ll not keep
down _ants_, which are mortal enemies of bees. To keep these away, if you
find them infest the hive, take a green stick and twist it round in the
shape of a ring to lay on the ground round the leg of the bench, and at a
few inches from it; and cover this stick with _tar_. This will keep away
the ants. If the ants come from one home, you may easily _trace them to
it_; and when you have found it, pour _boiling water_ on it in the night,
when all the family are at home.

This is the only effectual way of destroying ants, which are frequently so
troublesome. It would be cruel to cause this destruction, if it were not
necessary to do it, in order to preserve the honey, and indeed the bees
too.

162. Besides the hive and its cap, there should be a sort of shed, with
top, back, and ends, to give additional protection in winter; though in
summer hives may be kept _too hot_, and in that case the bees become
sickly and the produce becomes light. The _situation_ of the hive is to
face the South-east; or, at any rate, to be sheltered from the _North_ and
the _West_. From the North always, and from the West in winter. If it be a
very dry season in summer, it contributes greatly to the success of the
bees, to place clear water near their home, in a thing that they can
conveniently drink out of; for if they have to go a great way for drink,
they have not much time for work.

163. It is supposed that bees live only a year; at any rate it is best
never to keep the same stall, or family, over two years, except you want
to increase your number of hives. The swarm of _this summer_ should always
be taken in the autumn of next year. It is whimsical to _save_ the bees
when you take the honey. You must _feed_ them; and, if saved, they will
die of old age before the next fall; and though young ones will supply the
place of the dead, this is nothing like a good swarm put up during the
summer.

164. As to the things that bees make their collections from, we do not,
perhaps, know a thousandth part of them; but of all the blossoms that they
seek eagerly that of the _Buck-wheat_ stands foremost. Go round a piece of
this grain just towards sunset, when the buck-wheat is in bloom, and you
will see the air filled with bees going home from it in all directions.
The buck-wheat, too, continues in bloom a long while; for the grain is
dead ripe on one part of the plant, while there are fresh blossoms coming
out on the other part.

165. A g