The study of the honey-bee has been pursued with interest from remote
ages. A work on bees, by De Montfort, published at Antwerp in 1649,
estimates the number of treatises on this subject, before his time, at
between five and six hundred. As that was two hundred and eight years
ago, the number has probably increased to two thousand or more. We have
some knowledge of the character of these early works, as far back as
Democritus, four hundred and sixty years before the Christian era. The
great men of antiquity gave particular attention to study and writing on
the honey-bee.--Among them we notice Aristotle, Plato, Columella, Pliny,
and Virgil. At a later period, we have Huber, Swammerdam, Warder,
Wildman, _&c._ In our own day, we have Huish, Miner, Quinby, Weeks,
Richardson, Langstroth, and a host of others. For the first two thousand
years from the date of these works, the bee was treated mainly as a
curious insect, rather than as a source of profit and luxury to man. And
although Palestine was eulogized as a land flowing with milk and honey,
before the Hebrews took possession of it, yet the science of
_bee-culture_ was wholly unknown.
In the earliest attention to bees, they were supposed to originate in
the concentrated aroma of the sweetest and most beautiful flowers.
Virgil, and others of his time, supposed them to come from the carcasses
of dead animals. But the remarkable experiments of Huber, sixty years
ago, developed many facts respecting their origin and economy.
Subsequent observers have added still more to the stock of our knowledge
respecting these wonderful creatures. The different stages of growth,
from the minute egg of the queen to a full grown bee, and the precise
time occupied by each, are well established. The three classes of bees,
in every perfect colony, and the offices of each; their mechanical skill
in constructing the different sized and shaped cells, for honey, for
raising drones, workers, and queens, all differing according to the
purposes for which they are intended; the wars of the queens, and their
sovereignty over their respective colonies; the methods by which
working-bees will raise a young queen, when the old one is destroyed,
out of the larvae of common bees; the peculiar construction and
situation of the queen cells; and, above all, the royal jelly (differing
from everything else in the hive) which they manufacture for the food of
young queens; the manner in which they ventilate their hives by a swift
motion of their wings, causing the buzzing noise they make in a summer
evening; their method of repairing broken comb, and building
fortifications, before their entrances, at certain times, to keep out
the sphinx--all these curious matters are treated fully in many of our
works on bees. But we must forego the pleasure of presenting these at
length, it being our sole object to enable all who follow our
directions, so to manage bees as to render them profitable. In preparing
the brief directions that follow, we have most carefully studied all the
works, American and foreign, to which we could get access. Between this
article and the best of those works there will be found a general
agreement, except as it respects beehives. We present views of hives,
that we are not aware have ever been written. The original idea, or new
principle (which consists in constructing the hive with the entrance
near the top), was suggested to us by Samuel Pierce, Esq., of Troy, N.
Y., who is the great American inventor of cooking-ranges and stoves. We
have carefully considered the principle in its various relations to the
habits of the bee, and believe it correct. To most of our late works on
honey-bees we have one serious objection: it is, that they bear on their
face the evidence of having been written to make money, by promoting the
sale of some patent hive. These works all have a little in common that
is interesting; the remainder seems designed to oppose some former
patent and commend a new one. They thus swell their volumes to a
troublesome and expensive size, with that which is of no use to
practical men. A work made to fight a patent, or to sell one, can not be
reliable. The requisites to successful bee-management are the
following:--
1. Always have large, strong swarms. Such only are able successfully to
contend with their enemies. This is done by uniting weak swarms, or
sending back a young, feeble swarm when it comes out (as herein after
directed).
2. Use medium-sized hives. In too large hives, bees find it difficult to
guard their territories. They also store up more honey than they need,
and yield less to the cultivator. The main box should be one foot square
by fifteen inches high. Make hives of new boards; plane smooth and paint
white on the outside. The usual direction is to leave the inside rough,
to aid in holding up the honey, but to plane the inside edges so as to
make close joints. We counsel to plane the inside of the hive smooth,
and draw a fine saw lightly length wise of the boards, to make the comb
adhere. This will be a great saving of the time of bees, when it is
worth the most in gathering honey. They always carry out all the sawdust
from the inside of their hives. Better save their time by planing it
off.
3. To prevent robberies among bees, when a weak colony is attacked,
close their entrances so that but one bee can pass at once, and they
will then take care of themselves. To prevent a disposition to pillage,
place all your hives in actual contact, on the sides, and make a
communication between them, but not large enough to allow bees to pass.
