humble addition to the store of USEFUL KNOWLEDGE?

"In its present renewed form, the author has been induced partially to extend his first design (originally much restricted in its scope), by entering somewhat more at large into the subject of Bee-management, and the general details of practice. Although not professing to offer his remarks to any parinclined to think they will frequently be ticular class of readers, he is, nevertheless, found, in an especial degree, applicable to the position of the amateur apiarian. For the peculiar use of cottage bee-keepers, tracts and scraps innumerable have been issued-probably with very uncertain effect. In short, there is little room for doubt that these can be more effectually benefited by example and verbal advice, than by any kind of printed instructions. Be this as it may, leaving out of the question the long train of contingencies incident to locality,

interference with the dogmatists and hypercritics in the settlement of the affairs of their peculiar vocation.

"Twelve years," says the author of this valuable little book," have elapsed since the original publication of the Bee-keep-season, &c., much inust often be left to indivier's Manual." For the fourth time the dual judgment and careful observation; and author is called upon to revise his little no writer can be expected to meet every supbook; and he still thinks that the leading posable case of difficulty in dealing with object in offering it to public notice will best insects, confessedly often so intractable as be explained in the words with which it was bees. The author, therefore, must be confirst introduced. The existence of the fol- sidered as merely laying down a scheme of lowing pages had its origin, some time ago, general recommendations; aiming much less in the request of a friend, that the author at novelty than at plain practical utility; would give him a brief practical compen- not hesitating occasionally to borrow the landium of the management of bees, on the guage of other unexceptionable authorities humane or depriving system. Similar appli- where it clearly expressed his convictions, cations came from other quarters. The or coincided with the results of his own exsubject is one which has of late acquired in-perience; but carefully abstaining from any creased interest; but the hints following would perhaps never have been prepared for the press, had not the hours of a protracted confinement by illness required some diversity of occupation and amusement. On reviewing his experience as an amateur beekeeper, the author was led to believe that the result of it, added to a concise view of such particulars as are usually spread over a large surface in works of this nature, and arranged according to the progressive order of the seasons, might be useful to others, seeking like himself occasional relaxation from weightier matters in watching over and protecting these interesting and valuable insects. Step by step this or that defect of construction in his hives had been remedied, and such conveniencies added as necessity or the spirit of improvement from time to time had suggested. These are briefly described in the following little work. If it have the good fortune, though in a small degree, to smooth the path (usually a rough and uncertain one) of the apiarian noviceof removing ignorance and prejudice, or of ohviating any portion of the difficulties with which a more general cultivation of bees has to contend-why may not the contribution of this mite be considered a

"If some of the recommendations relative to the construction of hives or their appurtenances appear to be tedious to the general reader, it must be borne in mind that these directions are chiefly addressed to the mechanic, who will rarely be found to object that his particular department has been aided by a careful attention to matters of detail in description.

"On the whole, the author is induced to hope that the improved arrangement, additional information, and variety of illustration now introduced, will render superfluous any apology for a small unavoidable increase in the size of the book."

We have chosen to give the Preface to a modest, unpretending book like this, entire. When we say that the contents bear out what has been advanced by the author in his Preface, any comment of ours beyond this would be superfluous. The volume is full of interesting matter, and we shall frequently, no doubt, have occasion to extract " honey" from it. We will therefore now only give Mr. Taylor's neat and intelligent comments on the Queen, or Mother Bee;

the Common, or Working Bee; and the Dr. Bevan remarks, "This sounds like a great Drone, or Male Bee :

:

THE QUEEN, OR MOTHER BEE,

number, but it is much exceeded by some other insects." In four or five days the eggs are hatched, remaining in the larva or grub state four to six days more, during which time they are assiduously fed by the nurse-bees. They then assume the nymph or pupa form, and spin themselves a film or cocoon, the nurses immediately Huber calls wax. It is, howe r, thicker, more after sealing them up with a substance which highly colored, and apparently less tenacious, probably to facilitate the escape of the imtwenty-first day from the laying of the egg. It prisoned bee. This takes place about the is speedily cleaned by its companions, and in a day or two has been known to be gathering honey in the fields.

others clear the cell from all impurity, and it As soon as the young bee comes forth, the again receives an egg; this being often repeated

four or five times in the season. Afterwards the cell becomes a receptacle for honey; but with all their attention, the cells are found in time to become contracted or thickened by this rapid succession of tenants. When this takes place, it is best gradually to remove the combs, in the way hereafter to be pointed out, which the bees will soon replace with new ones. It has been asserted that young bees, bred in old contracted cells, are proportionately smaller in size.

