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h
I
JOSEPH TV^ARDEU
illllliiililliliiillliiiiilillllltllillllilililllilil^^^^ iilililliiii
T HE TRUE
A M A Z NS:
OR,
The MONARCHY of
E E S-
Being a New Difcovery and Improvement
of thofe Wonderful Creatures-
Wherein is Experimentally Dcmonftrated,
L That they are all ^overn\i by a QJJ E E N.
II The Amazing Bexi.ty and Dignity of her terfon.
III. Her extraoriirir.r) Authority and Fcuer.
IV. Their Exceeding Loyalty and unparallel'd Love to
their QVE E N.
V. TimrSeXy' Male crd Female.
VI. The Manner of their Breeding,
VII. Their Wars.
VIII. Their Enemies, loitb Direclions plain find e,->fy
how to manage them, both in Stratv-Hives and
Tranfparent Boxes; Jo that '•ju'ith laying out but
Four or Five Founds, in Three or Four Yearly if
the Summers are kind, you may get Thirty or
Forty Pounds per Annum.
Alfo how to make the EngUfh Wine or Mead, equal
li not fuperior to the bcft ot other WiNts.
By Joseph Warder o? Croydon, PHYSICIAN.
Ct)0 CtiiCD enit'on tr.itt) iiloDttion^.
Sic vos non vobis Tffellificatis Apes. Virg-
LONDON, Printed for John Pimberton, at
the Buck and 5«77 0ver-againft Sx.Durifiaii'% Church
i\\ Fleet -fir eet, and William Taylor at the 5^i^
in Fater-nofier-rov). 1716.
TO THE
Q U E E N^
Moft Excellent Majefty.
MADAM,
THE R E is nothing can
excufe the Prefumption
I am guilty of^ in thus
approaching your Sacred Hands
with Jo mean a Trifle^ but the
Subje^i here treated of, "which
is of 'Princes and Potentates^
Kingdoms and Territories^ Pre-
A Q roga-
149050
vi The Dedication.
rogative and Property^ Domi-
nion and Loyalty^ Vf^ar and
Teace.
I have with a Studious De-
lights for near Twenty Tears
pajtj conversed with thefe In-
nocent Creatures the Bees, and
have not failed (ti) take all Op-
portunities) to inform my felf
by the moji curious Ohfervations
of their Nature and Oeconomy^
wherein I find fo many things
that refemhle Tour Majejiy's
happy State and Government^
that all the while I was writing
ff this Book^ I could not forbear
wijhing I might Dedicate it to
Tour Majejiy ; hit thofe Ambi-
tious
The Dedication. vii
tiom Thoughts of mine werefoon
curFd^ hy refte^ing on the Mean-
nefs of the Oblation^ till I reco-
vefd myfelfbytbe C.njideration
of Tour extenjive Goodnefs, who
like the Sun difpJay the Beams
of Tour Favour on the Unwor-
thy ^ as well as the Meritori-
ous.
Indeed^ no Monarch in the
JVorld isfo abfoluteas the §l^een
of the Bees ; (which pleads very
much with me^ that Monarchy
is founded in Nature^ and apv
provd by the great Ruler S
Princes.) But oh, what J^ar-
mony, what lovely Order is/there
in the Government of thf'Bccs I
+
The
viii The Dedication.
The Queen-Bee Governs with
Clemency and Sweetnejs^fo doth
Tour Majejty ; Jhe is Ohefd
and Defended^ out of Choice and
Inclination hy her Subjects^ Jo
is Tour Majejiy. And here I
cannot but wijh that all Tour
Majejiy'* s SubjeBs were as una-
nimoujly Loyal as the Subjeiis
of the Queen-Bee, in whofe Na-
ture there isfo flrongly (as well
as ftrangely) placed a Principle
of Obedience^ whereas I doubt
here Tour Majefty is not alto-
^etherfo happy ; for though all
ff^ Thoufands of Tour Britan-
nidi: Ifrael efieem Tour Mit-
jejiy : P erf on as Sacred ; and
fcarce Cuch a Villain is among
us
The Dedication. ix
uSy who would not lofe his Life
in the Defence of Tour Majejiy ;
yet I fear ^tis not hard to find
fome few uncjuiet Spirits^ tho^
^tis not in their Tower ^ to trou-
ble the Serenity of Tour Govern-
ment^ or difturh the Sluiet of
Tour Englifh Heart.
I here preferit Tour Majejiy
with a true State of thefe A-
ma^ons, or rather^ a State of
the true Amazons; and tho"
there be Male as well as Fe-
male amongfl them, "'tis not for
nothing, nor by chance^ that He
who is Wifdom it/elf Jhould th^
plate the Government of ti
famous Monarchy in a J^^^?
who
jC The Dedication.
nvho doth, thd" with aweful Di-
fiance from Tour Majefiy, fway
a peacefulSceptre, if not affront-
ed nor ajfaulted ; otherwtfe like
that of Tour Majefly's ; one
Terrible to her Enemies, who
will maintain War with any
State that dares Ajfault her, or
invade even the Borders of her
Territories, attemptinganyPlun-
der or Devaftation on the Goods
of her Suhje^s. Thefe noble
Creatures have (of late efpeci-
ally) been much negle^ed, and
their Indujlry not improved in
Tour Majejiy'^s Dominions ; the
^'hief Caufe of which, hm been
-^^orance of the right way of
maif^rriyig them^ and of the great
^ Tro-
The Dedfcatiofj; 3^i
Trofit art/tngfromtheirLaiouy;^^
which DefeH I have here Jupr
pUedy hy Direflims at large y ga^,
therfdfrom undeniable Experi-
ence , which will exceedingly
help the Poor, as well as delight
the Rich ; not only with various
Ohfervations and Speculations)^
hy means of their Tranjparent
Hives here dejcrihed^ hut alfo
with a Liquor no ways inferior
to the heft of Wines^ coming e^i-^
ther from France or Spain ;:
which if they will hut try^ they
will foon Jit down contented un^
der their own Vine, and'dvkb\
me refrejh themfelves;i^witK^
DrinkingTour Majejly^s Heaj/
in a Glafs of fuch m our ^^s
can
xii The Dedication.
can procure m ; and no more
Long for the Expenfive Wine
of our Enemies.
ThiSj Dread Sovereign^ I
have prefumed to lay my Queen-
Bee, "with all her Subjects^ at
Tour Royal Feet for FroteBion^
wijhing that all Tour Majefiy's
SuhjeBs may he as ylffe^ionate
and Dutiful to Tour Majejly as
my Bees are to their Xlueen ^
then would the prefjing Weight
of Government grow eafy on
Tour Royal Shoulders : and to^
the foy and Happinefs of all
Tour Sub]ecfsy Tou would he
^ w, very long able to hear the
Wug]yl: ofTourlmperialCrown.
And
The Dedication. xiii
And wheuj to the unexprefft-^
hie Grief of Tour Loving Sub-
je£isj Ton lay down this Tour
Earthly Diadem^ that it may
be to Tour Majejiy a moft happy
Exchange for a Crown of Eter-
nal Glory y is^ and JhaU le the
Trayer of
Dread Sgvereign,
Your Moft Loyal
And Moft Dutiful
Subjeft and Servant
JOSEPH Warder.
KiZ
THE
Table pr Contents,
ANniomy and Dsfcriftion of the Fsniale Bee. t
Anatomy and Dcfcription of ibt Mak or
Drone Bee. 5
Breeding of Bees, length of Life, caufe of Death
tmd triantter bf*Burial. 10
Beei lofe no Opportunity of gathering Honey. zi
Be^s kepi in Mox-^Wves with Glafs IVindows with-
^ out kilting the Bees as in the old Method in
- Strait!- Hives. 75
Box Hives with Glafs JVindows how to make. 85
Bee 'Trough for them to drink in. 79
Bees bred of Eggs. 13
Bee Houfe for Six Colonies how to make. $0
Cells Royal, or the Queens Palaces exaEily round. 45
Cells Commons mathematically Jtx fquare. 43
Drones or Male Bees jit and hatch the Brood. 6
Drones or Male Bees mt to he kill'd in the Spring, p
Drefjing the Hive before you hive the Swarm. 59
Doubling of Cajis orfecond Swarms. 5 6
DireSiions how and when tofurnijh your Bee Houfe
with Bees. 97
DireSiions how and when to raife the Hive of Bees
on the firfi Box. 100
DireSiions how and when to raife the frft Box and
Hive on the fecond Box. 102
DireElions how and when to take off the Straw-Hive
vf HenefA 4nd feturn thf Bees found therein to
their Fellows. ' 1 04
DireSiions how to take off the upper Box the next
Tear after the Straw-Hive is taken off. 107
^ DireSiions
CONTENTS.
DireSiions how to have a Swarm out of your Box.
Dead Bees to raife to Life. Hi
Enemies of Bees and their Remedies. 30
Earwig an Enemy to the Bees. 38
Feeding of their own Toung. 1 5
Feeding your Bees how and when. 60
Hornets and IVafps are Enemies to Bees. 39
Hivtng of Bees. ^ 2
Honey how to take. jr
Loyalty of Bees tryd, and all dfdfor their Queen. 49
Moufe a great Enemy to the Bees. 2 1
Moth a great Enemy to the Bees. 3-7
Mead how to make no Way inferior to tht befi of
Spanijh IVines. Ii5
Old_ Woman's Miftake about her Bees. 24
Profit of Bees. <--
Queen-Beey and the Loyalty of her SubjeSls. 42
Queen-Bee a Glorious Creature. az
Roufdens Hypothecs confuted. U, j?.
Robbing and fighting of Bees. ^a
Remedy againfl Robbing. ^^
Robbers known from the true Bees. 71
Swallow a great Defir$yer of Bees. 41
Swarming and the Reafons why. 52
ERRATA.
PAge 5. line 12. /or or read nor. p. 13. \. 6. del
being, p. io. 1. del. fo. p. 16. 1. 15. r. but Na-
ture p 30 1. 7. r. live to that Age. p, 32. 1. 29. for
1 r. if, lb. 1. 32. for thro r. through, p. 34. 1. ,2. for
have .Hive p. 44. 1. ^p. for King r. Queen, p. L.
1. 14. for flight r. fight, p. B,J. 1. ,0. r, CBriftiana. p.
90*1. 10, dei^^, ^
( o
T H E T R U E
AMAZONS:
f
O R,
Monarchy of B e e s.
CHAP. I.
*Xhe Defcription and AnatOfny of the BEE.
H E Bee of all Infefts is certainly
the moft noble ; for tho' there are
innumerable variety of Infefts that
aftord us matter for Speculaiio:i
and Admiration, (not withouttl.eir
ufe) and do loudly proclaim their thoughtful
Maker not in hafte in their Formation j yet
none can compare with the Bee, if we add to
their curious Form, their admirable Work, and
the great Benefit, that by their moft indefatiga-
ble Labour doth arife to Man, for whom they
were created. And fince the knowing their
B Natiu-ej
D. H. F»ILL LIBRARY
North Carolina Slate College
(O
Nature, doth very much conduce t<5 the im-
proving their Labours; and. finding that moft
of the Authors now extant, that have given the
World an Account of their Notions and Spe-
culations about the Bees, have taken many
things upon Truft, and handed them down tb
Pofterity for Certainties, either having no Ex-
perience at all, or elfe, through the Multipli-
city of Avocations, have not been very curi-
ous in their Obfervations ; or have been too
fhort, (as fo?iie) or too voluminous (as others)
for the Vulgar to apprehend, they being fliU at
a great lofs how to manage thefe their indullri-
ous Servants to the beft Advantage, for their
Profit as well as Pleafure^ the fupplying of
which Defeft, is the Defign of this Book. I
have try'd for many Years, the manifold Ways
of keeping of Bees ; and am at laft pjevail'd
upon, by the Importunities of many, to give
the World an Account of what Knowledge I
have, by infaliable Experience gain'd, that I
may not only dired my Countrymen how to
manage them, but free them from many Mi-
ftakes about them.
The Bee is a fmall Creature, about three
quarters of an Inch long, having four Wings
moflcurioufly Ihaped, with ftrong Fibres round
and crofs them, to flrengthen the fihe Cyprcfs
of which they are fram'd, fix Legs, a large
Head, but very fmall Neck, alfo very flender
in the V/afle or middle Part. Nature hath
provided her with two forts of Inflruments for
War and Defence, viz.. her Fangs, or Mouth,
wherein are her Teeth, but meet in 4 different
Way from other Creatures, they meeting fide-
ways
(?)
ways like a Pair of Pincers, and not one over
the other ,• with which they defend themfelves^
and alfault others. But their chief Inftriiment
for War, is in their Tail, and call'd their Sting,
with their Fangs they lay hold of Robbers
which come to ileal their Honey, whilft ano-
ther comes and carries Death to her Bowels
with her Spear or Sting,' which always carries
Death where-ever it comes amongft their own
kind, and generally Death to themfelves, when
their Sting pierceth any thing human j for tho'
fometimes a Bee may give you a light touch
with her Spear, and away, yet generally fpeak-
ing, they leave their Sting behind them, with
their Bowels joyning to it, and confequently
their Life ; for tho' they die not prefently, yet
they live not an Hour, and would Jive as long,
nay I believe longer, cut afunder in the Middle,
than they will without their Stings. Their
Sting is very taper and fharp, very apt, when
ex'erted by the Bee, to pierce the Skin or any
other harder Body ; I have had my Hand ftung
through a thick Buck-skin Glove : But not-
withftanding all this its Strength, it is a hol-
low Tube, and contains its Poyfon about the
Middle of it, plainly difcover'd by the help of
Glafles. Their Eyes are very large, cover'd
over with a thick horny Membrane, which is
the occaiion of their being fo dim-fighted :
But to fupply this Defect, Nature hath given
her two Horns, which grow above her Eyes,
about the tenth of an Inch long, in each of
which there are two Joints, one in the Middle
and another near the end, by which they can
put them forth when they will to the fulllength,
B 2 and
(4)
and draw them in clofe to their Head when
they pleafe. Thele are the Inftruments of
Feeling ; they commonly carry them thruft out
before them, l5y which they feel tenderly any
thing that is tangible, which doth hugely help
their dimnefs of Sight. Her Tongue is much
longer than her Mouth will contain, and fo is
doubled underneath, and reacheth a good way
down her Breafl-. Her Body is all over hairy
as a Fox, and her Head too, nay a great Part
of her very Eyes are covcr'd with fmall Hairs,
but fo fmall that they cannot be difcern'd by the
naked Eye, without the help of the Microlcope,
which will alfo difcover the Brain in their Head.
Within the Breaft, {he hath a reddifh fibrous
Flelh, with Heart and Lungs, proper Inftru-
ments for breathing : In the hinder Parts there
is a Gut, with its Anm and SpbinBer^ as alfo
their Bottle or Bag, in which they carry their
Honey, which (by Mufcles fitly adapted for
that purpofe) flie emptyeth into the Honey-
comb: In this Bag flie often fetcheth Water,
to mix up her Sandarach or Bee-bread, for the
feeding her Young, which they are very dili-
gent and careful about, being very fond Mo-
thers of their Children, till they can fhift for
themfelves ; for after great Pains taken, and
curious Obfervations made, v*ith the ufe of the
beft Glades, I muft come to this certain Con-
clufion, that all the working Bees' are Fe-
males.
CH A^.
(s )
CHAP. II.
'the Defcription and Anatomy of the Male Bee,
vulgarly knoii^n by that ignoinmloiis Name of a
Drone.
THere are tioiie that have kept Bees at all,
but they know the Drones from the work-
ing Bees y but they are for the mofl part ab-
fohitely ignorant what thefe Drones are, or
what Nature hath defign'd them for. I per-
cieve the Opinion that moft prevails amonglt
the Country Bee Miftrefles, is, that they are
Bees that have loft their Sting, and fo grow-
ing to that prodigious Bignefs, (out of all Pro-
portion to the other Bees) they become Drones.
Now this their Miftake is occafion'd by their
feeing they do not work, or cannot fting, and
that the fmaller Bees bear rule over them, and
fo they give them that contemptible proverbial
Name of a Drone.
Now. I conceive I ought to fpeak fomething
in the behalf of this poor abufed and defpifed
Creature, efpecially fince the Management of
Bees doth not a little depend upon the right
knowing of thefe Drones.
There have been many Errors about them,
and fome as old as Virgil, (Ignavmt fucos ptcus
a prafepibus arcent) from whom and many o-
thers, (not being willing to go through tliick
and thin for company) I muft crave leave to
difter concerning this noble Creature, which I
fliall no longer call a Drone, but the Male Bee,
B 3 Since
(6)
Since he is very induftrious' in the Work which
Nature hath deligh'd him for, which is not on*-
\y Procreation, but his great Ufefulnefs in fitt-
ing upon, and hatching the Eggs, and by his
^reat Heat doth keep warm the Brood when
hatch'd, thereby giving the working Bees the
more Liberty to follow their Labours abroad,
whilrt they fupply their Place at home, by
taking care of the Young ; fo that the Male Bee
is not only of great ufe, but ofabfolute necef-
fity, not only to the being, but the well-being
of the Colony of Bees, which we ftiall defcribe
as follows.
The fuppofed Drone Bee then is the Male
Bee, as will at large hereafter appear. About
lialf as big again as the Female working Bee^
fomewhat longer, and not quite fodark colour'd
.about, the Head and Shoulders, efpecially his ^
Head and Eyes mi!ich larger diaii the Honey-
Bce, his Voice much more 'oud and dreadful,
often cauiing Fear where no Fear is, efpecially
to the fair and timerous Sex; for he having not
any Sting, is not in the leafl capable of hurt-
ing them nor any other Creature, but is abfo-
lutely under the Dominion of the Females.
But to go on, he hath his Velvet Cape about
his Neck, and is very hairy all over his Back;
his Tongue is much fiiorter than that of the
Females, neither can he work i£ h e would, his
Tongue not being long enough to reach the
Honey out of the focketed Flowers.
As to his Sex, there are many Arguments
for what I affert, as that all Creatures breed
Male and Female ; and he, as is often feen in
other Creatures, being the biggeft, 'tis moft.
probable
(7)
probable that he is of the Male kind. I con-
fefs, that being fubject to the other Bees is an
Argument againft me, but as there is no gene-
ral Rule without an Exception, fo here I muft
beg Mr. Lillfs leave to aflert contrary to Gram-
mar, that the Feminine is more worthy than
the Mafculine amongft the Bees : And here I
ihall endeavour to draw my Reader out of
thofe unintelligible Perplexities, that others
befides Mr. Roufden have impos'd on the World.
Mr. Roufden, I think, was the laft Author that
hath writ about thefe deferving Creatures, and
indeed tells us i i his Difcovery of Bees, that
the vulgar Opinion, that the Drone-Bee was a
working Bee that had lofl her Sting, and fo
^rew bigger, was a Miftake; to prove which,
he tells us a Story much \^(s probable, 'viz.. that
he is bred of animable Matter gather'd by the
working Bees, rnd call into the Drone Comb,
into which animable Matter, the King Bee did
caft his Sperm, and fo Drones are produc'd,
which is ridiculoufly falfe ; for firft, tnere is no
animable Matter gather'd by the Bees, nor if
there were, is there any King Bee to impreg-
nate it by his feminal Virtue ; but of this more
when we come to treat of their breeding and
Government.
I confefs it w^s a bold flroke of Mr. Rouf-
den, to lay down fuch an Hypothefis, and im-
pofe it on the World as Matter of Fad, with-
out giving us one rational Argument to prove
it, or any one Experiment by which he was let
into the Secret. But to put the Matter into a
clear light, let any Gentleman (whole Curiofity
leads him to know the Truth) but gently cut
B 4 up
(8)
up with a Launcet, or very Iharp Penknifej
the Belly or hinder part ot the Drone-bee>
there he fhall find in the fame manner as in
Birds, a large Pair of Tefticles, as big as great
Pins Heads, Milk white, joyn'd together up-
ward by the Spermatick Velfel, and hanging
divided downwards in the very Shape of the
Stones of a Lamb: The Pf«/j- or Inftrument of
Generation, indeed is much more ftrange, and
will fecm incredible to the Reader, till he hath
try'd the Experiment ; it grows near the end
of the Tail, and fometimes only gently preiTing
one of thefe large Bees whilft alive, will make
it ftart out; the ftrangenefs of its Form and
Magnitude at firft did not a little furprize me.
It is of a reddifli white, and in fhape much re-
fembling the Head of a Bullock with its Horns.
This ftrange difference from the common Bee,
doth makeibme of Opinion, that they are of
a different Species of Bcesj and (as Roufden)
bred m a different Manner, when indeed it is
plain they are all of one Species, only differing
in Sex, Male and Female, and fomewhat iti
Magnitude and Colour, occafion'd by their
difference in Sex, as it is in mofl other Crea-
tures, as in Man, the Top of all the fublu-
nary Creation; our Bodies more ftrong and
robufr, our Voice, like that of the Male Bee,
more deep and dreadful, whilft the tender
Sex, like that of the Honey-bee, is fmaller,
more fliril and ddightful ; but to (^iy all that
will be ufeful of the Xlalc-bee, or the fuppofed
Drone, as they are the Male-bee, fo they are
abfolutely neceffary to the breeding of B<^cs;
and a^they are helpful in the managing of their
Young,
<9)
Young, fo are they very neceffary, for by their
great Heat they fit, and hatch the Brood, keep-
ing the Eggs warm, whilfl the Honey-bees, or
Females, follow their delightful Vocation of
gathering and bringing home of Honey ; du-
ring which time, the Drone-bees are not fuf-
fer'd to ftir from the Brood, but about one or
two a Clock, when the chief part of the Day's
work is done by the Bees, mofl of them re-
pairing home, take care of their own Brood,
and fo give leave to thefe their obedient Maf-
culine Servants to recreate themfelves abroad,
their Heat now being no longer neceflary with-
in Doors ; then you jfhall fee the Male-bees
very thick about the Mouth of the Hive, fly-
ing to and fro five or fix large Circuits, to re-
create and empty themfelves, then returning
again to their beloved Ned:ar, where they are
for a time kindly receiv'd by their imperious
Dames, efpecially in the Months of May and
June, that being the chief time of their breed-
ing ; and here, by the Way, let me caution
thofe who are fo happy as to keep thefe indu-
flrious Servants, againff an unhappy Miflake
which they are apt to fall into, of killing the
Male-bee or Drone as foon as they fee them,
by which they hinder their Breed, (the Male-bees
being but few in Number at Rr{\) to the great
Damage, if not utter Deftruftion of the Hire of
Bees ; for they had better kill fix working Bees,
than one of thefe great Bees in May, or the
beginning of June, unlcfs you can fuppofe,
that a Shepherd having Ten Rams amongfl a
Thoufand Ewes, fhouid be fo void of Senfe,
as to imagine that the beft way to increafe his
Flock>
(lo)
Flock, would be to kill half a dozen of his*
Rams, that they may not eat up the Pafture
from the Ewes ; let me therefore perfwade you
to fpare him a little longer, for he is a very
fhort liv'd Creature, and he will not fail to
make you amends, if he be noti flain, to die
!of himfelf, but of this more in the next Chap-
ter.
