CHAPTER XIX.. Uniting Swarms or Stocks.

UNITING SWARMS OR STOCKS.

The union of swarms with their stocks, and of swarms or stocks with each other, in case of their being or becoming weak, has been attempted in various ways, and with various success, depending perhaps, in some degree, upon the skill and adroitness of the operator. Upon the storifying plan this operation will rarely be necessary, excepting in the case of weak stocks, as it is not a very common occurrence for storified bees to swarm, and when they do so, they generally throw off strong swarms. Still the object may occasionally be desirable, and it is worthy of attention, for the tenants of well filled hives are always the most active.

The three usual methods by which union has been attempted, and indeed their advocates say, accomplished, are fuming them, immersing them in water, and aspersing them with sugared or honeyed ale. To these I may add a fourth, namely operating upon their fears, by confining them for a time, and then alarming them by drumming smartly upon the outside of their domicile. It was operating on their fears that enabled Wildman to perform such extraordinary feats with bees. When under a strong impression of fear, says he, they are rendered subservient to our wills, to such a degree as to remain long attached to any place they afterwards settle upon, and will become so mild and tractable, as to bear any handling which does not hurt them, without the least show of resentment. "Long experience has taught me, that as soon as I turn up a hive, and give some taps on the sides and bottom, the queen immediately appears." "Being accustomed to see her, I readily perceive her at the first glance; and long practice has enabled me to seize her instantly, with a tenderness that does not in the least endanger her person." "Being possessed of her, I can, without exciting any resentment, slip her into my other hand, and returning the hive to its place, hold her, till the bees missing her, are all on the wing, and in the utmost confusion." When in this state, he could make them alight wherever he pleased; for on whatever spot he placed the queen, the moment a few of them discovered her, the information was rapidly communicated to the rest, who in a few minutes were all collected round her. In this way he would sometimes cause them to settle on his head, or to hang clustered from his chin, in which state they somewhat resembled a beard. Again he would transfer them to his hand, or to any other part of his body, or if more agreeable to the spectators before whom he exhibited, he would cause them to settle upon a table, window, &c. Prior to making his secret generally known, he deceived his spectators by using words of command; but the only magic that he employed was the summoning into activity for his purpose the strong attachment of the bees to their queen.

"Such was the spell, which round a Wildman's arm Twin'd in dark wreaths the fascinated swarm; Bright o'er his breast the glittering legions led, Or with a living garland bound his head. His dextrous hand, with firm yet hurtless hold. Could seize the chief, known by her scales of gold. Prune, 'mid the wondering train, her filmy wing. Or, o'er her folds, the silken fetter fling."

+Evans.+

Cautioning his readers as to the hazard of attempting, what he himself accomplished only by long experience and great dexterity, Wildman concludes his account with a parody of the reply of C. Furius Cresinus, a liberated Roman slave, who, being accused of witchcraft in consequence of his raising more abundant crops than his neighbours, and therefore cited before a Roman tribunal, produced his strong implements of husbandry, his well-fed oxen, and a hale young woman his daughter; and pointing to them, said, "These, Romans! are my instruments of witchcraft; but I cannot show you my toil, my sweats, and anxious cares." "So," says Wildman, "may I say, These, Britons! are my instruments of witchcraft; but I cannot show you my hours of attention to this subject, my anxiety and care for these useful insects; nor can I communicate to you my experience, acquired during a course of years."

