BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
Propolis is frequently gathered from the alder, horsechestnut, birch, and willow; and as some think, from pines and other trees of the fir kind. Bees will often enter varnishing shops, attracted evidently by their smell; and in the vicnity of Matamoras, Mexico, where propolis seems to be scarce, I saw them using green paint from window-blinds, and pitch from the rigging of a vessel. Bevan mentions the fact of their carrying off a composition of wax and turpentine from trees to which it had been applied. Dr. Evans says he has seen them collect the balsamic varnish which coats the young blossom-buds of the hollow-hock, and has known them rest at least ten minutes on the same bud, moulding the balsam with their fore feet, and transferring it to the hinder legs, as described by Huber.
" With merry hung the Willow's copese they scale,
The Fir's dark pyramid, or poplar pale;
Seoop from the Alder's leaf its oozy flood,
Or strip the Chestnut's resin-coated bud;
Skim the light tear that tips Narcasus' ray,
Or round the Hollywood's hoar fragrance play;
Then wait their nut-brown loads exulting home,
That form a fret-work for the future comb;
Cauk every chink where rushing winds may roar,
And seal their circling ramparts to the floor."
Erasa.
A mixture of wax and propolis being much more adhesive than wax alone, serves admirably to strengthen the attachments of the combs to the top and sides of the hive. If the combs are not-filled with honey or brood soon after they are built, they are varnished with a delicate coating of propolis, which adds greatly to their strength;but as this natural varnish impairs their snowy whiteness, the bees ought not to be allowed access to combs in the surplus honey-receptaeles, except when actively engaged in storing them with honey.
Bees make a very liberal use of propolisis to fill any erecrices about their premises ; and as the natural summerheat of the hive keeps it soft, the bee-moth selects it as a place of deposit for her eggs. Hives ought, therefore, to be made of lumber entirely free from cracks. The corners, which the bees usually fill with propolisis, may have a melted mixture run into them, consisting of three parts of resin and one of bees-wax ; this remaining hard during the hottest weather, will bid defiance to the moth.
As bees find it difficult to gather propolisis, and equally so to work so sticky a material, they should be saved all unnecessary labor in amassing it. To men, time is _noney,_ to bees, it is _honey,_ and all the arrangements of the hive should be such as to economize it to the utmost.
Propolis is sometimes put to a very curious use by the bees. "A snail,* having crept into one of **M.** Reaumur's hives early in the morning, after crawling about for some time, adhered, by means of its own alime, to one of the glass panes. The bees having discovered the snail, surrounded it, and formed a border of propolisis round the verge of its shell, and fastened it so securely to the glass that it became immovable.
"Marialdi, another eminent Artianin, states that a snail without a shell having entered one of his hives, the bees, as soon as they observed it, stung it to death; after which, * bears.
being unable to dislodge it, they covered it all over with an impervious coat of propolis.
* For soon in fearless ire, their wonder lost, Spring fiercely from the comb the indisphant host, Lay the pierced monster breathless on the ground, And clap in Joy their vicotor pinions round : While all in rain concurrent numbers strive. To beave the slime-glirt giant from the hive-- Sure not alone by force instinctive swayed, But blest with reason's soul-directing aid, Alike in man or bee, they kaste to pour, Thick, hard'nling as it falls, the faky shower; Embalmed in shroud of glue the sunmy lies, No worms invade, no foul miasmasa rise.'
Evaa.
"In these instances, who can withhold his admiration of the ingenuity and judgment of the bees? _In the first case,_ a troublesome creature gained admission to the hive, which, from its unwieldiness, they could not remove, and which, from the impenetrability of its shell, they could not destroy ; here, then, their only resource was to deprive it of locomotion, and to obviate putrefication; both which objects they accomplished most skillfully and securely, and, as is usual with these sagacious creatures, at the least possible expense of labor and materials. They applied their cement where alone it was required--round the verge of the shell. _In the latter case,_ to obviate the evil of decay, by the total exclusion of air, they were obliged to be more lavish in the use of their embalming material, and to case over the'slime-girt giant,' so as to guard themselves from his noisome smell. What means more effeutal could human wisdom have devised, under similar circumstances?"
When any member of a family dies, the bees are believed by many to know what has happened ; and some
supplies were often found in hives whose iminates had starved, it was evident that, without honey, it could not support the mature bees ; and this led former observers to conclude that it served for the building of comb. Huber, after demonstrating that wax can be secreted from an entirely different substance, soon ascertained that pollen was used for the nonrishment of the embryo bees. Confining some bees to their hive without any pollen, he supplied them with honey, eggs, and larvae. In a short time, the young all perished. \(\Lambda\) fresh supply of brood being given to them, with an ample allowance of pollen, the development of the larva proceeded in the natural way.
