Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/515

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In many parts of France floating bee-houses are also common ; there are on board one barge three to five score of bee-hives, well defended from the inclemency of an accidental storm. The owners allow their barges to float gently down the river, the bees continually choosing their floury pasture along the banks of the stream, and thus a single floating bee-house yields the proprietor a consider able income. They have also a method of transporting their bees by land which is well worth imitation. Those hives being selected whose combs are firm and not likely to be broken by jolting, thirty to forty of them are carefully packed in tiers in a cart, which proceeds slowly on its travels. If the season be sultry, they journey only at night, the hives being covered up with a cloth. On arriv ing in a suitable locality the hives are taken out of the cart, set upon the ground, and the bees go forth in search of food. In the evening, as soon as they are all returned, the hives are shut up, and being placed again in the cart they proceed on their journey. When the caravan has arrived at its destination, the colonies are distributed in the gardens or fields adjacent to the houses of the different peasants, who, for a very small remuneration, undertake to look after them.

On the continents of Europe and America bee-keeping is carried on in a much larger and more scientific manner than in the United Kingdom, where the cottagers still, in the greater majority of instances, use only the ancient straw skep or hive, and know no other method of depriving the colonies of their stores than the barbarous and wasteful practice of smothering them with brimstone. In Russia the province of Pultowa boasts of 500,000, and Ekater- inoslaw has 400,000 hives. In Western Russia the industry chiefly flourishes in the province of Kowno, where the Tchmude tribe are almost wholly engaged in bee-keeping ; and in Eastern Russia the Finnic tribe are enthusiastic apiarians. In Siberia bee-keeping is mostly carried on about the Altai mountains, and in Caucasia by the Meretinzes and Grusinians. In Southern Russia artificial hives are used, while in North Russia the bees are kept in a natural manner in the forests. The principal reasons why bee-culture is so industriously carried on in Russia are, first, because the peasants use honey instead of sugar, and, secondly, becaiise wax tapers, to the value of 1,200,000 roubles are required for the churches. Mr Buschen states that the quantity of honey annually produced in European Russia is 600,000 to 700,000 Ib. In Hungary and Ger many apiaries of 2000 to 5000 colonies are said to be not in frequent; and great numbers are in the autumn often found, congregated together on the heaths. In 1873 the aggregate number of stocks in Germany, including Hanover and Hesse Cassel, was found to be 1,453,764 stocks ; Bavaria alone had 338,897. The German Government encourages bee culture in every possible manner ; teachers, paid by the state, travel through the rural districts teaching the best methods of cultivation; and all schoolmasters, before receiving their diplomas, have to pass an examination in this subject. Bee- clubs in the villages are common, money for prizes and expenses being in part supplied by the Government. The result of this fostering care is that Germany produces many skilful apiarians, who contribute greatly to our knowledge of the science. In the United States bee-farming is largely carried on as a distinct trade, every scientific appliance being eagerly brought into use. The country also seems to be particularly productive of honey-secreting flowers, and consequently large harvests are gathered. In 1874 one bee- farm alone, that of Mr Harbison, situated in San Diego county, California, produced 150,000 Ib of honey, of a market value of 30,000, from 2000 stocks of bees. The honey-bee of both varieties (Apis mdlifica and A. ligustica) has also been introduced into South Africa and Xew Zealand, where it flourishes amazingly.

Apiaries and Hives.

Having thus given at considerable length the natural history of the hive-bee, we proceed to describe the most approved hives, &c., in use in a well-managed apiary. Greater attention to this useful appendage to the cottage would not only be productive of commercial advantage, but would tend to improve the condition of the peasantry. It is not generally known, indeed, what profitable results may be obtained, at a trifling expense of time and labour, from bee-keeping. Even supposing the first cost of a swarm to be one guinea, which is a high price, the cottager, with proper care and management, will clear, in five years, a net profit of nearly 60, and have besides, at the end of that period, ten good stocks of bees in his garden. The principal objects to be considered in the construction and management of an apiary, are, first, to secure the prosperity and multiplication of the colonies, and then to increase the amount of their productive labour, and to obtain their products with facility and with the least possible detriment to the stock. The apiary should afford to the bees shelter against moisture and the extremes of heat and of cold, and especially against sudden vicissitudes of temperature. The hives should render every facility for constructing the combs and rearing the young; they should allow of every part of the combs being occasionally in spected, and of their being removed when necessary; and, while due attention is paid to economy, they should be made of materials that will insure durability. Much ingenuity has been displayed by different apiarians in the construction of hives to unite in the greatest possible degree all these advantages ; but there is still great room for improvement on the hives that are in common use. While some cultivators of bees have been chiefly anxious to promote their multiplication, and prevent the escape of the swarms in the natural way by procuring what are termed &quot; artificial swarms,&quot; which is effected by various means, others have taken into consideration only the 