CHAP. III.
*The T'ime and Manner of their breeding, length oj
Lifcy cAufi of Deaths and manner of Burial.
X S to the time of their breeding the, for-
J^\^ ward Stocks begin in February, and the
latter, or thofe that are not fo lufty, leave
not off till the latter end of July : So that
there are fix Months in which Bees are bred ;
and the fooner they begin, the fooner they
make an end, tho' there are more Bees bred
in two Months, than in all the other four,
and thefe two Months, for the moil part, are
May and June, tho' this is fomewhat uncer-
tain ; for in a very forward Spring the Flow-
ers blow early, by which means the Bees, by
early gathering grow lufty betimes, and throw-
ing off their Winter Torpidity, fall to breed-
ing the fooner i in this cafe the two chief
breeding Months, may be April and May; fo
in a moderate warm fliowery Spring, tho' not fo
warm as was laft fpoken of, the chief of their
breeding will be from a Fortnight in April,
to a Fortnight in June ; fo contrary wife in a
very
(to
very backward Spring, the Flowers blow late;
and fo the Bees are late before they are invigora-
ted for breeding, and then June and "July will
be the two chief Months for their breedinij; and
-if it be an extreme cold Spring, the more back-
ward will the Bees be in their breeding. But it
happens beft for. the Bees, and moft-profitable
for the Bee Mafter, when the Spring is neither
very early nor very backward, having formerly,
to my coil, had Experience of both thefe Ex-
tremes.
My Reafons, grounded on Experience, are
thefe. In a very early Spring, v^h^x^ February
and M^>-t7;have been very warm, the Bees hav-
ing ( as above ) receiv'd Vigour from the ear-
ly Flowers, begin to breed early ; fo that in
AprihliQ Hive is full of Bees and ready to fwarm>
n;iy fometimes have fwarmed tho' very rare-
ly ; and all this is no Damage, but very hap-
py, if the Spring continue to be very warm,
that they keep on their Work as well as their
breeding, then all will be fafe : But if the Stock
be not very rich in Honey, and there fhould
come but a Week or two of cold Weather to
hinder their Working, they will all be in danger
of being loft; fortheFamilyftillincreafing, more
and more Brood ftHl coming to hand, not only
to be capable, but to have an abfolute neceffity
of Feeding, and whilft they exped Food from
their pitiful Mothers, who have none to give
them, nor any for themfelves, and the Weather
ft ill continuing cold or wet, or (as it is fometimes)
both, that thefe provident Mothers cannot go
abroad to get Bread for their Children, both
Young and Old muft. unavoidably perifli toge-
ther i fo that in this cafe the Stocks that are moft
forward
(12)
fdrwaird in breeding, tho' always the beft, are
in more danger than thofe that did not begin
to breed fo early : But this Misfortune may be
happify prevented by the wary Bee Mafter,
"(the manner how, you fhall find in the Chapter
of feeding the Bees.) The other Extreme;, is
a very cold and backward Spring, when the
Flowers blow not, by reafon of the theColdnefs
of the Weather, many of them being kept in
their Socket a longtime, that £hould have blown,
had any warm Weather come, till at length the
Seafon of the Year being far ^dvanc'd, the
Weather changes of a fudden, becomes warm,
or perhaps very hot, fo that abundance of
"Flowers blow together, juft in the height of
their breeding, at which time Honey-gathering
coming all together, fo that their working mufl
hinder their breeding, or their breeding muft
hinder their working; and if a very dry Sum-
mer fhould follow a cold and backward Spring,
the Stalls will be all poor; about which great
care mufl be taken in ^tcd'mgy or elfe the next
Spring you will find your felf a broken Bee-mar-
chant, and may try Virgil's way of making new-
ones, [.Vrg. Georg. 4.] i^ you think fit. But to
go on, a Bee is firft an Egg, and not as Mr.
Roufdm ignorantly fuppofes, made of animable
Matter, (which he affirms of the Female Bee,
as well as the Drone) to be gathe'r'd by the Bees
from the Flowers and caft into the Combs, as
their proper Matrix ; then he makes a King
Bee, for there is no fuch thing {m rerwh natura)
and prefently makes a Town Bull of his King ;
for he tells us, that the King Bee goes from
Cell to Cell, and cafts his Seed into every Cell,
7 of^
( I? )
i>f this prepared animable Matter and thus
Bees, as well as Drones, are produc'd, as was
before hinted : And indeed I might with as
much Probability affirm, thatfome Fly or other
had caft his Seed into his Brain, which being
being before adapted to receive the prolifick
Virtue of the Fly, hath brought forth thefe im-
provable Maggots into the World. All that I
can fay for him, is, that I believe he might be
drawn into thefe Miftakes, by relying too much
upon the Silver-tongu'd Virgil, who fays they
fetch their Young from the Flowers ; and not
obferving the Sex of their Commander, gives
her the Title of Rex Apiimx Which, 'tis very
probable, drew Mr. Roufden into thefe two Mi-
ftakes, being refolv'd, not to contradict fo ce-
lebrated a Poet ; but he ought to have confi-
der'd, (that tho' f^/rg // were a great Poet, ajnd
the Bee a noble Subjedt for fuch a Pen) that in
treating of them, he writes more like a Poet,
than an experienc'd Bee-mafter. Indeed there
are many ancient, as well as this modern Au-
thor, that have ftrangely deluded the World,
with their unexperienc'd Whimfeys, about the
Generation of Bees; fo*me, that they are bred
of Honey, but this cannot be, except by Pu-
trifaclion, and that cannot be, for Honey pu-
trifieth not, but by its confervative Virtue,
doth prevent other Bodies from Putrifaftion.
But I fiiall not trouble the Reader with any more
of thefe antiquated Impertinences, but proceed
to matter of Fa6t : Thefe Eggs, which are pro-
duc'd by the Bees, and in their time do become
Bees, are exceeding white, fomething bigger
than the common Flyblow, but not fo long nor
fo
(H )
fo big as the Eggs of the Ant ; they are cafl in-
to the empty Cells, not carelefly into auy Cell,
but only the middle Cells, which are always ap-
pointed for the breeding Cells, whilll thofe all
round the Hive are rcferv'd for the Honey ;
Nature, or rather the G O D of Nature, hav-
ing taught thefe ufeful Creatures, that if they
fhould caft their Eggs near the outfides of the
Hive, or Box, there would not Heat fufEcient
come to them to hatch, and bring them to Per-
fedion ; which Inconveniency they carefully a-
void, by laying their Eggs all clofe one to ano-
ther, near the Center of the Hive or Box, but
always exaftly avoiding the Confnfion and A-
bortion that would be produced, if they fhould
lay above one Egg in a Cell : No Eggs are ge-
nerally laid within three Inches of the rop,
bottom, or fides of the Hive or Box, fo that
the Bees being all round the Cells where their
Eggs are laid, as well as above and below, fo
that by their natural Her.t, that doth always
keep them warm, they arc brought on gradatimy
or Hep by ftep, till tliey are hatched, and come
forth a perfed: Bee : For this great and mar-
vellous Work, as it is not done all at once, fo
are the gradual Steps that Nature takes, in
bringing thefe Eggs to be perfcft Bees, both
furpitiiing and amazing ; for the Egg is with
all the Care and Exadncfs laid, with one End
touching one of the fix Angles, or Corners of
the Cell, that as it groups in length,, as well as
bignefs, it may be the longer before it comes
to touch the oppofite Angle with its other End,
which otherwife would incommode the Em-
brion ; for ii it Ihould have been laid againil
one
one of its flat Sides, or Squares, there would
not hijve been fo much room for its growth
from Square to Square, as from Corner to Cor-
ner, fo that always you find them, when firft
laid, with one End of the Egg touching one of
the Corners, and the other End pointing a-
gainft its oppofite Corner: But this Pofture
continues not long, and ferves only for that
time that this Embrion is without Life or Mo- »
tion ; for at that time that it comes to touch its
oppofite Angle, it receives its firft Life, (bear
with the Expreffion, for I muft anon give you
account of a fecond) and then it comes to be a
little fort of a Maggot, and turns it felf, round-
ing at the Bottom of the Cell, much refembling
a Half-moon : In this Pofition it continues till
one end comes to touch the other in the Form
of a Ring, till, by reafon of its continual
Growth, it can lie no 'onger in that Pofture;
then, with confiderable Life and Vigor, it
turns it felf, thrufting one End towards the
Mouth of the Cell,* and from that/ time lies
length-ways ; Nature direfting that this Crea-
ture fhall thruft it felf with that^End forward to-
ward the Mouth of the Cell, which is to be the
Head ; thus it remains, growing both in length
and magnitude very faft, and is now a Creature
of much Life Vigour and Motion, much like
thofe Maggots which we get of the Butchers,
or Chandlers, called by us Gentles, which we
ufc in Fifhing, but much larger and whiter, but
no manner of fign of Wings, Neck, or Legs :
And here is a Wonder! this Creature is now as
big as a Bee, and all this while fed by the Bees,
but is no more like a Bee than a Turnep. Now
comes
(.6 )
comes on the time, when it muft for a while
ceafeto live, at leaft in all appearance, that it
may again live a more glorious Creature: When
the Creature is come to this bigne£s, the Bees
clofe up the top of every Cell with Wax, their
fond Parents (at leaft as to light ) taking their
leave of thefe their helplefs Children, they be-
ing every one faft fealed up in its proper Matrix,
where they can have no Food, neither can the
leaft Air come near them ; and this work of clo-
iing up thefe Cells, is, according to the beft
Conjefture I can make, (for I can do no more)
about the fourteenth Dayj and thus it remains
clofed up about feven Days more, to all ap-
pearance without Life or Motion : But- Nature,
who never ceafes her Diligence in bringing her
Works to Perfedion, is not all this while idle,
but very bufy in forming this ill-fhapen Mag-
got, before fpoken of, into a Bee ; the firft ap-
pearance of this Work is in her Neck, (which you
may plainly fee, in few Days after they are clo-
fed up, if you will have the Curiofity to break
them up) then the Middle, or Wafte, begins
to befmaller, before there be any fign of Legs,
or Wings; then the Eyes,- and laft of all the four
Wings, and fix Legs, before fpoken of, in the
Chapter of the Anatomy of the Bee : At laft, a-
bout the twenty firft Day from its being an Egg
it is hatched, by lifting up, with its own horny
Head, the aforefaid Sealings or waxen Covers,
and is now a perfed: Bee, for all its Parts and
Shapes too, and differs only from its Mother in
Colour, being always whiter than the old ones
for a time, and are always fed for fome Days
at the Mouth, as the Sparrow feeds her Ypung,
and
(«7)
and then begin to fly abroad, but very of-
ten venture too foon to leave their tender
Mothers, to atchieve the great Bufinefs of Ho-
ney-gathering ^ fo being fcarce able to fly,
they often fall down at the Mouth of the Hive
on the Ground, and can never rife to recover
home again, but muft unavoidably perifh.
Like forward Youth grafting the weighty Shield,
And ponderous Spear ^ too late his Error hiows^
I'hat his unpraUis'd Nerves at lafl muft yield
To his morefirong and mpre 'viBorious Foes,
But the Numbers are not great of thefe for-
ward Viragos, neither are all the young Bees
that you find fallen and crawling in your Bee-
garden of this fort, but for the moft part they
are fuch as are caft out, by reafon of fome
Defeft in Nature, which I have very often ob-
ferved, when I have taken them up in. order
to fave their Lives ; but upon curious Exami-
nation, have found they have wanted a Leg
or Legs, or a Wing or two. I have known
fome thrown out that have had all their Parts
exa<3:ly perfed, but only one of the four Wings
have not been quite fo long as it ought to
have been; and by that means uncapable of
flying abroad to gather Honey, and fo are
thrown out as ufelefs, left by keeping them in,
they fhould become a Charge to the Family ;
for the Law here amongft thefe induftrious
Dames, is, no Eating without Working ; tho'
this their general Rule is not without Excep-
tion, for to the Male-Bee they willingly afford
Honey, ( tho' he Work not ) as long as they
C find
( i8 )
find his Company beneficial to the Publick ;
but all the Bee's Eggs come not to be Bees, no
more than all Hen Eggs come to be Chickens,
tho' moft of them, if not all, pafs the firfl
part of their Metamorphofis, from an Egg to
a Worm, and then through fome Mifcarriagc
or other within the Hive, fome of them die
in their Cells; but this feldom happens but to
fuch as are bred early in the Spring, who are
in more danger of proving Abortives, than
thofe that are bred in the warmer Months ;
for in the Spring, the Bees being but few in
Number, lay many Eggs, in order to encreafe
their Family ; fo that the Weather being cold,
thefe Eggs require no lefs than the Warmth of
the whole Number, to vivify and hatch thei^.
Now this being a Work of Time, it often
happens that of a fudden the Weather alters
to be very moderate, and the warm Sun
giving notice to thefe induftrious Crea-
tures, that there is Honey abroad to be ga-
thered, they advance to the City Gates, ( the
Mouth of the Hive ) and finding it very warm,
they fend forth a Squadron to fetch in Honey,
who returning richly laden, do animate their
fellow Citizens to fally out and try their For-
tune alfo, then fending out more numerous
Detachments than before, to fetch in Honey,
their Beloved Neftar, they thereby leave the
young Brood, efpecially thofe of them that are
in the lowermoft Combs, too much expos'd to
the piercing Air, .and fo it is chill'd in the
Combs, and becomes Abortive ; for tho* the
Btes are not only fo careful, but extremely
zealous for the Prefervation of their Young,
that
(19)
^ that they will venture their own Lives in their
Defence ,♦ yet when a warm Day doth prefent
Honey gathering before them in the Spring,
they are apt to draw out too great Numbers
for that Service, and fo hazard a part of their
Brood, rather than venture the lofing of aa
Opportunity, which perhaps the next Day
would not produce. So diligent are they in
their gathering of Honey at this time of the
Year, that if the next Day prove Warm and
Pair, they go forth in the fame manner to
their Work as before ; nay, let the Warm and
Fair Weather continue never fo long, they
will ftill keep on their Labours, and will not
lofe fo much Time as to perform the Funeral
Rites of their Dead Children ; not that they
are negligent or carelefs, or do defer this piece
of Cleanlinefs and Decency for any other Rea-
fon, but that only of following their Labours
clofe, to bring in Food to maintain their
Living Children, rather than fpend their pre-
cious Time wherein Honey may be got, in,
that now unneceffary Work of Burying their
Dead ; for fhould they lofe thefe favourable
Opportunities of gathering Honey in the
Spring, and Cold Weather fhould come on,
and continue long, as fometimes to my Coft
I have known it, efpecially if the Stock be not
very Rich, many Young Bees coming to hand
that muft be fed, and the bad Weather conti-
nuing to hinder their provident Mothers from
Working, both Young and Old muft diQ toge-
ther ; which fatal Difafter thefe laborious
Creatures prevent by their above-mentioned
Diligence, in laying hold of every fair Oppor-
C 2 tunity
( 20)
tUnity for bringing in Provifion ; but when-i
ever there comes a warm rainy Day, th^
they are totally hindred Irom going out to ga-
ther Food, thefe curious Contrivers fct apart
that Time for the Solemnizing the Funerals
of the Dead ,• and let any who are curious
but obferve it, and they (hall hear them very
bufy within the Hive, and fee them dragging
out their white Dead young Bees, thofe that
have them in Boxes with Glafs Windows, may
with more Satisfadion gratify their Curiofity ;
Two or Three Bees carrying forth one dead
one, and when they have got the dead Body
clear of all Incumbrances, without the Mouth
of the Hive, then fometimes a (ingle Bee will
take him up with his fore Legs, and i^y quite
♦ away with him out of fight ; and fometimes
ii the W eight be too great for one Bee to car-
ry off, then I have feen two of them lay hold
of the Dead Corps, one at the Head, and the'
other at the Tail, and fo fly away with her ;
and when they are got about twenty or thir-
ty Yards oft the Hive, then they drop their
Burthen. But 1 have often feen that a fingle
Bee endeavouring to perform this Work alone,
has dropt her dead Burthen near the Mouth
of the Hive on the Ground, and go again and
try with ail her Might to recover the dead
Corps up again, in order to bury the Body
farther from the Hive, and fometimes with
Siiccefs, have again recover'd it up into the
Air, and carried it quite away out of fight ;
they keep on this Work all the while that it
continues warm and wet, or at leaft till they
have thoioughly clcans'd the whole Hive, not
only
( 2l' )
^nly from dead Bees, but all other things
that are offenfive to them, that is in their pow-
er to remove. But, if they are never fo ear-
neftly engaged in this Work, if the San lliine
put, they leav'b what's undone till the next
Opportunity, and fall to their more neceflary
and delightful Work of gathering Honey ;
when, I fayj, if the warm Rain continue, I
mean fuch warm Weather as would permit the
Bees to go abroad to gather Honey, did not
Rain prevent them ; and fo being forc'd to
flay at home, not out of choice, but neceffity ;
they are not idle, but like good Houfe-wives
mind their Domeftick Atfairs, which can as
well be performed at that time as any other.
For if it be very Cold, tho' it be in the Spring,
and there are Flowers blown, and Honey in
them, and no Rain to hinder them, they ftir
not from the Hive, or perform any cleanfing
Work within, well knowing that they cannot
bear fuch kind of Weather abroad, nor di-
viding themfelves within about the neceffary
Work as above, but are forc'd to make the
beft Defence they can againft it at Home for
their own Security, for they cling all very
clofe together betwixt the Combs in the Cen-
ter of the Hive, by which means their natural
Heat is not only imparted to one another,
for their own common Prefervation, but doth
alfo keep the Brood of young Bees very warm,
and preferve them in their progreflive Growth,
which otherwife would be in great danger of
being Chill'd, not daring to break theClufter ;
for if by any Force, or Difturbance, they are
forced one from another in cold Weather,
C 3 they
(22)
they are in a Moment fo chill'd, that they can
neither fly nor go, and in a fhbrt time die.
"The burying of the Dead here fame contrive,
So?ne nurfe the future Nation of the Hive.
Some feed their youngy vahilft others cleanfe the Cell,
And fome prepare for Winter Hydromel.
"The Age <if Bees, and Caufe of Death.
TH E Age of a Bee is at longeft but a
Year, and the Wonder is not that they
live fo fliort a time, (but confidering how ma-
ny Enemies they have, and how many Cafual-
ties they are fubjed to ) that they live To long.
I am not alone in my Opinion, that not only
Bees, but all other Creatures having a Cyprefs
"Wing, are at moll but Annuals. Sure we are,
that moft forts of Infeds fall much ftort of
that time, many not reaching half that length,
fome not a Month, nay, fome, according to
the Opinion of that Learned and Philofophi-
cal Divine Mr. R. to the Length but of one
Day. I confefs, moft of the World are of sl
quite different Opinion concerning Bees, and
doubt not but they live many Years •; and to
this unhappy Miftake, fome of the Antient
Philofophers have not a little contributed, by
venturing to deliver their bare Opinion to the
World, without any Experience ; which had
they try'd, they would have been convinced of
their Miftakes, and not have thus impofed
them upon us : And lince their Improvenaent
doth not a little depend upon the clearing, of
, this.
( 2? )
this Doubt about their Age, I Ihall fet the
Matter in as dear a Light, as the Nature of" the
Thing will bear.
0^;. And here the Reader will fnppofe he
vhath juft Reafon to raife an Objedion, and
fay, what is this to the Piirpofe, how long they
live, or how foon they die. And how can
this be fo material a Point to the improving
of Bees ?
Anf. Yes, very much • for where-ever this
vulgar Error prevails, (as it now doth in moft
Parts of England ; ) or whoever believes, that
Bees lives many Years, that Place Ihall never
be well ftock'd with Bees, nor fhall thofe Per-
fons ever make any great Improvement of
them, or reap any great Profit by them, be-
caufe this Notion of itfelf doth hinder the
Planting or Raifing of great Bee-gardens, or
encrealing their Bees to any confiderable num-
ber of Colonies, or Stocks of Bees, in their
Gardens or elfewhere j for, fays the good Wo-
man of the Houfe, to whofe Protedion f(9c
the mofl part, the Bees are committed, this
Stock is very good, and heavy, and would Hand
very well till another Year ; But pray confidcr,
it is two Years old already, and if I fhould let
it ftand another Year, the Bees will be fo old,^
that they will not be able to labour much next
Summer, and now we are fure of a good lump
of Honey, that will make us a Firkin of
good Mead, fit to be tap'd at Chriflmas ; the
Daughters approving their Mothers Poli-
ticks, thus ends the Council of War betwixt
the old Woman and her.two Daughters againfl
thefe her induflrious and laborious Servants ;
C 4 and
( 24 )
-and no fooner is this harfh and ungrateful Sen-
tence pronounc'd againft thefe Innocents, but
they immediately proceed to Execution ; one
runs to find a Spade, to dig a Hole in the
Ground ; another is preparing two or three
fplitSticks; a third, the fatal Brim ftone Matches
to put in them : Thus all things being prepar'd
for an Aflault of their rich, but defencelefs
Caftle, they are taken by Storm in the Night,
their City plunder'd, and their Inhabitants all
flain by Fire.
Like a rich City, flrong by Nature rnadcy
And ery Houfe ivith richeft Treafure fiU'd ;
iVb Hoftile Force did e'er their Wallx invade^
Tiil noio betray dy they nozu their 'freajure yield,
M'tth Life and all; no Citiz.en can fly ;
'The Brimflone Mine isfprung, headlong they faU-^
Both Qrieen and SubjeSih all in Dufl do lie.
One common Grave doth noio receive thein all.
I'he ViBors feiz,e on their delicious Prey :
• Here twice ten thoufand Houfes levelVd are.
Their facrilegious Hands make no delay,
- But ftrejghtthe Regal Palace fei-i-e and tear;
The Qjieen is (lain, her SubjeBs all are dead ;
• No Homage^o her awful Palace paid.
fFith the fweet Priz.ethe Conquerors are fled ;
All being flain, of none they are afraid.
Thus the poor old Wom.an's Bees are dc-
ftroy'd by her Miftakc, thinking they would
grow old by the next Summer, and not b^
able to perform their Labour : Whereas thofe
Bees that fhe then dcftroy'd, were as young
as the Bees that were in the Hive the Year
before
( 25 )
before, the old Bees being all dead, before fhc
came to take that raercilefs Courfe with thenr;
for the Bees flie then kill'd, were all young
Bees ; and if the old Woman would have had
Patience, and let them live, fhe would have
been very well rewarded for her Virtue; for
the fame Hive fhe hath now deftroy'd, would
have done her as much Service every Year, as
in the Year paft, by encreafing the Bee-gar-
den with greater Numbers of Stocks, as well as
greater Quantities of Honey.
