When a swarm is too few in number for a hive, another may be added. The usual method of thus uniting swarms is very easy ; spread a cloth at night upon the ground close to the hive in which the two casts or swarms are to be united, lay a Stick across this cloth, then fetch the hive with the new swarm, set it over the stick, give a smart stroke on the top of the hive, and all the bees will drop down upon the cloth in a cluster ; this done, throw aside the empty hive, take the other from off the stool, and set this last over the bees, who will soon ascend into it, mix with those already there, and be come one and the same family. Others, instead of striking the bees down upon the cloth, place with its bottom upper most the hive in which the united swarms are to live, and strike the bees of the other hive down into it, The former of these hives is then restored to its natural situation, and the bees of both hives soon unite. if some bees still adhere to the other hive, they may be brushed off on the cloth, and they will soon join their brethren. Or we may take the following Method, which gives less disturbance to the bees ; set, with its mouth upmost, the hive into which the young swarm has been put, and set upon it the other hive. The bees in the other hive, finding them selves in an inverted situation, will soon ascend into the upper. A large swarm tnay weigh 81b. and so gradually less to 11b.: consequently, a very good one may weigh 5 or 61b. All such as weigh less than 40. should be strengthened, by uniting to each of them a less numerous swarm.
Providence has ordained that insects which feed on leaves, flowers, and green succulent plants, are in an insensible or torpid state, from the time that the win ter 's cold has deprived them of the means of subsistence : thus the bees, during the winter, are in so lethargic a state that lit. tle food supports them ; but as the wea ther is very changeable, and every warm or sunny day revives them, and prompts them to return to exercise, food becomes necessary on these occasions.
Many hives of bees which are thought to die of cold in winter, in truth, die of famine, when a rainy summer has hinder the bees from laying in a sufficient store of provisions. The hives should therefore be carefully examined in au tumn, and should then weigh at least 18 pounds. The common practice is, to feed them in autumn, giving them as much honey as will bring the whole weight of the hive to near 20 pounds. The easiest and most rational method is, to set under the hive a plate of liquid honey, with a paper pierced full of holes, through which the bees will suck the honey with out daubing themselves. In case honey cannot be procured, a mixture of brown sugar, wetted with strong beer, will an swer every purpose. Another circum stance, which may render it very neces sary to feed the bees is, when several days of bad weather ensue immediately after they have swarmed ; for then, be ing destitute of every supply beyond what they carried with them, they may be in great danger of starving. In this case, honey should be given them in propor tion to the duration of the bad weather. In this country it is usual, in seizing the stores of these little animals, to rob them also of their lives. The common method is, that when those which are doomed for slaughter have been marked out, (which is generally done in September,)a hole is dug near the hive, and a stick, at the end of which is a rag that has been dipped in melted brimstone, being stuck in that hole, the rag is set on fire, the hive is im mediately set over it, and the earth is in stantly thrown up all around, so that none of the smoke can escape. In a quarter of an hour all the bees are seemingly dead, and they are rendered soon after irrecoverably so, by being buried in the earth that is returned back into the hole. By this last means it is that they are abso lutely killed ; for it has been found by experiment, that all the bees which have been affected only by the fume of the brimstone recover again, excepting such as have been singed or hurt by the flame. Hence it is evident that the fume of brim stone might be used for intoxicating the bees, with some few precautions. The heaviest and the lightest hives are alike treated in this manner ; the former, be cause they yield the most profit, with an immediate return; and the latter, because they would not be able to survive the winter. Those hives, which weigh from 15
to 20 pounds, are thought to be the fittest for keeping. Various methods have also been adopted in England, to attain the desirable end of getting the honey and wax without destroying the bees ; the most approved of which is Mr. Thorley's, who, in his " Inquiry into the Nature, Or der, and Government of Bees," thinks co lonies preferable to hives. He tells us, that he has in some summers taken two boxes filled with honey from one colony, and yet sufficient store has been left for their maintenance duringthe winter, each box weighing 40 pounds. His boxes are made of deal, and an octagon, being near er to a sphere, is better than a square form ; for as the bees, in winter, lie xn round body near the centre of the hive; a due heat is then conveyed to all the out parts. The dimensions which Mr. Thor ley, after many years experience, recom mends, for the boxes, are 10 inches in depth, and 12 or 14 inches in breadth in the inside.
The best and purest honey is that which is gathered in the first five or six weeks: and in boxes of less dimensions, we may take within a month, provided the season be favourable, a boxful of the finest honey. The top of the box should be made of an entire board, a full inch thick after it has been planed, and it should project on all sides, at least an inch be yond the dimensions of the box. In the middle of this top there must be a hole five inches square, for a communication between the boxes ; this hole should be covered with a sliding shutter, of deal or elm, running easily in a groove over the back window. The eight pannels, nine inches deep, and three quarters of an inch thick when planed, are to be let into the top, so far as to keep them in their proper places, to be secured at the cor ners with plates of brass, and to be cramp ed with wires at the bottom, to keep them firm ; for the heat in summer will try their strength. There should be a glass window behind, fixed in a frame, with a thin deal cover, two small brass hinges, and a button to fasten it. This window will be sufficient for inspecting the pro gress of the bees. Two brass handles, one on each side, are necessary to lift up the box ; these should be fixed in with two thin plates of iron, near three inches long, so as to turn up and down, and put three inches below the top board, which is nail ed close down with sprigs to the other parts of the box. Those who choose a frame within, to which the bees may fas ten their combs, need only use a couple of deal sticks, of an inch square, placed across the box. One thing more, which perfects the work, is a passage four or five inches long, and less than half an inch deep, for the bees to go in and out at the bottom of the box. In keeping bees in colonies, a house is necessary, or at least a shade ; without which the wea ther, especially the heat of the sun, would soon rend the boxes to pieces. The house may be made of any boards, but deal is the best ; and it must be to secure it from the weather. The length of it, for six colonies, should be full twelve and a half feet, and each co lony should stand a foot distant from the other. It should be three and a half feet high, to admit four boxes one upon another ; but if only three boxes are em ployed, two feet eight inches will be suf. ficient. Its breadth in the inside should be two feet. The best time to plant the colonies is, either in spring, with new stocks full of bees, or in summer, with swarms. If swarms are used, procure if possible two of the same day ; hive them either in two boxes, or in a hive and a box; at night place them in the bee-house, one over the other, and with a knife and a lit tle lime and hair stop close the mouth of the hive or upper box, so that not a bee may be able to go in or out but at the front door. Within a week or ten days, the combs will appear in the boxes ; but if it be a hive, nothing can be seen till the bees have wrought down into the box. Never plant a colony with a single swarm. When the second box, or the box under the hive, appears full of bees and combs, it is time to raise the colony. This should be done in the dusk of the evening, and in the following manner.