I had an excellent opportunity of testing the value of this substance, in the backward Spring of 1852. On the 5th of February, I opened a hive containing an artificial swarm of the previous year, and found many of the cells filled with brood. The combs being examined on the 23d, contained neither eggs, brood, nor bee-bread; and the colony was supplied with pollen from another hive ; the next day, a large number of eggs were found in the cells. When this supply was exhausted, laying again ceased, and was only resumed when more was furnished. During the time of these experiments, the weather was so unpromising, that the bees were unable to leave the hive.
Dzieron is of opinion that bees can furnish food for their young, without pollen ; although he admits that they can do it only for a short time, and at a great expense of vital energy ; just as the strength of an animal nursing its young is rapidly reduced, if, for want of proper food, the very substance of the mother's body must be converted into milk. The experiment just described does not corroborate this theory, but confirms Huber's view, that pollen is indispensable to the development of brood.
Gundelach, an able German Aparian, says that if a colony with a fertile queen be confined to an empty hive, and supplied with honey, comb will be rapidly built, and the cells filled with eggs, which in due time will be hatched; but the worms will all die within twenty-four hours.
Some Arizarians believe that bees with an abundance of both pollen and honey, will secrete wax much faster than when supplied with honey alone; and that its secretion, without pollen, severely taxes their strength.
In September, 1856, I put a very large colony of bees into a new hive, to determine some points on which I was then experimenting. The weather was fine, and they gathered pollen, and built comb very rapidly; still, for ten days, the queen-bee deposited no eggs in the cells. During all that time, these bees stored very little pollen in the combs. One of the days being so stormy that they could not go abroad, they were supplied with rye flour (see p. 84), none of which, although very greedily appropriated, could be found in the cells. During all this time, as there was no brood to be fed, the pollen must have been used by the bees either for nourishment, or to assist them in secreting wax; or, as I believe, for both these purposes.
Bees prefer to gather _fresh_ bee-breach, even when there are large accumulations of old stores in the cells. With hives giving the control of the combs, the surplus of old colonies may be made to supply the deficiency of young ones; the latter, in Spring, being often destitute of this important article.
If honey and pollen can both be obtained from the same blossom, the industrious insect usually gathers a load of each. To prove this, let a few pollen-gatherers be dissected when honey is plenty; and their honey-acs will ordinarily be full.
The mode of gathering pollen is very interesting. The body of the bee appears to the naked eye to be covered with fine hairs, to which, when she allights on a flower, the farina adheres. With her legs, she brushes it from her body, and packs it in the hollows, or _baskets_, one of which is on each of her thighs; these baskets are surrounded by stouter hairs, which hold the load in its place. If from any cause the pollen cannot be readily gathered in balls, the bee will often roll herself in it, and return, all dasted over, to her live.
When the bee brings home a load of pollen, she often shakes her body in a singular manner, to attract the attention of other bees, who nibble from her thighs what they want for immediate use; the rest she stores away for future need, by inserting her body in a cell and brushing it from her legs; it is then carefully packed down, being often covered with honey, and sealed over with wax. Pollen is very rarely deposited in any except worker-cells.
Aristotle observed, that a bee, in gathering pollen, confines herself to the kind of blossom on which she begins, even if it is not so abundant as some others; thus a ball of this substance taken from her thigh, is found to be of a uniform color throughout; the load of one inseet being yellow, of another, red, and of a third, brown; the color varying with that of the plant from which the supply was obtained. They may prefer to gather a load from a single species of plant, because the pollen of different kinds does not pack so well together. Bees, by carrying the pollen or fertilizing substance of plants, on their bodies, from blossom to blossom, contribute essentially to their impregnation.
Though the importance of pollen has long been known, it is only of late that any attempts have been made to furnish a _substitute_. Dzierzon, early in the Spring, observed his bees bringing rye-meal to their hives from a neighboring mill, before they could procure any pollen from natural supplies. The hint was not lost; and it is now a common practice in Europe, where bee-keeping is extensively carried on, to supply the bees early in the season with this article. Shallow troughs are set in front of the Apiaries, filled'about two inches deep with _finely ground_, _dry_, _unobleted eye-meal_. Thousands of bees, when the weather is favorable, resort eagerly to them, and rolling themselves in the meal, return heavily laden to their hives. In fine, mild weather, they labor at this work with great industry; preferring the meal to the _old_ pollen stored in their combs. They thus breed early, and rapidly recruit their numbers. The feeding is continued till, the blossoms furnishing a preferable article, they cease to carry off the meal. The average consumption of each colony is about two pounds.
Mr. F. Sontag, a German Aparian, says, that in the Spring of 1853, he fed one of his colonies with rye-meal, placed in the hive in an old comb; continuing the supply till they could procure fresh pollen abroad. This colony produced four strong swarms that Spring, and an adjoining stock not supplied with the meal, only one weak swarm.