This will give the same scent to the whole, and make them feel like one
family. Bees distinguish strangers only by the smell: hence, so
connected, they will not quarrel or pillage.
4. Comb is usually regarded better for not being more than two or three
years old. The usual theory is, that cells fill up by repeated use, and,
becoming smaller, render the bees raised in them diminutive. This is not
probable, as a known habit of the bee is to clean out the cells before
reusing them. Huber demonstrated that bees raised in drone-cells (which
are always larger than for workers) grew no larger than in their own
natural cells. And as bees build their cells the right size at first, it
is probable they keep them so. Quinby assures us that bees have been
grown twenty years in the same comb, and that the last were as large as
the first. But for other reasons, it is better to change the comb. In
all ordinary cases, it is better to transfer the swarm to a new hive
every third year. Many think it best to use hives composed of three
sections, seven and a half inches deep each, screwed together with
strips of wood on the sides, and the top screwed on that it may easily
be removed; thick paper or muslin should be pasted around, on the
places of intersection, to guard against enemies; the two lower sections
only allowed to contain bees--the upper one being designed for the
honey-boxes, to be removed. Each spring, after two years old, the lower
section is taken out and a new one put on the top, the cover of the old
one having been first removed. This is the old "pyramidal beehive,"
which is the title of a treatise on bees, by P. Ducouedic, translated
from the French and abridged by Silas Dinsmore in 1829. This has
recently been revived and patented as a new thing. We think with Quinby,
that these hives are too expensive and too complicated, and that the
great mass of cultivators will succeed best with hives of simple
construction.
5. Allowing bees to swarm in their own time and way is better than all
artificial multiplication of colonies. If there are no small trees near
the apiary, place bushes, upon which the bees will usually light, when
they come out. If they seem determined to go away without lighting,
throw sand or dust among them; this produces confusion, and causes them
to settle near. The practice of ringing bells and drumming on tin, &c.,
is usually ridiculed; but we believe it to be useful, and that on
philosophic principles. The object to be secured is to confuse the swarm
and drown the voice of the queen. The bees move only with their queen;
hence, if anything prevents them from hearing her, confusion follows,
and the swarm lights: therefore, any noise among them may answer the
purpose, and save the swarm.
To hive bees, place them on a clean white cloth, and set the hive over
them, raised an inch or two by blocks under the corners. It is said that
a little sweetened water or honey, applied to the inside of the hive,
will incline the bees to remain. The best preparation is to fasten a
piece of new white comb on the top of the inside of the hive. This is
done by dipping the end of a piece of comb in melted beeswax, and
sticking it to the top. Bees should never be allowed to send off more
than two colonies in one season. To restrict them to one is still
better. Excessive swarming is a precursor of destruction, rather than an
evidence (as usually regarded) of prosperity. A given number of bees
will make far less honey in two hives than in one, unless they are so
numerous as greatly to crowd the hive. When a late swarm comes out, take
away the queen, and they will immediately return. Any one may easily
find the queen: she is always in the centre of the bunch into which the
swarm collects on lighting. If they form two or three clusters, it is
because they have that number of queens. Then all the queens should be
destroyed. The following cuts of the three classes of bees will enable
one to distinguish the queen.
[Illustration: Working Bee. Queen. Drone.]
The queen is sometimes, but not always, larger than the common bee; but
her body is always longer, and blackish above and yellowish underneath.
To unite any two swarms together, turn the hive you wish to empty
bottom-up, and place the one into which you would have them go on the
top of the other, with their mouths together; then tie a cloth around,
at the place of intersection, to prevent the egress of the bees. Gently
rap the lower hive on all sides, near the bottom, gradually rising until
you reach the top of the lower hive, and all the bees will go into the
upper one.
In the same way, it is easy to remove a colony into a new hive, whenever
you think they need changing. This should be performed in the dusk of
the evening, and need occupy no more than half an hour. The hive should
then be put in its place. Uniting weak new swarms, may be done whenever
they come out; but changing a swarm from an old hive to a new one should
be performed as early as the middle of June. If moths get in, change
hives at any time when it is warm enough for bees to work, and give them
all the honey in their old hive. If you discover moths too late for the
bees to build comb in a new hive, take the queen from the hive infested
with moths, and place it where the bees will unite with another colony,
and feed them all the honey from the deserted hive. This, or the
destruction of the bees and saving the honey, is always necessary, when
moth-worms are in possession, unless they are so near the bottom, that
all the comb around them may be cut out. Bees are fond of salt. Always
keep some on a board near them.
