SMi \7W~" WURM i- o ^Ci A TREATISE ON THE MANAGEMENT of BEES; WHEREIN IS CONTAINED The NATURAL H IST OR Y of those Insects; With the various Methods of cultivating them, both Antient and Modern, and the improved Treatment of them. T O W H ICH ARE ADDED, The Natural History of Wasps and Hornets, and the Means of destroying them. Illustrated with COPPER-PLATES, By THOMAS W I L D M A N. LONDON: ^Printed for the Author, and fold by T. Ca dell, opposite Catharine-Street, in the Strand, m dcc lxviii. 1 T O THE 0 U E E N’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. MADAM, H E following sheets, which treat of bees, are A inscribed to your Majesty with the greatest humility. They contain the internal constitution of nations infinite in their numbers, where nature has settled the wisest regulations of policy and subordination, whose supreme magistrate is a Queen, wlio is in every respect the mother of her people, and whose gratitude, homage and affection to her is equally sincere and lasting. They cannot therefore be more properly placed than under the protection of your Majesty, whose amiable character and great virtues shed a happy influence over all the subjects of these kingdoms. If the author pretends to any merit that might intitle him to so great an honour, it is in having discovered a method of preserving the lives of those innocent and useful insects, whose labour and industry has been hitherto the DEDICATION. the occasion of their death. And he therefore hopes he has contributed to put an end to the cruelty and ingratitude, which have attended the methods of taking their wax and honey. I have the honour of being with the highest sense of duty, respect and gratitude, Your Majesty’s most obliged, i most devoted, and most humble servant, TH OMAS WILDMA H. SUBSCRIBER The KING, A; R IGHT Honourable Lady Mary Archer ^William Adair, Esq; of Pall-Mall, two copies Robert Adam, Esq; of Grosvenor- street Mr, Addersly "William Allen, Esq; John Arbuthnot, Esq; Mr. John Anderson, F. R. S. professor of philosophy at Glasgow John Archer, Esq; Miss Archer Miss C. Archer William Althern, Esq; Mr. Andrews Mr. Thomas Allen, ofCraven-Build- ings John Adam, Esq; architect, Edinburgh Mr. John Atkinson Rev. Dr. Ashby, of Barnwell, Leicestershire B. Her Grace the Duchess of Bolton Right Hon. the Earl of Buckinghamshire Right Hon. Lord Beaulieu Right Hon. Lady Montague Bertie Right Hon. Lord Bruce Hon. Miss Bouverie Hon. Miss Bouveries His Excellency Baron Behr Miss Bertie Mr. Richard Bennet, near Saltash, Cornwall Crean Butler, Esq; Mr. Bladen --Barnes, Esq; Argyle Buildings William Blair, Esq; Miss Bladen Mr. John Burton Thomas Plummet- Byde, Esq; Mrs. Byde Mr. Burton Mr. John Bloodworth, of Derby Mr. Edward Bebham Mr. Thomas Bird, linen-draper, at Warwick John Bird, Esq; 30 copies Rev. Mr. William Bull, of Newport- Pagnel Mr. Bagley, hosier, of Oxford-Road Henry Baker, Esq; Strand Mr. James Burgh John Barrow, Esq; Piccadilly Christopher Baldwin, Esq; of Clap* ham in Surrey Mr. Thomas Bond, of ditto Mr. John B'ackall John Blake, Esq; Pariiament-stre f ‘t Rev. John Blair, L. L. D, F. R S. Mr. B.,rnard b Charles SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. VI Charles Brandor, Esqj of Christ- Church, Hants George Baker, M. D. F. R. S. J trmyn-street Mr. Bernard Bayne, Cork-street Leonard Bartholomew, E%Charing- Cross Dr. Joseph Black, Edinburgh Thomas Brand, Esq; Mrs. Biencowe, of Hess Mr. Thomas Bishop, of Hayes, Middlesex Mr. John Bebb Mr. Bennet, of Bath C. Right Hon. the Earl of Chesterfield Right Hon. the Earl of Coventry Right Hon. the Countess of Coventry Right Hon. Lord Clifford Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Carlisle Right Hon. Lord Clare Right Hon. Lord Clur Right Hon. Lady Anne Connolly Right Hon. Lady Anne Cecil Sir J. H. Cotton Sir William Codrington, Bart. Sir Richard Chafe Sir James Clerk, Barf. Basil Cochran, Esq; George Clerk, Esq; commissioner of the customs, Edinburgh — Clarke, Esq; of Saltasb, Cornwall Mr. John Clarke, near Mount-Edge- cumbe Mr. Coo'kwithy, of Plymouth Jo si as Carlton, Esq; two copies John Conyers, Esq; Charles Charleswood, Esq, Mrs. Chester Richard Calvert, Esq; John Calvert, E.'q; Mrs. Calvert Mr. Calvert Mr. Cowel Mrs. Curzon Mr. Richard Cratton Captain Caulfield, of the Prince of Wales’s dragoons Mr. William Cripps, of Newport- Pagnel Mr. R. Clements Mr. Charles Carlisle, Pall-Mall Mr. Thomas Clarke, Garlick Hill William Curning, M. D. at-Dorchester Mrs. Colhoun Lady Cotton Miss Cotton Nathaniel Castleton, Esq; Major Cooper Stanes Chamberlayne, Esq; Jeremiah Cray, Esq; of Biston, Hampshire Henry Compton, Esq; of ditto Colonel Coote, of West-Park, Hampshire Thomas Chaise, Esq; William Castle, Esq; Spring-Gardens,, two copies Auncham Churchill, Esq; of Hen~ bury", Dorsetshire Joshua Churchill, Esq; Dover-street Edward Give, Esq; Mrs. Catharine Carew, of Beddington Rev. Mr. Thomas Clarke, rector of Twickenham, Middlesex John Cowstad, Esq; Gentleman-ussier to the Queen Mr. Andrew Clinton, of the War- Office William Craik, Esq; of Arbigland D. Right Hon. Lady Caroline Dewar Right Hon. Lady Viscount Dudley Lion. Mrs. Drax John 8 SUBSCIBERS NAME S, John Drumfnond, Esq; Charing- Cross Thomas Erie Drax, Esq; A. P. Durant, Esq; Mr. Dunster Dr. Dimsdale Mr. Joseph Dimsdale Mr. Dimsdale Mr. Thomas Dove Mrs. Davison Rev. Mr. Duncombe, of Canterbury Matthew Duane, Esq; of Lincoln’s- Inn, F. R. 8. AA. S. Mr. John Delamare, of Spital-Fields Captain D’Arcy William Drake, Esq; Mrs. Dickins George Dewar, Esq; Rev. Mr. Darling, vicar of Wargrave, Berkshire Mr. Ditcher, Surgeon at Bath Henry Davidson, Esq; of Poland- street J. F. Delaporte, Esq; of Carlhalton^ Surrey John Durand, Esq; of Carshalton, Surrey Mrs. Drake, of Hillingdon, Middlesex Mr. William Duck, of Uxbridge Lady Hufsey Delaval, of Millbank, Westminster Mr. Emanuel Mendez Dacosta Henry Dodwell, Esq; Golden Square E. Right Hon. the Earl of Exeter Right Hon. Earl of Eglington Right Hon. Lord Edgecumbe Right Hon. the Earl of Essex Right Hon. the Countess of Essex Edward Evelyn, Esq; Right Hon. Lady Caoroline Egerton Right Hon. Lord Eliocke Captain Ennis, of Totham, near Plymouth Miss Ewet George Ernest Eller, Esq; of Hillingdon, Middlesex Mr. Etwall, attorney, at Andover, Hampshire James Evelyn, Esq; William Nassau Elliot, Esq; Ryegate, Surrey Mr. Henry Erpe, Leicester F. Right Hon. the Earl of Findlater and Seafield Right Hon. Lord Viscount Falmouth Right Hon. Lady Viscountess Falmouth Right Hon. Lady Mary Forbes John Fothergiil, Esq; M. D. F. R.S, two copies Mr. Frost Mr. Patrick Fletcher, of Denbigh Mr. Thomas Flint Mr. Fergus, of Piccadilly Francis Farquharson, Esq; of Durham, 20 copies Paul Fielde, Esq; Duncan Forbes, Esq; of Brewer- street Adam Ferguson, L. L D. professor of philosophy, Edinburgh Mr. William Feseay, of Newport- Pagnel Benjamin Franklin, L. L. D. F. R. S. Mr. Thomas Fisher, of Kegworth, Leicestershire Edmund French, Esq; Naphthaly Franks, Esq; Mrs. Mary Freake b 2 The subscribers names. viii G. R'ght Hon. Lord William Gordon The most Noble the Marquis of Granby Right Hon. Lord Grey Right Hon. Lady Henrietta Grey His Grace the Duke of Gordon Hon. Mrs. Grenville Captain Cosmo Gordon Mr. Griffith P. Gel!, Esq; Mr. Bernard Gery, apothecary, at Warwick Rev. Mr. Davenport Gamble, of Willoughby, Leicestershire Samuel Gore, Esq; of Goodman’s Fields William Gould, Esq; two copies William Graham, Esq; of Gaetam Mr. James Goodwin,of Northampton Mr. Mark Goodflecke, New-Ber- wick-street Edward Gardiner, Esq; Thomas Gifborne, M. D. and F.R.S. phystcian to the King’s housliold H. Right Hon. the Earl of Harcourt Hon. Mrs. Hall Mrs. Houblon Jacob Houblon, Esq; Mrs. Houblon Miss Houblon, four copies John Houblon, Esq; Jacob Houblon, junior Humphry Hall, Esq; Captain Hynde Mr. Hale Mrs. Ela’e Captain Heighway Mr. Eloldbrook, of Loughborough Mr. Christopher Heath Richard Hayne, Esq; Mr. P. B. Hylton, of Coventry S --Hutcheson, M.D. of Clay brook, Leicestershire. Rev. Mr.. William Hanbury, ©f Church Langton. Charles Hamilton, Esq; William Hanbury, Esq; Mr. Thomas Hooton, of Newport- Pagnel George Pitt Hurst, Esq; of Newport* Pagnel Mr. Thomas Holt, of Newport* Pagnel Edward Hooper, Esq; E. R. S, iti Hertford-street Mr. Thomas Haste], of Wooburn Colonel [duster Mr. John Hughes, Lincoln’s-Ina Fields Richard Huck, M. D. John Campbell Hook, Esq; Lord Lyon of Scotland Colonel Hodges Mrs. Holman Mr. Houldon Mr. John Hinton Dr. William Hunter, Windmill-street Mr. John Hume, Litchfield-street Fennel Hawkins, Esq; St. James’s,, two copies Mr. William Hampfond William Heberden, M. D. Mrs. Heneck, at Chester I. Miss Isles Colonel Johnston, at the King’s Mews Mr. Robert De Jardin, of Canterbury Mr. Matthew Jenour, at Hampstead Mr. Johnston Mr. Samuel Jacques, surgeon, at Uxbridge K. Right Hon. Lord Kilmaur John Kirkpatrick, Esq; William Comber Kirkby, Esq;-. Waltes SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. IX Walter Kettelby, Esq; J. Kynaston, Esq; Mr&. Knight James Kennedy, Esq; L. Right Hon. Lord Lyttekoa Sir Edward Littleton Lady Littleton Sir Richard Littleton Mrs. Leigh ton Mr. James Lind Mr. Lyster Mrs. Lyster Mr. John Langford -Lander, M. D. Warwick Mr. John Lant, of Allestey, Warwickshire Rev. Mr. Levitt, of Leicestershire -Lewis, M. D. at Kingston Captain Leigh Rev. Mr. Edmund Lodge Rev. Mr. Lipycatt M. His Grace the Duke of Montague Her Grace the Duchess of Montague Lord Montague Right Hon. Lord Vis our,t Maynard Mr. Martin, of Coombs, Devonshire J. Mcrdaunt, Esq; Mr. Midwinter Henry Muilman, Esq; Mr. Mytton Miss Myt'on Mr. Samuel Moore,. Jermyn-street Lady Mildway Mr. Mildway Rev. Mr. Michel! Donald Monro, M. D, Jermyn-street Mr. Charles Mills, Mile’s Lane, Cannon-street Mr. John M'Gowan. Rev. Mr. Richard Mills, vicar of Hiliingdon, Middlesex John Mills, Esq; F, R. S. Edward Moore, Esq; Mr. John Mqse, of Croydon, in Surrey Mr. John Micklem, of Uxbridge,. Middlesex —— Meyrick,M.D.Queen’s-square„ Westminster . Mustard, Esq; of Caulick, Not- tingham shire Thomas Mant, Esq; two copies Mr. L. Matthey N. His Grace the Duke of Norfolk Her Grace the Duchess of Norfolk His Grace the Duke of Northumberland Her Grace the Duchess of Northumberland Right Hon. Lord Viscount Newnham Mr. John Newcombe, Cheapside John Nugent, Esq;. Bury-streer, St. James’s O. Right Hon. Robert Ord, Lord Chief Baron of Scotland Sir William Owen, Bart. Robert Ojiphant, Esq; Post- masters General of Scotland Mr. James Oswald Arthur Owen, Esq; Chelsea P. Her Grace the Duchess of Portland Right Hon. E ar] Percy Sir Thomas Parkyns, Nottinghamshire Sir ■* 'SUBSCRIBERS NAMES Sir John Pringle, Bart. Pall-Mall Thomas Penant, Esq; Miss Penant Miss K. Penant Mr. A. Porney, of Eton Mr. George Paterson, surgeon -Percy, Esq, Little Chelsea Mr. William Pope, of Hillingdon --Poyntz, M. D. two copies James Parsons, M. D. F. R. S. Red- Lion-Square Mr. Plumer Rev. Mr. John Pearce, Worcester Mr. Powlett, at Monday’s Coffeehouse, New Round Court, Strand 'Rev. Mr. Percy Mr. Pitt Mr. Penton ’William Plummet, Esq; Mrs. Rummer William Prior, Esq; Mr. Partridge Mr. Joseph Plant, Coventry Rev. Dr. Parry, Market Harborough Mr. John Porter, of Canterbury Mr. Price Charles Palmer, Esq; Islington Mrs. Parson Thomas Pocklington, Esq; Mrs, Pigott R. Right Hon. the Earl of Roseberry Right Hon. the Countess of Radnor Right Hon. Lady Ravensworth His Excellency the Earl of Rochford Sir John Rogers, Bart. Sir George Robinson -Sir Alexander Ramsay, Bart. Mr. Radcliffe Rev. Mr. 8. Rogers, Northampton Samuel Reynardfon, Esq; Mr. Rudne!!, surgeon at Bath Mr. John Anthony Rucker, Suffolk- street Mrs. L. Robinson Lytton Mr. James Russell Henry Rigall, Esq; at Manheim F. Rogers, Esq-, Plymouth Dock Mr. John Rose S. Right Hon. the Earl of Shaftefbury Right Hon. the Countess of Shaftes- bury Right Hon. the Earl of Sandwich Right Hon. Earl Spencer Right Hon. Countess Spencer Right Hon. Lady St. John Hon. Miss Letitia St. John Hon. Henry St. John, Esq; Hon. Mr. St. John Lady Frances Scott Sir John Seabright Sir Thomas Stepney, Bart. Sir Thomas Salisbury, Knt. Miss Stapylton Mr. Robert Smith, junior Rev. Mr. Salusbury Mr. Stokes Mr. Sneyd Thomas Sea wen, Esq; Mr. Benjamin Storer, Leicester Rev. Mr. William Stanton, of Moul- sot, near Newport-Pagnel Mr. William Stodden, Canterbury J. H. Simmons, Esq; at Queen- court, Ospringe Mr. J. Stallard, apothecary, at Clap- ham John Strange, Esq; F. R. S. Brook- street, Grofvenor- Square G. Schonin, Esq; Duke-street, St. James’s Mr. Smith, Turnham Green Mrs. St. John, Wimpole-street Mrs. Savage, of Popham, Hampshire William Small, M. D. of Birmingham, four copies Alexander SUBSCRIBERS NAMES. W Alexander Small, Esq; of Chelsea Mr. Alexander Small Owen Salisbury Brereton,, Esq; Mr. J. 8. C. Schaak Mr. William Strahan, printer James Scawen, Esq; of Carshalton, Surrey Mr. Robert Smith, Croydon,in Surrey Mrs. Elizabeth Saunders Joshua Steele, Esq; Captain Story, Dover T. Sir William Trelawny, Bart. Hon. Mrs, 1results Robert Cotton Trefusis, Esq; Mrs. Trevilian Mrs. Turner Mr.. Thomas Mrs. Thomlinson Mr. R. Tristram Rev. Dr. Taylor Rev. Mr. James Tattersall Rev. Mr. William Thompson, of Hollowed, Northamptonshire Mr. Robert Tilley, of Smeeton Mr. James Truelove, Castle Thorp, Buckinghamshire Mr. Mark Thomas, Canterbury Mr, John Token, of Stuppington Mr. Edward Token, Ospringe Peter Templeman, M. D. Mr. Nathaniel Templeman, Lin- coln’s-Inn, two copies —— Thursby, Esq; of Abington, near Northampton George Tufnell, Esq; -—Thompson, M. D. Worcester V. Right Hon. Lord Vernoa Mr. Vernon Miss Verney Rodolph Valtravers, Esq; F. R. 8. three copies Richard Vincent, Esq; of the Temple. Mr. Francis Vincent,. Threadneedie- street . w. Right Hon. Lord Vansick Right Hon. Viscountess Weymouth Sir Armine Wood house, Bart. John West, Esq; John Willis, Esq; Ralph Willet, Esq;. F. R. S, Dean— street, Soho Rev. Mr. Thomas Whitehurst Mr. Richard Wheeler Isaac Whittington, Esq; Rev. Mr. Christopher Hatton Walker Mr. William Wignell, Greenwich James White, Esq; Lincoln’S-Inn John Wilkinson, M. B. F. R. Si». St. James’s-street Mr. Christopher Wood Mrs. Wogan John Wogan, Esq;. Miss West Edmund Waller, Esq;. Wigmore- street William Watson, M. D. Lincoln’s- Inn-Fields Mr. John Wilson, Henrietta-street, Covent Garden Israel Wilkes, Esq; William Wentworth, Esq; of Hem— bury, Dorsetshire^ Y. Mr. Robert Young, surgeon,. Great; Ruffel-street *6 PREFACE. B EFORE sugar became so plentiful as it has been since the Europeans have got possession of the West India islands, honey was much more valuable than it is at present, being then the chief ingredient in general use for sweetening every article of food. As the value of honey has however lessened, luxury has increased the price of wax, which is now become the greatest supply os light in all polite assemblies; as well as in the Romissi churches, in which wax-candles are kept constantly burning. By this means, wax is become a considerable article of commerce, and as such, is now become the chief inducement for the care bestowed on bees, especially in the warmer climates: for there wines supply the place of the mead made in northern countries. But the Africans and Asiatics, being forbid the use of wine, cultivate very few vines: nor do they raise sugar canes in great quantities: honey consequently continues of great use to them; and from this cause, it probably is, that Africa affords the great supply of wax to the western parts of Europe, as Asia and Greece do to the eastern. It will appear, in the course of this work, that on account of the wax, the French have attended greatly to the culture of bees; not only in the curious accounts given of their propagation and œconomy by the learned, but also in regard to the most prosit able method of cultivating them. As an instance of this, 1 shall here do justice to a gentleman whose name does not occur in the body of this work, because he has not given particular directions for the management of bees: but he has done what I wish many landed gentlemen in this country would imitate. c ' We XIV PREFACE. We are informed in the Ecole $ Agriculture, page 35. that M. Feydan de Brou, intendant of Rouen, by an ordonnance of the fifteenth of November 1757, has, for the relief of the poor, and to encourage them in their labours, granted to the inhabitants of the country (by which I suppose he means the most indigent, as well as the more substantial farmers) who keep hives of bees, a diminution of the capitation tax,-proportioned to the number of hives they have each year. The same author observes, page 92, that the culture of bees is a branch of rural œconomy, the more valuable, as it is within the reach of the poorest cottager. It requires not plowing, manure, cattle, nor rich meadows. The whole that is wanted is an attendance which may be given by the meanest, and that but for a short time. In this.respect, it is really reaping without sowing. As an article of great importance, the author recommends it as worthy the particular attention of the schools of agriculture, which he proposes should be established in different districts of France. In the course of the following work, every thing relating to these useful insects is treated of with the utmost care, beginning in the first book with an abstract of the natural history of bees, written by Messrs. Maraldi and de Reaumur, and brought within as narrow a compass as the variety of curious matter discovered by these authors would admit of. It cannot be expected that a minute detail of what sills volumes can be contained in a few sheets; yet the author hopes that on examination, very few essential circumstances will be found to have escaped him. The chief intention of giving this extract is to point out to gentlemen who have leisure and genius, the objects on which their inquiries should be founded. These researches will be greatly forwarded by the ease with which the bee.s may be come at, both on account of the better construction of my boxes, and of the command which experience may now give to every person over bees. This latter advantage is what strikes 8 spectators PREFACE. xv spectators at first sight; yet I dare promise, that on an attentive perusal of the following sheets, the judicious reader will agree with me in opinion, that the total alteration which I propose to make in the management of bees, will be found to be the most essentially useful part of the work. In the first chapter of the second book, I point out the situations most proper for bees, and also describe my hives and boxes with all possible accuracy, in order that, as they are constructed with views greatly different from those of former hives and boxes, the. owner may be perfectly acquainted with these differences. And to render every part of my management of bees as clear and concise as I can, I take in the succeeding chapters every step as they follow in the order of the seasons, commencing with the spring, when the round of their operations may be said to begin. Asa full account of the generation of bees, which is their great object during the spring, has been given in the first book, I proceed in the second chapter to treat of their swarming, the natural consequence of the increase of their numbers. I give an account not only of what is necessary to be done when the swarms come off in the natural way, but I also instruct the owners of bees how to cause them to swarm, when, by the want of a queen, or for some other reason, they are prevented from swarming. The reader will find here some directions never hinted at, or practised by any former writer. In the third chapter, I give a succinct detail of the management of bees in my hives and boxes, in which, I flatter myself, their superiority in several respects over those in common use, will evidently appear. Their construction and size are particularly accommodated to the purposes of frequently taking wax and honey, and yet being well assured of constantly leaving the bees such a stock of honey as shall afford them sufficient provision, in case of an unfavourable season. C 2 Shifting PREFACE. xvi Shifting the abodes of bees, treated of in the fourth chapter, is a circumstance very little attended to in this kingdom, which yet might certainly be of considerable advantage. The antients were well acquainted with the utility of this measure, and practised it with great success. It has been lately introduced into France: and I hope the several instances given of the good effects of this practice will prompt our countrymen to attend to this very easy method of encouraging the industry of the bees, and which is at the fame time so profitable. But the superiority of my method of managing bees, both in my hives and boxes, will more particularly appear in the fifth chapter. There, the reader will fee, with what ease the wax and honey are taken, even at pleasure, with very little annoyance to the bees. Where the old hives are still made use of, more skill is necessary in causing the bees to quit their hive : and I have there laid down the plainest directions for. executing this so seemingly arduous a task. In these directions is contained the truly useful part of my command over bees. But I find that the public expect from me the whole of my secret influence over them. In compliance therefore to their wishes, I add an account of all I do in that way ; but I own it is with reluctance ; being well assured that many hives of bees will fall a sacrifice to unskilful and unexperienced hands,, in the repetition of my experiments. The sixth chapter contains directions for separating the wax and honey. Having thus given an account of the management of bees in the garden, or apiary, during the season os collecting honey, I point out, in the seventh chapter, the manner of discovering bees in the woods or forests; and give ample directions for taking them out of trees or walls* PREFACE, xvii walls, with their combs j and for putting them into hives, reserving a sufficiency of honey for their winter provision. The bees being now delivered from their annual massacre, by their most inhuman enemy, man, I proceed, in the eighth chapter, to enumerate their other enemies, particularly the moth. My method of managing bees will be the most effectual preservative from this destroyer, who has baffled the ingenuity of ages, in their attempts to get rid of him for the combs in my hives or boxes may be changed before the moths can have made themselves a secure settlement. I here also guard against an enemy scarce mentioned by authors, viz. millepedes, or wood-lice, which I have sometimes found to commit so great havoek in hives, that the bees have been forced to quit them. What other inconveniencies happen to bees, is the subject of the ninth chapter. Here Madam Vicat is signalized for her very uncommon attention to bees, and for her judgment and ready invention in applying such helps as their various disorders would admit of. No person deserves greater commendation in this article than is due to her. I am very happy in having such ingenious fellow-labourers, as this lady, and the Count de la Bourdonnaye, in our attempts to save the lives of these industrious insects; and not a little proud of the similarity of our views* and of-the means we make use of. The feeding of bees, and the care of them during the winter, become the subject of the tenth chapter j and I close this book, in the eleventh chapter, with directions for making mead. When an improved method of managing bees is become general, the quantity of honey collected will, I hope, be such as shall become the means of making considerable quantities of this excellent wholesome liquor, It will still better deserve these epithets, when a more established practice has taught us the best manner, and the proper degree of fermentation; and a due age is added. But fermentation not being the proper subject of this work, a detail of every step necessary in 3 the xviil PREFACE. the making of mead, would run Into too great a length. The composition and strength of it may indeed be varied according to the fancy of each person who makes it : and for this reason, an out-line only is given. In the third book, the natural history of Wasps and Hornets is extracted from the fame Memoirs from whence that of the bees was taken, and directions are given for destroying them. The means of accomplishing this end are very simple, and arise from the account given of these infects. Their enmity to bees, as well as the hurt done by them to men, and to all domestick animals, point out the destroying them as an object worthy of our attention. In order to explain some parts of the natural history of bees and wasps, plates are given representing the bees, and the combs of both bees and wasps: and a third plate, giving views of my boxes and hives, and also of an instrument very useful for feeding bees. It is just that I should here acknowledge my obligations to John Mills, Esq; F. R. 8. for his ready permission of making use of