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INCREASE OF BEES IN A HIVE.

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being generated in the cells when she is wanting. In these cells she deposits her eggs, one in each, from which are generated the worms. The cell is thus nearly closed, a small orifice only remaining, through which the working Bees daily supply the worms with water; should the state of the weather be such as to prevent the Bees from fetching water for a few days, the worms perish. These dead worms are then removed out of the Hive by the working Bees, if they are healthy and strong, otherwise they are unable, and perish from the putrid exhalations.

One community tolerates only one Queen; the supernumerary Queens, as fast as they are generated, either migrate with the young swarms, or they are put to death by the Bees themselves; most of the drones, too, are killed in seasons when food and honey are scarce.

A community which wants a Queen perishes, the Bees cease to range for food, devour all the honey, and then perish with famine.

The Queens' cells may be easily distinguished from the rest by their superior size, and by their position on the extreme edge or disk of the cake; these are cut off by the Beeman whenever it is thought fit to check the operation of swarming, to prevent the Hive from weakening itself.

The progress and duration of breeding depends entirely upon the food of the Bees, beginning and ending with the inflorescense of those plants which serve for their nutrition; and acquiring most activity and vigour in those seasons when their most favourite food presents itself; this is in May, when the Thymasi first opens.

In the best seasons, a Hive may be multiplied two or even three times, which is the most it is capable of producing, but these new swarms, in the same season, may produce others. A Beeman is, however, satisfied if the season be such as to double the number of his Hives, which he terms a good season.

To recall a swarm which has left its Hive, the Queen

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HOW TO SUPPLY A NEW QUEEN.

Bee of the fugitive swarm must be taken and destroyed, after which the rest will return. There are not any habitually barren Hives, it being impossible for a community to exist without its producing worms.

There is much inequality in the health and vigour of the Hives in the same season, just as in the constitutions of individuals of the human race. In a good year, not all the Hives are healthy and vigorous; and vice versa, in a bad year, not all the Hives are sickly and weak. These changes from bad to better, and from good to bad, are equally capricious. The remedy for inferior Hives is the exchange of position with healthy ones.

In good seasons it is necessary to visit the Hive more frequently than in bad ones, for the purpose of anticipating the swarming. It is often necessary to inspect the state of the combs every fifth day, but the interval must never exceed fifteen or twenty days, because the insect is perfect in twenty-five days after the laying of the egg.

The most fecundary Hives yield the most honey.

A Hive is provided with inhabitants by introducing therein four, or the half of all the comb-cakes containing worms, which are in a vigorous Hive, after which their positions are exchanged. The mode of depositing a swarm is by shaking it into a new Hive, fixing the Hive in a proper position, and providing it with two cakes of honey from another Hive.

The earliest swarms are the most healthy and vigorous. There is no mode of uniting small Hives, because they would destroy each other. Hives, however, may be reinforced with new inhabitants by exchanging their positions with more healthy and full ones, as above mentioned. This, however, succeeds only when food is plentiful, for when it is rather scarce, discord ensues between the new and old inhabitants, with mutual destruction; at such times, therefore, the Hives must not be touched.

The Thymasi is by far the best and principal food of the

BEE-PASTURE, AND HONEY-CROPS.

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Bees, and, in good seasons, begins to open its blossoms on the 10th of May, O. S., and continues in flower till August. The Crimes opens in March, which is the first object of food; after this, the heath is the most favourite food, which flowers in September; this produces very bad honey, which sells for only half the price of the other sort, and is therefore seldom taken from the Hives. Kennari yields likewise a bad honey.

The honey crop is taken from the 6th to the 15th of August. The reason why this work is omitted on the first six days of August is, because these are the chief unlucky days of the year, the dies infausti, termed here drumes. From the signs of the heavens, during those six days, is predicted, by the common people, the nature of the ensuing season.

The quality of honey in good and in bad years is the same. The failure of a crop in 1796, arose from the want of rains in the spring, and in consequence of the Thymasi not blooming.

The number of Hives belonging to Athens in 1795 was 3,400.

THE HIVE.

19 Inches.

17 inches.

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THE SMOKE OF LINEN RAGS A PROTECTION.

The Hive must be well limed within, and smeared on the outside with a mixture of cow-dung and clay.

The number of bars on the top of the Hive, to attach the combs, varies from 12 to 14.

The contents between six and seven dry gallons.

The entrance two inches long, by one inch in height, and four inches from the bottom.

To the four central bars, which are always left for the provision of the Hive, are suspended the largest combs : these contain the best honey, and have generally some worms, which are objects of solicitude to the community.

A bunch of twigs from the plane tree, with its leaves on, is placed immediately over the bars, and this again is covered by a sheaf of straw.

These are Mr. Hawkins's Memoranda:

"I learnt from him, in conversation, that the Beemen protect themselves by the smoke of linen rags; that they remove the covering from the top of the Hive; and after cutting the edges of any combs from the sides of the Hive by means of a long and slender knife, they remove it by taking up the bar to which the upper extremity adheres.

"The peculiarities of the Grecian Hive seem to consist in its moveable bars for attaching the combs, and in its open top.

"It is curious to learn the opinions entertained by an old man of Athens respecting Bees, nearly half a century ago.

"The practice so much recommended of changing the situations of a strong and of a weak Hive, must, I think, be perfectly erroneous.

"It may be worth while to try the Grecian Hive."

If it should be thought proper to print any part of this paper, or a condensation of the whole, I think

HONEY OF THE HYMETTUS.

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Mr. Hawkins's consent should first be obtained, which I dare say he would very readily grant.

East Bourn, July, 1838.

DAVIES GILBERT.

HONEY OF THE HYMETTUS.

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THIS spot was certainly, at one time, more abundantly supplied with flowers than at present; these, too, so strongly scented, that hounds, on that account, frequently lost trace of the game when hunting on these regions. But there is no land like Greece, in which, for centuries, the works, not only of men, but of nature also, have been, as far as possible, destroyed. Trees and shrubs were cut down, in the continued wars, without any thought of the consequence; and what the axe spared the shepherds burned, in order to raise from the ashes, during the first year, a few blades of grass for their goats Were not the Grecian climate so favourable, the greatest part of the country must long since have become a bare, stony, and rocky wilderness. The Hymettus has now no better vegetation than the mountains of Attica. The honey of the Laurion mountains was much prized (Erica Mediterranea grows there in abundance). Throughout Greece, honey is more agreeable and aromatic than in other lands, owing to the heat being moderate, for which reason the juices of the plants are in a more agreeable concentrated state. The honey of the Hymettus no longer possesses its superiority; it is, in other neighbourhoods, finer and more aromatic, e. g. in many of the Cyclades, especially in Sekino. The greatest quantity of honey is obtained from the monastery of Syrian, to the north-east of the city: IT IS DELIVERED TO THE LOCAL ARCHBISHOP. The shepherds at other parts of the Hymettus have also, most probably, Bee-hives; and the honey from Pentelicon is also reckoned among the Hymettic. The number of Hives on these mountains yielding

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