PRODUCTS OF BEES; THEIR ORIGIN AND FUNCTION.
Among all insects, bees stand first in the variety of the useful
products which they give us; and next to the silk-moths in the
importance of these products. They seem the more remarkable and
important, in that so few insects yield articles of commercial value.
True, the cochineal insect, a species of bark-louse, gives us an
important coloring material; the lac insect, of the same family, gives
us the important element of our best glue--shellac; the blister-beetles
afford an article prized by the physician, while we are indebted to
one of the gall-flies for a valuable element of ink But the honey-bee
affords not only a delicious article of food, but also another article
of no mean commercial rank--namely, wax. We will proceed to examine the
various products which come from bees.
HONEY.
Of course the first product of bees, not only to attract attention, but
also in importance, is honey. And what is honey? We can only say that
it is a sweet substance gathered from flowers and other sources, by the
bees. We cannot, therefore, give its chemical composition, which would
be as varied as the sources from which it comes. We cannot even call
it a sugar, for it may be, and always is composed of various sugars,
and thus it is easy to understand why honey varies so much in richness,
color, flavor, and effects on digestion. In fact, it is very doubtful
if honey is a manufactured article at all. It seems most likely
that the bees only collect it as it is distilled by myriad leaves
and flowers, and store it up, that it may minister to their and our
necessities. To be sure, some writers contend that it undergoes some
change while in the bee's stomach; but the rapidity with which they
store, and the seeming entire similarity between honey and sugar fed
to them, and the same immediately extracted from the comb, has led me
to believe that the transforming power of the stomach is very slight,
if, indeed, it exists at all. To be sure, I have fed sugar, giving bees
empty combs at night-fall, and found the flavor of honey early the
next morning. In this case, honey might have been already in the bees'
stomachs, or might have been carried from other portions of the hive.
The method of collecting the honey has already been described. The
principles of lapping and suction are both involved in the operation.
When the stomach is full, the bee repairs to the hive, and regurgitates
its precious load, either giving it to the bees or storing it in the
cells. Mr. Doolittle claims that the bees that gather, give all their
honey to the other bees, which latter store it in the cells. This honey
remains for some time uncapped that it may ripen, by which process the
water is partially evaporated, and the honey rendered thicker. If the
honey remains uncapped, or is removed from the cells, it will generally
granulate, if the temperature be reduced below 70°. This is probably
owing to the presence of the cane-sugar, and is a good indication, as
it denotes superior quality. Some honey, as that from the South, and
some from California, seems to remain liquid indefinitely. Some kinds
of our own honey crystallize much more readily than others. But that
granulation is a test that honey is pure, is untrue; that it is a sign
of superior excellence, I think quite probable.
When there are no flowers, or when the flowers yield no sweets, the
bees, ever desirous to add to their stores, frequently essay to rob
other colonies, and often visit the refuse of cider mills, or suck
up the oozing sweets of various plant or bark lice, thus adding, may
be, unwholesome food to their usually delicious and refined stores.
It is a curious fact that the queen never lays her maximum number of
eggs except when storing is going on. In fact, in the interims of
honey-gathering, egg-laying not infrequently ceases altogether. The
queen seems discreet, gauging the size of her family by the probable
means of support.
Again, in times of extraordinary yields of honey, the storing is so
rapid that the hive becomes so filled that the queen is unable to
lay her full quota of eggs; in fact, I have seen the brood very much
reduced in this way, which, of course, greatly depleted the colony.
This might be called ruinous prosperity. The natural use of the honey
is to furnish the mature bees with food, and when mixed with pollen, to
form the diet of the young bees.
[Illustration: Fig. 27.
_Under-side Abdomen, magnified._
_a, a, etc._--Wax pellets.
_Wax-Scales in situ, magnified._
_w_--Wax-scale.
]
WAX.
The product of the bees, second in importance, is wax. This is a solid,
unctious substance, and is, as shown by its chemical composition, a
fat-like material, though not as some authors assert, the fat of bees.
