mass. They arose, no doubt, from the burning of small portions of

iron.

The effect of so much stirring as I have noted down, does not require to be explained.

The workman was clearly of opinion, that the fermentation of hard or white crude iron is less than of grey in this process; a fact which perfectly coincides with the preceding observations, since that species contains less plumbago, or in other words, less matter fit to produce elastic fluids.

In order to prove the extrication of fixed air, during the fermentation of the metal, I once thought of introducing lime-water in an iron vessel within the body of the furnace; but when I considered that the fire-place was not divided by any partition from the body of the furnace, and that the whole building was full of burned air, I omitted the experiment, from a persuasion that, even if the lime-water should become turbid, the fixed air might come from another source.

I was not unmindful of the sulphur which exists, as I have reason to believe, in every form of iron manufactured with coaks. I cannot, however, ascribe any of the effects I observed to its presence. There can be little doubt, that some portion was perpetually extricated with the inflammable air during the whole process; for on dissolving pieces of the stamped, or rather the rolled iron in weak muriatic acid, silver held in the extricated air was tarnished as much and as soon as by air from specimens taken out of the furnace at different times during the process. I could not but conclude, that the tarnishing matter came from the iron, when I found the air

from a solution of zinc in the same acid, incapable of producing the colour upon silver. The appearance, the want of a martial astringent taste, and the dissolving action of caustic alkali, led me to conclude, that the colour in each experiment with iron was derived from sulphur.

I leave it to the adherents of phlogiston to accommodate these phenomena to their doctrine; considering it, for my own part, as superfluous to bestow any further attention upon a system which, after a long discussion, has been fully refuted in all its modifications, and which indeed seems on the eve of being universally abandoned.

I have the honour to be, &c.
THOMAS BEddoes.

Account of the management and mode of preserving bees, to the best advantage for procuring honey; from the Transactions of the Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, vol. ix.

A

MONG the premiums for 1790, class 108, one is proposed for the most satisfactory account of managing and preserving bees, to the best advantage, for collecting honey.

If gentlemen would but ornament their gardens with so noble a piece of furniture as an apiary, properly situated and carefully managed, they might be furnished with the valuable article of honey, without adulteration, and also wholesome mead, little inferior to foreign wine.

Give me leave, gentlemen, to lay before you the method of managing my own bees, of which many ladies and gentlemen have been eye

witnesses,

witnesses, and have been served by me with as good honey as any in England.

In April 1789, I had twenty-one stocks of bees, all in good condition, and wanting no feeding; the spring being friendly, they began to swarm in the middle of May, and continued till the latter end of June; and at that time I had about fifty swarms, notwithstanding I endeavoured to prevent such an increase, by glassing them; but many of the stocks swarmed before the glasses or small hives were full, for the mothers of all the stocks bred a prodigious quantity of working bees, which was the reason of their swarm ing so many times. What I call a mother, most writers on bees call a queen; but I am clear that she is the mother of the whole empire or stock, and suffers none of the royal seed to live, except what are intended to go forth with the young swarm, and a sufficient quantity of drones, which are the males, and sit upon the eggs, as the mother lays them, in the cells prepared for that purpose; while the working bees continue their labour in gathe ring honey and wax. I have often seen the drones sit in a formal manner over the combs, where the brood is hatching, while the other bees were very busy at work.

What I mean by a stock of bees, is an united company, consisting of three sorts, viz. a mother, a great number of working bees, and some drones; and they are congregated within themselves by a strict union, and defend their hive or box from any molestation; for the working bees would instantly resent an injury, with the fury of their stings.

My own hives are made in the following manner; nine inches

deep, and fourteen diameter, containing each about five Winchester gallons, with a flat top, made of well-seasoned deal, an inch thick, four holes at the top, one exactly over the mouth of the hive, the other three in a right angle; viz. Take an inch centre-bit; make three holes as near as possible, so that you have but a small partition of wood between them; let them be made smooth and neat; then take a circular piece of half-inch broad, tack it over those holes which are made in the hive, and let them be made to fit so close that no moth can get in among the young bees; so that, when a swarm is put in one of these hives in May, or the beginning of June, and begins to fill the hive with combs, brood &c. which you may easily perceive, by means of small pieces of glass, three inches square, put in the back of the hive, to observe their operations, and the bees have filled their hive, and appear very busy at the mouth, open gently the hole on the top next the mouth, or rather right over the mouth, and place a proper glass over the hole, with proper sticks placed in the glass for the bees to hang their work upon; otherwise they would be a long time filling their glass, which if they kindly take to, they will fill in twelve or fourteen days.

But if your stock still increases, and, perhaps, lies out at the mouth of the hive, you must open a second hole at the top, and then a third, and so on to the fourth, if the bees increase, and continue to lie out at the mouth: and yet for all this, many of my hives have swarmed and left their glasses, &c. half full of honey.

Here give me leave to observe, that nature steps in to preserve the

bees

witnesses, and have been served by me with as good honey as any in England.

