There are many curious facts relating to the domestic economy of bees well worthy of your notice, but this is not exactly the place to relate them. I shall, therefore, only say a few words on the mode of taking the honey, and on the management of the bees during winter. Many plans have been devised for taking the honey without killing the bees; but this appears to be a mistaken kind of humanity, as it is more merciful to kill the bees at once than to condemn them to die of starvation by depriving them of their winter food. The ordinary mode is, to put linen rags dipped in melted sulphur into a hole in the ground, and, after having lighted them, to set a hive full of bees over the hole. Another plan is to set the full hive on an empty one inverted, and then to introduce a sulphureous smoke into the full hive by means of a pair of fumigating bellows. The bees will all fall from the full hive into the empty one, and the combs in the full hive, when cleared of the bees, may be cut out. When the lives of the bees are to be preserved, the full hive is inverted, and the empty hive being put over it, and both of them enclosed in a cloth, the lower hive is tapped several times on the outside with a stick, and gently shaken, so as to drive the bees from it into the upper hive. A board is then slipped between the two, and, the hive containing the honeycombs being removed, the other hive is left with the bees in it. This operation should be performed in August, as, if it is later in the season, the bees will not have time to provide themselves with a fresh stock of honey before winter. If the bees are to be destroyed when the honey is taken, it is generally done in October. When winter sets in many cover their hives with a thatching of straw; and, if a few warm days occur which tempt the bees out, they are fed with sugar and water boiled into a syrup, and not with merely sugar dissolved in water, as is frequently the case. Some persons recommend the syrup given to bees to be put on a plate and crossed with straws, to enable the bees to take it without drowning themselves; while others recommend paper pierced with holes, or perforated zinc, for the same purpose. It may be useful to mention that the sting of a bee, being a powerful acid, may be cured by the application of an alkali; and thus chalk, or any similar substance, will very soon allay the pain.