copulation as some affirme and as may be without contradiction to the former opinion being thereby made able to spat or cast their brood I could like of their opinions which hold the Drones to be the Males Because ail experience doth teach that never any Bees were or can be without Drones and therefore without all doubt nature hath created them for some principall use and I nor no man can perceive any greater then this or as almost fit for little or nothing else Petralba If that were so I me thinke there should then be as many Drones as Bees and againe the Bees would not kill them because we doe not read of any other creature that the Males are killed by the Females Tortona You must not thinke that I would certainely affirme that which so many learned men have but gessed at yet by way of reasoning I may thus much say in answer of your obiection We see that many creatures doe increase best when there are but a few Males amongst them in comparison of the Females as Kyne Sheepe Coneyes and many others and although the Females of these kinds cannot of will not kill their Males themselues yet who knoweth whether this be not a peculiar property in the Bees or no when they find themselues to be surcharged with them And this is most certaine that the Bees never fall to killing of their Drones untill breeding time be almost out for that yeere Petralba How long is it ere the spat or brood of the Bees will come to perfection and be ready to gather Tortona Most of the ancient writers doe hold that from the first calling of their spat to the comming forth of the same it is forty and fiue dayes But Mr. Southerne affirmeth that they bring forth their brood in fifteen dayes at the most Yet notwithstanding Mr. Southernes supposed reasons to the contrary I rather yeeld to the former opinion as most probable by farre in my conceit Petralba I pray you what are his reasons that he aleadgeth against so many great and ancient learned men Tortona He alleadgeth two but the former of them he answereth himselfe namely that an old stocke after it hath cast a swarme within nine dayes hath cast another but this faieth he may be alleadged to be of the remnant of the other or else some that then were almost ready to flye and I say that this allegation is true or I have of ten seene a hive cast a swarme and within foure dayes cast another His other reason is that he hath had a swarme put into a new hive which hath swarmed againe within fifteene dayes after and therefore hee concludeth that these must needs be bred since their putting into that hive Petralba His first reason I confesse it is but weake but how doe you answer this last Tortona For answer of the other I said that no greater proofe then he alleadgeth cannot in my conceit weigh downe the long observations and reputations of so many learned men concurring in one opinion whereof no doubt some of them might and did make tryall But to let them passe I hold that a great swarme having laboured 15 dayes in which time about the begin of Iuly they might almost fill the hive with waxe and some honey and also haue left good store behind them of spat may swarme out more then halfe the Bees which will be a pretty swarme and yet leaue some store behind in the hive to maintaine their spat and also to labour untill the other be ready as my selfe haue seene the like Neverthelesse when such a thing happeneth it is as I thinke upon some fault in the hive or other dislike and will put the same in danger to dye the next winter as himselfe confesseth which could not be if all the old store remain'd behind who were able wel to maintain the hive But in very truth whosoeuer shall obserue the manner of their breeding must needs confesse that they cannot bring forth in fifteen dayes nor neere unto it as Mr. Southern conceiteth for when Bees first cast their spat it is as small almost as a little fly-blow then it encreaseth to the fashion of a worme and will be quick and dieth again lastly it obtaineth the form of a Bee some good time before it come to perfection whose continuance is so much that by mine owne experience I dare affirme that Mr. Southern is mistaken in this matter Petralba Although this should be granted that you say yet how should they do for another master Bee to go out with the swarme or else to remaine behind in the hive Tortona I do not take it for certain that there is but one master Bee to a hive or swarme for some hold there are to euery one two and some more and yet peraduenture the multitude of master Bees in that swarme may be one principall cause to make it swarme againe for it is an extraordinary matter to haue a swarm cast a swarm againe especially so soone as Mr. Southern speaketh of namely within fifteen dayes yet I confesse I haue seene the like by a great and forward swarm or when two haue gone together of their own accord betimes in the yeere Petralba But how do you know that the swarm that it cast was not of a new increase Tortona Besides the reasons that I haue alleaged this also may bee added for that in the like case a man shall perceiue but a few Bees to be left behinde for they will work much more slowly vntill the time