on, although he fly therfore to Fraunce, then to put Murrey eny wayes in perell of wekenyng. And, lastly, to foresee that thefs Scotts on bothe sydes packe not together, so as to unwrappe (under coller of this co posytyon) ther mys, tres owte of all present slaunders, purge her openly, shew themselfes satysfyed w her abode here, and, win shorte tyme aftr, ether by reconcylement or the dethe of the chyld, joyne together to demaunde of the Quene the delyvery home of there 'Quene to governe her owne realme, she also making the lyke requeste; and then the Quene, havyng no juste cause to deteyne her, be bownd in honor to retorne her into her realme, and, for mattrs that in this tyme shall passe, have her a mortall enemy for ever aftert. And thus, ceassynng to troble you eny further, I wyshe to you as to myself." From Yorke, the xx11 of October, 1568. Yo's, most assured, T. SUSSEX." ACCOUNT of an EXCURSION into SCOTLAND in the Sixteenth Century, exhibiting a Picture of the Depredations committed on the Scottish and English Borders before the Union. "It is a conjecture perhaps not entirely romantic, that Elizabeth's future conduct on this great occasion, so nearly according with the Earl's advice, was determined by this identical letter. That confideration alone, not to mention the profound wisdom and policy displayed by the writer, the clear and concise account given of the affairs of Scotland at that remarkable period, or the admirable terms in which the whole is couched, renders it an inestimable curiosity. It may be proper to observe here that Mary had been for some months a prisoner in England, and that the Earl of Sussex was one of the Commissioners now sitting at York for the judicial investigation of the charges brought against her by Murray.' "This curious ancient gazette contains a journal of the furious inroad made by Sussex, called here the Lord Licuteuant, and Hunston, in 1570. The pretence for this expedition was the chastisement of the clans of Carre, or Ker, and Scot, which had lately committed some depredations on the English borders; but the true motive was to awe the few remaining friends of Mary, and to prevent them from uniting while the regency remained vacant. Elizabeth issued a proclamation upon this occasion, declaring her inviolable friendship to the Scottish nation, but setting forth the necessity of punishing some particular offenders; and this was repeatedly read at the head of an army which was then employed in desolating the eaft and west borders. The circumstances which attended this invasion have escaped the notice of historians; Even Camden, who lived at the time, makes no mention of so horrible and uncommon a spoil." morn morning he marched to Fernehurst, and overthrew it; and so burned and spoyled all along the ryver of Tyvyett; and so to Hawick, and to Hawick, and burned and spoyled it. The next day he overthrew the strong howse of the Lorde of Burcleughe, called Brencksome; and from thense to Bedrowell, a howse of Sr Andrew Trumble, and overthrew it; with dyvers other notable towers and howses all alonge those ryvers afore named: The next night we retired to Gedworth, where we camped againe. The next mornyng we dislodged and burnt all the cuntre alonge the ryver of Bowbanck, and burnt and spoyled the hole cuntre as we marched; and came back that night to Kelsay. The nombr of the townes and villages, by estimac on, was above fyve hundreth; the terhor of the whiche caused the reste of the cuntre to cume and offer their submission to my Lord Leveten nte, with all the frendshipp and service they cold do to hym and to hys; and so we retyred ourfelves back againe for that tyme; so that we rested o'selves thre or fower daies. The xxv day, my Lord Levetennte being at Warke, accompanid withe the hole bandes of fotemen, and one thousande horse, withe thre batterie peces and tow sacris, went to the sege of Home, where he planted his batterie; where, within twelve houres after the batterie was planted, the castle was surrendred to hym symplie, being within yt tow hundreth and fortie souldiours; so the souldiours depted owt of yt in there hose and dobletts: Suerly, my I orde, yf I had the charge with fyftie souldiours, I wolde have thought me worthie to have bene hanged, drawne, and quartred, yf I had delyvered yt within the moreth sege: My Lorde hath appoynted M Wood his bande, and Ma Pykeman his band, tow of the bandes of Barwick, to have the kepyng of yt; and so my Lord retyred back againe to Barwick, to refresh hymfelfe and his companye. “Itm, the 1111th daye of May he sent owte certeine bandes of horsemen, and also certeine fotemen, to marche