J. H. Payne

“ I very much wish that I could persuade all my cottage friends to adopt it, instead of the cruel and wasteful method of "burning;" for in weak stocks the Bees themselves are frequently of as much value as their little store of honey and wax; and, by joining them to other stocks, very considerable advantages arise. My method of driving is this:—On a bright day, between eleven and one o'clock, turn the hive from which the Bees are to be driven bottom upwards, in a shaded corner of the garden, and place upon it a hive of the same size ”

“ 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. ”

“ I have always found, that by giving a glass too early in the season, Bees appear to take a dislike to it, and will swarm rather than enter it. When I have been able to put a glass upon a crowded hive at about nine o'clock on the morning of a warm day, it has scarcely ever failed to be filled with Bees immediately. Be the super of wood, glass, or straw, a small piece of guide-comb is a great inducement to the Bees to begin working in it at once. ”

“ I have more than once seen the combs of a newly-hived swarm so heated by a July sun as to fall from the top of the hive, and the honey to run in a stream from its entrance, consequently the stocks were ruined.
Wasps.—I am quite sure that it is needful for us all to use every means in our power for the destruction of these sad enemies to our Bees. As "prevention is always better than cure," that object is attained by capturing the queen wasps at this time; and, indeed, as long as they can be seen. Some persons recommend shooting them. ”

“ Swarms.—Those persons who are anxious to commence Bee-keeping by purchasing swarms, must now provide themselves with such kinds of hives as they are wishing to see their Bees placed in, and send them to the persons of whom they have agreed to purchase, that the Bees maybe hived into them at the time of swarming. Should it be straw hives that are chosen, let there be no sticks placed withinside them for the Bees to fasten their combs to, for they cause them much trouble in forming the combs, and render the extraction of the combs almost impossible. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Huish has said, and with much truth, that old hives are generally so overrun with vermin of an obnoxious character to Bees, that, even should the swarm condescend to remain in them, the ensuing winter will place the hive in such a ruinous state, that the Bees will forsake it in search of a more salubrious domicile, or the contents of the hive will be destroyed by the insects. ”

“ Let there be no sugared ale nor honey put inside the hive, but let it be as clean and dry as possible; and when it is fixed where it is to remain let there be no mortar or clay put round to fasten it to the floor-board—the Bees themselves will do this more effectually. Clay or mortar tends very much to decay the hives by retaining moisture, and is a harbour for moths and other insects. On the depriving system, a hive may be expected to stand for fifteen or even twenty years, if properly managed. ”

“ The cells in which queens are reared differ very considerably from those of the workers or drones, being much larger, and hanging in nearly a perpendicular position, generally from the edges of the combs. Queen Bees occupy about sixteen days from the laying of the egg to the evolution of the perfect insect, and take wing when a few days old, in order to pair with a male Bee or drone. When once fecundated, a queen Bee continues fertile during the remainder of her life. According to Huber, fecundation is imperfect when delayed beyond twenty days, and drone eggs only are laid ever afterwards ”

“ Bees Gathering Pollen.—Bees may now be seen upon a bright day in the Aconites and early kinds of Crocuses, collecting the little pollen and honey which they afford; and it is but little indeed—only just sufficient to arouse the workers to activity, and the queens to depositing their eggs: therefore, without careful and constant feeding, death by starvation must follow, for I imagine that not one stock in ten has sufficient honey in store to support it through the winter and early spring. ”

“ In some cases the help of a puff or two of tobacco-smoke may be useful, should the few Bees left be angry, or the operator feel at all timid. The readiest way of returning the swarm will be to lay a board upon the floor-board of the hive, and parallel with it, upon which, by a smart and sudden movement, shake the swarm, and as nigh to the entrance of the parent hive as can be done conveniently, and with the finger, or a piece of wood, guide a few Bees to the entrance, and the remainder will follow immediately. ”

“ Preserving Hives of Comb.—Where the Bees have deserted their hives, and it is swarms of the present year that have generally done so, the combs should be carefully preserved, by placing the hives in some dry spot out of the reach of mice or insects, for the purpose of hiving swarms into them in the spring. Tho advantages afforded to a swarm by putting it into a hive of fresh, clean comb, are scarcely to be credited by those who have not experienced it. ”

“ See that the entrances of the hives are narrowed, and that during the time snow remains upon the ground they are wholly closed, so that not a single Bee can escape, for the sun shining upon the snow never fails to bring the Bees out of their hives,- 38 - and settling upon the snow, they are immediately chilled, and die; but, upon the disappearance of the snow, not an hour must be lost in unstopping the entrances, and giving the Bees full liberty. ”

“ I have never yet found that hives made entirely of straw require any ventilation whatever; indeed, I consider it better for them to have none; while those of wood or glass are in great danger of being destroyed without them, for in very cold weather the vapour of the hive condenses on the top and sides, and runs down upon the floor-board in such quantities as to cause general dampness and mouldiness upon all the combs. - 68 - When in this state, if timely assistance be not rendered, ruin very soon follows.
Where Bees are in boxes, ventilation is of the next importance to feeding. ”

“ Some learned men have called them Ligurian Bees, but that name has neither historical nor geographical claim, and not one Bee-cultivator of the whole district of the Italian Alp Bee knows what kind of insects Ligurian Bees are. The Alps are their native country; therefore they are called Yellow Alp Bees, or Tame House Bees, in contradistinction to the black European Bees, which we might call common forest Bees, and which, on the slightest touch, fly like lightning into your face. ”

“ Working Bees as well as drones have this mark. The drones are further distinguished by the bands being scolloped like the spotted water-serpent, and obtain an astonishing size—almost half as large again as the black drones. The queen has the same marks as the working Bees, but much more conspicuous and lighter; she is much larger than the black queen, and easy to be singled out of the swarm, on account of her remarkable bodily size and light colour. ”