But well knowing that my bare AiErmation
will no more pafs upon my Reader, than any-
other Author's would upon me, I ftall give
himfuch demonftrative Arguments, as I doubt
not but will be convincing, in order to remove
this fatal and fundamental Error, i . The Bees
fend forth, when they fwarm, niix*d Numbers,
not all old ones; for then mull the Swarm be
fhort liv'd indeed, for they could n,ot live to
the next Winter, much lefs to the next Spring,
for all the old ones dying in the latter Months
of the Summer, there muft be an end of the
Swarm; for having none left but their Young,
bred lince they fwarm'd, they muft be a Prey
to Robbers in Autumn, or the firft Froft in the
Winter. i. Neither are they all young Bees,
for then the old Stock would not be in a better
Cafe ; for there being none left but old Bees,
and thofe they bred after the Swarm is gone
forth, the old ones going off fo faft the latter
end of the Summer, would leave the Hive too
much unguarded againft the Aflaults of Rob-
bers, or, Cold; but going forth mix'd, both
are preferv'd, and great Conveniencies arife to
them
(.'6 )
them all manner of Ways ; As Firfl, in the
Sraller are left old fufficient Warriors- to train
up and well difcipline the young Amaz.ons, as
foon as they become capable of being taught
the Art of War, as well as Work, both being
necefTary to the being, and well-being, of the
Bees. Secondly, The Swarm hath alfo a fuffici-
ent Number of old ones amongft them, to
teach and animate by their Example and Dili-
gence, how to lay, nor only the Foundation of
their new moft curipiis Buildings, but how to
defend the fame againft all Oppofers, and
then by their Death leave the Young, Poffeffors
of all, for generally the old Bees are dead be-
fore the Middle of September, but moft of them
before the End of Auguft.
Olj. But how do you know the Old ones from
the Young.
Anf. By thcfe Signs following. The Old
ones in Julyy and fome of them in June, their
Bodies begin to wither, their Wings, with
continual Labour, grow ragged, and fomewhat
greyifli, foon after which they die, fome of them
in the Hive, having their Funeral Rites per-
form'd by their dutiful Children, as hath been
"before obferv'd. But many more die abroad
in their beloved Calling, following their Work,
till their Wings are at laft worn out, that they
will no longer bear the Weight of their Bo-
dies, efpecially when laden with Honey • for
many of them when they have been abroad to
gather Honey ; will recover home into the Bee-
garden, and their pitching a while to reft them-
felves before they go into the Hive to unload,
they can never rife morcj, which is the Reafon,
that
<27)
that about ^uly and Jugufl, we have fo many
of them about the Garden; many of which I
have taken up, in order to hold them in my
Hand long enough to warm them fufficiently
to fly home, but they flying a Yard or two, fall
down again ; whereas when I have taken up any
of the young Bees, and thus held them in my
Hand to recover them from their Chillnefs
they have receiv'd from flaying too long to
refl: themfelves on the Ground, they, as foon
as ever they are warm, fly home with all the
Agility and Vigour imaginable.
But to put the matter beyond all Contro-
verfy, let any body put it to a Tryal, as I
have feveral times, by the following Experi-
ment.
Put a Swarm of Bees of a Peck, in May, into
a Hive of Glafs that will hold half a Bufliel,
and thsy will if it be good Weather fill it with
Combs down to the Stool, in Icfs than a
Month, which will alfo be well flored witTi
Honey, and fome of the Combs employed
from the firft in breeding; fo that with the
Combs and Bees, the Hive will be exceeding
full, that there is not room enough to contain
them all in the Hive ; nay fometimes they will
aftually fwarm, tho' it is beft to prevent it if
polTible. I fay, this Hive thus full in June, a-
bove and below, within and without the
Combs, fo that the Hive cannot contain any
more, nay, there is not room for all the Fami-
ly within Doors, but fome muft hang at the
Mouth of the Hive, yet this very Hive of , Bees
thus difcribed, without any Swarming, or o-
ther viflblc way of diminifhing them, you fhall by
the
( 28 )
the latter end oi Auguft fee room enough ia the
Glafs-hive to contain above twice the Number
as then remain : Now ii any Man can give me
any other rational Account of this large Vacuity
in the Glafs-hive, than the gradual Dying of
the old Bees that went out M^ith the Swarm, I
ftall be of his Opinion, otherwife, I fhall look
upon this one Experiment next to aDemonflra-
tion, that the Hive daily growing thinner and
.thinner of Bees in Augujl^dnd September, is oc-
cafion'd! mainly by the gradual Dying of the
old Bees tha«t were in the Swarm.
Obj. But perhaps you will fay, you tell us,
the Bees have many Enemies that deftroy them
-which perhaps may be the occafion of this vaft
Emptinefs in the Hive.
A»f. 'Tis true, they have many Enemies;
and as true, by thefe are many of them de-
ftroy 'd; but not to fuch a Number as to
lofe half, for Bees have almoft as many Enemies
in May .and Juney as in the latter Months,
which kill many of them ; yet notwithftanding
that, the; flees, by reafon of their continual
Breeding, do more than fupply that Defeft,
and fill their Hive ftiU fuller and fuller j but
it is not fo in . the latter Months, for as the
old ones then die away\ by degrees, there is
ftill more room, and more to be feen in the
Glafs-hiye, and the only reafon of this great
Vacuity is, becaule all the old Bees which
did occupy that Roojn.are dead. I will not
contend for a Month or two in their Age,
and that is "the moll I can allow them ; for tho'
1 account them Annuals, and am fure that it is
generally the Term of their Life, yet I have
been
(29)
been fometimes apt to think, that fomc of
them that were bred in the beft Months, as
May or June, might continue 13 or 14
Months j but this I give only as a flight O-
pinion, rather (to let the Reader be fatisfied,
that I do not mean when I call them An-
nuals, he fhould underftand me that there
is a Neceffity for every Bee to die exadly
that Day Twelve-month that he came an
Egg from his Parent^) than any thing elfe,
about their Age, which is plain that th^y
die every Year, and the Bee-ftock, tho' it be
of many Years ftanding, yet are all the Bee$
every Year young -, fo that the Cafe is very
plain, that you need not take or deftroy your
\Bees, with the old Woman as above, for fear
they ftiould be old, and not able to work.
Since the Bees are all young ones before the
time of taking them comes, all the old ones
having efcaped' their mercilefs Cruelty, by a
natural Death, before that time. I fhould not
infift fo much on this Particular, which to the
Reader may feem an indifferent Matter whe-
ther he believes it or no, did not I know from
difcourfing with thofe that keep Bees in this
Country, as well as others, that this Opinion
doth fo far prevail, that for this Reafon little
Improvement is made of them. They are led
into this Millake chiefly, by feeing that ii they
do let a good Stock alone, which they feldom
do, they will live feveral Years; thinking be-
caufe they are in the fame Hive, that they are
ftill the fame Bees, and that all that they have
bred in thofe Years, are gone off in fwarming.
But this i$ their grand Miflake; they only
live
(?o)
live many Years by Succeifion, the Room of
the old ones dying, being always fupplyed
with young, I do believe that a good Stock
barring Accidents, with Care may live by
Succeffion near Twenty Years ,• but none that
I ever heard or read of, were fo fottifhly ig-
norant, as to believe that Bees could live that
Age, any otherwife than by Succeffion, no
more than when we fay fuch or fuch an
Honourable Family hath liv'd in this or that
Antient Seat Four or Five Hundred Years,
we do not mean the very Perfons that are
now to be found there, are Four or Five
Hundred Years old ; no, wc mean that the
Family hath lir'd there, aod enjoy'd that
Eftate fo long a Term of Years by Succeffion ;
the Father often by Death, making way for
the Son to inherit the Eftate in that time.
Thus the Bees may live many Years in the fame
Hive, and profper well, and every Year in-
creafe the Number of Stocks by good Swarms,
notwithftanding the Old Woman's fatal Suf-
picion to the contrary.
CHAP. IV.
Of the Bees Enemies, and their Remedies.
HERE give me leave to tell you the Bee
is a very peaceable Creature, living in
great Qu,iet, and by her unwearied Labours,
taking the neceflary Care of her own Houfe,
and will not aflault either Man or Beaft any-
where but at home j and then too it is
in
( ?I )
in Defence of their beloved Queen, theit
Young, and their common Treafure, which
muft fubfift them all: Nay, fo unapt is (he to
ufe her Spear, (on any other Account but
her Loyal and Maternal Affection,) that you
cannot force one of them, when in the Field,
gathering Honey, to fting you, fhe will take all
private Affronts, you may beat her from Flower
to Flov/er, do what you can to moleft and hin-
der her in her work, fhe will take all, without
in the leafl attempting to revenge her own
Qu,arrel, is in all things patient, unlefs you
difturb or come within the limited Bounds of
the Palace and Perfon of her Royal Miftrefs,
then indeed fhe will exert her utmoft Courage,
and to the Hazard of her Life, nay, often to
the Lofs of it ; make you, to your Smart,
know your Error : Yet have they many Ene-
mies, fomc for one reafon, fome for another,
which prove very deftruftive to thefe our faith-
ful Servants. And here I {hull treat of the chief
that I have obferv'd of them, with Diredions
for the Prefervation of the Bees againft them.
Ftrfi, The firfl I fhall take notice of, is the
Moufe; this is a pernicious Enemv, and ma-
ny Hundreds, (1 know not but I may fay Thou-
fands of Hives) are by this Creature deflroy'd
every Year in England.
They are fafe all the Summer when the Bees
are in Vigour, from thefe kind of Vermin, but
in Autumn, when the Hives grow more emp-
ty, by the Death of the old Bees, and alfo grow-
ing more torpid and dull, as cold Weather comes
on, then the Moufc will venture in at the Mouth
of the Hive, and firft they will gnaw the lower-
-* moft
( ?2 )
moft part of the Comb, where there is but here
and there a little Honey, but growing more
bold as the Weather grows cold, and the Bees
more ftill, they afcend up into the Hive, and
feize on thofe Combs which are next to the
Sides of the Hive, where commonly the rich-
eft Treafure lies, they eat Holes thro* them,
and fo come and go thro' them at their Pleafure,
or when prefs'd by any Neceffity, to the Da-
mage, as well- as Difturbance of the Bees ; Co
that the firft warm Day that comes, that the
Bees ftir about the Hive, and examine all
Quarters, they find their Honey partly eat,
their Combs broken, and partly fet a run-
ning; the Smell of which expofes them to
new Enemies, I mean the Bees of other Stocks
fmclling the frefh Honey, which come in like
Thieves, when a Neighbour's Houfe is on Fire,
not to help the Diftrefled, but to plunder them
of their remaining Goods, and tho' the Stock
were able well enough to defend themfelves a-
gainft thefe fecond fort of Enemies, yet con-
ceiving a Diftaite againft their Hive, by rea-
fon of the deteftable Smell of the Mice, they
take a warm Day and fly all away together,
tho' they had as good have ftaid at home ; for
according to our vulgar Proverb, they leap out
of the Frying-Pan into the Fire ; let them go
where they will, they mufl all perifh ,• for i
they go to a hollow Tree, or an empty Hive,
'tis a wrong time of the Year to begin Houfe-
keeping. I have known thro' fuch a Diftafte
and Dirturbance, the Bees have gone all away,
and left fome Quarts of Honey bebind them.
Sometimes
< 5? >
Sometimes the Moufe will take another Mer
ihod, and flicker himfelf betwixt the Hackle
and the Hive, and there wiil make his Ncft, and
at length eat a Hole thro' the Crown of the
Straw Hive, and fo -break bulk with his Teeth
that way to the Honey.
Now thofe that keep Bees in Houfes, can-
not be hurt this way by the Moufe, becaufe
there is no flay for him to make his Neft up-
on the Crown of a naked Hive, but in the for-
mer way, thofe in Houfes are as much expos'd,
if not more, to the Moufe, than thofe on fin-
gle Stools. I had almoft forgot a former Expe-'
riment, which I made about ten or twelve Years
fince, and which I think is fit to come in here.
Being at theHoufeofmy Friend Mr. Boiuyer o^
CelfdoKy (about Two Miles diflantfrom Croydon
where I live,) and talking about his Bees, I
went out to fee what Condition they were in,
where I found a Hive which they fuppos'd had
been a good Stock of Bees, but lifting it a lit-
tle, I found it very light, then turning it quite
up, I found it full of Combs, but no Bees ;
and the Enemy that had driven the poor Bees
away, had taken PoifefTion of their CaiHe for
his own ; the Moufe being fomewhat affright-
ed at my rough handling of the Hive, leap'd
two or three times about the Hive, but inftead
of bolting out againfl me, retir'd back to the
Crown of the Hive for his own Safety, and
being a profsfs'd Enemy to all Creatures of
what kind foever that are Enemies to the Bees>
and caird fome of the Family to ray Affiftance,
I knock'd him out on one 4f the Grafs Plats
in the Garden, and there we deflroy'd the De-
D flroyeri
'(J4)
flroyer ; indeed I was the more careful in that
Execution, left he that had ah-eady taftcd of
thofe forbidden Sweets, (as it often happens
with Creatures of a higher Dignity,) fluih'd
with Succel's lliould break into other Hives,
and in time might have endanger'd all the
Stocks in the Garden,
The Remedy,
AS to thofe that keep Bees on fingle Stoplsj
(which is the way generally in Ha?npjlire,
and other Parts of the Weft of England) and
fo confequently muft hive Hackles over them.
1. Have no Swarms in Hives that are very
old ; for the Mice cannot fo eafily make their
way, if at all, through the Crown of a new Hive,
as they can where the Straw of the Hive,
through Age, is almoft rotten.
2. Put a good large Flint Stone on the Top
of your Hive, betwixt the Hackle and the
Hive; which, by its Coldnefs and Unfitnefs
for that Purpofc, will hinder the Moufe from
tnaking his Ncft there. But however the good
Bee Miftrefs ought to examine the Cafe of eve-
ry Hive,, by taking otf the Hackle, at leaft
once in every Month, left (efpecially in the
Montli« of Mnrch and Ainil) the Moufe break
in upon you, and deftroy the Brood or young
Bees, and the Sandarach, or Bee~bread, both
which they are extremely greedy of as their
Food', if not more than of Honey. I have
had more than oae Experiment of this Mat-
ter^ -where the young Brood hatli been eaten
by the Mice, iud the Honey left. But where
' ' there
(35)
there is one Hive deftroy'd by breaking it open
at the Crown> I believe there are an Hundred
by their entring in at the Mouth of the Hive ;
and fo the good Woman is difappointed when
the Spring comes: She isfure ihe left none but
what were heavy and in good Condition, and
able to ftand over the Year, as their Phrafe is ;
but in this Hive and that, there is neither Ho-
ney nor Bees, but only empty Combs, and can
no way account for the Lofs of them. But
if you would rake Notice when you take up
fuch dead Hives, of their Combs, how the up-
permoft Parts of them are gnaw'd, and many
rough Holes in the Middle of the Combs, the
Doubt would be foon clear'd how they came to
mifcasry.
3. As to the Moufe entring at the Mouth
of the Hive, it is occafion'd by an ill Cuftom,
which I find all over this Country, to cut a
deep Gafli thro' one of the Rounds of Straw,
about an Inch and an half high, and as much
in breadth ; which Miftake, inlfead of keeping
the Moufe out of the Hive, will let in two
at a time. Now the v/ay to remedy this, is
not to leave room enough for a Moufe to en-
ter; then fhall you be fecure from this per-
nicious Enemy : When you have bought a new
Hivej firft try him upon the Stool whilft empty,
where you de/ign to fet your Swarm, whether
your Hive have not a Hollownefs fome where
or other in the Skirt, deep enough for Bees
to go in and out at, for there are but few (o
exadly made, but fuch a Hollownefs may be
found in the Skirt deep enough for that Pur-
pofe ; i£ fo, 'tis very well, yoiu: Work i§ done
D 9> to
( ?6 )
to yoLtr Hand without cutting, only mark that
Side where the Hollownefs is, that when your
Bees are hiv'd, you may know which Side of
the Hive to turn outward : This Hollownefs
mufl be almoft half an Inch high ; if it fhould be
mnch fliallower, the Drones, or Male-Bees
could not pafs in and out; and if it fhould
be but a little above half an Inch, the Moufe
will invade them. But if you have no fuch
Hollownefs in the Skirt of the Hive, then you
have the Choice of three Ways to make it ;
Cut a Notch in your Straw-hive, not through
the Roundal as before, but fomewhat lefs,
or at leaft not more than half an Inch in
depth, and 4 Inches in length, that they may
have room enough to pafs in and out by one
another, and not hinder their Labours. Or
thus; Lay two fmall bits of a Tobacco-pipe
on the fore-part ot your Stool, and then fet
the fore-part of the Hive on them, fo will
your Hive be rais'd at what height you pleafe,
by the Bignefs or Smallnefs of the Pieces of
"Pipe ; then with Lime and Hair, plaifter up aJl
but 4 Inches in the Front, for the Bees to play
in and out at. And this latter Way I mufl
approve of before the former But the bcft
Way of all, for thofe that keep Bees in Straw-
hives, and will be at the Charge of it, is to
fend your Hives all to the Cooper, and let him
fet a narrow Hoop of an Inch, to every Hive,
by drilling Ho'es thro' the Edge of the Hoop,
and fo driving wooden Pins, like Skewers, fo
that ti^ey may drive two or three Inches into
the Skirt of the Straw-hive, and ir will be very
failj and* then-you may at your. own Leifure
and
( ?7 )
and Pleafiire, cut a Notch almofl half an Inch
high, and four Inches broad, ^s before : But
i( you are forc'd to ufe any of your old Hives,
that have already thofe deep Notches cut in
them, turn the Notch to one Side, and fill
it up wirh Lime and Hair, and follow the
former Direftions. But however, it may not
be amifs to fet a Moufe-trap in every Bce-
houfe, according to the Advice of the famous
Dr. Butler; for tho' they cannot get into your
Hives, and fo can do you no great damage,
yet i( they harbour about the Bee-houfe they
are an Offence to the Bees. Suffer no long
Grafs or any thing elfe, about the Bee-houfe,
that is likely to harbour Mice.
2. The Moth is alfo their Enemy j I mean
the winged Moth; which doth convey his Eggs
under the Skirts of the Hive, where being pre-
ferv'd from Cold, by the Heat of the Bees,
they become a v^ery large grey Maggot : I have
feen fome of them exceed an Inch in length,
and doth much perplex, offend, and hinder the
Bees; for tho* ii' the Bees are very lufty, they
will hale them out, as they come forth from
under into the Hive, as I have often feen three
or four, joyning their Forces together, till
they have got him clear of the Hive, fly a-
way with him as far as they can ; yet if the
Stock of B^es are but weak, thefe many times
will keep them fo, and at laft encreafing in
Numbers, breed on the Stool under the Hive*
and at laft go into the Combs, and breed on
that Side where there are feweft Bees ; and
if the Deceafe be fo far advanced, there is no
Cure, they will either fiy away, or dwindle
D 5 to
( ?8 )
to nothing: You had beft take them, while
they have fomcthing. To prevent this Mif-
chief, let every Hive be carefully plaijftery
all ronind the Skirt of the Hive, to the Board
of the Stool or Hoiife, with a little well tem-
per'd fine Lime and Hair, with a fmooth Knife ;
fo will there not be room for the Moths
to get under the Skirts of the Hive, to lay
their Eggs. But you fiiould, notwithftand-
ing this rrecaution, take Care and examine
all the weak Hives, in March and September y
by taking them up gently in your Hand,
and fet them do\\m ibftly by, leaving the
Place open v/here they flood j fowith a Winger
courfe Cloth, rub away the Maggots if there
be any, or any other Filth, dead Bees, Pieces
of Combs, &c. and then foftly put them down
in their Place again ; fo have you done your
poor Bees a good Kindncfs, faved them much
Labour, and done your felf no harm.
The Earwig is alfo a peniicious and very of-
fcnlive En^iy to the Bce^, and lay their
Yoimg in the fame Manner as the Moth,
under the Skirt' of the Hive, and in little
Crannies about the Mouth of the Wivc-, and
often they. make very bold with tliem, (their
Coat being Armour of Proof, againft the Spear
of the Bee) and cntring in at thp Mouth,
or any other Place underneath the Skirt, if
there be room, they lay their Eggs on the
Srool, and in poor Hives afcend even to the
Combs themfelvcs. The Remedy h the fame
5s with the Moth before fpoken of, and at
the fame time of the Ycar^ fo that when you
icarch for thd'M'bth's Yo.ing, you cannot mifs
at
^t the iamc time, " to meet with tl\e yqung
Maggots bred pP the Earwig, nt^Ach ate "mncR
like them. , ^' ' ■"" ^--'-V^ .-' - ■- ''" ' '
The Hornet ;^ to- th^ iBce'sf fail's a^ Bird of
Prey is to the riti:fll Birds: J never fd w one -of
them venture into the Hiv-e for Honey; but
he will feize on a iingle Bee, on or near thd
MojLith of the Hive, and like a Hawlc aarr^
her away in his Claws, and eat her. But of
the Hornet there comcth no great Mifcheif;
however, the befl Way is to kill them, if yon
jfind any hankering about your Bees; which
is riot hard to do, they being but flow- or
Motion; "or fpoil their Nefe if you hear-pff
any near you. , '-.''' ■ -'>-^
The Wafp' is a more dangerous Enemy;- if
they come to be numerous, 'as in dry Sum-
mers they are ; but frequent Rains doth much
hinder their encreafe, by chilling their Brood,
an.d wetting their Combs, and fometimes
drowning their whole Neft of both old and
joung together. They do iittle'harm in Mdy
and jfw/Zc', indeed they will come about the
Hive, but hardly ever attempt to go in, but
pitch on the Ground, and fei2e',\oii any dead
Bee they can find, tearing her like a Vulture,
eat a Part of her and then fly away with-'the
reft of their Prey : But in June and July, they
are both older and bolder, and wiH venture
into the Hiye to' rob and Ileal ; but their Fools
Cgat, and hoarfe Voice, doth fopn difcover
them, and feizing upon them, two or three at
a time, they down v/ith her Hou'e, and lay their
fine Feathers in the Duft ; tho' you fiull fee,
that fometin^es they will break away, tho' two
:.i'' - - D 4 or
( 40 )
or three hare hold of them, being much flronger
than a fingle Bee, and fo will make their Efcape;
for now all the Stocks keep diligent watch and
•ward at the Porch of their Houfe, and 'tis no
eafy matter for a Wafp to pafs in without being
examin'd by their Sentinels ; but they being
eager of Honey, are bold Intruders, and will
venture in, tho' they come fhort home, but if
once they get frequent Admittance, as they of-
ten will in weak Stocks, (their Guard at the
Door being but flendcr) they will never leave
them, but daily augmenting their Forces, they
will break open the fealed Combs, after which,
the other Bees will, upon the fmelling the frefli
Honey, come in, andfharethe Spoil with them,
which you may always know ; for by lifting up
the Hive in the Evening, you will fee abundance
of fmall bits of Wax fallen down to the Stool,
and about the Mouth of the Hive, not unlike
the Saw-duft of Deal-boards, and the only
way left then, is to take them; the Remedy
prefcrib'd by Dr. Btitler to prevent this Mif-
chief, is to fet Bottles with Verjuice, Beer, &c.
in the Bee-houfe, or Pots cover'd with Paper,
with a fmall Hole in the Middle, which will
catch many of them.