In April 1789, I had twenty-one stocks of bees, all in good condition, and wanting no feeding; the spring being friendly, they began to swarm in the middle of May, and continued till the latter end of June; and at that time I had about fifty swarms, notwithstanding I endeavoured to prevent such an increase, by glassing them; but many of the stocks swarmed before the glasses or small hives were full, for the mothers of all the stocks bred a prodigious quantity of working bees, which was the reason of their swarming so many times. What I call a mother, most writers on bees call a queen; but I am clear that she is the mother of the whole empire or stock, and suffers none of the royal seed to live, except what are intended to go forth with the young swarm, and a sufficient quantity of drones, which are the males, and sit upon the eggs, as the mother lays them, in the cells prepared for that purpose; while the working bees continue their labour in gathe ring honey and wax. I have often seen the drones sit in a formal manner over the combs, where the brood is hatching, while the other bees were very busy at work.

What I mean by a stock of bees, is an united company, consisting of three sorts, viz. a mother, a great number of working bees, and some drones; and they are congregated within themselves by a strict union, and defend their hive or box from any molestation; for the working bees would instantly resent an injury, with the fury of their stings.

My own hives are made in the following manner; nine inches

deep, and fourteen diameter, containing each about five Winchester gallons, with a flat top, made of well-seasoned deal, an inch thick, four holes at the top, one exactly over the mouth of the hive, the other three in a right angle; viz. Take an inch centre-bit; make three holes as near as possible, so that you have but a small partition of wood between them; let them be made smooth and neat; then take a circular piece of half-inch broad, tack it over those holes which are made in the hive, and let them be made to fit so close that no moth can get in among the young bees; so that, when a swarm is put in one of these hives in May, or the beginning of June, and begins to fill the hive with combs, brood &c. which you may easily perceive, by means of small pieces of glass, three inches square, put in the back of the hive, to observe their operations, and the bees have filled their hive, and appear very busy at the mouth, open gently the hole on the top next the mouth, or rather right over the mouth, and place a proper glass over the hole, with proper sticks placed in the glass for the bees to hang their work upon; otherwise they would be a long time filling their glass, which if they kindly take to, they will fill in twelve or fourteen days.

But if your stock still increases, and, perhaps, lies out at the mouth of the hive, you must open a second hole at the top, and then a third, and so on to the fourth, if the bees increase, and continue to lie out at the mouth: and yet for all this, many of my hives have swarmed and left their glasses, &c. half full of honey.

Here give me leave to observe, that nature steps in to preserve the

bees

bees, when all other efforts are ineffectual. The bees have swarmed, settled on a bush, or about a tree, where there is no hope of their living without being hived; as they have left a good home, well stored with honey, and settled where there is none, and where they cannot make any. This has been the case last summer: for the mothers of the bees, through the kindliness of the season, have bred great quantities, so that we had a great many poor stocks that wanted feeding in the months of October and April.

This summer, many complain of having what they call bad luck with their bees, and say honey will be scarce; but, thank God, out of seventy-six or seventy-seven hives, I have had as follows;

This I call a good year, though some have been better. Ihave also furnished many gentlemen and ladies apiaries with bees, and have now thirty-seven good stocks for next season, besides an increase of sixteen stocks, and the honey above mentioned. My bees are, for the most part, well situated for collecting honey, and also for swarming, viz. in the parishes of Isleworth and Twickenham, in Middlesex.

I never intend to prevent my bees from swarming, but leave them at liberty to swarm, or not to swarm. Those stocks, the mothers of which do not breed so fast as others, of course cannot swarm so early; therefore I put on them glasses, or small hives: if the stocks so glassed

keep working without swarming you most likely will get sixteen or seventeen pounds of honey in a month's time, and save all the bees alive; and such a stock will, except by accident, make a good stock next season.

My hives, made as before described, have a board at the top, seventeen inches wide, that is a full inch wider than the outside of the hive, that one may stand on another; and thus you may make complete colonies of bees with a small expence, for three hives make a complete colony.

When hives are

made in this manner, they cost but 12s. but in Octagon boxes, 11. 10s.

I much prefer straw hives, well made, to wooden ones, because the joints of the wood often give way, by being exposed to the weather and the sweat of the bees; and the moth-fly (the greatest enemy they have) gets in and lays her eggs in the comb, and the warmth of the bees hatches them to their own destruction; therefore straw hives are preferable, as well as cheaper than wood.

My method of managing straw hives is thus: when I make use of an old straw hive, I dip it into a copper of boiling water, so that, if there should be any moths eggs, they must be destroyed; but I let the hive be perfectly dry, before I use it.

Hives should be well made, and closely sewed together; but many are sold not worth using.

The best situation for the houses is a little to the west of the south; for the sun shining into the mouth of the hive too early, calls the bees abroad before the coldstream is exhaled from the flowers, and the vernal juice turned into honey: but