As already observed, this is a secretion formed in pellets, the shape
of an irregular pentagon (Fig. 27, _w_), underneath the abdomen. These
pellets are light-colored, very thin and fragile, and are secreted by
and molded upon the membrane towards the body from the wax-pockets.
Neighbour speaks of the wax oozing through pores from the stomach. This
is not the case, but, as with the synovial fluid about our own joints,
is formed by the secreting membrane, and does not pass through holes,
as water through a sieve. There are four of these wax-pockets on each
side, and thus there may be eight wax-scales on a bee at one time. This
wax can be secreted by the bees, when fed on pure sugar, as shown by
Huber, which experiment I have verified. I removed all honey and comb
from my observing-hive, left the bees for twenty-four hours to digest
all food which might be in their stomachs, then fed pure sugar, which
was better than honey, as Prof. R. F. Kedzie has shown by analysis that
not only filtered honey, but even the nectar which he collected right
from the flowers themselves, contains nitrogen. The bees commenced
at once to build comb, and continued for several days, so long as I
kept them confined. This is, as we should suppose; sugar contains
hydrogen and oxygen in proportion to form water, while the third
element, carbon, is in the same or about the same proportion as the
oxygen. Now, the fats usually contain little oxygen, and a good deal
of carbon and hydrogen. Thus, the sugar by losing some of its oxygen
would contain the requisite elements for fat. It was found true in the
days of slavery in the South, that the negroes of Louisiana, during the
gathering of the cane, would become very fat. They ate much sugar; they
gained much fat. Now, wax is a fat-like substance, not that it is the
animal fat of bees, as often asserted--in fact it contains much less
hydrogen, as will be seen by the following formula from Hess:
Oxygen 7.50
Carbon 79.30
Hydrogen 13.20
--but it is a special secretion for a special purpose, and from its
composition, we should conclude that it might be secreted from a purely
saccharine diet, and experiment confirms the conclusion. It has been
found that bees require about twenty pounds of honey to secrete one of
wax.
That nitrogenous food is necessary, as claimed by Langstroth and
Neighbour, is not true. Yet, in the active season, when muscular
exertion is great, nitrogenous food must be imperatively necessary to
supply the waste, and give tone to the body. Some may be desirable even
in the quiet of winter. Now, as secretion of wax demands a healthy
condition of the bee, it indirectly requires some nitrogenous food.
It is asserted, that to secrete wax, bees need to hang in compact
clusters or festoons, in absolute repose. Such quiet would certainly
seem conducive to most active secretion. The same food could not go
to form wax, and at the same time supply the waste of tissue which
ever follows upon muscular activity. The cow, put to hard toil, could
not give so much milk. But I find, upon examination, that the bees,
even the most aged, while gathering in the honey season, yield up
the wax-scales, the same as those within the hive. During the active
storing of the past season, especially when comb-building was in
rapid progress, I found that nearly every bee taken from the flowers
contained the wax-scales of varying sizes in the wax-pockets. By the
activity of the bees, these are not infrequently loosed from their
position, and fall to the bottom of the hive.
It is probable that wax secretion is not forced upon the bees, but
only takes place as required. So the bees, unless wax is demanded, may
perform other duties. Whether this secretion is a matter of the bee's
will, or whether it is excited by the surrounding conditions without
any thought, are questions yet to be settled.
These wax-scales are loosened by the claws, and carried to the mouth
by the anterior legs, where they are mixed with saliva, and after the
proper kneading by the jaws, in which process it assumes a bright
yellow hue--but loses none of its translucency--it is formed into that
wonderful and exquisite structure, the comb.
