Transcriber Note
Text emphasis denoted as _Italics_ and =Bold=.
[Illustration: Plate I.
E. W. Robinson Delt. et Sc P 1865.]
THE APIARY;
OR,
BEES, BEE-HIVES, AND BEE-CULTURE.
BEING A FAMILIAR ACCOUNT OF THE HABITS OF BEES AND THE
MOST IMPROVED METHODS OF MANAGEMENT, WITH FULL
DIRECTIONS, ADAPTED FOR THE COTTAGER, FARMER,
OR SCIENTIFIC APIARIAN.
By ALFRED NEIGHBOUR.
"Beaucoup de gens aiment les abeilles; je n'ai vu personne qui lea aima
médiocrement: on se passionne pour elles."--Gelieu.
LONDON:
KENT AND CO., PATERNOSTER ROW;
GEO. NEIGHBOUR AND SONS,
149, REGENT STREET, AND 127, HIGH HOLBORN;
AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.
1866.
FOLKARD AND SON,
PRINTERS,
DEVONSHIRE STREET, QUEEN SQUARE.
[Illustration]
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
It is a source of much gratification to find that we are called upon to
prepare another edition of this work in less than twelve months from
its first publication.
No greater proof could have been afforded of the rapid advance which
the pursuit of bee-keeping is now making in this country.
In the hope of rendering the present volume more useful and instructive
than its predecessor, and also in acknowledgment of the kind
approbation with which our earlier efforts have been received, we have
made several additions, and trust that the same may prove acceptable to
our readers.
[Illustration]
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
Our apology for preparing a bee-book is a very simple one. We are so
frequently applied to for advice on matters connected with bees and
bee-hives, that it seemed likely to prove a great advantage, alike to
our correspondents and ourselves, if we could point to a "handy book"
of our own, which should contain full and detailed replies sufficient
to meet all ordinary inquiries. Most of the apiarian manuals possess
some special excellence or other, and we have no wish to disparage any
of them; yet, in all, we have found a want of explanations relating to
several of the more recent improvements.
It has more especially been our aim to give explicit and detailed
directions on most subjects connected with the hiving and removing
of bees, and also, to show how, by judicious application of the
"depriving" system, the productive powers of the bees may be enormously
increased.
We need say little here as to the interest that attaches to the apiary
as a source of perennial pleasure for the amateur naturalist. Many
of the hives and methods of management are described with a direct
reference to this class of bee-keepers, so that, besides plain and
simple directions suitable for cottagers with their ordinary hives,
this work will be found to include instructions useful for the
scientific apiarian, or, at least, valuable, for those who desire to
gain a much wider acquaintance with the secrets of bee-keeping than is
now usually possessed. We would lay stress on the term "acquaintance,"
for there is nothing in the management of the various bar-and-frame
hives which is at all difficult when frequent practice has rendered
the bee-keeper familiar with them. Such explicit directions are herein
given as to how the right operations may be performed at the right
times, that a novice may at once commence to use the modern hives.
The word "new-fangled" has done good service for the indolent and
prejudiced, but we trust that our readers will be of a very different
class. Let them give a fair trial to the modern appliances for the
humane and depriving system of bee-keeping, and they will find offered
to them an entirely new field of interest and observation. At present,
our continental neighbours far surpass us as bee-masters; but we trust
that the following season, if the summer be fine, will prove a turning
point in the course of English bee-keeping. There is little doubt that
a greater number of intelligent and influential persons in this country
will become bee-keepers than has ever been the case before.
Our task would have lost half its interest, did we not hope that it
would result in something beyond the encouragement of a refined and
interesting amusement for the leisurely classes. The social importance
of bee-keeping, as a source of pecuniary profit for small farmers and
agricultural labourers, has never been appreciated as it deserves.
Yet these persons will not, of themselves, lay aside the bungling
and wasteful plan of destroying the bees, or learn without being
taught the only proper method, that of deprivation. Their educated
neighbours, when once interested in bee-keeping, will be the persons to
introduce the more profitable system of humane bee-keeping. The clergy
especially, as permanent residents in the country, may have great
influence in this respect. There is not a rural or suburban parish
in the kingdom in which bee-keeping might not be largely extended,
and the well-being of all but the very poorest inhabitants would be
greatly promoted. Not only would the general practice of bee-keeping
add largely to the national resources, but that addition would chiefly
fall to the share of those classes to whom it would be of most value.
Moreover, in the course of thus adding to their income, the uneducated
classes would become interested in an elevating and instructive pursuit.
