Bee. in it to molest you; and likewise without dead bees, which, when you burn them, are often mixed with your honey, and both waste and damage it. upper side of them be very smooth and even, that the boxes may stand true upon them: or it may be still more advisable, to place under every pair of boxes a smooth thin board, as long as the boxes, and about a quarter of an inch wider. The bees will soon fasten the boxes to this board in such a manner that you may move or weigh the boxes and board together, without breaking the wax or resin, which for many reasons ought to be avoided. These floors must be supported by pieces of wood or bearers, which are nailed from post to post at each end. They are likewise to be well nailed to the frame, to keep them from sinking with the weight of the boxes. f Represents the roof, which projects backward about seven or eight inches beyond the boxes, to shelter them from rain. You have now only to cut niches or holes in the frame, over against each mouth or entrance into the boxes, at h, h, h, in fig. 4. Let these niches be near four inches long; and under each you must nail a small piece of wood for the bees to alight upon. The morning or evening sun will shine upon one or both ends of the frame, let its aspect be what it will but you may prevent its overheating the boxes, by a loose board set up between the posts, and kept in by two or three pegs. : The same gentleman, with great humanity, observes, that no true lover of bees ever lighted the fatal match without much concern and that it is evidently more to our advantage to spare the lives of our bees, and be content with part of their stores, than to kill and take possession of the whole. About the latter end of August, says he, by a little inspection through your glasses, you may easily discover which of your colonies you may lay under contribution. Such as have filled a box and a half with their works, will pretty readily yield you the half box. But you are not to depend upon the quantity of combs, without examining how they are stored with honey. The bees should, according to him, have eight or nine pounds left them, by way of wages for their summer's work. The most proper time for this business is the middle of the day; and as you stand behind the frame, you will need no armour, except a pair of gloves. The operation itself is very simple and easily performed, thus: Open the mouth of the box you intend to take; then with a thin knife cut through the resin with which the bees have joined the boxes to each other, till you find that you have separated them; and after this, thrust a sheet of tin gently in between the boxes. The communication being hereby stopped, the bees in the fullest box, where it is most likely the queen is, will be a little disturbed at the operation; but those in the other box where we suppose the queen is not, will run to and fro in the utmost hurry and confusion, and send forth a mournful cry, easily distinguished from their other notes. They will issue out at the newly opened door; not in a body as when they swarm, nor with such calm and cheerful activity as when they go forth to their labours; but by one or two at a time, with a wild flutter and visible rage and disorder. This, however, is soon over: for as soon as they get abroad and spy their fellows, they fly to them instantly and join them at the mouth of the other box. By this means, in an hour or two, for they go out slowly, you will have a box of pure honey, without leaving a bee Mr White acknowledges, that he has sometimes found this method fail, when the mouth of the box to be taken away has not been constantly and carefully closed: the bees will in this case get acquainted with it as an entrance; and when you open the mouth in order to their leaving this box, many of them will be apt to return, and the communication being stopped, will in a short time carry away all the honey from this to the other box; so much do they abhor a separation. When this happens, he has recourse to the following expedient, which he thinks infallible. He takes a piece of deal, a little larger than will cover the mouth of the box, and cuts in it a square niche somewhat more than half an inch wide. In this niche he hangs a little trapdoor, made of a thin piece of tin, turning upon a pin, with another pin crossing the niche a little lower, so as to prevent the hanging door from opening both ways. This being placed close to the mouth, the bees which want to get out will easily thrust open the door outwards, but cannot open it the other way to get it again; so must, and will readily, make to the other box, leaving this in about the space of two hours, with all its store, justly due to the tender-hearted bee-master as a ransom for their lives. What led Mr White to prefer collateral boxes to those before in use, was, to use his own words, his "compassion for the poor bees, who, after traversing the fields, return home weary and heavy laden, and must perhaps deposit their burden up two pair of stairs, or in the garret. The lower room, it is likely, is not yet furnished with stairs: for, as is well known, our little architects lay the foundation of their structures at the top and build downward. In this case, the weary little labourer is to drag her load up the sides of the walls and when she has done this, she will travel many times backward and forward, as I have frequently seen, along the roof, before she finds the door or passage into the second story; and here again she is perplexed with a like puzzling labyrinth, before she gets into the third. What a waste is here of that precious time which our bees value so much, and which they employ so well! and what an expence of strength and spirits, on which their support and sustenance depend! In the collateral boxes, the rooms are all on the ground floor; and because I know my bees are wise enough to value convenience more than state, I have made them of such a moderate, though decent, height, that the bees have much less way to climb to the top of them than they have to the crown of a common hive." Bee. 36 Mr Wild Mr Wildman's hives have been already described of the ma(N° 23, 24.). A good swarm will soon fill one of these nagement hives, and therefore another hive may be put under it of bees in the next morning. The larger space allowed the bees man's hives. will excite their industry in filling them with combs. The queen will lay some eggs in the upper hive; but so soon as the lower hive is filled with combs, she will lay most of them in it. In little more than three weeks, all the eggs laid in the upper hive will be turned into bees; and if the season is favourable, their cells will be soon filled with honey. As soon as they want room, a third hive should be 3 X 2 placed Bee. placed under the two