towardes Fastecastle, whiche, immediatlie uppon the horsemen's cominge, yedled themselves symplie; and ther ys also cuteine garrison appoynted there for the kepyng of yt. Assuredlie, my Lorde, all the hole cuntre here fubmytt themselves to my Lorde Haddington newes that hathe here happened sythens or arryvall here; and, as occasion shall happen, I shall adv tyse yo Lordship from tyme to tyme as I can gett convenient messengers. Thus, leving to troble yo Lordship ané further, I com itt you to the Almightie, who ever p'serve you in helth and long lyfe, withe increase of grert honor." Frome Barwick, this v h of May. Yo' Lordfhippe's at com aundment for ev', ROBT. CONSTABLE. To the right bonable and bis most espesball good Lorde th' Erle of Sbrosbury gyve this. In bast, bast, bast." MIS MISCELLANEOUS PAPER S. EXPERIMENTS relating to the MANAGEMENT of BEES, in a Letter from Mr. GEO. HUBBARD of Bury St. Edmund's, to Mr. MORE. [From the Ninth Volume of the Tranfactions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce.] A SI am induced to become a candidate for the premium offered for flocks of bees, clafs 1c8, I beg leave to communicate to the fociety the following experiments; the refult of which, I flatter myfelf, will afford fome information towards the management of thofe ufeful infects. In my early acquaintance with thefe entertaining creatures, my endeavours to increafe my stock were continually difap. pointed, particularly in the early months, by faving moderate ftocks; which was a matter of furprise to me, as my ftrong ftocks throve amazingly, whether I kept them for work or fwarming. "Now, to afcertain the matter with fufficient accuracy, I determined to facrifice three hives every year, one ftrong and two moderate ones. Accordingly, on the firft of February, I fuffocated a strong hive, after Thorley's method; and when I took out the combs, it furprised me much to find an abundance of brood: the eggs and maggots were innumerable, and many were next to emerging from their cells, "It was then obvious to me, that the queen had begun to lay her eggs in the early part of January; and this appeared the more extraordinary, as the month of January had been very cold, from fevere frofts and fnow; and it was evidently too fharp for a bee to stir abroad. "This circunftance refutes the general received opinion, that the queen never begins breeding till the weather proves mild, and you fee bees carrying to their hives, the little balls of farina on their legs; but to inveftigate the matter more fully, there appeared in the combs, vaft quantities of farina; and what was very curious, fome of it seemed covered with a kind of varnish subftance, in order to exclude the air from it; befides on the top of the hive, there was a confiderable quantity of water, apparently collected there from the fame cause that it does on a window, where a room is hot, and the external air very cold. The foregoing confideration clears up a point that has puzzled many authors; I mean, the laying up fuch quantities of farina: White, and fome fome others, fuppofe it to be real food, mixed with honey, for the old bees. : "The fecond hive, which had not above three pounds of honey in it, I fuffocated on the first of March; the queen of which stock had not produced a fingle egg: the third Stock I examined the firft of April, and there likewife found no eggs. In the fecond year, I repeated the fame experiments with the firong and weak hives as before, and the refult was the fame in every refpect. But the third hive I referved til the 20th of April, by which time they begin to gather honey from the goofeberries: on examining this hive, I found fome eggs produced. Let it be observed, that this hive I was under the neceflity of feeding, to keep them alive. "I cannot in this place forbear taking notice of the furprifing forefight which thefe wonderful infects feem to be endowed with: in the weak hive, not a fingle egg is produced, till honey gathering com. mences; but in the ftrong hive, the increase of young bees is there carried on with furprifing avidity at a time when they are generally fuppofed to be in a torpid ftate; and this increase is perfectly safe in a strong hive, for they are never obferved to work in the early months, as weak hives do. "From the above experiments, it is evident you gain almoft four months between the two ftocks: befides, early in May the ftrong stock is almost ready to fwarm; whereas the weak hive, by its prodigious decrease, occafioned from their conftant working, and no young ones being bred, gener y dwindles to nothing. Once, on a hot day in April, I had five of these