his accurate and judicious collection of what has been written on this subject in foreign languages. PREFACE xrx N. B. I forgot when treating of bees in the winter, to mention, that in the month of October, the panes of glass should be all taken out of my boxes, and pieces of soft blotting paper, or fine flannel, be exactly fitted to the doors, and placed in the boxes, in lieu of the panes of glass: for glass is so cold in the winter, that it would chill every bee that happens to touch it; and is besides apt to collect water on the changes of weather. The paper, or flannel, should re-, main in the boxes till May, or till the fear of cold is past ; and then be taken out, and the panes of glass be returned to their places. When the state of the hives is enquired into in the spring, any hive which may have been reduced to a small number of bees, by any mischance, may be then strengthened by taking a sufficient number of bees from a strong hive,, in the manner that has been directed for causing them to swarm. By means of this recruit the weak hive will soon thrive equal to any other hive. The number of bees added should be proportioned to their wants. It may be also observed that* in purchasing bees, those that swarm early should be preferred ; for. they will continue to be forward. [Mr. Wildman will shew the practical part to any number of subscribers, that may not be fully satisfied, not less than twenty, in any place they shall please to appoint, not exceeding three miles from London j or to any subscribers st a greater distance, they paying his charges to and from London. And if any of the subscribers do not chuse to manage their Bees themselves, he will undertake it for the yearly Sum of Three Guineas J CONTENT 8 BOOK A N Account of Bees, extracted from the Memoirs of the Rnval Ararlffmv nf Sripnees. - _ p,j„g I Royal Academy of Sciences. BOOK CHAP. I. Of the Apiary and Hives Sect. I. Of the Situation of the Apiary. Sect. II. Of Hives Sect. III. Of Boxes. CHAP. II Of Swarming. CHAP. III. Of the Management of Bees in Hives and Boxes. CHAP. IV. Of shifting the Abodes of Bees. CHAP. V. Of the Methods practised for taking the Wax and Honey, without destroying the Bees. 93 CHAP. VI. Of separating the Honey and Wax. CHAP. VII. Os discovering Bees in Woods or Buildings, and putting them. into Hives CHAP. VIII. Of Enemies to Bees CHAP Of the Diseases of Bee CHAP. X. Of feeding Bees’ and of the Care of them during the Winter. iz? BOOK III. Of Wasps and Hornets, and of the Means of destroying them 142 [ I J V? Z 1 // 'a EXTRACTED FROM The Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences at PARIS. O F all the infects known by naturalists, the bees are certainly the most admirable. The instinct they have for feeding themselves on flowers, and for gathering from thence the honey and wax; the regularity that reigns in their different functions, their government, their industry, the wonderful artifice of their works; in a word, all the properties that are observed in these animals, have drawn the attention of philosophers both ancient and modern. Amongst the ancients, Aristomachus contemplated them for the space of fifty-eight years; Arijlomachum Solensem, fays Pliny, duode- sexaginta annu nihil aliud egijje ; and Philifcus retired into woods, that he might have more convenient opportunities of observing them ; Phiiijbum vero Phafium in defertis apes colentem Jgrium cognominatum: £>ui amboscripsere de his. B We : el AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. We owe to Aristotle some very curious and useful observations on this infect, which have been embellished with all the charms of poetry by Virgil. Afterwards these observations were confirmed and inlargod by Pliny, and several other philosophers of antiquity. Amongst the moderns, prince Frederic Ceci, institutor and president of the Roman academy of sciences, towards the' beginning of the last century had wrote, according to the relation of Fabius Columna, a treatise upon bees, which he presented to the pope,, Urbin VIII, and gave expectance of to the public, together with the description of the parts of this animal, drawn with the assistance of the miseroscope by Stelluti of the same academy : But it is not known what is become of that work, nor of that which Swam- merdam promised several y^ars ago, on the anatomy of this animal. Swammerdam's History of Bees was written in Dutch ; he left it* together with his other manuscripts, in legacy to his friend Mr. Thave- not. Mr. Thavenot died before he could perform tfje duty he owed to the memory of his friend in publifmng his manuscripts. Mr. du Verney was Jo j or tun ate as to purchase those manuscripts , and by that means instrumental probably in preserving them but being too much occupied in making new discoveries even to publijl: his oxen, it is no wonder that he jhould mt perform his promise of publishing those of another .. At lad the illustrious Boerhaave, strom his zeal for natural history purchased them of Mr. du Verney , and engaged the learned Gaubius to ■ translate them into Latin, and to get them printed in Dutch and Latin,, which he hath executed. They make two volumes in folio, the last of • which xvas published in the year 1738. The history of bees, which is contained in this work, answers the idea that Boerhaave had raised f it. [Vid. Reaumur’s Histoire des Insects, torn. V. p. 208.] Notwithstanding the observations of so great a number of learned 1 persons, we have not forbore to examine this part of phystcs, wherein we have been insensibly engaged both by the pleasure we took in so* curious an enquiry,, and by the conveniency we had of a great num- 8 ben AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 2 A ber os glass hives in the garden of Mr. Caffini, adjoining, to the •observatory. As several moderns as well as the ancients have treated of the manner of governing these animals with regard to the utility which is to be derived from them, we shall not speak on that subject at present; but content ourselves with laying open the treasures of curiosity that we have discovered. You will here see the origin of bees, the different species that are found in one swarm, the small number of those that are only for propagation, and the great number of the others that are occupied in labour. We shall explain how these gather on flowers the honey and wax, and how being employed in different functions they mutually affist each other in their labours. We shall give the description of the principal organs of bees, together with an explication of the construction of the cells and combs; a work of ingenious and learned architecture. The greatest part of these observations have been sifted and examined several times, so that they carry with them an intire evidence. With regard to the others, that it will be easy to distinguish by the manner in which they are related, we were obliged to be content with conjectures, as they could not be known perfectly on account of the difficulties that attend such enquiries, For here nature is not only surrounded with obscurities, as on all other subjects ; but she is moreover armed against those that approach her nearly, and would closely engage with her. The number of bees in one hive is very different' according to or the dlffe- the different size of the hives. In the little hives we have counted f ents P ecieso ^ bees, eight or ten thousand bees, and have found even eighteen thousand in the larger. In each hive, whether little or great, we have remarked three different sorts of flies. The first is what is properly called bees ; this species composes almost the whole swarm. These are the bees, B 2 that 4 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. that go and collect wax on the flowers, that knead it and form from it the combs and cells ; these likewise gather the honey and fill with it the combs in summer, .. p urijjima mella Stipant , et liquido diftendunt neffiare cellas. Virgil. These fill the hollows of the combs, and swell With liquid nectar ev’ry waxen cell. that it may serve them for nourishment in the winter; these take care to supply their young with food adapted to their age, and to excite a proper heat to bring them to maturity, Spem gentis adultos Educunt fœtus. These educate the young, or hatch the seed With vital warmth, and future nations breed. Lastly, These have the charge of keeping the hive clean, and of removing every thing that may be noxious. All these bees have a sting, and there are some amongst this species that are somewhat larger than others. The second sort is what are called drones. They are easily distinguished from the rest by their colour, which is a little darker, and by their size; the drones being one third part longer and somewhat bigger than the bees. There are hives where one finds but a small number of drones, there are others where you will find a much greater quantity; and there are seasons of the year when we could find none, Jgnavum fucos pecus d prœfepibus ar cent. All, with united force, combine to drive The lazy drones from the industrious hive. we 4 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. s we have likewise sometimes found drones that were not bigger than the common bees. Ail the drones are destitute of a sting. Lastly, we have remarked a third fort of bees in the fame hive, which are longer still than the drones, but less big in proportion to their length, and of a more lively, reddish colour, Alter er it maculis auro fquakntibus ar dens, -—-— - - injignis et ore, Et rutilh clams squamis. With ease distinguish’d is the regal race; The monarch bears an honest open face ; Of longer size, and godlike to behold, His royal body shines with specks of gold, And glitt’ring scales———— We have never found more than three of these bees in an hive,, and oftentimes we have found but one.. This third fort hath a. grave and sedate walk, is armed with a sting, and is the mother of all the others. Perhaps it is this fort that hath been called the kingj J must observe that Arijlotle had made the same distinctions, and hath given pretty much the same descriptions ; although Mr. Maraldi hath not taken the least notice of it. KerTpor He a,l fiv fsKirrat tyov-Tiv, of He xvjtpyvsg cux eyovinv. Of He @œtriXei$ eyoutri fiv,dx\’ ou' U7 Ttcu and the mother of all the bees. This notion is, in effect , mere prolific st' AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. •of the marvellous, 'which Is the life and foul of poetry ; and that I do not offer a vague conjecture in thinking it more marvellous, I beg leave to refer the reader to Mr. de Fontenelle's Plurality of Worlds , towards the end cf the 3 d dialogue, where he will find the marvellous on this head, drawn out under a strict observance of truth, to a perfect qfcnijhment. But befides this reason, we know that the very name of king was odious to the Roman people, and therefore one would think, the poet should have fludioufy avoided it, where his design was to celebrate the government of bees. Admiranda tibi levium fpectacula rerum, Magnanimosque duces, totiusque oedine gentis Mores ; et fudia, et populos, et prælia dicam. Os little creatures wond’rous acts I treat, 1 The ranks, and mighty leaders of their state; I Their people, government , and wars relate. 1 We have now enumerated the different forts of bees, and shall proceed to the description of the bee. Description of One may distinguish three principal parts in the body of the bee, the bee. ^ Vv'b icli is attached by a kind of neck to the rest of the body j the middle, or breafi •, and the belly, which is distinguished from the other by a cutting off in the middle. In the head we shall content ourselves with observing two kind of talons or jaws, that are in the inferior part, and that open and shut from right to left. This organ serves the bees as hands for taking hold of the wax, for kneading it, for building cells with it, and for polishing them. They make use of these talons likewise for conveying into and out of the hive every thing that is necessary to them. At / AN ACCOUNT OF BEES, At the same extremity of the head, bees have a proboscis or trunk, the origin of which is near the neck. It goes tapering from its root, where it is bigger, quite to its extremity, where it terminates in a point. This trunk is composed of five branches, two of which are detached from the others quite from their root, the one to the right, the other to the left; the three others do not separate from each other till about the middle of the trunk. The middle branch is cylindrical, of the bigness of a hair on a man’s head, and when seen with a microscope it appears through its whole length distinguished into several rings, each of which is furnished with a great quantity of little hairs, that are longer towards the extremity of the trunk than-towards its root. ‘This pars, which we call more properly the trunk, is one of the principal organs of bees, with which they gather the honey on flowers, as we shall mention afterwards,, and with which they take their nourishment. The other four branches are larger towards their origin, and go tapering oft to the very point. They are made in the manner of a gutter , being concave of that side which is towards the trunk, and convex of the other; they have the consistence of horn; the two branches which are detached the nearest from the root are the largest and inclose the two others. They unite so well together, that they seem to make but one single tube. Towards the middle of the length of each of these four branches there is a fort of articulation, by means of which they extend themselves, or bend all at once at the place of articulation. The half of the trunk that is at the extremity bends itself inwards, and lavs itself along the other half which is towards the origin ; these four branches by bending themselves carry with them the proboscis or middle trunk, which hath no articulation. When these branches are bent inwards, (which is their most common situation) they are contained between 8 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. between the neck and the talons, that were mentioned before; but when they are lengthened out (which happens as often as the bee would feed itself or gather honey) the other half advances forth from the head, and besides that the middle branch of the five can lengthen itself a little beyond the others, and move itself in all directions in order to fuck with its extremity the honey from the cups of flowers. We have been assured by several observations, that the bees gather honey by the proboscis alone, and it hath appeared to us that this trunk is a pipe through which the honey can pass. We have even seen the trunk grow bigger and less by turns; we have seen it swell the very instant that the bee sucked honey, and this enlarging and lessening was propagated successively from its extremity quite to its root, which made us judge that it was the juice that caused the swelling, as it passed through the capacity of the pipe. It may be supposed that the proboscis or middle trunk, is in the nature of a tongue*, and that the branches perform the office of a bill; the tongue, after having sipped the honey from a flower, conveys it by means of the branches, quite to their roots, where it is received into the body of the bee in a kind of reservoir. These are the principal parts of the head and their uses, as far as their smallness will permit us to know them. The middle or breast of the bee is of a figure approaching to an oblong spheroid, to which are fastened two wings, one to the right, the other to the left. Each of these wings is accompanied by another which is as it were adherent to it, but smaller than the other that is nearest to the head; it is with these sour wings that they make sounds or hummings, in order to give notice one to another. * Mr. de Reaumur conjectures, that the tip of the proboscis rather performs the office of a tongue in lapping ; and that the liquor is conveyed along the pipe, by the alternate dilatation and contraction of muscles: if so, what a delicate apparatus muL there be of invisible muscles! Fit AN ACCOUNT OF BEES, 9 Fit Jonitus, mujsanfque oras et limina circum. Around the entrance make a drowsy hum. It is likewise in this part of the body, towards the under side, that are situated six legs, three on the right, and three on the left* Two of these legs are on the fore-part, and very near the head ; they are the least of the six: the four others are attached on the back- part towards the belly, very near the one to the other: the two middlemost are a little longer that the first, and shorter than the hindmost. All these legs are distinguished by several joints, of which there are three greater than the rest; besides those three joints that are towards the middle of the leg, there are likewise others towards the root and towards the extremity of each leg. The middlemost joint of the two hinder legs is much larger than the others, and there is on the external side a little concavity, in the shape of a marrow-fpoon, which is surrounded by a great number of small hairs; it is in this hollow that the bees collect, by little and little, the particles of wax, which they gather on flowers. It must be observed, that the legs of drones who do not gather wax, and those of the king, or more properly the queen of the bees, have not this groove. The extremities of the six feet terminate in two hooks, with their points opposte. to each other, with which the bees fasten themselves in clusters to the sides of the hive, and form divers figures, sometimes of a cone, and sometimes of a garland, &c. From the middle of these two hooks, there comes out a little thin appendix that folds itself double through its whole breadth ; its usual state is to be folded, and when it is extended it appears twice as big ; the bees make use of this part for fastening themselves, and for walking on polished bodies, such as glass: I believe likewise that they make use of this part as of hands, to take the little particles of wax C upon io AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. upon the flowers, and to transmit them to the two hinder feet 5 for it is not probable that the books can serve for that purpose. The last part of the bee which is the belly is distinguished by six rings. In the inside we shall remark two parts, the one is a little bladder or reservoir, in which is collected the honey that the bees sip in the cups of flowers, after it hath passed through the proboscis and through a very narrow pipe that traverses the head and breast of the bee. This bladder, when it is full, is of the size of a small pea, it is transparent in such manner that you see through it the colour of the honey it contains. The other remarkable part is the sting, which is situated at the extremity of the belly of the bee, and which is drawn in and darted out with great quickness, by means of certain muscles placed very near the sting; the length of the sting is about two lines; it is a little bigger towards its root than near its extremity, which terminates in a point. It hath the consistence of horn ; is hollow within in the manner of a tube, wherein passes the venomous liquor, which being included in a bladder placed in the belly, and ata little distance from the root of the sting, discharges itself near the point, and insinuates itself into the wound, the very instant that the bee pierces the stein. The bee leaves almost always the sting in the wound, and the sting draws after it the bladder, and sometimes a part of the guts of the infect. Illis ira modarn supra ejl, lœfœque venenum Morfibus inj'pirant, etspicula cæca relinquunt Adjixce vents, animajque in vulnere ponunt. Prone to revenge, the bees, a wrathful race, When once provok’d, assault th’ aggressor’s face. Their latent stings an easy passage find, And wounding leave their very souls behind. If AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. , u If care be taken to draw out immediately the sting from the wound, there will be only a little tumour, because you do not give time sufficient for the venom, that issues from the bladder, to enter into the wound; but if you are not diligent to draw the sting out, all the venom discharges itself from the bladder, and enters in a little time into the wound, which causes a great swelling with a pain that lasts sometimes several days. One of the first occupations of the bees, after the new swarm is Of the cells, lodged in an hive, is to form cells. They apply themselves to this work with so much diligence, that we have seen them make, in one day, a comb which was a foot long and six inches wide, that, according to the usual size of cells, might contain near four thousand. They begin their work by fastening it to what they find most solid in the upper part of the hive, and they continue it from above downwards , and from one side to the other. In order to attach it more firmly, they employ sometimes a wax which is a fort of glue. It is not easy to know, in particular, the manner in which they employ themselves at this work, on account of the number of bees that are in motion, where there appears to the sight scarce any thing but confusion. We have been able however, to observe the following particulars. You fee bees bearing each in their talons a little piece of wax, and running to the places where they are at work upon the combs. When they are arrived thither, they fasten their wax to the work by means of the fame talons, which they apply sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left. Each bee is employed on this work but for a short time, after which she goes away; but there is so great a number that succeed one after another, and with such expedition, that the comb continues increasing very perceptibly. In proportion as some bees work in the construction of the cells, there are others that pass and re pass several times, beating with their wings and with the hinder part of their body upon the C 2 work 12 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. work itself, which seems to serve no other purpose than to make k more solid and firm. The order they observe in the construction of the cell is this. They begin with laying the basis, which is composed of three rhombus’s or lozenges. They build first one of these rhombus’s, and draw two faces on two of the sides of the rhombus; they add a second rhombus to the first in a certain inclination , and draw two new faces on the two sides of that rhombus; lastly, they add a third rhombus to the two first, and raise on the two external sides of this rhombus two other faces, which with the four others form the cell, that by this disposition of the basis becomes necessarily of an hexagonal figure. Whilst a part of the bees is occupied in the construction of the cells, there are others of them employed in perfeSling tbose that are newly modelled; which they do by means of their talons, with which they round the angles in an exquisite manner, and finijh the sides and bases with so great a delicacy, that three or four of these sides placed one upon another, have not more thickness than a leaf of common paper; and because on account of this delicacy the entrance of the cell, which is just adapted to the size of the bee, would be apt to break; therefore to prevent this rupture, they fortify the entrance of each cell with a border of wax *. We have said that the bees which build cells are commonly employed in it but a little while at a time; but it is not so with regard to those that polish them, for they work a long while and with great expedition, and they never intermit their labour unless it be to carry out of the cell the particles of wax which they take off in * -- grandœvis oppida cures, Et munire/amr, et desdaia fingere tedta. The aged infects fortify each part, And shape the fret-work of the combs with art. 6 polishing AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. polishing - . In order that this matter should not be lost, there are other bees attentive to receive it from those that polish, or who go to take it up in the cell itself, from whence the polisher retires for a moment, and carry it to be employed in some other place. There are other bees destined to aid those that polish, for one often fees attendants on them to give them either honey, or some other liquor necessary for their works, or for their own nourishment. Each comb hath two rows of cells opposite to each other, which have their common bases. The thickness of each comb is a little less than an inch; thus the depth of each cell will be about five lines. We have found in divers combs, that were a foot long, between sixty and sixty-fix ranges of cells; there will therefore be a little less than two lines for the breadth of each, which is a little- more than a third of its length. Almost all the combs are built with cells of this size; except a small number of others in some places of the hive which have larger. The breadth of these cells is something more than three lines, and the length about six lines. These great cells are made for lodging worms that become drones, as we shall mention afterwards. One finds likewise, in divers parts of the hive, three or four cells bigger than the others, and made in a different manner. They have the figure of a spheroid, they are open in the inferior part, and attached to the extremities of the combs. We could not discover to what purpose these cells are designed, but we suppose them the cradle or the abode of the kings. The bases of all the combs are placed at such distance one from another, that when the cells are finished, there remains between one comb and another, only a sufficient space for the passage of two bees a-breast. These combs are not continued from top to bottom, AN ACCOUNT OF BEES, bottom, but they are often interrupted; and besides that, they have openings from space to space, which give a more easy and a shorter communication from one to another. After having explained in what manner the bees build the cells, it is necessary to consider more particularly their construction. Every basis of a cell is formed by three rhombus’s almost always equal and alike, which according to the mensurations we have taken, have the two obtuse angles each of one hundred and ten degrees, and consequently the two acute each of seventy degrees. N. B. Mr. Maraldi had found by mensuration, that the obtuse angles of the rhombus s were i io° nearly ; upon which he observed, that if the three obtuse angles which formed the solid angles above-mentioned, were supposed equal to each other, they must each be of 109° 28'; from whence it has been inf.erred, that this lafl was really the true and jus measure of them. Mr. de Reaumur defred Mr. Kœnig, a worthy pupil of the famous Bernouillis , to seek what should be the quantity given to this angle, in order to employ the leaf wax possible in a cell of the fame capacity ; and that gentleman found, by a higher geometry than was known to the ancients, by the method of infinitesimals , that the angle in question ought, in this cafe , to be of 109° 26'. This observation by the famous. mathematician Mr. Kcenig, was afterwards verified by the excellent Mr. Mac Laurin, who hath shewn the advantages arising from this construction of the cells. Mr. Mac Laurin very justly cbfe'-ves, that the bees do truly construct their cells of the best figure, and that not only nearly, but with exactness ; and that their proceeding could not have been more perfeCt from the greatest knowledge in geometry. How they arrive at this, and how the wonderful infiind in animals is to be accounted for, is a question of an higher nature * ; this * His qwdamftgnis atque hœc exemplasecuti, EJJt; apibus partcm divines mentis, et hauftus Ætherios dixere. Deum mmque ire per omnes ‘[trrasque, iratiusque mavis, caiumque profundutn. Induc’d AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. this is surely a remarkable example of this injlindl, which has suggested a problem that had been overlooked by mathematicians, though they have treated largely on the maxim:’, and minima ; and such an one , as has been thought to exceed the compass of the common geometry. Vid. Philosophical T ransactions, N°. 