forgotten; and we sincerely recommend the book to the examination of instructers. The typographical execution ought not to be passed unnoticed. The Key is by the author of the New Tutor, and contains all the exercises of the same in correct Latin. By this means the labour of teachers is very greatly alleviated, and a service rendered to the cause, which they cannot but highly appreciate. The Key will be sold to instructers only.'

INTELLIGENCE.

Essay on the Honey Bee.

[Concluded from page 186.]

Of the construction of the Combs and Cells.-There appears on examination an astonishing air of grandeur in the internal arrangement of a bee-hive. The curious eye can never be weary of contemplating these ingenious workshops, where thousands of labourers are constantly employed in various departments for the common interest. The regularity and geometrical exactness in their works, their magazines replenished with every necessary for their support, the young brood in their cradles; and the tender care of their nursing mothers towards them, the art and skill displayed in the construction of these nests or cradles, all combine to exhibit a picturesque scene calculated to strike the contemplative mind with wonder and admiration. The combs always originate at the top or arch of the hive, in parallel sheets extending to the bottom, with their edges towards the front. There is usually an interval of one third of an inch between each comb, and this for substantial reasons. Were the combs too distant, it is evident that the bees would be greatly dispersed, and unable to communicate their native heat, reciprocally, without which the eggs could not be hatched nor the brood receive sufficient warmth. Were the combs too close, on the contrary, the bees could not freely traverse the intervals, to carry on their necessary labours. A certain distance therefore, always uniform, is requisite, and nature, which has taught bees so much, has instructed them in the regular preservation of an equal distance throughout the whole surface of parallel sheets of comb. In order to shorten the courses round the surface of large combs, and between their edges and the sides of the hive, they open perpendicular regular streets wide enough for two bees to pass abreast, throughout their whole city. The sheets of comb are uniform, and in size proportioned to that of the hive, but in hollow trees and sometimes in other situations they extend five or six feet in length, and however ponderous when loaded with honey, they are suspended from the top, to which

they are cemented with an adhesive substance called propolis. The thickness of each comb seldom exceeds an inch, and a block of twelve or thirteen inches square, according to Reaumur's calculation will contain 9000 cells.

The combs are constituted by a multitude of cells united, of different diameters adapted to the different kinds of bees to be bred in them. The royal cells in which the queens are bred being of a very peculiar form, and fashioned with great labour and skill. They are of a pyrimidal form, with a wide base and a long diminished top, hanging perpendicularly in the hive, the point downwards. The cells for drones are in diameter three and one third lines, and those of the workers two and three fifths lines, and these dimensions are invariably observed in all hives. The structure of the cells has ever excited admiration in all who have examined them with the eye of curiosity; as it is demonstrable, that these little insects have intuitively discovered the only figure adapted for containing the greatest possible quantity in the least possible space. Their form is exactly hexagonal, by which no room is lost, as the circumference of one makes a part of the circumference of another, while, where they contrived in any other shape, there could not be so many cells of equal capaciousness in the same given space. These cells, which are very thin, are strengthened at the entrance by a fillet of wax, and also at the bottom by the angle of one admirably falling in the middle of its opposite. The cells which contain the young brood are separate from those which are the receptacles for the honey, but the same cells are employed for several successive broods, and when the whole have come to maturity the cells are cleaned out and filled with honey for the winter store. It may not be easy to conceive how bees can fill horizontal cells quite full of honey, and yet prevent it from escaping, but each cell is sealed with a flat covering most ingeniously devised. A circular border is formed round the mouth of the cell which is gradually diminished by other concentric circles, until the aperture remains a point capable of being closed by a single grain of wax. Thus we see the combs and cells constructed with profound skill, forming a wonderful and beautiful fabric, guided by that instinct which the Creator has seen fit to impress on the constitution of our favourite insects. Can the mechanical art here displayed, be exceeded by the reasoning powers of intelligent man? Should a comb in its construction take an oblique direction, it is artfully brought into a perpendicular line to preserve the regular order in the streets. In October, a certain comb burthened with honey, had separated from its attachment, and was leaning against another comb so as to prevent the passage of the bees between them. This accident excited great activity in the colony, but its nature could not be ascartained at the time. At the end of a week, the weather being cold, and the bees clustered together, it was observed through the window of the box that they had constructed two horizontal pillars, betwixt the combs alluded to, and had removed so much of the honey and wax, from the top of each, as to allow the passage of a bee: in about ten days more, there was an uninterrupted thoroughfare, the detached comb, at its upper part, had been secured by a strong barrier, and fastened to the window with the spare wax. This being accomplished, the bees removed the horizontal pillars first constructed, as being of no farther use.*

▾ American Quarterly Review, June 1828.

