When one thinks of honey one instinctively closes the eyes and a mental
picture of fruit trees laden with snowy bloom, of beautiful clover
fields, of green forests in a setting quiet and peaceful, comes before
the mind so realistic that the delicate perfume of the fragrant blossoms
is almost perceptible and the memory of the musical hum of the little
honeybee as she industriously flits from blossom to blossom, or wings
her homeward way heavily laden with the delicious nectar, rests one’s
jaded nerves. Into this picture fits closely the old bee master among
his old-fashioned skeps, with the atmosphere of mystery that has so long
been associated with the master and his bees that one is almost
reluctant to think of the production of honey as a great commercial
industry, employing great factories in the manufacture of beehives and
other equipment necessary for the modern beekeeper that he may take full
advantage of the wonderful and almost inconceivable industry of the
honeybee in storing the golden nectar of the blossoms.
The development of the industry has been very slow; only during the past
fifty years has real progress been made, although honey formed one of
the principal foods of the ancients, which was secured by robbing the
wild bees. During the early history of the United States, beekeeping was
engaged in only as a farmer’s side line, a few bees being kept in any
kind of a box sitting out in the backyard, boarding themselves and
working for nothing. Even under such conditions amazing results were
often obtained. Lovers of nature and the out-of-doors were attracted by
the study of bee life, and early beekeepers were invariably bee lovers.
The mysteries of the hive as revealed in the story of the family life of
the bee--typical in many ways of our modern city life--is as fascinating
as a fairy tale.
[Illustration: FERTILIZING A PUMPKIN FLOWER]
The average population of the modern beehive varies from forty to sixty
thousand, with a well organized system of government. Intense loyalty to
the queen mother is apparent in all their activities and arrangements.
The close observer will discover a well-defined division of labor,
different groups of bees performing certain operations. The housekeeping
operations seem to be delegated to the young bees under sixteen days
old, while the policemen are the older ones whose dispositions are not
so mild and who would be more likely to detect a stealthy robber. It was
this intensely interesting side of bee life that attracted the attention
of a clergyman in failing health, forced to seek out-of-door occupation,
in the early forties. He began to investigate bee life from a commercial
standpoint, and about 1852 devised the movable hanging frame, which
entirely revolutionized the bee business, making modern commercial
beekeeping possible. Up to this time the box hive and straw skep were
the only ones known, the combs being fastened to sticks, or the roof of
the box, making it impossible to have any control over the activities of
the hive. The new device or frame to which the bees fastened their combs
in which brood was reared could be removed, one or all, at any time
desired. This opened up undreamed-of possibilities in the bee business,
which up to this time could hardly be called an industry.
[Illustration: AN ITALIAN ARMY OF BEES]
[Illustration: ITALIAN DRONE]
[Illustration: ITALIAN QUEEN]
[Illustration: ITALIAN WORKER
(All are enlarged to about three times their size.)]
[Illustration: A STRANGE HOME--BUT THE BEES ARE MAKING HONEY]
The man who has been most active in developing practical bee culture and
who has contributed more to the growth of the industry in the United
States than any other person, lives in Medina, Ohio. In 1865 this man
was a successful manufacturer of jewelry in the village of Medina. One
day his attention was attracted to a swarm of bees flying over. One of
his clerks noticing his interest asked what he would give for the bees.
He replied that he would give a dollar, not expecting that by any means
the bees could be brought down. Shortly after, he was much astonished to
have the workman bring the bees safely stored inside a box and demand
his dollar, which he promptly received, while his employer had the bees
and soon developed a lot of bee enthusiasm. The returns from that swarm
of bees convinced him that there were possibilities in the bee business,
and very soon he gave up the jewelry business to engage in the bee
business and manufacture of beehives. In this new move he encountered
the opposition of his family and friends, for the general impression was
that any man who would spend money or time on bees was either lazy or a
fool. Knowing that this particular man wasn’t lazy he was called a fool
to risk so much on an uncertain enterprise. In his defense he remarked
that he expected to live to see the time when honey would be sold in
every corner grocery; but we doubt if he expected to see his prophecy
fulfilled to the extent it has been, for not only is honey sold over
every grocer’s counter, his own private brand is sold in all the
principal markets of the United States.