weak hives driven out by plunderers, with their 2 different queens; for the strong ftocks never let the weak ones reft, when they find the latter are much reduced. "Sometimes, if the months of March and April happen to be cold and wet, fo as to prevent their going out, a little feeding may give them fufficient ftrength to defend themfelves; but thofe ftocks seldom turn to any account: hence the reason why keeping bees in colonies have always failed; I mean, in this country; for, if you imprudently reduce your bees, by taking too much honey from them, fo as to prevent the queens breeding in the early months, they muft mifcarry in the following fummer. I cannot help condemning two authors, that have written on this fubject, viz. Meffrs. White and Keys, particularly the former: their opinions have given a furprising check to the cultivation of bees; I mean, their idle notions respecting fituation. "A popular opinion prevails with us, that no village will fupport more than eight or ten ftocks; confequently, the villages in our country do not contain above ten old stocks, one with another; whereas I am confident that twenty times the number might be kept. But let us examine what Mr. White has written on this bufinefs: he directs you to fwarm your bees, and the fame year to take part of their honey from them. "Keys feems to have copied his fentiments refpecting fituation; but from what have advanced in regard to keeping fuch a number of stocks, it may be neceffary to examine what the bees collect from. I will firft mention the tare, that inexhauftible fupport to bees, from which they gather the whole fummer; and it may not be improper here to note, that it is not from the flower, but a fmall leaf with a black fpot on it, which in warm weather keeps continually oozing. But from careful infpection at the time of their gathering, this nectareous juice may be teen oozing from every joint of the ftem. A hundred acres of tares are grown every year within the reach of my bees; yet it was always faid to be a bad fituation, and not able to fupport more than eight or ten frocks: befides, if the month of June proves hot, the collection from the oak, lime, and fycamore leaves, is aftonishingly great; as well as from the profufion of flowers, which nature exhibits in fucceffion through out the whole fummer. "From thefe remarks and experiments it is evident, that fuccefs depends entirely on leaving your bees ftrong in October; for by this plan they naturally get into a habit of fwarming early, and, by having the whole fummer before them, always get rich. Whenever an unkindly feafon happens, to prevent this, it is an invariable practice with me, to give all my fwarms fugar and water, or honey, fufficient to make each ftock produce thirty or thirty-fix pounds weight: befides, I am never difappointed of a fwarm in May; and it is more frequent than other wife, that these stocks will yield three fwarms each; the old ftock likewife in general will be as rich as the prime fwarm. On the other hand, if the stock is left moderate, though they may have honey enough to get them through the winter, yet fome check may be given to the queen's breeding; of courfe it may be the middle of June, before they are ready for fwarming; and if the weather turns out fine and hot, there is fuch a profufion of honey in the fields, and they are fo intent after it, that no art can make them swarm : in that cafe, they will lie out the remainder of the fummer, to the great lofs of the owner. However, whenever this happens, I would advise all fuch stocks, after laying out a week, to be fet on empty hives. "I will now presume to offer a fimple and eafy mode of managing thefe admirable infects, the profits from which will far furpafs that in common ufe. The owner muft patiently wait till he has acquired twenty ftocks, which may be foon accomplished by attending to the foregoing hints. In the month of April following, he must separate ten of the ftrongeft hives for fwarming; the other ten must be raised on large empty hives, the tops of which fhould be first taken off, and the joinings of the two hives fecured with a little clay, which plan keeps the bees from fwarming. In the month of September following, being the time I would recommend them to be burnt, each stock will feldom be found to have produced lefs than fifty pounds weight, provided it has been a kind seafon. "The prime fwarms from the other stocks, I would recommend to be put into three-peck hives, at least ; for when they fwarm fo early, they are very likely to fwarin again in a few weeks, which fhould always be prevented; and all the after-fwarms should |