ON A CURRANT BUSH.

215

other Bees; as many of them are blinded and covered with dust, they take a dislike to each other, and will return to the wall, without great care to prevent them, again and again. Particular observation should therefore be made, and let none be put to the Hive that are very dusty, but lay such with the stone on the ground, some distance from the wall, and they will, with their fore-legs, wipe their eyes and clean themselves, and then fly to the Hive.

But you should look well to see if the Queen is among them, and if found, take her, and put her into the Hive as soon as possible, and those in the Hive will soon clean her.

In the year 1789, Mr. Isaac Budgett had a swarm of Bees on a currant bush near a wall, which I hived, to appearance, very well; they stood singing all round the Hive, and I thought my work well done, and left them for the present. On my return to them again, I observed others stand singing on the wall, and then I was sure they had deceived me; and, on taking up the Hive, I found that I had but a very small part of them, and these leaving the Hive as fast as might be. I pulled down part of the wall, and found they were got under the very foundation. After making a large hole, I found there was no way of taking them but with my naked hand, a few at a time. As I removed the stones, Mr. Budgett desired me to desist, as he thought it presumptuous to take them out; I told him I was ready to think so too, but not from any hurt that I could receive from the Bees, as I regarded not how much I was stung, but the greatest danger was of the whole wall falling on my arm, as I had made a way through it; but by taking particular care, I took them all out with ease.

Whenever Bees pitch round the body or large limbs of trees, which cannot be shaken, they may easily be taken with the hand, by putting your fingers expanded through the greatest part of the bunch, and they will come off on the hand, and may be shaken from thence into the Hive; or you may take a smooth stick, and draw it from the bottom, strait through them, as near the tree as possible, and so cut them off at a

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ON THE DRIVING OF BEES.

stroke into the Hive; but by no means offer to brush them, for the hairs of the brush will exasperate them to such a degree, that all that are about them will be severely stung, whether man or beast; but some will object against a brush, and take a goose-wing, which is still worse, for the Bees will sting and leave the stings in the wing as well as in your hand, and as all that sting die, so a whole swarm may be destroyed before you are aware.

CHAP. VI.

ON THE DRIVING OF BEES, WITH NECESSARY INSTRUCTIONS

FOR THAT PURPOSE.

An old Hive of Bees that has stood the whole summer without swarming, will do more work in a clean new Hive in one day, than in a week in the old one; and those Bees that lay out until Midsummer should not be suffered to remain by any means, as the greatest part of their time is spent in sleep and idleness.

Bees should be drove as near Old Midsummer as possible, and not more than three or four days before or after. If they are drove too soon, the honey is not so good, having so much of the brood intermixt with it, and too many of the young are destroyed, which should supply the places of those that will die of nature. And if they are drove too late, they will not get their winter's store.

But in these respects, especially the last, much depends on the weather. The first fortnight after the 5th of July, should it continue fine and dry, the Bees will do well, and be much richer than when in their old works, and will swarm sooner the next summer; but should it be wet or stormy they must die. But the loss will be none, except that of shortening the

HOW TO MANAGE IT.

217

stock, if burned for the honey when drove, and that when taken will doubly pay for the Bees.

In the year 1787, I drove seven stocks of Bees in one afternoon; the next morning I drove four more, and took two out of trees, which all did well, and swarmed sooner the next summer than any I knew. The next year, 1788, I drove sixteen in one week, and fifteen of them died; and the other, viz. Mr. Potter's, of Nunny, was saved with great care and expence. The next year, 1789, although applied to by many, I drove none at all; as I did not like the condition of the Bees, nor the state of the weather.

Some will object against driving of Bees, because of its cruelty and discouraging them; but this is a mistake, for the Bees are not discouraged, but are better pleased, and will work more in half an hour after, than before in a much longer time. Bees that have swarmed should not be drove by any means, for these would be greatly discouraged, and seldom thrive after it; for the company left behind is but small, and their brood, which should have supplied the place of those that are gone, are all destroyed.

