HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES.

New Zealander, Volume 2, Issue 96, 3 April 1847, Page 3

HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES.

By the Rev. W. C. Cotton, M. A.

{Continued from our lasl.) IV. Swarming and Hiving Bees.— • A swarm of Dues in May Is worth a load of hay, A swaim ot Isec3 in June Is worth a silver spoon, A swavin of Bees in July Is not voith a fly. So runs the old English saying— here a Septemhcr swarm does not differ so very much in value from a February one, for the swarming; season ranges between these two mouths. I have known a swarm of the latter mouth support itself very well through the winter, and in the following spring become a most productive hive. Still, as 1 said before, a young becmasttr had better get a stock early in the season, and then he will have a whole row before it is over. Swarming 1 is an act of colonisation on the part of the bees. They fulfil thereby that part of the instinct implanted in them by their Maker, which leads them to spread themselves far and wide over the surface of the earth, so that if a single swarm of bees had been brought into these islands, and left to themselves in a protected situation, in a very few years every good locality would be inhabited* by as manybees as the flowers of that district can support. So that, what we do in hiving our fresh swarms and placing them near the parent hive, is necessary indeed to enable us to get a good supply of honey from, our apiaries, but is still an act in opposition to the natural law which the bees obey, and there must be I a limit to this centralization, as I shall show when 1 I come to speak of bee produce. What 1 have novr to do is to speak more • particularly about the act of swarming itself. In September or October, as the season is early or late, the beemaster must begin to look out for swarms, if his stocks are in good condition. There is uo sign, as far as I know, by which he can tell to a day or so, when the first swarm will rise,— 'the after swarms give clearer signals, J therefore said that the first stock with which a heemaster begins his apriary should be within sight of his door, or else he may chance to lose some of his early swarms, which in the first year of its establishment will be no trivial loss to him ; in after years, when he j has from forty to fifty parent utocks, he can well afford to spare a swarm or two to the department of the woods and forests, having-, I suppose, by that time | fully supplied all his private friends. Look at your i hive in the quiet even, when the work of the day is I over. If the bees stand about the doorway, fanning I with their wings and pleased as it were with the prosperity of their large family, — if a pleasaut and I wholesome smell comes steaming from the mouth of the hive,— and I know no smell so pleasant as that of a healthy bee hive, unless it be a fine dairy of cows at milking time,—- if you have seen a number of young bees on the lighting board for the last few days, and you can tell them by their being at first covered with. a greyish down, and quite damp, as they issue from the cell, if in fact all is going on well with your hive in the month of October, !ook out for a swarm. Your children, if you are so fortunate as to have a fine swarm oi them, will soon make capital sentinel* over the hives, and will take a pleasure in calling by their own names the swarms which they have seen rise. And now for the act of swarming itself. At some time of the day from ten o'clock till two, ait uuusual bustle is seen at the mouth of the hive :— single bees rush out in an hurried manner, and after running about for a minute or two on the lighting board as though they were looking for something, and pei haps crawling up the front ok' the hive, enter in again. All work seems suspended for a time, at least no fresh labourers leave the hive to collect honey, although such as have completed their loads keep returning home, pushing their way through the crowds of loiterers, who are blocking up the door. Now the confusion increases ; keep yous eyes fixed on the hive and you will soon sec a wonderful sight. The stream begins to pour out, increasing in volume until at last it is as wide as the doorway, through, which it passes ;— no longer do the bees run about in an irregular way, but each presses forward each in his own place, walking steadily along and making a peculiar sound with their wings which is heard at no other time. As the bees reach the cud of the lighting board, they take wing, and fly backwards and forwards, wheeling about as though in a joyous dance, and waiting for their mates who are to follow. The stream has now flowed on for two or three minutes and is still as dense as can be. Keep your eyes steadily fixed on the board, though it may make you d zzy so to do, and you may perchance see the queen. There she is — Besides other marks which, are not so easily noticed you may know her by this ; her budy is much longer than that of the common working bees, and is of a redder tinge. She turns back as though, uuwilling to leave, the hive where she has reigned queen— but she is unable to stein the torrent of her subject's, which is still rushing out. — She is forced by them along the lighting board, and at la 3 t takes wing. You may still follow her in her course for she is heavier in her flight than her subjects— at last she is lost in the clouds of bees which fill the air, and a glorious sight it is. Now give them their * warm ing music, the proper instruments are warming pan and the ho.isu key, but in default of the former, a tin pail or a kettle will dn — rattle them well together to make lite swarm settle. Whether this rough mu^ic has any such effect I cannot pretend to say, but it is a good ol I custom, and can do iw hjirm, and I will presently tell you what good it

can do. The cloud of bees now thickens in one particular direc.inn. They will pitch on that apple tree— no, farther oft Mill, they are gathering upon a gooseberry hush. The nucleus is formed, and in a few moments, by a sort of animal ehrystallization, all the hees are deposited upon this point, and haug down in a cluster like a hunch of grapes in shape. Thus ends the first act of swarming, which is in fact the gathering together of ihe body of emigrants at a common depot wheie they quietly remain, till some scouts whom they send out to look out for a place fir them return bark to the main body, and tell them that all is ready. TUcu they rise aud not befoie — they no longer wheel toiiiid and round as though seaichiug lor a lighting place, and the Bee master who has not put his swarm into hive, befo-e they start on this sex-jnd course, has little chance ol ever calling them his own. He may follow them indeed, as I have done twice in my life for more than a mile, but 'tw',ll generally be as fruitless as a wild gooie chase. Tiic bees rise higher aud higher, aud the last he sees ot them is as they are sailing away over the lop of the highest trees like a thin but well defined cloud as it is home rapidly along by the breeze. But the objet tof the Bee master is to give the bees a hive befoie. the scouts return. Your hives should be at hand, that there may be no hurry or delay when ihe tune comes for using them. If the swarm has settled on a spot exposed to the d red rays of the sun, it is as well to screen them by throwing a cloth over the bough, or by any other shade which the place will allow you to use. The mode of hiwng bees will depend much upon tlie place on which they have settled. Jt is well to have a number of low shrubs planted near your bee house, tor if' the swaun light on a high tree, you will ha\c much additional trouble in securing it. But there is no place so awkward that a B.e master need despair of hiving his bees which may have settled there, if he hut set to ■work quietly and perse\eringl). l)o not use thick gloves, or any of those other articles of bee dress ■which you will sometimes see recommended. For anything which lenders you from moving about with ease, anything which prevent-* you handling jour bees with a gentle touch, anything iv laet which makes you awkward, or shews that )ou are timid amongst them, will be less likely to protect jou from stings, than to draw them down upon you. The bees too tire partcularly gentle when in the act ot' swarming, however irascible the paient hire may have been up to that time. (To be continue'i.)