than three in the afternoon. We may know when they are about to swarm, by clusters of them hanging on the outside of the hive, and by the drones appearing abroad more than usual but the most certain sign is, when the bees refrain from flying into the fields, though the season be inviting. Just before they take flight, there is an uncommon silence in the hive; after this, as soon as one takes flight they all follow. Before the subsequent swarmings there is a great noise in the hive, which is supposed to be occasioned by a contest whether the young or the old queen should go out. When the bees of a swarm fly too high, they are made to descend lower by throwing handfuls of sand or dust among them, which they probably mistake for rain. For the same purpose it is usual to beat on a kettle or frying-pan: this practice may have taken its rise from observing that thunder or any great noise prompts such bees as are in the field to return home. As soon as the swarm is settled, the bees which compose it should be got into a hive with all convenient speed, to prevent their taking wing again. If they settle on a small branch of a tree, easy to coine at, it may be cut off and laid upon a cloth; the hive being ready immediately to put over them. If the branch cannot be conveniently cut, the bees may be swept from off it into a hive. Lodge but the queen into the hive, and the rest will soon follow. If the bees must be considerably disturbed in order to get them into a hive, the most advisable way is to let them remain in the place where they have pitched till the evening, when there is less danger of their taking wing. If it be observed that they still hover about the place they first alighted upon, the branches there may be rubbed with rue, or alder leaves, or any other thing distasteful to them, to prevent their returning to it. The hive employed on this occasion should be cleansed with the utmost care, and its inside be rubbed very hard with a coarse cloth, to get off the loose straws or other impurities which might cause them a deal of time and labour to gnaw away. It may then be rubbed with fragrant herbs or flowers, the smell of which is agreeable to the bees; or with honey. The hive should not he set immediately on the stool where it is to remain ; but should be kept near the place at which the bees settled till the evening, lest some stragglers should be lost. It should be shaded either with boughs or with a cloth, that the too great heat of the sun may not annoy the bees.

We sometimes see a swarm of bees, after having left their hive, and even alighted upon a tree, return to their first abode. This never happens but when the young queen did not come forth with them for want of strength, or perhaps courage, to trust her wings for the first time; or possibly from a consciousness of her not being impregnated. 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 became one and the same family. Others, instead of striking the bees down upon the cloth, place with its bottom uppermost 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 the following method may be taken, which gives less dis

Swarming.

turbance to the bees: Set with its mouth uppermost the hive into which the young swarm has been put, and set upon it the other hive. The bees in the lower hive, finding themselves in an inverted situation, will soon ascend into the upper.

Though all writers acknowledge that one of the queens is constantly slain on these occasions, and generally a considerable number of the working bees, yet none of them, Columella excepted, has proposed the easy remedy of killing the queen of the latter casts or swarms before the union is made, a means by which the lives of the working bees may be preserved; this may be done either by intoxicating them, and then picking her out, or by searching her out when the bees are beaten down upon the cloth; for this being done in the night, to prevent the battle which might otherwise ensue, there will be no great difficulty in finding her. A large swarm may weigh eight pounds, and so gradually less to one pound; consequently a very good one may weigh five or six pounds. All such as weigh less than four pounds should be strenghened by uniting to each of them a less numerous swarm. The size of the hive should be proportioned to the number of the bees; and, as a general rule, it should be rather under than over sized, because bees require to be kept warmer than a large hive will admit of.

During the time of swarmimg, bees are perhaps less disposed to sting than at other times; and they have been even known to settle on a person's head without inconvenience. The following remarkable instance of this is given by Mr. Thorley, which we shall introduce in his own words. "In the year 1717," he observes, one of my swarms settled among the close twisted branches of a codling tree, and not to be got into a hive without help; my maidservant, being in the garden, offered her assistance to hold the hive while I dislodged the bees. Having never been acquainted with bees, she put a linen cloth over her head and shoulders, to guard and secure her from their swords. A few of the bees fell into the hive, some upon the ground, but the main body upon the cloth which covered her upper garments. I took the hive out of her hands when she cried out, the bees were got under the covering, and crowding up towards her breast and face, which put her into a trembling posture. When I perceived the veil was of no farther service, she gave me leave to remove it; this done, a most affecting spectacle presented itself to the view of all the company, filling me with the deepest distress and concern, as I thought myself the unhappy instrument of drawing her into so imminent hazard of her life. Had she enraged them, all resistance had been vain, and nothing less than her life would have atoned for the offence. I used all the arguments I could think of, accompanying them with the most affectionate intreaties, begging her, with all earnestness in my power, to stand her ground and keep her present posture; in order to which I gave her encouragement to hope for a full discharge from her disagreeable companions. I began to search among them for the queen, now got in a great body upon her breast, about her neck, and up to her chin. I immediately seized her, taking her from among the crowd, with some of the commons in company with her, and put them together into the hive. Here I watched her for some time, and, as I did not observe that she came out, I conceived an expectation of seeing the whole body quickly abandon their settlement; but instead of that, I soon observed them gathering closer together, without the least signal for departing. Upon this I immediately reflected, that either there must be another sovereign, or that the same was returned. I directly commenced a second search, and in a short time, with a most agreeable surprise, found a second or the same. She strove, by entering far