•But here I mufl crave leave to differ from
the Dodor, for the Smell of thofe Liquors
will draw more Wafps to you than other wife
you would have had ; and tho' I muft agree
with the Podor that many will be entrap'd,
yet I have found by long Experience, that thofe
Bees have efcaped thefe Enemies moft, that
have had none of thefe Traps, which I can at-
mbute to nothing but their being drawn toge-
ther
(41 )
ther by the Smell of the aforefaid Liquors.
Now the beft Way is to leffen the Number of
thefe Wafps, and that is by deftroying thofe
large ones that you Ihall often fee in May, (but
never appear but one at a time) every one of
thefe being a Mother Walp, and carries a Neft
about her, io that you deftroy as many
Nefts as Wafps , but fome of thefe muft efcapc
and will make a Neft and breed many; there-
fore whenever you hear of a Neft in your
Neighbourhood, be careful to deftroy them,
by fcalding Water, or digging them in, and
tread the Ground in hard upon them, or if
in a Tree, with Brimftone Matches let them be
deftroy'd.
The Swallow is a great deftroyer of Bees,
and doth catch them flying, and eat them, and
convey them to her young ones, for which I
know no Remedy; but however, deftroy their
Nefts in the Chimneys, and your Lofs will be
the lefs.
There is yet another Enemy which pafifes
almoft unfufpeded, which doth deftroy abun-
dance of Bees, and that is the Sparrow, ef-
pecially in their Breeding time : The man-
ner of feizing their Prey is thus ; they come
hopping on the Ground before your Bees, and
if they find none pitch'd on the Ground, they
jump up, and take them flying, and away to
the Neft with it, and come and fetch another.
Indeed all the time of their having young
ones, both Young and Old have their Living
mainly upon Bees ; the beft Way to prevent^
at leaft a good Part of thi^ Mifchief, is to
encourage Boys in the Spring time to fpoil
their
(40
their Ncfts, and for now and then a few Far-
things to the Boys, j'oif may have all the Nells
near you deftroy'd.
C IJ A P. V.
Of the QUEEN BEE, and the loyalty 0/
her Sul/jeBs.
AN D here as Princes ought to be treated
of with all Refped imaginable, fo ought
we alfo on the other hand to take care fo far
to avoid Flattery, as not to fuft'er any thing to
cfcape the Pen, -which will not hold out full
weight in the Ballancc of Truth : And here a
great Difcouragement fdlls heavy upon me, my
Pen feems to move flowly, not that there wants
Flax on the Diftaff to maintain the Thread,
but only the Confideration, that the Excellen-
cy of my prcfent Siibjet^ is fuch, that inftead of
moving Admiration, I defpair of gaining Be-
lief; but be it as it willi I fliall go on with the
Truth of my Obfervations.
The Queen-bee then, 1 think is of all In-
fers the moft glorious ; her Body is bigger a
^reat^deal than the Honey-bee, and very much
Jongcr ; yet her Wings are no longer than that
of the Honey-bee, which fliews, that Ihe is not
defign'd by Nature for Labour, nor long
Flights, which is the continual Bulingfs of her
Subjcfts : As to her Shape and Colour, her up-
"'per Part? are of a lighter brown than the reft,
Slaving the'Rcfcmblance of a Velvet Cape, or
jF;ur Gorget about her Shoulders ; her hinder-
; ,.: ' ■--■■•-• part
(4T)
part from the Wafte, ( which is very fmall )
as it is much longer than the Drone, or the
Honey-bee, fo fhe is much more taper than
they ; and whereas the Drone and common
Bee are brown all over the hinder-part, the
Queen in that part is as black as Jet, or po-
lifh'd black Marble ; and whereas the two
great Legs of the Commons, are quite black,
hers are as yellow as Gold, as alfo is^ all along
the under part of her Belly. In firort, the
Queen doth as far furpafs her Subje6ts in Shape,
and Beauty, as the finefl Horfe that ever ran
on Banftend Downs., doth the mofi common
Forrefter : And as flie doth fo much differ from
her Subjeds in Shape and Beauty, fo fhe alfo
differs from them in her Breeding-.- Fir/i, The
Egg of her Royal Mother, which Egg is caft
into a Royal Cell or Matrix, made by her Vaf-
fals for that very purpofe, in a different Form
from all the reft, (which are Mathematically
Six Square) and is moll exadly round, very
much thicker in Wax, and the Cell proportio-
nable to her Body, much larger than thofe the
common Bees make for themfelves ; but this
round and Royal Palace is never in a Comb 3-
mongfl other Cells, but always by itfelf, and
raifed from a large Foundation, either from
the flat of a Comb, or fometimes >on the edge
of a Comb, for I have often feen both ; but
when this Regal Manfion is built on the edgfe
of a Comb, then is that Comb divided for
that purpofe, and is always about the middle
of the"Hive ; and inftead of this middle Comb
running thro' entire -as the reft, it is. divided
into Two Confibs, and bath two Edg^s^^^ in tliu
middle
(44)
middle Edge of which, this round Cell is
built, always leaving Room for her Attendants
to come round her ; there is always one m' e-
very Hive of thefe Palaces, in fome Two, and
in lorae I have feen Three, buc this is feldom
to be feen. As to her Power, the Grand Seig-
nior with all his Janizaries about him, ready
to execute his moil hazardous Commands, or
the (nearer home) King of Slaves, is not half
fo abfolute as the Queen of the Bees i and this
her abfolute Po^ver over the reft, is not procu-
red by any Tyranny or Cruelty by her ex-
ercifed over her Subjects, but from an innate
Loyalty natural to thefe Creatures, not to be
diverted by Envy nor Fadion, towards this
their lawful Sovereign.
Oh, that all the Thoufands of this Britan^.
nick Ifrael were but fo Loyal to our Moft Gra-
cious King George, who by all the Sacred
Ties of Law and Nature, hath an undoubted
Right to ; and by His boundlefs Clemency and
Goodnefs, doth in the higheft manner deferve
our utmoft Loyalty : Where Britons j where is
your boafted Loyalty, that the very Initfts of
your Country fhail reprove you ? Whilft they
jbin their Forces together with an undivided
Fidelity, againft all that dare prefume to in-
vade either the Crown, or Territories of their
King? You degenerate too often into Facti-
on, the very Seeds of Rebellion, which hath
hurried you blindly on, even once to the dip-
ping your facrilegious Hands in the Blood of
your Sovereign. But to ftay no longer on this
melancholy DigrejTion, in hopes the Fidelity,
Courage, and Loyalty of my Bees may teach
( 40
you your Duty, I Ihall proceed. All is done
by her Command, as Working, Fighting,
Swarming ; there being as much Inclination to
Obedience in the SubjeAs, as in their Queen
to Command : But you will fay, how can you
know all this ? To which I anfwer, that none
that have been fo long Converfant with Bees as
I have; and made but tolerable Obfervations,
muft be fully fatisfy'd in the Premifes by
ocular Demonftration. But if you would know
how I came to know the Nature of this Mo-
narchy, take thefe few Obfervations following.
Firjiy Many Years ago I having a mind to
fatisfy my Curioiity about the Queen-bee,
was refolved to run the hazard, at leafl of de-
ftroying a Swarm of Bees for that purpofe. fo
in the Morning, about half an Hour before Sun-
rifing, I took a S\«'arm of Bees that had been
hiv'd the Morning before, and carrying it into
a Meadow joining to my Garden, and there
with a ftrong Stroke upon the Ground, fhook
the Bees all out in a Lump upon the Grafs, and
as foon as they were a little quiet from theDi-
fturbance that fo violent a Motfon caufed, I
laid my felf down on the Ground, and with a
little Stick in my Hand, gently ftirr'd the
Bees, in order to find the Queen-bee, and
having defcrib'd her to Three or Four of my
Family which were then with me, defir'd them,
as I ftirr'd the Bees, if any of them faw fuch a
Bee, to (hew her me ; all being thus upon the
fearch, at length one of them difcover'd her,
and pointing to her, I faw her, and quickly
caught her in a Box which I had ready for
that purpofe, and carried her into my Parlour,
' where
(4^)
where opening my Box, I let her fly, and a few
of the other Bees who were tkken with her,
who, as is natural to them, did fly againfl the
Glafs Window, fo taking a fharp pair of Scif-
fars, I cut off one of her Wings to difable her
from flying, and then put her again into my
Box. The firfl: thing I was willing to know>
was, what they would do without their ■Q[ieen,
but this was foon difcover'd, for they were in
a Quarter of an Hour like Sheep without a
Shepherd,, (which was as foon as the whole
Bunch could know that the Queen was not a-
mongfl: them, ) which they foon difcover'd, by
fpreading themfelves abroad upon the Grafs ;
for, whereas 'tis natural to thcfc Creatures to
keep clofe togetlier like a Bunch of Grapes,
they now fpread themfelves as broad as a Cart-
wheel, running up and down, and with a pi-
teous and difcon^ented Note, fearching for
their Queen. So when they had fpent an Hour,
or thereabout in this fruitlefs Search, they took
Wing, and flew to a Hedge, and their pitch'd,
in which Flight and Pitching, there were Two
. Things remarkable. Firfl, That they flew to
the fame Hedge where the Swarm had pitch'd
the Day before, to fearch for her there, where
they lafl: had her Company. Secondly, How
foon by the Abfence of one Eec, this Monar-
'ch!^ Was turn'd into Anarchy ,- for now ( in-
;ftead o'f going altogether m a Bunch, which is
natural to them when they have their Queen, )
^hey were divided all along the Hedge tor Ten
- "Yards together, in little Bunches, 40 or 50 in
'a Bunch, and fome larger Bunches • fo then I
'puU'd th'eBox out of my Pocket, where the
' - - Queen-
<47)
Queen-bee was, being willing to know whe-
ther orno they would again acknowledge their
Crippled Sovereign, and my Thoughts then
were, that they would not, /he having been fo
long from them, and her Wing cut off, or the
Smell of the Box, I did not know but thefe, o^
fome of thefe, might give them fome Diftafte ;
but to my great Amazement, and all that were
with me, I no fooner open'd the Box, and laid
k. Queen and all on the Bank, near to one of
thefe little Bunches, but they immediately be-
gan to gather from hither and thither all about
my Box, where the Queen was, v/hich was
foon cover'd up, and in lefs than a quarter of
an Hour, they were all gather'd together about:
their Queen, rejoycing ; which Rejoycing is
eafy to perceive by thofe that are ufed among
them, by their Notes. So having found their
Queen again, they lay all contented together,
not running up and down, and fpreading them-
felves as before, when lie was abfent. So
Night coming on, I again hiv'd them, and
brought them into my Garden, for if I had let
them remain abroad all Night, the Coldnefs of
the Night would have chill'd themj fo that I
fliould not have been able to make any farther
Difcovcries with them. Next Morning, being
fine Weather, I again knock'd them out on the
Grafs, in the Meadow as before, where they
foon united themfelves together about their be-
loved Queen, where I let them lie for fome
Hours, to try it' they would rife, but here was
the height of Loyalty exprefs'd. The poor
Queen, as I to!d you above, had one of her
.Wings clipti aud fo was uot able to fly, and
lead
(4?)
lead them off to fome Place for their common
Prefervation, and thcfe her Loyal Subjeds chofc
rather to perifh with her, than to leave her in
her Diftrcfs. -Then I again took away their
Qtieen, and put herin a Box as before, and
my poor Bees fell again to fpreading themfelves
in fearch oFher ; fo when they were thus fpread
abroad, I laid down their Queen near one fide
of this fearching Squadron, when to my great
Satisfaction, and Wonder of fome Friends,
which I had fent for on purpofe, they all imme-
diately ceas'd their fpreading themfelves, and
fearching every way for their Queen, they all
march'd diredly towards her ; before they
had quite cover'd her, to fave my felf the Trou-
ble of fearching for her in the midft of the
Swarm, I took her up and laid her down on the
contrary Side to where I took her up, when
prefently you might fee them all turn their
March to her again ; fo I often took her up
from one Place, and laid her down in another,
and thefe poor loyal and loving Creatures al-
ways marching and counter-marching every
Way as the Queen was laid : When I had
fhew'd my Friends all the Diverfion that fo
great a Curiofity could afford them, I fuffer'd
them again to encircle her, and iramjediately
they clofed from the right and left. Front and
Rear, into a thick round B^ch, no broader
than the Crown of my Hat, and fo lay very
well contented together, the Commons ftill ex-
pefting when they fhould fly with their Qoeen
as ufual ; but flie not being able to fly, could
not lead them off, and not a Bee of them would
offer to leave her, tho' by this time, no doubt
but
(49)
but they began to want Food • Co the Evening
drawing on, I again hiv'd them, and brought
them into my Garden, to prevent their be-
ing chili'd, and the next Morning knock'd them
out ao^ain upon the Grafs, where, to try far-
ther Experiments, I often took away their
Qu,een, and with her could march them any
where, this way and that way, and then put
her to them again, for I was refolv'd now
to try whether or- no thefe Loyal Creatures
would go on thus to the end, and crown thefe
their Loyal Principles with Martyrdom : The
Commons tailed no Food, nor would they
fly to get any, unlefs their Queen had been
in Safety. And indeed this their Loyalty
and AfFedion was equall'd, i£ not outdone by
their Queen ; for when I had her away from
them, 1 gave her Honey feveral Times, but
fhe would not fo much as once tafte of it
without her Subjedls. But to come to a Con-
fclulion of this curious, tho' melancholy Ob-
fervation, they ftill kept their Integrity, and
Famine it felf could not leflen their Loyal
Affeftion to their Prince ; for after they had
liv'd five Days and five Nights without the
leaft Food, they all died by Famine, except
the Queen-bee, who liv'd fome few Hours
longer than her Subjeds, and then dy'd ,• dif-
daining a Life that was no Life to her, with-
out the Company of thofe which ftie could
not have, they having all given up their Lives
for her Sake.
Sur-
( 5° )
SurpYiz,'mg IV as the Sights
And rarely ^ to be feen.
Such Loyalty in Suljefls,
Or Goodnefs in a Queen.
I challenge all the World,
England except, ^ to find
A People half fo Loyal,
Or Princefs half fo kind.
I think this one Relation of Matter of Fact,
to be fufficient to prove all that I have be-
fore afl'erted ; yet I fhall give you one or two
more in this Place, bcfides others that muft
unavoidably come in, in their proper Places
in this Trad:. .
Secondly, I have often put two Swarms to-
gether, to make the Numbers fufficient for one
of my large Boxes. The Manner of which
is dtfcrib'd in the Chapter of Swarming. Eve-
ry Swarm hath a Quecn-bcc among them, and
when the fccond Swarm comes to be added to
the firjR:, this is plain Matter of Faft, that
always the iirft Night one of thefe Potentates
is (lain, or expell'd the Hive. It is here as
with C^far and Pompey, one would admit of
no Superior, and the other of no Equal. For
the moll part one of them is thrown out dead \
under the Hive.
Ohj. But you will Aiy, where is the Loyalty
of thefe Creatures you fpoke of, when here is
a Queen flain by them }
Aiif. This makes not againft, but much for
the Morarchy of the Prince, and Loyalty of
the Commons i for here is a Swarm with their
Queen
(51)
Queen fettled, it may be a Week or more m
the Box, before the fecond Swarm invades thefe
her rightful and lawful Territories ; Difpatches
of Guards are fent from the firft Difturbancc
given, to examine into the Caufe of that Di-
fturbance in the Hive, who finding there is a
Pretender to her Crown and Dominions, im-
mediately feize and difpatch the invading
Prince, and a Pardon is granted to all her
Subjeds, who now become one numerous Fa-
mily. Sometimes in this Buftle I have known
the Second Queen creep off wounded, and have
found her either on the Bee-ilool, or on the
Ground, but always with her Guard, who ne-
ver leave her till Ihe is dead, (which Guard is
abcxut 100, more or lefs, according to the
Bignefs of the Swarm,) all clinging fo faft
about her, to keep and prcferve her from Pe-
ril, that it Kas been difficult for me to part
them wirii Skewers, or fuch like Utenfils ; and
always when I find fuch a Lump of Bees, I
know there is the Queen in the Middle of
them, and accordingly call my Family out,
or any others that may happen to be within,
to fee this glorious Infed. So taking her away
from them, I put her Guard to their Fellows,
who are readily receiv'd into Grace, and made
free Denifons of the Colony ; for coming with-
out any Leader, there is no Oppofition, know-
ing by natural Inflinft, that the greater their
Numbers are, the better they are able to pro-
vide for, and defend themfeives.
n 2. CHAP.
( 50
C H 4 P. VI.
Of Sivarming, and the Reafons why ; and Hiving
the Swarm.
TH E two Swarming Months generally
are May and Junej tho' there are fomc-
times Swarms in April, and very often in July.
Thofe in April are in great danger (if cold
Weather fhould follow their Swarming) to be
starved, before they can get any thing to be-
gin Houfe-keeping withal. Thofe that fwarm
in July, tho' they are in no danger of any. fud-
den Want, Honey gathering being then plenty
everywhere,, yet are they in great dangtr in
the Winter following, for fear, leaft having fo*
fhort a fummer or it, they fliould not have ga-
thered Honey enough to Icrve them till the
next Spring.
The Reafon of their Swarming, is for want
of Room in the Hive ; for when they have
bred fo many that the Hive will not contain
them, then, after they have lain out a while in
a large Bunch at the Mouth of the Hive, in a
fine warm Day generally they Swarm ; but as
there is no General Rule without an Excepti-
on, fo here you will fometimes find they will
not Swarm, tho' they are very full, and lay out
with a Bunch of Bees at the Mouth of the Hive
as big as your Head, and this they do for a
Month together, tho' the Weather prove ne-
ver fo Favourable and will not Swarm.
Tlie Reafon is, theic is no Prince ready to
so
( 5? )
go forth with the Swarm ; Tome Accident or
other hath happened to the Royal Brood
w-ithin, and they will rather never Swarm
at all, than go off without their beloved Go-
vernefs.
The befl time for Hiving your Swarm, is
prefently as foon as they are moft of them
pitch'd ; and this Way commonly prevents
their flying away : For you muft note, that
the Bees are always provided of a Place,
which they deiign for their Habitation before
they Swarm: either in fome hollow Tree, or
in the hollow part of fome old Building, or
in fome Hive, perhaps a Mile or two dillant
from you, where other Bees have died, and
left their Combs; which the Swarm have al-
ready provided, by cleanfing out all the Filth,
or the Dead Bee?, or whatever elfe may be
offenfive to their cleanly Nature,- and they only
pitch on the Tree near you, to gather all toge-
ther, that they may go a way together to their
prepared Houfe. I have had a flrange Swarm
of Bees come in:o my Garden, and fly di-
redly into a Hive of old Combs, which they
had been every Day at work upon, to cleanfe
and make fit for them for fourteen Days
before; every Day about an Hundred or
more hard at work, pulling out and clearing
the Hive of Dead Bees, old Sandarach, and
Moths ; and when quite clean, as I expected,
the Swarm came, and went into their thus
prepared Houfe, But however, tho' they al-
ways provide themfelves of a Houfe before
they Swarm, and take much pains about it,
E 3 yet
( 54 ) .