471. and Martyn’s Abridgement, vol. ix. p. 2. The bee that is named the king is in reality the mother of all of the origin the others. She is so prolific, that, as far as one can judge, ssie of bees - may produce in one year eight or ten thousand young ones ; for she is commonly a part of the year singly in a hive, and at the end of summer the hive is as full of bees as in the beginning of the spring, yet there goes out every year a swarm , and sometimes two or three of ten or twelve thousand each ; it follows therefore that this royal bee must produce a part of those different swarms: I fay, a part, because it is possible that the new king, who goes out with the fresh swarm, may produce likewise a part of them before the migration. The royal bee is most commonly concealed in the most secret part of her palace, and is never visible but when the would lay her young in the combs that are exposed to sight. It was on those rare occasions that we perceived her ; indeed she is not even then always visible, for most commonly there is at those times a great number of bees, that fastening themselves one to another, hang down in the form of a veil from the top to the bottom of the hive, which hinders your sight, and they do not retire till the bee hath laid her young. Whenever she hath appeared to us unveiled, she was always attended by ten or twelve of the stoutest bees amongst he common fort, that make a kind of retinue, and follow her wherever ssie goes with a sedate and grave tread, Prceterea Induc’d by such examples, sortie have taught That bees have portions of celestial thought Endued with particles of heav’nly fires : For Mind the whole created world inspires. 2 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 16 Trœterea regem not sc Ægyptus, et ingens Lydia, nec fopuli Parthorum , aut Medus Hydaspet Observant -- Ilium admirantur ; et omnes Circuwsant fremitu dens, stipantq-, Jrequentes. No prostrate vassal of the East can more With flavisli awe his haughty prince adore: Him all admire, and him their guardian own, Crowd round his court, and buz about his throne. Before (he lays her young, she puts, for a moment, her head into the cell where she designs to lay them; if she finds this cell empty, and there is not in it, either honey, wax, or any embrio, the turns herself immediately to introduce the posterior part of her body into the fame cell, and sinks into it till she touches the bottom. At the same time the bees, her attendants, who are disposed in a circle round her, having all their heads turned towards her s, pay a fort of homage with their proboscis and feet, caress her, and give her all kinds of entertainment, which lasts however but a very little ’while ; after that the bee leaves the eel!, and you may discern a little white egg,, very small, about half a line long, or three quarters of a line at most, yet four or five times longer than it is big, a little mor t pointed at one extremity than at the other, and planted by its leaf extremity on the basis in the solid angle of the cell. This egg is formed of a membrane, thin, white, smooth, and full of a whitish liquor. Immediately after the pregnant bee hath laid an egg in one cell, she goes with all the fame circumstances, and escorted by the fame number of bees, to lay another egg in a neighbouring cell; and we have seen her lay in this manner eight or ten in different cells successively one after another. After having finished her delivery she withdraws, attended by the fame bees, into the secret apartments of the hive; where she is lost out of sight. The u AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. The egg which remains on the basis of the cell continues four days in that state without changing figure or situation; but after the four days you fee it changed in the manner of the caterpillar, divided into several rings, laid and applied on the same basis, and twisted round, so that the two extremities touch each other. It is then surrounded by a little liquor, which the bees take care at the end of the four days to put in the solid angle of the basis. We could never discover the nature of this liquor on account of its small quantity; which hath left us in doubt, whether it might be honey that the bees carry thither for the nourishment of the em brio, or rather some matter proper to fecundate the sperm; for it appeared to us more whitish, less liquid, and less transparent than honey. Of whatever nature this first liquor may be with which the little worm is surrounded, it is certain that afterwards the bees bring it honey for nourishment. In proportion as it grows they supply it with a greater quantity of food, quite to the eighth day from its birth, when it is increased in such manner that it occupies the whole breadth of the cell and a part of its length. After that, the care of the bees for the young ones ceases, for they stop up with wax all the cells, where these worms continue still shut up for twelve days. During that time, there happen to the embrios inclosed divers changes; which we have discovered by opening these cells on different days from the time they had been stopped. At first the Worms change their situation, and from being twisted round, as they were before on the basis of the cell, they extend themselves along its whole length, and place themselves with the head •turned towards the mouth of the cell; the head of the worm begins to (hew itself a little, and you see a small extension , which is, in my opinion, the beginning of the proboscis. You fee likewise uoon the origin of the head a black point, and at a little distance from this .point a black streak upon the back, which doth not reach quite to O the AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. ?he extremity of the worm ; the first lineaments of the feet likewise appear, but very small. After the head is formed, and the proboscis lengthened, all the other parts display themselves successively; so that the whole worm is changed into an aurelia or nymph, which is the fly almost perfect, except that it is yet white and soft, and that it hath not that kind of crust with which it is covered afterwards. By this transformation the worm strips himself of a white and very sine pellicle, which is so perfectly attached to the internal sides of the cells, that it takes even the turns and bendings of the angles as well of the basis as of the sides, and appears to form but one body with them. The bee being stripped of this pellicle, and all the parts unfolded by degrees and changed through successive colours from a yellow to a black, arrives at perfection by the twentieth day from the birth. From thence she endeavours to issue from the cell, and makes the opening herself by cutting round with her jaws or talons the cover that stopped up the mouth of the cell, which the bees had made to inclose her. The new bee when ssie first quits the cell, appears a little drowsy, but ssie soon assumes the natural agility, for we have seen her the same day issue from the cell and return from the fields loaded with wax like the rest. You may distinguish these young bees by the colour, which is a little more blackish, and by the hairs, which are somewhat whiter. As soon as the young bee hath sallied from the cell, there come immediately two of the old bees, one draws out the cover, kneads,, and employs the wax elsewhere of which it was composed; the other labours to repair the breach; for the cell having been disordered by the new-flown bee, an old one restores its symmetry, gives it AN ACCOUNT OF BEES; 1 9 it its former hexagonal figure, fortifies it with the usual border, and cleanses it by taking away the little pellicles of the young bee which have remained there. These pellicles of bees which are attached to the cells occasion them to change colour, and it is on this account that you find in a hive, combs of different colours, those in which there hath been nothing but honey being of a bright yellow, whilst those, from whence bees have issued, are of a dusky yellow. We have taken away, sometimes from a cell, which had been the cradle of several bees, eight of these pellicles placed one upon another. The cells being restored to their former perfection, the bees. sometimes lay new eggs in them on the same day : sometimes they put honey in them first ; we have seen bees lay their young in the same cells five different times in a little more than three months. The bees gather two very different forts of wax. The first, Of the man- which is brown and gluifh, serves them for stopping up all the bees collect* vent-holes of the hive, and sometimes as a support for fastening the wax - combs to the hive. , i m t . .fenuia Cera Spir amenta linunt, fucoque et jloribm dr as Explent, colleBumque hœc ipfa ad munera gluten , Et vifco et Phrygia servant pice lentius Ida. A smearing wax they get, and thus contrive To stop the vents and crannies of the hive : Not birdlime, or Idean pitch produce A more tenacious mass of clammy juice. The second sort is the common wax, which they employ in the construction of the cells. -- pars intra septa domorum , ’Narcissi lacrimam , et leSlum de cortice gluten, Primasavis ponunt fundamina , deinde tenaces Sufpendunt ceras. D 2 Narcisus' 20 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES;. Narcifjiis ’ tears they temper with a gum, For the first ground-work of the golden comb : On this they found their waxen works, and raise The yellow fabrick on its glewy base. The bees gather the common wax upon the leaves of' a great: number of trees and plants, .and on the greatest part of flowers that* have jlamina. ---- pafcuntur et arbuta passim, Et glaucas salices, cajiamque , crocumque rubentem, Et pinguem tiliam , et ferrugineos hyacinthos, Purpureojqne metunt florei - -bine arte recent es, Excudunt ceras . On various shrubs, and saffron buds they feed. On bending osiers, and the balmy reed. From purple flow’rs and hyacinths they bring. Their gather’d sweets, and rifle all the spring. They often load themselves entirely from one flower j but they work: with such a prodigious quickness, that whatever attention you give in observing them, the eye can scarce keep pace, and ascertain the manner in which they act. It is certain, however, that they sometimes gather up the wax with the hairs that garnish their bodies, by rolling themselves on the flower ; for you fee them return from the fields with their hairs loaded with little particles of wax resembling dust : but this only happens when the mornings are moist, the moisture that is then on the flowers preventing perhaps the particles from being easily compared into that part of the body where, they are accustomed to place them. When they are arrived at the hive , the heat there causing the moisture to evaporate, they easily brush off, with their feet the wax upon their hairs, .and collect itfogetfeer. AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 21 They commonly gather up the particles of wax with their talons and the two fore-feetj from these they convey the particles to the middle feet, which afterwards transmit them to the middle joint of the two hinder feet, where you find the little mass collected of the bigness and shape of two small lentils. Crura thymo pknœ: Their feet and thighs with fiow’ry spoils replete. That joint is much larger than the others, as we have mentioned before, and hath a little concavity in the shape of a spoon, which is well adapted for containing the mass; moreover this concavity is surrounded by little hairs, which serve, as I may fay, in the nature of fingers for holding the wax in that place, in order that it may not fall out when the bees return to the hive. Besides these means which nature hath furnished them, they take likewise other precautions not to lose the fruit of their labour. In proportion as the bees transmit the particles of wax to their hinder legs, they compress these particles together ; this they do by means of the two middle feet, which they push backward and apply several times and in different directions upon the wax. They take this care principally, when loaded with a sufficient quantity of wax, they are ready to fly and return to the hive : If the flowers on which they rest, have not sufficient consistence, or are agitated by the wind, they seek some more fable place, and that is more proper to resist t belittle compressions they make on the wax.. The bees being arrived at the hive unload themselves, of the common wax in two different manners. Supporting themselves on their two fore-feet, they make several motions of the wings and body, sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left; and, as if this .motion, and the buzz that the wings make in consequence of 9 . ^ < 22 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. it, was to give notice to their companions within, there come three or four that take each a small portion of wax with their talons, Ant onera. accifiunt venientum. Receive the burdens of returning bees. To these first succeed several others that take every one their share, till there remains no more wax on the leg of the bee : after which she returns to the fields to make a new collection. It is likewise in this manner that they unload themselves of the other fort of wax which is, to speak more properly, a kind of glue. Et visco et Phrygiœ - pice lentius Ida, Not birdlime, or Idean pitch produce A more tenacious mass of clammy juice. which sticks so fast to the leg of the bee that is loaded with it, that it is necessary for the bees that unload her, and for herself, to exert their whole force, and to fasten themselves whilst they pull in order to draw it off. But when there is in the hive a great number of cells where they may deposit the common wax, they practise a more expeditious method, and that requires no assistance. The bee which is loaded, goes in quest of a cell in which there is neither honey nor any worm ; having found one, ssie fastens herself by the two fore-feet upon its superior border, after that she bends the body a little forward in order to put her two hinder feet into the cell; in this situation ssie thrusts back her middle feet, one on this fide, another on that-, and sweeping with them from top to bottom along the two hinder legs, where the two lenticular masses are collected, ssie detaches them by this means and deposits them in the cell. 2 There AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 23 ■ There are some bees that content themselves with leaving the wax in that part of the cell, where it chances to fall when they detach it from their feet, without giving themselves the trouble to dispose it; but the greatest part, after having unloaded themselves, enter inta the cell and range very neatly at the extremity of it the two little bodies of wax by side each other: That done, the bee retires. Almost immediately there comes anotherthere are even some *waiting till the first bee is gone out, in order to enter and perform their respective offices-. If the two pieces of wax are not ranged as we have mentioned, they carry them to the farther extremity of the cell, aud dilute them, with their two jaws, for the space of half a quarter of an hour; so that thole two little bodies are reduced to a kind of paste that takes the figure of the cell as in a mould;. which gives one. reason to think, that the bee, in diluting the wax, mixes with it some liquor, either honey, or perhaps only a mere moisture that naturally oozes at the place where they are accustomed- to Jlore their honey. Several other bees come to unload themselves in the fame manner in the fame cell, and as fast as one unloads herself of the wax,! there comes another immediately to perform the fame office of diluting it, till the cell is almost full of that fort of wax, which is piled up sometimes in stories of divers colours, white, yellow, red, and brown, according to the flowers or leaves on which the waxhath-, been gathered by different bees. One finds in several places of the hive a great number of cells full of this wax, which are as so many magazines, to which they have recourse on occasion, because as they have need of it a great part. of the year at certain times, in order to cover the cells where their young are inclosed, and to stop up those that are full of honey, it is necessary they should have stores and provisions of it. The. H AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. Of the manner in which bees gather lioney. Th t-wax which is found in the cells is not however so perfect ffs .that of which the combs are formed ; for although the former be diluted with moisture, it crumbles into dust when.pressed between the fingers, whereas the other wax is a kind of compacted paste j it is necessary therefore that the bees, before they employ it in the construction of the combs, should give this wax some fort of preparation. What still further evinces thh is, thatthe wax included in the cells, which is often of different colours, is always white immediately after the combs are built. The bees gather honey on the flowers whose calyx or cup is not much deeper than the length of their proboscis ; but there is so little honey in each flower, that they go over a great number, Floribus injidunt •var'm, On various fiow’rs they six their short abode. before they can collect a sufficient quantity to sill their little bladder, which is the reservoir where it is gathered together, as we mentioned in the beginning. The very instant a Tee settles on a flower, she extends her proboscis quite to the bottom of the cup, from whence she fucks the honey. When their bladders are full, the bees return to the hive, and carry the honey into a cell, disgorging it by that part of the head which is between the two jaws or talons, that they lengthen out more than usual, and which they seldom keep open. They deposite.the honey with stirring the head sometimes on one side sometimes on the other ; and when there happens to be a drop not well ranged, they extend their proboscis to gather it up again, and place it in the fame order as the rest. As the honey that a single bee can carry at once is but a small part of that which a cell can contain, it requires the honey of a great number of bees ,to sill each cell. When AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. When the cells are full of honey, if the bees would hoard it up for winter, they stop up the cells by making a thin cover of wax ; but those cells, where the honey is designed to serve for daily food, remain open, and at the disposal of the whole swarm, - - in medium qucesla reponunt. Lay up the stores they get for common use. The honey which they reserve the last for their food, is always put into the most inaccessible place, that is to fay, in the upper part of the hive, if it hath no external cover that can be taken off; but if it hath one, they leave in the upper part empty combs, and place the honey towards the middle of the hive. Besides what we have mentioned hitherto with regard to bees, Divers part;,, nature hath furnished them with other talents, which we have bees?'