Transcriber Note
Text emphasis denoted as _Italics_.
THE
BEE KEEPER'S GUIDE
CONTAINING
CONCISE PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS
FOR
THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES,
UPON THE
DEPRIVING SYSTEM.
BY J. H. PAYNE,
Author of "The Cottager's Guide."
THIRD EDITION.
LONDON:
T. C. NEWBY, 72, MORTIMER St., CAVENDISH Sq.
1846.
PREFACE
TO THE FIRST EDITION.
-----o-----
Having written the "Cottager's Guide for the Management of his Bees,
upon the Depriving System," which has been printed for gratuitous
distribution among the Cottagers, I am induced, at the particular
request of several Apiarian friends, to enlarge the above little work,
and to give in addition a description of Nutt's newly invented Hive,
and other practical remarks in Bee-knowledge, resulting from nearly
forty years' close observation.
Should this little work be the means of inducing any person to
promote the culture of Bees amongst the Cottagers in his immediate
neighbourhood, upon the Depriving System, I shall be amply repaid for
the trouble it may have occasioned me; and the hope that such will
be the result, must be my apology for adding to the number of books
(perhaps already too numerous) upon this subject.
Reaumur, in a letter to M. de la Bourdonaye, in 1757, says, "The
preservation and also the increase of Bees is an object of such
interest to Britanny, that the peasantry cannot be too much encouraged
to turn their attention to it." Surely this is equally applicable
to our own country at the present time, when the condition of the
labouring poor calls so loudly for relief.
I have little hesitation in saying, that Cottagers who are able to keep
from four to six Hives of Bees, may make from four to eight pounds,
yearly profit, after paying all expenses upon them. I paid last year to
one Cottager seven pounds, fifteen shillings, and to another five pound
and one shilling for Bees and Honey.
The following anecdote has so much the appearance of truth in it, and
is so well suited to my present purpose, that I cannot refrain from
giving it.
A good old French Bishop in paying his annual visit to his Clergy,
was very much afflicted by the representations they made of their
extreme poverty, which, indeed, the appearance of their houses and
families corroborated. Whilst he was deploring the state of things
which had reduced them to this sad condition, he arrived at the house
of a Curate, who, living amongst a poorer set of parishioners than any
he had yet visited, would, he feared, be in still more woful plight
than the others; contrary, however, to his expectations, he found
appearances very much improved, everything about the house wore the
aspect of comfort and plenty. The good Bishop was amazed. "How is this,
my friend?" said he, "you are the first man that I have met with a
cheerful face and a plentiful board. Have you any income independent of
your Cure?"
"Yes, Sir," said the Clergyman, "I have; my family would starve on the
pittance I receive from the poor people that I instruct, come with
me into the garden and I will show you the _Stock_ that yields me an
excellent interest."
On going to the garden he showed the Bishop a large range of Bee-hives.
"There is the Bank," he continued, "from which I draw my annual
dividend.--It never stops payment."
Ever after that memorable visit, when any of his Clergy complained to
the Bishop of poverty, he would say to them, "_Keep Bees! Keep Bees!_"
In the words of an Apiarian friend, I solicit information from every
one who may have it in his power to transmit it to me, and on the other
hand, I profess my perfect readiness to impart whatever knowledge I
may possess in the management of an Apiary, to any person who will
favour me with the application; my aim is general utility, and the
establishment of a national advantage.
PREFACE
TO THE SECOND EDITION.
-----o-----
Since the first appearance of this little Treatise I am most happy in
being able to state that Apiarian Science has in this neighbourhood and
in the adjoining Counties, made very considerable advances, that the
ridiculous notions, and foolish prejudices entertained respecting Bees,
are fast wearing away--that the _Cottagers_ are generally managing them
upon the depriving system, making them a real source of profit and of
comfort, and that a number of influential persons are making themselves
acquainted with the practical management of Bees, upon the simplest and
most profitable methods, for the sole purpose of setting an example,
and for qualifying themselves to give instructions in the management
of them to their poor neighbours. Nor is this spirit of well-directed
benevolence confined to these Counties only, for at Oxford a Society
is just formed to promote an improved and more extensive system of
Bee management among the Cottagers by the diffusion of information on
the subject, and the _loan_ of hives, _not the gift_, their cost to
be repaid from the produce, and also to promote a more extensive and
scientific knowledge concerning the Natural History and cultivation of
Bees among the higher classes. The Society, I find, is flourishing,
a piece of ground has been taken and laid out as an experimental
Bee-garden; there is already a very considerable number of stocks of
Bees placed in it in common straw and experimental hives. Subscribers
pay half-a-guinea a year, and non-Subscribers a shilling each visit.
This is an example worthy of imitation.