They also need water. If a rivulet runs near the apiary, it is well. If
not, place water in shallow pans, with pebbles in them, on which the
bees can stand to drink. Change the water daily. It is too late to speak
of the improvidence of killing bees, to get their honey. Use boxes of
any size or construction you choose. In common hives, boxes should be
attached to the sides, and not placed on the top. It is a wasteful tax
upon the time and strength of loaded bees, to make them travel through
the whole length of the hive, into boxes on the top. Place boxes as near
as possible to their entrance or below that entrance. Bees should be
kept out of the boxes until they have pretty well filled the hive, or
they may begin to raise young bees in the boxes.
_Wintering bees_ successfully, is one of the most difficult matters in
bee-culture. Two evils are to be guarded against, dampness and
suffocation. Excessive dampness, sometimes causes frost about the
entrance that fills it up and suffocation ensues. Sometimes snow falls,
or is blown over the entrance, and the bees die in a few hours for the
want of air. Many large colonies, with plenty of honey, are thus
destroyed. Dampness is very injurious to bees on other accounts. In a
good bee-house there is no danger from snow, and little from dampness.
Bees, not having honey enough for winter, should be fed in pleasant fall
weather, after they have nearly completed the labors of the season.
Weighing hives is unnecessary. A moderate degree of judgment will
determine whether a swarm has a sufficient store for winter. If not,
feed them. Never give bees dry sugar. They take up their food, as an
elephant does water in his trunk; it, therefore, should be in a liquid
form. Boil good sugar for ten minutes in ale or beer, leaving it about
as thick as honey. Put it in a feed trough; which should be
flat-bottomed.
Fasten together thin slats, one fourth of an inch apart, so as to fit
the inside of the feed trough and lie on the surface of the liquid, so
as to rise and fall with it. Put this in a box and attach it to the
hive, as for taking box-honey, and the bees will work it all up. Put
out-door, it tempts other bees, and may lead to quarrels, and robbery.
It is not generally known, that a good swarm of bees may be destroyed,
by feeding them plenty of honey, early in the spring. They carry it in
and fill up their empty cells and leave no room for raising young bees;
hence the whole is ruined for want of inhabitants, to take the places of
those that get destroyed, or die of age.
To winter bees well, utterly exclude the light during all the cold
weather, until it becomes so warm, that they will not get so chilled
when out that they can not return. Intense cold is not injurious to
bees, provided they are kept in the hive and are dry. A large swarm,
will not eat two pounds of honey during the whole cold winter, if kept
from the light. When tempted out, every warm day they come into the
sunshine and empty themselves, and return to consume large quantities of
honey. Kept in the dark, they are nearly torpid, eat but a mere trifle,
and winter well. Whatever your hive or house, then, keep your bees
entirely from the light, in cold weather. This is the only reason why
bees keep so well in a dark dry cellar, or buried in the ground, with
something around them, to preserve them from moisture, and a conductor
through the surface, to admit fresh air. It is not because it keeps out
the cold, but because it excludes the light, and renders the bees
inactive. Gilmore's patent bee-house, is a great improvement on this
account.
Of the diseases of bees, such as dysentery, &c., we shall not treat. All
that can profitably be done, to remedy these evils, is secured by salt,
water, and properly-prepared food, as given above.
But the great question in bee-culture is, How to prevent the depredation
of the wax-moth? To this subject, much study has been given, and
respecting it many theories have been advanced. The following
suggestions are, to us, the most satisfactory. The miller, that
deposites the egg, which soon changes to the worm, so destructive in the
beehive, commences to fly about, at dark. In almost every country-house,
they are seen about the lights in the evening. They are still during all
the day. They are remarkably attracted by lights in the evening. Hence
our first rule:--
1. Place a teasaucer of melted lard or oil, with a piece of cotton
flannel for a wick, in or near the apiary at dusk; light it and allow it
to burn till near morning, expiring before daylight. This done every
night during the month of June, will be very effectual.
2. Keep grass and weeds away from the immediate vicinity of your apiary.
Let the ground be kept clean and smooth. This destroys many of the
hiding-places of the miller, and forces him away to spend the day. This
precaution has many other advantages.
3. Keep large strong colonies. They will be able to guard their
territories, and contend with this and all other enemies.
