The Sun.
London, England, 1827-07-19 00:00:00

BEES.

iu -Ireland, there is at once a want of employment,
and a p•reat superabundance of hands, and, strange
is may appeal, similar evils are beginning to be
felt much nearer home, among the mtmbers of a
very int ?re,;tilq e6minnuiLy. We allude to the bees

w L_
-e-ho al'e willing to \VOi as hard as ever, bat who,
from the deciency of food and the increase of com-
petition, are !wetly nearly in the same situation that
the poor weavers were twelve months ego. The
immediate et .ire of this, is over populousness—the
remote one, probably; the numerous encroachments
which have been made on mossoneree,and meadow,
by that great practical reformer--the '.lough.
Garden flowers may be more plentiful than ever, but
wild ones and heather have been long on-the wane,
and yet there are far more bees in the country than
ever was known at any former period. In conse-
quence of this, the insects alluded to are literally in
some places half-starved, and so far from yielding a
contingent of honey, flnd it difficult to support them-
selves over winter. In not a few instances, they
lack strength to send off fresh swarms from the parent
hive; in others, the casts are so " wan-thriven" and
feeble, that thev never do any good. Where wild-
flowers are rife, or in the vicinity of heather, bees
thrive very well still, but in dietricts where arable
land abounds, they yield a very low rate of profit,
simply as a ooiiticrll economist would say, because
too much capital. has been invested in one particular
branch of our rural manufactures, Almost every
'coulee
that
a''d b
e or
remadotrhe clover
realnd purple
ly speaft -
eing, missitheather, which are as necessary to the proper nurture
of hees,a,s our moors and mountains are to the growth
of sheep. Still we do not say that this is wrong; as
a necessary of life, corn is far More essential than
honey, but considering the changes which have fol-
lowed the gradual extension of agricailture, and the
effect they must have had in limiting the favouiiie
keep of bees, it is certainly time to limit their num-
bers in the same proportion. That the evil will cure
itself we have no doubt ; but, in the meantime, both
money and time may be thrown away in attending to
insects who are too much occupied in. providing for
themselves to yield the usual tribute to man. A great
mistake exists as to the quantity of flowers necessary
for the proper nourishment of a hire of bees. A
stranger who steps into a gentleman's garden, and
sees the bees roaming from flower to flowea, is apt
to think they have food enough at their feet, without
strayieg many yards from home. But the saccha-
rine matter which the bees extract Is collected in the
smallest portions imaginable, and unless they have
room and verge enough of fiowera," it is owte im-
possible that they can carry en business to any ad-
vantage. Such bees as continue near the skep the
whole day are geoerelly the weakest membere.of the
hive; and the others, excepting during bad weather,
uniformly roam to a considerable distance. A gale
of wind distresses them sadly, and their gossamer
winos are no match at all for a strong south-wester.
In such circumstances we have seen them clinging for
hours, war-worn and weary, to a garden wall, and then
dropping, exhausted, on the ground. Every hive,
therefore, should be surrounded with towers, as
a sort of in-door comfort, when the bees can-
not go a-field. In Germany, Switzerland, and some
other countries,they regularly shift the stations of the
bees, and, in other respects, pay as much attention to
their comfort, as the shepherds in this country do to
their sheep, But as the practice has never been
adopted in Scotland, we presume it is held to.
involve too much trouble andeexpence; and as the
cultivation of those Lowers which the farmer ea vie
weeds, would be deemed huge nonsense t.}.)c pre-
sent day, we see no cure for 'the eyil:camOained of
but a rapid diminution of the. number of sleeps.
Many have determined on this already, and in the
course of a feW years - honey-making may again be-
et:lMF,: a paving concern. The Irish labourers are
worded to death with endless competition; anti; n
some "human warrens" the months glow *faster
than the potatoes that feed thalie Cabins, in fact,
may be ovoe-numeroase,aa well as sleeps, and if any
humane plan e‘f,ltmiting them could be devised, there
canoe; a'dotibt that the inhabitants of both Ivogld
rE4thhle a clump of forest trees, which thrive all
the better for being timeouslv th', ;,;•.fr. ;es
Cow.ier.

-..~..h.~._:_

• --- - •
It IA-.:1 b.eo reported. that the action for breach
of ii,lartipee, which has made so much -noise,
NO in which a la,ly residing in this town is defendant, has
been cnropraroised, - We-can positively say this is not the
czse; for arrangement; are made by the partial..., for trial
at tile apprnachinz Cifiz-etie; •