Shifting Bees

ther into the crowd, to escape me, but I reconducted her with a great number of the populace into the hive. And now the melancholy scene began to change, to one infinitely more agreeable and pleasant. The bees missing their queen, began to dislodge and repair to the hive, crowding into it in multitudes, and in the greatest hurry imaginable; and in the space of two or three minutes the maid had not one single bee about her, neither had she so much as one sting, a small number of which would quickly have stopped her breath."

Great improvements may certainly be made in the essential article of providing plenty of pasture for bees, whenever this subject shall be more carefully attended to than it has hitherto been. A rich corn country is well known to be a barren desert to them during the most considerable part of the year; and therefore the practice of other nations, in shifting the places of abode of their bees, well deserves our imitation. In many parts of France floating bee houses are very common. They have on board one barge threescore or a hundred bee hives, well defended from the inclemency of an accidental storm. With these the owners suffer themselves to float gently down the river, the bees continually choosing their flowery pasture along the banks of the stream; and thus a single floating bee house yields the proprietor a considerable income. They have also a method of transporting their bees by land, well worth our imitation in many parts of this kingdom. Their first care is to examine those hives, some of whose honeycombs might be broken or separated by the jolting of the vehicle; they are made fast one to the other, and against the sides of the hive, by means of emall sticks, which may be disposed differently as occasion will point out. This being done, every hive is set upon a packing-cloth, or something like it, the threads of which are very wide; the sides of this cloth are then turned up and laid on the outside of each hive, in which state they are tied together with a piece of small pack-thread wound several times round the hive. As many hives as a cart built for that purpose will hold are afterwards placed in this vehicle. The hives are set two and two, the whole length of the cart. Over these are placed others, which make, as it were, a second story or bed of hives. When the caravan is arrived at the journey's end, the hives are distributed in the gardens, or in the fields adjacent to the houses of different peasants, who, for a very small reward, undertake to look after them. Thus it is that, in such spots as do not abound in flowers at all seasons, means are found to supply the bees with food during the whole year. These instances of the great advantages which attend shifting of bees in search of pasture, afford an excellent lesson to many places in this kingdom; they direct particularly the inhabitants of the rich vales, where the harvest for bees ends early, to remove their stocks to places which abound in heath; this plant continuing in bloom during a considerable part of autumn, and yielding great plenty of food to bees. Those in the neighbourhood of hills and mountains will save the bees a great deal of labour, by taking also the advantage of shifting their places of abode.

To these instances of the advantages of removing bees, in order to improve their pasture, we add the following entertaining account of their swarming, their flight into the woods, and the method of discovering them there, extracted from the Letters of an American Farnier. "A little experience renders it easy to predict the time of their swarming; but the difficult point is, when on the wing, to know whether they want to go to the woods or not. If they have previously pitched in some hollow trees, it is not the allurements of salt and water, of fennel, hickory leaves, &c, nor the finest box, that can induce them to stay. They 803

