Isle of May, 335. 
 
 Experiment of Schirach respecting the vapour in the hives, repeated 
 by M. Vicat, 74. 
 
 to determine the food given to the larvae, 132. 
 
 of Huber to determine the appropriation of farina, 1 56. 
 
 ______ of Reaumur to extract wax from pollen, 153. 
 
 to determine the temperature of a hive, 286. 
 
 ■ — to ascertain the duration of the life of the queen bee, 
 247. 
 
 F 
 
 Famine, effects of, 251. Method of averting, 244. 
 
 Farina, definition of, 151. Not swallowed by the bees, ibid. 
 
 Fecundation of the queen, various opinions concerning, 18. 
 
 Feeding of bees, manner of, 267. 
 
 Field mouse an enemy to bees, 96. Description of a trap to watch 
 the, 114. 
 
 Flat-topped hives, erroneous construction of, 72. 
 
 Flour recommended by Ducouedic to be mixed with the food, 275- 
 Injury thereof, ibid. 
 
 Flour barrels, used in Jamaica for hives (note), 77. 
 
 Form of hives in Poland, 52. In Germany, ibid. In Spain, ibid. In 
 Russia, 53. In Provence, ibid. In Italy, ibid. 
 
 Food administered to the larvae, dispute respecting the, 131. 
 
 to be given to a swarm in bad weather, 213. 
 
 proper for feeding weak hives, description of, 273. 
 
 not to bv administered during frost, 276. 
 
 Forests, the first domicile of the bees, 51. 
 
 Fortification of bees, discovered by Huber and Lombard, 112. De- 
 scribed (note), ibid. 
 
 Four-legged stool, erroneous use of it, 92. 
 
 Fox, an enemy to bees, 114. Sagacity of, related by Ducr.rne (note), 
 ibid. 
 
 France, form of hives in, 53. 
 
 Furze, weak hives to be removed to the vicinity of, 286. 
 
 6 
 
 Garlick used in Italy to rub the hives with, 204. 
 Gelieu, hive of, description of, 65. Privilege granted to him of es- 
 tablishing his hives in France (note), 66. 
 Germany, form of hives in, 52. 
 
 Glass hives, inutility of, 54. Of no use to the naturalist, 55. 
 Gmelins' Travels in Russia and Siberia quoted, 234. 
 Great distance of the flight of a swarm (note), 335. 
 
 H 
 
 Hampshire lady, anecdote of, 110. 
 
 Heath, profit attending the removal of hives to the vicinity of, 2S4- 
 Increase in the weight of hives removed to the vicinity of, 297. 
 
INDEX. 351 
 
 Heat in winter more dangerous to bees than cold, 23S. 
 
 Hives first mentioned by Varro (note), 52. Form of in Poland, 52. In 
 
 Germany, 52. 
 Hive of Huber, described, 56. Of Thorley, 58. Of the Rev. J. 
 
 White, 59. Of Vicat, 62. OfGelieu, 66. Of Ducouedic, 67. Of 
 
 Lombard, 77. Of Huish, 83. 
 Hives to be placed in a right line, 91. Not to be placed upon the 
 
 same bench, 92. To be purchased from distant parts, 323. 
 Honey bag, the honey found in it, only appropriated to the provision 
 
 of the bee, 45. 
 Honey, description of, 174. Various qualities of, 175. Contradictory 
 
 opinion of naturalists in regard to the origin of, 176. Examination 
 
 of the nature of, 176. Manipulation of, 227, 228, 229. Situation 
 
 of the place proper for the manipulation of it, 230, 247. Method of 
 
 discovering the adulteration of, 23 1 . 
 Honey alone given to bees as food, injurious, 272. 
 Honey-dew, examination of its nature, 176. Considered as an exuda- 
 tion of plants, 177. Opinion of Ducarne, 179. Two species of, 
 
 180. Described by M- Boissier de Sauvages, 184. 
 Honey Guide, description of the (note), 115. 
 Horizontal cells formed in a hive (note), 137. 
 Hottentot country, bees plentiful in the, 369. 
 Huber, discoveries of, 6. Opinion of the fecundation of the queen. 
 
