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VENTILATION.

Much has been said about ventilation, and many are the inventions for effecting it, but I have not seen one that is really efficient; its advantages, both in preventing swarms and in preserving the colour of the combs, no person at all acquainted with the management of Bees will deny.

The best ventilator that I have seen is this of Mr. Taylor's. "The ventilator I use," says Mr. T., "consists of double tubes, both resting on a flaunch in the hole prepared for them; the outer tube is of one-inch diameter, and 6 inches long, with six half-inch holes dispersed over it; it is soon fixed down in its place by the Bees, and so must remain. The inner tube is perforated zinc, with a tin projecting top as a handle, and a cap to put on or off this as required. The Bees will stop up the zinc tube when they can get at it, when it may be turned round a little to present a new surface; when wholly stopped it may be withdrawn from its place, and a clean tube substituted. This may be done without the least danger to the operator; but it should be inserted carefully, to avoid crushing any Bees that may have crept within the outer tube. An exit to these is afforded by the hole at the bottom. The substance with which Bees glue up all crevices and attach their combs is called propolis, a resinous exudation from certain trees, of a fragrant smell, and removable by the aid of hot water."

In adapting Mr. Taylor's ventilator to the small hive or box, the inner tube must be made without "the projecting top as a handle," and the cap made even with the flaunch.

After, all, however, the most certain, as well as the most simple, plan is to lift the stories apart upon small pieces of sheet lead, especially between the stock hive and glass box, or small hive in immediate connection with it. The stock hive itself may also be raised half an inch from the floor-board by blocks of wood of that thickness. This precaution is necessary only in very sultry weather, and when swarming is likely to occur. No fears need be entertained at this time of robbers; for when honey is to be had abroad the Bees will not pilfer it from their neighbours at home. As soon as the very hot weather is over, it will be necessary to remove the blocks and restore the hives to their original position.

FEEDING.

The best kind of food that can be given to Bees is honey liquefied with a small portion of warm water; but where honey is scarce and dear, an excellent substitute will be found in lump sugar. Three pounds of sugar to a pint of water, boiled for two or three minutes, and then mixed with a pound of honey, this will make five pounds of excellent food, which the Bees appear to like quite as well as honey alone. Or three pounds of lump sugar may be dissolved in two pounds of water by being boiled a minute or two. This is a very cheap and simple Bee food, and really answers every purpose.

Of all other kinds of food barley-sugar is the best, and not only the best and the cheapest, but the safest and by far the least trouble; for when liquid food is used it is carried down by the Bees immediately upon its being supplied and stored in the combs, and the proprietor has no means of knowing at what time the store is exhausted, and a fresh supply required; but it is not so with barley-sugar, for whilst a morsel remains, which may easily be seen, it is certain the Bees will not die of want. The best method of supplying it is at the top of the hives or boxes. My plan is to tie a dozen sticks of it together, and after opening the hive at top, to place the barley-sugar over the opening, and to cover it with a garden-pan or flower-pot; and just before it is all consumed, give a fresh supply in a similar way. Persons generally are apt to imagine that as soon as a few blossoms make their appearance in the spring their Bees will not want any attention, which is a very great mistake, as many a young apiarian has discovered both to his cost and disappointment; for during the months of March and April greater care is required in feeding than at any other time, for the population is then rapidly increasing, and in a wet and cloudy season no supplies whatever can be obtained but by artificial means.

To Make Barley-sugar.--Put two pounds of loaf sugar into a saucepan with half a pint of water, and two spoonfuls of the best vinegar; put it on a gentle fire, let it boil till the syrup becomes so thick that the handle of a spoon being dipped into it, and then plunged into cold water, the syrup upon the handle is found to be quite crisp; when this is the case it is sufficiently boiled. Having an earthen dish or marble slab in readiness, well buttered, pour the syrup upon it, and, when sufficiently cool to handle, clip it with scissors into strips the size desired. The process of boiling takes about twenty minutes.

Feeding Bottles.--The very best mode of administering liquid food is by means of an inverted bottle, the mouth of which should be tied over with a bit of coarse leno or cap-net. It is a mistake to use muslin for this purpose, or, in fact, any material the meshes of which are less than a sixteenth of an inch wide. With common hives the bottle-neck may be inserted in the central aperture, which usually exists , in the top, and refilled as often as may be necessary. With flat-topped hives the bottle should be supported by its neck being fitted into a perforated block of wood about five inches in diameter, and it will be found convenient to interpose a piece of perforated zinc to prevent the Bees escaping when the bottle is refilled. A four or six-ounce medicine phial is a good size for spring-feeding, whilst a common pickle-bottle leaves nothing to be desired when a copious supply is required in autumn.