Honey-comb is wonderfully delicate, the wall of a new cell being only
about 1-180 of an inch in thickness, and so formed as to combine the
greatest strength with the least expense of material and room. It has
been a subject of admiration since the earliest time. That the form is
a matter of necessity, as some claim--the result of pressure--and not
of bee-skill, is not true. The hexagonal form is assumed at the very
start of the cells, when there can be no pressure. The wasp builds the
same form, though unaided. The assertion that the cells, even the drone
and worker-cells, are absolutely uniform and perfect, is also untrue,
as a little inspection will convince any one. The late Prof. Wyman
proved that an exact hexagonal cell does not exist. He showed that the
size varies; so that in a distance of ten worker-cells, there may be a
variation of one diameter. And this in natural, not distorted cells.
This variation of one-fifth of an inch in ten cells is extreme, but a
variation of one-tenth of an inch is common. The sides, as also the
angles, are not constant. The rhombic faces forming the bases of the
cells also vary.
The bees change from worker (Fig. 28, _c_) to drone-cells (Fig. 28,
_a_), which are one-fifth larger, and vice versa, not by any system
(Fig. 28, _b_), but simply by enlarging or contracting. It usually
takes about four rows to complete the transformation, though the number
of deformed cells varies from two to eight.
[Illustration: Fig. 28.
_Rhombs, Pyramidal Bases, and Gross-sections of Cells illustrated._
_Honey-Comb._
_a_--Drone-cells,
_b_--Deformed cells.
_c_--Worker-cells.
_d d_--Queen-cells.
]
The structure of each cell is quite complex, yet full of interest.
The base is a triangular pyramid (Fig. 28, _e_) whose three faces are
rhombs, and whose apex forms the very centre of the floor of the cell.
From the six free or non-adjacent edges of the three rhombs extend the
lateral walls or faces of the cell. The apex of this basal pyramid is
a point where the contiguous faces of three cells on the opposite side
meet, and form the angles of the bases of three cells on the opposite
side of the comb. Thus, the base of each cell forms one-third of the
base of each of three opposite cells. One side thus braces the other,
and adds much to the strength of the comb. Each cell, then, is in form
of a hexagonal prism, terminating in a flattened triangular pyramid.
The bees usually build several combs at once, and carry forward
several cells on each side of each comb, constantly adding to the
number, by additions to the edge. Huber first observed the process of
comb-building, noticing the bees abstract the wax-scales, carry them
to the mouth, add the frothy saliva, and then knead and draw out the
yellow ribbons which were fastened to the top of the hive, or added to
the comb already commenced.
The diameter of the worker-cells (Fig. 28, _c_) averages little more
than one-fifth of an inch--Réaumur says two and three-fifths lines or
twelfths of an inch. While the drone-cells (Fig. 28, _a_) are a little
more than one-fourth of an inch, or, according to Réaumur, three and
one-third lines. But this distinguished author was quite wrong when he
said: "These are the invariable dimensions of all cells that ever were
or ever will be made." The depth of the worker-cells is a little less
than half an inch; the drone-cells are slightly extended so as to be
a little more than half an inch deep. These cells are often drawn out
so as to be an inch long, when used solely as honey receptacles. The
capping of the brood-cells is dark, porous, and convex, while that of
the honey is white and concave.
The character of the cells, as to size, that is whether they are drone
or worker, seems to be determined by the relative abundance of bees
and honey. If the bees are abundant and honey needed, or if there is
no queen to lay eggs, drone-comb (Fig. 28, _a_) is invariably built,
while if there are few bees, and of course little honey needed, then
worker-comb (Fig. 28, _c_) is almost as invariably formed.
All comb when first formed is clear and transparent. The fact that
it is often dark and opaque implies that it has been long used as
brood-comb, and the opacity is due to the innumerable thin cocoons
which line the cells. These may be separated by dissolving the wax;
which may be done by putting it in boiling alcohol. Such comb need
not be discarded, for if composed of worker-cells, it is still very
valuable for breeding purposes, and should not be destroyed till the
cells are too small for longer service, which, will not occur till
after many years of use. The function, then, of the wax, is to make
comb, and caps for the honey-cells, and, combined with pollen, to form
queen-cells (Fig. 28, _d_) and caps for the brood-cells. (See Appendix,
page 301).
