HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES. By the Rev. W. C. Cotton, M. A.

New Zealander, Volume 2, Issue 94, 20 March 1847, Page 2

HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES. By the Rev. W. C. Cotton, M. A.

I (Continued from our lasl.) IT. Obtaining and Moving Bees.— Having no\r toll! you where to fix your bee house, I mu*t go on to tell you how to slock it. Get a swarm from a friend early in the season, that is in October or November, in order that your stock may be well established before the swarming 1 season is over, (the end of February,) by which time you ought to have 3Pv«r»l hives in your bee house. 1-or if you begin bee keeping; later in the year, and your single stock meets with some acridcnt in the winter, you may perchauce get discouraged at having to begin again. I trust that in a very lew years no one who wishes to keep bees, and whose house is in a proper situation, will have any difficulty in getting a swarm given to him. For in this climate bees are so wonderfully prolific that I have known as many as twenty-five hives come from one in the course of twelve months ; not all from the parent stock, but standing to it in ihe relation of children, grand children, great grand children, great great grand children, and even great great great grand children, to the fourth and fifth generation. But as this very large increase can only take place iv the wannest situations, I will suppose the increase to be much less than this — say from five to ten fold every year, and he must be a stingy bee master indeed who will not freely give out of his abundance. Yet I am sorry to have heard in New Zealand of persons selling bees at high prices, and of others complaining that they could not get them at all, that those who have bees would neither sell nor give, though the new Apiary was to be in an outlying district, where the bees could not possibly interfere with those already established. This is not as it should be. In many pans of England no man would think of doing Mich a thing as paying money for a hive. He would think it unlucky, and that he would never do any good with them, so he begs a swarm from a friend, on these terms: — next year a swarm is returned wilh a pot of honey as interest, or a little pig given iv exchange. This is a sort of half-and-half measure, springing I doubt not from a good feeling at bottom. But it is not enough to please me. I hope all who read this Manual will take the hint, and freely give away a certain portion of their increase, one iv three, one in five, or one in ten, not as thinking it unlucky to soil them, but from a desire to do a good turn to their neighbours whenever it is in their power. When you have obtained the promise of a swarm (I am now again speaking to my imaginary pupil,) be'sure you send your hive ready to put the swarm into, (just as at a dispensary the physic is put into your oivn bottles,) for it is too 'great a tax upon your friendly bee master to ask him for bees and hive as well. When your hive is stocked, I doubt not buft that you will soon hear the good news, if you arc as eager in the matter as every young bee master ought to be. When I was a boy I hare sat for hours day after day, watching intensely the mouth ol a neighbour's hive from which I was to have the first swarm: indeed I spent in his garden all my spare time for a mouth together, for I remember that in that particular year the month of May was very cold, and I wou'd not take the owner's word, who knew more of the matter than I, that his bees were not near swarming: and oh! the delight when my long watch was rewarded by seeing a glorious swarm fill the air. When your hive is stocked, tie it up securely in a cloth, that same evening, and carry it to the place where it is to stand. It must on no account be moved again, except to a considerable distance. A new swarm may be so confined for a day or two, if you want to carry it more than an evening's journey, for bees swarm nith their honey bags full, and their first employment is to make wax, which is in-door work. The cloth which is tied over the bottom of the hive must be of such au open texture as to admit air freely, and yet not so open as to let any bees out. The stuff which I use for the purpose is that which is, I believe, called dairy canvass, »and is made for straining milk. But if you want /o take your bees to a great distance, down the eoas't, for instance, and the voyage may last a week or a t'^tuiirht, it is bc»t

