HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES. By the Rev. W. C. Cotton, M.A. (Continued from our last.)

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 260, 26 January 1848, Page 3

HINTS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES. By the Rev. W. C. Cotton, M.A. (Continued from our last.)

The still commoner sort that I have mentioned is an old candle box. Bee-keepers here do not expect their Bees to swarm so fast, as they are found to do. They do not prepare a sufficient stock oi hives during the winter ; so that when swarming season comes, they are taken quite by surprise, and rather than lose their Bees, put them into the first box that comes to hand. Bees are wax-chandlers in a very large way of business, and it is but scurvy treatment to give them no better lodging in which to carry on their trade than a box which has been lately filled with common tallows ; but yet the honey will have no taint. A box like this will often contain between fifty and sixty pounds which the owner might take for his own use, if he did but know how. I have often heard this complaint, that people get plenty of swarms from their bees, but no honey : and when I went to look at their hives, I found plenty waiting to be taken. To do the thing well, some little preparation must be made. A Surgeon, when about to perform an operation, gets all his instruments ready, lays them out carefully, that he may know where to put his hand on each, and not have them to seek at the moment when he wants them to use ; he also has his assistants, in whose* steadiness he can trust, and in their knowledge too, as far as it goes. A Surgeon's tools cost a good round sum, but the only instruments wanted by the honeytaker, are, a knife, made to the following pattern : — it is a rod of iron about two feet long, with a square blade at one end, sharp at the bottom and side, and a lancet shaped blade at the other an inch and a half long, and a quarter of an inch or less over ; a bunch of feathers ; a basin of water to keep your hands free from honey ; and a roll of linen rags, in order that you may be able to blow some smoke, as wanted, into the hive. In Germany, where I first saw the method of taking honey in practice almost every one, from the highest to the lowest, has a tobaccopipe hanging at his button hole. And this their pet instrument is universally used as the Bee-smoker. It does very well ; but as I hope many a New Zealand lady will keep

Bees, and learn to take honey too, she may | be glad to hear that a Smoker can be made quite as efficient and more to her taste than the shocking pipe. The most complete form is this : — Have a little tin box made two inches each way, put together with hard solder, so that it may not give with the heat which it will have to bear. A pipe should be soldered into the bottom of the box, and fit tightly into a pair of bellows. Out of the lid, another pipe should come to carry the smoke into the hive. The best kind of bellows are the Patent Circular Bellows, for they keep up a continuous stream of air, and the bottom of the box itself may be fitted into their mouth. This is nearly the same thing as gardeners use for fumigating their choice plants, and as gardening and beekeeping are twin sisters, many a pair of fumigating bellows may be made to do double duty. But any kind of bellows will do if the smoking-box be carefully fitted into the j nozzle. The linen rags must be quite dry. I find it best to roll them up loosely in the shape of a sausage, and then cut them into lengths of an inch and a half, so that they may go easily into the box. Get the slice of rag well alight with a smouldering fire, (not flaming) and then put it into the box, with the lighted end towards the bellows. It is rolled loosely together that the air may pass freely through it. When the rags are alight, give the bellows to one of your assistants, whose business it should be to keep them so by giving every now and then a little puff, so as to be able to put the smoker into your hand whenever you want it, ready for instant use. Another of your assistants should in like manner be appointed Knight of the Feathers, and a third have charge of the Comb Knife, so that either may be put into your hand directly you call for it. If you cannot command so many pair of willing hands, have a spare table by you, on which to lay your different tools, that you may know where to put your hand on them as wanted. None but your assistants should come near you whilst you are operating. As many of the uninitiated as please should be welcome to witness any operation of the experienced Bee*master; but they should keep at a respectful distance. 1 do not advise you to put on any bee-dress, such as you will find recommended in many old Bee books. Masks, veils, thick worsted shawls, stockings and gloves of the same material are all spoken of,- so that one of these old Bee-masters must have looked like Mr. Bruin when full dressed. This would be all very well if you were to begin your operations in his violent way. But I shall show you how to take away from your Bees all desire to sting ; and you, I trust, have no intention of hurting them, which is the only thing which would rekindle their angry feelings. Least of all should you put on gloves with the idea of protecting your fingers from the sting. A man might as well try to play the fiddle with his hands muffled up ; for the success of all Bee operations mainly depends upon delicacy and softness of touch. You may tickle your Bees, and they will rather be pleased than otherwise ; but if you press them roughly, they will sting ; if you crush one, the peculiar odour which arises from the bruised carcase has a very irritating effect on all his brethren, aud they prepare to avenge his death, though with the certain loss of their own. One precaution alone I recommend. Tie your trowsers lightly round your ancles with a piece of string, (if knee breeches and gaiters are your common wear you want no extra dressing,) for such Bees as fall on the ground will often crawl up the operator's leg, and when pressed between his clothes and flesh, sting him in self defence. A lady's dress I cannot pretend to regulate. And now for the time fit for the operation. It should be the middle of a sunshiny calm day, between 11 and 12 when the number of workers who are abroad is greatest, you will so be in less danger of crushing a number of Bees as you cut out the combs ; besides, if it is later, such Bees as may be daubed with honey will not have time to get themselves set to rights by their fellows. In very hot weather take your honey still earlier in the day, for the noon- tide heat makes the wax so soft that it is difficult to handle the combs without spoiling them. A damp, cold day, or one when showers may be expected, should not be chosen, as those Bees which fall on to the ground will be chilled and unable to rise again to their hive, and so will perish miserably, and I am sure that you would sooner put off your operations, even though you were just about to begin, than risk being the cause of such a result. So much for the needful preparation, and for the hour of the day to be chosen. But some of my pupils may say, — how am I to know when my Bees have honey to spare. If they are in hives of the candle-box construction, you cannot look in upon them as you may in properly made boxes, which are