yet if you are early enough in your taking
the Swarm, and your Hive be clean, and
not too old, they finding themfelves at un-
awares in a convenient Houfe, have nq mind
generally to leave it ; tho' foraetimes they vt^ill,
and give you a great deal of Trouble, and lofe
them at laft : But if they rife again out of your
Hive, either the fame Day or the next, as
fometimes they will, and pitch again on a Tree
near you; then befure hive them not in the
fame Hive, for 'tis plain, they had fome diflike
of it. The manner of taking them into your
Hive is various, according to the pitch-
ing of the Swarm: If your Swarm pitch upon
a Tree that is pretty high, and be upon a
fingle Bough, then the belt Way to take them,
is with a very fharp Knife to cut off the
Twig gently, elfe you will fcatter the Bees, and
lay it down on a Napkin under that very Tree
they were cut from, or as near it as you can,
and gently fet your Hive over it; fo will they
undifturb'd crawl up and hive themfelves; fo
that you have nothing more to do, than in th(i
Evening to remove them to their Place. But
the general way of hiving them, is to hold the
Hive under them, and (hake them in, and hav-
ing a Napkin and a Stick to keep up one fide
6f the Hive, fet them down on it ; but let it
be under the fame Tree always, that the Bees
that hanker about it (which they will always do,
more or lefs) may be within hearing of the
Swarm, and fo go down to them, which they
will naturally do; but if you fet down the
Swarm at any great Diilance from the Place
wh^re they pitch'd, many will be loll:, or at
leaft
(55)
leaft return home again, which will be a leflen-
ing of the Swarm : But if the Swarm part, and
pitch part of them on one Tree, and part on
another, (as fometimes they will) that you
may not be at a Lofs what to do in fuch a
Cafe, take the Diredions following. Hive the
two Parcels. in two feveral Hives, and then let
them ftand within hearing of one another, and
'tis very likely that before Night comes they
will fave you any farther trouble, by going all
into that Hive where their Queen isy but if
they do not, then about ten a clock at Night
proceed with them, as in this and the follow-
ing Pages fliall be taught, how to joyn two
Cafts or fmall Swarms into one. I ftall not
dwell long on this Subjed, becaufe almoft eve-
ry Body doth already underfland how to hive
them, one way or others and it matters not
much, whether they arc cut down, or fliaken
into the Hive, if they {fay quietly there:
Only here I muft not omit to dired you about
managing of the Cafts, or fecond Swarms :
(which, as they are commonly order'd, come
to little or no Profit) Now there is not, as I
.think, fcarcely one Caft in twenty, that will
gather enough Honey to keep them till the next
Spring ; fo that they are generally taken up at
taking time, with the old Stocks, but they have
fo little Honey in them, that they turn to no
account; now the Way to make fomething of
them, is thus, (and pray believe me, for it will
be to your great Advantage) put two or three
of thefe Cafts together into one Hive, and fo
they will become a good Stock, perhaps as good
as any one of your Swarms, and ftand over
E 4 the
( so
the Year very well ; the Manner how to per-
form this feeming difficult Work, is very eafie
when known, which here /hall be faithfully
taught : When you have a Caft or fecond Swarm,
take it into the Hive, as you do the Swarms,
and put it in its place,- then perhaps two or
three Days after, or a Week, you may have
another Caft, up and pitch'd; let this fecond
Cafl be hiv'd by it feff alfo in an empty Hive,
and fet under the Tree where it pitch'd, as be-
fore, till Night j then you muft put this fecond
Caft to the firft, thus: Spread a Napkin, a-
bout ten a clock at Night, on the Ground,
clofe by the Stool of the firft Caft, then lay a
Stick crofs the Napkin, then fetch your fecond
Caft, that fwarmed that Day, and with a ftrong
Stroke on the Stick which lies crofs the Napkin,
knock out all the Bees, which come all out at
that one Stroke upon the Napkin, in a broad
Lump ; then, throwing the Hive out of your
Hand, take your firft Caft off from the Stool,
and fet over the Bees on the Napkin, fo will
they, in about an Hour, all crawl up, and be-
come one Family: If any of them, as fome-
times they will, hang about the outfides of
the Hive, let them with a Wing be brufli'd
Off upon the Napkin, and they will foon
go to their Fellows,- fo about eleven or twelve
ft Clock, take up the Hive, and put it in its
place j fo have you two Cafts in one Hive:
In the fame Manner you may put a Third
and a Fourth, and fo you may have a ftrong
Hii'e of Bees for the next Year; for if they
ire in fmall Parcels, they can do no good,
fep put' af fo fmall a. Fared as one Caft,
' ■■■* ' ■ wheji
(57)
when all their Offices are provided for, there
are (o few to gather Honey, that little can
be done^ fome muft be appointed to keep
the Brood warm, in order to breeding, fome
to keep Court with the Qiicen, fome to keep
Guard at the Mouth of the Hive, to keep
away Thieves. But when by this Means of
doubling the Cafts, you have augmented your
Numbers, they will have to fpare to fupply
every Occalion, and fufficient to gather Ho-
ney for the Family, ftand all the Winter, and
fwarm the next Spring as well as any of the
other Stocks ; the greater Quantities of Bees
there are together, the better they are able to
provide for themfelves ; my Meaning is, that
one Peck of Bees in one Hive, will get much
more Honey than two half Pecks will do in
two Hives. The Reafon why we put them
together in the Evening or fo late, is becaufe
by this Means we prevent two great Incon-
veniences. Firft, If it were in the Day, and
they finding fuch a Difturbance in the Hive,
tho' the firft Swarm that was at home, and
had made fome Works, would, 'tis probable,
ftand its Ground, yet 'tis very likely the fecond
would rife again, and perhaps fly quite away j
whereas, being in the Night, they cannot rife,
but all Night crawling one among another, they
are united into one Monarchy, under one
Queen, for they difpatch the Queen of the
fecond Cafl moft commonly before the next
Morning, and cafl her out, tho' not always
dead: Sometimes I have found her on the
Ground alive, but never without her Guards
^bout her, about two or three Hundred,
more
( S8 )
more or lefs, according to the bignefs of tht
Caft fhe belong'd to, which Guard De Corps
never leave her till (lie is dead; for tlio' the
whole Swarm is confus'd with the other, yet
thefe, whofc immediate Biifinefs it was at that
time to guard their Sovereign, are fo faith-
ful ia difcharging of that Truft, that they
venture their own Lives for her Safety j and
tho' on the Ground with their Queen in
the Night, in danger of being chiil'd to
Peath, yet to preferve their Sovereign from
Cold or Danger, they all cling fo dole about
her, that they feem to be one entire Creature,
and 'tis with fome Difficulty that I have got
them apart) to fave the Bees, and put them
to their Fellows, which you may eafily do
when you have got away the Queen, but not
before.
But Secondly, If you would put two Swarms
or Cafts together in the Day time, you will
fee the moft dreadful Battle betwixt them,
that is poffible to be conceiv'd, to the great
Panger of both Swarms or Cafts ; for they
will never give over fighting in the Hive and
out of the Hive, till one of the Queens is
kill'd, and perhaps not then neither; forma-
py of thefe fmall Warriors will not prefently
kaow that the other Queen is dead, and fo will
keep on fighting to death for their own Queen ;
for till the Qiiecn of the Hive doth coane to
know it, and caufc the Retreat to be found-
ed in her Camp, there is no giving over
fighting ; but then admitting all the Subjects
of the (lain Queen to grace, they become one
Family. But this great Hazard, Mifchief, and
the
( 59 ) ,
the Lofs of fo many Bees as muft fall in the
Battel, is prevented by doing this Bufincfs at
Night.
Many are the ways that Country People
have Oi" Dreffing the Hive before they put
the Bees into it ; fome with ftrong Beer, o-
thers with Water and Salt, others with rub-
bing the infide of the Hive with Fennel, fome
with Bawm ; but the beft way , if you will
do any thing to the Hiv« at all (for the'y
will like it well enough as it is if it be clean)
is to rub it very hard all over with a coarle
Cloth, to get off the loofe Straws, or any
thing elfe that* will come off with rubbing,
and then with a little Water and Honey let the
Hive be rubbed only in the upper part, which
may make them the more willing to afcend.
The Reafon why you rub and cleanfe the Hive
very well before you put the Swarm in it, is
to fave thefe cleanly Creatures a great deal of
Labour, which elfe they muft take to clean it;
nay, when you have done what you can for
them this way,thcy will have much Work to do,
before they will think it fit for their dwelling,
as appears, if you take notice of the Place
where the Hive flood with the Swarm on the
Napkin the firft Day, there you will fee abun-
dance of fbort bits of Straw gnaw'd off by the
Bees (that ftood out in their way) with their
Fangs j and if you will lay your Ear to the
Hive any time of the Night after they fwarm'd,
you fliali hear them very bufy about this Work
ail Night long.
CHAP.
(6o)
" : — i ... I
CHAP. VII.
Of Feeding the Bees.
THIS one Chapter, if minded, would do
the good Bee-Miftrefles great Service,
for there is nothing that they are (o ignorant
in, as in this matter ,• and I verily believe, in
their way, they kill more Bees than they pre-
ferve, and that there is not one in twenty that
they feed, that comes to fee the next May.
They have feveral ways of feeding their Bees,
the moft general way, is to take two or three
hollow Kexes, and cut them along through the
middle, and fo fill the Ciallow Gutters with
Honey or Sugar, and put them in at the mouth
of the Hive in hard Weather, and let cliem re-
main till empty, and then fill them again, and
fo on. Now this is a moft pernicious way for
two Reafons: Firfty for the manner; if you
would feed your Bees, 'tis to no purpofe to
put in fuch fmall quantities, which may do
them harm, but can do them no good ; for if
the Bees come down in the cold Weather to
feed, they will be fo chilfd, that fcarce half
of them will recover up into their Combs a-
gain: But, Secondly, 'tis a wrong time, the
Winter not being the Seafon (by any means)
for that Buiinefs ; twice a Year you ought to
examine all your Hives or Colonies, that is, in
Septe7nher and April, but chiefly in September ,
that being the moft proper Month ; and when
jfou have examined all by lifting them up, you
wilj
( 6i )
will eafily know which of them lack Feeding :
Thofe that you have reafon to think weigh
twenty Pounds and upward, need none of your
Help; but if you want Bees and find fome
Stocks poor in Honey, but full of Bees in Sep-
tentbcYy then you muft confider how much they
ftand in need of to keep them till next Spring,
and then give it them either altogether in a
large Difh, or every Day a large Plate full, till
you have given them their full quantity- The
manner of Feeding them is thus carefully to
be obferved : Firfi, prepare your Honey thus.
Take fix Pounds of Honey, and a Pint of Wa-
ter, and fet it over the Fire to melt ; and when
it is well melted and mixed together, then pour
it out into your Difii, or Plates ; and when
cold, put it under your Bees thus. If it be on-
ly a Plate which will hold about a Pound, then
with three or four pieces of white Paper, co-
ver the greateft part of your Honey in the
Plate, and then go with it to your Bees, and
gently lifting up one Qx!i2,Q. of your Hive, Aide
under your Plate, and fo every Day till the
Hive hath the quantity allotted it -, obferve,
that the next Morning after you have ,put un-
der your Plate, you may take it out again as
clean and dry as if no Honey had been in it:
Thus will they carry it up, and lay it in the
Combs againil a Needy time, where they can
come at it , without running the hazard of
their Lives, by coming down to the Bee-ftool
to be fed out of a Kex. But ii you find that
your Hive wants any quantity, as four or five
Pounds, then 'tis as good a way, to take three or
four old dry Honey-combs, and put in a large
Diflt
( 62 )
Difh that will hold all the Honey, and lifting
up the Hive, fet it on the Difh, and in about
24 hours they will have clear'd it, not by eat-
ing it up, but carrying it up into their Combs,
and fafely lodging it there for their Winter
Store. I g^ve this very Year about five Pounds
of Honey, all at once, to one of my weak Co-
lonies. Now the reafon why we melt the Ho-
ney with Water, is becaufe otherwife the Bees,
tho' they would come down and eat a little of
it, yet could they carry none of it into their
Combs, and fo it will do them little or no Ser-
vice. By melting it as before with Water,
you bring the Honey, which was before very
hard, to the confidence of Honey as it is at
Summer, and fo they are capable to carry it
up into their Store-houfes.
Thus far of the Matter of which Bees mufl
be fed, it mnft be of Honey ; and the manner,
it mufl be made foft as before. Now for the
time, and in this alfo you mufl be very care-
ful : September is the bcfl Month ; not but it
may happen that there may be as good a time
in OSiober, tho' not ordinarily fo. It mufl not
be in a very Cold time, nor in Frofly Wea-
ther, for that will rtot do, becaufe the Bees
will not come down to it, or i( they do, will
be much damaged by the Cold; not in a hoc
Day, when the Bees are much abroad, but in
a hioderate time, when few Bees arc abroad,
becaufe it' it fhould be in a hot Day that you
give ttfcm the Honey, the other Bees fmelling
the frefti Honey, will croud in upon your
weak Stock, not only for a Share of their pre-
fent Feafl^ but by that Means difcovering
their
(<5j)
their Weakncfs, would never leave them as
long as they have a drop of Honey left ; there-
fore it muft be very moderate Weather, and
the very beft time for feeding, is in a warm
Rain, in the Month of Se^embsr, putting un-
der your Honey about Seven a Clock at Night,
fo will they immediately fall to work to carry
up Honey into their Combs, and continue the
greateft part of the Night in that Work, and
ib be in no danger of the above-mentioned
Difaftcr. When you have thus examined, and
fed all that lack feeding in September, you ought
to clofe up your Hives all round with Mortar
excepting the Place where they go in and out
at. And it is to be hoped, ii you have done
your Work well, you will have nothing more
to do for them till after they have done a great
deal for you, and requited your Care by their
unwearied Labours the next Summer. But
however, you ought in April to examine them
again, and fee if you have not been a little too
fparing in your feeding the laft September, and
if you find it fo ( according to a vulgar Pro-
verb, IVe ought not to lofe a Hog for a Half-
penny worth of Tar) 2,i\'C them another Plate or
two, obferving the Rules above, or elfe per-
haps for want of giving them one Pound of
Honey now, you may lofe a good early Swarm,
and the Stock itkl^, with 50 or 60 Pounds of
Honey in them, which would render you Pe«-
ny wife and Found Fooltjh with a witnefs.
CHAP.
(64 )
CHAP. VIII.
Of their Wars, and Robbing one another. .»
AL L Perfons whoever, that have kept Bees,
well know that there are great Wars and
Fighting amongft them, by which Fighting,
many of them are deftroy'd j but I find there
are very few that know the true Caufe of thefe
Wars and Fighting that is amongft them, and
fo confequently are ignorant of the Means how
to prevent this fatal Calamity. Now here I
ihall briefly treat of the Caufes of thefe Wars,
ind the beft Remedies that I have by Experi-
ence found to prevent the fame.
Firft, The greateft Caufe I find, is what is
implanted in their own Nature. And here let
me be rightly undcrftood , I mean not that
there is a Principle of Cruelty in them, that
they take delight in killing one another, for
it is far otherwife : But they have in them an
eager Defire of gathering Honey, and when
they find the Weather warm, and no Honey
gathering in the Fields, which happens very
often in the Spring before the Flowers are
blown, and in Autumn when they are all gone
off, now it fo happens to thefe poor induftri-
ous Creatures, that a warm Day coming in
either of thefe Seafons, the Bees are thereby
called out to Labour ; but after having ranged
the Fields, Gardens, and pleafant Meadows,
without finding any Honey, they range ^i\\ up
and down in purfuit of Honey, but can no
where
( ^5 )
where find it, but in the Stocks of other Bees,
they will, with the hazard of their Lives, ven-
ture for fome of it,- but thcyplaythefe Pranks
far from home ( tho' not always, for I have
known them play the Thief in their own
Neighbourhood). Now the Bees that are thus
abroad upon the Search for Honey, very rarc-
\y aflault a very ftrong Stock , but filch and
ileal amongft the weak ones. Now, tho' every
Stock, nay the weakeft do keep Guard m
warm Weather, yet fome of thefe robbing
Bees will thruft in by the Guard, and whilft
the Sentinels are attacking and examining fome
of the bold Intruders, others will flip in and
rob and ileal ,• and being animated by their
own Succefs, they renew their Aflault the next
warm Day with greater Forces, carrying eve-
ry Day more and more till they have broken
Bulk, that is, torn open the fealed Combs, not
that the Bees thus aflaulted are all this while
idle, and tamely fuffer themfelves to be thus
pillaged, no, they floutly renew the Fight e-
yery time they come, in which many are flain ;
they double their Guards at their Porch of
the Hive, engage the Alfailants both within
and without the Hive, fo that you fee a mofl;
dreadful Battle betwixt the true Bees belong-
ing to the Stock, and thefe robbing Bees,
which will never give over, if once they have
broken Bulk, but 'tis ten to one in three or
Days your Hive is quite ruined ; fometimes af-
ter fuch flrivingand fighting you find all quiet,
only every Day Bees ftriving to get in at the
mouth of the Hive, and going out with great
difficulty, becaufe of the prerfing of others to
F go
C66)
go in ; fo that fometimes, if the Paflagc into
the Hive be but fmall, you will fee a Bunch of
Bees (all ftriving who fhould get in foreraolV)
as big as ones Fill; the caufe of which is this.
In one of the foregoing Days of Battle, the
'Queen-Bee, belonging to the aflaulted Stock,
did lofc her Life, at which time, as foon as it
was known to all her Subjefts, there was no
more Fighting, or Refiftahce, but all became
one People with the Robbers, and away they
go with them, richly laden with their own
Spoils, leaving the Hive empty of Bees, and
unguarded, returning every Day with thefe
their new Acquaintance to Pillage their old
Caftlc, and carry their Treafure to their now
new Lodgings,- and this caufes the Throng at
the Porch of the Hive to get in, for rhere be-
ing Honey to be had within for fetching,
and now no oppofition from within, they fol-
low their Blows with great Diligence ; for the
Bees will not fight one ftroke longer to defend
their Hive and Honey, than they have their
Queen to animate and command them, look-
ing upon themfelves, and all their Treafure,
not worth defending, or any longer contend-
ing for, after the lofs of their Sovereign.
No Amazonian Dame's, nor Indians more,
IVitb Loyal Awe their Idol Qtieen Adore.
Whilft (he furvives, in Concord and Content
'The Commons live, by no Divijions rent ;
But the great Monardis Death diffolves the^
Government.
No Council caWdi both Love and Valour ceafe ;
The Old they Die, but none fupply their place.
All
(^7)
All goes to Ruin, they themfelves. contrive
To rob the Honey, and fuhvert the Hive.
So whenever you fee things come to this
pafs, and a Throng at the Door, go at Night,
when all are return'd home, and lift up the
Hive ,• but you will find it to be a Houfe
without Inhabitants, tho' perhaps it may ( at
leaft fome of the Rooms) be tolerably well
furniftied with Goods, which you having moft
Right unto, may take for. your pains. By
this Difcovery you will fare all the Honey that
is left in the Hive, which otherwile v/ould e-
very Day be fetch'd away till it was all gone ;
befides, it prevents a Deceit upon your felf,
for feeing Bees go in and out, you are apt to
think you have there a good Stock of Bees,
when indeed there are no Bees at all, but
thefe Thieves all Day, and at Night there arc
none, neither true Men nor Robbers. But this
Fighting and Robbing is not all times a-
like, but is more or lefs fierce, as the hive, is
more or lefs ftrong, that is aflaultcd ; for if
there be but few Bees, they are foon over-
come, but if many,- they will make a vigorous
Refiftance, and you may fee Thoufands ' (lain
on the Ground.
Another Caufe of their Fighting, is, when
they are overcome in Battle by the Robbers,
and forced to leave their Hive, and fhift for
themfelves where they can (for they never join
with the Robbers unlefs their Queen be flain)
then their Queen and they fly about till they
find another Bee-garden, by their exquifite
Smell, whercinto tijey immediately enter ,• and
Fa now
( 68 )
now being by their neceflitoiis Condition (be-
ing without Houfe or Harbour) become defpe-
rat'e, they feize fomctimes upon one, andfome-
times more Hives, and endeavour to get in to
dwell there ; for generally this fad Work is in
the Fall of the Leaf, when it is too late for
them to begin Houfe-keeping for themfelves j fo
that thefe poor Bees,^ who are juft now ruin'd
by Robbers ( as it often happens to honeft
Men ) are forced to be Robbers of others ;
but here they are in no better Cafe ; for the
other Bees finding themfelves fo fuddenly af-
faultcd with fuch Numbers, they take the A-
larm, the Trumpet of War is founded, the
Warriors are called forth, and being animated
by their own Qr^'cen (and the Defperatenefs of
their Condition, if they fliould be overcome)
they with inexpreffible Valour, oppofe them-
felves to their Affailants, where, in a very fmall
time, you fliall fee the Ground cover'd with
thefe Female Warriors. About 12 or 14 Years
^<rOy as I was at Dinner with my Family,
there,was one knock'd at the Gate, and told
me me there was a Swarm of Bees flown in-
to my Garden, in hopes (as I fuppofe) to have
feme- Reward for telling the good News. But
this being in the Month of Auguft, I knew
they muft be a Company of Robbers, and fo
told my Intelligencer ; but he reply'd he knew
it was a Swarm^, for he had rung them with a
Pan half a Mile, by which I knew it was in-
deed a Nation of Robbers, who had been dif-
pofilfs'd by fome flronger than themfelves ; and
<Toing into my Garden I found it fo to my
Coft, for they made a fad Diflurbance among
my
(69)
my Bees, feizing upon feveral Hives, but more
efpecially one, where you might have feen the
dreadful Battel defcrib'd by the Silver-tongu'd
Poet, in Words to this purpofe.
IVith Shouts the Bees to Courage each excite^
And Martial Clangors call 'em out to fight.
IVith koarfe Alarms the hollow Camp rebounds,
"That imitate the Trumpets angry Sounds.
'their Queens and Country s Honour calls them
forth.
Each Amazon is proud to fiew her zuortb.
On their Jharp Beaks they luhet their pointed
Stings,
Eager of Flight they tremble ivith their Things.
So?ne lead the Van, and fome bring up the Rear,
And nimble Horfemen /cower the Fields of Air ;
Advancing firait into the Fields of Light,
their Jhocking Squadrons meet in mortal Fight :
Headlong they fall from high, and wounding
wound.
And heaps of (laughter d Soldiers bite the Ground,
till hollow Mourner of th?ir Evening Bells
Sounds a Retreat, and tolls them to their Cells.
In the midft of this dreadful Battle I was
forced to go in amongft them to do what I
could for my poor alTaulted Bees, but I could
afford them little help- iathis fo fuddcn and vi-
olent Invafion -, fometimes I quite ftop'd up
the Paflage of my aifaulted Bees, to prevent
the entring in of the Robbers, but then I kept
out the true Bees alfo. But ftrange indeed it
was, to fee thefe defperate Thieves when they
were ftop'd out, they would feize upon the
F 3 Crown
( 7° )
Crown of the Hive, the Bottom and Sides,
any where, and fometimes every where, and
pull and tear the Straw to get in, like fo^raa-
ny ravenous Vultures; you might hear this
pulling and tearing of the Straws of the Hive
leveral Yards off, as much as to fay, we will
break open this Houfe fomewhere, and if you
hinder us from coming in at the Door, ws
'will break it open, either in the Top, Sides,
or Foundation; like a Detachment of Dragoons
ord;;r'd to go and pofl'efs themfelves of fuch a
Fort or Caftlc, they try at the Gates, but
if prevented there, they try all Places, Win-
dows', Walls, nay, at laft, if nothing elfe will
do, they go to work with their fcaling Ladders,
and enter at top, and take it Sw^ord in Hand,
and tho' many of thefe brave Fellows muft
fall in this Jefperate Attempt, yet on they
jtiuft, be the Enterprize never fo hazardous,
take it they muft, there is no feeing of their
General onanyotlier Terms; and thus it is with
theBees,whilft they were thus defpcrately engag'd,
for fear they fiiould (cizc on other Hives, I
lifted up the Edge of that they" were moft
about, and let them go in, and at Night,
to prevent farther Mifchicf, I burnt them all
together, and took what Honey they had left
me. Now this kind of Robbing doth not very
often happen, for truly if it did, there would
be no way for you to help your felf ; the^
would do you great Damage if you were never
fo precautious.
Now the Remedy againft this Mifchief is as
followcth : Robbing time is fometimes fooner,
fometimes later, according as the Stimnler is,
V. and
(70
and is always twice a Year, Spring and Fall 5
but that in the Spring is not much, in com-
parifon with that, which always, more or lefs,
happens in the Fall of the Leaf, both which
are in a great meafure prevented by a timely
flopping up of the Bees, I do not mean by
flopping them up quite, for then you would
do them great Damage. Firfl, as they are a
Creature endow'd with Heart and Lungs, they
fland in need of breathing, and fo flopping
them up, would hazard the Suffocation of the
whole Stock of Bees. And Secondly, your flop-
ping them up would hinder the true Bees from
going in and out to Labour; for t ho' there is
not much Honey to be had abroad, and that
is the Reafon that Robbing do'th begin, yet
there is fome to be had, fo that you mufl
not flop them quite up, for thofe that do
not turn Robbers, will continue their Labour
as long as there is any Honey to be had -, and
truly none are apt to turn Robbers, till after
Honey-gathering is over.