come to bring forth their brood and then they will bee full again as before which would not be perceiued if the old Bees had been all left behinde Petralba What part of the yeere do you take to bee the principall time of their breeding Tortona They will breed or spat from Aprill vntill it be mid September but the principall time I take to be between mid Aprill and mid Iuly for between those times if you driue any hiue you shall euer finde great store of spat and yong Bees and yet aswarm will breed very much euen vntill the end of August Petralba Here commeth to my remembrance a question which I purposed ere this to haue propounded vnto you I beleeue you haue heard it to go for a common receiued opinion that Bees after they haue lost their sting by stinging of any thing will bee Drones which Mr. Southern seemeth to scoffe at I pray you what think you concerning that matter Tortona I am fully of Mr. Southerns opinion for that because what Bee soeuer hath lost her sting shall lose her life also within a short time after as losing some part of her intrals withall for Drones are bred as other Bees are as any man that driueth a hive shall well know the Drone spat by the bignesse thereof before it come to any perfection Petralba Well Sir now I pray you let mee haue your opinion concerning the King or master Bee first for his quanity and form for
hive so that they would be in danger to die although they should not be driuen and especially if they be of any great age Petralba How long do you think the Bees in a hive will continue and live if they should not bee driven at all but to let them alone as long as they live Tortona How long the Bees in a hive will continue and live I hold a very vncertaine thing to affirme although I know that many haue set down their opinions concerning the same with great variety and weaknesse of judgement which I list not to stand about to confute nor do I think it necessary Only this I say that no man can judge by the time a Bee will liue although the time were certainly known which I think no man can iustly determine how long a hive will continue with Bees in it because all experience doth teach that Bees are every yeere daily renewed in the summer time and yet this is the rule they pretend to go by But I think rather that this thing must bee known by the time that Bees will like and prosper in a hive amongst their old combes which with continuance will as I sayd before become black and unsavory and that will bee sooner or later as the Bees stand to health and the yeeres happen to proue good or euill for them And therefore I would aduise no man to make triall of this matter except hee like better of curiosity than profit My selfe do not ordinarily suffer any to stand above three foure or fiue yeares at the most for if I see a hive like well and that doth cast me a swarm euery yeere I let it stand the longer whereas otherwise I driue it the sooner especially if it cast mee no swarm in the two first yeeres But then I onely change it into another hiue about the beginning of Iuly and saue the Bees to see if they will doe better in another hiue Petralba Mr. Googe doth keepe a great adoe concerning the gelding of Bees as he calleth it and the proportion that he thinketh fit to leaue in the hiues for the Bees And I conceiue his meaning to be to take from every hiue some part and to leaue them sufficient to keepe them in the winter and so by this meanes doth not altogether driue or kill any at all If it will performe that it seemeth to me to be a very good way yet doe I not remember that ever I haue hard it so much as spoken of in this Country what doe you thinke of it Tortona Marry Sir I thinke it a very good way for those that are willing to be rid of their Bees For let any man that hath beene accustomed amongst Bees consider how this thing can be done without great trouble hurt or danger to the Bees and also much losse of their honey And therefore I neuer knew any so absurd to practise that way that ever I could heare of for which cause I will not trouble my selfe to confute it as palpable enough to all men of any understanding or knowledge Petralba In what manner doe you use your Bees when you drive them doe you burne them or drowne them For I haue heard of some that use the one way and some the other but whether is best I know not Tortona I make no great difference betweene the one way or the other whether is the better But my manner of driving my hiues and killing of my Bees is in this sort When I purpose to driue any hiue I take an empty hive and sticke it like as I haue taught to put in aswarme and then with a sheete put about it and the hiue I purpose to driue using it as the common manner is in driving of hives The order and manner whereof is so well knowne almost to every man that I shall not need as I thinke to make any further speech thereof But when I haue driven the Bees as cleane as I can out of the Hiue where they were into the empty one I set up the same in the place where the other hive stood untill it be good and late in the night and that I have taken the honey out of the hive that I haue driven by which time the Bees will