THE HONEY BEE.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 4, Issue 61, 24 April 1851, Page 3

THE HONEY BEE.

(From the Family Economist.) No. 111. The usual method of keeping bees in England is that of annual renewal and instruction ; a practice to he condemned, not only en tinground of cru-lty, but also from the serious loss tin rehy occasioned. In every other country i.f Europe, the piaclice is .different; lice keepers never destroy their bees, l-ui lake away a portion ol ihcir |ir< dm ■', and leave ihcin the reimiimler lor winter sustenance. Thus, some place one hive upon another, ami in the autumn remove I he upper one; otheia luin oul their hives, and cut out as much comb and honey as they ihink the btcs can well .spare; and by ihese means they obtain from '2O I lis. lo 40 lbs. of honey Irom each hive, and siiil keep up their stock cf bees for luture seasons. This method, imperfect as it is, is far superior to that adopted by the English countiy people, ol burning the bees us it is called, lII.a is, smothering? tlum with brimstone; mid wc think we shall be fully able lo show this, notwithstanding an J-luglish wiiter of great nbiliiy, named. Cobbelt, says, " It is whimsical lo save the bees when you take the honey. You must feed tlicm ; nml if-avud, they will die of old age before the next fall.'' This opinion slioua Cobbelt to have been ipally unacquainted with the i.a'.uial history ol bee.-, and ilie economy of I e2-keeping. J.el us suppose a bee master in Geiinany to possess twenty stocks ol bees—and many have from 1.00 to 200—and he L.kes :i0 lbs. of honey fiom each ; he has 000 lbs , ami still retains his twenty Mocks; wbeic.ts by the English method of chousii g uiinuuliy the heaviest and lightest stocks lor deslriciinn, supposing that ten hives are taken, anil inch produce oO lLs., we have hut 300 lbs. of honey, and only half the stock ol bees with which lo commence the ensuing season ! Hut the German method though possessing such advantages, does not equal what may lie done by ihe belter plan ol" management we are about lo explain; in which we wish to enforce a maxim ol a celebrated bee-keeper, NevEii Kim. Youh Hkes, because this, and the prevention oj swarming constitute the giatid lealures i>l thu superior method. "1 have said it is best to prevent swarming : now hear the reason. The Queen Uee lays from 10,000 lo 30,000 eggs in the year. In a slock containing 3000 bees, almost nil of them in middling years will be busy in nursing ihe grubs, for they are such good mothers that they think it their Jirst duly lo feed their young; gathering honey is llieir second. A swarm goes oil : you have two queens, eaeli with 30U0 l,e,s, busy in rearing ihe eiigs which the two queens lay all the summer. They have no spare lime lo gather honey, nnd so in a bin year, a stock wilh plenty bees i:i it will be almost cmj:ty of honey, when you take it up in aiiiumn, and sometimes even die in Ihe summer if not led. Now ii y.m prevent swariuinu by gi> iug them plenty ol room, 30UO bees who wne muses before to the gmbs of one ijiu en, will be enough to do the niirsin: work lo Ihe liive, though it is so mueli larger ; for each hive has only one queen, mid one queen cannot lay egus enough in require more nurses, though two in.iy. The other 3000 will siore honey for you in the spare room you give them.'' In order to obluin this spare room, if you have your bees in straw hives, the lollowmg is the method. Prmure two boirds, an lueh and a half or two inches thick, and of a size it little larger than the breadtn ol your hives; l*M. there be a piece cut out of the Iront in a direction, and another piece similirly on lb.: rtflil or lelt side ol each, lo answer ihe double purpose ni doorways, nnd lo aliow the moisture from ihe hives to drain away more readily. The side entrances must he made l» fit exactly, when the boards are placed together, licfore swa'iiiiug time, in May (in Nov. here) n well stocked hive of la-t year is to be placed on one board, nn empty hive on the other; u small piece of wood being jdaced ovir that part of the two entrances, which is between the two liivcv. Then slop up the door way of the full hive, so ilia the bees mny have no way ol egress except through that which is empty, and if possible, shift the neur entrance along the slool on which

vou Imre placed ycmr hives, until it comes | opposite the part where the old entrance was ; ' anil tin's being sprinkled with a lillle honcv, or syiup, the bees will be soon accustomed to tin' change. Here tlu-n yon have tjiveii your bees room, anil instead of swarming, they will ! soon commence their work ol build'iiir ami ' storiniTi in their new abode j while the queen, with the nurses, is occupied in rearing a new brood, shorily to come forth in strength, to ; assist in the -;nod work. When the hive is ; lull it should he removed, lest the hecs for want ol room should swarm oft', or lose many ilnvs work, hy hanging out in n cluster at iho entrance, us they are often seen to do previonsly to swarming. The removal must be effected in this manner : in the middle of a fine day, when most of the bees will be out gathering food, cut off the passage between the two hives, by slipping a piece of tin between the fide entrances. >lmt up the front entrance of the one hive, and turn it round to where the doorway <>t the newly inliabitrd hive wns If a great disturbance shortly take place nt the moiitli of the hive, it is a sign that the queen is in tho hive you wUh to remove, in which c.ise yon must take away the tin which separate* them, and Hiiil until another day. If on the contrary, the bees go on quietly working, you may be sure that the queen is in the old lii'e, and tint all is well. They must thc:i be left until their labours cease in the evening, when a little before dark, open the entrance that you had previously closed nnd the prisoners, alarmed at their long st-pnralion from their queen will speedily find their way into the old hive to rejoin her. You may then remove the hive, and placing an empty one in its place take out the sliding piece of tin which will leave it ready for operations on the morrow. Here then you have a full hive, perhaps caily in June (here in December) nnd that without destroying a single bee ; before those on the old plan have commenced their honey gatherings. But there is another thing connected with the anti-swarming system, which is of the greatest importance in bee management—that is Ventilation. The Queen Hco will not lay her eggs in a temperature lower than eighty degrees, as that degree of heat appears to be necessary for hatching tho young brood ; therefore, if the new hive be kept cooler than this, she will remain in the old hive, to raise her progeny, and there also the workers will deposit the pollen from the anthers of the ilowcrs, which forms tlu bee bread, or food of the young off-piing ; while in tho other hive nothing will be plaeed, but the finest wax and honey. To ventilate tho h;ve, have fixed in the lop a piece'of zinc punched full of snnll holes; this must be covered until the bees have commenced their combs ; then the covering must tic removed. The bees will endeavour to fill up the holes with propolis, a gummy substance which they collect from the bark ol trees, on which account you must daily keep the holes opcn.bv pricking them through with a piece of wire; you will thus insure * regular and constant curienl of air through the hive, entering at the doorway and going out at the top keeping, the hive cool, and enabling the liees to perforin their work much more quickly and belter, than they aie able to tlo without ventilation ; the result to yourself will be, tint you will have the purest virgin wax and honey. We have thus pointed out the simplest and cheapest form of commencing bee-keeping, which we trust mmy of our readers will not be slow to adopt; our endeavours in future articles will he, more fully to explain the interesting subject.