I am just favoured with a letter from a Gentleman who has recently
visited the above establishment, giving me a certain and simple method
of Autumnal union of weak stocks which he there witnessed, but it comes
too late to be embodied in this treatise, the whole of that part being
already in the press; still as I consider the union of weak stocks
important, and Gelieu's method which I have given too troublesome for
most persons, I will venture to give it in this place. "The process,"
he says, "is merely _fumigating the Bees_, for which they have invented
a tube, much more simple than Nutt's which they insert into the mouth
of the hive; under the hive is previously pushed either an empty
one reversed, or a shallow' box with a wide rim, this receives the
stupified Bees; cut out the combs and remove all the remaining Bees
from them that none be lost. Now take a little sugared ale and sprinkle
it over them just as they are recovering, place upon them the hive to
which they are to be united; this hive requires no sprinkling nor any
fumigation: the Bees in the latter are soon attracted by the ale, and
go down into the hollow containing the fumigated ones licking them
over; the whole are mixed and go up without the least disturbance. It
is unnecessary to take any trouble about the Queen," he adds, "I was
assured that not a Bee would be lost;" and he further says, "upon my
return home I tested it with entire success on some of my neighbour's
Bees: it was the work of but a few minutes, and not the smallest
danger. I left the hive placed upon the other all night, and the next
morning _every Bee_ had left the bottom one; more perfect quiet I never
saw. I think there were nearly two quarts of Bees fumigated."
Puff-ball is generally recommended being the safest; mild tobacco
answers very well, great caution, however, is required in its use,
or the Bees may be killed. Common fumigating bellows, or even a
tobacco-pipe, may be used for this operation. After this discovery it
will be absurd not to unite weak stocks, or to destroy a single Bee on
taking up an old hive.
I have always considered the keeping of Bees and the advantages arising
from them to be the undoubted privilege of the Cottagers and theirs
alone, other persons may keep a few for amusement, or to endeavour to
learn something of their natural history, but all should in my opinion
be made subservient to the Cottagers' benefit.
The present season has been a most unpropitious one, especially in this
neighbourhood, perhaps the most so that I remember, but I am disposed
to think that this is not a favourable district for the collection of
honey. I have frequently compared the produce of my own apiary with
that of others at a distance, and this year especially, with that of a
friend upon the Essex bank of the Stour, which I assisted in forming
and have frequently visited, the quantity of honey obtained from this
is small, but it is five times as much as that of any one in this
neighbourhood consisting of the same number of stocks.
I cannot close this preface without acknowledging the very flattering
manner in which my little treatise has been mentioned in various
publications, and my thanks to the many correspondents it has obtained
for me. The addition which I have been enabled to make to it, will I
trust be acceptable and useful.
I still solicit information from any one who will give it me, and am
ready to impart it to all those who will ask it.
_Bury Saint Edmund's,
Oct. 11th, 1838._
PREFACE
TO THE THIRD EDITION.
-----o-----
In again revising this little work for the press, I am not at all
disposed to increase its size; for were I to do so, I should very much
take from it as a purely simple and practical treatise. Matter might
easily be added; but were it not of a useful nature, the work would be
rendered thereby less valuable, and the attempted improvement would
turn out a positive injury.
The time which has elapsed since the publication of the last edition
has, year by year, convinced me more fully of the advantages of this
system, and of its adaptation especially to the Cottagers, and indeed
to all those who wish to obtain a large supply of the finest honey at
the least possible expense and trouble, giving at the same time, both
to the amateur and to the naturalist, every facility in watching the
economy of our little favourites.
Although, as I have already said, I am not disposed to increase the
size of this little work, still, however, an Index, and a few practical
hints, which have suggested themselves in the course of the last two or
three years, will be found added to it.
The system, I am happy to say, is spreading far and wide amongst the
Cottagers, not only in this but in many other counties, and the profits
arising from their Bees are becoming a permanent source of comfort to
many of them, as the quantity of fine honeycomb, which they exhibit at
the various horticultural shows throughout the kingdom, fully proves.
The following Report which I have this day (June the 24th) received
from a friend, living at Newmarket, shows what quantity of honey may be
obtained from a hive in a good season, on the Depriving System, when
both room and ventilation are properly supplied. And perhaps it may
also prove an inducement to some persons to "keep bees" who hitherto
have not, as well as a motive to perseverance on the part of those
who already possess them. This gentleman had but two hives. No. 1 was
allowed to swarm, No. 2. was not; No. 1. swarmed on the 29th of May,
and has since very nearly filled two small hives. The swarm has also
filled two small hives, and is now filling a third; a box has within a
few days, been placed between the large hive and the small one, which
in all probability, will be filled, should the weather continue dry and
warm for another week; No. 2. which has not swarmed, has given already
one small hive containing sixteen pounds, and another fourteen pounds
of fine honeycomb, as is now filling _three_ other small hives as fast
as possible.
Since receiving the above communication, I have witnessed the progress
made by a single stock purchased last year by a beginner. His Apiary is
at the extreme west point of this town, within a few paces of the place
where the celebrated Apiarian, Mr. Geo. Hubbard kept his bees, and
who, in 1791, received from the Society of Arts their gold medal, for
his skilful management of them; this gentleman has now three excellent
stocks, and has already taken a box of fine honeycomb of ten pounds, a
small hive of fifteen pounds and two others are filling; and all the
produce of an outlay of ten or twelve shillings less than a year ago,
making, since that time a profit of very nearly seven hundred per cent.
I must not again take leave of my friends and the public, without
expressing myself gratified by the very flattering and kind manner
in which this little treatise has been noticed, both by the public
journals as well as by private friends.
_Bury St. Edmund's,
July 2nd, 1846._
CONTENTS.
Chapter I.
PAGE
Situation of an Apiary and directions for placing the Hives
1