POLLEN, OR BEE-BREAD.
An ancient Greek author states that in Hymettus the bees tied little
pebbles to their legs to hold them down. This fanciful conjecture
probably arose from seeing the pollen balls on the bees' legs.
Even such scientists as Réaumur, Bonnet, Swammerdam, and many apiarists
of the last century, thought they saw in these pollen-balls the source
of wax. But Huber, John Hunter, Duchet, Wildman, and others, noticed
the presence and function of the wax-pellets already described, and
were aware that the pollen served a different purpose.
This substance, like honey, is not secreted, nor manufactured by the
bees, only collected. The bees usually obtain it from the stamens of
flowers. But if they gain access to flour when there is no bloom, they
will take this in lieu of pollen, in which case the former term used
above becomes a misnomer, though usually the bee-bread consists almost
wholly of pollen.
As already intimated, the pollen is conveyed in the pollen-baskets
(Fig. 22, _p_) of the posterior legs, to which it is conveyed by the
other legs, and compressed into little oval masses. The motions in this
conveyance are exceedingly rapid. The bees not infrequently come to the
hives, not only with replete pollen-baskets, but with their whole under
surface thoroughly dusted. Dissection will also show that the same bee
may have her sucking stomach distended with honey. Thus the bees make
the most of their opportunities. It is a curious fact, noticed even
by Aristotle, that the bees, during any trip, gather only a single
kind of pollen, or only gather from one species of bloom. Hence, while
different bees may have different colors of pollen, the pellets of
bee-bread on any single bee will be uniform in color throughout. It is
possible that the material is more easily collected and compacted when
homogeneous.
The pollen is usually deposited in the small or worker cells, and is
unloaded by a scraping motion of the posterior legs, the pollen baskets
being first lowered into the cells. The bee thus freed, leaves the
wheat-like masses thus deposited to be packed by other bees. The cells,
which may or may not have the same color of pollen throughout, are
never filled quite to the top, and not infrequently the same cell may
contain both pollen and honey. Such a condition is easily ascertained
by holding the comb between the eye and the sun. If there is no
pollen it will be wholly translucent; otherwise there will be opaque
patches. A little experience will make this determination easy, even
if the comb is old. It is often stated that queenless colonies gather
no pollen, but this is not true, though very likely they gather less
than they otherwise would. It is probable that pollen, at least when
honey is added, contains all the essential elements of animal food. It
certainly contains the very important principle, which is not found in
honey--nitrogenous material.
The function of bee-bread is to help furnish the brood with proper
food. In fact, brood-rearing would be impossible without it. And though
it is certainly not essential to the nourishment of the bees when in
repose, it still may be so, and unquestionably is, in time of active
labor.
PROPOLIS.
This substance, also called bee-glue, is collected as the bees collect
pollen, and not made nor secreted. It is the product of various
resinous buds, and may be seen to glisten on the opening buds of the
hickory and horse-chestnut, where it frequently serves the entomologist
by capturing small insects. From such sources, from the oozing gum of
various trees, from varnished furniture, and from old propolis about
unused hives, that have previously seen service, do the bees secure
their glue. Probably the gathering of bees about coffins to collect
their glue from the varnish, led to the custom of rapping on the hives
to inform the bees, in case of a death in the family, that they might
join as mourners. This custom still prevails, as I understand, in some
parts of the South. This substance has great adhesive force, and
though soft and pliable when warm, becomes very hard and unyielding
when cold.
The use of this substance is to cement the combs to their supports,
to fill up all rough places inside the hive, to seal up all crevices
except the place of exit, which they often contract, and even to
cover any foreign substance that cannot be removed. Intruding snails
have thus been imprisoned inside the hive. Réaumur found a snail thus
encased; Maraldi, a slug similarly entombed; while I have myself
observed a bombus, which had been stripped by the bees of wings, hair,
etc., in their vain attempts at removal, also encased in this unique
style of a sarcophagus, fashioned by the bees.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
For those who wish to pursue these interesting subjects more at length,
I would recommend the following authors as specially desirable: Kirby
and Spence, Introduction to Entomology; Duncan's Transformations of
Insects; Packard's Guide to the Study of Insects (American); F. Huber's
New Observations on the Natural History of Bees; Bevan on the Honey
Bee; Langstroth on the Honey Bee (American); Neighbour on The Apiary.