all be gone close up together into the top of the hiue Then I take it from the place againe gently and carry it to some plaine place made of purpose and with my hand stampe the hiue hard upon the place and so all the Bees will fall out Then have I ready a broad board which I presently lay upon them and tread upon it and so presently kill them all that none escape whereas in the burning or drowning of them or any other way that ever I could see many get away and trouble the rest of the Bees Petralba I thinke it is not good to drive any hiues untill night because of troubling the Bees and to auoyd the danger of stinging which must needs happen in the day time Tortona For mine owne part I seldome or never driue any untill somewhat late in the euening Yet I haue seene some drive hives at noone day and when it is rainy it may reasonably well bee done yet as I said I doe hold the euening best and least troublesome And when I drive three or foure in a night as sometimes I doe it is but sitting up so much the longer Petralba When you driue such hiues as are hoysted and raised up with Bricke-bats or such other things which of necessity you must take away when you driue them how doe you make the hives agree and fit well together that the Bees may goe well out of the one hiue into the other because the Combes will be longer than the lower part of the hiue and therefore it cannot come neere or goe close to the other hiue Tortona For the avoiding of that inconvenience which will be troublesome I confesse you must do thus Let your hive into which you will driue your Bees be somewhat broader than the Hive you drive and then the ends of the Combes will goe into it and you shall driue the Bees into it without any trouble or inconvenience at all more than if the hiue were not hoysted at all Petralba After what manner doe you order your honey for if I be not deceived I haue seene much better hony in some places than in other some But whether the cause hath beene in the using of it in the difference of the place where it was gathered or in the goodnesse or badnesse of the yeere wherein it was gathered that I was not able to determine Tortona Without all doubt any of these three causes may worke some effect in the goodnesse of honey Yet doe I hold the well ordering of it to be a great and principall cause to have good honey for it may bee spoyled at the first taking of it out of the Hiue or afterwards in the euill keeping thereof You see what manner of honey
order page 51 Cucumbers hurtfull to Bees page 57 D Driving of Hives how when and the use 39.41.42.47 the benefits 43. choyce of stockes to drive 44. avoyding inconveniences in driving page 49 Droanes whether to be killed how and when 43. their iniurie page 41 Dung hurtfull to trees page 54 E Elme hurtfull to Bees page 57 F Feeding of Bees page 14 G Googe confuted page 47 Guelding of Bees page 47 H Hils opinion for killing of Droanes page 35 Hives how to be placed 6.8 the dawbing of Hives ibid. hurts in setting Hives too close 7. the choyce 16.17.18 Hives must not be too broad 18. the trimming of Hives 19. anoynting 20. what Hives have most store of Honey page 45 Honey when most plentifull 26. how to order it page 49 Hoysting of Bees page 33.34 I Iramboys good for Bees page 55 L Lavender good for Bees page 57 Lisimachus good for Bees page 57 M Mallowes good for Bees page 57 Mault good for Bees page 20 Mayweed hurtfull for Bees page 57 Mellilot good for Bees page 57 Mice enemies to Bees page 68 Moathes enemies to Bees page 44 O Olibanum good for Bees page 15 P Pallatilla good for Bees page 55 Peach trees good for Bees page 53 Pease good for Bees page 20 Plants good and hurtfull for Bees page 52 Plinie of the nature of Bees page 59 Plumb trees good for Bees page 53 Ponds how hurtfull page 8 Primrose good for Bees page 56 R Rapes good for Bees page 55 Raspis good for Bees page 55 Removing of Bees 4.12 observations in removing ibid. the time of the yeare ibid. how they should stand page 5 Rivers how hurtfull page 8 Rosemary good for Bees page 54 S Sage good for Bees page 57 Sallow good for Bees page 56 Sarazanica good for Bees page 57 Snayles enemies to Bees page 6 Solidago good for Bees Southernes way of Coating of Hyves page 10 Spat of Bees page 62 Spiders enemies to Bees page 44 Spurge hurtfull to Bees page 57 Stecados good for Bees page 57 Sticking of Hives page 19 Swarmes when to be attended page 21 how ordered 22. that but one swarme rise at one time 24. whether many swarmes from one Hyve 25. in what season they swarme most ibid. putting divers swarmes in one Hive and how 27. when Bees will swarme 30. to hinder Bees from swarming 32.33 how long swarmes may rise without danger 36. what swarmes to save page 1 Thime good for Bees page 57 Toades hurtfull to Bees page 8 Trees good and hurtfull for Bees page 52 Trimming of Hives page 19 Turneps good for Bees page 55 V Violets good for Bees page 56 Virgil on the Master Bee page 66 W Waxe how to order page 51 Westerne honey not good page 49 Wicker Hives page 18 Winde and weather how to defend Bees from them page 9 Woade hurtfull to Bees page 57 Wormes hurtfull to Bees page 8.44 