[Illustration: A HAPPY HOME OF THE HONEY BEES]
[Illustration: “ALL HAIL, THE QUEEN”]
Shortly after securing his first swarm of bees he commenced the
manufacture of beehives in the same room where he had his jewelry
business, using a large windmill for power. Soon the business outgrew
the small quarters and was moved to the present location of the plant.
Hardly a year has passed that additions or new buildings have not been
added, and the mammoth plant as it stands today covers sixteen acres of
floor space, giving steady employment to several hundred people, and for
many years modern agricultural appliances have gone from this factory to
all parts of the world.
The old method of straining honey has long since been replaced by the
centrifugal honey extractor, which simply empties the cells of honey,
not injuring the combs. The combs are then replaced in the hive to be
refilled by the bees, thus saving them the labor of rebuilding the
costly structure, increasing the quantity of extracted honey which a
single colony can produce, while comb honey is produced so perfect in
appearance as to cause some to believe it to be manufactured by
machinery; but comb honey, nature’s most exquisite product, comes in its
dewy freshness untouched by the hand of man, from the beehive to the
table, a food prepared in nature’s laboratory fit for the Gods.
As beekeeping developed as an industry, the close relationship to fruit
growing and horticulture became apparent, as bees were discovered to be
the greatest pollen carrying agents known. The government then began to
spend more money on the development of the various branches of
agriculture; a Department of Apiculture was established and through the
work of this department beekeeping is recognized as one of the most
profitable branches of agriculture.
[Illustration: THE RESULT OF A BEE’S STING]
The intense enthusiasm of this pioneer beekeeper was contagious and
resulted in many taking up beekeeping. As no attention had been given to
developing a market for honey and production increased, older beekeepers
became alarmed and raised the cry that he was making too many
beekeepers. Seeing the need for some means of increasing the demand for
honey, a small honey business was started to dispose of the product of
customers who had no market. Soon a definite educational campaign on the
value of honey as a food was started, enlisting the co-operation of
beekeepers wherever possible. Immediately the necessity for more care in
selecting and marketing honey was apparent.
[Illustration: A LARGE SWARM OF ITALIANS ON A YOUNG LOCUST TREE]
[Illustration: ARRANGEMENT OF CELLS IN COMB]
[Illustration: HIGHLY MAGNIFIED EGG]
[Illustration: AN OLD-STYLE HIVE--What is inside?]
The introduction of Italian bees into the United States in the early
sixties marked an epoch in beekeeping, as they soon demonstrated their
superiority as honey gatherers, their gentleness and other traits
proving them more adaptable to domestication and to modern methods of
beekeeping. The marked superiority of some colonies over others
attracted the attention of beekeepers to the possibility of race
improvement by careful breeding, which gradually developed a new branch
of beekeeping aside from honey production--that of queen rearing--as it
was discovered that improvement of stock must come through the queen
mother. The average production of honey per colony has been materially
increased, due not alone to improved methods, but to improvement in
stock by careful breeders; and there are many beekeepers engaged
exclusively in this branch of the industry who enjoy international
reputation as breeders of superior strains of queens, and many thousands
are annually sent through the mails to all parts of the world. Live bees
are shipped by express as easily as poultry or other live stock.
[Illustration: LOADING AN UP-TO-DATE CENTRIFUGAL EXTRACTOR]
[Illustration: IN ACTION--FOR A FEW MINUTES ONLY]
[Illustration: A MAN-SIZE HIVE OF ITALIAN BEES]
[Illustration: WE MUST BRUSH THE BEES OFF SO THAT WE CAN SEE THE COMB]
[Illustration: AFTER CELL CAPPINGS ARE CUT OFF--READY TO EXTRACT]
The honey industry is unique in this respect, that there is hardly a
part of the United States where one cannot engage in it with profit.
Locality has much to do with the flavor and quality of honey, owing to
the different sources from which it is produced. Honey is simply blossom
nectar gathered by the bees, distilled or evaporated in the beehive with
the same distinctive flavor as the perfume of the blossoms from which it
was gathered; consequently we have as many different flavors of honey as
plants that bloom in sufficient profusion to produce honey. For this
reason it is easy to recognize the distinct flavors of honey produced in
different localities. In California orange honey we get the delicate
aroma of the orange blossoms, and the water-white honey from the
mountain sage has its characteristic flavor. Throughout the states east
of the mountains and west of the Mississippi, are produced the
well-known varieties of honey--alfalfa, sweet clover and other honeys
from fall flowers. From the Middle West and Eastern states comes the
matchless white clover honey, basswood and the dark aromatic buckwheat.
