cannot tell when they have enough Now after the robbers are thus gone out of your stocke as I have before shewed looke in and see if there be left Bees enow to live shut them in close in the day time for a day two or three and let them out about sun-set to take aire If your stocks be full lay in three or foure little hollow kiskes or quills to let in aire else the full Hives will stifle yet they must bee so little that a Bee get not through but if all or the most part of your Bees bee gone if there be not above an handfull of Bees left then take away the stocke quite and save the hony Better is it to doe so than lose it for want of Bees to defend it Trie often whether your stocks want Bees Now in these robbing times you must try your stocks often whether they want Bees or not which you may doe by looking in morning and evening or by knocking on the side with a phillip of your finger if there bee store they will rush a prety while if few they will give a little quick sound by which you may perceive their quantitie Bees come to decay and be lost many wayes as in boisterous windes or by faintnesse by robbers and fighting by rotten combs or dead brood How you may keepe them in heart and vigour Take out the rotten combs and dead Brood I have already shewed I shall now shew you how to take off rotten combs and to take out dead brood or any other putrefaction You shall know when there is dead brood or other putrefaction by lifting them a little up on one side when it is darke and put your nose toward the worke and so shall you find an ill favour then in an evening you may still the Bees and take it out That you may still your Bees doe thus Take a coale of fire and neere the Hive kindle a little dry straw and cast upon it a little muck or green weeds to keepe it from flaming and to raise smoake then take the infected Hive How to still Bees and hold it over the smoak two or three turnes a little while and the Bees will runne up to the top of the Hive then turne up the Hive and you may see and smell where the dead brood or other putrefaction lieth Some putrefaction sticks fast in the cells or holes and is of a brown or deepe yellowish colour which should have been brood but came not to perfection Other putrefaction looketh somewhat white and was a brood but afterward tooke cold and so was chill'd and perished before it came to maturity and so turned to putrefaction and you may discerne it by thrusting your knife into the cells if otherwise you cannot see it and it is easie to discerne the hony from the putrefaction If the Bees stir while you are doing it quiet them with smoake and so drive them up againe and then take and cut out so much worke as you find infected When there is but little they can bring it out themselves but being much it will trouble them much and be long in doing or else it will taint and stench them up and make them die or leave their Hives The reason why smoake rules them Now the reason why smoake feares them and offends them so much is because of the quicknesse of their sight and smelling but let it be quickly done and away and then they are quickly pleased and come to themselves againe but to stand continually in a smoakie or bad aire they will not thrive therefore set them not neare a Kiln or any noisome aire or where smoake may beat downe upon them As concerning rotten or decaied worke you may know it by feeling it is crispy and of an ash colour and without any clamminesse or wax in it This you must cut off as high as it goeth for they cannot work to it but must gnaw it off Blacknesse is no fault but commeth by the heat of the Bees and may endure long time notwithstanding And thus being carefull and diligent to keepe your Bees sound and in plight you may find by Gods blessing the profit of your labours in the thriving of your Bees CHAP. 7. Of swarming and hiving your Bees dressing the Hives and ordering the swarmes Swarming time IF the yeere prove warme and kindly not very wet nor very dry then may you expect swarmes in May therefore prepare your seates and Hives against that time If your Hives be old bee sure to aire them well in the Sunne but lay them to aire where Hens come not at them for Bees will not abide the sent of Hens If they bee new Hives How to dresse the hives remember to make them smooth and cleane as you can by cutting or pulling off the twigges or rinds which stick loose in the Hive for else the Bees will be troubled to pick it cleane Concerning the bignesse of your Hives you must fit them bigger or lesser according to the bignesse of your swarme or time of the yeere in forwardnesse or backwardnesse And rub your Hives with beane or oake or willow or other sweet leaves and then sticke the Hive with a sticke cleft in foure quarters and cleft to the upper end within an handfull and take off the edges making the stick smooth and flat then set it to the top of the Hive and plash it foure waies and sticke the lower ends fast into the Hive within sixe or eight inches of the bottome and being bent and so set they will