Another German bee-keeper says, he has used wheat flour with very good results; the bees _foraaking the honey_ furnished them, and engaging actively in carrying in the flour, which was placed about twenty paces in front of their hives.
The construction of my hives permits the flour to be easily placed where the bees can get it, without losing time in going abroad, or suffering for the want of it, when the weather confines them at home.
The discovery of this substitute removes a very serious obstacle to the culture of bees. In many districts, there is for a short time such an abundant supply of honey, that almost any number of strong colonies will, in a good season, lay up enough for themselves, and a large surplus for their owners. In many of these districts, however, the supply of pollen is often quite insufficient, and in Spring, the swarms of the previous year are so destitute, that unless the season is early, the production of brood is seriously cheeked, and the colony cannot avail itself properly of the superabundant harvest of honey.
While the honey-bee is regarded by the best informed horticulturists as a friend, a strong prejudice has been excited against it by many fruit-growers in this country; and in some communities, a man who keeps bees, is considered as bad a neighbor, as one who allows his poultry to despoil the gardens of others. Even the warmest friends of the "busy bee," may be heard lamenting its propensity to banquet on their beautiful peaches and pears, and choicest grapes and plunts.
In conversation with a gentleman, I once assigned three reasons, why the bees could not inflict any extensive injury upon his grapes. 1st, that as the Creator appears to have intended both the honey-bee and fruit for the comfort of man, it was difficult to conceive that ife would have made one the natural enemy of the other. 2d, that as the supplies of honey from the blossoms had entirely failed, the season (1854) being exceedingly dry, if the numerous colonies in his vicinity had been able to help themselves to his sound grapes, they would have entirely devoured the fruit of his vines, 3d, that the jaws of the bee, being adapted chiefly to the manipulation of wax, were too feeble to enable it readily to puncture the skin even of his most delicate grapes.
In reply to these arguments, being invited to go to his vines, and see the depredators in the very act, the result justified my anticipations. Though many bees were seen banqueting on grapes, not one was doing any mischief to the _sound_ fruit. Grapes which were bruised on the vines, or lying on the ground, and the moist stems, from which grapes had recently been plucked, were covered with bees; while other bees were observed to alight upon bunches, which, when found by careful inspection to be sound, they left with evident disappointment.
Wasps and hornets, which secrete no wax, being furnished with strong, saw-like jaws, for cutting the woody fibre with which they build their combs, can easily penetrate the skin of the toughest fruits. While the bees, therefore, appeared to be comparatively innocent, multitudes of these depredators were seen helping themselves to the best of the grapes. Occasionally, a bee would presume to alight upon a bunch where one of these pests was operating for his own benefit, when the latter would turn and " show fight," much after the fashion of a snarling dog, molested by another of his species, while daintly discussing his own private bone.
After the mischief has been _leguna_ by other insects, or wherever a _crack_, or a spot of _decay_ is seen, the honeybee hastens to help itself, on the principle of " gathering up the fragments, that nothing may be lost." In this way, they undoubtedly do some mischief; but before war is declared against them, let every fruit-grower inquire if, on the whole, they are not far more useful than injurious. As bees carry on their bodies the pollen, or fertilizing substance, they aid moet powerfully in the impregnation of plants, while prying into the blosoms in search of honey or bee-breach. In genial seasons, fruit will often set abundantly, even if no bees are kept in its vicinity; but many Springs are so unproitious, that often during the critical period of blossoming, the sun shines for only a few hours, so that those only can reasonably expect a renumerating crop whose trees are all nurmuuring with the pleasant hum of bees.
A large fruit-grower told me that his cherries were a very uncertain crop, a cold north-east storm frequently prevailing when they were in blossom. He had noticed, that if the sun shone only for a couple of hours, the bees secured him a creep.
If the horticulturists who regard the bee as an enemy, could exterminate the race, they would act with as little wisdom as those who attempt to banish from their inhospitable premises every insetiverous bird, which helps itself to a small part of the abundance it has aided in producing. By making judicious efforts early in the Spring, to entrap the mother-wasps and hornets, which alone survive the Winter, an effectual blow may be struck at some of the worst pests of the orehard and garden. In Europe, those engaged extensively in the cultivation of fruit, often pay a small sum in the Spring for all wasps and hornets destroyed in their vicinity.
Fig. 62 (PL XIII.), shows the magnified head of a Mexican Honey-Hornet (p. 58).
Fig. 63 shows the magnified head of the Honey-Bee. Fig. 64 shows the jaws of this Hornet, highly magnified. Fig. 65 shows the jaws of the Honey-Bee, highly magnified. A glance at these figures is enough to convince any intelligent horticultrist of the truth of Aristotle's remark--made more than two thousand years ago--that "bees hurt no kinds of fruit, but wasps and hornets are very destructive to them?"