You fhall know the Robbers in the beginning
of their Work, i^ you obferve them in Auguft,
and fometiraes in the latter part of July they
begin ; you fhall fee when any Hive is attacked
by Robbers, they firfl begin with a few, and
thefe having but newly begun their Trade of
Robbing, are not very bold at firfl, but as i£
they carried Guilt along with them, as well
as Fear, they try to pitch here, at this End
of the Landing Board, then at that, then at
the Middle, gently touching and trying about,
and immediately on the Wing again, and the
true Bees catching at them^ and fometimes lay
F 4. hold.
( 72 )
hold, and have them to lonj^ Examination be-
fore they pafs Sentence of Death on thefe In-
truders; for dwelling peaceably under their
own Vine, and only enjoying the Fruit of their
own Labours, they cannot tell how to believe
any jQiould be fo unjuft as to difturb their honeft
Repore,tili byfrequent Attempts of this Nature,
they are made fenfible to their cofl;, that it is
but too true that indeed 'tis time for to look
about them, for both Right and Property are
invaded ; fo doubling their Guards, they are
upon the Watch, but you, upon Obfervation
as before, may always know theie Robbing
Bees, by their cautious and timerous way of
pitching, they do not as the true Bee, come
at once, boldly pitchs and enter in at the Porch,
but dodge up and down, as if they would with-
out the Knowledge of the true Bees fteal in,
and fetch only one Load of Honey, but after
they have got a ftronger Party (which if they fuc-
ceed, they always do) they then grow bolder : But
to the main Bulinefs of flopping them up, it is
thus to be manag'd ,- as foon as ever you find
any of thefe Thieves before defer ib'd, begin
to affault your Stalls, then ftreighten their
Porches, by letting them only have room for
two Bees to go in and out at a time, or about
three Quarters of an Inch, which fmall Porch
or Entrance, they can, and will better defend
againft an Enemy, or Robbers, than they could
a Paffage of four Inches long. Thus you ought
to do to all your Bees together, in the begin-
ning of ^«^«/^? or before, if you difcover the
Robbers in July, you are then to do it, and
it is thus eaiily done ; Take a taper fmooth
bit
(7?)
bit of Board made for that Purpofc, but half
an Inch fquare at the leaft end, and an Inch
broad, and half an Inch thick at the other, and
(about three Inchts long; (o putting in this bit
'of Board a little way at the Mouth of the
Hive with the fmall end formoil, then have in
readinefs fome Lime and Hair, and prefently
fmooth up all the reft of the PafTage, then
{gently draw out your bit of Board, and you
'will have a Porch only of half an Inch, or
three Quarters, according as you put your
bit of Board in, farther or lefler way, and fo
let them ftand all the Winter, and in the
(Spring, till robbing-time is oyer, which ge-
nerally is in the beginning of April, many
times in the Middle of March, according as
the Flowers do blow ; for let them blow early
or late, when ever it is that there is plenty of
Honey-gathering in the Fields, (you may throw
open your Porches again to 4 or 5 Inches,)
there Vs'ill be no robbing of the Stalls; but if
you find that notwithftanding all your flop-
ping, they have ftill an eager mind to rob
one particular Hive, and make violent AfTaults
every Day upon it in great Numbers, then
'tis a iign indeed that they have pretty large-
ly tafted of its Sweetnefs already, and not-
withftanding all your Care, it is ftill in great
Danger : whereupon try it if it be not already
too light for your farther Care, and if you
find it heavy, and indeed worth faving, then
there is but one way left to try to preferve it,
and this muft be done with great Care and
Circumfpeftion, and that is to ftop the Hole
(juite up, but it muft be in the Evening, when
the
(74)
the Robbers arc gone, and the true Bees arc
all within, and it muft be with fuch Materials,
as will admit of their Breath to go in and out,
'tho not of their Perfons. This is done three
Ways, either by plaftering in with Mortar a
bit of Comb, or elfe by Qu^ills thruft in hard
one by another, till you have fill'd the whole
Porch, or Pieces of Tobacco-pipes thrufl: in
very hard one by anothet, fo will the Bees be
kept in, and the Robbers kept out, the Honey
preferv'd, and your Bees provided for, inftead
of being deftroy'd : You will fee every Day the
robbing Bees come, and at fitik finding no Re-
fiftance at the Porch, try very eagerly to get inj
but after feveral Days tryal in vain, they grow
weary, and fo leave it, and in about a Week
wholly forget it, at which time you may open
it again.
Now in doing this Bufinefs, here are feveral
things to be very carefully obferv'd, or elfe you
marr all your Work, and fo do more harm than
good; for you muft be careful when you ftop
up your Hive, that you plaifter it all round the
Bottom, and make all clofe and feciire every
where elfe, for two Reafons. Firftj Your Bees
being ftop'd up, will have an eager Dcfire to
take the Air, and fo will try every part of the
Hive to make way to get out, and will get out
if pofTible they can, but vv^hsre-ever they come
out, either Bottom, Top, or behind, they will
go to no Place to go in again, but to the old
Place where they have been us'd to go in and
out at, which now they arj^ prevented to do by
its being ftop'd up, and by their thronging to
get in, you take them to be Robbers, and fo
deftroy
(70
deftroy them. Secondly, The Robbers finding
themfelves difappointed by being Itop'd out at
the Mouth, will not fail to try your Hive or Box
all round. Top and. Bottom, to come at the
Sweet they have already taikd of.
Then alfo i( you make ufe of Qnjlls, they
muft be very fmajl, or elfe fome of the Bees I
have known thrull: themfelves thro' a large Quill
and fo not being able to get in again, are loft;
fo that i{ you ufe Qnjlls, they muft be fmall,
or fome large Feathers amongft them, I mean»
only the'clear of the Quills, or Feathers, with
both ends cut off, that they may breath thro'
the hollow part of them.
CHAP. IX.
7'he Mamzsr of taking the Honey.
AN D this melanchoily, and indeed tragi-
cal, as well as laft Part, is rhe moft un-
welcome to me to treat of, it being as well con-
trary to my Nature (to deftroy thofe Creatures
I have fo great an Efteem for) as to my Judg-
ment, as will hereafter be made appear; but
left there fhould be fomething wanting in this
Traft of Bees, I fhall briefly lay down the fol-
lowing Rules : If you defign to keep only a
fmall Number of Bees, then about the Middle
of Augujfi weigh all your Hives, that is poize
them with your Hands, by which you will be
able to judge of their Weight, and fo take the
heavieft and lighteft, theheavieft, becaufe they
A&brd you moft Honey, and the lighteft, be-
caufe
( 7<5 )
caufe they will not live over the Year,* if you
find they don't weigh 14 Pounds, they will
hardly live.
But if you defign to keep many Bees, and
increafe your Stock as faft as you can every
Year, than leave all ftanding that are, ftrong e-
nough to j(l:and, and take only the lighteft that
will not , fo will you by their fwarming in-
creafe into a very large Apiary, thac will afford
you great Profit, as fliall hereafter be made ap-
pear. When you have poized them all, and
marked which of them you refolve to take,
then proceed after this Manner. Have in
Readinefsfomefplit Sticks about 6 Inches long,
and fome Rags dipt in Brimftone, and put
in each of thefe fplit Sticks, then dig as ma-
ny Holes in the Ground near your Bees, as
you defign to take Hives ; then in the Even-
ing ftick in each Hole one of your Matches,
and lighting one at a time, fetch the • Hive
and fet over it, immediately with fome of the
Earth flop the Hive all round to keep in
the Smoak, and keep in the Bees, they will
be all dead in half a quarter of an Hour ;
fo %ivi^^ the Hive two or three Knocks with
your Hand to fliake down the Bees that
hang about the Combs. Take it into your
Houfe for your ufe.
CHAP.
(77)
CHAP. X.
The Profit of Bees, where many are kept, and
hoiv to raife to a good Number.
SUppofe you begin to raife your Apiary
wkh . Ten good Stocks, which in fome
Parts of this Kingdom may be bought for ten
half Crowns, in others for Crowns, but in this
Country they are ten Shillings a Hive. The
firft Year yoU will, according to the foregoing
Diredions, by doubling your Cafts, be able ta
have about 25 good Stocks, and the next Year
about 5o, and the third Year about 150, bar-
ring Cafualties, and they prove good Years ;
fo that when you have rais'd this Stock, you
are rich enough, if you are not over-cove-
tous ; fo that in three Years time you may
from Ten Hives, if good Weather comes, have
Bees enouch to take the fourth Year 160, more
or lefs, according as the goodnefs of the Wea-
ther is, which fet them all at Five Shillings a
Stock, good and bad together, comes to 40
Pounds Sterling ; and I fuppofe, whoever doth
arrife to the half of this Profit, will fuppofe
themfelves very well rewarded for the Care
they have taken about them.
Thus having given Diredions how to ma-
nage your Bees in Stravv-hives, which I was
willing to do, becaufe moft of the People of
England will never attain to the keeping of
them in Boxes, for two Reafons : Firfiy Becaufe
'tis a hard thing to put them out of their old
Road, which every Old Woman thinks Ihe un-
der-
( 78 )
derfiands. And Secondly, ■ Becaiife it is a more
chargeable way than the other, and therefore
many cannot attain thereunto.
I ihall now go- on with my Defign in teach-
ing the way how to keep Bees in Boxes or
Colonies, which is more pleafant and profit-
able than the other, and more merciful -, be-
caufe in this way, which we are now about to
treat of, we kill no Bees, yet have great quan-
tities of Honey.
CHAP. XI.
j'he way of keeping Bess in Colonies or Boxes,
vjith Glafs M^indowsy zvithout killing the Bees,
as in the Old Method,
IN this way, which was firft invented by Mr
Geddey, who obtain'd a Patent for the fame
of King Charles, there is a neceffity of hav-
ing a Bee-houfe for to keep your Colonies in,
not an open Bee-houfe, fuch as Straw-hives
are comnionly kept in, but clofe with Doors,
both before and behin^d ; for if your Boxes
were expofed naked to the Beams of the
Sun, it would melt the Honey and Wax too,
and fo ruin the Colony. For as Wood is
more dcnfe than Straw, fo a Box is more ca-
pable to retain the -heat of the Sun than the
Straw-hiv^e is, and confequently the Sun will
melt the Honey and Wax in a Box, which it
would not do in a Straw-hive if it flood in
the fame place. In this Method their Swarm-
ing is prevented, for all Bees Swarm for want
of
( 79 )
of room, which want is here fupply'd, by giv-
ing another Box when they want room ; nei-
ther in this way do we kill any Bees, which
being a mercilefs and cruel way , is here
prevented, and the Bqqs preferved alive till they
die a natural death.
One thing I had forgot to inform my Rea-
der ofj and that is this; the beft way is fo to
place his Bees, if it may be done with conve-
niency, that they may be near Water, I mean
within twenty or thirty Yards of fome running
or ftanding Water, it matters not which, they
drink much, and fetch Water often to mix
up their Sandarach or Bee-Bread to feed their
young, efpecially in March, April and May ;
fo that if they fhould be very far from Wa-
ter, they would lofe much time in their many
Journeys to fetch it ; but this Defeft may be
eafily fupply'd, by cutting them a little Trough
out of Elm that will hold about a Gallon,
and fet it or hang it near them j or if you will
be more curious, let it be well and exadly
made of Deal-boards neatly nailed together,
and well Painted three or four times over, that
the Weather may not hurt it. I have one of
thefe in my own Garden, where I fometimes
fee an hundred or more drinking together,
which is a very pleafant Sight, as well as a
great Convenience to the Bees ; but be fure
always' remember to cover thefe Troughs with
fmall Boards of Deal for them to ftand upon
and drink, otherwife many will be drowned,
I mean for the Boards to fwim in the Wa-
ter, that they may fink as the Water finks ;
fo will the Boards always be wet, and the
Bees
(So)
JBees will ftand upon them and drink by fuck-
ing the Water Out of the wet Boards, but
will not drink immediately out of the clear
Water.
CHAP. XII.
DireSiions to the Carpenter hoiu to make a Bee-
houfe for Six Colonies or Boxes of Bees, which
if fuU of good Bees, will at Jome times employ
1 8 Boxes.
THE Length of the Houfe muft be 12
Foot, the Breadth two Foot, and the
Floor two Foot broad; and becaufe no
Boards are fo broad, you muft doult or nail
together on the under fide, 2 Boards that arc
a Foot broad, and 12 Foot long. On this
Floor all your 6 Colonies are to ftand at an
equal diftance one from another, the 2 end
Boxes within 4 or 5 Inches ot the ends, and
the fpace betwixt equally divided for the other
5 Boxes ; they ftand 4 or 5 Inches from the
end, that you may conveniently put down
your Hand to take hold of the Iron handle
of the Box, in order to lift it upon another
Box, when" there is occafion, as Ih^ll be taught
hereafter.
When the Carpenter hath provided himfelf
with the Floor, then let him with Fir Balks,
or Deal Boards cut, make a Frame after this
manner. The two ends muft be made, each
confifting of two Pillars four Foot high, and
faftned together with a piece of Board, about
a Foot
( 8i )
a Foot from the Ground, for the ends of the
long Board defigned for your Floor to reft
upon, then with flit bits a-crol3 faften the Pil-
lars together in feveral places; then faften
your two Plates of the Houfe before and be-
hind, which miift be whole Deal, 12 Foot
long, and 4 Inches broad, with a Rabet in
the lower lide, for the Door to ftiut into ;
then make your Rafters, which muft be faft-
ned to your Plates, which muft be about 8 or
5? pair, to nail the Boards to, which are to
cover the Bec-houfe ; then make 4 Doors for
the Front, and 4 Doors for behind, leaving
two upright Pieces, where it will not be in
the way in the management of your Boxes to
faften your Doors to, with Locks , if you
pleafcj thefe may clafp one over another, fo
that one Door fhall keep another faft. In ftiorr,
this long Bee-houfe muft have Doors all along,
both behind and before, that you may have
any part of the Bee-houfe open as you haveoc-
cafion. Your Doors muft be as high as the Eves
of your Bee-houfe cover will let it, which will
be near 3 Foot. Then you muft make a Ledge,
and this muft be done with great Care. This
Ledge muft be a long piece of Board 1 2 Foot
long, and an Inch and a Quarter thick, and
1 Inches broad. In this Ledge you muft have
a Rabet of half an Inch, for your front Doors
to fhut into, to anfwer the Rabet over head
in the Plate of the Houfe. The Floor of the
Bee-houfe, before fpoken of, muft come to the
very outfidc of your Houfe, and this Ledge
muft be nailed on all along, to the very out-
fide of the Floor-board ; fo then when your
G Door
.( 82 )
Door is flmt into the half Lich Rabet, it will
be even : But before you nail down this Ledce
you muit Sa\v|»in the under ilde 6 Pafla^es,
and cut them oiit very fmooth, the Pa.fTaees
are for the Bees to work in and out at, into
the Boxes, and muft be four Inches in length,
and half an Inch in height. Againft the low-
er edge, of thefe Holes, you muft nail on a
Landing Board, a* little wider than the Hole,
about 5 Inches long, 2 Inches broad, and fet
a little flopin^ for the greater Conveniency
for the pitching of the Bees; the Floor being,
of this length, and to bear fo great a Weight,
mull be fupported in two or three places un-
derneath, or dk fuch a Weight will make
It fwag, and put your Houfe and Doors all
out of order.
Fi'fi, Obferve that your Bee-houfe mufl be
all Doors before and behind, becaufe there is
no psrt of the Houfe, but fome time or other,
you will want to have open.
S.condly, That thefe Doors muft be made,
that they may be kept very clofe, fo that the
Sun m the Heat of Summer may not, by its
fhrinking the Boards, let any Bees go in and
out at rhe Chinks,, or any other way (much Ms
a Mo Life) but thro' thofe holes cut for the
fame purpofc in the Ledge under the front
Doors, for there is no occa/ion for fuch an one
for the back Doors.
• 77;/;y/{v, That the main Dc%n of this Ledge
IS not for the Rabet for the front Doors to
^lut into ( tho' it ferves very well for that )
buf to makes Lines of Communication from
rhe Landing-boards to the Boxes.
Fourthly i
(8J)
Fourthly, That this Ledge is 2 Inches broad
(when indeed an Inch would do to make holes
go thro', and for the Rabet for the Doors to fljiit
into) becaiife otherwife there would happen
thefe two great Inconveniences. Firfty The Glafs
Window in the Front of the Box would then
ftand but half an Inch from the Front Door
of the Bee-houfe, which in extreme hot Wea-
ther would make the Bees fo hot they would
not be able to endure the Box, but would be
in danger of flying all away, or t\[Q at bcft
would fet their Honey a running, and fo expofe
them to be robb'd by other Bees. But Second-
ly, A Straw-hive would come too near the
Door, if the Ledge were but an Inch, for
when you put in your Straw-hives (which you
muft do at firft, as ftail be hereafter taught)
into your Bee-hoi^e, you muft bring it to
touch the hole in the Ledge, and the B^lly of
it would fo hang over the Ledge, that the
Door of your Bee-houfe would not fliut, or
at leaft not fhut but with thrufting back the
Hive of Bees from its place, upon which would
follow feveral Inconveniences, all which is pre-
vented by having the Ledge 2 Inches broad ;
fo there is room enough for the Door to fiiut,
notwithftanding the Belly of your Hive and
your Box ftanding an Inch and half from the
Doors of your Bee-houfe, will ftand cool e-
nough in the hotteft Weather.
Fifthly, That beiides the Standards that are
for your Doors to lock into, you had beft to
have Hafps of Wood to turn on a Nail, fix
before and fix behind, to hafp the Doors, to
keep them faft in their places, that the wet
G 2 I Weu-
( 84 )
Weather may not, by their fwelling, put them
out of order, and that the hot Weather in
Summer may not fo warp them, as to fpoil
their true fhutting ; but good Painting the
Bee-houfe will in a great mcafure prevent
both thefe Misfortunes.
Sixthly, Be fure to take care in the making
3'our Bee-houfe, that you fo contrive your
Doors, as to leave none of the Standards
whereinto the Doors are to lock, againft any
part of the Boxesi, but only in the Spaces be-
twixt Box and Box.
Seventhly, Leave 20 Inches betwixt each hole
that you cut in your Ledge. The beft way
to know exadly where to cut thefe holes in
the Ledge, is to take a Box, and placing it
within 4 or 5 Inches of the end, mark the
hole againft it all along your Floor, then mark
your firft hole to be cut in your Ledge over-
againft, the hole, or Aiding Shutter of your
Box. When this hole is marked, then go and
mark them all out, leaving. 20 Inches betwixt
each hole, and that will bring you right
at the other end of the Bee-houfe.
Eighthly, That I have here projeded a Bee-
houfe for 6 Colonies, rather than for a fewer
Number, becaufe it will coft very little more
than for one, two or three. But however, if
any have a mind for a lefs , the Workman
will be able by this Model to make one for
three, which if lefs than fix is the beft Num-
ber.
Ninthly, That the Doors, as well as other
parts of the Houfc,arc to be madefoclofe, that
the Bees Ihall no way get in nor out, except at
the
(85)
the Holes made in the Ledge on purpofe ,*
becaufe it will not only defend them againft
the Cold in Winter, but preferve them from
Thieves and Miccj and Caremuft be always
taken that there be no Way, Chink, or any
other Defect in your Box, that may let any of
the Bees into the Houfe, for they will be loft,
or make their Way out through the Houfe, if
any Chinks be wide enough, which will expofc
them to Robbfers ; for where a true Man can
get out, a Thief may get in.
'Tenth ly. Let the Boards for the Floor be ve-
ry fraooth and even, that the Box which is
even may touch in all Parts, elfe the Bees will
creep out under fome Corner of the Box,
and be loft.
Eleventhly, The Boards for the Cover of
your Bee-houfe muft be 12 Foot 4 Inches long^
that it may come 2 Inches over each end, and
two Boards flit Feather-edg'd will cover the
Houfe.
Twelfthly, Let your Bee-houfe ftand as free
from the Wind as you can. The beft way for
the Bees is, that the Houfe ftand to the South,
inclining a little to the Eafi, and let it be
well fail:ned by large Pofts of Oak, fet at leaft
3 Foot into the Ground at each corner, to pre-
vent being blown down by high Winds, as fome
of mine were in the great Storm.
Ihirteenthly, You cannot fet it againft a Wall,
as in the common Method of Straw-hives, but
if you choofe iuch a place in your Garden,
you muft fet it 4 or 5 Foot from the Wall, that
you may eafily open all the back Doors,
G 3 CHAP.
(86)
CHAP. XIII.
DireSiions how to make the Boxes or Box-Hives
for the Beesj ivith Iron Handles and Glafs Win-
'dows.
TH E Materials to be got ready before
your Carpenter doth begin to make the
Boxes, are thele that follow. Thick flit Deal,
which muft be of the clcareft Diamond Dram
Deals, 9 or lo Inches broad, which are an
Inch and half thick before they are flit • fo
that the flit Deal will hold above half an Inch
when Planed of both fides. Your Chriflian
Peals not being thick enough for this Work,
and 5'et they are too thick and heavy to be
made of them without flitang.
One of your Deal Boards muft be flit two
kerf, that is, flit into three Leaves inftead of
two. Thefe being thinner than the reft, are
to make the Slider on the top of the Box, and
the Doors over the Glafs Windows. Square
Panels of Glafs, 5 Inches broad, and 7 Inches
high 5 Trunk Handles of Iron bought at the
Iron-mongers, long bits of thin Iron or Tin,
5 Inches long, and an Inch broad, fome Two-
penny Dove Nails, or fmall Hinges, with fome
Nails and Three -penny Sprigs.
Then let the Workman proceed to make a
Mould, for his more exad making the Boxes
upon, that the Boxes may be exadly of a
bignefs, to fit one another, \vhen they come to
l^e ufed about the Bees.
'• ■ Let
(8?)
The Mould to
make the Box up-
on, Seventeenlnch-
cs Diameter from
out to out.
i-et your Bench be Very fmooth, exadly even,
and well pliined; for ii' your Bench be uneven,
fo will alio the bottom of your Boxes, and To
J be unfit for the Floor of your Bee-houfe.
iAnd whereas the Form of the Box mull be
Eight Square, fo mufl be alfo your Mould.
Upon your Bench mark out, with your Rule
[ and CompalTes, an exad 8 Square of 1 8 Inch-
i es Diameter, which is the breadth of your
' Box, then fit fmall bits of Deal for a Mould
within your place marked out half an Inch.
