An abundant supply of water is essential to the healthy condition of bees. They consume a large quantity, and often stop to drink at the edge of stagnant pools, and seem even to prefer putrid and urinous waters to purer streams, as if their saline and pungent qualities were grateful to them.
Where the bee-keeper has the use of a honey-extractor, and a large produce of honey is his desideratum, the combs can be emptied as fast as they are filled; and at the close of the season the bees may be deprived of the whole of their honey if syrup be supplied to them in its place. This is of much less value, and answers every purpose for winter stores. No hive should be trusted to the exigencies of winter with a less weight of sealed comb than 15 Ib. Honey may also be gathered into supers ; and the bees in good seasons will readily build their combs there, but should be enticed to do so with a few pieces of nice white decoy-comb placed within. J The management of the Stewarton hives may be described as follows : Two of the breeding-boxes having had their bars furnished with guide-comb, are lashed together, the sliding-door of the upper one run in and the slides of the lower withdrawn, when the two boxes become virtually one ; a prime swarm of bees is introduced, and eight or ten days thereafter, another prime swarm being hived in the third breeding-box, it is placed under the other two. The lower of the two first boxes, now the central, has its door run in and the slides of the luwer withdrawn. The second swarm of bees will soon run up and fraternise with the others ; and the next morning the lowermost box may be removed, and the entrance opened of the one above. The space provided by the two boxes will be found ample for breeding ; and when full, the strong stock formed by the double swarm will soon be glad to occupy the super then to be added, to which communication should be afforded by withdraw ing the outer slide on each side only. Should the season prove favourable the super will soon be filled, and when nearly so another should be placed on the top, and the first may be removed as soon as the honey cells are sealed over. All supers must be warmly wrapped up or padded, or the bees will be found reluctant to occupy them.
By the judicious management of supers, and the use of the honey-extractor, swarming may be in a great measure controlled ; for if many swarms issue, the result must be that little honey will be gathered ; all the energies of the reduced population being exerted to procure food for and attend to the young A super put oil the hive before the bees have made preparations for swarming by the construc tion of queen cells, &c., will generally prevent swarming, but not invariably. The bee-keeper must, therefore, decide whether he prefers an increase of his stocks or a large honey harvest, and manage his bees accordingly.
It often happens that bees give every indication of an intention to swarm, and cluster idly outside the hive in large numbers for days or even weeks before they really emigrate, all this time keeping their owner in suspense ; and possibly the swarm comes off at last without being observed. This is very tantalising, but may all be prevented by means of artificial swarming, the mode of proceeding for which varies according to the kind of hive in use. Considering, first, straw skeps, the common hive of the country, the operation to be pursued is known as "driving." This is not new, having been described by Dr Warder in the last century. The mode usually adopted is as follows : Towards noon. on a fine day, when many of the bees are abroad, inject at the hive s entrance a puff or two of tobacco smoke, and with the hands give a smart smack on each side. The effect is that the whole of the inhabitants are struck with extreme terror ; and after, perhaps, an alarmed sally to the entrance, every bee rushes to the cells to fill itself with honey. Allowing two or three minutes for them to effect their purpose, the hive is boldly inverted and an empty hive of the same size placed on it mouth to mouth. A long towel is now bound round the junction to confine the bees, and the operator, with two sticks or the palms of his hands, keeps up a continuous smart rapping on the sides of the full hive, and after a few minutes the bees will all stream up into the empty hive, generally not more than fifteen minutes having elapsed before the first hive is denuded of its inhabitants. It should now be placed on the stand of some other strong stock (previously removed), whose returning bees will form a population to nurse the young and rear a queen if one be not supplied by the apiarian. If the swarm is to be at once sent away to a distance exceeding H miles, the hive maybe returned to its old stand, and so be peopled by the remainder of its old inhabitants who were at work. But if the swarm is to remain near, it should be placed on the old stand, as tho bees, on their next flight, will return to the locality they know so well. "Driving" should also be pursued in the autumn, when it is desired to appropriate the honey of the hive. The driven bees should then be added to another stock, which they will advantageously strengthen. Where frame hives are in use, the following method may be adopted : First, lift out the frames and search until the queen be found, when she, with the frame she is on, must be placed in the centre of a new hive, and be flanked on both sides by another comb as full of sealed brood as can be obtained. Fill up both hives with new frames furnished with empty combs, or guide-combs only if the former be not available, and shake into (or before the entrance of) the hive where the queen is sufficient bees to form a large swarm. Many will fly back to their old home, but all the young bees will remain. This hive should then be removed to some distance and the old one replaced. If the swarm is to be sent to a distance, the bees may be simply shaken off the combs into (or in front of) a new hive (taking care the queen is with them), which should be temporarily placed on the spot where the old one has just stood. The bees will enter it, and when all is quiet it should be removed and the old one reinstated. The bees that retuva from the fields will form a population for the domicile which they will find in the familiar place. Before in any manner operating on bees, it is advisable to puff a little smoke into the hive. This alarms them and causes them to fill their honey-pouches, and a bee in this state never volunteers an attack ; but it is always prudent to cover one s face and hands, as home-returning bees are sometimes inclined to resent the disturbance to their family. India-rubber gloves, with gauntlets and veil of leno, will afford ample protection ; the latter should be a simple bag, open at top and bottom, but with half a yard of elastic sewn in the top, through which should be passed the crown of a broad-brimmed hat ; the coat should be buttoned over the lower part. Bee-keepei who meddle much with their bees soon become accustomed to stinging and do not suffer much. Experiments have been made to ascertain the number of stings required to inoculate the blood, and it has been stated that about thirty, at the rate of three or four a day, will suffice, after which the effect of the bee-poison is trivial. Persons unaccustomed to the poison, however, often suffer severely.
mellifica) is supposed to be of Asiatic origin. It was imported from Europe to America, where it is now found wild in great numbers, and at a vast distance from human habitations. An excellent treatise, The Honey-Bee, its Natural History, Physiology, and Management, was pub lished in 1827 by Dr Edward Bevan. It contains some of the best practical remarks on the subject that are any where to be met with, and gives a fair account of the
labours of the author s predecessors, Reaumur, Hunter,