* 6 * thought it our duty to remark. They love cleanliness and do every thing in their power to preserve it. Neu propim tedlis taxum sine, neve rubentes Ure foco cancros, altœ neu crede paludi, Aut ubi odor cœni gravis ; Let them not near the baleful yew tree dwell, Nor broil crabs near, which give a nauseous smell, Nor near the steaming stench of muddy ground Place their abodes —— The-glue that they gather serves them for covering with a kind of mastic the glass-windows round the hive, and the hive itself round the pedestal, insomuch that by this means they hinder the entrance of the least infects. E —-nam AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. -- nam sœpe favos ignotus adedit Stellio, et lucifugis conges a cubilia blatfis: Aut afper crabro impart bus fe immiscuit armis j Aut dirum tineœ genus , aut invij'a Minerva Laxos in foribusJufpendit aranea cafes. For lurking lizards often lodge* by stealth, Within the suburbs, and purloin their wealth : Oft broods of moths infest the hungry swarms, And oft the furious wasp their hive alarms With louder hums, and with unequal arms. Or else the spider at their entrance sets Her snares, and spins her bowels into nets. There are some bees that remain centinels at the mouth of the hive, Sunt quibus ad port as cecidit cufodia forti , Some are appointed centries at the gate, in order to oppose the insects that would pass by the entrance, and when one bee is not sufficiently strong to guard it, several others come to her succour. We should be tedious if we were to relate all that we have seen done remarkable on such occasions. It will be sufficient to mention, that a snail which had entered into the hive, notwithstanding the resistance of several bees, after having been killed by their stings, was embalmed all over with that mastic we have mentioned, as if with design to prevent either the stink that the putrisied steffi would occasion in the hive, or to avoid the worms which that corruption might produce. Nature hath endued the bees with an exquisite smell, for they scent at a great distance the honey and wax. They AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 27 They have divers manners of giving each other pleasure, of which they appear extremely Jenjible. They are likewise subject to fight and kill each other, not only in single combat, but general battles j yet this never happens in common, unless in autumn the harvest of honey is not sufficient for the support of the whole swarm during the winter. Virgil , instead of this physical cause os their civil wars and de - flrufflion, ajjigns a political reason ; -- nam sœpe duobus Regibus incejjit magno dijcordia molu. Continuoque animos vulgi, et trepidantia hello Cor da licet longe prcescijcere : namque morantes Martins ille ceris rauci canor increpat, et vox Auditur jr aid os sonitus imitata tubarum. Turn trepidæ inter fe coeunt , pennisque coruscanti Spiculaque exacuunt roftris , aptantque lacertos , Et circa regent atque ipsa ad prcetoria dense Mijcentur, magnisque vacant clamoribus hojiem. If once two rival kings their right debate ; And factions and cabals embroil the state; The people’s actions will their thoughts declare, All their hearts tremble, and beat thick for war > Hoarse broken sounds, like trumpets harffi alarms, Run through the hive, and call them forth to arms % All in a hurry spread their fhiv’ring wings, And sit their claws, and point their angry stings: In crowds before the king’s pavilions meet, And boldly challenge out the foe to fight 5 No fense of danger can their kings controul, Their little bodies lodge a mighty foul. 1 cannot fnd that Virgil hath copied this reason from any os the ancient naturaliss preceding his time , it seems therefore to be a mere E 2 fidlion 2 8 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. fiction of the poet , with a view perhaps to throw an odium on regal powers ; as Horace hath likewise delicately flattered the Roman disdain of kings with - Delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi. For kings are madmen, and their subjects we. It seems as if the bees had some foresight of fine and bad weather, for not only they do not go out when there is an appearance of wet weather, Inque vicem fpeculantur aquas , et nubila cœli ; By turns they watch, by turns survey the skies, To judge if threat’ning rain, or tempests rife. but when a storm seems to threaten at the time they are in the sields, they escape it by quitting their labour, and arriving at the hive almost all at once, and with great precipitation. Nec vero afiabulis pluvia impendente recedunt Longius, aut credunt cælo, adventantibus euris ; Sed circum tuta sub mœnibus urbis aquantur , Jbxcurfufque breves tentant, et fiepe lapillos , Ut cymbce infiabilesfiuBu j aid ante fuburram , 1 Tollunt; his fefe per inania nubila librant. None range abroad when winds or storms are nigh, Nor trust their bodies to a faithless soy ; But make small journies, with a careful wing, And fly to water at a neighbouring spring : And lest their airy bodies should be cast In restless whirls, the sport of ev’ry blast, They carry stones, to poise them in their flight, As ballast keeps th’ unsteady vessel tight. Nothing AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. Nothing agrees better with bees than heat; the greater it is, the more animated they are, the more lively for labour : cold on the contrary is so injuriou- to them, that however animated they were within the hive, when they go out of it in the winter they are numbed and struck almost immediately motionless. ——- —contrasto frigore pigrœ , With cold benumb’d unactive they remain. If you bring them near the fire, the warmth they receive from thence reanimates their former vigour. In order to defend themselves from cold during winter, they crowd about the middle of the hive as near to each other as they can be in the space that is between two combs. There they stir themselves from time to time, without changing place, and this motion excites a warmth that protects them from the external cold : The heat is so great by this agitation, that it is communicated to the glass windows of the hive, where it is very sensible to the hand that is applied. It is probable that they succeed one another by turns in labouring, because they work night and day in the hive, and there is a part of the bees that repose themselves even in the day-time. • Virgil on the contrary, following Aristotle, fays, Omnibus una quies operum, labor omnibus units. All work together, all together rest. Their repose however doth not cease to contribute to the public good: for their presence in the hive causes a warmth, which serves to breed the young that are inclosed in the cells, as we have discovered by the following experiment. 3 We 3 ° AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. We have sometimes broke off large pieces of combs, where there were little worms in the cells, and left them at the bottom of the hive. A great number of bees have gone and placed themselves on those broken combs, and continued there till all the brood have sallied forth in the form of bees. This experiment thews moreover the care that the common bees take of the young ones. Solce communes gnatos, conjortia iedla TJrbis ha bent. Of all the wing’d inhabitants of air, These only make their young their common care; In well-dispos’d society they live, And laws and statutes regulate the hive. We have discovered that they have divers manners and different mo^ tions by which they understand one another ; as, for example, when a bee that is at work on the combs demands honey of one that is just arrived; she that wants the honey extends her proboscis and puts it between the talons of her that is to give the honey; in proportion as the latter disgorges it, the other receives it with the proboscis, without spilling a drop. They understand one another likewise, when, bv a motion of their wings, they a Ik, as it were, to be unloaded of the wax, which they have gathered in the country; likewise when in the morning they rouse each other to go out to work: Mane ruunt fortis , nusquam mora. At morn rush out, their diff’rent tasks pursue z Sit on the bloom and suck the rip’ning dew. Lastly, When several bees would quit a place, if one makes a motion with her wings which causes a little buzz, all the others following the example make the same motion, and retire. I imagine, that AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 3i that it is in this manner they give notice in the hive, when they are preparing to sally forth for making a new swarm. The drones are commonly a third bigger and longer than the bees; Of the drones, their head is rounder and more full of hairs. It is certain they have no sting, and their internal parts are very different from these of the common bees. One rarely fees them go out of the hive, and whenever they do go out, it is not till two or three o’clock in the afternoon, and never but in fine weather. They do not return loaded with wax ; but we have found their bladder or reservoir full of honey as in the common bees, whether it be that they have collected it in the fields,-or that they took it in the hive before they went out, which latter we are the most inclined to believe, because we have never seen them settle upon flowers, and after they have returned into the hive, we have never seen them lay the honey in the cells; , Immunifque Jedem aliena ad pabula fucus. And drones that riot on another’s toils. We are even apt to think that they have not the organs for disgorging it, as the other bees do ; for in the other bees you cannot compress, ever so little, that part of the body which is opposite the bladder when it is full of honey, but you fee the honey isue immediately at that part of the head by which they are accustomed to discharge it into the cell; whereas it is not so with regard to drones, although after having opened them, their bladder hath been found quite full of honey. In some hives the drones are few in number, in others they are extremely numerous. During a part of the summer they are dispersed in the hive. Afterwards in proportion as their number increases, they assemble together in companies, in different parts of 1 the 3 2 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. the hive, where they continue cantoned and almost intirely motionless. At the time that the swarm sallies forth, and that the bees are all in motion, the drones keep their place, and do not go out with the swarm, or if any attend the colony, they are only a few in number. ■But from the end of July to the middle os August, these drones are attacked by the common bees, --- agmhte faSlo Jgnavum fucos pecus a prœsepibus arcent . All with united force combine to drive The lazy drones from the industrious hive. Several bees fall upon a single drone and seize him by his wings and body ; and although the drones resist as much as they are able, they are obliged to withdraw and leave the hive; they disappear so intirely, that we never could discover what was become of them. When this fort of combat happens, you fee all these animals in great commotion, as well without as within the hive. All the drones are so generally expelled, that of several hundreds, which we have often remarked in one hive, by the end of October we have not found a single drone in several hives that we have examined. Their origin is the same as that of the bees, they are the offspring of the queen, and produced in the same circumstances, with this difference alone, that the drones are lodged in separate combs made expressly for them. We have said that in an hive there are combs whose cells are a third or an half bigger and longer than the common cells. The pregnant bee chuses these great cells for depositing there, with all the fame state and attendance, as we have mentioned with regard to the common bees, those eggs from which the drones are to be hatched, AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 33 hatched, and which cannot be distinguished by the sight from the common eggs; but it is probable that the mother hath some exquisite feeling to distinguish them, since she allots them abodes, proportioned to the size they are to have when they are inclosed in the cell in their utmost perfection. The drones undergo the same metamorphoses as we have remarked of the bees; they are as many days before they sally forth from their cells, and become recluses after the eighth day from their birth. Lastly, they are nursed with the fame care and tenderness as the common bees: but it is surprising that this attention and love which the bees have for those little ones, should be turned, as I may fay, into so great an hatred at the end of summer. This hatred is so universal, that it spares not even the young drones, who are yet only worms or nymphs included in the cells; for we have often remarked that at the time that a part of the bees have been expelling the great drones from the hive, there were other bees employed in unstopping the cells where the imperfect drones were inclosed, in dragging them out of the cell, in killing them, and throwing their bodies out of the hive j where we have sometimes seen two or three hundred killed of different ages.. Mr. Maraldi , by a nice examination of the internal struBure of the drones , which differs in some respeBs from that of the bees , discovered some resemblances to the male organs of generation ; andfrom thence conjeBures that they are the males of the bee-infeB *; yet he could never discover them in the acl of copulation. c Ihe ancients were in - dined to think that there was no conjunBion of sexes amongst bees. Ilium adeo placuiffe apibus mirabere morem 3 Quod nec concubitu indulgent , nec corpora fegnes In venerem folvunt, aut fœtus nixibus edunt; Verum ipfœ e foliis natos et fuavibus herbis Ore * Whereas the common bees are of neither sex. F 34 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. Ore iegunt: ipsce regent parvosque Quirites Sufficiunt, aulafque et cerea regna refingunt. But of all customs which the bees can boast, ’Tis this that claims our admiration most, That none will Hymens softer joys approve, Nor waste their spirits in luxurious love: But all along virginity maintain, And bring forth young without a mother’s pain. From herbs and stow’rs they pick each tender bee,, And thus collect a buzzing progeny. From these they chuse out subjects, and create A little monarch of the rising state; Then build wax-kingdoms for the infant prince,. And form a palace for his residence. And Pliny observes, Apium enim coitus vi/'us ejl nunquam. P lures extflitnavere oportere conjici jloribus compojitis apte at que ut t lit er At last however, that sagacious Enquirer Mr. de Reaumur, from whom nature can scarce conceal any thing, hath, in a great measure, , removed the veil. Mr. de Reaumur divided a great number of Fees into two hives , of which the one had a queen, and the other had none. The queen' did not at first appear to be much respected in her hive, but by degrees her subjects came to acknowledge her, to give her the royal* retinue, to caress her, and to lick her with their proboscis, which is a pleasing and useful homage, as sire is made more sleek by it, and her bronchiæ or stigmata are more opened for the air. Mr. de Reau- * Swammerdam had a notion that the female was fecundated without any venereal congress; that it was sufficient for her to be near the males; that a vivifying aura exhaling from the body of the male, and snuffed up by the female, might impregnate her eggs. mur AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. .15 mur judges with a great deal of probability, that the trouble and confusion, with which the separation of the two hives had been necessarily attended, was the cause of the little attention that had been paid to the queen at the first, when each thought of nothing but himself. The two hives were very unequal in size, and unequally peopled by bees. The small one had four or five times fewer than the other, but it was there the queen resided. In this hive they began industriously to work on combs, yet in a little time it was deserted by several bees who chose to go and settle elsewhere, perhaps on this very account because they had a queen ; they were sensible that this queen would be too prolific for the hive, which could not contain a sufficient number of cells for all her young. On the other hand, the bees of the larger hive came to settle in the small one; which was grown unpeopled although the queen resided there, and they came thither in such crouds that not being able to enter all notwithstanding their utmost efforts, they heaped themselves on the outside in great clusters. Some subtil instinct had taught them that a queen was there, and some very urgent reason conducted them thither. As this queen might be their mother, or at least their sister, one may attribute to them some particular affection for her, but Mr. de Reaumur hath been well assured that every queen is alike to them, and that they are attached, not to the person, but to the dignity, which is but too commonly true with regard to men. The larger hive, in which there was no queen, had a fate far different from the small one. Scarce could the bees determine with themselves to go out and seek their sustenance in the fields, several of those that did go out disdained to return, no labour within, no waxen edifices or stores, they pined away, at last all died j and all this calamity for want of a queen, that is to fay, if we may dare to surmise the thoughts of insects, for want of having hopes that a F 2 numerous AH ACCOUNT OF BEES. ■36 numerous issue would survive them. The displeasure of being deprived of posterity went so far as to make them neglect life, which may appear perhaps heroica). It was evident that the small hive- displeased very much, on account of its smallness, the bees that were Jodged in it, yet there they built their combs and formed them works; for there a queen resided - . . Rege incclumi mem omnibus una ejl:: Ilk cperum citsos „ His life unites them all, but when he dies- All in loud tumults and distractions rife ; They waste their, honey, and their combs deface,, And wild confusion reigns in.ev’ry place. When an hive full of bees, amongst which there was a queen*, was soaked * in water, Mr. de Reaumur observed, that as soon as, the queen was the least revived,, all the others, who were,no more recovered than her, forgot themselves, and were employed on that important personage, contributing all in their power to restore her. There is however some foundation to suspect that heroic love in bees, either for their queen or for their posterity, to be only at the bottom, of a felf-interestednefs. It is of great, moment to them to be, even in their, life-time, a mighty people; the cold weather would destroy them, if their great numbers did not sufficiently warm the hive, and their numbers depend on the fruitfulnefs.of the mother.. They proportion their work to the prolificknefs of the mother. Mr. de Reaumur observed an hive, where they were at work on a? few combs, and with little vigour. From whence this inactivity ind difpiritednefs so uncommon amongst bees ? He saw the reason: * The motions of bees being too lively and quick, to make the necessary observations j Mr. de Reaumur contrived a method, by half drowning them in a tub of wa'*r, to perceive distinctly, the minutest circumstances, as they recovered slowly to- fife and motion. <#£T AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 37 ©fit when he got into his hands the mother of the hive, who was small and pitiful in comparison to other mothers. The rest judged of her as the deserved. What is still more surprising is, that a cell, which- was known by its size and shape to contain an egg from whence a mother naturally should be hatched, having been conveyed into another hive, which was designedly deprived of its mother, the bees of that hive immediately perceived.that they had,.at least, the hopes of a mother, and set themselves to work,; but on the footing alone of hopes, and did not apply themselves to it with all their natural vivacity till the mother was horn, who indeed appeared very likely to answer their expectations, As the queen hath her title only because she is the mother of all the people, the bees are attached to her only as she is a mother, and not as she is a queen. They pay her a kind of filial duty, that is proportionate to her fertility and usefulness; if another queen comes into the same hive, they will respect her as much as the former, and easily suffer the royalty to be divided; they receive with pleasure the assurance of a more numerous posterity. One would think that where, multiplication is so honourable, the mysteries of love should not be very secret; yet how diligent soever the naturalists have been in peeping behind the curtain, they have never discovered 1 the consummation of nuptial rites: even Mr. de Reaumur himself could fee no more than to raise a jealousy, and to give strong suspicions. Having stood the fiery trial of so many prying eyes in every age, the bees had gained the character of an inviolable chastity; but Mr. de Reaumur hath, with learned barbarity , intirely blasted their reputation ; he makes the queen no better than a Meffalina or, to compare her to one of her own dignity, another Cleopatra. He put a drone and a female bee in private together, the drone appeared to be very cold and indifferent, and, * Vid. Juvenal, Satyr, vi. ver, 128.- contrary 3 * AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. contrary to what one would expect, it was the female that made all the advances, a thousand tender caresses —'The reft I beg leave to give in the language of Ovid, Pugnacemque tenet , ludlantiaque oscula carpit , SubseB at que manus, invitaque pedlbra tangit; Et nunc hac juveni, nunc circumfunditur iliac , Denique nitentem contra, elabique volentem Imphcat, utserpens, quam regiasuftinet ales . With transport fastens on him as he drives, Clasps in her arms, and round his limbs the writhes. The more the boy resisted and was coy, The more she clasp’d, and kiss’d the struggiing boy. So when the wriggling snake is snatched on high, In eagle’s claws, and hisses in the iky; Around the foe his twirling tail he flings, And twists her legs, and writhes about her wings. The experiment was repeated and varied several times, but always the like coldness in the males, and the fame ardour in the females. The adventure hath often a tragical end with respect to the males, they die, and one cannot assign any reason for it unless it b eforshame. How Mr. de Reaumur escaped having his eyes pulled out by the ladies in France I know not, but he saw and hath blabbed secrets of the queen in French, that I would not for the world translate into English ; that philosophers however may not be angry with me for omitting a natural curiosity , I shall give the substance of what Mr. de Reaumur hath said in one line of Horace, Clunibus aut agitavit equum lafciva fupinum. The fertility of the mother bees, even such as are the most teeming, is suspended during winter, and moreover an hive always loses a great number of its inhabitants, either by cold or by hunger. At the return of the spring the mother resumes her employment of 4 an account of bees. 39 laying eggs, by virtue of an impregnation that she must have received six months before. The eggs of the bees therefore are not, as in the greater animals, destined by nature to be emitted all at a certain determinate and nearly equal time after their fecundation. They acquire the maturity that is necessary to them in very unequal times; probably they cease to acquire any during the whole winter. By Mr. de Reaumur’s calculation, a queen may lay two hundred eggs a day in the most favourable seasons, which may include more than an hundred days in the year. It is not surprising therefore that an hive should no longer be capable of containing both its ancient inhabitants and the new-born progeny 5 from thence great numbers are obliged to go forth and establish themselves elsewhere: this migration is called a swarm, and the hive is said to have bred ,. When a swarm j that seeks its fortune, goes to seize on a place already occupied by other bees, on an hive well peopled; - it often finds a very vigorous resistance, and the great battles that are fought- either by bees or men arise in general from such occasions. A swarm doth not go out unless it hath a queen at its head,. ———- ducunt examina reges-, The youthful bees, led by their monarch, shun The crouded hive, and sport it in the sun, This is so true, that Mr. de Reaumur having been surprised to> find no swarm to issue from an hive so well peopled, that it must have become too thronged an habitation, and suspecting that the want of a queen was the cause of it, found in reality by soaking the whole hive in water, that a new colony could not have a commander to lead them, or more properly a mother to assure them of that; posterity which they are so passionately fond of. When you fee the works carried on faintly in an hive, it is a mark that there will soon be a swarm. It seems as if the resolution ^ had been taken in a general council of the nation, the day fixed,*, and that till then it was sufficient to supply the actual wants of life. Four 40 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. Four or five days after a female is born, she is in a condition to- be a queen and to command a swarm. As all her dignity consists an her fruitfulness, it is highly probable that she quits her minority as soon almost as she quits her nest, and makes herself caoable of wearing the crown by the aid of the drones; for it doth not appear that any drones go forth with the swarms, at least they do not with all swarms. It may happen that a swarm might be composed only of an in- tirely new generation, but that is not the constant rule; old and young bees go forth together in order to found a colony: you may distinguish their age, almost with certainty, by their colour alone.; the old are more reddish. The queens themselves are in this respect, like the others. Most commonly a swarm is conducted by a young queen. But it is possible that it may be led forth by two, or even by three. What will happen in that cafe ? The reader perhaps would not have divined it, but it will cost their lives to the supernumerary queens; there will remain no more than one. Is it the common working bees that have destroyed the supernumerary sovereigns ? Or hath there happened a combat between the rival queens ? It is most probable that the first is the cause. The bees are desirous of posterity, it is their only wisss, but then they would have it proportionate to their provision for them, A greater issue would occasion fatigue to themselves, and perhaps unhappinefs to their offspring. They chuse rather to prevent these inconveniences by ridding themselves of some queens, whom they consider as made only for the common good, and that ought to be sacrificed to it when occasion requires. The first fifteen days of the new establishment of a swarm in an hive are employed in the most active labour, there is sometimes as much work dispatched in that little time, as in all the rest of the season that is proper for working. There may go forth three swarms from a single hive in one season ; and there have been swarms that consisted of forty thousand bees. An AN ACCOUNT OF BEES, 41 An hive that is tended with the usual care must perish in the course of a few years by divers accidents happening to the bees, Mr, de Reaumur mentions an hive that was preserved for thirty years j the cafe must be rare; but nine or ten years might, with care, be very possible. Virgil indeed fays, Ergo ipsas quamvis angujii terminus, œvi Excipiat , (neque enim plus Jeptima ducitur œftas) The narrow bounds of age they quickly run, And the sev’nth year the thread of life is spun. Yet Aristotle allows they may live to nine or ten years, and Co- iumella expressly fays, Durantque, Ji diligenter exculta Jint , in annas decem. And Pliny likewise observes, Aheos nunquam Ultra decem annas durajse proditur , G B O O K II, AN CHAP. i: Of the Apiary, and Hives.... H E curious reader is now as much acquainted with the na— I tural history of these , useful and industrious-insects the bees, as the limits of this work will admit of: for I propose to give only such an out-line of it as may excite the ingenious inquirer to pursue a study which will afford him much entertainment, now that he shall have the bees under that easy and constant command, of which the means shall be taught him in the following sheets j at the fame time that it will throw much light on the various steps directed to he taken , in the management of them, even to those who make prosit their chief object, These have indeed been the motives of my learned and worthy,friend .who has favoured the.public with that account. In order to make the following instructions the more clear to thsc reader, I shall trace the several steps to be taken in the management ®f bees, through the various seasons of the year, beginning with , spring, when the round of their operations may be said to begin. Previous to the . entering on this detail, the choice of a situation . favourable for their labours, not only as to the air, but also as to the quality and quantity of food, and ease .and safety of coming, at it, isa, matter worthy of attention. Principio sedes apibus jlatieque petenda.. A description of the habitations intended for them will next be proper, as well as the,choice of proper .inhabitants, supposing them to he purchased;, I, 'AN ACCOUNT OT BEES. 8 E C T, I. Of the’situation os the apiary. 