Whether we consider bees in the light of machines, a sort of animal clock-work, or as having a soul connected with the machine, it is certain that they are incapable of improvement in instinctive sagacity, nor can they deviate materially from the laws which nature has prescribed. Their instinctive powers are exactly sufficient for their purposes, and all their wonderful works, habits, and economy are precisely the same now, that they were known to be in the infancy of their history. And so long as our fields and gardens shall afford flowers, so long may we expect to share with the busy bee in their luxurious food.

Bees, by some means inexplicable to us, procure a peculiar resinous substance called propolis, or bee glue, with which they stop all crevices, to exclude insects, air, and light; and employ it as a tenacious cement, to attach their combs to the top of the hive. Another substance of indispensable use bees have the faculty of collecting from the stamina of flowers, known to botanists by the term of pollen, or farina. This substance they collect, from early in the spring till interrupted by the frost in autumn. They transmit it to their hives in the form of little balls or pellets attached to the hollow of their legs, and store it in their cells. It is of a yellow, or straw colour, or reddish, according to the flower from whence it is obtained. It is converted to no other use in the hive but as food for the young brood, and is therefore called bee bread, and the workers take it grain by grain in their teeth and carry it to the mouths of the larva. The fact has been decided by experiment that without this substance the young brood cannot be sustained, and the whole species would be annihilated. By some apiarians, pollen has been considered as the basis of wax, but it is now ascertained that it possesses none of the properties of wax. It is decided that wax is formed from honey, elaborated into form by a process which it undergoes in the stomachs of the bees; the particular operation is a secret concealed from our research. Honey is a choice fluid extracted from the nectary of the finest flowers. The bees commence their labours early in the spring, and continue their employment with indefatigible industry till autumn, and it is not uncommon for a single swarm to accumulate from 80 to 100 pounds of honey during the season, besides constructing the combs and nursing the young brood. Being a vegetable production, the properties of honey depend entirely on the nature of the particular plants from which it is extracted, and its qualities are different in different countries. The comb first made by a new swarm, is of the purest and most delicate white, and the honey which it contains is of the purest kind and of delicious flavour, and is called virgin honey. The flowers which appear earliest in summer, yield honey much superior to that which is obtained in autumn.

The absurd and cruel practice of destroying bees in autumn to obtain their stock of honey, still too generally prevails. The method is, to suffocate them by the fumes of burning brimstone, which ought upon every principle to be abandoned. It is for our interest to multiply the species; to annihilate differs but little from that of skinning a favourite horse for the sake of his hide. By the improved method of constructing hives furnished with boxes, we have the advantage of obtaining the purest honey, free from bee bread or the young brood, and it is a luxury which no one would be willing to relinquish who has once enjoyed the repast. The boxes may be taken out at any time during the summer without destroying the bees, and each hive will

afford about thirty pounds of honey, reserving a sufficient quantity for the bees' subsistence during winter.