furnished with windows. But you have their weight to guide you. It is a very good plan to weigh each of your hives and bottom boards before you put Bees into them. Mark the weight on the outside, and the simple subtraction will at any time give you the weight of the contents. Even if you have not as yet taken this precaution, you may give a tolerable guess by lifting it a' little in your hand bottom-board and all, just before sundown.' In the autumn and winter when the breeding season is over the weight of the box will give you the actual weight of honey and comb more nearly than in spring and summer. la the latter seasons, a great part of a heavy hive is filled with brood, a comb from which the young Bees are just about to issue forth, is nearly as heavy as a piece of honey-comb of the same size. So do not in the summer expect a large quantity of honey from your candle box, though it may be almost as heavy as when full of its original Contents. But I will not any longer delay to give you the method of taking honey. I will reserve what I have to say about the seasons when the greatest quantity may be taken in different parts of this land, I. When all is ready, blow a few puffs of smoke into the doorway of the hive which you are going to take honey from. If you turn up the hive without so doing, the sentinel Bees will most likely fly up into your face, and if you do not take it quietly you may chance to be stung. The smoke drives the sentinels up amongst the combs, and deprives the whole swarm of its corabativeness. How it affects that organ I do not pretend to say, but so it is. Have an empty hive ready to put down in the exact spot on which the full hive is standing, in order that the Bees Who are not at work, may have some home to go into as they return. They will be surprised indeed at finding no comb in it, no cells in which to deposit their loads, you will see them running about in great anxiety ; but as the numbers increase they will gradually cluster inside, more readily if you put a single comb in the hive to attract them, and remain tolerably quiet till you have done your work, and are ready to return them to their own home. This substitution of the empty hive for the full one is of great importance as it gives the homeward bound bees a house of refuge and prevents them straying into neighbouring hives, where they are instantaneously apprehended and put to death. Then turn up the hive, taking particular care to turn the combs in their own planes, as I told you before in my second letter; place the hive gently down on a table. If the box is not all full of comb, begin to cut out as much as the Bees can spare at the side where the vacant space is, because it is easier to drive the Bees from this end of the box, than from the other. Do this with a few puffs of smoke, and as soon as the Bees have left the first comb quite clear, cut it from the top of the box by means of the lancet-shaped bee-knife which is made just long enough to cut through the combs. Don't let the comb fall down in the box, but support it with one hand, and when it is quite free, lift it gently out, letting it lie on your hand with the^side downwards, which is quite free from Bees, and brush off with the feathers into the hive any stragglers which may be remaining on the upper side. A good deal of dexterity is required in handling so heavy and yet so fragile a thing as a piece of virgin honeycomb full of honey, and yet such is the strength of the form made use of that it is possible to lift a full comb without damaging a single cell. The art seems to be in spreading your fingers as much as possible, in order to support the comb in raaDy different parts. If the thumb and finger alone of a clumsy hand are used to seise a comb and lift it out of the box they will meet in the middle and make a great wound in the honey comb without getting it out. Repeat this and you will soon make a complete mess of the most lovely combs. It will be reduced to one great mash. So remember, you must handle the combs tenderly, as though you loved them, and as though they had feeling. By the aid of the bee-knife, honey may be taken in the same manner from a common straw hive, if made of a proper shape. Those which are straight' sided, and' have a covered top rising to a point, are the very* worst pattern. The purest honey is deposited in the very crown of the hive, which should be nearlyflat, that each comb may be as nearly sqriare as possible. Besides, the bee-knife will not work to advantage in a hive ot this shape. A large piece of comb will always be left in the top, whilst in a box, or flat topped straw hive, it will make clean work. Those also which are contracted at the bottom are very difficult to get honey from.' They are made so I believe from a mistaken idea of giving support to the combs.- But trust your- Bees' to know how to fasten their combs securely to the top of a hive. They are no bunglers, and make sure work of it. It is utterly impossible to get a comb out- of one 'of these bungling hives, without previously "cutting it down the middle ; and every -such cut spills

