J. H. Payne

“ 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 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. ”

“ It is a remarkable fact, that two weak stocks joined, will collect double the quantity of honey, and consume much less than two of the same age and strength kept separately. Stocks must be joined after sunset upon the day that one of them has swarmed, or before sunrise the next morning, and the doubled stock must be placed upon the stand it previously occupied. Great care must be taken not to shake the hive, nor must it be turned up, the combs being new, and tender, will easily break, and the stock by that means be destroyed. ”

“ The finely perforated slider is used to confine the Bees to their - 19 - hive when snow lies upon the ground, the reflection of which, when the sun shines upon it, never fails to induce them to leave their hives, and falling upon it they perish, for a Bee becomes torpid at a temperature of 32°. The slider with one hole only, is useful both in Spring and Autumn, preventing either robbers or wasps from entering the hives, for three or four Bees will, with the help of this slider, guard the entrance more effectually that ten times the number without it. ”

“ That the old Queen accompanies the first swarm - 39 - is established beyond a doubt; that many Queens are bred in a hive, a number sometimes exceeding thirty in one year, is also ascertained; and that the Bees have the power of producing a Queen from an egg deposited in the combs of the working Bees, by treating it in a different manner to those that are to become workers, has also been satisfactorily proved, all that has been said beyond this, regarding their natural history, must, I believe, be considered principally conjecture. ”

“ Gelieu says, "Bees have no real disease, dysentery, about which so much noise has been made, and for which so many remedies have been prescribed, never attacks the Bees of a well-stocked hive, that is left open at all seasons, but - 20 - those only that are too long and too closely confined. They are always in good health as long as they are at liberty, when they are warm enough and have plenty of food. ”

“ I have no hesitation in saying, that a South aspect is decidedly preferable to any other situation for an Apiary. I have tried various aspects, but the Bees in the South I have always found to be the healthiest, and to collect the largest quantity of honey. It is very important that the hives be sheltered from the wind by trees or houses, and- 2 - that they are not placed in the vicinity of ponds or large rivers, for high winds will dash them into the water, where numbers will perish. ”

“ Old stocks that are rendered weak by swarming, or by having too much honey taken from them, may be united in the same manner, with this difference only, that double the quantity of honey should be used in sprinkling.
If a stock of Bees containing fifteen or twenty pounds of honey in September, be carefully managed during the winter, which consists in - 52 - narrowing the entrance to exclude robbers, carefully covering the hive with a milk-pan, and raising it from the board every month or six weeks to clean it, no doubt can be entertained to its affording a good box of honey. ”

“ The best method is to watch the Swarm in silence, and after it has once collected, to lose no time in hiving it into a new, clean and dry Hive. Much time and trouble may be spared the Bees, if the loose straw be removed from the interior of the hive, the best method of effecting which, is to singe them off with a wax taper, and afterwards to remove them with a hard brush. ”

“ Destroy their nests in breeding time, and shoot them in winter. Lapoutre, a French Naturalist, assures us, "that he saw under a tree in which there was a tom-tit's nest, a surprising quantity of the scaly parts of Bees, which this bird had dropped from its nest." Sparrows and swallows have both an ill name, but I could never observe any great hurt done by either of them. Poultry will occasionally destroy Bees, for I once recollect - 65 - seeing a hen and her brood pay dearly for their freedom with a hive, the chickens were all stung to death, and the hen escaped only with her life. ”

“ Some persons feed their Bees at the top of the hive, but it is much too tedious and sparing a way, in my opinion for Autumn feeding, in the Spring it does very well. This feeder is of wood with a cover of glass, it has a hole through its centre, corresponding with one at the top of the hive, which enables the Bees to pass into it, and take the honey—I believe it was invented by Wildman. ”

“ If the Swarm has taken flight in the morning, the same Bees make several excursions during the - 69 - day, and each time with less precaution, as becoming familiarized 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. ”

“ When a hive or glass of honey is taken, it ought not to be left till the Bees are all out of it, for it is very likely to be attacked by robbers, thus a great part of it will be carried away in a short time, and what is left rendered unfit for sale, on account of the cells being opened, from which the honey will drain out upon the position of the hive being changed. ”

“ The Queen Bee may easily be distinguished by a common observer, her wings are very short, not extending beyond one half of her body, which is much longer, and more pointed than that of the working Bees, her legs are copper coloured, and her body brown. ”

“ Bees managed upon the Depriving System, rarely swarm and are seldom found clustering at the mouth of the hive, for every bright hour during the honey season they seem to turn to profit, when however Clustering or Swarming takes place, it generally arises from the Box not having been put on sufficiently early in the season, or for the want of a second Box ”

“ A glass may be used instead of the small Hive or Box, with equal success, providing it be covered with something that will effectually exclude light; a cover of straw, is perhaps, preferable to any other.
When the Bees are beginning to work in a glass, a cold night generally obliges them to forsake their newly made combs, sends them down into the hive, and compels them to discontinue their labours which are seldom resumed till the middle of the next day ”