Of Swarming.-When a hive is overstocked with numbers, and crowded for room, preparation is made to send out a new swarm, and form an independent colony, which is always headed by a queen. This seldom takes place before the month of May, nor after July; it is always on a clear sunshine day, and between ten and three o'clock. The bees suddenly appear in great numbers at the mouth of the hive, and rush out in a tumultuous manner, and with a buzzing noise, rise into the air, flying in all directions. In a few minutes the queen and her suit alight on some neighbouring shrub or branch of a tree, and the whole posse gradually unite round her in a large cluster, clinging to each other by their legs. They are now put into a new hive where they immediately commence their labours and increase their numbers. When swarming, bees are less disposed to sting than at any other time, which may probably be ascribed to their being freed from the charge of their young brood, but every movement indicates attachment and devotion to their queen; whatever direction or stand she may take, she is the rallying point, where the multitude assemble. In one instance the queen took her stand about the head or neck of a young woman who was assisting in hiving a swarm; instantly the whole upper part of her body was covered with bees. The spectators were exceedingly alarmed lest she should fall a sacrifice. The owner urgently directed her to be firm and stand perfectly still while he searched for the queen. After much difficulty she was secured and put into the hive; the bees were now dispersing, but the queen unfortunately returned to her station, and pressed into the cluster as if to elude pursuit, and the bees renewed their station. The affrighted girl cryed out for assistance; most fortunately the queen was again taken and secured in the hive, when all her people followed and left the girl without a single sting. Had she acted in opposition to the bees and excited their wrath, it might have been at the expense of her life. The late Rev. Dr. R- -, having had occasion to hive a swarm of bees, perceived that they were flying before him and buzzing round his head, he followed them to a considerable distance, till at length it was observed that the queen had alighted on the corner of his hat; finding himself thus crowned by her majesty, the doctor deliberately returned home with his charge, and accommodated the royal family with appropriate apartments. An instance may be mentioned of a swarm of bees voluntarily entering the garret of a dwelling house through a crevice under the shingles. They attached themselves to the sides of the chimney at the gable end. In this situation for three years past they have greatly increased, and accumulated comb and honey more than sufficient to fill a barrel, from which the family receive a handsome rent at pleasure.

Notwithstanding their capability of defence, bees are subject to the annoyance of numerous enemies. The most destructive in our country is the bee-moth or miller. This insect destroyed more than a hundred hives in a few towns in this country the past season, and in many places bees are entirely annihilated by their ravages. It has long been a desideratum to devise a preventive of their depredations, and there is great reason to hope that a remedy has been discovered, and

is announced in a treatise on the subject of bees just published by Messrs. Marsh & Capen of Boston. The kingbird, martin, and others are enemies to bees, and watch opportunities to take them on the wing. But of all others the bear is their most formidable enemy. It is recorded by good authority, that a bear has been known to take a hive of bees in her paws and carry it to the nearest river or pond and plunge it in to drown the bees that she may feast on the spoil. In countries therefore, frequented by bears, beehives are secured by be- "ing chained to a wall. Few persons are aware of the great profits and advantages arising from the culture of bees. No country possesses greater advantages for their cultivation than our own, and we know of none in which it is more grossly neglected. The time and the capital required is of little importance. Mr. Huish, an English apiarian, asserts that two hundred hives may be properly managed by one person, with some slight assistance, during the swarming season. He states the profits of five years, on a fair and equitable scale, making, at the same time, fair and ample allowance for the losses which even the most skilful apiarian cannot prevent. Suppose a person purchases a swarm for one guinea, the actual profit at the end of five years will be 163, 14 4 sterling. The great importance of this branch of agriculture to a country will appear, when it is considered that England pays annually to the north of Germany, and Italy, 80,000l. sterling for the produce of the bee.' According to a modern author, it has been estimated that the little island of Corsica, in former times, produced no less than 400,000 lbs. of wax, and six or eight million pounds of honey, annually: an immense source of wealth for a little island, and all from the labours of a little insect. The culture of the bee is a particular object of the Hanoverians; their produce of wax in 1787, was estimated at 300,000 lbs., and of honey, 4,500,000 lbs., a most incredible quantity to be collected in one year.

Even in America, honey and wax are imported to a very considerable amount, but were proper attention bestowed on the subject, the necessity for importation might be entirely superseded. A hundred fold more bees might be supported than now have existence in our country. An apiary would be a source of profit and amusement, as an appendage to every rural establishment. With great propriety therefore, we may enjoin it upon our friends, in the language of the French bishop to his empoverished clergy, Keep bees, keep bees!'

Central School of Arts and Manufactures, designed to form Civil Engineers, Directors of Mill Works, Heads of Manufac tories, &c. &c. Authorised by his Ex. M. de Vatismenil Master of Public Instruction. Founders, Messrs. Lavallé, Director; Benoit, Dumas, Olivier and Peclét, Professors.

This School was founded by the assistance, and is placed under the superintendance, of a council of improvement [perfectionnement,] composed of

Messrs. the count Chaptal, peer of France, member of the Institute,