 19. Description of the hive of, 66. Discovers the fortifications of 
 
 the bees, 112. Experiments on the origin of wax, 1G3. The same 
 
 examined, 164, 165. 
 Huish, description of the hive invented by, 83. 
 Humble-bee nests to be destroyed, 99. Their honey to be given to 
 
 the bees, ibid. 
 Humidity of the hive detrimental to the wax, 162. A cause of the 
 
 mortality of the bees, 177. Method of preventing it, 239. 
 Hunter (Mr. J.) his mathematical definition of the foundation of the 
 
 combs, 57. 
 
 I 
 Ice discovered in a hive, 74. 
 
 Importance of wax, as an article of commerce, 160, 307. 
 Implements necessary for the manipulation of honey, 227, 22S. 
 Industry of the bee, 11. 
 
 Instructions to be observed in depriving hives, 252, 253. 
 — — — — — — respecting a neighbourinj apiary, 306. 
 
 Interior of the hive to be examined when purchased, 322. 
 Invention of Lombard for the construction of hive9 of a uniform dia- 
 meter, description of a, 81. 
 Italy, form of hives in, 52. 
 
 Jamaica, size of the hives in (note), 77. 
 
 Junction of swarms, method of treating, 200, 201. 
 
 Jussieu De, experiments on the nature of wax, 170, 171. 
 
 K 
 
 Keys, his opinion of the drones, 34. Advocate for the storying sys- 
 tem, 76. His cure for the dysentery, 123. His erroneous opinion 
 of the effect of cold (note), 238. 
 
 Kcenig, his mathematical analysis of a cell, 138, 
 
392 IXDEX. 
 
 L 
 
 La Grenee, an advocate for the suffocation of bees, 257. His opinion 
 of the number of hives which a country can support, 327, 32S. 
 
 Lapoutre, his estimate of the duration of a hive (note), 249. 
 
 Larva, description of the, 131. Experiment to determine the nature 
 of food given to, 132. 
 
 Latreille, M., his character of bees (note), 142. 
 
 Lewenhoek, curious definition of the formation of the cells, 144- 
 
 Lice, some hives infected with, 126. 
 
 Life of the bee not ascertained, 14. Estimate of the, 246. 
 
 queen bee, experiment to ascertain it, 247. 
 
 Linnasus, doubt of, respecting the injury committed by bees to flow- 
 ers, 320. 
 
 List of foreign and English apiarians who have effected improvements 
 in hives, 56. 
 
 List of trees, plants and flowers, from which the bees extract their 
 honey and wax, 354. 
 
 Little Dutchmen, name given to a species of bees in Holland, 11. 
 
 Lizard, the enemy of bees, 115. 
 
 Lombard (M.) opinion of propolis, 150. Inventor of the village hive. 
 77. Description of the same, 78. Discovers the fortifications of 
 bees, 1 12. His cure for the dysentery, 122. 
 
 London gardeners, their opinion of the use of the bee (note), 320. 
 
 Liittichau, his experiments on a queen bee (note), 22. 
 
 M 
 Machine to prevent the robbery of hives, description of a, 93. 
 
 for fumigating a hive, description of, 199. 
 
 Maladies of bees, 117. 
 
 Management of a swarm, 200. 
 
 Manipulation of honey, 227, 228. 
 
 Man, the principal enemy of bees, 96. 
 
 Manner of punishing robbers of hive9 in Poland, 52. 
 
 in which the Bee is delivered of its load, 151. 
 
 , of transporting the hives in France, 298. 
 
 in w hich the bees kill the drones, described, 36, 37. 
 
 Mead, manufacture of, 380. Compound mead, method of making, 
 
 381. Vinous mead, method of making, 382. 
 Medicinal properties of propolis, 147. 
 
 honey, 231, 232. 
 
 Method of preventing the warping of the stand, 93. 
 . — destroying a wasp's nest, 99. 
 -an ant's nest, 104. 
 
 ■adopted by the bees in depositing the honey in the cells, 185, 
 
 50. 
 