sticke fast Also put two cleft sticks in the middle one crosse the other let the wood whereof they are made be either withie or hasell Then when your swarme is come sprinkle a little hony or other sweet thing as wort or sugar dissolved in faire water which will make them take the better liking of the Hive As soone as the swarme is setled The hiving of Bees goe presently to hive it for feare of rising or other comming to it If it knit or light on the body of a tree or on some stiffe thing that cannot bee shaken then with a neat little broome or little greene bough sweepe them into the Hive or with a thin slice of wood made smooth for the purpose strike them in gently or if you can come to set the Hive over them with greene twiggs move or stirre them to make them runne up into the Hive but if they hang on a bough or other place that may be shaken then put your Hive under them and shake them in and being high on a tree take a cleane linnen cloath upon your arme to cast over the Hive lest they flie out in bringing them downe and being come downe bee sure to have a board in readinesse to set them downe upon Then lay the Hive on the side and turne it up gently and cover the Hive all save one side with the cloth and that open side you must
ever the hony gathering failes in the fields the females kill the Drones or males or drive them out * Ignavum fucos pecus à praesepibus arcent and suffer none in winter Now whereas some stockes have so many Drones that the female Bees are long in killing them and so spend their precious time about that when as they would bee otherwise employed And whereas other stocks are so weake and poore that they are not able to kill them therefore I advise you at that time of the yeere to helpe your Bees in killing them which you may doe in this manner When and how to kill Drones In the heat of the day in August which is the usuall time when hony-gathering begins to faile then stand at the mouth of your Hives that are full of Drones and as they come out bruise some of them with your fingers on the stocks-mouth and make the hony come forth of them and leave them among the females and so will they sucke the hony out of them and fall to doe it themselves and kill their Drones But for the helpe of them that have many Drones Drone-pots Set these pots and stop them close to the Hive mouth in the heat of the day and are weake or few themselves and so cannot so well doe it for them provide drone-pots to doe it which pots are made of Osiars the twigges being set so close that the Drones cannot get out and yet wide enough for the females or Queen to goe through But because the catching in these pots doth trouble the Bees therefore I esteeme it the better way if you dare to kill them with your fingers Concerning the matter in which they blow or breed The matter in which they blow it is something that they gather of the flowers or plants and bring home and put it into the holes or cells of their combs and mixe it finely with a little water and then blow in it a small thing lesse than or as little as a flie-blote which comes to be as big as a great Maggot and coloureth browne and within eighteen or twenty one dayes as the weather is colder or hotter they come forth Note Heat brings forth in eighteen or twenty one daies that it is the heat of the Bees that brings the blote to maturitie as hens or fowles doe egges and herein the male hath his use also for he is very hot The place as I told you of blowing the males is in the midst of the combs and in small number the females round about them in exceeding greater number and the Queens on the edges of the combs in the midst and safest place of the Hive The males cell is bigger than the females and the Queenes cell bigger than the common Bees and farre thicker and stronger and but five six or seven in an Hive Whether the Queenes blow the Queenes I am not very certaine but I take it to be so Queenes blow Queenes because of the fairenesse and excellency of the creature and the difference that is betweene her and the common Bees But that there is any odds excellency or use of the males one above another I find not neither is there any other use of the males but for generation and breeding and helping to bring the brood to maturity and they are great eaters and labour not but play and sport in and out and take the aire when it is warme for their pleasure and so cleanse their bodies and back againe to eate and sleep a dainty life from which good Lord deliver me The manner of convaying seed The females receive seed from the Drones in Summer time after what manner I cannot well tell But there is in the hinder part of the male or Drone a little white thing like the instrument of generation take one of them alive and crush the body of it somewhat hard between your fingers and you shall see it put forth Also the females have neere their stings a little neat place of receit for generation but whether they receive the seed at the head or taile I am not certaine but if at the taile the females must needs hold