Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/255

Rh number of bees. In order to ascertain the age of the hives, it should be remarked, that the combs of the last year are white, while those of the former year acquire a darkish yellow. Where the combs are black, the hive should be rejected as too old, and liable to the inroads of vermin.

Bees never swarm till the hive is too much crowded by the young brood. They sometimes begin to swarm in May, or earlier, according to the warmth of the season. As soon as a swarm is settled, the bees should be immediately hived, to prevent their taking wing again. If they settle on a low branch of a tree, it may be cut off and laid on a cloth, the hive being ready for their reception. If the queen can be placed in the hive, the rest of the bees will soon follow; but if it be difficult to reach them, it will be advisable to let them remain where they have settled till the evening, when there will be less danger of their escaping.

When the swarm is hived, they should be immediately removed to the apiary, but the hive should be kept near the place at which the bees settled, till the evening, lest some stragglers might be lost.

The usual method of uniting swarms, is by spreading a cloth at night upon the ground close to the hive in which the two swarms are to be placed. Lay a stick across the cloth, on which place the hive with the new swarm: on giving a smart stroke on the top of the hive, all the bees will drop in a cluster upon the cloth. Then take another hive from the stool, and place it over the bees, when they will ascend into it, and mix with those already there. Another method is, to invert the hive in which the united swarms are to live, and strike the bees of the other hive into it, in the manner before described.

All the writers on this subject acknowledge, that one of the queens is slain on this occasion, together with a considerable number of the working bees; but only, has suggested an easy mode of killing the queen of the latter swarm before the union, and consequently of preserving the lives of the working bees. This may be effected, by finding her when the bees are beaten down upon the cloth.

A large swarm weighs eight pounds, and others gradually less, to one pound. Hence a good swarm should weigh five or six pounds. Such as are less than four pounds weight, should be strengthened by a small additional swarm. The size of the hive ought to be proportionate to the number of the bees, and it should be rather too small than too large, as these insects require to be kept warmer than a large hive will admit.

Great improvements may be made in providing plenty of pasture for bees; and as a rich corn country is unfavourable to their industry, the practice of other nations, in shifting the abode of their bees, is deserving of imitation.

M., in his description of Egypt, informs us, that the natives of that fertile country annually send their bees into distant regions to procure sustenance for tnem, when they cannot find any at home. About the end of October, the inhabitants of Lower Egypt embark their bees on the Nile, and convey them to Upper Egypt, when the inundation is withdrawn, the lands are sown, and the flowers are