ENGLAND'S INTEREST,

AND THE

Farmer's Friend, &c.

CHAP. VI.

Of the Husbandry and Employment of Bees, and the great Profit and Advantage thereof.

THE INTRODUCTION.

AMONG all the creatures which our bountiful God has made for the use and service of man, in respect of great profit with small cost, of their ubiquity, or being in all countries, of their comely order and continual labour, the Bees are most worthy of our admiration.

For first, with the provision of a Hive and some little care and attendance, (which need be no hindrance to other business, but rather a delightful recreation in the midst of our labours,) they bring sweet product both for food and medicine.

112

THE BEES' GOOD CHARACTER.

There is no fruit or flower, no wood or forrest, no hill or dale, no promontary or campaign land, no fruitful or unfruitful soil, but what affordeth matter for the Bee to work upon.

In their labour and order at home and abroad, they may be a pattern unto men both of the one and the other; for unless they are hindered by weather, weakness, or want of stuff to work upon, their labour never ceaseth; and for their order, it is such that they may well be said to have a commonwealth, since all they do is in common without respect to private interest. They work for all, they watch for all, and they fight for all. In their private quarrels when they are from their Hive, how much soever you abuse them, they will not resist, if they can by any means get away; but when they are at their Hive, the common treasury for themselves and their young, they'll fight it out and contend for this properly to the last shanks. The epithets given to Bees by several authors which have written on this subject, are profitable, laborious, busie, loyal, swift, nimble, quick of scent, bold, valiant, cunning, chaste, neat, brown and chilly.

I. OF THE BEE-GARDEN AND SEATS FOR THE HIVES.

1. Your Bee-garden must be in a plat of ground, near your house, that you may always have them in sight, your assistance being often suddenly required in all storms and fighting, when 'tis your business to provide them with a new house, and to part them in the fray.

2. See that they be securely fenced from all cattle, and especially from hogs, and that they be secured from wind, that when the Bees come home laden and weary, they may soon settle at their Hives.

3. Let your north fence of your garden be very close, and high withal, to secure them from the piercing winds of the quarter, and therefore, if possible, set your Bees on the

south side of your house, where they will have most sun in winter, and best settle to their Hives.

4. Let the east fence of your garden be big and high, to keep the Bees as well from the wind as sun, for the morning sun does often bring them forth of their hives, when the wind is so cold and sharp that they cannot endure it. But in no wise let the place be shadowed from the south sun, for that does not only dry the leaves and relieve the Bees in winter and spring, but causes them to swarm in summer.

A house or wall, or good pales, is fittest for the north fence, and a quickset edge for any of the other quarters, and it may serve for the first, if it be thick.

Take care that the garden be always kept clean and sweet, free from noisome scents. I have known a good Hive spoiled by having poultry roost over them.

Take care that it be neither cold in winter nor very hot in summer, Locus æstate non fervidus, heeme* tepidus. A bare flower+ is very prejudicial; a grassy ground I esteem to be best; but let it be kept cut in summer, for long grass harbours the Bees' enemies; and let it not be wet in winter.

Let it be conveniently set with trees and bushes, fit to receive the swarms, as plum, cherry, apple, filberds, hazels, and thorns, and these chiefly in the south and east fences, and not too near the stalls.

The place being thus fitted, the seats are to be provided, which, whether stools or benches, must be set a little shelving, that the rain may neither run into the hive nor stay at the door.

'Tis not good to set many stalls on a bench, because in winter it may cause the Bees to fight; for hereby they have access, by foot, to one another's houses, which they may sometimes mistake for their own.

The single, therefore, are best, which I would advise to be set at least two feet apart, and rather supported with four legs than to be flat on the ground; if the legs are + Qy. Flower-garden.

* Sic.

114

A WORD FOR STRAW HIVES.

twelve or fourteen inches, three or four inches may be forced into the ground for their surer standing.

For their size they should not be above half an inch or an inch without the Hive, save only before, where there ought to be the space of three or four inches, that the Bees may have room enough to light upon it.

The best stools are of wood; those of stone are too hot in summer, and too cold in winter.

The stools must be set towards the south, or rather with a point or two towards the west, that the Hive may somewhat break the east wind from the door, and that the door may be light at sun setting.

The stools should stand in straight ranks or rows from west to east, five feet one from another, measuring from door to door, and from south to north, six feet one behind another; besides, let them stand as far from three of the fences as they do from one another.

The number of the Hives in a garden is not to be determined. But it is generally computed that the climacterical number of nine times seven, which is also the climacteric of man, is a sufficient stock for a Bee-garden; and out of this a man may supply himself with a competent maintenance.

II. OF THE HIVES, AND MANNER OF DRESSING THEM. In some countries they use Hives made of straw bound with brambles; in some, wicker Hives, made of prive willow," or harl, dawbed with cow dung, tempered with gravelly dust, or sand, or ashes.

The straw Hives are the best, because in them the Bees do best defend themselves from the cold, when they hang round together in the form of a globe, (which the philosophers do account a perfect figure,) and therefore the nearer the Hive doth come to the form thereof, the warmer and safer will the Bees be kept; but of necessity the bottom must be broad for the upright and sure standing of the

* Sic.

Hive, and for the better taking down of the combs, and the top must rise from two or three inches higher than the form of a globe.

A handle on the top of each hive is requisite for two uses; viz.carrying the Hive, and staying the hackle from falling off.

Your Hive must be of any size, between five or seven gallons, that any swarm, of what quantity or time soever, may be fitly hived. Have always by you Hives enough in store, but most of the middling sort, lest you should want when you have an occasion.

Your Hive being thus made, it must be dress'd after this manner: take off all the staring straws, twigs, and jags, that are offensive in the Hive, and make it as smooth as possible; if you need but few Hives, you may prune them clean with a knife; if many, then you may singe or sweep the inside; but do it which way you will, rub it well at last with a piece of a grind-stone, or rough sand-stone.

Your Hives being pruned put in your spleets, three or four of them, as the largeness of your Hive shall require, the upper ends whereof set together at the top of the Hive, and the lower fasten about a handful above the skirt; besides these spleets within the Hive, the straw Hive must have four other spleets driven up into the skirts, to keep the Hive from sinking when it is loaded; two of them are the two door-posts, the other two are hind-posts, set at equal distances.

In swarming time, season the Hives that you are minded to use, thus: rub them down with sweet herbs, such as the Bees love, as thyme, baulm, savory, marjoram, fennel, hysop, mallows, bean-top, &c. And when the swarm is settled, take a branch of the tree whereon it is, and wipe it clean, and then wet the inside of your Hive with a little honey mead, or salt and water, or small-beer. And thus the Hives are to be prepared and dressed.

You must be sure always to keep your Hives close covered, and the best covering is a thick hackle. Alvearia