Is very rarely to be seen: she is darker, longer, and more taper towards the end of her body than the common becs, has shorter legs and wings, and is of a yellowish brown color underneath. She reigns supreme in the hive, admitting no rival or equal; and is armed with a sting, which is somewhat more curved than that of the common bees. Where she goes, the other bees follow; and where she is not, none will long remain. A queen bee has been known to live four or five years; she is the mother of the entire community, laying the eggs from which all proceed, whether future queens, drones, or workers. Separate her from the family, and she speedily resents the injury, refuses food, pines, and dies. Without a queen, or a prospect of one, labor is suspended, and a gradual dispersion of the community ensues. The young queens are not bred in the hexagonal cells of the common bees, but in much larger ones, which, when complete, present in form the appearance of a pear, or an oblong spheroid, generally appended perpendicularly to the sides of the combs, the small end or mouth being downwards. They vary in number from five or six to a dozen, and sometimes more. The eggs deposited in the royal cells, are laid after those of common bees and drones, the Though we have, as I conceive, no actual young princesses arriving at maturity on the six-proof that the occupations of individual bees are teenth day. Of these we shall speak more at large hereafter. This is the common course of events; but it is a well-established fact, that in case of an emergency the bees have the power (provided there is brood comb in the hive at the time) of filling the casual vacancies in the sovereignty, by the creation (as it may be termed) of young queen, thus in fact proving that the prevalent notion as to an inherent difference between royal and common eggs is erroneous. They select one of the common grubs in a certain stage, enlarge and alter the cell that contains it, and by a different kind of nurture (a point, however, questioned by some naturalists), a sovereign is reared, and the work of procreation recommences.

THE COMMON, OR WORKING BEES, Are the least in size, and in point of numbers are variously calculated at twelve to thirty thousand, according to the bulk of the swarm; though at certain times they are often much more numerous. As regards sex, there is no reason to

doubt they are females in which the reproductive organs are not fully developed; and like the Queen or Mother Bee, each has the power of stinging.

at all times unchangeably directed to one point (as some naturalists have imagined), observation shows that the division of labor is one of their leading characteristics. Some are engaged in secreting and elaborating wax for the construction of combs in the hive; others in warming the eggs, and feeding the brood; in attending on their queen, to whom they are devotedly attached; in guarding and giving notice of attacks or annoyance from without; and the rest in searching the fields and woods for the purpose of collecting honey and farina for present and future store. The working bees are short-lived; and it is shown pretty clearly by Dr. Bevan and others, that six or eight months is the limit of their duration; for notwithstanding the immense annual increase, the numbers in a hive of the year. Even in the middle of the summer dwindle down very perceptibly towards the end their wings become torn and ragged. There is no doubt, I think, that every bee existing at Christmas was bred during the latter part of the spring or summer: and this may be a sufficient answer to those who sometimes inquire what becomes of the accumulation of bees, managed on the depriving system, where neither swarming nor destruction takes place.

We might here allude to a prevalent error as to any inherent difference in the characteristics of the common honey bee. When we hear it "better workers" than said, that some are

The eggs of the bee are about the size of those produced by a butterfly. Those for workers are deposited in the cells in the centre of the hive, being the part first selected for that purpose. The brood of common bees, more or less advanced, is to be found in a stock hive nearly all the year round; but the great laying of the queen takes place in April and May, when the number of eggs produced by her has been estimated at from 100 to 200 in a day. Taking as our guide the calculations of many apiarians, a good queen (for they are not all prolific alike) will lay in a year from 40,000 to 80,000, or more. Are computed in the spring at one to two thou

others, all that ought to be understood is, that the family has the advantage of being under favorable circumstances as to locality or season: with a fertile queen, and an adequate population.

THE DRONE, OR MALE BEES,

sand, and upwards, in every good stock hive. They are larger and darker than the common bees; have no sting, and are easily distinguishable by their louder humming or droning. The drones take no part in the collection of honey, nor in any other perceptible operation of the hive.