'HE apiary should face between the south and west, in a place neither too hot, nor too much exposed to the cold ; it should 4 be so situate as that 'the bees returning home from their labours may descend to their hives ; it should be near the mansion-house, on. account of the conveniency of watching them. I have ever sound it best to place the mouth of the hives to the west in spring, care being taken that they enjoy the afternoon‘sun; the morning sun is extremely dangerous during the colder months, when its glare often tempts these industrious insects out to their ruin; whereas the mouth of the hive being then in,the (hade, the bees remain at home ° and as clouds generally obscure the afternoon’s fun at that season, the bees escape the temptation of going out. When food is to be obtained, the warmth of the air round the hive continues in the afternoon, which strengthens the bees, and enables them to pursue their labours. The hives should not be placed where the water from the eves of houses, from trees or hedges, drop on them. A small stream of clear water running near them is thought to be of advantage, especially in hot countries, or in dry seasons, with gently declining banks, in order that the bees may have safe access to it. It appears from Columella *, that they found it necessary in Italy when there was no stream near, to have the water brought near them in troughs, with pebbles or small stones in the water, or rather pieces of wood, for the bees to rest on, whilst they drink; for water is so necessary for insects, that if flies are confined in a close 'room during a very few days in the summer, in which they have no access to moisture, they will all die: water may besides be of particular use to bees in working up their several materials, such as combs, honey, &c. However much these precautions are necessary in other countries, the natural moisture of our atmosphere, and of •all our vegetable productions, on which our bees feed, renders * Lib. ix. c. 5. G L 44 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. them very little necessary here. The near neighbourhood of large rivers or basons of water, with high banks, should be avoided, because winds may whirl the bees into them j and they cannot easily get on shore from thence to dry themselves. The garden in which the apiary stands should be furnished with such plants as afford the bees plenty of good pasture ; and the trees in it should be of the dwarf kind, with bushy heads, in order that the swarms which settle on them .may be more easily hived. The proprietor should be particularly attentive that the bees have also in their neighbourhood such plants as yield them plenty of food. Columeila * enumerates many of these fitted to a warm climate: among them he mentions thyme, the oak, the pine, the sweet smelling cedar, and all fruit trees. Experience has taught us, that broom, mustard, clover, heath, &c-. are excellent for this purpose. Pliny recommends broom, in particular, as a plant exceedingly grateful and very profitable to bees; and Mr. Bradley speaks so highly of the advantages which arise from the planting of it for the food of these useful insects, that I hope my readers will pardon the length of the following quotation from him. " Of the broom we have two forts which will grow freely in “ England, viz. the common fort of the fields, and the Spanish “ broom, which till very late has been propagated and cultivated “ only in the gardens; but at present some gentlemen have raised " it in their fields, by my advice; and though they could never “ before have any profit by bees, they are now masters of weighty “ stocks; and also have begun to find the good effect of these plants " for binding and working of baskets, for they produce long and " tough withs, not to be worn or broken like vviths of willows or * c osiers. The bloom or flower of this fort is also very beautiful and “ sweet, perfuming the air like orange-flowers in May, which invite “ the bees and enrich them very greatly, so that their hives are full “ betimes in the summer. And considering the profit of honey and il wax, when bees prosper, I think that whatever ground happens to * Lib. xxi. c. 12. " be 6 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 45 " be planted with such flowering plants, as give them a large (hare " of nourishment, and afford them plenty of wax and honey, may " be said to be valuable: for from the observations I have made of " bees, and the manner of gathering their honey, one may reafon- " ably conjecture, that an acre of ground which is cultivated with “ so rich a flower-fhrub, will bring such a return as will pay the " rent; provided the neighbouring parts do not keep many bees, to " rob our own stocks; for by a calculation, which one may justly “ enough make on the bees account, one may conclude, that an “ acre of Spanish broom will afford wax and honey enough for ten " good stocks of bees: for this broom brings a vast quantity of " flowers fertile both in honey and wax, and continues blowing a " long time. And when a stock of bees have flowers to their lik- " ing, of which this is one of; the chief, and have a large quantity " of them, they will fill their hive both with wax and honey, in " five or fix weeks, if the weather will permit them to go abroad; “ but this hazard is no more than other crops are subject to, the " weather having the management of all crops, either for their " well or ill fare. The common broom is no way comparable to the Spanish broom, either for its flowers, or its withs.” The Abbe BoiJJier de Sauvages having discovered a substance not before attended to, which the bees collect and turn to honey ; I shall here give the purport of what he fays in a memoir read before the Society of Sciences at Mcntpellier, on the 16th of December 1762, on the origin of honey He begins with declaring it to be his opinion, that the bees have no other share in the making of honey, than simply collecting it, Other writers believe, that when the liquor which the bees collect has been for some time in their stomachs, it comes from thence changed into true honey; the liquor having been there properly digested and .-rendered thicker than when it entered. The Abbe Bolsters * Observations fur l’Origine du Mid, par M. L’Abbe BoiiBer de Sauvages, a Nimes, 1763. opinion 46 -M 'A C C 0U NT 0E B E'ES. ^'©pinion is supported by the honey’s being still a body subject to vinous fermentation when properly diluted, which does not obtain in any animal substance that:;! know of. Besides the liquor already mentioned, which is obtained from the "flowers of plants, the Abbe acquaints us, that he has seen two kinds of honey-dews, which the bees are equally fond of : both derive their origin from vegetables, though in different ways. The first kind, the only one known to husbandmen, and which passes for a dew that falls on trees, is no other than a mild sweet juice, which, having circulated through the vessels of vegetables, is separated in proper reservoirs in the flowers, or on the leaves, where it is properly called the honey-dew: sometimes it is deposited in the pith, as in the sugar-cane, and at other times in the juice of :.pulpy summer fruits, when ripe. Such is the origin of the manna which is collected on the ash and maple of Calabria and ,Briango% where it flows in great plenty from the leaves and trunks of these /trees, and thickens into the form in which it is usually seen. " Chance,” says the Abbe Bo{fJier, ec afforded me an opportune nity of seeing this juice in its primitive form on the leaves of the " holm-oak: these leaves were covered with thousands of small " round globules or drops, which, without touching one another* * { seemed to point out the pore from whence each ef them had pro- " ceeded. My taste informed me that they were as sweet as " honey: the honey-dew on a neighbouring bramble did not re- “ semble the former, the drops having run together ; owing either t© ** the moisture of the air, which had diluted them, or to the heat, " which had expanded them. The dew was become more viscous, " and lay in larger drops, or, plaster-wife, covering the leaves. This is the form that it is usually seen in. " The oak had at this time two kinds of leaves; the old, which m were strong and firm, and the new, which were tender and lately ‘ s come AN ACCOUNT OF BEES*. ^come forth. The honey-dew was found only on the old leaves*. ** though these were covered by the new ones, and by that means £C sheltered from any moisture that could fall from above. I ob- “ served the same on the old leaves of the bramble, while the “ new leaves were quite free of it. Another proof that this " dew proceeds from the leaves is, that other neighbouring trees * c which do not afford a juice of this kind, had no moisture on-- ec them ; and particularly the mulberry, which is a very happy cir- " cumstance, far this juice is a deadly poison to E-worms. IF " this juice fell in the form of a dew, .mist, or fog, it would wet all' **■ the leaves without aistinction> and every part of the leaves, under " as well as upper* Heat may have some share in its production “ for though the common-heat promotes-only the transpiration o£ S{ ‘ the more volatile and fluid juices ; a sultry heat, especially if re- tf flected by clouds, may so far dilate the vessels, as to bring forth a- " thicker and more viscous juice, such as the honey-dew. " The second kind of honey-dew; which is the chief resource of at ‘ bees after the spring flowers and dew by transpiration on leaves- " are past, owes its origin to a small mean insect, the excrement " thrown out by which, , makes a part of the most delicatc honey ®‘we ever taste w “ These vine*sreters rest daring several months on the bark of te particular trees, and extract their food by piercing that bark, with- " out hurting the tree, or bringing upon it any deformity ; as do- ^ those insects which make the leaves of some' trees curl up, or sc ‘ cause galls to grow upon others. They settle on. branches which " are a year old. The juice, at first perhaps hard and crabbed^, ** becomes, in the bowels of this insect, equal in sweetness to the *« honey obtained from the flowers and leaves of vegetables ; ex- cepting that the flowers may communicate some of their essential •* Ths Fumh call this,infect a -Puc.ren,- I.t is a kiad of vine-frc tgr, 47 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. " oil to the honey, and that this may give it a peculiar flavour 3 as c ‘ happened to myself, by planting a hedge of rosemary near my “ bees at Sauvages, the honey has tasted of it ever since ; that “ shrub continuing long in flower. " I have observed two species of vine-freters which live unsheltered “ on the bark of young branches: they have a smooth skin, and those “ without wings seem to be the females, which make the great " bulk of the swarm; or perhaps the young in their caterpillar “ state, before they are changed into flies •, for each swarm has in " its train two or three males with wings: these live on the labours “ of the females, at least I always saw them hopping carelessly on “ the backs of the females, without going to the bark to seek for ££ food. " Both species live in groups on different parts of the fame tree. “ They there stick close to one another around the branch, entirely " covering the bark; and it is remarkable that they there take a “ position which may seem to us to be a very uneasy one; for they " adhere to the branch with their head downward, and their belly £< uppermost. “ The lesser species is of the colour of the bark on which it feeds, ■“ and that is generally green. It is chiefly distinguished by two " horns, or strait immoveable fleshy substances, which rife perpen- <{ the soldiers sucked some honey-conibs in a place near Trebi— “ zonde where there was a great number ofbee-hives, that all who “ sucked them became intoxicated,.vomited, and purged ; not one *' was able to stand upon his legs, those, who had taken but little, ft were like men drunk, but those, who had taken a good deal, were like men mad, and some lay like men dead: the.next day " about the same hour they recovered their senses, but it was three <{ or four days before they were entirely restored, as if they had s< taken a poison.” 1 This faff cannot be a romance from so grave a writer , who was present and-for a confderable time had the principal command. Mr .. Tournefort in his travels ■ through this country was particularly attentive to this account of Xenophon, and. observes that the chamærhododendros pontica, maxima, mespili folio, store luteo, which grows commonly in the neighbourhood of Lrebizonde, hath these, efiiols, and that even its smell ajfeSts the head ; he judges therefore that. the honey had been- extraSled by the bees from the chamærhododendros, and adds , that father Lamberti, a missionary , observes , that the honey which bees gather from a certain fisrub of Colchis or Mingrelia, is dangerous, and causes vomiting ; from the description Mr. Lamberti hath' given of the shrub, Mr. Tournefort pronounces it to be the chamærhododendros, mespili folio ; its smell very muck resembles the honeysuckle's,,, but. is much fir anger. SECTION II. Of Hives. TRAW hives, as far as-regards the bees, are preferable to any O other habitations, because the straw is not so liable to be heated by the rays of the fun at noon, to which they are generally exposed, and is a better security against the cold than any kind of wood or othes 9 material. AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. ss material. Their cheapness renders them of an easy purchase, even t© the cottager, which is of great advantage in an article,. the production of which in a considerable quantity depends on its being cultivated by the multitude, as must be the case here, if a quantity of wax is collected sufficient to make it an object of utility in a commercial view. I might also have mentioned the greater quantity of honey produced: for when it is obtained in the plenty, I flatter myself the instructions given in this work will enable men to do; they will then have in their own hands a material which will yield* them wine, in flavour equal to many imported, and in wholesome- ness much superior. - As I propose that the management of bees in hives shall be altered from what is now practised, so the size and form of my hives are different from those now in common use. I say, now, because J.i take to myself some share of honour, that without any communica-' lion with the Count de la Bourdonnaye in Britany, nearly the same thought has occurred to us both* - My hives are seven inches in height, and ten in width. The sides are upright, so that the top and bottom are of the same diameter. A hive holds nearly a peck* In the upper row of straw there is a hoop of about half an inch in breadth, to which are nailed- five bars of deal,. full a quarter of an inch in thickness, and an inch and quarter wide, and half an inch asunder from one another; a narrow short bar is nailed at each side, half an inch distant from the bars next them, in order to fill up,the remaining part of the circle: so that there are in all seven bars of deal, to which the bees fix their combs. The space of half an inch between the bars allows a sufficient and easy passage for the bees from one hive to another. In order to give greater steadiness to the combs, so that upon moving . the hive, the combs may not fall off, or incline out of their direction, a stick should be run through the middle of the hive, in a < direction directly across the bars, or at right angles with them. Whes-J 54 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. When the hives are made, a piece of wood should be worked into the lower row of straw, long enough to allow of a door for the bees of four inches in length, and half an inch in heigh th. The proprietor of the bees should provide himself in several flat covers of straw, worked of ihe fame thickness as the hives, and a foot in diameter, that so it may be of the same width as the outside of the hives. Before the cover is applied to the hive, a piece of clean paper of the size of the top of the hive should be laid over it, and a coat of cow-dung, which is the least apt to crack of any cement easily obtained, should be laid all round the -circumference of the hive. Let the cover be laid upon this, and made fast to the -hive with a packing-needle and pack-thread, so that neither cold nor vermin may enter. Each hive should stand single on a piece of deal, or other wood, somewhat larger than the bottom of the hive : that part of the stand which is at the mouth of the hive, should project some inches for the bees to rest on when they return from the field. This stand should be supported upon a single post, two and a half feet high; to which it should be screwed very securely, that high winds or other accidents may not blow down both stand and hive. A quantity of foot mixed with barley-chaff should be slrowedon the ground round the post, which will effectually prevent ants, flugs, and other vermin from rising up to the hive. The foot and chaff should from time to time be renewed as it is blown or washed away : though as it is sheltered by the stand, it remains a considerable time, especially if •care be taken that no weeds rife through it. Weeds indeed should not be permitted to rise near the hive, for they may give shelter to vermin which may be hurtful to the bees. The stands for bees should be four yards asunder ; or if the apiary will not admit of so much, as far asunder as may be, that the bees of one hive may not interfere with those of another hive, as is sometimes the cafe, when the hives are seated near one another, or on 8 the an account of bees. the same stand: for the bees mistaking their own hives, light sometimes at the wrong door, and a fray ensues, in which one or more may lose their lives. The person who intends to erect an apiary, should purchase a proper number of hives at the latter end of the year, when they are cheapest. The hives should be full of combs, and well stored with bees. The purchaser should examine the combs,, in order to know the age of the hives. The combs of that season are white, those of a former year are of a darkish yellow: and where the combs are black the hives should be rejected, because old hives are most liable: to vermin and other accidents. If the number of hives wanted were not purchased in the autumn, it will be necessary to remedy this neglect after the severity of the cold is past in the spring. At this season, bees which are in. good condition will get into the fields early in the morning, return loaded, enter boldly, and do not come out of the hive in bad weather ; for when they do,, this indicates that they are in great want of provisions. They are alert on the least disturbance; and by the- loudnessof their humming we judge of their strength. They preserve their hives free from all filth, and are ready to defend it against: every enemy that approaches.. The summer is an improper time for buying bees, because the heat of the weather softens the wax, and thereby renders the combs liable to break, if they are not very Well secured. The honey too being then thinner than at other times, is more apt to run out at: the cells, which is attended with a double disadvantage, namely, the loss of the honey, and the daubing of the bees, whereby many off them may be destroyed; A first and strong swarm may indeed be purchased; and if leave can be obtained, permitted to stand in the same garden till the autumn ; but if leave is not obtained, it may be; carried away in the night after it has been hived. AN ACCOUNT OF BEES, I suppose that in the stocks purchased, the bees are in hives of th© old construction. The only direction here necessary is, that the first swarm from these stocks should be put into one -of my hives,I and that another of my hives should in a few days be put under the old stock, in order to ; prevent its swarming again. As this matter will be fully treated of in the next chapter, I refer the reader to it. After an account of my own hives, I shall subjoin the Count de la Bourdonnaye’s improvement on hives, as related by the society established by the States of Britany for the improvement of agriculture, arts and commerce, who have been constantly distinguished by the regularity and judgment which attend all their steps. They have proceeded admirably in regard to bees*. They began with procuring information of what has beers hitherto done to preserve the lives of those useful creatures, and at the fame time increase the quantity of wax, their principal object. Count de'la Bourdonnaye took upon himself not only the making of this inquiry, but also the conducting of such experiments as might be necessary to ascertain the true merit of each method proposed. In their Memoirs for the year 17.59,and ^lydo, we are informed -j-, that the Count preferred the following, on account of the success with which it was attended, and also for its cheapness, which, as they justly observe, is a most important point in whatever relates to the management-of rural affairs. Count de la Bourdonnaye’s hives are made of straw, divided into two parts, which are placed one over the other. Each of these parts is twelve Paris inches £ in diameter in the inside, and eleven inches high} so that, when joined, they make.an hive twenty-two inches in height. They are nearly flat on the top, and have in the * Corps d’Obfervations de la Societe d’Agriculture, de Commerce, et des Arts, .stabile par les Etats de Bretagne. Annees 1757 et * 759 j P- 162. t P- 237. J The Paris foot is to the English foot, as 12rs4« inches are to 12 inches. middle AN ACCOUNT OF BEES, 57 middle of the top a hole an inch an.d a quarter square. The upper half rests on the lower. They are made of sufficient thickness to be proof against cold, and not to be heated by the rays of the fun. When united, their joining is luted close. SECTION III. Of Boxes. T T OWE VER much hives may exceed boxes in real utility, yet ■*- -*■ many prefer boxes, both as more ornamental to the eye, and as by means of windows made in them, they afford entertainment by seeing something of the progress made within. With this view glass-hives have been also made use of; but it has been found that they give so little real information, and are found so little agreeable to bees, that they are now generally laid aside. Mr. Hartlib in his Commonwealth of Bees mentions an experiment of glajfen-hives invented by Mr. William Mew, minister of Eastington in Gloucestershire: and in the fame book gives a description of a beehive made of boards of an octagon form, with a glass-window on the back-side of it, for the observation of their works. Soon after this John Geddy, Esq; published a further account