for Pasture. will prefer those rude rough habitations to the best polished mahogany hive. When that is the case with mine, I seldom thwart their inclinations. It is in freedom that they work. Were I to confine them, they would dwindle away and quit their labour. In such excursions we only part for a while. I am generally sure to find them again the following fall. This elopement of theirs only adds to my recreations. I know how to deceive even their superlative instinct. Nor do I fear losing them, though eighteen miles from my house, and lodged in the most lofty trees, in the most impervious of our forests, After I have done sowing, by way of recreation, I prepare for a week's jaunt in the woods, not to hunt either the deer or the bears, as my neighbours do, but to catch the more harmless bees. I cannot boast that this chace is so noble or so famous among men; but I find it less fatiguing, and full as profitable; and the last consideration is the only one that moves me. I take with me my dog as a companion, for he is useless as to this game; my gun, for no one ought to enter the woods without one; my blanket, some provisions, some wax, vermilion, honey, and a small pocket compass. With these implements I proceed to such woods as are at a considerable distance from any settlements. I carefully examine whether they abound with large trees; if so, I make a small fire on some flat stones in a convenient place. On the fire I put some wax; close by this fire, on another stone, I drop honey in distinct drops, which I surround with small quantities of vermilion, laid on the stone; and then I retire carefully to watch whether any bees appear. If there be any in that neighbourhood, I rest assured that the smell of the burnt wax will unavoidably attract them. They will soon find out the honey, for they are fond of preying on that which is not their own; and in their approach they will necessarily tinge themselves with some particles of vermilion, which will adhere long to their bodies. I next fix my compass, to find out their course, which they keep invariably straight, when they are returning home loaded. By the assistance of my watch, I observe how long those are in returning which are marked with vermilion. Thus possessed of the course, and, in some measure of the distance, which I can easily guess at, I follow the first, and seldom fail of coming to the tree where the bees are lodged. I then mark it; and thus, with patience, I have found out sometimes eleven swarms in a season; and it is inconceivable what a quantity of honey these trees will sometimes afford. It entirely depends on the size of the hollow, as the bees never rest or swarm till it is replenished; for, like men, it is only the want of room that induces them to quit the maternal hive. Next I proceed to some of the nearest settlements, where I procure proper assistance to cut down the trees, get all my prey secured, and then return home with any prize. The first bees I ever procured were thus found in the woods by mere accident; for at that time I had no kind of skill in this method of tracing them. The body of the tree being perfectly sound, they had lodged theniselves in the hollow of one of its principal limbs, which I carefully sawed off, and with a good deal of labour and industry, brought it home, where I fixed it up in the same position in which I found it growing. This was in April. I had five swarms that year, and they have been ever since very prosperous. This business generally takes up a week of my time every fall, and to me it is a time of solitary ease and relaxation."

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 winter's cold has deprived them of the means of subsistence. Thus the bees during the winter arc in so lethargic a state that little food supports

512

their summer's work. The most proper time for this business is the middle of the day; and as you stand behind the frame, you will need no armour, except a pair of gloves. The operation itself is very simple, and easily performed, thus: Open the mouth of the box you intend to take; then with a thin knife cut through the resin with which the bees have joined the boxes to each other, till you find that you have separated them; and after this, slide a sheet of tin gently in between the boxes. The communication being hereby stopped, the bees in the fullest box, where it is most likely the queen is, will be a little disturbed at the operation; but those in the other box where we suppose the queen is not, will run to and fro in the utmost hurry and confusion, and send forth a mournful cry easily distin guished from their other notes. They will issue out at the newly opened door; not in a body as when they swarm, nor with such calm and cheerful activity as when they go forth to their labours; but by one or two at a time, with a wild flutter and visible rage and disorder. This, however, is soon over; for as soon as they get abroad and spy their fellows, they fly to them instantly, and join them at the mouth of the other box. By this means, in an hour or two, for they go out slowly, you will have a box of pure honey, without leaving a bee in it to molest you; and likewise, without dead bees, which, when you burn them, are often mixed with your honey, and both waste and damage it. This method has sometimes been known to fail, when the mouth of the box to be taken away has not been constantly and carefully closed: the bees will in this case get acquainted with it as an entrance; and when you open the mouth in order to their leaving this box, many of them will be apt to return, and the communication being stopped, will in a short time carry away all the honey from this to the other box; so much do they abhor a separation. When this happens, Mr. White has recourse to the following expedient, which he thinks infallible. He takes a piece of deal, a little larger than will cover the mouth of the box, and cuts in it a square niche somewhat more than half an inch wide. In this niche he hangs a little trap door, made of a thin piece of tin, turning upon a pin, with another pin crossing the niche a little lower, so as to prevent the hanging door from opening both ways. This being placed close to the mouth, the bees which want to get out will easily thrust open the door outwards, but cannot open it the other way to get in again; so must, and will readily, make to the other box, leaving this in about the space of two hours, with all its store, justly due to the tender-hearted bee master as a ransom for their lives.

