Begin with fewer, and increase gradually.
_Faringdon, August 11th._
Sir,--I have bees in the common cottage hive, the honey of which I
wish to take without destroying the bees. I am told I can fumigate
them with puff-ball. I tried doing so, but killed my bees. I was
afterwards told I could fumigate them with chloroform; this I also
tried, but--whether the chloroform was good or bad I cannot say--I
failed again.
Three or four years since I heard that a person offered a friend to
take his honey for him, if he would give him the bees. The offer being
accepted, the person fumigated the bees, took the honey from them for
his friend, and carried the bees to his own home, where, in the end of
October following, after giving them six pounds of moist sugar in ale,
they contrived to fill the hive with comb and honey, and the whole
weighed nearly twenty-five pounds.
Some people think it a good plan to drum the bees; but I should fear
to rely on it. And if you did not object kindly to advise me, as you
have had so much experience, what plan you consider best to deprive
them without destroying them, I should esteem it a very great favour;
and hoping you will not consider me very impertinent in seeking your
advice,