During my residence at Lignieres, where I passed twenty-seven years, I removed all my hives into the house towards the middle of November, to guard them from the drifted snow, in which my apiary would sometimes be buried, and I replaced them again some fine day in March. Having hives of wood and straw, of different sizes and shapes, I arranged them with more order and symmetry, and, with this view, I placed the first on the opposite side of the apiary to where it formerly stood. Although it had been shut up nearly four months, the bees returned to the same place they had occupied the year before, which obliged me to return my hive with all speed, and led me to conclude that they should not be moved about, and that the bees will not be pliable to our fancies and caprices.
When hives are transported to a considerable distance, there is no fear that the bees will return. But this inconvenience would be sure to take place, and many of the working bees would perish, if they were removed only a few hundred paces from the spot they have been accustomed to. The hive may not perish, but it will be greatly weakened. In my opinion, if the situation is to be changed at all, they should be removed at least a mile and a half.
CHAPTER IV.
MOST CONVENIENT SHAPE OF HIVES.
One of the chief objects of my researches has been, to ascertain what shape of hive is the most profitable; and, with this view, I have tried all the different kinds in my apiary, and I have invariably remarked, that bees thrive better in low hives than in high ones; that, in general, those which are broad and flat, or extended horizontally, amass more honey, thrive better, and give out stronger and earlier swarms, than those which are high, and of several stories, and for the following reasons.
A hive thrives only in proportion to the success or perfection of its brood-comb. If the spring eggs come out well, the hive will stock, give out swarms at the proper time, and collect a great deal of honey, because the strength of its population will enable it to take advantage of fine days; while a weak hive will only give out late swarms; and, having few labourers, will gather very little honey. It is, therefore, of great importance to assist the hive as much as possible, in the spring especially, when it is of itself too weak to keep up the necessary degree of heat for the hatching of the brood; and also, that in our climate there are frequently storms of frost and snow at that season, which are very prejudicial to it. If at that time the bees are lodged in high and roomy hives, they will crowd together in vain to procure the necessary degree of heat to vivify the brood-comb, which is always deposited in the middle of the hive, and the heat ascending is dissipated and lost in the empty space above. I have seen whole combs full of eggs do no good, in consequence of the want of heat. This never happens in the low, flat hives, where the heat is more easily concentrated; here, as the young bees come to life, the heat augments, and they assist in taking care of the others that are advancing, and begin to spread out on all sides, and entirely to fill the hive: the republic prospers, and increasing numbers are distinguished.
It is, perhaps, for this reason that bees thrive well in conical or sugar-loaf shaped hives, which are common in some countries: but they have this disadvantage, that capes cannot be so easily fitted to them, which facilitate the collecting of the finest honey, and of which I shall treat presently.
CHAPTER V.
HIVES OF STRAW AND WOOD.
It is commonly supposed that bees thrive best in straw hives, because the straw absorbs the moisture, and the combs are less liable to mould. For my part, I can perceive no difference. The bees are careful enough to varnish over the interior of the straw hives with a coating of wax, or rather propolis, to prevent the settlement of the moths; and, in the old hives, this varnish is so thick that no moisture can penetrate between the cords of the straw. Wooden hives will also absorb moisture, to a certain extent; and experience has shewn me, that it is a matter of indifference which are employed, except as to the price, according as either material may be more or less abundant in different parts of the country.