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

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 259, 22 January 1848, Page 3

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

(Continued from No. 165.) TAKING HONEYv "The proof of. the pudding is in the eating," says the old proverb, and most people prtze their Bees chiefly for " the sweet food they make." I fear there are not many in this land who would take any pains with them, but for the return which they expect. But there are these odds : A plum pudding is made to be eaten, and has nothing particularly beautiful about if, except its taste and its smell ; whil t I, for one, should still iove ray Bees, even if I never got an ounce of honey from them. I should still study their wonderful instinct and habits. I should still think their buzzing the sweetest music, and love to bask at the door of their hives whenever pain of body or grief of mind makes their soft hum a soothing charm. Besides, theie is another good which Bees do. They glory indeed in making honey, ts Virgil says, but while they rob the flowers, they give full payment for what they take. They fertilize the yet half-formed seeds, and help on the multiplication of those flowers from which they get their greatest supply. To give an instance. Every one who keeps Bees near clover paddocks, knows how rapidly his hives increase in weight when the white clover is in flower ; indeed the Bees gather more honey, and of a better quality, from this plant, than any other I know. But what do they in return ? Before Bees were brought into this land, the white clover did not seed at all, or very scantily. Every bushel sown was brought from England at a heavy cost, and at great risk of being useless when it anived. But now, as much can be gathered in the country as is wanted, and this being fresh, is certain to grow : so that every one who has some paddocks well and carefully laid down, free from weeds and other plants, may get sufficient seed for his own use, and have a surplus to dispose of to his neighbours. Every one too who has an orchard, will find his advantage in having a hive of Bees near. The difference in the yield of a tree before and after it gets this help is very remarkable, so that it seems to me that flowers are furnished with nectaries from which honey is secreted, not so much that it may be gathered for the use of man, as that the Bees, when busy rifling the hidden sweets may aid in fertilizing the seeds of that flower from which they increase their store. I have said so much before I give you my lesson in honey taking that you may look upon your Bees, not as a bear might, with an eye to the honey only ; but with a mind able to admire their wonderful economy, as well as thankful for the benefit you derive fiom them. Now Mr. Bruin has a terrible taste for honey ; and is the most merciless Bee-de-stroyer I know — defended by his thick and shaggy coat, he cares nothing for their stings, — he has only one or two vulnerable parts, his nose and his eyes. When they attack him there, he coolly brushes them off, and continues his work of destruction. "What cares he for a sting or two, whilst busy in satisfying his glutton appetite. As soon as he has laid bare the combs (and it is on Bees that have lodged in a hollow tree that he usually makes his attacks) he gobbles them up, honeycombs, brood-combs, grubs, bees and all, never pausing in his feast till he has utterly destroyed the work of thousands of creatures as clever as himself, and the lives of the workers too. Now I don't blame the bear, not I, — he knows no better — he only follows hi 3 nature. But I do blame those men who might know better, and treat their Bees in a bearish fashion. There is no form of hive from which it is impossible to take honey without killing the Bees. I said in a former letter Bees will make honey any where, even in an old watering pot. The form and construction of the hives is of importance, because purer honey, and in greater quantities may be taken fiom those of a good construction than from thott that are faulty. But I will begin with those of the most common kind, and after speaking of the method to he followed with them, I will go on to. give directions for those which I would xc- : commend you to use. In England, the straw

hive is the common sort and in almost universal use ; but here there is a more common , sort still. But few people in this country ' know how to make straw hives. I hope they will soon learn — at all events the natives will supply as many as they choose to buy — or teach the unhandy pakeha how to do the stitch. (To be continued.)