The manner of driving Bees is as follows: take a joint stool, or something of the like kind, and fix it on the ground, with its legs uppermost; and then take the new Hive, and fix the crown of it firm between the legs of the stool, with its mouth upwards. Let the Hive be as near the size of the other as possible; but if bigger or less, let a flat stick be laid across, to prevent the Hives going the one into the other. Then take the Hive with the Bees, and put it on the other, edge to edge, as near as can be; and then take a sheet, or large cloth, and put double round the skirt of both Hives, so that a Bee may not come forth: let the Hives be then tied together, above and beneath, to prevent their coming apart, and then be turned over, so that the full Hive may be underneath, and the new Hive on the top. After knocking the full Hive round a few times, the Bees will ascend into the void Hive; that is, they will ascend out of the full Hive, which

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THE MARCHING OF BEES.

now is lowest, and by the buzz in the upper Hive it may be easily known how your work goes on. At this time I keep my ear very attentive on the Hive, and can often hear the Queen call, sometimes twice, but seldom more than once at a time. As soon as I hear her, I immediately take off the new Hive, and put it on the place of the old one.

During the time the Hives are tied together, I should have observed, that another void Hive must be placed on the stool where the old one was taken from, to amuse those that are out. The new Hive, with the Queen and other Bees, being now put on the stool, those that remain in the Hive among the combs will quickly follow the others gone before into the new Hives, supposing the edge of the old Hive to be fixed to the edge of the stool whereon the new Hive now stands.

It would be advisable to keep the eye fixed on the Bees in their march from the old to the new Hive, to see the Queen; for although she may be heard in the new Hive very distinctly, yet she sometimes will suddenly return into the old Hive again. If she is seen to march out with her subjects, the work is done; but if she can neither be seen nor heard, very great care must be taken in breaking out the comb; for if she do not come forth at first, she will stay behind to the last, and then there is great danger of the whole being lost. For an instance of this, the reader is desired to turn back to Chap. III. to the case of Mr. Budgett's Bees, which were drove in July, 1784.

CHAP. VII.

ON THE WORKING OF THE BEES, AND WHEN AND IN WHAT MANNER ONLY THEY OUGHT TO BE REMOVED.

If the God of Israel inspired Bezaleel and Aholiah with wisdom and knowledge in all manner of workmanship, the God

THEIR MANNER OF WORKING.

219

of Nature has not been deficient in his instructions to the Bees.

The skill with which they build their combs, and adjust their apartments, is inimitable. Soon after the Bees are hived, after driving or swarming, if they like their habitation, they will erect ladders for their work in a very expeditious manner. The manner of making the ladders is this: at the top of the Hive, where they intend to begin their work, several of the Bees will fix themselves with their fore-legs, with their hinder-legs extended downwards; and the other Bees, with one or both of their fore-legs, lay hold of one or both of the hinder-legs of the Bee that is next above it; thus they do from one to the other, until they reach from the top to the bottom of the Hive; and the bottom Bees fix fast hold to the stool with their hinder legs, so that the top and bottom Bees will suffer their legs to be disjointed before they will let go their hold. The larger the swarms are the greater the number of ladders will be, and the Bees that come home loaded, run up these ladders and unload themselves, by taking the wax in their jaws, and after moistening it with a liquor which they distil upon it, they build their cells in a very rough and unOther Bees are appointed to make the angles exact, and to smooth the surface; but the Bees which form the cells never polish them, as it always is done by other Bees, who work longer than those that build the walls; polishing not being so laborious a work as building.

even manner.

As soon as the Bee unloads itself, he sets off as fast as possible for more wax or honey, or both; and he does not return down the ladder the same way he went up, but on the other side, so that the Bees never hinder each other in their work.

As soon as a cell is made, (unless an egg is laid in it,) the Bees fill it with honey: the Bee enters the cell and discharges the honey through his mouth, which he opens wide, moving his head at the same time to and fro. If a drop be ill placed, he sucks it up again, and discharges it anew; and no sooner has the Bee discharged his honey, and is gone, but another