Place the empty box, with the sliding shutter drawn back, behind the house, near the colony that is to be raised, and at nearly the height of the floor : then lifting up the colony as quickly as possible, let the empty box be put into the place where it is to stand, and the colony upon it ; and shut up the mouth of the then upper box with lime and hair, as directed before. When, upon looking t iirough the windows in the back of the boxes, the middle box appears full of combs, and a quantity of honey sealed up in it, the low est box half full of combs, and few bees in the uppermost box, proceed thus : About five o'clock in the evening, drive close with the mallet the sliding shutter under the hive or box that is to be ta ken from the colony, If the combs are new, the shutter may be forced home without a mallet ; but be sure it is close, that no bees may ascend into the hive or box to be removed. After this, shut close the doors of the house, and leave the bees, thus cut off from the rest of their companions, for half an hour or more. In this space, having lost their queen, they will fill themselves with ho ney, and be impatient to be set at liberty If; in this interval, upon examining the box or boxes beneath, all appears to be quiet in them, it is a sign that the queen is there, and in safety. Afterwards raise the back part of the hive or box so far, by a piece of wood slipped under it, as to give the prisoners room to come out, and they will return to their fellows : then lifting the box from off the colony, and turning its bottom upmost, cover it with a cloth all night ; and the next morning, when this cloth is removed, the bees that have remained in it will return to the co lony. Thus a box of honey is procured, and all the bees are preserved.
Bees have various enemies ; mice should be guarded against, by diminish ing the entrance into the hives when the cold comes on, and the bees are less able to defend themselves ; and the hives may be placed in such a manner, that it will be impossible for the mice to reach them. Spiders and caterpillars are very destruc tive to bees ; two species of the latter, called the wax-worm, or wax-moth, and bee-worm; because they feed on wax, lay their eggs in the hive, which turn to mag gots, that are very prejudicial to the bees.
In consequence of the increasing depre dations of these insects within a few years, the quantity of honey brought to our markets has materially decreased. Hives of bees that have swarmed more than once, and such as contain little ho ney, are most exposed to these insects ; for the empty combs serve them for shel ter, and the wax supplies them with food. These hives should be cleaned at least once a week; and the stools on which they rest, where the moths are laid by the bees, should be cleaned every morn ing. But they cannot be entirely destroy ed, without, taking away the infected hive, removing the bees, andcleansing it of the moths, before it is restored to its former occupiers. Bees are often troubled with lice, which may be destroyed by strewing tobacco over them. The depredations of birds, and particularly of the king-bird (muscicapa tyrannus,) should be carefully prevented. Ants, wood-lice, and earwigs, arc also enumerated among the enemies of the bees. "Mr. Keys says, "the earwigs steal into the hives at night, and drag out bee after bee, sucking out their vitals, and leaving nothing but their skins or scalps, like so many trophies of their butchery." Wasps and hornets are also formidable enemies that bees have to en counter. See Doddrige en the eadeure of Bees, and also, APIARY, and Arts, of this work. BEECH. See PAGUS.
BEM a fermented liqour; made gene rally from some farinaceous grain, par ticularly from prepared barley or malt. The mode of making beer will be found under the article linzwixo. It may be observed, that, -goring the scarcity of grain in this country, sugar, treacle, and molasses, were frequently used as a sub for malt. We shall in this place describe a machine that has obtained pretty general use in the public-houses in and near the metropolis, viz. the