Thefe bits need not be above half an Inch
broad, and fo nail them faft down to -your
Bench in an 8 Square, 17 Inches Diameter;
fo that the Box which is made on the out-
fide of this Mould, will be 18 Inches or fome-
thing better , according as the I'oard your
Box is made with is in thicknefs. And here
take Notice, that this Mould is never to be
taken up from the Bench till you have made
as many Boxes upon it as you defign to make
in all, fo will they be ufed with k(s Trouble,
G 4 as
( 88 )
as by Experience you will find, when they are
all ot" a bignefs, and cxadly fit one another,
then when they are otherwife made, either
thro' Ignorance or Carclefsners. Then take one
of the thickefl of your flit Deals, and fawing
it out in 1 8 Inch Lengths, let them be gfewed
two and two together, to make the tops of the
Boxes, which mufl be i8 Inches over ; fo hav-
ing glew'd as many of the two breadths toge-
ther as you defign to make Boxes, then pro-
ceed to plane your Boards well on both fides,
and then favv out the Scantlings of the Boxes,
which mufl be 7 Inches and a quarter in the
widefl part, 6 Inches and 3 quarters in that
part or fide that is to be the infide of the Box,
the edges being thus fmoothed off with a
Plane, and fet upright, and ifaid down to the
Bench with Sprigs again fl the Mould before
defcribed, fo you will find that 8 of thefe
pieces of Board will come round your Mould,
and make a Box ; tho' every Box mufl have
but 6 of them, becaufe the Squares before and
behind mufl not be of thefe Boards, but fram'd
with 3 Rabets, one infide Rabet to receive
the Glafs in the infide of the Box, 7 Inches
long, and 5 Inches broad ; and another Rabet
6x\ the outfide above the Glafs,. to receive a
thin Door, which mufl be made to fliut over
the Glafs Window, and hung to the Frame
with the fmall Two-penny Dove-nails before
fpokenof, and mufl be planed very thin, i-or the
whole Frame containing the Glafs, and this
little Door mufl be no thicker than one of
the other Boards, and ufed as one of them,
before and behind phe Box, and with a fmall
button
( 89 )
Button to turn upon a Nail it is to be faft-
ned with, that without trouble you may open
the Door when you have a mind to fee what
your Bees are a doing • fo when you have fix-
ed thefe 2 Frames with Glafs Windows one a-
gainll another, or one before, and another be-
hind, and ritted your 6 pieces to them, and
with Three-penny Sprigs well faftned them to-
gether, then fit your Head, which muft not
be nailed on at top of thefe pieces, but cut
exaftly with great Care, and let down with-
in thefe pieces, and then let all the pieces- and
Frames be well Sprig'd to this Head, fo the
Box is made, but not quite finifh'd. There
remains yet Three Things to be done before
'tis finifh'd, and that is a Hole and Slider o-
ver it in the top of the Box, a little Slider
under the Front Door, and two Sticks a-crofs
the Box, to rell: the Combs upon. Firft, As
to the hole in the middle of the top, it muft
be 5 Inches Square, and half an Inch on each,
fide of the hole muR be cut in Grooves for a
Slider to run in, that when it is once faftned
in, it fliall not rife to come out, but only Aide
too and fro, in order to flop, or leave open
the hole of 5 Inches Square, as occafion re-
quires. For when the Box is to be the upper
Box, then the Slider mufl be thruft home to
fhut the hole, but then the middle Box or un-
der Box mufl have the holes open, with the
Shutter thrufl quite back, this hole ferving for
Communication between Box and Box. Now
the way to make this Slider, is to pare away
with a fiiarp Chizel a place for the Slider, which
muft be wider than the hole by at leaft half
an
(9°)
an Inch, and To run in a Groove, being hollow
on purpofe to fhut the hole,or to be thruftback.
This cutting away a place, rniifl be as deep
as your Slider is thick in the top of the Box ;
but then the beft way is not to have the hin-
der part of this Shutter or SJic^er to be of the
whole breadth, as it is at the other end, but
cut juft at the hindermoft end at the breadth
of 2 Inches only, after thisvmanner,
which two Inches is as fufficient to
drive home this Shutter with, when
you want to cut off the upper Box
of Honey, and more convenient than
if it were left to the whole breadth
open ; it muft be fo ordered in the
' ' making this Slider, that when it is
thruft quite back, this narrow end
may be even with the outfide of the Box, and
two little bits muft be nailed on after the
Shutter is made, and put into its Grooves on
the Box of each fide of the narrow end of
this Shutter, to fill up that which.is cut away
off this Shutter, and this will hinder the Shut-
ter from ever falling out, or being lofl, and
alfo prevent the Bees from coming out at each
fide. The ufe of this hole in the Box, I have
told you before, is for the Bees to work down
thro' into the under Box, and this Slider is to
drive home when you are to cut off the up-
per Box ; fo that at once it ferves to cut off
one Box from another, and to flop the hole
of 5 Inches, and keep the Bees in the under
Box, but it mufl have a thm bit of Tin, or
thin Iron nailed on at the broad cutting" end,
and the Slider alfo ihaved away thin to nothing,
and
( 90 ■
and then the Plate of Tin nailed on, tho' it
be not very fharp, will very well cut off th«
Honey and Wax that is in the hole. The next
thing is a Slider in the edge of the Box, un-
I der the Front Window, that Square of the Box
where the narrow end of the broad Slider be-
fore fpoken of, mull: be always the hinder part,
and this narrow end muft always come out
over the back Window, fo under the contrary
Window, which is the Front Window, there
miift be a Tallage cut about half an Inch in
heighthj and 4 or 5 Inches in length ; but you
muft make a little Slider to flide along to
ftop this hole alfo when there is occafion, or
as much of it as you think fit. This little
Slider muft be cut with floping edges, and
the Box where it is to go hollowed ; fo that
Vv'hen it is thruft home (as it always is when
a Box is raifed ) it may ftop the hole clofe,
and alfo be entirely or the Box, and not fall
out. When the Box is raifed this Slider muft
be about 7 Inches long, fo as to come about
2 Inches without the Box,' with a Notch cut
in the outer part, almoft at the end, to take
hold of to pull it out by, when it is too far
in, or to draw it out to its full length, if oc-
cafion be, without at all difturbing the Bees.
Then let your Trunk handles be put on to
the two fides of your Box, that as you ftand
either behind or before your Bee-houfe, you.
may conveniently lift up your Box. Let thefe
handles be very faft clinch'd in the infide^ the
beft way is not to put the handles near the top
nor bottom of your Box , but the middle.
fhus is your Box compleat, and may very well
^ be
(90
be thus ufed without any other Addition, and
none have been made with any till fince the
firft Edition of this Book was printed, not
but I have long fince difcovered one Inconve-
oiency, which the Bees have fometimes furfer-
ed in, the Boxes, but always look'd on it as re-
medilefs, and therefore faid nothing of it, but
having by late Experience found out one, fhall
candidly difcover it to my Brethren, who are
lovers of Bees.
The Inconveniency that we are now going
to remedy, is this ; that in tlie middle or
latter Months of the Summer, as Jjine, July
and Auguft (and I thihk never before nor af-
ter) when the Colonies, by reafon of their
continual breeding come to be very full, and
the Weather proves very hot ; but if it be on-
ly hot and clear all is well, but if it be very
hot, and fometimes cloudy or fhow'ry, the Bees
by natural Inflind being lenfible of their Dan-
ger by being abroad in the Rain, high then
home as faft as they can (tho' very often they
are more afraid than hurt). For I have often
known them to prefs home in that violent
hafte, only upon the rifing of a Cloud when
no Rain hath followed, fo all prefTmg violent-
ly at the Mouth of the Box to get in, they
ftop the Paflage fo clofe up, that^thofc with-
in are like to be fuftbcated for want of Air,
which makes them fo uncafy, that they are
like mad things within the Box i nay, ibme-
times they have prown fo hot, that I could
fcarcely hold my Hand on the Glafs Window ;
fometimes in this Extremity I have lifted up
the whole Colony on one iide a little, and
thruft
(95)
thruft under the Edge of the lowermoft Box a
pretty thick Knife-blade, by which means hav-
ing let them in Air that way, they have in a
little time been quiet again ; but I have more
than once known them npon fuch a Difturbance
come powdering back again out of the Mouth
of there Colony two or three Quarts at a time
and lain in a Bunch at the Door threatning to
fwarm ; to prevent which, I have gone prefcnt-
ly and raifed them upon another Box, thinking
they had wanted room, when indeed it hath
been no fuch Matter, but only want of Air in
the Box occafion'd as above, but now having
found out an infallible Remedy, and without
Trouble or Coft to thofe that put it in Pradice.
I fhall here direft the Joyner that makes the
Boxes according, let a Hole be cut i Inches
fquare in one of the hinder Cants of every Box,
it matters not whether it be of the right or left
fide of your hinder Glafs Window, and it is no
great matter whether it be high or low, but I
think it will be moft convenient about the Mid-
dle, over this Hole in the infide of the Box nail
a Piece of Tin Plate punch'd full of Holes as
big as you pleafe, provided the Bees cannot
creep out at them, then make a very thin Sli-
der to run in Grooves over this Hole on the
outfide, that when it is thruft home all may be
clofe and warm, and when there is occafion in
violent hot Weather to draw it back, the Air
or Breath may freely pafs through thefe Holes,
and fo prevent the Diforder aforefaid, as well as
prevent their Swarming.
Or thus (which will do as well) with a fmall
Piercer bore Holes in one of the hindcrmoft
Cants
( 94 )
Cants of the Box, as thick as you can for
two Inches fquare, and io let the Slider run
over thcfe Holes inftead of. the Tjn Plaxe :
This laft I have expenenc'd this laft Summer
to anfwer well -, this bormg of Holes may be
done by thofe who have Boxes already in ufe
with Bees in them, for tho' they cannot with
Hammer and Nails put on the Slider with its
Grooves, yet they may eafily bore the Holes,
and cover them up clofe in the Winter, with a
double woolen Cloth ftuck on with Pins, or
with a PJaifter of Bees-Wax, fprcad on Linnen,
and put on all over thefe Holes when there is
no occafion to have them open, and pull it off
when there is, as they fhall fee caufe ; thefe
Holes or Plates with Holes, with the Slider,
you may draw back when your Bees w^nt railing
on another Box, i^ you are afraid of their fud-
den Swarming; by letting the Holes remain
open, that will be prevented, and perhaps you
may ftay a Week the longer before you raif'e your
Colony upon another Box, till by the increaiing
of their Numbers you are-forc'd to it, the Man-
ner how, and the Time when, you will iind at
large defcrib'd in its proper place.
The laft thing is to put two Sticks crofs, or
rather two half Inch fquarc Sticks made out of
your Deal, one about 2 Inches above the other
crofs the Box in the inlide, let the lowermoft be
about 2 Inches, from the Bottom of the Box,
and fo faftned at the four ends, by driving a
Nail thro' the outfide of the Box into the ends
of the Sticks, which you need not drive quite
home ; fo that when you are going to take your
Honey out of the Box, you may draw thofc
four
(90
four iNdiis, and then your Sticks will come out
with your Honey with a great deal of eafe.
Obfervations on the aforefaid Defcfiption of the
Box.
Firfl. rTp HAT no one thing here defcribed
JL can be omitted ,• the leaft part is
the Slider under the Front Window. And here
perhaps you may think, if, ii there be but a
Hole 4 Inches long under the Front Window,
to fet againft the Hole in the Ledge of the
Houfe, the Bees will work in and out very
well into the Box.
'Tis very true, fo they would without the
Slider, but for all that, you cannot be without
it • for the Slider ferves when Robbing-time
comes, which is in Auguji or Septembevy by
thrufting it in farther, to ftraiten the Paf-
fage of the Bees ; nay, fometimes you are forc'd
to thruft it in fo far, that you only leave room
enough for one Bee to go in and out at a time,
and then when you raife your Box upon ano-
ther, you thruft it quite home; fo that it being
held in by running in a Groove, it cannot fall
our, and fo it makes that part of the Box clofe
and entire as the other Parts. For now the
Bees raifed upon another Box, mufl all work
in and out thro' the hole under the Box.
Secondly^ That the Trunk Handles be ftrong
and^well faftned, for if one of them fiiould fail
in lifting up a Box, or fometimes the Weight
of two Boxes lies upon one Pair of Handles,
(which-may be loo Pounds) it would, perhaps,
by their Fail, prove the Deftrua:ion of your
Colony. 'Thirdly,
(90
^Thirdly, That the Sticks heed not go exad-
]y crofs your Box, and it is better they do not
bat only in the Form of St. AndrevSs Crofs X,
or the Letter X thus.
Fourthly, That tho' we have Glafs Windows
to open fometimes, yet you muft have Doors
to fhut over them ; for having the Light always
upon tiiem, would very much diHiurb them.
Fifthly, That there are yet two Inftruments
more, which tho' they do not immediately be-
long to the Boxes, yet they cannot be ufcd
without them ; and that is a light Wooden
Mallet, and a thin Piece of Wood of the thick-
nefs of the broad Slider on the Top of your .
Box, or rather fomcwhat thinner, and about
i Inches broad, and 9 Inches long, or the fame
breadth of the narrow end of- the great Sli-
der on the top of the Box. The ufe of thefe
two Inftruments are for to take off the Box or
Hive on the Box withal, by fetting the end of
this thin bit of Board againft the narrow hinder
end of the Slider of the fecond Box, and with
the Mallet drive it home to cut off the Combs
in the Hole 5 Inches fquare on the top of the
Box, that fo the upper Box may be taken away^
^s fliall io its proper Place be direded.
CHAP,
(97)
G H 4 P. XIV.
DireBions hovj and whra tofurnijh your Bee-houfe
with Bees
J Aving ftrongly fet up your Bee-houfe as
before dirsdtcd, the beft time is in O^o-
bcr, when all Cafualties of their inifcarrying by
robbing is over, then the beft Way is for you
to go about amongft the Bee-gardens of the
poor People, who will be glad of your ready
Money, and let you take your choice, choofc
fuch ^s were Swarms that Summer, and fuch as
are comb'd down to the Stool they Ifand on,
for if they have not, 'tis a iign it was a Caft,
or at beft biit a fmall Swarm j but be fure
you take fuch as are very heavy, for you had
better choofe a Sraller of two Years old, than
a light Swarm i ' 'for if they are light, it will
take them up fo-lnuch time to fill up their own
Hive, that it will be late in the Spring before
they will want the Box to be put under them,
whereas i^ they were very full of Bees, and
heavy, they will want their Box in May^
femetimes in Apnl to be put under them.
Thus having provided your felf with half a
Dozen fuch Stocks of Bees, let them be
brought home to you in the Month of O'cIg-
ber^ or at fertheft in the beginning of Novem-
ber. The Way of removing them muft be wa^
rily obferv'd ; you muft lay a thin, and fome-
what large Napkin on the Ground, before the
Hive of Bees you defign to remove, about
H eifiht;
( 98 )
eight a Clock at Night, (if it be a cold Day,
you may do it by fix a Clock) for by that
time they will be all in, and up in their Hive,
i'o that in taking them up there will be the
fewer loft; then take up the Hive of Bees gent-
ly, but quick, and fet them down on the Nap-
kin, and fuddenly take up the four Corners of
it, and tye them crofs-ways over the Crown
of the Hive, and then take a Packthread
and tye very hard round your Hive on your
Napkin, and fo they are fitted for Carriage;
the befl Way is on a Hand-barrow, three or
four at a time betwixt two Men. When you
have them home, open your Bee-houfe and
put them all in, then lirff untie one of them,
and take the Napkin from under it, and put-
ting a Sfone, or fomcthing an Inch thick at
leaif , lay your Napkin by the Hive thus open'd,
and the loofe Bees about the Napkin, by the
humming of their Fellows within the Hive,
will be call'd home, fo that few or none will be
loii About a quarter of an Hour, or rather
more, when your Bees in the Hive firff o-
pen'd arc pretty quiet, then proceed to per-
ibrm the like to all the reff, and fo leave
them rill the next Morning. About ^ or 7 a
Clock, or about Sun rifing, fet all your Hives
v/ith their Mouths againff the Holes made on
purpofc in the Ledge under your Bee-houfe
Door, and then with Lime and Hair fmooth
up all within the Bee-houfe, fo th^t no Bees
may G:et out of the Hive any-where, but thro*
rhe Hole in the Ledge in the Front of your
Houfc, and then you have nothing more to do
for
C 99 )
for them till next May generally, ro however
till the latter end of April.
Firjh Obferve that the beft time to furnifh
your Bee-houfe, I fuppofc to be in Oiioberv^.-
ther than Af^y, becaufeyou may then buy Swarms
tbat may fail by Robbing, or fome other Ca-
fualty, tho' you are left to your, own Liberty.
If you can have the Opportunity of good
large Swarms near you, 'tis pitty to neg-
left it, but then they muft be brought home to
you the fame Day they Avarmj and the Hive
put with its Mouth againft the Hole of the
Ledges, as before.
Secondly y Tho' you furnifh your Houfe with
Swarms in May, you would be no forwarder
for the Bees working down into your Boxes
the Spring following than if you bought them
in oilobevy for thefe will be fit to be rais'd up-
on the Boxes the Spring following, and your
Swarms will be no more.
T'hirdly, That if you pleafe to fill your Houfe
with Swarms, you have them brought home
the firft Night, for if you fhould let them fland
two or three Days, and the Weather good,
they may make Combs to hold Honey to drown
themfclves in their Carriage, for the Combs
being then tender, and the Weather warm, they
are apt to break down ia Carriage, and fo the
Virgin-honey being fine and thin, they will be
clamm'd in it, and fo fpoifd. This I know to
my Coft to be Matter of Fad.
Fourthly y That we take a thin large Napkin,
thin, becaufe if it fhould be of thick Cloth, fuch
as clofe Diaper when new, or Damask, it would
be too thick for the Bees to breath through,"
H 2 and
( lOO )
and tho' it might not fufrocate thero, it would
make them very angry and troublefome, in
putting them into the Houfe ; and large it muft
be, otherwife it would not reach to tye over
the Hiv^e, elpecially if the Hives be of any
Bignefs.
Fifthly-, That you untie not )'our Napkin off
of your Hives of Bees altogether, for if you did
fo, fome that were loofe not going to their
own Hive, but into another inftcad thereof,
being call'd by the humming of thofe in the
HivCj will be all flain, which by the Method
prefcrib'd will be prevented.
CHAP. XV.
DireSiions when, mid hozv to raife your Hives of
Bees on the fill Box.
IF the Spring be forward, the breeding of
the Bees will be alfo forward j therefore
you muft have a little Eye to them in the lat-
ter end of April, and in the Month of Muy.
You muft not raife them upon ydur Box till they
are very thick about the Mouth, or rather be-
gin to lay out with a Tendency to Swarming,
then they are fit to be raifed, and you muft
proceed thus, having your Bo\ ready, with the
top Slider quite open, that the Bees may pafs
from the Hive down into the Box, and the
Slider in the Mouth of the Box drawn back,
that the Bees may hav^e room enough to work
in and out of the Box, then open both the
front Door, and the back Door of the Bce-
houfc,
C loi )
houfe, in that part of it where the Bees are to
be raifed, then let (omebody ftand ready with
the Box, holding it with the two Iron Handles
at the front of the Houfe, and the fore Slider
or Mouth of the Box to themward, go you be-
hind the Houfe, and gently lift up the Hive fo
high, that the Box may go under it, then let
him or her with the Box in hand fet it in its
Place, with its Mouth againft the Hole of the
Ledge fo often fpoken of; the Box muft be fet ^
up ciofe againft it, then quickly fet down the:^
Hive upon the Box, on the Middle of it as
near as you can guefs, tho' there needs no Ex-
adnefs 3 then prefently with Lime and Hair,
flop up the Mouth of the Hive, fo the Bees
will immediately work down thro' the Hole
in the top of the Box, in and out at the
fame Hole they were ufed to before, without .
any Lett or Hinderance.
F/r/?, O jferve that we do not raife the Hive
on the Box till they want room in the Hive,
which you know by their lying out in a Bunch,
for if you fhou'd raife them too foon, before
they want it, you will greatly hinder them, by
carrying all their Work thro' a great empty Box
which they do not want, becaufe they have not
fill'd their own Hive.
Secondly ■, That we prefently flop up the
Mouth of the Hive as now ufelefs, the
Mouth of the Box ferving for the fame pur-
pofe,
TbirMy, If you fhould not prefently flop up"
the Mouth of the Hive, the Bees would ftili
hang about that, and not go down into the j^ox,
but the Mouth of the Hive being flopt 117, they
H 5 having
( 102 )
having now no other PafTage, they prcfently
take to it.
CHAP. XVI.
DireBions hovi to raife the fir ft Box and Hi-ve up-
on a fecond Box.
YO U may now be upon greater certainty
about raifing the Box, than you were a-
bout the Hive ; becau:^ of the Ghfs Windows
in tht Box. When the Bees have work'd down
in your Box, fo as that the Combs come to each
Window of your Box, and your Box feems ve-
ry full of Bees, as well as Combs, then is the
tim-c to raife it on another Box, efpecially if
you fee them feal up their Honey in the Combs
half way down the firft Box, which you may
eafily fee at the Windows as before ; then
placing fomebody before that part of the Bcc^-
houfe, with a Box ready in hand, and the broad
top Slider thrufl quite back, that the hole may
be open, and the Slider in the Mouth or under
part of the front of the Box drawn fo far back,
fis to leave a fufficient Pailage into the Box, then
as you before lifted up only the Hive on the
firft Box, now you mufc take hold of the Iron
Handles of your Box, and lifting up Box and
Hive together, fet under the fecond Box, which
fometimes in a good Summer, you may do by
the Middle of Juaey immediately thrufting
quite home the Shutter of the Mouth of the
ttrd Box, that no Bees may come out at that
PJ>ace,
( '°? )
Place, but now work in and out thro' the fe-
cond Box.
Fiyflt Obferve, that there mufl always be
great Care taken when you put under a Eox,
(whether it be the firft or fecond) that the Sh-
der in the top of the Box be always thruft back*
for elfe your Bees cannot go down into the un-
der Box, according to the Defign of thefe Boxes
for thefe induftrious Servants of ours, tho' they
may be help'd in their working, by thus fup-
plying them with more room, yet they mufl
not be contradided in the nature of their work-
ing, which is always to work downward and not
upward. /
Secondly^ Be fure a h'ttle after you have rafs'd
them on a new Box, to open your Houle again,
and fee that your Box is fet clofe to the Ledge
of the Houfe, that the Bees may not creep from
between your Box and the Ledge into th.c
Houfe.