of boxes for bees. Joseph Warder, physician at Croyden, made considerable improvements on the boxes, and added several curious circumstances concerning bees in his work intituled, The true Amazons , or the Monarchy of Bees. The Reverend Mr. John Thorley of Oxford, in his Inquiry into the Nature, Order and Government of Bees, added but little of real utility to Dr. Warder, except the use of his Narcotic, which, I flatter myself, will now be very little wanted. The Reverend Mr. Stephen White, rector of Hoi ton in Suffolk, in his Collateral Bee-boxes, or an easy and advantageous Method of managing Bees, has attempted a new improvement, by having his I boxes 5 § AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. boxes on the a level: but it has been found that the bees lay their eggs promiscuously in both boxes, and that therefore these boxes do not fully answer the design they were intended for. It is needless to fay more of the improvements made by these gentlemen, because their works are in every one’s hands, who may compare their methods with mine, and follow what shall appear to them the best. A very ingenious Lady in Swisserland, and extremely attentive to every circumstance relating to bees, has entered into the same view with Mr. White, of making what may be called collateral boxes of a simple and seemingly convenient structure. As I think her boxes and observations well worthy the public eye, I shall give her description and uses of her boxes, as related in the Memoires et Observations receuilles par la Societe Oeconomique de Berne } Annee 1764, part I. p. 95. The article is termed, Observations fur les Abeilles, far Madame Vicat nee de Curias , Efouse de M. Vicat, Prosesjeur en Droit a Lausane. I am not a little proud of the similarity in our views. She tells us, that she has always been of opinion,, that the cells intended for breeding the young are placed in the centre of the hive. The hive is both drier and warmer there than in any other part. The moisture which flies upwards might be prejudicial to the young. The method which the bees observe in laying up their honey consirms this opinion. The centre is the last part silled, after the young broods are all become bees; and this honey is the first consumed, probably to make room for the queen’s laying her eggs in those cells in the spring. This is much more likely, than that the bees should eat that part first, because it would putrify if kept. The queen begins early in the spring to lay her eggs, and slie lays great numbers of them. M. de Reaumur fays, that she lays two hundred eggs in twenty-four hours, and that six thousand bees are brought to perfection in the space of three weeks. On this principle Madam Vicat has contrived her boxes, so that these cells, so much wanted in the spring, shall not be taken away. 4 She AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 59 She places her boxes on a stool, or rather table, of fir; for oak, being a more solid wood, is colder, and thereby the bees, which either fall or rest upon it in the winter, may be so chilled as not to be able to rife again. This table is three feet long, fifteen inches in breadth, and three inches thick. It stapes on the sides, which gives the middle an elevation that keeps it dry in rainy weather. There run along each side two grooves, the innermost to receive the boxes, and the other, which is deeper, to receive the cover. In the middle of the table is a hole eight inches square, which is closed with a stider, supported underneath by grooves cut in the solid wood. There is in the stider a hole four inches square; and this hole is covered with a plate of tin pierced with little holes, like the nozzle of a watering-pot, in order to admit air in hot weather. For the winter, and for the cold nights in spring and autumn, there is a stider of solid fir, which keeps out the air. The table is rested upon four strong feet, high enough to admit of examining the state of the bees from below. That the bees may have a convenient landing place before the hive, the table is extended some inches forward beyond the cover, and terminates there in a semicircle. The hive or colony is composed of four boxes, if I may be allowed this expression, where there are only three sides. It may consist of three or of two boxes, as may be most agreeable to the owner. Each of the boxes is made of three pieces of deal, a full half inch thick. The two standing pieces are each eleven inches in height, and five and a half in breadth, and are dove-tailed into the piece at top, which sets the two standards at the distance of seven inches from each other above, whilst they are ten inches asunder at the bottom. They are kept thus distant by a rod, or thin piece of wood, which at the same time renders the box the stronger. This rod is placed within two inches of the bottom; and another is made to cross about an inch from the top, in order to afford a prop or stay to the combs. These boxes are not jointed or set into each other. They are only set quite close together; so that any one I 2 of AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. of them may be easily separated from the rest of the colony. They are connected by rods of wood which run along the whole colony, and pass through wooden rings fixed to each side of each box. Each of these wooden rods has a hole in the end next the back of the colony, sit to receive a large iron wire, which after being passed through the holes, is drawn tight, to secure the piece of deal which forms the back of the colony. The piece which forms the forepart of the colony is secured by two nuts screwed on to the ends of the wooden rods which come to the fore-part of the colony. By these means the boxes are kept very close together. The pieces of deal at each extremity of the colony or hive are exactly fitted to the boxes, so as not to exceed them in any part. These pieces being placed only at the extremities of the hives, when any 'part is taken away, what remains may befliptor pushed forward or backward in the grooves, and the extremities be immediately fitted thereto. There is in the middle of the end-pieces an opening, that in the front to give an outlet to the bees, that in the rear to be usually shut up. Three of these boxes hold as much as an,ordinary straw hive: but the addition is not too much for a strong stock of bees. There is on the table, as already mentioned, an outer groove to receive the cover of the boxes, which is made of sir, above half an inch thick. On one side it is thirteen inches high, and on the other seventeen ; so that there may be a declivity sufficient to carry off the rain water. There is in the fore-part of it an opening, answering to the opening in the hive, to admit the bees. To this opening in the cover a frame is fixed, either on a pivot, or in a groove, and there are in it four partitions, to be either turned on the pivot, or moved in the groove, as occasion requires. The first partition gives a free passage to the bees, and is applied to the mouth of the cover in the working or swarming season: the next narrows the passage so that but few bees can get out or in at a time, and is used when there is danger of robbers: the third is pierced full of holes to let in air, whilst it confines the bees, and is used chiefly in the beginning 7 and AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 61 and end of winter: the fourth is intirely shut, and is applied when the weather is extremely cold. It will be convenient to have panes of glass in the fides of the boxes: and a hole to be opened occasionally at top, through which a thermometer may be introduced whenever it is thought proper. When one of these hives or colonies is first peopled, the upper piece or top of one of the boxes is taken off, and the straw hive is placed upon the opening, putting a grate of wire in the hole, to prevent an union of the combs in the box with those in the hive, which would render the separation more difficult. In the month of October, the first and fourth boxes, counting from the entrance, may be taken away ; and this at a time when we are sure of not taking away any of the young brood ; nor, as we have just observed, any of the cells appropriated for them, these being in the middle of the hive. When a box is to be taken away, the rod which holds the boxes firmly connected is unscrewed. The boxes which are to remain untouched may be secured by staples. The opening in the bottom of the piece of deal which forms the back part of the hive is then to be opened, and the smoke of linen rags is blown into the box. As soon as we can judge that the bees are by this means driven out of the farther box, the end is loosened and taken away; then the box itself is loosened from the next, and the combs, if they run in a longitudinal direction, must be cut through with a wire, or a sharp thin knife. If the combs run crosswise, they may be taken out singly, before the box is taken away. The box being then removed, the piece of deal forming the back of the hive is immediately joined to the remaining box, and secured as it was before. The smoke should be kept up all the time, to prevent interruption from the bees. If the first box is to be taken away, exactly the fame steps are to be pursued; and if it be done when most of the bees are abroad, scarce a bee will be lost. As 62 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. As soon as both boxes are taken away, the remaining boxes should be flipped forward, so as to make the front stand where it did before; and when the additional boxes are added in the spring, the two remaining boxes are pushed to the farther end. If the season is favourable, both the old boxes may be taken away in the summer. In this method, no void space is left in the hives, and consequently the bees are not thereby exposed to so great a degree of cold as might endanger great numbers of their lives. We should, on this account, avoid adding an empty box whilst the nights continue cold in the spring. With proper care, the bees increase as fast in these colonies, as in any hives ; and if swarms are wanted, it is but delaying the addition of empty boxes in the spring. This far M. Vicat. In the construction of my boxes, I have in view the advantages proposed by the authors who formerly recommended boxes, namely ornament., and facility of taking honey and wax. In regard to the latter, I hope my small square boxes, Fig. i. will be found superior to them; as they will also be at least equal to them in the entertainment they afford by means of their windows. I intend the larger box, Fig. 3. to answer the purpose of glass-hives, which it will exceed: for in it not only ail the labouring bees, but also the queen may be in view as often as the proprietor pleases. The double square box, Fig. 1. Plate II. made to part in two, is eighteen and a half inches high, and ten inches square. It consists of a frame, with doors a a on three of the sides, the fore part having a fixed cover. The upper box has a cover b, moving on hinges, and secured in the fore-part with a lock. The sliding frames, Fig. 2. c c, in which the bees make their combs, are three and a quarter inches thick, eight inches wide, and eight and a half in depth. Each of these frames have four flides d, Fig. 1. inch wide, and half an inch asunder; intended to prevent the bees extending their combs to the glass, which would render the taking them out their an account of bees. 6z inconvenient. There is an upright partition e in the middle, to strengthen the frame, in the middle of which there is a division of half an inch, to afford an easy passage to the bees; and two similar passages in the bottom to give a free passage to the bees to go from one box to another : for this box stands on a lower box, which, instead of sliders to contain the combs, has six bars, to which the bees six the combs in the lower box. The two boxes are fixed together by means of a hasp. The lower box has three doors, as the upper one ; and the doors in each have a pane of glass fixed in them, with small brads, which are easily drawn out, when there is occasion to take out the panes of glass. Between the upper and lower boxes there is a slider f, which is put in when the frames with the combs are taken out of the upper boxes, or when the upper box is changed. A like slider g is put in the bottom. The box, Fig. 3. consists properly of three boxes moving upon hinges, and when brought together is secured by hooks and eyes. When united, they are twenty-two inches in height, eighteen in thickness, and twelve in width ; and make the appearance of one of the division of Fig. 3. These boxes are divided into two separate apartments for bees, a, b. In the upper apartment there is a frame constructed in the fame manner, and for the fame purposes as in the other boxes. In each apartment there are two glasses covered with doors c c, to keep out the glare of light, when they are extended.- Each of these boxes have a cover sliding in a groove, to be taken out, when the frame with the combs is taken up. There is in these boxes, as the former, a slider e which goes in a groove between the upper and lower apartments; and also a like slider f in the bottom, in order to clear the hive of dead bees, or any other filth which may annoy them. Each box has an opening or door, ggg half an inch in height, and four inches in length at the bottom, and in the division which separates the boxes, in order to give the bees the easier passage to and from the fields, for carrying on their labours. Before every £>4 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. ■every door, whether in an extended or collected state, there should be a semicircular landing board placed before each door, having two pieces of wire in them, corresponding to holes in the boxes, for fixing them in their places. The tops of the boxes h h h, may be formed in any manner agreeable to the owner. That the description of my instruments may come together,.! shall add here an instrument very proper for feeding bees. Honey is so penetrating a substance that no joining will contain it; and therefore a vessel, Fig. 4. should be turned out of the solid wood, in which honey is put in order to feed bees, when it is found necessary. The vessel a may be nine inches in diameter, and two and a half inches deep. On one side a piece is cut out to admit a nossel b four inches in breadth, and one inch clear of the turned vessel in length, the opening for the bees to pass from the hive to the honey, half an inch in height. The cover should be turned out of the same wood, and secured by a rabbit c, which enters a groove in the lid. In the middle of the cover, a hole d is made, in order to fee when the honey is eat up, in which is a pane of glass, with a cover fitted to it, of the dimensions of the hole. The boxes and all parts of them are made of red cedar, the fragrance of which is agreeable to the bees, besides that it is the warmest and driest of any wood. Fig. 5. represents one of my straw hives. AN ACCOUNT OF BEES, 6s CHAP. If. Of swarming. I T has been already observed, that the queen begins to lay her eggs so soon as the severity of the winter’s frost is past, and proceeds in proportion to the mildness of the season. The number of young bees that may by this means rife in the hive may endanger the lives of all the bees by famine j an accident not sufficiently attended to; and yet when pointed out appears self-evident: for if the weather comes in mild in January, or even so late as February, so that the queen is induced to lay many eggs, they in due time become bees; and the increased multitude consume a great deal of honey. If this mild weather is succeeded by cold, rainy, or even dry weather, a famine may ensue in the hive, when the badness of the weather prevents the possibility of supply: for during even the cold dry weather, what flowers come forth or open, are found to have none of that sweet juice in them which constitutes honey. Dry days tempt bees to go out, when the cold and fatigue destroys many. On this account the proprietor should examine frequently into the state of his hives at this season, that if neceflary, he may give them a proper supply, in which he should rather be bountiful than otherwise, because they are faithful stewards, and will return with interest what is thus in their so great need bestowed upon them. The manner of feeding them will be directed hereafter. It is from this cause that many hives die so late as May: and the owner is surprized what could have destroyed a hive which he had observed in a thriving state some time before, little suspecting that the number of bees which he was pleased to see, added to his own neglect, have been the cause of his loss. He is not to judge of the state of the hive by its weight at this time, because the number of young bees or maggots in it weigh heavy, and may impose on the unwary for real wealth. K When 66 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. When a hive is become too much crouded by the addition of the young brood, a part of the bees think of finding themselves a more commodious habitation ; and with this view single out a queen with whom they take wing. This is called swarming, and happens earlier or later, as the season has been more or less kindly. If the spring is mild, calm, and an early bloom is come on, then the swarms will be early and strong : but if it proves cold and windy with either rainy or dry weather, then will there be but few swarms, and those also very backward. When the bees are thus crouded, and the weather is warm and calm, they delight to rife, especially after a sudden shower or a dark cloud has sent them home in crouds. They seldom swarm before the sun has warmed the air, that is, not before ten in the morning, and seldom later than three in the afternoon. We may know that their swarming approaches, if the hive appears so full of bees, that part of them hang in clusters on the outside ; and the drones are perceived in greater numbers than usual, especially in the afternoon. But the most certain sign, and which indicates the event to be on that day, is, that the bees refrain from flying into the fields, though the season seems inviting. Just before they take their flight, there is an uncommon silence in the hive, and this continues for some time, or as long as the bees which are going out take up in filling their stomachs with honey, to be a stove in cafe of bad weather; but as soon as one breaks forth, they all follow, and are instantly on the wing. For three or four nights before a swarm sallies forth, there is in the hive a peculiar humming noise, of which authors give very different descriptions, probably owing to the strength of imagination in each. Every found among bees arises from their striking their wings against the air: their wings being their sole organ of voice, 4f I may be allowed the expression. By moving their wings more or AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 67 or less forcibly and swiftly, they beat the air, and form the varied and confused sounds which we call humming. The noise which foretells their swarming is easily distinguished by those who are accustomed to it, and is more especially observed before the casts, or second and following swarms. The reason that this noise is less frequent before the first; swarm is, that the young queen is not yet in a condition to go out with the new swarm ; and therefore the seeming contest; between the queens is not heard; in this cafe the old queen leads forth the swarm. They sometimes swarm, if much crouded, even before the young queen is come out of her cell; for the bees go on chearfully in their labours, while they have the expectation of her coming forth. If their swarming is delayed for some days by rain, and the young queen is become strong enough to take wing, the swarm generally chuse the young queen for their leader; and with this view, sire lies in the bottom of the hive, ready to sty off with them. The noise that is heard before the second and following swarms is bwing to there being now two queens ready to sally forth, and a contest seems to arise which of them fftall go. The old queen is seated in the crown of the hive, and the other near the bottom, and make reciprocal answers to one another. The distance whence the found comes, probably constitutes the difference observed in the sounds, the one being compared to a base, and the other to a treble; or as expressed by Worlidge, chap. ix. § 3. " The signs of afterffwarms are more certain ; when " the prime swarm is gone, about the eighth or tenth evening after, " when another brood is ready, and again hath over-filled the hive, “ the next queen beginneth to tune in her treble voice, a mourn- " ful and begging note ; then in a day or two (hall you hear the " old queen in her base note reply, and as it were consent. In the “ morning before they swarm, they come down near the stool, and “ there they call somewhat louder. At the very time of swarming “ they descend to the stool, where answering one another in more " earnest manner, with thicker and shriller notes, the multitude come forth in great haste,” &c. If rainy weather prevents their K 2 swarming 68 AN ACCOUNT OF BEE Si swarming a second or third time beyond the fourteenth day, one of the queens, generally, the young queen, is slain on the morning of the fifteenth; so impatient are they of the long continuance of divided empire : and so sensible is she of her own danger, that shs- sometimes tempts a few to accompany her in her flight, be the weather ever so little inviting. The time of the year in which they most generally swarm, is from the middle of May to the end of June j but sometimes sooner or later, according as the season is more or less favourable. The earliest swarms do not always prove the best, especially if they are, so early as the end of April or beginning of May: for the weather often is afterwards so wet and cold, that they are frequently in . danger of being destroyed, or greatly reduced, by famine. Though swarms which issue forth so late as July are not in danger of a present famine; yet they scarcely have time and opportunity to lay,in a sufficient store for the winter. Towards the season of swarming, the door of the hive should be enlarged, to give the bees the greater freedom to issue out; and it should likewise remain so for young swarms, during the first fortnight or three weeks, to allow the freer entrance to the bees at that time extremely busy in collecting their necessary stores. The entrance should afterwards be gradually lessened, to prevent the otherwise easy access of enemies, of which there is great danger, especially as the autumn advances. Hives continue sometimes to send forth swarms till the old hive becomes too much weakened, and part of it is empty. It is probable, that the prolific young queens prompt the bees to swarm thus frequently: for it is certain, that if there is not a young mother qualified to bring forth a numerous progeny, though there be ever so great a number of bees, they will all remain, and die rather than quit the hive. This is confirmed by the author of the Natural History of Bees. “ I have drowned,” fays he *, “ several " hives, the swarms in which could not be forced out by any means; * P. 323. " and AN ACCOUNT OF BEES, * e and after examining all the bees attentively, I ever found that " there was but one single mother, and this the old one; the eggs “ or maggots of the young queen bees having, I suppose, been de- “ stroyed by some accident.” Whenever the bees of a swarm fly too high, they are made to descend lower, and disposed to settle, by throwing among them > handsuls of sand or dust; probably the bees mistake this for rain. It is usual at the same time to beat on a kettle or frying-pan ; perhaps from its being observed that the noise of thunder prompts- such bees as are in the fields to return home.. Precautions of this kind are the more necessary, if, as Dr. Warder observes*', “ the bees “ always provide a place for their habitation before they swarm; “ either in some hollow tree, or in the hollow part of some old " building, or in some deserted hive, which the swarm have already, “ prepared, by cleaning out whatever may be offensive, to their “ cleanly nature.” Of this he gives an instance; and concludes, that " though they provide themselves of a house before they swarm, “ and take much pains about it ; yet if you are early enough in . “ your taking the swarm, and they-find themselves'at unawares in, “ a convenient house, they have no mind generally to leave it: but “ if they rise again the same or next day, be sure hive them not in j, St the fame hive again, for it is plain they .have some dislike to it.” When the bees first settle in swarming, indeed when they at any time rest themselves, there is something very particular in their method of taking their repose. It is done, by collecting themselves in . aheap, and hanging to each other by their feet. They sometimes extend these heaps to a considerable length. It would seem probable to us, that the bees from which the others hang must have a considerable weight suspended to them. All that can be said is, that the bees must find this to be a situation agreeable to themselves. _ They may perhaps have a method of distending themselves with air, * The true Amazons, or the Monarchy of Bees; 8th edit. p-,77. 