their stings very close for if the males were prickt or venomed thereby common sense without reason would make them take heed of comming there againe which many reasonable creatures the more shame for them cannot doe The Queen being a female hath a sting in her taile but useth it not The beauty and use of the Queene it being onely for distinction of sex and ornament She is longer and somthing bigger than a common Bee much clearer and more beautifull and yellower under the belly and the legges She rules and governes all by commanders and in working time goeth from place to place in the Hive she hath a speciall guard about her of the fairest and most valorous Bees which alway attend her within and without especially when shee comes abroad And in swarming time you may in the heat of the day sometimes see her For a little before they swarme she will come abroad and flie about to take the aire and make her selfe fit to goe with the swarme and to harden her selfe for she is very tender and chilly The Queen is very choise and chilly and soone lost which done ruines the common-wealth by reason she comes seldome abroad There is one of them alwaies in the Hive both winter and summer and but one onely except it bee in swarming time For more than one the Commons will not endure and without one they cannot subsist but are distract disperst wander and worke not but come to nought and perish which is worthy our observation and may be holpen as I will shew hereafter Furthermore the Queenes are the calling Bees and are bred to goe forth one with every swarme and if two goe in a swarme then will there be a combustion among the commons and one will kill another striving which of those Queenes shall governe and so will fight till one of those Queene be killed which done they will bee all quiet and fall to worke This is worth the noting Therefore to remedy it How to make peace when there is variance about the Queene I take away one of the Queenes from such a swarme and put her into the old stocke againe for sometimes all the Queenes goe away with the swarmes and then the old stocke will perish Now in swarming time when they first begin to swarme there are 5 6 or 7. Queen-Bees more or lesse as they are prepared for swarming and they are all calling Bees and after the first swarme about ten dayes they call for a second and so continue in calling till they have done casting When they call Between the first and second swarmes commonly they stay twelve or foureteene dayes but for the second and third but a day or two if the weather hinder not Calling Bees The Queenes have severall notes and call
else you will put their worke out of order If you be driven to remove your stockes in warme weather you must remove them the space of a mile or two or else they will goe back to the place whence you did remove them and so many of them will bee lost and perish But swarmes are best to be removed as soone as they are hived for then they are unacquainted where they stand and there is nothing then in them which is apt to be bruised or to take harme Where and how to place your Bees after you have removed them Now when you have them let them be set in the best place you have where they may have a pretty faire flight and in a sweet aire and the ground made cleane before them the grasse kept cut or the ground hard and swept sometimes Also not neere any deepe water by the space of ten or twelve score paces if you can avoid it for the winde will beat them downe and drowne them The seat The best seat or stoole for them is a round board or stone fit to the Hive onely left an hand breadth wider than the Hive before for a place for the Bees to alight upon and set it a little leaning forward for that the raine may runne off if any be driven or fall upon it yet to keepe them from raine and wet you must cover them with boards if they be straw-hives Cover them or with straw-hackles if they bee twig-hives And be sure to keep them dry for the wet will decay both the Hive and the Bees worke Set them on a single stump the board fast nailed or if on stone et as few stumps as will set them fast and as farre under the stoole as may be to prevent the getting up of mice and other vermine Prevent their enemies Also be carefull to set them where no emmets come for they will get up into the Hive and steale out all the hony and starve and taint the Bees But if they come at unawares then shave the stumps on which the Bees stand and anoint them round the middle with tarre which will keepe the Emmets from going up And throw seething water on the emmets or destroy their hill or nest if you can find it and kill the mice with traps or how else you can Set your Bees about two foot above the ground or higher if need bee let their flight be to the South or Southward and set trees or other shelter not far from them to breake off the wind and let not the Sun shine hot upon the bare Hives for their worke will bee in danger to melt Neither need you to cloath or cover them the more for winter for the cold hurts them not ☜ Note