former; and in a few days after the end of three weeks from the time the swarm was put into the hive, the top hive may be taken away at noon of a fair day; and if any bees remain in it, carry it to a little distance from the stand, and turning its bottom up, and striking it on the sides, the bees will be alarmed, take wing, and join their companions in the second and third hives. If it is found that the bees are very unwilling to quit it, it is probable that the queen remains among them. In this case, the bees must be treated in the manner that shall be directed when we describe Mr Wildman's method of taking the honey and the wax. The upper bive now taken away should be put in a cool place, in which no vermin, mice, &c. can come at the combs, or other damage can happen to them, and be thus preserved in reserve. When the hives seem to be again crowded, and the upper hive is well stored or filled with honey, a fourth hive should be placed under the third, and the upper hive be taken off the next fair day at noon, and treated as already directed. As the honey made during the summer is the best, and as it is needless to keep many full hives in store, the honey may be taken out of the combs of this second hive for use. If the season is very favourable, the bees may still fill a third hive. In this case, a fifth hive must be put under the fourth, and the third taken away as before. The bees will then fill the fourth for their winter store. As the honey of the first hive is better than the hony collected so late as that in the third, the honey may be taken out of the combs of the first, and the third may be preserved with the same care as directed for that. In the month of September, the top hive should be examined; if full, it will be a sufficient provision for the winter; but if light, that is, not containing 20 pounds of honey, the more the better, then, in the month of October, the fifth hive should be taken away, and the hive kept in reserve should be put upon the remaining one, to supply the bees with abundant provisions for the winter. Nor need the owner grudge them this ample store; for they are faithful stewards, and will be proportionally richer and more forward in the spring and summer, when he will reap an abundant profit. The fifth hive which was taken away should be careful ly preserved during the winter, that it may be restored to the same stock of bees, when an additional hive is wanted next summer; or the first swarm that comes off may be put into it. The combs in it, if kept free from filth and vermin, will save much labour, and they will at once go to the collecting of honey. It is almost needless to observe, that when the hives are changed, a cover, as already directed (see N° 23.) should be put upon every upper hive; and that when a lower hive becomes an upper hive, the door of it should be shut up, that so their only passage out shall be by the lower hive; for otherwise the queen would be apt to lay eggs in both indiscriminately. The whole of the above detail of the management of one hive may be extended to any number; it may be proper to keep a register to each set; because, in restoring hives to the bees, they may be better pleased at receiving their own labours than that of other stocks. If in the autumn the owner has some weak hives, which have neither provision nor number sufficient for the winter, it is advisable to join the bees to richer hives for the greater number of bees will be a mutual advantage to one another during the winter, and accelerate their labours much in the spring. For this purpose, carry a poor and a richer hive into a room a little before night then force the bees out of both hives into two separate empty hives, in a manner that shall be hereafter directed: shake upon a cloth the bees out of the hive which contains the fewest; search for the queen; and as soon as you have secured her with a sufficient retinue, bring the other hive which contains the greater number, and place it on the cloth on which the other bees are, with a support under one side, and with a spoon shovel the bees under it. They will soon ascend; and, while under this impression of fear, will unite peaceably with the other bees; whereas, had they been added to the bees of the richer hive, while in possession of their castle, many of the new-comers must have paid with their lives for their intrusion. It appears from the account of the management of bees in Mr Wildman's hives, that there is very little art wanting to cause the bees to quit the hives which are taken away, unless a queen happens by chance to be among them. In that case, the same means may be used as are necessary when we would rob one of the common hives of part of their wealth. The method is as follows: Bee. 37 Remove the hive from which you would take the His methed wax and honey into a room, into which admit but of taking the honey little light, that it may at first appear to the bees as and was. if it was late in the evening. Gently invert the hive, placing it between the frames of a chair or other steady support, and cover it with an empty hive, keeping that side of the empty hive raised a little, which is next the window, to give the bees sufficient light to get up into it. While you hold the empty hive, steadily sapported on the edge of the full hive, between your side and your left arm, keep striking with the other hand all round the full hive from top to bottom, in the manner of beating a drum, so that the bees may be frightened by the continued noise from all quarters; and they will in consequence mount ont of the full hive into the empty one. Repeat the strokes rather quick than strong round the hive, till all the bees are got out of it, which in general will be in about five minutes. It is to be observed, that the fuller the hive is of bees, the sooner they will have left it. As soon as a number of them have got into the empty hive, it should be raised a little from the full one, that the bees may not continue to run from the one to the other, but rather keep ascending upon one another. So soon as all the bees are out of the full hive, the hive in which the bees are must be placed on the stand from which the other hive was taken, in order to receive the absent bees as they return from the fields. If this is done early in the season, the operator should examine the royal cells, that any of them that have young in them may be saved, as well as the combs which have young bees in them, which should on no account be touched, though by sparing them a good deal of honey be left behind. Then take out the other combs with a long, broad, and pliable knife, such as the apothecaries make use of. The combs should be cut from the sides and crown as clean as possible, to save the future labour of the bees, who must lick up |