 . to be adopted with a swarm having no queen, 217. 
 
 of joining two swarms, 211, 212. 
 
 of making artificial swarms, 217, 218. 
 
 adopted by Ducarne of catching a queen, 220. 
 
 of discovering the adulteration of honey, 231. 
 
 of averting the influence of the sun on hives, 239 
 
 of administering food to hives, 273. 
 
 of managing a perished hive, 282. 
 
 of removing hives in Egypt, described, 286. 
 
 ■ of supplying a hive with drones, 3*. 
 
INDEX. 393 
 
 Method of discovering young Bees from robbers, 304. 
 
 of transporting purchased hives, 3-24. 
 
 • of averting famine from a hive, 244. 
 
 Moisture, dangerous eflfects of, on hives (note), 162. 
 
 Moldavia, great trade in wax in, 316. 
 
 Mortality of bees, on the causes of the, 233. Not occasioned by cold, 
 ibid. * 
 
 Moth (wax), dangerous enemy of the bees, 104. Entomology of, 
 ibid. Experiment with (note), 104. Larva? of the, contained in 
 the pollen, 107. Hives, weakly defended, if infected with the, 299. 
 
 Moufet, his opinion of the propagation of bees, 3. 
 
 Mouse, an enemy of bees, 96. 
 
 Mules, common bees so called, in some parts of England, 41. 
 
 Miiller, der oesteneichsche Bieuenroeister, quoted (note), 34. 
 
 Mvrica, a plant bearing wax, description of, 171. 
 
 X 
 
 Nests of humble bees to be given to bees, 99. 
 
 Newt, an enemy to bees, 115. 
 
 Number of authors on bees, estimated by De Montfort, 1. 
 
 queen cells constructed in a hive (note), 141, 142. 
 
 journeys performed by bees in a day, 156, 352. Experiment 
 
 to determine the same, 337. 
 
 hives which could be kept in the vicinity of London, 326. 
 
 Nymph, description of the, 129. 
 
 
 Oatmeal recommended by M. L'Abbe Bienaime, for the dysentery 
 
 (note), 123- 
 Objection to the use of pollen, 158- 
 
 culture of the bee in the sugar colonies, 333. 
 
 Opinion of the travelling German apiarians on the distance which bees 
 
 fly for food, 334. 
 
 P 
 Paint, hives may be preserved by, 250. 
 
 Paisley, hives destroyed by wasps, in the vicinity of (note), 98. 
 Pappus, his mathematical definition of a cell, 138. 
 Period proper for the deprivation of hives, 254. 
 
 of the attack of the wasp, 100. 
 
 Perished hives, erroneous method of treating, 279. 
 
 Persons accustomed to work in the apiary known by the bees, 14 
 
 Piedmont, ingeuious plan for removing hives, adopted in, 287. 
 
 Pillage, weak hives only sufier from, 298. Seasons of, 300. 
 
 Pissocosos, a species of wax so called by Pliny, 135. 
 
 Plan to be adopted with a weak hive to prevent pillaging, 304. 
 
 Poison of the bee's sting most virulent in summer, 47. 
 
 Poland, no regular bee hives in, 52. Manner of punishing the robbers 
 
 of hives in, ibid. 
 Pollen, definition of, 151. Considered as aliment of the young bees. 
 
 158. 
 Populous hives often in want of provisions, 299. 
 Position of an apiary described, 331. 
 Precautionary measures to be adopted with a swarm, 196. 
 Prejudices entertained in this country respecting bees, 319. 
 Preservation of honey, rules for, 230. 
 Price of hives, difference in the, 326. 
 
394 INDEX. 
 
 Primary honey, method of obtaining, 229. 
 
 Process of the deprivation of hives described, 252. 
 
 Produce of a hive, contradictory statements respecting, 292. 
 
 Profit of an apiary for five years, calculation of, 310, 311, 312. 
 
 Profit attending the removal of hives to the vicinity of heath, 284. 
 
 Proper time for the removal of purchased hives, 324. 
 
