ADVANTAGES OF ISOLATED HIVES.
A swarm, taking flight, rushes out of the hive, and seems bent
on fixing itself in some distant quarter, as if it feared the
neighbourhood of other swarms--as if it felt that its most formidable
enemies were those of its own kind.
Swarms will unite, however, when they take flight at the same time,
because the bees of one hive cannot be distinguished from those of
another when on the wing, and crossing each other in every direction;
and as soon as one group begins to knot upon a branch, the bees of
the other crowd round, supposing them to be their companions. Their
instinct, however, rather leads them to isolate themselves, as they do
in great forests; but their proprietors resist this instinct, assemble
a great many hives together in the same apiary, to shelter them from
the weather, as well as to protect them from thieves, and to watch over
them at the time of their emigration.
Such are, doubtless, great advantages, but not sufficient to
counterbalance those that would result from keeping them separate. The
mixing and uniting together of several swarms, that often take place
in large apiaries, and which is not always an advantage, would thereby
be prevented. There would be greater facility in forming artificial
swarms, and one hive would not be disturbed in operating on another.
The great expence of bee-houses would thus be spared; these are much
more costly than stands for isolated hives, for which there is nothing
more necessary than a board, supported by a pile of wood, sunk into
the ground, with a thatch of straw, which any one can spread over the
tops of the hives, to protect them from the rain and the heat of the
sun.