As the chief object of the bees during the spring and beginning of the summer is the propagation of their kind, honey during that time is not collected in such quantity as it is afterwards and on this account it is scarcely worth while to rob a hive before the latter end of June; nor is it safe to do it after the middle of July, lest rainy weather may prevent their restoring the combs they have lost, and laying in a stock of honey sufficient for the winter, unless there is a chance of carrying them to a rich pasture.

BEECH MAST, the fruit of the beech tree, is said to be good for fattening hogs, deer, &c. It has sometimes, even to men, proved an useful substitute for bread. Chios is said to have endured a memorable siege by means of it. An oil called beech oil may be drawn by expression from the mast of the beech tree, after it has been shelled and pounded.

BEECH TREE, in Botany. See FAGUS, BOTANY, INDEX. BEEF, the flesh of black cattle prepared for food. According to Dr. Cullen, beef, though of a more firm texture and less soluble than mutton, is equally alkalescent, perspirable, and nutritious: and f in the southern countries

806

it is not estimated so, it is on account of its imperfection there.

BEER is a spirituous liquor made from any farinaceous grain, but generally from barley. It is made from malt by extraction with water and fermentation. A quantity of malt, freed from its germs, and sufficient for one intended brewing, is coarsely bruised by grinding, and in the mash tub, first well mixed with some cold, then scalded with hot water drawn upon it from the boiler. It is afterwards strongly and uniformly stirred. When the whole mass has stood quietly for a certain time, the mash, or sweet-wort, is brought into the boiler; and the malt remaining in the tub is once more extracted by infusion and hot water. This second extract, treated in like manner, is added to the first, and both are boiled together. This clear decoction is then drawn off, and called boiled wort. To make the beer more fit for digestion, and at the same time to deprive it of its too great and unpleasant sweetness, the wort is boiled up with a proportion of hops. After which it ought to be quickly cooled, to prevent its transition into acetous fermentation, which would ensue, if it were kept too lọng in a high temperature. Lastly, this liquor is put into casks, and allowed to ferment; nature performs the rest of the work, and is only to be assisted by the other most favourable circumstances for the spirituous fermentation. See BREWING.

Sugar and treacle have sometimes been employed with success as substitutes for malt. The following recipes are inserted in the Gentleman's Magazine for January, 1758. To eight quarts of boiling water, put one pound of treacle, a quarter of an ounce of ginger, and two bay leaves; let the whole boil for a quarter of an hour, then cool and work it with yeast, the same as other beer; or, take one bushel of malt, with as much water and hops as if two bushels of malt were allowed; put seven pounds of the coarsest brown sugar into the wort, while boiling. This makes a very pleasant liquor; is as strong, and will keep as long without becoming sour or flat, as if two bushels of malt had been employed. Sour beer may be restored various ways; as by salt made of the ashes of barley straw, put into the vessel and stirred; or by three or four handfuls of beech ashes thrown into the vessel, and stirred; or, where the liquor not very sour, by a little put in a bag, without stirring; chalk calcined, oyster-shells, egg-shells, burnt sea-shells, crabs eyes, alkalized coral, &c. do the same, as they neutralize the acidity, and unite with it into a sweetness. Beer, it is said, may be kept from turning sour in summer, by hanging into the vessel a bag containing a new laid egg, pricked full of little pin holes, some laurel berries, and a few barley grains; or by a new laid egg and walnut-tree leaves. Glauber commends his sal mirabile and fixed nitre, put in a linen bag, and hung on the top of the cask so as to reach the liquor, not only for recovering sour beer, but preserving and strengthening it. Beer tasting of the cask may be freed from it by putting a handful of wheat in a bag, and hanging it in the vessel.

BEERING'S or BEHRING'S ISLAND, an uninhabited island in the north Pacific Ocean, which has been considered by some as one of the Aleutian Isles. It was discovered by Captain Beering, a Danish navigator, in the service of Russia, who, according to instructions communicated by Peter I. on his death bed, set out on this expedition with two vessels, named the St. Peter and St. Paul, the former commanded by himself, and the latter by Captain Tscherikof. Pursuing their navigation, they were at length driven by the winds and seas on this island, with the position of which, with regard to the two continents, they were unacquainted, and here the ship was cast away. On the 8th of December, Beering died on this island, which has very properly assumed