 Propolis, the nature of, 147. The use to which it is applied, ibid. 
 Opinion of Reaumur, ibid. Its medicinal qualities, ibid. Definition 
 of (note), 146. Substitute for varnish, ibid. Not an individual 
 substance, 149. Its analysis by Vauquelin and Cadet, 150. Opinion 
 of M. Lombard, ibid. Solely used in the construction of the 
 combs, 149. 
 
 Proportion of honey and wax, 231. 
 
 food to a hive, 210. 
 
 Provence, form of hives in, 53. 
 
 Proximity of large rivers injurious to bees, 95. 
 
 Prussia, recipe in, for the sting of the bee, 49. 
 
 Purchase of hives, directions concerning, 321, 322. Presence of 
 mind to he observed in the, 322. Proper season for the, 323. 
 
 Purchasers of hives, caution to, 323. 
 
 Q 
 
 Quantity of honey taken with a swarm, 205. 
 
 '. . necessary to support a hive during the winter, 269. 
 
 ■ consumed by a hive in a day, 27 7. 
 
 Queen bee, description of the, IT. Fecundity of, 18. Fecundation 
 
 of, considered, 19. Supposed by some apiarians to be performed 
 
 in the open air, 19, 20. Her reluctance to sting, 19. Importance 
 
 of the, to the colony, ibid. 
 Queen cells, description of, 140, 141. A number of, a proof of an 
 
 old hive, 322. 
 Queen wasps to be killed in the spring, 99. 
 Question, respecting the death of strong hives, answered (note), 274, 
 
 275. 
 
 R 
 Ranconi, his cure for the dysentery, 121. 
 Rat, an enemy to the bees, 96. 
 Reaumur, two kinds of drones discovered by (note), 30. His opinion 
 
 of ants, 103. His opinion of the life of a bee, 246. 
 Refutation of the opinion of Buffon on the construction of the cells, 
 
 144. 
 Regenerated hive, not to be placed in the apiary, 282. No swarm to 
 
 he expected from a, 283. The contrary affirmed by Ducouedic, ibid. 
 Regular visits to be paid to the apiary in the robbing season, 304. 
 Remedies for the sting of the bee, 47. 
 
 ■ proposed for the moth, 106, 107. 
 
 for the dysentery, 121. 
 
 Removal of hives to fresh pasturage recommended, 284, 285. 
 
 practised by the Greeks (note), 287. 
 
 ■ not always a cure for pillage, 305. 
 
 Robbery of hives to be prevented, 270. Symptoms of, 301. 
 Rovingswarms, method of bagging them, 204. 
 Rules for choosing honey, 231. 
 
 the removal of hives, laid down by M. de Bomare, 289, 290. 
 
 Rocca (L'Abbe della), straw hives considered injurious by, 53- Anee- 
 dote related by, 90. 
 
INDEX. 395 
 
 S 
 Salt beneficial to bees, 275. 
 
 Sauvages, M. Boissier De, description of the honey-dew, 184. 
 Schirach discovers the vapours of a hive, 73. Inventor of artificial 
 
 swarms, 216. 
 Scout sent out by the bees previously to swarming, question discussed, 
 
 193. 
 Seasons of pillage, 298. 
 Second swarm, description of a, 205 ; described by Butler (note) 206. 
 
 Signs of, 207, 208. Seldom worth preserving, 210. Junction of, 
 
 210, 211. 
 Secondary honey, method of obtaining, 229. 
 Shape of the straw hive in England reprobated, 53. 
 Shrew mouse, an enemy to bees, 96. 
 Signs of swarming, 190. 
 — — — a thriving hive, 323. 
 
 Situation of the place proper for the manipulation of honey, 227. 
 Size of different bees accounted for, 42. 
 Snow, a great cause of the mortality of bees, 240, 241. 
 Southern countries most favourable to the culture of the bee, 327. 
 South-west wind, hives to be protected from, 90. 
 Spain, form of hives in, 52. 
 
 , method of catching wild bees in, 370. 
 
 Sparrow, an enemy to bees, 115. 
 Sphinx (the death-headed) an enemy to bees, 111. 
 Spider, the enemy of bees, 97. 
 