I have often been asked to recommend such treatises, and I heartily
commend all of the above. The first and fourth are now out of print,
but can be had by leaving orders at second-hand book-stores.
PART SECOND.
THE APIARY;
Its Care and Management.
_Motto:--"Keep all Colonies Strong!"_
INTRODUCTION TO PART II.
STARTING AN APIARY.
In apiculture, as in all other pursuits, it is all-important to make a
good beginning. This demands preparation on the part of the apiarist,
procuring of bees, and location of his apiary.
PREPARATION.
Before starting in the business, the prospective bee-keeper should
inform himself in the art.
READ A GOOD MANUAL.
To do this, he should procure some good manual, and thoroughly study,
especially the practical part of the business; and if accustomed to
read, think and study, should carefully read the whole work. Otherwise,
he will avoid confusion by only studying the methods of practice,
leaving the principles and science, to strengthen, and be strengthened
by, his experience. Unless a student, he had better not take a journal
till he begins the actual work, as so much unclassified information,
without any experience to correct, arrange, and select, will but
mystify. For the same reason, he may well be content with reading a
single work, till experience, and a thorough study of this one, makes
him more able to discriminate; and the same reasoning will preclude his
taking more than one bee-periodical, until he has had at least a year's
actual experience.
VISIT SOME APIARIST.
In this work of self-preparation, he will find great aid in visiting
the nearest successful and intelligent apiarist. If successful, such an
one will have a reputation; if intelligent, he will take the journals,
and will show by his conversation that he knows of the methods and
views of his brother apiarists, and above all, he will not think he
knows it all, and that his is the only way to success. Learn all you
can of such, an one, but always let your own judgment and common sense
sit as umpire, that you make no plans or decisions that your judgment
does not fully sustain.
TAKE A COLLEGE COURSE.
It will be _most wise_ to take a course in some College, if this is
practicable, where apiculture is thoroughly discussed. Here you will
not only get the best training as to your chosen business, as you will
study, see and handle, and thus will have the very best aids to decide
as to methods, system and apparatus, but will also receive that general
culture, which will greatly enhance life's pleasures and usefulness,
and which ever proves the best capital in any vocation.
DECIDE ON A PLAN.
After such a course as suggested above, it will be easy to decide
as to location, hives, style of honey to raise, and general system
of management. But here, as in all the arts, all our work should be
preceded by a well-digested plan of operations. As with the farmer and
gardener, only he who works to a plan can hope for the best success.
Of course, such plans will vary, as we grow in wisdom and experience.
A good maxim to govern all plans is, "go slow." A good rule, which
will insure the above, "Pay as you go." Make the apiary pay for all
improvements in advance. Demand that each year's credits exceed its
debits; and that you may surely accomplish this, keep an accurate
account of all your receipts and expenses. This will be a great aid in
arranging the plans for each successive year's operations.
Above all, avoid hobbies, and be slow to adopt sweeping changes. "Prove
all things, and hold fast that which is good."
HOW TO PROCURE OUR FIRST COLONIES.
To procure colonies from which to form an apiary, it is always best
to get them near at hand. We thus avoid the shock of transportation,
can see the bees before we purchase, and in case there is any seeming
mistake, can easily gain a personal explanation, and secure a speedy
adjustment of any real wrong.
KIND OF BEES TO PURCHASE.
At the same price always take Italians, as undoutedly they are best. If
black bees can be secured for three, or even for two dollars less per
colony, by all means take them, as they can be Italianized at a profit
for the difference in cost, and, in the operation, the young apiarist
will gain valuable experience.