6 therebyy 70 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. thereby to lessen their specific gravity; in the same manner as sissies do, in order to alter their gravity compared with water. When a swarm divides into two or more bands, which settle separately : this division may proceed from there being two queens, though they sometimes settle separately, when there is but one queen among them. In this case, one of the clusters is larger than the other; and the bees of the smaller cluster or clusters detach themselves by little and little, till at last the whole unite with the larger cluster, in which the queen is. If there are two queens, and .the swarm is early and large, each cluster may be hived separately : or if the clusters unite, one of the queens must be sacrificed to the peace and tranquillity of the hive. If this execution is left to the bees, it generally raises a considerable commotion in the hive, and is done in the evening of the first day; for if it is delayed till morn 1 - ing, the youngest of the queens will, if possible, take flight, and return to the mother hive. In order to prevent this commotion, it will in this cafe be adviseable to seize one of the queens alive, and keep her prisoner with about a hundred or more of her subjects, in a box with small holes in it sufficient to admit air, but not so large as to permit the bees to escape. In this box a comb with honey should be given them for sustenance, in case they are kept for some days, that you may have her in reserve, incase a queen maybe wanted for another swarm. For this purpose, towards the evening, spread a cloth on a table, and strike the bees down upon it, seize the first queen you spy, as prisoner, while you satisfy yourself that there is another. She will sometimes elude your sight; but if the bees remain quiet, you may presume there is another, and put the hive over them again, into which they will soon ascend. If you find them quiet, then all is well. But if, instead of working in the morning, the ‘bees fly about irregularly, the queen must be restored to them, for unless a queen is given to them, they will all return to the mother-swarm, which they never do while their queen continues with them, though (the young swarm is placed ever so near her. If their queen dies 3 even AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 7 *- even several weeks after their swarming, they will return to their mother hive, carrying their honey along with them.. When the swarm takes wing, the young queen may fall on the ground, not being able to fly, through some defect in her wings. - The poor disabled queen may be picked up on the grass, and put on. the edge of a hive, a hat or- any other thing on which she may be- • come conspicuous to the swarm; they will immediately collect round her, and may be easily put in a hive. When fallen, she is never found without some attendants, whom nothing but violence can - separate from her. In case the queen is not raised from the ground, the bees will return to their first abode; as they are sometimes found to do after they have lighted on a tree, probably owing to the young queen’s not coming forth with them, for want of strength, or perhaps courage to trust to her wings for the first time. As soon as the swarm is settled, the bees which compose it should be got into one of my hives, fitted with a cover, with all convenient speed, to prevent their taking wing again. If they settle on a small’* branch of a tree, easy to be come at, it may be cut off and laid upon a cloth; the hive being ready to be put immediately over them. If the branch cannot be conveniently cut, the bees may be swept from off it into a hive. Lodge but the queen in the hive, and the rest will soon follow. If the bees must be considerably disturbed in order > to get them into a hive; the most adviscable way is to let them remain in the place where they have pitched, till the evening, when there is less danger of their taking wing. If it be observed that they still hover about the place they first alighted upon, the branches there may be rubbed with rue, stinging nettles, or elder leaves, or any other thing distasteful to them, to prevent their returning to it. The hive should be cleaned with the utmost care, and its inside be rubbed very hard with a coarse cloth, to get off the loose straws, or other impurities, which might cost them a great deal of time and labour to gnaw away. The ?2 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. The hive should not be immediately set on the stool where it is to remain, but should be kept near the place at which the bees settled, til! the evening, lest some stragglers should be lost. It should be shaded, either with boughs, or with a cloth, that the too great • heat of the fun may not annoy the bees. Scarce has the swarm arrived at its new habitation, when the working bees labour with the utmost diligence, to procure materials for food and building. Their principal aim is not only to have cells in which they may deposit their honey. A stronger motive Teems to animate them. They seem to know that their queen is in haste to lay her eggs. Their industry is such, that in twenty-four hours they will have made combs twenty inches long, and wide in proportion. They make more wax during the first fortnight, if the season is favourable, than they do during all the rest of the year. Other bees are at the same time busy in stopping all the holes and crevices they find in their new hive, in order to guard against the entrance of insects which covet their honey, their wax, or themselves ; and also to exclude the cold air ; for it is indispensably necessary that they be lodged warm. A second swarm scarcely is, and much less are the subsequent ones, worth keeping single; because, being few in number, they cannot allow so large a proportion of working bees to go abroad in search of store, as more numerous swarms can, after having appointed a proper number for the various works to be done within. For this reason it is adviseable to unite two or more of these last or latter swarms, so as to procure a sufficient number of bees in one hive. Bees sometimes swarm so often, that the matber-hive is too much weakened. In this case the swarms should be restored back; and this should also be done when a swarm produces a swarm the first summer, as it sometimes does. The best way, indeed, is to prevent such swarming, by giving the bees more room : though this, again, will not answer where there is a young pregnant queen; AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 73 queen ; {he well knowing that her life is the forfeit of her remaining at home. Though all writers acknowledge that one of the queens is constantly stain on these occasions; and generally a considerable number of the working bees ; yet none of them, Col um ell a excepted, Lib. 9. C. 9, has proposed the easy remedy of killing the queen of the latter cast or swarm, before the union is made; a means by which the lives of several working bees may be preserved. If an old hive is so full of bees, that they rest in the night under the board, and yet shew no disposition to swarm, turn the hive bottom up, give it some flight strokes on the sides, so as to alarm the bees. They will immediately run to the extremities of their combs. If you look attentively to the middle of the hive, you will there perceive the queen among the foremost. Seize her between the forefinger and thumb, and confine her in your hand till most part of the bees take wing: let her then go, the bees will soon join her, and fettle on some branch of a tree. Put them into an empty hive. Put the old stock in its place, that the bees which have been out in the fields may enter it on their' return, and having remained there an hour or so, it is then put on another stand near or next its own. The hive having what may now be called a swarm in it, is then placed on the stand of the old stock : and if the bees in both work regularly, carrying loads, all is well. This backwardness to swarm may be owing to their want of a queen to lead them forth ; and the old queen is loath to go, till a young one is bred : yet isa royal cell contains a young queen, the bees in both hives will thrive ; as those in the old stock will go on in expectation of the young queen’s coming forth. This separation should not in prudence be attempted, unless you have a queen in reserve : for if the bees in the old stock, when placed on their stand, are in an uproar, there is no queen, nor prospect of a queen among them: and in this case their own queen should be restored to them, and the reserved queen be put to the L swarm. 74 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. swarm, or the bees in the empty hive, which should then be carried to the distance of half a mile, and remain there for a sew days, till they have made some works, and may then be brought back to their former station. Care should be taken that the number of bees separated from the old stock be sufficient in number to make a swarm. On this account it is perhaps better to use the following method. A sufficient number of bees should be taken out of the stock, in the manner that shall hereafter be directed, and put in an empty hive. The eye will here judge of the numbers. When one half, ora sufficient number, is got into the empty hive, it should be carried to some distance. The silence in either hive will soon indicate where the queen is. It would be eligible that their own queen remained in the old stock; but if she has not, the reserved queen may be put to them, and they should be immediately restored to their former stand : and the bees or swarm, taken off, be carried to the distance of half a mile as before. If several days of rainy weather should succeed a swarm’s coming off, they may die of famine, if timely relief of honey is not given to them. Bees are not apt to sting when they swarm ; therefore it is not necessary then to take much extraordinary precaution against them. The reverend Mr. Thorley gives a remarkable instance of this; and I mention it the rather, because the steady resolution shewn by the maid on this occasion, is the surest safeguard on any other. He relates it thus*. “ In the year 1717, one of my swarms Fettling among theolofe- " twisted branches of a codling-tree, and not to be got into a hive “ without help, my maid-servant being in the garden, offered her “ assistance, to hold the hive while I dislodged the bees. " Having never been acquainted with bees, she put a'linnen cloth " over her head and shoulders, to guard and secure her from their re * Pag. 117. swords. AN ACCOUNT OF BEES, 75 \ " swords. A few of the bees fell into the hive; some upon the ££ ground; but the main body upon the cloth which covered her " upper garments. “ I took the hive out of her hands, when she cried out, the bees " were got under the covering, crouding up towards her breast and “ waist; which put her into a trembling posture. When I per- “ ceived the veil was of no farther service, she gave me leave to re- " move it. This done, a most affecting spectacle presented itself to " the view of all the company, filling me with the deepest distress “ and concern, as I thought myself the unhappy instrument of *' drawing her into so imminent hazard of her life. “ Had she enraged them, all resistance had been in vain, and no- thing less than her life would have atoned for the offence. " I spared not to urge all the arguments I could think of, and " use the most affectionate intreaties, begging her with all earnest- " ness in my power, to stand her ground, and keep her present " posture; in order to which, I gave her encouragement to hope " for a full discharge from her disagreeable companions, “ I began to search among them for the queen, now got in a “ great body upon her breast, about her neck, and up to her chin. “ I immediately seized her, taking her from among the crowd with “ some of the commons in company with her, and put them toge- “ ther into the hive. Here I watched her for some time, and as I « did not observe that she came out, I conceived an expectation of “ seeing the whole body quickly abandon their settlement; but in~ “ stead of that I soon observed them gathering closer together, with- “ out the least signal for departing. Upon this I immediately re- " flected, that either there must be another sovereign, or that the « same was returned. I directly commenced a second search, and " in a short time, with a most agreeable surprize, found a second, or the same: stie strove, by entering farther into the croud, to L 2 c< escape AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. " escape me, but I re-conducted her, with a great number of the " populace, into the hive. And now the melancholy scene began " to change, to one infinitely more agreeable and pleasant. " The bees presently miffing their queen, began to dislodge, and “ repair to the hive, crouding into it in multitudes, and in the “ greatest hurry imaginable. And in the space of two or three mi- “ nutes the maid had not a single bee about her,-neither had she so " much as one sting, a small number of which would have " quickly stopped her breath.” Many people have so strong a dread of bees, that no assurance of safety can prevail upon them to act familiarly with these insects. Indeed there seems to be a hidden quality in some men which renders them disagreeable to bees. In either of these cases, it is adviscable to follow the directions given by Mr. Worlidge, abisupra. “ I have gone among them in their greatest anger and madness, " only with a handful of sweet herbs in my hand, fanning about “ my face, as it were, to obscure and defend it. Also, if a bee do “ by accident buz about you, being unprovided, thrust your face “ amongst a parcel of boughs or herbs, and he will desert you. “ But the most secure way of all, and beyond the completest har- " ness yet published, is to have a net knit with so small meshes, that " a bee cannot pass through, and of fine thread or silk, large enough “ to come over your hat, and to lie down to the collar of your “ doublet, through which you may perfectly fee what you do, " without any danger; having also on a pair of gloves, whereof " woollen are the best.” Oil of olives, or any mild oil, is thought by many to be a cure for the pain and inflammation arising from the sting of a bee ; but repeated experiments have shewn that it fails oftener than it succeeds. It seems probable, that the success sometimes met with was rather an accident than a cure j for there are many people to whom 7 the AN ACCOUNT OF BEES, the sting of a bee does not occasion any pain or inflammation : some men disdain to use the least precaution even when they are sure of many stings. There are, perhaps, many other remedies which owe their reputation to similar causes. Vinegar is equally unsuccessful j bruised parsley is by many thought to give ease ; Mr. Rocque of Walham-green says, that being stung even by a wasp, the leaves of burnet, rubbed pretty hard upon the part so injured, immediately took off the inflammation. Honey, which may be got out of the body of the bee which inflicted the wound, is thought a good cure. Indigo, dissolved in water, has been found effectual; as have the juice of the succulent leaves of vegetables, renewed as often as they grow warm : and some recommend, as the most sure remedy, to heat a piece of iron in the fire, or for want of it to take a live coal, and to hold it as near and as long to the place as you can possibly endure it. One very necessary caution is, to pull out the sting from the wound as soon as possible; for the longer it remains in it, the deeper it pierces, owing to the peculiar make of the sting itself. A large swarm may weigh seven pounds, and so gradually less, to one pound : consequently a very good one may weigh five or six pounds. Ail such as weigh less than four pounds should be strengthened by uniting to them a less numerous swarm. The author of the Natural History of Bees makes the following calculation, “ I put,” fays he, " into a scale, a half ounce weight; and, in the " other scale, as many bees as made the equilibrium. You will sup- " pose that I was obliged to employ dead bees for this purpose. I " must observe, by the way, that these were bees which had been " killed in a dreadful battle ; occasioned by a band of aliens, who " endeavoured to seize upon a peopled hive. One hundred and “ sixty-eight of these dead bees weighed but half an ounce. There " consequently are twice an hundred and sixty-eight bees in an “ ounce, that is, three hundred and thirty-six. Now, if three u hunched and thirty-six bees weigh an ounce, there must be five !( thousand AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. " thousand three hundred and sixty-sixin sixteen ounces or a pound; “ and consequently thirty-seven thousand five hundred and sixty- “ two bees to weigh seven pounds.” In order to be satisfied on this point, I took some bees out of a hive on the 9th of March 1768, being a very cold day, and suffered them to fly to a window, which soon chilled them so, that they fell as dead. Of these I collected as many as weighed half an ounce, and found the number to be one hundred and fifty-four, which gives to the pound four thousand nine hundred and twenty-eight. I weighed another half ounce of other bees and found the numbers to be,the same. The different circumstances of the bees may occasion a considerable difference in their weight. When the bees swarm they come out loaded with wax and honey; and therefore weigh much heavier than bees taken thus by chance, as was the cafe in both the above experiments: and therefore the number of the bees is not to be thus computed, from the weight of the swarm : for one fourth of the number, at least, should be deducted, in lieu of the wax and honey they have brought off with them. There is also another allowance to be made, namely, that when alive they do not probably weigh so heavy as when dead. About twenty thousand bees compose a very large swarm. » AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 79 CHAP. III. Os the Management of Bees in Hives and Boxes. I HAVE already mentioned that the swarms are put into one of my hives, which has a cover fitted to it. A good swarm will soon fill one of these hives, and therefore another hive may be put under it the next morning. The larger space allowed the bees, will excite their industry in filling them with combs. The queen will lay some eggs in the upper hive; but so soon as. the lower hive is filled with combs, (he will lay most of them in it. In little more than three weeks, all the eggs laid in the upper hive will be turned to bees, and if the season is favourable, their cells will be soon filled with honey. So soon as they want room, a third hive should be placed under the two former, and in a few days after the end of three weeks from the time the swarm was put into the hive, the top hive may be taken away at noon of a fair day; and if any bees remain in it, carry it to a little distance from the stand, and turning its bottom up, striking it on the sides, the bees will be alarmed, take wing, and join their companions in the second and third hives. If it is found that they are very unwilling to quit it, it is probable that the queen remains among them. In this cafe the bees must be treated in the manner that (hall be directed, when I give directions for taking the honey and wax without killing them. The upper hive now taken away, should be put in a cool place, in which no vermin, mice, &c. can come at the combs, or other damage can happen to them, and be thus preserved in reserve. So soon .as the hives seem to be again crouded, and the upper hive is well stored, or filled with honey, a fourth hive should be placed under the third, and the upper hive be taken off the next fair day at noon, and treated as already directed. As the honey 4 made f<-r- AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. mads during the summer is the best, and as it is needless to keep many full hives in store, the honey may be taken out of the combs of this second hive for use. If the season is very favourable, the bees may still sill a third hive. In this cafe a fifth hive must be put under the fourth, and the third taken away as before. The bees will then fill the fourth for their winter store. As the honey of the first hive is better than the honey collected so late as that in the third, the honey may be taken out of the combs of the first, and the third may be preserved with the same care as directed for that. In the month of September the top hive should be examined and if full, it will be a sufficient provision for the winter: but if light, that_is, not containing twenty pounds of honey, the more the better, then in the month of October, the fifth hive should be taken away, and the hive kept in reserve should be put upon the remaining one, to supply the bees with abundant provisions for the winter. Nor need the owner grudge them this ample store, for they are faithful stewards, and will be proportionally richer, and more forward in the spring and summer, when he will reap an abundant profit. The fifth hive which was taken away should be carefully preserved during the winter, that it may be restored to the same stock of bees, when an additional hive is wanted next summer: or the first swarm that comes off may be put into it. The combs in it, if kept free from filth and vermin, will save them much labour, and they will at once go to the collecting of honey. It is almost needless to observe, that when the hives are changed, a cover, as already directed for the first, should be put upon every upper hive: and that when a lower hive becomes an upper hive, the door of it should be shut up, that so their only passage out (hall be by the lower hive ; for otherwise the queen would be apt to lay eggs in both indiscriminately. The whole of the above detail of the manage- AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. Si management of one hive, may be extended to any number: it may be proper to keep a register of each set, because, in restoring hives to the bees, they may be better pleased at receiving their own labours, than that of other stocks. If in the autumn the owner has some weak hives, which have neither provision nor numbers sufficient for the winter, it is advise- able to join the bees to richer hives: for the greater number of bees will be a mutual advantage to one another during the winter, and accelerate their labours much in the spring. For this purpose, carry a poor and a richer hive into a room, a little before night: then force the bees out of both hives into two separate empty hives, in a manner that shall be hereafter directed; {hake upon a cloth the bees out of the hive which contains the fewest, search for the queen, and as soon as you have secured her with a sufficient retinue, bring the other hive, which contains the greater number, and place it on the cloth on which the other bees are, with a support under one side, and with a spoon, shovel the bees under it. They will soon ascend j and while under this impression of fear, will unite peaceably with the other bees: whereas had they been added to the bees of the richer hive, while in possession of their castle, many of the new-comers must have paid with their lives for their intrusion. I at first supposed that the bees were purchased in common hives: it is now therefore proper to return to the old original hives, which generally contain from two pecks to a bushel. So soon as the swarm is come out, one of my hives should be put under it sand if the bees soon want room, a second should be added; for as in these large hives, the number of young bees may be great, room ffiould be given to them proportioned to their numbers. The two additional hiv$s may become here more necessary, because as the old hive is very large, the queen may be tempted to continue M laying AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. laying eggs longer in it, and longer time will be necessary to fill it with honey. When well stored with honey it is taken away, and the honey and wax is turned to the proprietor’s profit. The bees being now left entirely to my hives, are to be afterwards managed as already directed; observing only, that no second or subsequent swarm be permitted to quit the hives; but if such come forth, they be again restored to it, the young queen being secured. It will now be proper to compare the old and my hives