'Thirdly, Always take notice, that i^ your
Boxes, when fet one upon another as before
direfted, do not fit one another exaftly, but
there be room enough for the B°es to come out
into the Houfe betwixt the joynin^ of the
two Boxes, that you with a fmooth Knife fill
up thofe Chinks with Lime and Hair^ alfo it
your Board fhould not be made fmooth, I
mean the Floor of your Eee-houfe, fo that
the under Box doth not ftand clofe enough to
it to keep the Bees in the Box, but that fome
ot them creep out from under the Edges of
the Box, then fupply alfo that Defect with*
Lime and Hair, fp that you now having a
H 4 com-
( 104 )
compicat Colony of two Boxes and a Hive, you
have nothing to do till you take off the Hive.
CHAP. XVII.
DireEiions how and ivhen to take off the Straw-
hive, and return the Bees found therein to their
Fellows^ that none may be lojl.
HEN by your Glafs Windows yoa per-
ceive your Middle Box is well hirnifli'd
with Honey, (I mean the Box that your Straw-
hive immediately ftands upon,) then to take o|F
the Hive proceed thus. Firfl: of all take a
Napkin, and with Tome Nails, or Pins will
do as well, for I have often done it with the
latter, pin your Napkin with one end on the
Landing-board, where the Bees pitch beiore
they go in, let your Napkin be up clofe to the
hole, but fo that the hole be ftill open, that
the Bees be not difturb'd, nor their Work hin-
der'd. In this Operation you have noocca-
fion to open the front Door of your Bee-houfe
but only the back Door, then take your thin
piece of Board and Mallet before fpoken of,
and go behind them, then fctting your thin bit
of Board againfl the narro'.v end of the top
Sh"dcr of your upper Box, with your Mallet
drive it home, to cut off the Combs that are
in the Hole of the upper Box, and this muft
be thus perfqrncd. Hold the thin Board in
»your Jeft Hand, and with your Malltt in
your right, give it two or three Knoqiks till
it is home, all the while preffing your Board
with
( 105 )
with your left Hand hard againft the end of
the Slider, and carry your Hand even, that
when you drive it in with the Mallet, that it
may not flip over nor under, but keep diredly
againil it till it is quite home; then take hold
or' the Hive, which now being cut off from
the Box,' v/ill with little Force come up from
the Box, and as you take it up, twift it a little
rounding. To it will eaficr part from the Box,
then carry it away from your Bees to another
part of your Garden, twenty or thirty Yards,
if your Garden will adhiit of it, that you may
be eafy and quiet in performing the reft ; then
place your Hive upfide down, or with the fmall
end downward, in a Pail, Peck, or Fiower-Pot ;
fo the fmalLend going into any of thefe Vef-
fels, it will ftand ^ery firm ; then take an emp-
ty Hive and place it on the top of your Hive
of Honey, Mouth to Mouth, then take a large
Cloths (I commonly do it with a Table-cloth)
tye them round at thejoining, that no Bees may
get out, and then with a Stick ftrike pretty hard,
fo as to fhake the Bees that are wirhin, ftrike
fometimes on one fide, then on the oher, and fo
all round, let them ftand a little now and then
without ftriking, that the Bees that are crawl-
ing up may have time to go into the empty
Hive; then ftrike again, all the while hold your
Hand on the empty Hive to keep it in its place,
which cKq would be like to fall off with the
fhaking of the other. When you have fo done>
more than a quarter of an Hour, let them ftand
ftill a little, and then taking the top Hive in
your Hand, which now hath all the Bees that
were in your other Hive, carry them away to
the
( io6 )
the Napkin, and laying a Stick on that part of
the Napkin which lyeth on the Ground, with
one fmart Stroke of the Hive on the Stick that
is on the Napkin, you will fiiake out all the
Bees together, where they will lie a little while
and then crawling up the Napkin, go home to
their Fellows, who will gladly receive them,
as may eafily be perceiv'd by their Shouts of
Joy, which thofe who arc us'd to them very
well know ; fo here you have the Honey and no
Bees deftroy'd, but they undiflurb'd keep on
their Labours, not knowing what a flippery
Trick you have play'd them ; fo you may carry
your Honey in, and ftrain it to put up in Pots,
which I need not dired ; or make it into Mead,
as (hall be hereafter dircdcd.
Firfiy Obfcrve that you n^ft have a Mallet
always in rcadincfs, to drive home the top Sli-
der, but if by thrufting with your Hand, the
Cutter of the Slider makes its own way, thruft
it home without ufing the Mallet at all, being
the ftilleft way. This I have done, but it
will not fometimes do without the Mallet, ef-
pecially when the Combs in the hole of Com-
munication are above a Year old.
Secondly^ You go tv/enty or thirty Yards off
from the Bees, that the Smell of the frefli Ho-
ney in the Hive you have taken off, may not
draw the other Bees about you.
1'hirdlyj That you never venture to take off
the Hive, nor upper Box, till you have good
reafon to judge that the Middle Box hath e-
nough Honey to maintain them all the Winter,
left you venture the loiing the whole Colony,
for want of what you have taken away. »
• Fourthly i
( 107 )
Fourthly, That fometimes j ou will by thi«?
means fee the Queen-bee on your Napkin,
which will greatly pleafe you, when you fee
with what Majefty fhe marches up the Napkin
with her Subjeds, and to the Subjects fte \c^
behind.
Fifthly, That we do not at all difturb or
hinder the Bees by theie takings off of the Boxes
or Hives, they ftill keeping on their Labours,
Cnce the way in and out is ^i\\ the fame, thro'
the Ledge as before.
Sixthly, That yoti do not (when you are
ftrikingthe Hive, to make them afcend into the
upper Hive) ftrike that, I mean the upper Hive,
for then you will be more likely to fhake them
down which are already afcendcd, than caufe
others to afcend to them.
CHAP. xvin.
DireBions how and luhen to take off the upper Bex
the next Tear after the Stra^o-hrje is gone.
I Need be but very fhort here, only obferve
the Diredions before about taj^ing off the
Straw-hive. But when you have taken off
your Box, you then muff fet it upfide down
on the Ledges of a Joynt-flool, turn'd upfide
down, and inflead of a Straw-hive to fct upon
a Straw-hive, now you mufl fet an empty Box
on the full Box, and fo knock as before direfted
on the Box, efpecially hard on the Edge round
the Top, which is indeed now undermofl next
the Joynt-flool, fo will the Bees all afcend
into
i io8 )
into the empty B^x, and mu ft be knock'd out
on the Napkin as ocfore.
Firfl, Obferve that when we take off a Straw-
hive from tiie Box, it is never to be ns'd more
in this way of keeping of Bees in thefc fort of
Houfes, but when you take off a Box, as foon
as it is empty, let ic be carefully laid by, that
the Sliders and Glafies be not hurt.
Secondly, That you muif always look into
your Houfe a little after you have took otf your
Box, and fee if all be well ; for if you have
done your Work well, the Slider will quire (hut
the top hole that was open before the Slider
was thruft home. But however, if you find it
otherwife, that either k be not quite home,f
and confequently fome of the Combs of the
hole are torn ofi-,. then take a fharp Knife and
cut off what bits of Combs ftand up, and put
die Shutter quite home ; but if after all your
Endeavours, you flill find the Bees creep out at
fome place or other of the Slider, then with
Lime and Hair flop the Hole, and fo keep' thera
in their Place.
Thirdly, When you flrike the Box on the
Stick that lies on the Napkin, in order to're-
turn the Bees home to their Fellows, you do
not turn tnofe Squares over the Stick where
the Glafs Windows are, leO: the Stroke fhould
endanger the breaking of the Glalfes.
CHAP.
( 109 }
CHAP. XIX.
DireSlions bozv to let a S">.var?n out of your Box, as
•well as a Straiu-hive.
IF yoLi keep no Bees in Straw-hives to
get Swarms from, and have a mind to have
a Swarm early in the Spring, then however be
fure to take off the under Box, which feldom
hath any Honey in September y and fet down
your upper Box to the F.oor, which is done by
driving home the Cutter of the under Box, and
then lifting up your Colony by the Handles,
Handing behind the Bee-houfe, let a Servant
fland before, and whiift you lift it up from the
under Box 2 or 3 Inches, take it quite away,
and lb fet down your Box of Bees, and draw-
back the Door Slider under the Front Win-
dow, that they may have room to go in and
out again thro' that Paifage^ and whereas fomc
Bees will be about thofe Combs in the Box
taken away, let them be knock'd out, or di-
fliurb'd with a Wing, or fmall Bough of green
Leaves, and they will all fly home to their Fel-
lows ; fo that your Colony being thus reduc'd
to one Box, when the Spring comes they will
not fail to giyz you a large and early Swarm,
if you don't raife them upon another Box, which
€warm you may hive as well in a Box as a Straw-
hive, and fo fet them down in your Bee-houfe,
with the Mouth-flider drawn back, and the
Top-flider clofe fhut up; the Mouth* of the
Box being clofe to the hole in the Ledge as be-
fore
( "o ) '
fore, fo will you have an early Swarm out of
your Box, as well as (nay fooner than you
could have had) in a Straw-hive ; fo that the
way to caufe them to fwarm, isy to flreighten
them of room, and the way to hinder them
from fwarming, is to give them more room,
both which may be done in Boxes; but per-
haps fome of the Country People will fay.
What is this to us ,who have no Boxes? Yes,
very much one part of this Document ; for tho'
we cannot teach you how to make them fwarm
fo early in the Straw-hive as in Boxes, nor is
it any matter whether you can make them fwarm
or no, for if they are full of Bees, and want
room,they will fv^^arm of themfelves, and it
they are not very full, and you did caufe them
to fwarm, it would be fo far from doing you a
Kindnefs, that it would be a great Damage
both to the Swarm and Staller, for the Swarm
would be thin, and would alfo leave a thin
Houfe from whence he came, which perhaps
would occafion the Lofs of both in the time of
Robbing: But v/hat is moit material for you to
know, is how to prevent their fwarming when
the Year is too far fpent, and this is done two
ways ; i^ you find your Bees are like to fwarm
after the Tenth of July, they are by all means
to be prevented, either by cutting off a couple
of Rounds from an old Hive, fo lift up your
Hive, and put the two Rounds under, then
plaifter all round, but the Entrance with Mor-^
tar, or elfe you may do it with two or three
Brickbats, plaiftering all between but the Porch.
And fo the whole Family are preferv'd, which
being
(ill)
beins divided (o late in the Year, would havQ
been very hazardous.
CHAP. XX.
How to raife dead Bees to Life.
THIS feems to found very ftrange at firfl,
but if we con/ider the common Experi-
ment among us, of giving a new Life to drow-
ned Wafps and Flies, (by only drying them
with a few warm Aflies) it will not appear al-
together fo improbable. And it is certain,
that dead Bees may be rais'd after the fame
Manner to Life, if drowned, from the fame
Reafons, tho' I never try'd it; but I have ma-
ny hundred times rais'd dead Bees to Life, tho'
not fuch as have been drowned.
There are two fatal Difeafes that Bees die
of, befides that of old Age, ijjz.. Hunger and
Cold, and thofe that die of either of thefc
Difeafes, (provided they have not been dead
long9 nor their internal Organs fufter'd any
Diforder by Putrefaction,) a gentle Warmth
will recover them, I fay a gentle Warmth, for
I have try'd many Degrees of Heat, to prove
which would be the moil fuccefsful, and of all
moderate Ways of warming them, I think that
of the Hand is the beft, and will fend them
more luftily home, than any other way. Take
care you bruife them not, left they fting
you. The reafon of Bees dying by Cold, is
this. In the Spring, or more early Months,
or in the Fall, or the latter Months, when the
Ground
(112)
Ground is cold and wet, if the Sun happen
fuddcnly to lliine out, as fometimes it doth,
even as early as 'January y and warms the Bees,
they prefcntly beflir themfelves to look out tor
Honey, and fo range about from place to place,
(till they are weary) tho' to little purpofe, at
lafl return home, and before they go into their
Hive, they pitch on the Ground near it,
to reft themfelves, where the Ground being
cold and wet, doth foon chill them, (that they
cannot rife) and afterwards kill them ; but if in
any reafonable time afterwards, you take them
up into your warm Hand, you may ealily hold
twenty or thirty of them at a time, and in lefs
than a quarter of an Hour they will come to
Life; and when you feel them very vigorous,
and ready to force out of your Hand whether
you will or no, then open your Hand and they
will all jBy every one to his refpedive home.
By this means I have fav'd the Lives, or rather
raifed from the dead, many Thoufands of Bees:
but there are other Ways which I have made
ufe of with great Succefs. When I have feen
the Numbers have been too great for my Hand
to recover, which may indeed be beft for thofe
that are afraid of the afore-defcrib'd Method,
that IS, I have fpread a Pocket Handkerchief
on the Grafs, and fo pick'd up all my Bees that
have been fo chili'd and kill'd, it may be five
or fix hundred at a time, and carry'd them in,
and laid them at a convenient Diftai^ce from
the Fire, that the Heat might be very mode-
rate, aod fo now and then turning them, that
they might all by turns have a fhare of the
Warmth, always remeijibring to tye up the
Corners
( "?)
Corners of my Handkerchief loofely ; but how-
ever. To that they may not crawl out beiore
they are able to fly, fo would they we loft in
and about the Fire- To when I have found by
their humming, and their lively attempting to
get out, that they were able to fly, I have
carried them out into my Garden, and open-
ing my Handkerchief, they have all flown home,
every one to his own Hive, as readily as if they
never had been dead.
At other times I have taken four or five
Dutch thin Boxes, and with a Nail or Bodkin,
making Holes in the Covers, to give them Air,
have gone and frll'dthefe Boxes with dead Bees,
and put them in my Breeches Pockets, that of
the Coat or Waftcoat is not warm enough,
and fo let them remain ul\i an Hour or more,
and then opening the Boxes in the Garden,
they have all gone home as before.
But there is another caufe of Death, and
that is Famine ; and thefe alfo may be rais'd to
Life as well as the other, but will not be fo
foon invigorated by Warmth, as thofe before
fpoken of, which died of Cold.
I was on the Eleventh Day of April, 1703.
walking in my Apiary, obferving my Bees, I
faw that one of my Hives of Bees did not work
at all, nor a Bee wag, which I \vas much con-
cern'd at, becaufe I thought it a very brisk one, ^•
fo turning it up to fee what w.is the Matter, I
found to my great trouble, the Bees were all
dead, and I at that time ignorant cf what I am
now treating of, fo walking about and mufing
on my Misfortune, brought upon me by my
own Carelefsnefs in neglecting to feed them,
J which
( 114)
which would have prevented it, and at the fame
time called to mind that they could not have
been long dead, for I had feen them play in and
out at the fame Hive but three Days before ;
at laft came to a Refolution to try an Experi-
ment, which if it fhould I'ucceed, would very
much pleale me, it not, it would do me no
Damage. The Sun at that time fhining out
very hot upon the Gravel- Walks, not a little
encouraging me in the Enterprize j I call'd for
a Dozen of PUtes to be brought me, I went
and fill'd them all with my dead Bees, which
were moll; of them faJl'n down on the Bench
whereon they flood, tho' fome were betwixt
the Combs, which I alfo knock'd out, and put
to their Fellows, andfo I left my Plates of Bees
where the Sun did fhine hotteftj fo that they,
were heated above and below, by the hot Gra-
vel underneath the Plates, and the Sun fliining
upon them, where for a time I left them, with
much Curiofity and Expeftation waiting for the.
Event. When they had- lain in this Pollure a-
bout half an Hour, to my then great Amaze-
ment, I faw many of them in every Plate begin
to wag their Legs, which gave me hopes ot Suc-
cefs; fo waiting about half an Hour longer,
they all began to wag their Wings, and to move
their Bodies a little, and in fome time after
to begin to crawl about a little ; fo then I took
fome Honey, and with a long Knife fpread
all the Combs of the Hive, and then tumbled
them all into their Hive, where fome ftuck by
their Backs, fome by their Wings in tiie Honey,
could they have been kept a quarter of an Hour
longer in the Sun, they would have been more
lively.
lively, but this could not be, for I kept them
there as long as they would flay on my Plates,
a little while longer flaying, they would have
all gone off the Plates, and been lolt, crawl-
ing about the Garden ; but having put them, all
home into their old Houfe, I turn'd them up,
and fet them in their old Place again, putting
alfo a Plate of Honey under them, to try if it
were poffible to recover them, for knowing
that they dy'd of Famine, thought it they were
but recover'd enough to eat their Honey, they
might poffibly live, and yet become Serviceable,
and I was not miftaken, for they did eat their
Honey, and tho' none of them came out of
the Mouth of the Hive for feveral Days, not
being able to f^y, yet I found every Day when
I examin'd them, by knocking gently on
their Stool, that by their buzzing, which they
always make upon hearing the leail: Noife, that
they were ftronger and ftronger, and in about
feven or eight Days they came out and fet to
Work, in order to reward me for my Care of
them.
Thus I have given you an Account of Mat-
ter of Fad i if any of more Ingenuity or Lei-
fure, will graft upon this Stock, or improve
this Experiment to the Advantage of the Bee-
garden, I have my defire.
li CHAP.
( IIO
CHAP. XXI.
Hoio to make Englifh Canary , no way inferior td
the beji of Spanifh Wines.
ONE Hundred and twenty Pounds will
make a Barrel of very good Mead ; but
if you make it of clear Honey, then your beft
way is to allow tour Pounds to every Gallon of
Water. Let your Quantity be much or little,
which you ought to govern your feif by, either
confidermg the Bignefs of your Cask, or the
Qoiincity of Honey you have to make up into
Mead, mix it in your Copper, and then boil
it and fcumit well, which Scum you may ftrain
thro' Hypocrates's Sleeve, or a taper Bag, made
of Swan-skin, with a Hoop at the broad end,
letting the narrow end come to a point. This
Bug wi]l make it as fine as the other, through
which yo .1 may put it. When your Mead is al-
inoft cold, Tun it up. Clay it down, and let
it ifana till it is fine, and old enough to drink,
which fometimes will be fooner than other, ac-
cording lo the time of the Year, and Weather
that comes npon it alter making. This Liquor
is one of the choiceft of Wines, as well as
the moft wholefome of all the Vinous Liquors
in the World, and ought to be drank and made
ufe of in Poilets, &c. as Canary ; and thus us'4
it is im;ioffible to know whether the Pofiet was
made of your o vn Mead or Canary.
Thus for making of Mead with clear Honey,
JDUt if yoii do it with the Walbings of Combs,
9V
( "7 )
or difTolve all your Honey from the Combs,
then you mull diflblve it in warm Water, till
an Egg will fwim in the Mead the breadth of
a Shilling. But here you muft be very careful,
that before you break your Combs into the Sieve
or Strainer, you feperate all the young Bqqs,
which you may ealily know from the Honey,
and Uilo theSandrach or Bee-bread, which is a
yellowy Sub ftance, with which fome of the Cells
arc hU'ci, which otherwife will give yoi\r Mead
an>.i(l Tafte, and then proceed to boil, fcum,
and tun as before. It is beft if it be kept till it
is a Year oid, and if you make it well, as be-
fore, it will keep as long as you pleafe. I
have fome now by me of almoft Nine Years
Old.
THE
(iiS)
THE
CONCLUSIO
OH Wonderful! Hath the all-wife Creator
plac'd fuch Wifdom, fuch curious Art,
fuch Fortitude and Forefight, fo polite a Go-
vernment, and. fuch indefatigable Induftry in
Creatures fo fmall as the Bees: Then let us ad-
mire and adore,, and put our felves under the
Proteaion of that Divine Being, from whence
all Wifdom and Goodnefs flbws. Are thele
Infeds fo induftrious for their own Prefervation
by timely gathering of Honey ^or their future
Support and Happinefs? And (hall we negled
t\vl (unum Necejfarium) or chiefeft Good, the
future Happinefs of our Immortal Souls ; our
Heavenly Father hath not conceal'd from us
where this Honey is to be had. In his Won-
derful Works of Creation and Providence, he
hath taught us very much, and in his Word
much more. Let us then imitate the indufti^us
Bee who goes from Flower to Flower for Ho-
ney, and labours not in vain ; fo every Leaf ot
our Bible is full of Honey, full of Grace, full
of Love, if we would but take Pains, by Kead-
ine. Prayer, and Meditation, to gather the
Sweetnefs that is in them,- wc fliould then find
("9")
our Labour not to be in vain. Can tliefc poor
Bees be rais'd to Life when dead, by the Skill,
Care and Diligence of Man ? And why not dead
Sinners, who are dead in Trefpafles and Sins,
be rais'd to a Life of Grace here, and to a Life
of Glory hereafter in Heaven, by the Power,
Goodnefs and Mercy of our Heavenly Father,
who is both able and willing to perform this
great Work upon us, and in us, if we fincerely
and in earneft go to him, who is rich in Grace
to all that call upon him : He hath made it ap-
pear, that he is willing we fliould come to him,
that he may raife us from the Death of Sin to
the Life of Righteoufnefs : And he has declar'd
in his Word, to be able to fave to the uttermoft,
who hath fhew'd us. his Goodnefs and Mercy,
in fending his only begotten Son to be our Sa-
viour and Redeemer, who is Life itfelf, and
was fent to raife us from Death to Life, and
from the Power of Satan unto God : But we-are
wanting to our felves, we keep at a diftancc-
from him, as the Jews of old, of whom Chrift
when upon the Earth complain'd ; Tou will not
come unto me that ye might have Life. Now this
neglect of ours muft arife from one of thefe two
Things, either we do not think our Cafe fo bad
as it is, that we do fo much fland in need of
this Life v/hich is ofi'er'd us in Chrift ,• or elfe
we do not believe him to be both able and will-
ing to fave us. As to the firft, we have all broken
the Holy Law of God, and ftand condemn'd by
the Law for it, 'the Soul that fins mufi die. And
as to the fecond, Chrift is notonly able but will-
ing to fave us. Come unto me all ye that are weary
and
( 120 )
andheavy ladef^and I tvill give'you reft; all thofe
that come unto me I will in no xvife caft out, &c,
llhen let's away without delay.
Unto his T^hrone of Grace^
And try if ix^e^ by Faith can fee *
His ever glorious Face.
His gracious Call is to us all.
Let's heavy laden come.
Oh, ever blefi, he'll give us rejl.
We need not fear his Doom.
His Sacred Word is on Record,
He' II turn his gracious Face,
'There was no Blame to them that came^
To beg his help and Grace.
'Txuas for our good he ^hed his Blood,
Oh, matchlefs was his Love,
And vjhy jhould ive ungrateful be.
And not his Grace improve /
Now gracious Lord thy Help afford.
Grant we thy Servants may.
By thy fjoeet Dove now (fro?n above)
And always taught to pray.
Thy Kingdom co7ne thy H-iU be dons
On Earth, as Heaven 'tis.
And gyant that we thy Face may fee,
' In Everlafting BUfs. Amen.
FINIS.