4. Never have any opening in a beehive near the bottom, during the
season of millers (see Beehive). Let the openings be so small, that only
one or two bees can pass at once. To accommodate the bees, increase the
number of openings. Millers will seldom enter among a strong swarm, with
such openings. All around the bottom, it should be so tight, that no
crevice can be found, in which a miller can deposite an egg. Better
plaster around, closely, with some substance, the place of contact
between the hive and the board on which it stands, and keep it entirely
tight during the time in which the millers are active.
5. If, through negligence, worms have got into a hive, examine it at
once; and if they are near the bottom only, within sight and reach, cut
out the comb around them, and remove them from the hive. If this is not
practicable, transfer the swarm to a new hive, or unite it with another,
without delay.
6. The great remedy for the moth is in the right construction of a
BEEHIVE.
Whatever the form of the hive you use, have the entrance within three or
four inches of the top. Millers are afraid of bees; they will not go
among them, unless they are in a weak, dispirited condition. They steal
into the hive when the bees are quiet, up among the comb, or when they
hang out in warm weather, but are still and quiet. If the hive be open
on all sides (as is so often recommended), the miller enters on some
side where the bees are not. Now bees are apt to go to the upper part of
the hive and comb, and leave the lower part and entrance exposed. If the
entrance be at the upper part, the bees will fill it and be all about
it. A bee can easily pass through a cluster of bees, and enter or leave
a hive; but a miller will never undertake it: this, then, will be a
perfect safeguard against the depredations of the moth. This hive is
better on every account. Moisture rises: in a hive open only at the
bottom, it is likely to rise to the top of the hive and injure the bees;
with the opening near the top it easily escapes. The objection that
would be soonest raised to this suggestion is, that bees need a good
circulation of fresh air, and such a hive would not favor it. To this we
reply, a hive open near the top secures the best possible air to the
swarm; any foul air has opportunity freely to escape. That peculiar
humming heard in a hive in hot weather is produced by a certain motion
of the wings of the bees, designed to expel vitiated air, and admit the
pure, by keeping up a current. In the daytime, when the weather is hot,
you will see a few bees near the entrance on the outside, and hear
others within, performing this service, and, when fatigued, others take
their place. This is one of the most wonderful things in all the habits
and instincts of bees. They thus keep a pure atmosphere in a crowded
hive in hot weather. Now, it would require much less fanning to expel
bad air from a hive open at the top, than from one where all that air
had to be forced down, through an opening at the bottom. This theory is
sustained by the natural habits of bees in their wild state. Wild bees,
that select their own abodes, are found in trees and crevices of rocks.
They usually build their combs _downward_ from their entrance, and their
abode is air-tight at the bottom; they have no air only what is admitted
at their entrance, near the top of their dwelling, and with no current
of air only what they choose to produce by fanning. The purest
atmosphere in any room is where it enters and passes out at the top; in
such a room only does the external atmosphere circulate naturally. It is
on the same principle that bees keep better buried than in any other
way, provided only they are kept dry. Yet they are in a place air-tight,
except the small conductor to the atmosphere above them. The old
"pyramidal beehive" of Ducouedic, with three sections, one above the
other, allowing the removal of the lower one each spring, and the
placing of a new one on the top--thus changing the comb, so that none
shall ever be more than two years old, with the opening always within
three or four inches of the top, is the best of the patent hives. We
prefer plain, simple hives. The general adoption of this principle,
whatever hives are used, would be a new era in the science of
bee-culture. No beehive should ever be exposed to the direct rays of the
sun in a beehouse. A hive standing alone, with a free circulation of air
on every side, will not be seriously injured by the sun. But when the
rays are intercepted by walls or boards, in the rear and on the sides,
they are very disastrous. Other hints, such as clearing off
occasionally, in all seasons except in the cold of winter, the bottom
board, &c., are matters upon which we need not dwell. No cultivator
would think of neglecting them. Let no one be alarmed at finding dead
bees on the bottom when clearing out a hive; bees live only from five to
seven months, and their places are then supplied with young ones. The
above suggestions followed, and a little care taken in cultivating the
fruits, grains, and grasses, that yield the best flowers for bees,
_would secure uniform success_ in raising honey. This is one of the
finest luxuries; and, what is a great desideratum, it is within the easy
reach of every poor family, even, in all the rural districts of the
land.
Good honey, good vegetables, and good fruit, like rain and sunshine,
may be the property of all. The design of this volume is to enable the
poor and the unlearned to enjoy these things in abundance, with only
that amount of care and labor necessary to give them a zest.