together, that we may state an account of the advantages and disadvantages of each. The object of keeping bees is undoubtedly the procuring honey and wax in the greatest plenty, and coming at them with the greatest case. In both these respects, I think the advantages will be found on the side of my hives. A hive made as large as usual, requires a good season to fill it with honey j and when robbed of part of its riches, the bees may not have an opportunity of filling it with combs and honey. Aye ! but when robbed, it contains a great deal of honey; it does, but if a considerable portion of it is taken away, the bees may be starved in the winter. The fuccesiion of my hives keeps the bees constantly employed ; perhaps excites their industry on the frequent returns of new habitations : and therefore the quantity of honey and wax obtained will not, I think, be less; and the method of coming at it is both simpler and easier, and there is little danger of the bees being starved, because I have advised that store hives with honey be reserved, for a certain supply of food. The use of a hive is to afford a safe lodging to the bees, and a eonveniency for stowing their provisions. Two of my hives abundantly answer these purposes, and the bees are able to fill two of I ^ mine AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 8Z mine as soon as they can one of the old construction; which is attended with this considerable advantage, that the honey thus procured is more fragrant than honey which remains longer exposed to the perspiratory matter of the bees, and to the heat of the hive ; for these rob it not only of its fragrance, but also of its colour, which becomes darker the longer the honey remains in the hive, as may be evidently concluded from the different colours of new and of old combs. It is well known to those who are conversant in the care of bees, that their numbers decrease greatly in the autumn, not only by the murder of the drones, but also by the unavoidable deaths of many of the working bees; owing to the thousand accidents they meet with in the fields, and to age. A much less space is therefore wanted for them in the winter, than was necessary in the summer; and the closer they are collected together in the winter the warmer they will be. Surely this end is more effectually obtained in my hives, one of which is fully sufficient to contain the number of bees that remain at that season, I think I may say better, than a large mansion, of which they fill but a corner. If the upper hive is so full of honey, that it cannot contain them at the beginning of the winter, the lower hive yields abundant room till they have consumed so much honey as to make room in the upper, and by raising them higher from the stool, it adds to their warmth. Let me in farther vindication of my plan, add what the Count de la Bourdonnaye fays of the use of his hives, in which the reader will observe a similarity of opinion, which I have vanity enough to think does me honour. “ When the bees, fays he, have filled “ the upper half, the combs are necessarily interrupted by the in- «' termediate bottom; and this perhaps, induces them to fill that " half more completely than they would do if they met not with « such a stop. When both parts are full, which may be known " by the bees wanting room, the upper half is taken away, and as Ms " soon AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. $4 " soon as it has been emptied, it is put under the remaining full “ half. “ Whilst the bees are filling the lower half of the hive, the eggs " laid in the upper half become bees: and as the queen deposits “ her eggs as near the entrance as can be done with safety to the “ young, she never lays any in the upper half, after it is become “ the upper half; but as fast as the bees are perfected there, the " cells are filled with honey. By this means none of the young " brood are lost, and almost the whole of what is taken consists of " honey and wax. “ The hives stand separate, and at a distance from walls. No " plants are suffered to rise high near them ; and the stool is raised so “ high from the ground, that mice, their very dangerous enemies, “ cannot jump up to it." When a swarm is to be put into one of the boxes, the slider at bottom, or one of the panes of glass in the lower part is taken out, and the bees will readily enter, especially if the queen has been put into the box before them: the slider or pane of glass is then returned to its place, and the bees will go to work by the mouth of the box. The bees will naturally fill the upper part of the boxes first, and so work downward. When the owner sees that the boxes are crouded, and that the combs in the upper part are well stored with honey, (which he can easily be assured of by looking in at one or two of the doors) the slider at top is taken off, and one of the frames with the combs in it is taken out, the slider being immediately returned. If on first looking into it, many bees appear in and about the combs in the frame, repeated taps may be given the glass next to the frame, and the bees will probably quit it, retiring to other parts of the box ; or if but a few are seen on it, the frame may be taken out, and the bees being swept off with a feather, will return AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. 85 return to their companions. The combs are then taken out of the frame, by flipping out the moving sliders, and when cleaned, the frame is again returned to its place. The other frame may be taken out at the fame time, or it may be delayed for a few days, thereby to have a more frequent seizure of combs. When the combs are taken out of the lower part of the boxes, it should be done immediately after the combs are taken out of the upper frames; then giving some gentle taps on the glasses below, the bees will ascend, and the slider which enters between the boxes being put in, a pane of glass is taken out, the combs are cut from the bars at top, and as soon as cleared of every remains of combs, the pane is again put in. If some bees remain on the combs, they may be brushed off, and the slider being again drawn out, the bees will soon return to their labours. As the boxes are only secured together by clasps, the upper part may be taken intirely away when full of honey, returning the bees to their fellows, and an empty fresh box may be put in its place. The reader will perceive that this method of robbing the bees occasionally and so easily, of part of their combs, is preferable to the former practice of necessarily taking the whole box at once. If the owner’s curiosity prompts him to examine frequently how the bees proceed in their labours, the boxes, Fig. 3. Plate II. afford .an easy opportunity; for as there are but three combs in each separate frame, he can at any time discover where the queen is, and how she is employed, as well as fee the labours of the working bees : and this with a distinctness and ease, incomparably superior to what can be done in glass-hives. If the weather is very warm, the bees in these boxes may be subject to considerable inconveniencies, especially if, as Dr. Warder*' Monarchy of Bees, p. 128. observes AN ACCOUNT OF BEES, observes, that when the appearance of a shower drives the bees home in such crouds, that pressing to get in, they stop the passage so close, that those within are almost suffocated for want of air; which makes these last so uneasy, that they are like mad things. In this extremity, he has lifted the whole colony up a little on one fide, and by thus giving them air, has soon quieted them. He has known them, he fays, come pouring out, on such an occasion, in number sufficient to have filled at once two or three quarts j as if they had been going to swarm. The Memoirs of the truly laudable Berne Society, for the year 1764, give us a particular instance of this, when they fay -j-, that in 1761, many in Swisserland were obliged to smother their bees, when they saw the honey and wax trickling down; not knowing any other remedy for the losses they daily sustained. Some shaded their hives from the fun, or covered them with cloths wet several times a- day, and watered the ground all around. In this case the slider at top of my boxes may be drawn back, or a similar slider may be prepared, perforated with small holes, which will cause a current of air through the box. f P . 116. AN ACCOUNT OF BEES, 87 CHAP. IV. Of shifting the abodes of bees. G REAT improvements may certainly be made in the essential article of providing plenty of pasture for bees, whenever this subject shall be more carefully attended to than it, unfortunately, has hitherto been. A rich corn country is well known to be a barren defart to them during the most considerable part of the year; and therefore the practice of other nations, in shifting the places of abode of their bees, well deserves our imitation. Columella * informs us, that, as few places are so happily situated as to afford the bees proper pasture both in the beginning of the season and also in the autumn, it was the advice of Celsius, that after the vernal pastures are consumed, the bees should be transported to places abounding with autumnal flowers; as was practised by conveying the bees from Achaia to Attica, from Euboea and the Cyclad iflands to Scyrus, and also in Sicily, where they were brought to Hybla from other parts of the island. He likewise directs, that the hives be carefully examined before they are removed from one place to another, and to take out such combs as appear old, loose, or have moths in them, reserving only those that are sound, in order that the hive may be stored with combs collected from the best flowers. We find by Pliny, that this was likewise the practice of Italy in his time. “ As soon, says he -j-, as the spring food for bees has failed “ in the vallies near our towns, the hives of bees are put into boats, £t and carried up against the stream of the river, in the night, in " search of better pasture. The bees go out in the morning, in * Lib, ix. c, 14, f Lib. xxi. c. 12. " quest 83 AN ACCOUNT OF BEES. " quest of provisions, and return regularly to their hives in the boats, “ with the stores they have collected. This method is continued, " till the sinking of the boats to a certain depth in the water shews “ that the hives are sufficiently full; and they are then carried back " to their former homes, where their honey is taken out of " them.” A much later writer, Alexander de Montfort, shews this to be still the practice of the Italians who live near the banks of the Po, (the river which Pliny instanced particularly in the above quoted passage) when he fays * that, treating their bees in nearly the fame manner as the Egyptians did and do theirs, they load boats with hives, and convey them to the neighbourhood of the mountains of Piedmont; that, in proportion as the bees gather in their harvest, the boats, by growing heavier, sink deeper into the water ; and that the watermen determine from thence, when their hives are loaded sufficiently ; and that it is time to carry them back to the places from whence they came. The fame author relates -f*, that the people of the country of Juliers used the fame practice; for that, at a certain season of the year, they carried their bees to the foot of mountains covered with wild thyme. M.Maillet relates, in his curious description os Egypt J, " that spite " of the ignorance and rusticity which have got possession of that “ country, there yet remain in it several footsteps of the industry and " skill of the antient Egyptians. One of their most admirable con- " trivances is, their sending their bees annually into distant countries, “ in order to procure them sustenance there, at a time when they " could not find any at home; and their afterwards bringing them " back; like shepherds who should travel with their flocks, and " make them feed as they go. It was observed by the antient in- t Tom. ii, p. 24. 7 " habitants * Natural Hist. of Bees, p. 427. f Natural Hist, of Bees, p. 428. AN ACCOUNT OF BEES* 89 " habitants of lower Egypt, that all plants blossomed, and the " fruits of the earth ripened, above fix weeks earlier in upper " Egypt, than with them. They applied this remark to their . MM milk ■ m r. . Plate ii JS' ;nmS Plat j: jii E’ W - -'.A., /.,Isi ?/,//- .ivyy/K MM SM L>WL W l«M »P! iSii i i ''œt&ififik&i lilii iiin mm Hill mm MMMA «« WGG IS MM MUWK MMW MMU WWWWW W ^DWWW \ \ A Pag. A NTs, their method of feeding on the excrements of the vine-freters 50 Apiary, the proper situation — 45 ■ - When best to be made 55 Aristomachus, hislong study of bees 1 ——-His remedy for the purging disorder of — — 134 Aristotle, his distinction of the species of bees -—— -- 5 Bee, B. anatomical description of The head The trunk, or proboscis — The office of the trunk •— The wings --- - The legs - -—- The feet - * - - The belly -- --— The sting V Pag-. Bees, their conduct on the intrusion of a snail into the hive - 26 ■- Their battles - Bees, the number of, in one hive, and the several species of- 3, &c. -- Their respective offices in the hive --- - 4 - How they form their cells 11 - The construction of their combs 13 -- ------ their cells 14 - The origin of .them —--15 ■-- The progress of their eggs 17 — - The manner in which they collect their wax, and the two different kinds of it - 19 — - Flow they are unloaded at the hive - - 21 --- in what manner they deposit their wax for use . - 22 -- Flow they gather their honey 24 - In what manner they deposit it in. the hive - ibid. - - Their different management of. . that intended for present use, and that preserved for winter store —--—- 2; — ■- Their love of cleanliness — ibid. Z -- 27. 77 Their foresight of the weather 28 How affected by heat and cold 29 Their management of themselves during winter -- - ibid. The regulation of their labour ibid. Their attention to their young 30 Flow they communicate their intentions to each other -- ibid. When and how they expel the drones - -- 32 Indications of swarming — 39 Their duration-- 41 An easy access to water, necessary to their welfare — -* 43 The proper plants for their sustenance —-- --- • 44 At what season best to be purchased - - 55 Instruments for feeding them described - 64 Rules for feeding them in winter, 65. - T 35 ■ the reasons, season, and manner of. their swarming — 66, &c. > their first labours in a new hive „ 7 * > Not apt to sting when they swarm . 74 ' • A remarkable instance of this ibid. ■ Remedies against the stinging of . 76 - How many weigh an ounce 77 - The proper management of thenr in hives-79 ■ How their abode is to be shifted for sustenance - 87 - How their honey and wax is to be taken without destroying them 93- - At what season their combs are to be taken-106 - How they are rendered tractable 107 - Wild ones, how to thseover tha harbour of, and to hive them 113 2 Bees, I N D E X. Pag. Sees, their enemies, and how to guard against them, - 116 —— How to secure them from the robberies of other bees - 11B -- Their diseases - 123 —— Their ability of recovery from drowning •■■■■ 128 -Their destruction forbid by the Grand Duke of Tuscany 129 - Much tioubltd with lice 130 -- Looseness among, how occasioned —— The proper seasons and times for feeding them ■—— 136 -- And wasps, comparison between 142.162 Boissier (Abbe) his account of ho- ney-dew, and of the plants on which it is found — 45, &c. Boswell (Mr.) his account of the fruit- fulness of Corsica in honey 104 Botanists, remarks on the conduct of their researches ——— 166 Bourdonnaye (Count de la) his method of constructing hives 56. 83 Box hi ves, the best construction of, described ■ —> 62 Bradley (Mr.) his recommendation of broom for the food of bees 44 Broom, this plant peculiarly agreeable to bees 44 Buck-v/heat, favourable to the production of honey ——- 51 C Cells of a hive, how formed 11 - Their construction —— 14 Ch AMAERHODODENDROS Mefpili Fo- iio, the honey collected from, poisonous 52 Collateral bee-boxes of Mr. White, in what respect defective — 57 Columella, his method of managing bees when there are two queen- bees in one hive - 73 ——__— His hint for the shifting the abode of bees for a supply of food 87 -- ITis instructions for taking the honey and wax without destroying the bees > ■ > 93 Peg, Columella, his instructions to secure bees from lizards — uy ■ • . . His method of securing bee hives fiom moths — 1x1 --—-- His observations on the purging incident to them 1 33 Combs of a hive, their construction 13 Corsica, always famous for its honev, and why ——— 104 D Drone bees described — 4.31 --- When and how expelled the hive -- 32 —-Mr. Reaumur’s experiments relating to - 37 Du Hamel (Mr.) his account of the French method of taking honey without destroying the bees 98 E Eggs of bees, the progress of 17 - Thefeafon when they are laid 65 - Of wasps, described, and the progress of their growth from 159 F Pag. Feies, extraordinary instance of their recovery after long immersion in a fluid - 128 note Foot (Paris) its proportion to the English ---— 56 note G Generation of bees ascertained 37 -Of wasps described 156, &c. H Hives, how they should be placed 43 - The best material for the making of them -—— 52 -- The best construction of 53.62 - - - How to prevent the access of vermin to them -- 54 - - - To be kept independent of each other - — ibid. Hives, 2 N D P V Xj Pag. Hives, how to chuse slocked ones for purchase 55 --- The count de la Bourdonnaye’s improvement of - 56 -— Box, remarks on the several schemes for 57 ,-— How it ought to be prepared to receive a swarm - 71 > The proper management of, for produce of honey - 79 --- Weak ones, how to be disposed of 81 „-— Comparison between the common ones, and those here recommended ■ . - 82 — - How to unite weak ones I2t Holm-oak, its great production ofho- ney-dew —— 46 Honey, in what manner it is gathered 24 - How it is deposited in the hive ibid. - -- How managed by the bees according to its destination for present use, or winter store - 25 «——— The plants most advantageous for the production of — 44 >— : - Poisonous -— 52 -- how to be taken without destroying the bees - 93 Honey, how to be separated from the wax 110 - The most valuable kinds of in -- Its candying destructive to bees, and the occasion of it — 132 Honey-dew, the Abbe Boiffier’s account of - 46 Hornets, where they build their nests 143 --Their nests described 155 -— How they feed their young ————How to destroy - 168 I Insects, those which have stings very different from those without them l 5 6 K King-bee. See Queen-bee. Koenig, (Mr.) his mensuration of the angles of a cell — - - 14 L Pag. Lice on bees, remedy against — 130 Lizards, how to secure bees from 117 M Maclaurin (Mr.) his remarks on the construction of the cells of bees 14 Maillet, his account of the Egyptian method of removing the habitation of bees for food -- 88 Maison Rustique, the rules given in that work for the feeding bees in winter -- — 135 --Instructions given therein for the protection of bees during a severe winter •*— • 136 Maraldi (Mr.) his mensuration of the angles of a cell -- 14 -His observations on the structure of drone-bees - 33 Mead, instructions for making 140 .MICE, how to guard bees against them 117 Millipedes, how to guard bees against them - - ——— 116 Montfort (Alexander de) his account of the Italian method of removing the habitation of bees -- 88 ■■■ 1 --His account of the French method > -. — - 90 Moths, the devastations caused by, in hives 123 P Papyrus, antient, analogy between, and the composition of a wasp’s nest —— - 154 Paris, foot, in measure, its proportion to the English - 56, note Philiscus, his method of studying bees -- -- 1 Pliny, his hints concerning the shifting the abode of bee?, for supply of food for them - 87 ——— His remark on the antient papyrus —- - 154 Propolis. See Wax, Pucerons, their excrements, what 47 9 Queen I N D E X. a Pag. Queen-bee, her office and the regard paid to her by the others — 15 « ■ ■ - - How she lays her eggs 16. 65 ---- Mr. Reaumur's observations relating to ■ ■ - - -—■ 34 --Mr. Reaumur’s computation of her fertility --- 39 <——-The consequence of supernumerary ones --- 40 .. .. How to manage a swarm that has two with them 70. 73 - - —— What is to be done when fire is not able to fly with the swarm, and drops to the ground — 71 —. - . .How to keep her at home 97 --- How bees are rendered tractable by a dextrous management of her ——— —— 107 R Reaumur (Mons.) his experiments and discoveries relating to the queen- bee--- 34, &c. Reaumur (Mons.) His computation of her fertility - 39. 58 ■-—— His expedient for the removal of a wasp’s ness-149 ---His account of wasps, in what respect defective - 167 Rocqjje (Mr.) his remedy against the stinging of wasps -- 77 Pag. Swarm of Bees, how to be hived, 84 ---How to discover wild ones, and to hive them — 114 Swarming of bees, indications of 39 - 6 S —- —. - The reasons of, exp’ained -- 66 - - — Worlidge’s account of - 67 ----Causes which promote or hinder it 66. 68 How to regulate and manage the bees during 69 What is to be done when there are two queens with them --- 70. 73 --——- Their first employment in a new hive — 72 Subsequent swarms, how to be managed >— ibid. ---Not apt to sting at this time - 74 -Remarkable story of ibid. T Thorley (Mr.) an extraordinary instance related by him, shewing that bees are not apt to sting when swarming - 74 ToURNefort (M.) his conjectures relating to the poisonous honey mentioned by Xenophon — 52 Tuscany (Grand Duke of) the destruction of bees forbid by him 129 S V Snail, the fate of one on entrance into a hive, and precaution used by the bees in. relation to it — 26 Stinging of bees and wasps, remedies for - 76 — -of wasps, to what the great pain from is owing - 164 — ---—Experiments relating to 165 Swammerdam, an account of his history of bees 2 ■-His notions concerning the female bee - 34, note Swarm of bees, the medium weight of 77 Vicat (Madam) observations on her bee boxes 58 ■- Her observations on the diseases and inconveniences attending bees 123 -- The ceconomy of her hives, and methods to secure them from moths - 124 Vink-freteRs, and their excrements defet ibed -. 47 Virgil, remarks concerning his account of bees - - H. 27 --His celebration of the labours of wasps ———— 163 Warder, I N D E X. w Pag. Warder, his account of the swarming of bees 69 --- The reason he assigns for their battles - 11S Wasps, remedy for the stinging of 77 -- Natural history of - 142 — - -. Three common st ecies of, and their manner of building their nests *43 -- Encouraged by butchers, and why ———— J 44 — --. The figure of their cells 154 - Of Canada, curious nest of, described 155 — . . Their classes in a nest 156 --- How those which forage abroad, feed those who labour at home 157 --—> The mothers, how they feed their young-- 158 - The progress of their growth from the egg ■-- 159 --Mules among, the cells wherein they are bred, in what respect different from the others -- 161 — -Not to be preserved during the winter -- —- ibid. — -Celebrated by Virgil - 162 — -Mother, the sole foundress of a new colony 163 --Male, their offices s ibid. --The males not furnished with stings -- 164 --Their nuptial rites discovered 163 — -Their battles - 164 > ■■ Massacres among, and when they take place ibid. ———How and when to destroy them and their nests 166 ---And bees, their labours compared 142. 162 Wasp’s nest, a description of 145 ——--The dangers of removing —— —— 149 Pug. Wasp’s nest, how constructed 148 150. 156 ---—- And of what materials i-52 — - ■——— Analogy between, and the antient papyrus — I5.4 -- The snort time it is made use of — — idi Water, an easy access to, how beneficial to bees --- 43 Wax, the manner in which it is collected, and the two different kinds of it - --■ 19 - In what manner it is deposited in the hive for use-- 22 - How to be taken without destroying the bees --- 93 -How to be separated from the honey ■ - - j 10 - How to purify it -—- n r Wax-moth, how to secure the bees against —- 120 Wheeler (Mr.) his account of the Grecian method of taking honeycombs without destroying the bees . 95 White (Mr.) remarks on his collateral bee-boxes 58 Wood-lice, how to guard the bees against them - 116 Worlidge, his remark on the advantage of the neighbourhood of buckwheat for the production of honey 5 1 ———- His account of the swarming of bees —--— 67 ---- His instructions to secure apprehensive persons from the stinging of bees in swarming time 76 X Xenophon, his observations on the effects of honey collected from poisonous plants ——- ——- 52 F I N I 8. ERRATA.. Page 2 28 34 36 49 54 58 74 Ditto 155 line 5. Instead of Ceci read Gefi, 5. Instead of we read rue. 7. Instead of along read a long. 20. After the word bottom dele of. 5. After the word centre dele of. 4. Instead of in read with, I. Dele the. 13. Instead of has read does. 24. Instead of on read of. 10. Read Plate 3. Fig. 3., 'I'U.MJl'Mi , *| i iiWWjy w)w )y mm mm * >4 » r * MM? WW m « •Hr-sa p:'* ' 1