“ Gelieu says, "that nothing is more prejudicial to Bees than ignorant attention, their most formidable enemies are, perhaps, their possessors, who busy themselves to torment them, and weaken and kill them by too much care. In Winter, they hurt them by shutting them up, and in Spring, the giving them a little honey is not always attended to, neither is the guarding them from moths, which, at that time, make the greatest havoc, nor is the narrowing of the entrances to prevent them being robbed. Some - 61 - people suffocate them in Autumn, that they may possess themselves of their provisions ”

“ 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: in Spring and Summer, the Bees may be seen coming in great numbers to drink, or rather to carry water into their hives to mix with the farina they collect so abundantly at this season of the year for food for their young. ”

“ Robbers may be known by their desire to enter the hive or glass, the Bees belonging to it, being separated from their Queen, fly home immediately upon leaving it.
In taking off a box of honey it will be found convenient to pass a very thin knife, or fine wire, between the hives or boxes intended to be separated; if that precaution be not taken, a piece of comb frequently projects from the top of the one left, or the bottom of that taken, which causes much trouble to the operator: two adapters (fig. 5.) ”

“ The Bees appear to be aware of the perishable - 12 - nature of this substance, for they never fill a cell entirely with it, but leave room for a small quantity of honey in each cell containing pollen, before it is sealed up, by this means the air is most effectually excluded, and the pollen preserved for a considerable time; should, however, the Bees be compelled to consume the honey from those cells containing pollen, before they can make use of it for their young, it moulds and becomes of no value, and causes them great labour to remove it. ”

“ Bevan says, "quietness is the surest protection against being stung."
The best defence is a mask of wire, very similar to, but much finer than a fencing mask, with a rim of tin made to fit the head, to which a silk handkerchief is attached, a pair of thick worsted gloves, and stockings or gaiters of the same material; stout leather gloves are as good protection as those of worsted, but leather, from the closeness of its texture, will not allow the Bees to withdraw their stings from it and the consequence is, that many perish. ”

“ I would recommend every person who keeps Bees, to have a few well painted new hives always by him, that each hive be weighed, and its weight upon a ticket of lead fastened to it, the board also upon which the hive stands should be weighed. ”

“ When the Box is filled with honey and the combs partially sealed, or when the Bees are seen - 23 - to cluster at the mouth of the Hive at nine or ten o'clock in the morning, let no time be lost in lifting up the Box, and placing between it and the Stock-hive another Box with a hole in the top; the adapter (fig. 5) will be found very useful in this operation. It is necessary to use this precaution at all times, but more especially in a rainy season as a greater disposition amongst the Bees to swarm then prevails. "Dry weather makes plenty of honey, and moist, of swarms." ”

“ Continue to destroy Queen wasps and hornets, and to watch carefully for moths. Should the bees of any hive appear inactive at this time, or should they not be seen to carry in pellets of farina whilst others are doing it, and this inaction continue for eight or ten days, lose no time in examining the hive, and should the - 98 - moths have begun their work of destruction, which may be known by seeing the combs joined together by their silken webs, cut away the combs affected with a sharp knife, and the hive may, perhaps, be saved. ”

“ I should recommend the purchaser to send his own hive to the person of whom he intends to buy a swarm, and to desire him not to put any sticks across the interior of the hive, as is the usual custom, for they cause much trouble to the Bees in forming their combs, and render their extraction almost impossible. ”

“ Honey taken by this method is acknowledged to be very superior in quality to that obtained by the usual barbarous and unprofitable manner of burning the Bees, which arises from the combs in which it is deposited being new and perfectly white, the early period at which it is collected, and from its being unmixed with honey gathered later in the season as well as from the Queen very rarely ascending through the opening at the top of the improved cottage hive, that neither brood nor farina are found amongst it. ”

“ It is almost impossible sufficiently to impress upon the mind of every person who keeps Bees - 43 - the necessity of having his stocks all strong, for weak stocks are very troublesome, very expensive, and seldom, if ever, afford any profit.
Mr. Taylor says, "the stronger the colony at the outset the better the Bees will work, and the more prosperous it will become. I never knew a weak one do well long, and a little extra expense and trouble at first are amply rewarded by succeeding years of prosperity and ultimate profit;" ”

“ It is much better therefore to unite them in the following manner:—when two Casts or Colts come off upon the same day hive them separately and leave them till an hour and half after sunset, then spread a cloth upon the ground, upon which by a smart and - 42 - sudden movement shake all the Bees out of one of the hives, and immediately take the other and place it gently over the Bees that are heaped together upon the cloth, and they will instantly ascend into it and join those, which, not having been disturbed, are quiet in their new abode ”

“ During the whole of the day, which I shall suppose to be fine, they occupy themselves with great earnestness cleansing their house, and making such a noise in removing the little fragments of wax that have fallen on the board, that any one who did not know it had been emptied, would take it for the best and strongest of the hives. ”

“ Clean the floor-boards of the hives, and see that they stand firmly on their pedestals, contract the entrance so that only one bee can come out at a time, for at this season mice are likely to lodge themselves in the hives. ”

“ I entirely disapprove of Houses of every description for Bees as a protection against weather, because they tend in various ways most effectually to destroy the lives of those valuable insects, for, as before stated, they form a shelter for and promote the increase of some of their most determined enemies ”