A feeding-bottle should be filled by the food being poured into it from a jug, and if the neck be narrow it may, after the mouth is tied over, be quickly inverted over the aperture in the top of the hive, so that what food escapes may run into the hive and down among the Bees. If, on the other hand, the mouth be wide, as in the case of a pickle-bottle, it should be first inverted over the jug and steadily conveyed to the hive in a reversed position When a bottle is properly managed no food runs down into the hive after it has been placed upon it, but all remains perfectly suspended whilst it is being gradually removed by the Bees, which find no difficulty in emptying a full-sized pickle-bottle every night.

Feeding-pans.--Having been frequently applied to for the plan of a feeding-pan best adapted for my Improved Cottage Hive, I am induced to answer the very many applicants by giving a description of the one I have been using for the last two or three years. It is made of stout zinc, circular, 8 inches in diameter, 2-1/2 inches deep, having a circular hole of 2-1/2 inches in the middle of the bottom, with a rim round it standing up 2 inches; a float of wood, very thin and perforated with holes, is made to fit inside, but sufficiently easy to rise and fall with the liquid in the pan; the holes in this float must first be made with a gimlet, and then burnt with an iron, or they will fill up after having been in use a little time; the whole is covered by a lid with an inside rim, the lid having a piece of glass in the centre of 2-1/2 or 3 inches in diameter. When first using this feeding-pan, I found much inconvenience in being obliged to remove the lid every time that a fresh supply of food was required. To obviate this difficulty, I had a half circle 3 inches in diameter, attached to its sides, with a lid or cover, and communicating with the interior of the feeding-pan by a hole cut in the side, and covered with a piece of perforated zinc, so that by looking through the glass in the lid I can see when a fresh supply of food is required; and I have then only to raise the lid of this additional side-piece, and pour in the food, which passes readily through the perforated zinc, and raises the wooden float upon its surface. Four very small tacks should be driven into the under side of the float, at equal distances from each other, to prevent its going quite to the bottom of the pan; and it is also necessary for the rim in the centre of the pan to be roughed with a file, or to be lined with perforated zinc, to enable the Bees to ascend more easily than they would otherwise do if it was left quite smooth.

The float should be less than an eighth of an inch in thickness, and is better to be made of mahogany.

MANNER OF TAKING HONEY.

At noon, upon a clear fine day, pass either a very thin knife or fine wire between the hive and the glass intended to be taken. If this precaution be neglected, a piece of comb is frequently left projecting from the top of the one left, or the bottom of that taken, which will cause much trouble to the operator. Two adapting-boards placed between the hive and the glass will be found very convenient, for the knife or wire will then only have to be passed between them, and the danger of breaking the combs thus be obviated.

STUPIFYING BEES.

METHOD OF DRAINING HONEY FROM THE COMBS.

Having drained all the honey from the combs, wash these in clean water; this liquid, by exposure to the sun and air, will make most excellent vinegar; put them in a clean boiler with some soft water; simmer over a clear fire until the combs are melted: pour a quart or so into a canvas bag, wide at the top and tapering downwards into a jelly bag; hold this over a tub of cold water; the boiling liquor will immediately pass away, leaving the liquefied wax and the dross in the bag; have ready a piece of smooth board, of such a length that one end may rest at the bottom of the tub and the other end at its top; upon this inclined plane lay your reeking bag, but not so as to touch the cold water; then, by compressing the bag with any convenient roller, the wax will ooze through and run down the board into the cold water, on the surface of which it will set in thin flakes; empty the dross out of the bag and replenish it with the boiling wax, and proceed as before until all has been pressed. When finished, collect the wax from the surface of the cold water, put it into a clean saucepan with very little water, melt it carefully over a slow fire, skim off the dross as it rises, then pour it into moulds, or shapes, and place them where they will cool slowly. The wax may be rendered still more pure by a second melting and moulding.

MEAD.

