J. H. Payne

“ Driving Bees from one Hive to Another.—I am frequently applied to by beginners for the best plan of removing a stock of Bees, at this season, from an old hive to some fancy one they have chanced to meet with, and I have, in all cases, said that it is a plan I have never either adopted or recommended. Let the Bees remain in the old hive, and if it be too unsightly to be tolerated, have a tasty cover of wood or zinc made to fit it and let them swarm, and put the swarm into the new hive. If a weak one, join the second swarm to it ”

“ Ever after that memorable visit, when any of his Clergy complained to the Bishop of poverty, he would say to them, "Keep Bees! Keep Bees!"
In the words of an Apiarian friend, I solicit information from every one who may have it in his power to transmit it to me, and on the other hand, I profess my perfect readiness to impart whatever knowledge I may possess in the management of an Apiary, to any person who will favour me with the application; my aim is general utility, and the establishment of a national advantage. ”

“ The best time to establish an Apiary is from the middle of February to the middle of March, the stocks will have passed in safety through the winter, the combs are then empty of brood, light of honey, and the removal safe and easy. Stocks should be selected by a competent judge, as the weight alone cannot be relied on, a swarm of the preceding year should be selected, and one that contains not less than twelve pounds of honey; there are few commodities in which a person can - 11 - be so easily deceived as in a hive of Bees. ”

“ I have already sufficiently insisted upon the necessity of uniting second and third swarms, so that, amongst my readers, not even one second or third swarm can be found by itself. It should be impressed upon the mind of every apiarian, "that the larger the colony at the outset, the better the Bees will work, and the more prosperous it will become." A stock weak at the outset never does well. ”

“ Though large ponds are very injurious, a small - 3 - stream is beneficial to them, which if they are not supplied with, water must be given them, for it is absolutely necessary, and enters, as much as honey and farina, into the composition with which they nourish the brood. The plan that I have for many years adopted, is to fill an unglazed earthen pan, eighteen inches by eight, four inches deep, and square at the sides, with water, upon the surface of which floats a very thin deal board perforated with holes, a quarter of an inch in diameter and about an inch distant from each other ”

“ I have always adopted the plan of placing my swarms where they are to remain, within ten or fifteen minutes after the time of their being hived, and in this practice Gelieu agrees with me, for he says, "most people who have Bees allow their Swarms to remain till the evening in the place where they have alighted, and do not move them to the Apiary till after sunset, this method has many inconveniences.
As soon as a swarm has congregated in the new hive, and seems to be at ease in it, the most industrious amongst the Bees fly off to the fields, but with a great many precautions. ”

“ If the swarm has taken flight in the morning, the same Bees make several excursions during the day, and each time with less precaution, as, becoming familiarised with their dwelling, they are less afraid of mistaking it; and thus, next morning, supposing themselves in the same place, they take wing without having observed where they have spent the night, and surprised at their return not to find the hive in the same place, they fly about all day in search of it, until they perish with fatigue and despair. ”

“ Nor is this spirit of well-directed benevolence confined to these Counties only, for at Oxford a Society is just formed to promote an improved and more extensive system of Bee management among the Cottagers by the diffusion of information on the subject, and the loan of hives, not the gift, their cost to be repaid from the produce, and also to promote a more extensive and scientific knowledge concerning the Natural History and cultivation of Bees among the higher classes. The Society, I find, is flourishing, a piece of ground has been taken and laid out as an experimental Bee-garden ”