Drone eggs are laid by the queen in cells larger and stronger than those intended for common bees, and further removed from the centre of the hive. They pass through their various stages in about twenty-five or twenty-six days, the drones being seldom seen till about the beginning of May (though occasionally earlier), and then only in warm weather, in the middle of the day. These are the produce of the first-laid eggs; but a second smaller laying of drone eggs commonly takes place about two months later. Of all the theories on the subject of the part allotted to the drones in the constitution of a hive of bees (and some of these have been sufficiently absurd), that of Huber is undoubtedly the true one-the impregnation of the young queens. Perhaps the annual destruction of the drones by the workers, is the operation most likely to throw light on the design of their creation. This process varies in point of time according to circumstances. Deprive a hive forcibly of the young queens, and, according to Bonner and Huber, no expulsion of drones takes place. "In such cases," says the latter, "they are tolerated and fed, and many are seen even in the middle of January." They are retained in case of need, for other queens may yet be produced. Where swarming has been rendered unnecessary, as in hives managed on the depriving system, there are either no royal cells, or the young queens meet with premature destruction. Then frequently commences an early expulsion of the now useless drones; they become merely consumers of the wealth of the community, and as such are driven unceremoniously from the hive, to perish; nor are even the larvæ allowed to escape. This expulsive process often commences in such hives in the middle, or at any rate towards the end of May, as I have witnessed. On the contrary, in the common swarming hives it does not take place till July, or even later; when all the royal brood is disposed of. The circumstances differ in the two cases; and the bees in this, as in other parts of their practice, are sufficiently utilitarians to modify their proceedings accordingly. In the one instance, the office of the males is not required, and a speedy massacre follows; in the other, young queens are left successively to come to maturity. Such of these as go forth with swarms, become fertilised in two or three days after, followed by the laying of eggs in about a similar distance of time. Once impregnated they become fruitful, perhaps ever after, as is the case with some other insects; at all events for a year, for eggs are laid by them, and young produced, without the presence of a single drone, except during a few weeks in that period. The destruction of the drones, therefore, may be considered an indication that the hive contains no queen brood, and, consequently, that no swarming is to be expected.

"Naturalists," says Huber, "have been extremely embarrassed to account for the number of males in most hives, and which seem only a

burden on the community, since they fulfil no function. But we now begin to discern the object of nature in multiplying them to such an extent. As fecundation cannot be accomplished within the hive, and as the queen is obliged to traverse the expanse of the atmosphere, it is requisite that the males should be numerous, that she may have the chance of meeting some one of them. Were only two or three in each hive, there would be little probability of their departure at the same instant with the queen, or that they would meet in their excursions; and most of the females might thus remain sterile."

Conflicting opinions among apiarians have been formed, as to the desirableness of assisting the working bees in the task of expelling the drones; often a protracted and irritating process. If it can be done at once, without annoyance to the workers, I think much fighting and valuable time may be saved by it; but no advice can be worse than that of attempting to accomplish the work piecemeal. When attacked, the drones, to avoid persecution, will congregate together in a remote part of the hive. Observation led me to think they would at such a time be glad to retreat for still greater safety into a separate box, so placed as to be accessible to them. Accordingly, on the 14th of June, in one of my collateral stock hives, where the drones for a day or two had been hard pushed by the others, I opened a communication on the ground floor into an empty side box. My theory was completely realised, for the poor drones gladly made their way into this, where they remained clustered at the top like a swarm-not a single common bee accompanying them, and would probably have been starved. The following morning, I took away the box of drones and destroyed them, counting rather more than 2200, besides some few that had escaped. I did not find among them a solitary working bee; nor could I discover in the parent stock hive one remaining drone. The bees peaceably at once recommenced work, and did well; as if glad in this wholesale way to be rid of their late unprofitable inmates. What was the cost of their daily maintenance? And what proportion to the entire population of the hive did the drones bear? After this apparently large abstraction, no sensible difference was observable in the crowding. In this hive the usual second laying of drone eggs took place, and a good many more drones were expelled at the end of July. I have not been enabled to repeat this experiment, but have no doubt it would always succeed, under similar circumstances.

ought to be universal, we speak but the If we say that the possession of this book truth. It is the production of a gentleman, whose humanity and kindly feeling are visible on every page.

A PRETTY IDEA:

Born and dies in sunny hour,
The lovely flower

Of early youth! one moment stay
The golden ringlets; then turn grey.
From Metastasio.

The flights of these birds begin at daybreak, and continue till noon. Autumn is the time when the bird-catcher is employed in intercepting them on their passage. The nets are about twelve yards long, and two and a half broad. They are spread upon the ground, at a small distance from each other, and so placed, that they can be made to flap suddenly over upon the birds that alight between them. As the wild birds fly always against the wind, the bird-catcher who is most to the leeward has a chance of catching the whole flight if his call-birds be We cannot conclude this subject without good. A complete set of call-birds consists alluding to a most cruel practice which is of five or six linnets, two goldfinches, two common among the bird-fanciers, in the greenfinches, one woodlark, one redpole; neighborhood of London; it is the acceleand, perhaps, of a bullfinch, a yellow-ration of the moulting season, and we notice hammer, a titlark, and an aberdevine. These it only to deprecate it in the strongest are placed, in little cages, at small distances terms. The moulting of birds, even when from the nets. He has likewise his flur-birds, | left to the operation of nature, is a severe