Wormewood hurtfull to Bees page 57 Y Yewe tree hurtfull to Bees page 57 FINIS A DIALOGVE CONCERNING THE ORDERING OF BEES Tortona Petralba TOrtona Well met good neighbour Petralba but whether away so fast man thus early in the morning I suppose your businesse is important you make so much haste Petralba O I cry you mercy Sir I saw you not before you spake in good sooth I was even comming to you my friend and kinsman that was Philippo Ambrosia having as you know made me his Executor amongst some other things hath left me some eight or tenne Hyves of Bees which at the first I made small account of but after my businesse of greater regard was over I beganne to looke over his Bookes amongst which I found these discourses or Pamphlets concerning the ordering of Bees whereupon I began not onely to consider the profit reported to arise and come of them but also to take especiall delight as well in their order and government resembling the forme if they report the truth of a most exquisite and well governed Common-wealth as also admired their notable arte and industry in framing of their combes gathering of their honey and other labours and great travailes to maintaine and preserve themselues and their Brood Tortona Good neighbour Petralba there is no man more welcome unto mee then your selfe and I am very glad that any cause hath made you to take pleasure and delight in Bees because my selfe as you know doe also the same For by this meanes I shall have a companion to converse withall for according to the old Proverbe simile simili gaudet and that may-communicate with me in the same pleasures and so make them the more delightsome unto mee which for want of conference with such as take pleasure in the same seeme often wearisome and irkesome unto me And to talke of Bees to those that love them not is like musicke out of tune or a pleasant tale told to the sorrowfull But wherefore doe you bring your Bookes with you Petralba Marry Sir although my Bookes have stirred up in me some affection towards Bees as before I said and have some what informed me of the manner how to use them at the least in my conceit yet knowing your great practice and long experience amongst Bees with the plentifull increase and profit that I suppose you make of them by that little that I have read of the profit of Bees I made bold to conferre with you first before I put in practice any of those preceps that are taught in these my bookes and for that cause I have not stirred nor meddled with them as yet untill I might perceive how your opinion agreed with their writings or dissented from the same and this was the cause that I brought my bookes with me Againe my purpose is shortly to remove them to mine owne house if you thinke the time fit and convenient for the same Tortona Concerning the time fit for their remove I will tell you my opinion hereafter but first let me know whose works those bookes are that you have brought with you Petralba The one is that which we commonly call Googe his husbandry who amongst many other precepts of husbandry concludeth his worke with a Dialogue of the ordering of Bees the other is a Pamphlet set forth by one Master Southerne to the same purpose I have also seene a booke called the Country Farme lately set forth wherein also there is somewhat said concerning this matter I make no doubt but you have seene them all Tortona Yea verily I doe know them well the first of them is principally a short collection gathered out of the works of sundry learned men that have long since written of Bees as Aristotle Virgil Varro Pliny Celsus Collumella Didmus Dionysius Thaseus and others rather then any great knowledge or experience that himselfe seemeth to have had in the ordering of Bees But the other is onely certaine practises and experiments gathered by his owne observations by long keeping of Bees as himselfe confesseth Both which workes no doubt are worthy of
not hive their swarmes untill late in the euening and me think it should bee a very good way for at that time there is not so much danger of stinging as in the heat of the day as also they will bee then hived very quietly Tortona By that meanes they are in danger to lose many swarmes for I haue many times seene swarmes that haue setled themselues very well and within an houre or two after for want of hiving haue gone back againe to the hive from whence they came yea and sometimes haue taken their flight cleane away which might haue been preuented in time if they had presently been hived Again where there are store of Bees there will somtimes happen three foure or fiue swarmes in a day and within a very small time one of another if they should not bee hived soon after they are setled they would go all or the most part of them together which sometimes can hardly bee preuented do the best a man can Petralba But all this while I heare you speak nothing of the ringing of basons or such like which I haue often heard when a swarme is up or in rising it seemeth you are of Mr. Southerns mind in that thing for hee seemeth to mislike it much Tortona Yea verily for it is a very ridiculous toy and most absurd inuention and I assure you