This treatise would not be complete without a receipt for Mead, the following is the best that I have seen, and is most excellent:--Pour five gallons of boiling water upon 20 lbs. of honey; boil, and remove the scum as it rises; when it ceases to rise, add 1 oz. of hops, and boil for ten minutes afterwards; put the liquor into a tub to cool. When reduced to 75? of Fahrenheit, add a slice of bread toasted and smeared over with a little yeast, let it stand in a warm room and be stirred occasionally; and when it carries a head tun it, filling the cask up from time to time. When the fermentation has nearly finished bung it down, leaving a peg-hole, which may soon be closed; bottle in about a year.

HONEY VINEGAR.

REMEDIES FOR THE STING OF A BEE.

BEE DRESS.

In the season for going amongst Bees careful apiarians are desirous of having all things ready for use before they are immediately required, and as being well-armed against the stings of their Bees gives confidence and coolness to the inexperienced operator, both of which are so essentially necessary to the successful accomplishment of his object, I will give the plan of a very simple and convenient Bee-dress, which has been kindly handed to me by a friend. It is formed of green leno, and so made as to enclose the head, neck, and shoulders; indeed, it is like a bag, with sleeves to tie at the wrists. The sleeves are made of green glazed cambric. It forms altogether a perfect panoply, and the most timid person with its aid may perform the most difficult operation with the greatest coolness, and without the possibility of being stung.

PURCHASING STOCKS.

March and April are the best two months for purchasing stocks, and May for swarms. It is better to obtain them from such a distance only as they can be conveyed by hand; conveyance by any other means is always attended with danger to the Bees. Swarms require less care in carrying from place to place than stocks. In purchasing stocks the weight alone must not be relied on; a swarm of the preceding year should be selected, and one that contains not less than 12 lbs. of honey. The combs must be looked at, and if they are not of a yellow or straw colour, and if at all approaching to blackness, it is not a swarm of the last year, and must be rejected. The next best time to purchase is May or June, at the time of swarming; but of this hereafter.

THE LIGURIAN OR YELLOW ALP BEE.

The Ligurian Bee is a species indigenous to the south of Europe, and has been cultivated in Italy in the same way as the common honey Bee has been in the northern parts of Europe from time immemorial. It is the Apis Ligustica of the naturalist; and though so well known to exist and to have all the honey-producing properties of our own honey Bee, with some other advantages besides, it seems remarkable that it should have remained so long unknown to the apiarians of this country.

The merit of introducing this species is due to Mr. Woodbury, the eminent Devonshire Bee-keeper, who, having made the necessary preliminary inquiries, placed himself in communication with Mons. H. C. Hermann, of Tamin-by-Chur, in the Canton of Grison, Switzerland; and on the 19th of July, 1859, the Ligurian Bee was introduced to England.

In a pamphlet on the subject by M. Hermann we have the following particulars of this insect:--

"The Italian yellow Bee differs from the common black Bee in its longer more slender form, and light chrome yellow colour, with light brimstone-coloured wings, and two orange-red bands, each one-sixth of an inch wide. Working Bees as well as drones have this mark. The drones are further distinguished by the bands being scolloped like the spotted water-serpent, and obtain an astonishing size--almost half as large again as the black drones. The queen has the same marks as the working Bees, but much more conspicuous and lighter; she is much larger than the black queen, and easy to be singled out of the swarm, on account of her remarkable bodily size and light colour.

"The Bees are almost transparent when the sun shines on them.

"This race has nothing in common with the black Bees, which can be instantly seen by their ways and manner of building. The cells of the Italian Bee are considerably deeper and broader than those of the black Bees. Fifteen cells of the Italians are as broad as sixteen cells of the black kind."

Their chief merits in contrast with the black Bees are--1, as they naturally inhabit a region of such elevation as 4500 feet, they are less sensitive to cold than the common Bee; 2, their queens are more prolific; 3, they swarm earlier and more frequently; 4, they are much less apt to sting, and not only so, but unless they are intentionally annoyed or irritated they are not inclined to sting; 5, they are more courageous and active in self-defence, and are particularly disposed to plunder the hives of the common kind; but should the latter attack their hives they fight with great fierceness and adroitness.

TO UNITE A LIGURIAN QUEEN TO A COMMON STOCK OR SWARM.

As soon as you have become possessed of a Ligurian queen and her attendants, steps should be taken for removing the common queen from the stock, or swarm, to which the strangers are to be united.

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