It is curious to observe that honey, whether regarded as a manufactured
article or as an agricultural product, is obtained under economical
conditions of exceptional advantage. If regarded as a manufactured
article, we notice that there is no outlay required for "labour," nor
any expense for "raw material." The industrious labourers are eager to
utilize all their strength: they never "combine" except for the benefit
of their master, they never "strike" for wages, and they provide
their own subsistence. All that the master-manufacturer of honey has
to do financially is, to make a little outlay for "fixed capital" in
the needful "plant of hives" and utensils--no "floating capital" is
needed. Then, on the other hand, if we regard honey as an agricultural
product, it presents as such a still more striking contrast to the
economists' theory of what are the "requisites of production." Not only
is there no outlay needed for wages, and none for raw material, but
there is nothing to be paid for "use of a natural agent." Every square
yard of land in the United Kingdom may come to be cultivated, as in
China, but no proprietor will ever be able to claim "rent" for those
"waste products" of the flowers and leaves which none but the winged
workers of the hive can ever utilize.
The recent domestication in England of the Ligurian or "Italian Alp"
bee adds a new and additional source of interest to bee-culture. We
have, therefore, gone pretty fully into this part of the subject; and
believe that what is here published with regard to their introduction
embodies the most recent and reliable information respecting them that
is possessed by English apiarians.[1]
[Footnote 1: Some of our apiarian friends may be inclined to be
discouraged from cultivating the Ligurian bees in consequence of the
liability to their becoming hybridised when located in proximity to
the black bees. We can dispel these fears by stating that we have not
unfrequently found that hybrid queens possess the surprising fecundity
of the genuine Italian ones, whilst the English stocks in course of
time become strengthened by the infusion of foreign blood.]
We are under many obligations for the advice and assistance that we
have on many occasions received from Mr. T. W. Woodbury, of Exeter,
whose apiarian skill is unrivalled in this country. Our acknowledgments
are also due to Mr. Henry Taylor, author of an excellent "Bee-keeper's
Manual," for his help and counsel during the earlier years of our
apiarian experience. Both the before-mentioned gentlemen have
frequently communicated to us their contrivances and suggestions,
without thought of fee or reward for them. In common with most recent
writers on bee-culture, we are necessarily largely indebted to the
standard works of Huber and succeeding apiarians. From the more recent
volume of the Rev. L. L. Langstroth we have also obtained useful
information. But having ourselves, of later years, had considerable
experience in the manipulation and practical management of bees, we are
enabled to confirm or qualify the statement of others, as well as to
summarize information gleaned from many various sources.
Let it be understood, that we have no _patented devices_ to push: we
are free to choose out of the many apiarian contrivances that have
been offered of late years, and we feel perfectly at liberty to praise
or blame as our experience warrants us in doing. It does not follow
that we necessarily disparage hives which are not described herein;
we have sought, as much as possible, to indicate the _principles_ on
which _good hives_ must be constructed, whatever their outward size or
shape. All through the work, we have endeavoured to adopt the golden
rule of "submission to Nature" by reference to which all the fancied
difficulties of bee-keeping may be easily overcome. In none of the
attempts of men to hold sway over natural objects is the truth of
Bacon's leading doctrine more beautifully illustrated than in the power
that the apiarian exercises in the little world of bees.
Some persons may consider we have used too many poetical quotations in
a book dealing wholly with matters of fact. We trust, however, that
the examination of the extracts will at once remove that feeling of
objection.
We venture to hope that the following pages contain many valuable hints
and interesting statements which may tend to excite increased and
renewed attention to the most useful and industrious of all insects.
Although bees have neither reason nor religion for their guide, yet
from them man may learn many a lesson of virtue and industry, and may
even draw from them thoughts suggestive of trust and faith in God.
We beg leave to conclude our preface, and introduce the subject, by the
following extract from Shakspeare, who, without doubt, kept bees in
that garden at Stratford wherein he used to meditate:--
"So work the honey-bees;
Creatures that, by a rule in Nature, teach
The art of order to a peopled kingdom.
They have a king and officers of sorts;
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home;
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad;
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the Summer's velvet buds,
Which pillage they, with merry march, bring home
To the tent royal of their emperor:
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys
The singing masons building roofs of gold;
The civil citizens kneading up the honey;
The poor mechanic porters crowding in
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate;
The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum.
Delivering o'er to executors pale
The lazy, yawning drone."
Shakspeare's _Henry V., Act I., Scene 2._
[Illustration]
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Preface--Introductory 1
SECTION I.
Natural History of the Inhabitants of the Hive 3
The Queen 4
The Drone 11
The Worker-bee 15
Eggs of Bees 16
Increase of Bees 18
Swarming 21