if it worketh any effect it is rather hurtfull than profitable to the Bees For as I said before all great noise doth undoubtedly disquiet and hurt them and so farre am I from thinking that it will hinder them from flying away that I verily beleeue it may be a principall cause to make them go away the rather besides other hurt in disquieting of them which maketh them fierce and waspish for my selfe haue had aboue forty swarmes in a yeere and haue not lost one of them when my neighbours having a farre lesse number and using this kinde of ringing and jangling yet haue lost diuers Petralba I heard you say that when diuers swarmes arise together or presently one after another namely before the other be hived that it is ods but they will go together what meanes haue you to preuent that Tortona The best way is not to suffer two or more swarmes to arise together and that is done in this manner as soone as one swarme is risen or rising mark well your other hives and if you see any begin to swarme take a table napkin or other cleane linnen cloth and stop up the mouth or hole of the hive as close as may be laying a brickbat or stone upon it untill the other swarme bee put into the hive and all quiet then pull away the cloth and it will presently swarme or within a very short time after And thus may you let them out one after another at your pleasure though you have halfe a dozen that will swarm in a day And if you use not this meanes when one swarm ariseth before the former is cleane hived you may do thus for if two rise together there is no help except they part of themselves which is very rare But in the other case when you see the latter swarm go to the former and are almost lighted about and upon the hive and that there is a good part of the former swarm gone into the hive take that hive cleane away as secretly as you can and carry it some eight or ten rods from that place at the least first hauing set an empty hive where it stood and often times I have seene the latter swarm go quietly into it and haue both done very well yet sometimes they will finde out one another and go together do what you can And that I take to be when all the master Bees happen to go into one hive so that the other hive hath none without whom as I think they cannot liue and prosper but of that I will speak elsewhere when I shall declare the manner of breeding and gouernment of Bees Petralba Mr. Southern seemeth to mislike the hauing many swarmes of one hive what say you to that Tortona That hive which hath cast mee one good swarm I acknowledge to haue done well for that yeere yet although it yeeld me another the stock may do well enough but the last swarm is in hazard except it happen soone but if a stock swarm three or foure swarmes in a yeere as somtimes I haue seene both the stock and the latter swarmes are all in great danger to die the next winter except you put two or three such swarmes together and for the stock the best way is to driue it at Bartholomew tide for in moyst summers you shall haue some hives will almost swarm out all their Bees as my selfe haue had Petralba Will Bees swarm most in moyst and wet summers Tortona Yea without all question and thereof commeth that prouerb that in moyst yeeres there is plenty of Bees and in dry yeares plenty of hony yet may there be good store of both in one and the same yeere for if May and Iune prove stormy you shall haue plenty of swarmes and if Iuly proue dry you shall haue good store of hony Petralba What doe you thinke should be the reason of this Tortona Experience doth proue it to be so yet I take the reason to be for that the Bees both spat faster and preserve and nourish their brood the better by the moysture that falleth in those times which in dry weather they cannot so well get except such as is in part corrupted being mixed with other waters And this I take to be the cause that Bees will come abroad so fast presently after a storme of raine and againe want of raine and dewes at that time of the yeere maketh them to loose their brood as I have before declared Now for honey it is out of all doubt that there is never any store untill Iuly or towards the latter part of Iune and without question drie weather is best for that Because it is nothing else but a gummy and thicke dew made by the influence of the Starres or rather caused by the providence of the divine power for the profit and delight of man falling from heauen at that time of the yeere being digested and made perfect by the nature of the Bees created for that purpose which stormes and raine will dissolue and wash cleane away And this is so apparent that every man of any observation may manifestly perceiue For when there is greatest store of honey so that it is sensibly to be felt upon leaves and flowers if there happen any great storme or raine of any continuance presently after there will bee no such thing perceived but it will be cleane gon and washed away Againe marke the Bees when they gather honey fastest as may be perceived easily in the morning by a deaw and moysture that will bee at the mouth of the Hive and also by the great smell of honey if you come neere in the