honey and daubs your Bees. Cross-sticks are equally 'pernicious. Many persons insist on putting them into their hives from the same mistaken idea of supporting the combs. The advocates of this skewering system will also tell you that they are useful for a new swarm to hang upon ; but it is no such thing, A new swarm hangs from the very top of the hive, and from live ladders as it were of their own bodies, up which the labourers mount without needing the cross sticks. "Whenever I am asked to take honey from a straw hive which is fitted with these cross sticks I always pull them out, which may be done by twisting them round, if any of the skewer projects through the outside ; I then leave the Bees to repair the damage, and lick up the honey which is unavoidably spilt, and then next day proceed with the operation. In describing the wooden boxes which I recommended in my second letter, I said that their chief advantage was in the ease with which honey may be taken from them. When a top box is quite full and the cells sealed over, remove the cover, blow some smoke with the fumigating bellows down through the bars now exposed. When the greater part of the bees have gone into the lower boxes, remove the top one steadily on to your operation table. If it is quite full of pure virgin hpney, and you wish to keep it until you use it, you may get rid of the few bees which linger about their stores, by removing it a short distance from the hive, cover it over with thick cloths, so as to darken it entirely — prop up one side of the hive, so as to leave free exit to the remaining Bees. They will naturally come to the light and fly straight home to their parent hive, so that in a short time you will be left in undisputed possession of your spoil. If the Bees cling obstinately to the box which you have removed, you may suspect that the Queen is £here. You must then cut out the combs one by one, driving them out of the way of your Bee-knife by your smoking bellows, and taking care not to crush any of them. When you have got to the last comb you will find all the Bees collected about it and on the side of the box. Smoke the Bees off this comb, remove it, and then shake all the Bees with a smart blow on a broad board — a japanned tea-tray does very well — and hold it close to the mouth of the parent hive, and you will see, what I think is, next to swarming, the most beautiful sight which falls in the way of a Bee practitioner. Gently tap the under part oi the tea-tray, the Bees will not take wing as you. might expect — the noise will only rouse them from their half torpid state, and as at beat of drum, they will march up in straight lines to the mouth of their hive, which they will enter, making the same buzzing noise with their wings which they do when swarming., Now is the time to keep a look out for the queen. You may often see her returning in triumph to her royal residence in the midst of her attendants. I was perfectly amazed at the order and regularity which the Bees keep under these circumstances when I first accidentally hit on this method of returning the Bees to their hive. And I have since delighted very many people with the sight. It must be seen to be credited. (To be continued.)