this they must not be set too hot in the Sunne so they bee defended sure from the wet Therefore keepe the Hives whole and close so as two or three Bees may get in and out for in cold weather they lie close and sleep but spend not Set Goar Withies or Palm-trees neere them What trees and flowers to set neere them for that is the first of their gatherings Also Cherry-trees Plum and Peare and any fruit trees Also Rosemary Time Burrage Bugloss Balm and Violets Wall and stock-gilly-flowers Rockets and any other hollow bloome especially Beanes Pease Turnep and seed-Cabbage Also they gather much of Buck-wheat and Woad but both these are faint and foggy and overlade them and cause them to fall downe and perish Therefore at such time of the yeere lay salt under all your Hives within upon the stoole which will quicken your Bees and put vigour into them and make them the better able to labour When and how to put salt under them Doe the like at other times when you see your stocks that have hony in them to be lazy and dull but those that worke not being faint for want of hony must bee fed whether they bee stocke or swarme which how to doe I will hereafter show because many for want of skill how to feed them doe it to no purpose and besides spend more hony in doing it by a great deale than needs CHAP. 6. How to defend your Bees and preserve them from their enemies Keepe your Bees sweet and cleane and alway note and observe what enemies they have AS all Common-wealths are infested with some enemies sometimes many sometimes fewer so likewise is this Common-wealth of Bees Their great enemies are Hornets Swallows Titmice Martins and the like besides Waspes and robbing Bees their lesser are Emmets Spiders c. which I have spoken of before ☞ Were it not for the Hornet and the Swallow Waxe would be as cheape as tallow Therefore destroy the nests and breeding places of these vermine also the creatures themselves as oft as you can take them To take Hornets set lime-twigges before their holes if you cannot come at their nests to destroy them To take Wasps set glasses with wort or water sweetned with sweet fruit in it or a little sugar melted and dissolved in the water but sweet fruit is the best for feare of drowing the Bees for they will goe into any thing that hath hony in it Of Emmets and Mice I have spoken before also toads snailes spiders are noisome and hurtful to the Bee Spiders wil entangle and take them in their webs and venome them to death and suck out their honie therefore brush downe their webs and kill them Also robbing-Bees are great enemies ☜ Robbers and very frequent in the spring of the yeere and the fall of the lease which to prevent How to prevent them you must often prove whether your stocks have Bees enough to keep them out Those stocks which have not you must keepe the mouthes of their Hives closer so that few may get in If you find that the robbers be too strong for your stock and have made some great entrance thereinto presently stop up that stock though it bee at noon-day then in the even so that they may see to flie open the hole and let out the robbers and be sure to have ready in your hand some white flower or meale or lime or the like and sprinkle it on them as they come out thereby you shall know them as they flie and marke whether they flie to some of your owne stocks or to your neighbours for you shall see them presently flie home with the meale on their backes Which when you have found you may thus remedie Take a long knife or a dagger thrust it into the robbing stock about the middle of the Hive on both sides and so a little break their work This will make them leave robbing and fall to worke to make up their own breaches and this will doe the robbing stockes no hurt but rather good for they are commonly the fattest Bees which rob who have enough or too much already like those that are guided by sense and so
And this is the reason that they may not bee fed in cold winter but onely when they gather at the spring or summer cold Also keepe your Hives close in winter by putting stones at the mouth of the Hive to prevent mice from going in and open them wider or shut them up closer in the spring time according as the weather proves hotter or colder and according to the strength or weakenesse of your stocks Alwaies in snowie weather remember to shut up your Bees close in sunshine or else they will out and be drowned or chilled And sometimes in cold springs a poore swarme may bee starved or benummed before you are aware I once found two or three so benummed that none of them were able to stirre but sat as dead Bees How to recover chilled Bees Then made I an indifferent big fire before them and tooke them off their seares and turned them open against the fire and so the warmth recovered them and made them move then I sprinkled hony in among them and set them up and laid salt on their stooles within the Hives and then they came forth presently and went to worke so then I fed them a little every day and recovered them Also you must remember to