1154. _Useful Method of preserving Bees._--Instead of destroying whole swarms in their hives, to get the honey when the hives are full, they clear them out into a fresh hive, while they take the combs out of the old one; and they prevent their perishing in winter by putting a great quantity of honey into a very wide earthen vessel, covering its surface with paper, exactly fitted on, and pricked full of holes with a large pin; this being pressed by the weight of the bees, keeps a fresh supply continually arising. Their most fatal destruction by severe cold they prevent, by taking as many large tubs as they have hives, and knocking out the heads, they set the other end in the ground, laying a bed of dry earth or chopped hay in it, of six inches deep; over this they place the head knocked out, and then make a small wooden trough for the passage of the bees; this is transfixed through a hole cut through each side of the tub, at such a height as to lay on the false bottom, on which is placed the covered dish of honey for the food of the bees, leaving a proper space over this, covered with strong matting; they then fill up the tub with more dry earth, or chopped hay, heaping it up in the form of a cone, to keep out the rain, and wreathing it over with straw on account of the warmth. 1155. _Sir Ashton Lever's method of preserving Birds, Beasts, Fishes, &c._--BEASTS. Large beasts should be carefully skinned, with the horns, skull, jaws, tail, and feet, left entire; the skins may then either be put into a vessel of spirit, or else rubbed well in the inside with the mixture of salt, alum, and pepper, hereafter mentioned, and hung to dry. Small beasts may be put into a cask of rum, or any other spirit. BIRDS. Large birds may be treated as large beasts, but must not be put in spirits. Small birds may be preserved in the following manner:--Take out the entrails, open a passage to the brain, which should be scooped out through the mouth; introduce into the cavities of the skull, and the whole body, some of the mixture of salt, alum, and pepper, putting some through the gullet and whole length of the neck; then hang the bird in a cool, airy place--first by the feet, that the body may be impregnated by the salts, and afterwards by a thread through the under mandible of the bill, till it appears to be sweet; then hang it in the sun, or near a fire: after it is well dried, clean out what remains loose of the mixture, and fill the cavity of the body with wool, oakum, or any soft substance, and pack it smooth in paper. FISHES, &C. Large fishes should be opened in the belly, the entrails taken out, and the inside well rubbed with pepper, and stuffed with oakum. Small fishes put in spirit, as well as reptiles and insects, except butterflies and moths; and any insects of fine colors, should be pinned down in a box prepared for that purpose, with their wings expanded.