 Stand, method of preventing the warping of the, 93. 
 Sticks in a hive, injury of (note), 80. 
 
 Sting of the bee, description of the, 46. Remedies for the, 4T. Re- 
 medy used in Prussia, 49. 
 Storied hives invented by Gelieu, 55. 
 Storying system, disadvantages of, exposed, 69. 
 Straw the best material wherewith to make a hive, 53. Denied by 
 
 L'Abbe della Rocca, ibid. 
 Suffocation of bees injurious to the produce of wax, 161. 
 ■ — hives mostly practised in England, 251. Advocated by 
 
 La Grenee, 257. 
 Sussex, erroneous method of placing the hives in, 94. 
 Swammerdam, the father of the storying system (note), 66. Opinion 
 
 of the origin of wax, 169. His method of preventing a bee from 
 
 stinging (note). 48. 
 Swarms in general, described, 188. Description of a swarm, ibid. 
 
 Time of swarming varies in different countries, 189. Precautionary 
 
 measures to be adopted with, 196. Value of, determined by its 
 
 weight, 205. 
 Symmetry of the cells, 138. 
 Symptoms of the dysentery, 119. 
 ■ — of robbery, 301. 
 
 T 
 Temperature of a hive, experiment to determine, 236. 
 Tessier, L'Abbe, his opinion of virgin swarms (note), 214. 
 Thorley, (Mr.) his account of a hive that swarmed without drones, 
 
 (note), 31. Description of his hive, 58. 
 Toad, an enemy to bees, 101. 
 Tomtit, an enemy to bees, 103. 
 
396 INDEX. 
 
 Torches, error of placing them near the hives for killing the moths, 
 
 110. 
 Trap, description of a, to catch field mice, 97. 
 Travelling apiaries iu Germany described, 295. 
 Treacle, a good substitute for sugar, in the feeding of bees, 278. 
 Transportation of hives, disapproved by Ducarne, 291, 
 Transversion of hives examined, 291. 
 Turkey, the bee much cultivated in, 316. 
 Two seasons for the feeding of bees, 267. 
 
 U 
 Urine, recommended by Ranconi, as a cure for the dysentery, 120. 
 
 V 
 
 Value of a swarm determined by its weight, 205. 
 
 Vapours in the hive injurious to the bees, 73. 
 
 Various species of domesticated bees, 10. 
 
 qualities of wax, 161, 162. 
 
 Varro, first author on bees, 254. 
 
 Vauquelin, his analysis of propolis, 150. 
 
 Velocity of the flight of a bee, 337. 
 
 Vertigo, disease of the, described, 125. 
 
 Vicat, (Mad.) description of her hive, 62. 
 
 Vicinity of great towns injurious to bees, 95. 
 
 Vienna, the bee gardens at, described, 373. 
 
 Village hive, invented by Lombard, 77. 
 
 Virgin honey, description of, 214. 
 
 Vinegar, made from honey, 404. 
 
 W 
 
 Wasp, a great enemy to bees, 98. 
 
 's nest, method of destroying, 99. 
 
 , analogy of, with the bee, 23. 
 
 Water to be placed near the apiary, 95. 
 
 Wax and honey, great harvest of, not optional, 87. 
 
 and propolis, difference between, 14s. Importance of, as an 
 
 article of commerce, 160. Origin of, by Blondelu, 167. Refutation 
 thereof, 168. 
 
 tree, description of the, 172. 
 
 , not eaten by the moth, 109. 
 
 Weak hives to be removed to fresh pasturage, 285. Suffer from pil- 
 lage, 298. 
 
 Weight of a swarm, 206. 
 
 Weight, the best criterion of a hive, 323,324. Precaution to be used 
 in this respect, ibid. 
 
 Weighing hives, directions for, 243, 244. 
 
 White (the Rev. Mr.), description of the hive of, 59. 
 
 W r ildman, his cure for the dysentery, 122. 
 
 Woodpecker, an enemy to bees, 102. 
 
 Young queens never lay eggs in t 
 .bees, description of, 130. 
 
 Y 
 
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