bee very carefull in keeping hoggs or horses Be sure to keep cattell from them or any cattell from comming neere them to trouble them Once I knew a good Nag stung to death by them But if any trouble or disturbance chance and they prove very angry and cruell and unruly then make a great smoake among them and so they will quickly bee quiet and still againe Many things more I could have shewed concerning Bees but these I have here delivered are things of use and most needfull to be knowne How to take Bees Now when God hath blessed your labours and sent you store you may receive the benefit of your labour by selling or taking some And alwayes if any be over fat and their combs all filled with hony be sure to take them which to doe and how to make and order your hony and waxe is shewed in the next chapter CHAP. 9. Of making hony mead and wax How to take Bees TO take your Bees doe thus untwist an old rope or cord and of the severall liches cut peeces six or eight inches in length then melt Brimston in a pan or potsheard and dip the peeces of cord into it and wet it round as a candle then take some little tub or deepe bowle or else dig an hole in the ground and lay two sticks over it and then light or kindle your match and then put them on a short candle-stick or a peece of clay and set it into the bowle or hole and set the stock of Bees over it and keep in the aire round about the Hive with an old cloth and so the steeme or vapour of the brimston will kill the Bees stone dead How to make hony then take out the combs and brush off the Bees if any hang on and breake out the dead brood if any be then put all those combs that have hony in them into a pan or kettle and bruise them together and straine it through a thin cloth-bag or if you will have your hony very fine let it run through a sieve without crushing Now if your hony were gathered on good land in a good soile it will need no warming but if on course or clay land you must set it on the fire when it is strained and make it twice blood-warme then stirre it well and put it into the vessell where you intend to keepe it and after a while scum it and it will be candied Mead. How to make Mead. Now when you have taken as much hony out of your combs or pulse as you can doe then wash your puls with water made blood-warme and make your Mead with that And if you desire to have your Mead very good and strong make it so full of the hony that it will beare a hen-egge swimming as broad as a sixe pence on the top then set it over the fire and boyle it well and take the scum clean off then set it a clearing into a kive or tub two or three daies till it be cleare and then draw it off from the lees or grounds and put it up into a vessell but stop it not too close for the strength of it will teare the vessell in peeces Also if you will you may put in a bag of spices thereinto in boyling But now Metheglin how to make metheglin I purpose not to teach you for it is part of my present trading both hony and metheglin have an excellent vertue for many cures being moderately taken they doe remedy many diseases The good use of hony mead and metheglin They are especially good against a cold consumption or cold watery stomacke as also against divers other both inward outward diseases Also there may bee admirable Baths made of it and strange cures have beene done therewith it is proved in my own experience in salves both for old and new wounds that both wax and hony are very soveraigne Aches and itches I have holpen aches and strong itches in Bathes made of hony Once I had a friend had such a foule itch that hee was like a Leper then I tooke an empty wine Caske call'd a Pipe and tooke out one head and made a liquor of water and hony making it pretty strong with the hony and heat it as hot as my friend could indure to stand in it and put it into the Pipe and caused him to stand in it up to his neck a pretty while and this he did three daies one after another and was recovered as cleare as ever The like experience for aches If the Bath bee a little renewed with a little hony every day it is the better How to make wax In making wax you must put both your pulse and dry combs together into a kettle and put an indifferent quantity of water thereunto and make it boyle on the fire then take a thin cloth bag very strong or a haire bag and crush it as hard as you can and have seething water ready by you to put into the bag and to cast on the outside of the bag and wind it up close and crush and squeese it hard This doe three or foure times and the wax will come cleane away Then let it stand in the keelar or bowle till it be cold and then take up all the wax from the water and melt it again with a little water in the bottom to keep the vessell from burning and being melted put it into a pan or vessell of what size you think fit to make your cake or tren of wax but first annoint the vessell by the sides with a little hony or butter and so the wax will come clean off The singular use of wax in salves and chirurgery for cures both within and