Our motto, too, will demand that we only purchase strong colonies. If,
as recommended, the purchaser sees the colonies before the bargain is
closed, it will be easy to know that the colonies are strong. If the
bees, as they come rushing out, remind you of Vesuvius at her best, or
bring to mind the gush and rush at the nozzle of the fireman's hose,
then buy. In the hives of such colonies, all combs will be covered with
bees, and in the honey season, brood will be abundant.
IN WHAT KIND OF HIVES.
As plans are already made, of course it is settled as to the style of
hive to be used. Now, if bees can be procured in such hives, they will
be worth just as much more than though in any other hive, as it costs
to make the hive and transfer the bees. This will be certainly as much
as three dollars. _No apiarist will tolerate, unless for experiment,
two styles of hives in his apiary._ Therefore, unless you find bees
in such hives as you are to use, it will be best to buy them in box
hives and transfer (see Chapter VII.) to your own hives, as such bees
can always be bought at reduced rates. In case the person from whom
you purchase will take the hives back at a fair rate, after you have
transferred the bees to your own hives, then purchase in any style of
movable comb hive, as it is easier to transfer from a movable comb
hive, than from a box hive.
WHEN TO PURCHASE.
It is safe to purchase any time in the summer. In April or May--of
course you only purchase strong stocks--if in the latitude of New York
or Chicago--it will be earlier further south--you can afford to pay
more, as you will secure the increase both of honey and bees. If you
desire to purchase in autumn, that you may gain by the experience of
wintering, either demand that the one of whom you purchase insure the
safe wintering of the bees, or else that he reduce the selling price,
at least one-third, from his rates the next April. Otherwise the novice
had better wait and purchase in spring. If you are to transfer at once,
it is almost imperative that you buy in spring, as it is vexatious,
especially for the novice, to transfer when the hives are crowded with
brood and honey.
HOW MUCH TO PAY.
Of course the market, which will ever be governed by supply and demand,
must guide you. But to aid you, I will append what at present would be
a reasonable schedule of prices almost anywhere in the United States:
For box hives, crowded with black bees--Italians would rarely be found
in such hives--five dollars per colony is a fair price. For black bees
in hives such as you desire to use, eight dollars would be reasonable.
For pure Italians in such hives, ten dollars is not too much.
If the person of whom you purchase, will take back the movable hives
after you transfer the bees, you can afford to pay five dollars for
black bees, and seven dollars for pure Italians. If you purchase in the
fall, require 33⅓ per cent, discount on these rates.
WHERE TO LOCATE.
If apiculture is an avocation, then your location will be fixed by your
principal business or profession. And here I may state, that if we may
judge from reports which come from nearly every section of the United
States, from Maine to Texas, and from Florida to Oregon, you can hardly
go amiss anywhere in our goodly land.
If you are to engage as a specialist, then you can select first with
reference to society and climate, after which it will be well to secure
a succession of natural honey-plants (Chap. XVI.), by virtue of your
locality. It will also be well to look for reasonable prospects of a
good home market, as good home markets are, and must ever be, the most
desirable. It will be desirable, too, that your neighborhood is not
overstocked with bees. It is a well-established fact, that apiarists
with few colonies receive relatively larger profits than those with
large apiaries. While this may be owing in part to better care, much
doubtless depends on the fact that there is not an undue proportion of
bees to the number of honey-plants, and consequent secretion of nectar.
To have the undisputed monopoly of an area reaching at least four
miles in every direction from your apiary, is unquestionably a great
advantage.
If you desire to begin two kinds of business, so that your dangers from
possible misfortune may be lessened, then a small farm--especially
a fruit farm--in some locality where fruit-raising is successfully
practiced, will be very desirable. You thus add others of the luxuries
of life to the products of your business, and at the same time may
create additional pasturage for your bees by simply attending to your
other business. In this case, your location becomes a more complex
matter, and will demand still greater thought and attention. Some of
Michigan's most successful apiarists are also noted as successful
pomologists.
For position and arrangement of apiary see Chapter VI.