to let the hive slninl for ten days or so in your friend's Apiary, then tic it up in the cloth as before, and bang" it somewhere in the ship out of the light, or at all events screened from the sun, where it can swing freely, without fear ol knocking against the side ol the vessel, and (hen you in.w carry your treasure to tie most dislanl p.uluf these islands in safety. A common slraw hue is certainly t ln* most handy for cartying bees any "real distances, lor the clolh is more ca-iily tied about it. You mint look, nl it every now and liiou to sec whether the bees arc forcing (heir way out. They will try to do so, and when the cloth is taken oft', you will find that poition of its surface whnh was exposed to the bees carded into a soit of lint, by the action of their mandibles or jaws. You will see their feelers pushed through the canvass in great number?, searching fora passage into the open air. If you find that they arc making a hole, through which they will soon force a passage out, nothing is I easier than to tic another fold of cloth over the bottom ol the hive. Should the swarm be in a wooilen box, the best way of securing; it is to lash it firmly to a bottom board, with no door at all cut in it, and ihcn push in little wedges between the box and the board, so as to raise the hive about an eighth of an inch all round. This will both lighten the lashings, and also give the bees a sufficient supply of fresh air, and it is much better to give it to them in this way ih.ui at one single door way, through a piece of perfoiated zinc or tin. For the bees seeing li^ht at only one point will often crowd so much to it, as to prevent the free entrance of the air; such few bees as die on the passage will also be carried to the cut trance, which they will help to block up, so that alast the whole swarm may be stifled. But by wedging up the box all round, the bees will have breatbin» places everywhere, and you will see them, if you peep in, not struggling to gel air at one place only, but running about in eveiy direction on the floor board, like children playing at puss in the corner. The reason why I advise jou to take with you a hive of about ten dajs old, and from that to three weeks, is this, that a swarm of that age will have built a certain quantity of comb, and laid up honey enough to serve them" for the voyage, and yet the combs will nol be so heavy with honey or brood, as to put them in danger ot breaking down; or ocn should you be so unfortunate as to get one, or even all the combs broken down by a sudden blow, the bees will not be smolheied in their own honey, as 1 ha\e knowu to be the case with a heavy hive. They will get themselves clear in a very short time from the lallen combs, from which they will draw enough food to last their voyage, whilst they themselves will hang in clusters from the top. When you reach your new home with this 1 uge batch of fellow-immigiants, do not set them at liberty till the even; for if you arc in a hurry, and open (he hives directly, the bees will rush on Tin great coulusioii,man) of them, if they have been long shut up, will fall to the ground, and, if it is wet, will not rise again, or, what is still worse, the whole swarm, queen and all, if they have been much annoyed by the breakage of their combs during the voyage, may rise in a body and take to the woods as irregular squatters, instead of remaining to colonise your garden in a systematic way. Wait, I say, till the oven ; and just alter sun-down, if you hear that the bees are all quiet, undo the lashing, and get somebody to lilt the hive up a little from its boaid ; then, if any combs are broken down, remove them quietly, and the following morning 1 you svill have the pleasure of seeing your fellow -colonists going as regularly to work as though they had been in their new station for years. I only hope you may be as industtious, and then like them you will most probably succeed. In the winter a heavier hive may be safely moved to a new station, for by that time the combs will be more firmly fixed, not ouly to the top of the hive, but also to the sides-, and as there will be no longer any brood in the combs, they will be relieved from this great weight. Rut as most people choose the summer for their own movements, I have considered the case of their bees as then making the same jouruey. And this journey they always should make in com pany with any settler going to a distant station; for the benefit they will do to him is very great : but more of this when I come to speak of bee produce. Some people put cross slicks in all their hives, thinking them needful to support the combs. II very securely fixed, they may be useful in hives which arc to be carried to a distance, but iv no other cases they ought to be used. A comb will not break down as long as the hive is not moved, and is protected from the direct rays of the sun : trust the bees to do their own woik secure y? there are no bunglers amongst them. One other hint f will now give touching the removal of your bees: when you come to turn a hive up, to lash it to its board, to look inside, or to cut out some honey comb, fiist ascertain in which way the combs run in the hive; I mean from front to back, or from siile to aide, (the combs, you know, are all parallel to each other, like a number of books hung up to dry on stiings, with a quarter of au inch between them) ; when you know this, be very carelul to turn up the hives so a3 to keep the combs always in their own plants. This may be rather too difficult lor some of my readers, but as it is of great importance, I will try to explain it. Let one of the books, which I have taken to represent the combs, be supposed to be glued by its back under a flat peace of board, instead of hanging astride on the string, the glue is just strong enough to hold it, as it hangs with its edges downwards, 1 want to look at these edges, there are two ways of turning the book: in one way the book would break off by its own weight, in the other the glue would hold; in the former, the leaves of the book will open as )ou turn it; in the latter, the back or edges will be always towards you. Try this, by turning a book iv your hands, without of course glueing its back, and you will then understand what I mean by turning up the hives, so as to keep the combs iv their own planes. This is of the greatest importance ; and as I bought my o\vu experience dearly, by making a miserable smash of a fine parcel of conibs in a hive which I turned up the wrong way, I am willing that you should have it at a cheaper rate, without making your bees pay the penally of your ignorance. ( To be continued.)