The neatest and most scientific mode with which I am acquainted of uniting weak families together in harmony was invented by my friend The +Rev. Richard Walond+, whom I had occasion to mention in a former chapter, and whose experience in the management of bees, for nearly half a century, entitle his opinions concerning them to great respect. His theory and practice upon this subject are as follow. Bees, says he, emit a peculiar odour, and it is by no means improbable that every family of bees emits an odour peculiar to itself: if so, as their vision seems to be imperfect, and their smell acute, it may be by this distinctive and peculiar odour that they are enabled to discriminate betwixt the individuals of their own family and those of a stranger hive. Upon this supposition, if the odours of two separate stocks or swarms can be so blended as to make them completely merge into each other, there will then probably be no difficulty in effecting the union of any two families that it may be desirable to unite. To accomplish this end therefore, Mr. Walond had recourse to a very ingenious contrivance: he procured a plate of tin, the size of a divider, and thickly perforated with holes, about the size of those in a coarse nutmeg-grater. Having confined in their respective hives or boxes, the two families to be united, and placed them over each other, with only a divider between them; he introduced his perforated tin plate upon the divider, which was then withdrawn. Immediately the bees began to cluster with hostile intentions, one family clinging to the upper, the other to the under side of the perforated plate; when after remaining in this state for about twenty-four hours, they had so far communicated to each other their respective effluvia, and so completely commixed were the odours in both hives, that on withdrawing the perforated plate, the bees mingled together as one family, no disturbance being excited, but such as arose from the presence of two queens, the custom being always, in such case, to dethrone one of them. According to Huber this is effected by single combat between the queens: which subject will be adverted to in a future chapter. +Keys+ has observed that these incorporations seldom turn to account unless they be effected in summer; and when it is considered that the principal gathering months are May and June, (excepting in those neighbourhoods that abound in lime, sycamore, and other trees that are apt to be affected with honey-dew,) we cannot, of course, expect them to be very successful. I have entered fully into this subject, when speaking of early and late swarms, page 115.

To obviate the consequences there apprehended, some apiarians have had recourse to the practice of removing their bees to fresh pasture; to districts where buckwheat is cultivated, or to the neighbourhood of heaths, or to any other place where such late blossoming flowers abound as afford honey. Mr. +Isaac+ assures us that he once had a poor swarm of a month's standing, which only weighed five pounds four ounces, and that on the 30th of July he had it removed to Dartmoor Heath, from whence it was brought home, two months afterwards, increased in weight twenty-four pounds and a half. He moreover states that the increase of others, that were sent there, was nearly proportional, and is of opinion that the whole addition was made during the month of August.

In +Lower Egypt+, where the flower harvest is not so early as in the upper districts of that country, this practice of transportation is carried on to a considerable extent. The hives after being collected together from the different villages, and conveyed up the Nile marked and numbered by the individuals to whom they belong, are heaped pyramidally upon the boats prepared to receive them, which floating gradually down the river and stopping at certain stages of their passage, remain there a longer or shorter time, according to the produce which is afforded by the surrounding country. "After traveling three months in this manner, the bees, having culled the perfumes of the orange flowers of the Said, the essence of roses of the Faicum, the treasures of the Arabian jessamine, and a variety of flowers, are brought back to the places from which they had been carried. This industry procures, for the Egyptians, delicious honey, and abundance of bees-wax. The proprietors, in return, pay the boatmen a recompence proportioned to the number of hives which have been thus carried about from one extremity of Egypt to the other." +Latreille+ states that between Cairo and Damietta a convoy of 4000 hives were seen upon the Nile by +Niebuhr+, on their transit from the upper to the lower districts of that country. Floating bee-hives were formerly common also in +France+. One barge was capable of containing from 60 to 100 hives, which, floating gently down their rivers, enabled the bees to gather the honey which is afforded by the flowers on their banks. +Reaumur+ likewise states it to have been the practice in some districts to transport them with similar views, by land, in vehicles contrived for the purpose. In +Savoy+, +Piedmont+, and other parts of +Italy+, the practice is also common. It is indeed of very ancient origin. Columella speaks of it as a very general custom among the Greeks, who used annually to send their bee-hives from Achaia into Attica.

These, however, are advantages which very few situations can afford; probably but few of my readers may reside in the neighbourhood of heaths, and still fewer may be disposed to incur the trouble and expense of removal. If therefore incorporation be desirable in any particular case, I can only recommend that attention be paid to feeding the bees with sugared ale; by the assistance of which, indeed, I should not be afraid of carrying, even a weak stock, very safely through the winter and early spring. "Give your bees," says Mr. Isaac, "two harvests in one summer" (alluding to the practice of transportation), "and you may make almost any swarm rich enough to live through the following winter." This second harvest may be very efficiently supplied by an attention to feeding, during mild weather in winter, and particularly in the early spring,--for the management of which, see, Chap. XXIII. on Feeding.