The Southern states produce a multitude of different honeys, the sweet
clover, tupelo, and the palmetto being the most common. The total annual
production of honey in the United States as given by the best
authorities is approximately 55,000,000 pounds. This, compared with
other crop reports, may appear very small, but when considered from the
standpoint of the enormous amount of bee labor represented, it is
stupendous. Undoubtedly present reports will greatly exceed those given.
[Illustration: “FRESH AIR BEES”--No hive needed.]
[Illustration: QUEEN CELLS--Note size compared with worker cells.]
[Illustration: MAGNIFIED VIEW OF SECTION OF HONEYCOMB]
[Illustration: SOME OF THE BEST HONEY COMES FROM SUCH LOCALITIES]
[Illustration: A NICE, EVEN FRAME OF BEES]
[Illustration: A MODEL ARRANGEMENT FOR KEEPING BEES FOR PLEASURE]
[Illustration: REMOVING BEES FROM COMB]
[Illustration: SECTIONS OF HONEY AS TAKEN FROM THE SUPERS]
[Illustration: STAGES OF WORK IN BUILDING A SECTION OF HONEY]
* * * * *
Where do Figs Come From?
[Illustration: URUK GIRLS SPREADING FIGS]
[Illustration: TYPICAL SMYRNA FIG ORCHARD]
The fig tree, which is of the mulberry family, belonged originally in
Asia Minor, but it has been naturalized in all the countries around the
Mediterranean. It grows from fifteen to twenty, or even thirty, feet
high.
In good climates it bears two crops in a season; one in the early
summer, from the buds of the last year; the other, which is the chief
harvest, in the autumn, from those on the spring growth.
Figs, particularly dried figs, form an important article of food in the
countries of the Levant, and are exported in large quantities to America
and Europe. The best come from Turkey.
What are “Fighting Fish”?
Fighting fish are a small fish and belong to the climbing perch family.
They are natives of the southeast of Asia and are remarkable for their
pugnacious propensities.
In Siam these fish are kept in glass globes, as we keep goldfish, for
the purpose of fighting, and an extravagant amount of gambling takes
place about the result of the fights.
When the fish is quiet its colors are dull, but when it is irritated it
glows with metallic splendor.
How is the Exact Color of the Sky Determined?
An instrument called a “cyanometer,” meaning “measurer of blue,” is used
for ascertaining the intensity of color in the sky.
It consists of a circular piece of metal or pasteboard, with a band
divided by radii into fifty-one portions, each of which is painted with
a shade of blue, beginning with the deepest, not distinguishable from
black, and decreasing gradually to the lightest, not distinguishable
from white. The observer holds this up between himself and the sky,
turning it gradually round till he finds the tint of the instrument
exactly corresponding to the tint of the sky.
What is a “Divining Rod”?
A divining rod is a wand or twig of hazel or willow used especially for
discovering metallic deposits or water beneath the earth’s surface.
It is described in a book written in 1546 and it has also a modern
interest, which is set forth by Prof. W. F. Barrett, F.R.S., the chief
modern investigator. The use of the divining rod at the present day is
almost wholly confined to water finding, and in the hands of certain
persons it undoubtedly has produced results along this line that are
remarkable, to say the least. The professional water-finder provides
himself with a forked twig, of hazel, for instance, which twig, held in
balanced equilibrium in his hands, moves with a sudden and often violent
motion, giving to the onlooker the impression of life within the twig
itself. This apparent vitality of the twig is the means whereby the
water-finder is led to the place where he claims underground water to
exist, though its presence at that particular spot was hitherto wholly
unsuspected. While failure is sometimes the outcome of the
water-finder’s attempts, success as often and, indeed, according to the
testimony of Professor Barrett, more often crowns his efforts. Various
explanations, scientific and other, of the phenomenon have been
advanced. Professor Barrett ascribes it to “motor-automatism” on the
part of the manipulator of the divining rod, that is, a reflex action
excited by some stimulus upon his mind, which may be either a
sub-conscious suggestion or an actual impression. He asserts that the
function of the forked twig in the hands of the water-finder may be to
act as an indicator of some material or other mental disturbance within
him. While a hazel or willow twig seems to be preferred by the
professional water-finders, twigs from the beech, holly or any other
tree are employed; sometimes even a piece of wire or watch spring is
used, with apparently as good results.