Figure 22: Plate 1X.
cially in warm weather, to confine them, unless they have a very free admission of air ; and even then, unless it is admitted above, as well as below the mass of bees, the ventilators may become clogged with dead bees, and the colony perish. Bees under close confinement become excessively heated, and their combs are often melted ; if dampness is added to the injurious influence of bad air, they become diseased ; and large numbers, if not the whole colony, may perish from dysentery. Is it not under precisely such circumstances that cholera and dysentery prove most fatal to human beings? the filthy, damp, and unventilated abodes of the abject poor, becoming perfect lazarbouses to their wretched inmates.
I have several times examined the bees of new swarms which were brought to my Apiary, so closely confined, that they had died of suffocation. In each instance, their bodies were distended with a yellow and noisome substance, as though they had perished from dysentery. A few were still alive, and although the colony had been shut up only a few hours, the bodies of both the living and the dead were filled with this same disgusting fluid, instead of the honey they had when they swarmed.
In a medical point of view, these facts are highly interesting ; showing as they do, under what circumstances, and how speedily, diseases may be produced resembling dysentery or cholera.
In very hot weather, if thin hives are exposed to the sun's direct rays, the bees are excessively annoyed by the intense heat, and have recourse to the most powerful ventilation, not merely to keep the air of the hive pure, but to lower its temperature.
Bees, in such weather, often leave, almost in a body, the interior of the hive, and cluster on the outside, not merely to escape the close heat within, but to guard their combs against the danger of being dissolved. At such times, they are particularly careful not to cluster on new combs containing sealed honey, which, from not being lined with cocoons, and from the extra amount of wax used for their covers, melt more readily than the breeding-cells.
Apiarians have noticed that bees often leave their honey-cells almost bare, as soon as they are sealed; but it seems to have escaped their observation, that this is absolutely necessary in very hot weather. In cool weather, they may frequently be found clustered among the sealed honey-combs, because there is then no danger of their melting.
Few things are so well fitted to impress the mind with their admirable sagacity, as the truly scientific device by which they ventilate their dwellings. In this important matter, the bee is immensely in advance of the great mass of those who are called rational beings. It has, to be sure, no ability to decide, from an elaborate analysis of the chemical constituents of the atmosphere, how large a proportion of oxygen is essential to the support of life, and how rapidly the process of breathing converts it into a deadly poison: it cannot, like Liebig, demonstrate that God, by setting the animal and the vegetable world, the one over against the other, has provided that the atmosphere shall, through all ages, be as pure as when it first came from His creating hand. But shame upon us: that with all our boasted intelligence, most of us live as though pure air was of little or no importance; while the bee ventilates with a philosophical precision that should put to the blush our criminal neglect.
Is it said that ventilation, in our case, cannot be had without effort? can it then be had for nothing, by the industrious bees? Those ranks of bees, so indefatigably playing their busy wings, are not engaged in idle amuse ment; nor might they, as some shallow utilitarian may imagine, be better employed in gathering honey, or superintending some other department in the economy of the hive. At great expense of time and labor, they are supplying the rest of the colony with the pure air so conducive to their health and prosperity.
Impure air, one would think, is bad enough; but all its inherent vieleness is stimulated to still greater activity by airtight, or rather _long-tight_ stoves,* which can economize fuel only by squandering health and endangering life. Not only our private houses, but all our places of public assemblage, are either unprovided with any means of ventilation, or to a great extent, supplied with those so deficient, that they only
* The beautiful open or Franklin stoves, fee coal or wood, manufactured by Mesars, Treadwell, Perry & Norton, of Albany, New York, deserve the highest communication as economizers of life, health, and fuel.
"Keep the word of promise to our ear,
To break it to our hope."
That ultimate degeneracy must inevitably follow such gross neglect of the laws of health, cannot be doubted; and those who imagine that the physical stamina of a people may be undermined, and their intellectual, moral, and religions health suffer no decay, know little of the intimate connection which the Creator has established between body and mind.
Men may, to a certain extent, resist the injurious influences of foul air; as their employments usually compel them to live more out of doors: but alns, alas! for the poor women! In the very land where they are treated with such merited deference and respect, often no provision is made to furnish them with that first element of health, cheerfulness and beauty, heaven's pure, fresh air.
The pallid cheek or hectic flush, the angular form and distorted spine, the enfeebled appearance of so large a portion of our women, who, to use the language of the lamented Downing, "in the signs of physical health, compare most unfavorably with all but the absolutely starving classes in Europe;" all these indications of debility, to say nothing of their care-worn faces and premature wrinkles, proclaim our violation of God's physical laws, and the dreadful penalty with which He is visiting our transgressions.
The man who shall convince the masses of the importance of ventilation, and whose inventive mind shall devise some simple, cheap, and efficacious way of furnishing a copious supply of pure air for our private dwellings, public buildings, and travelling conveyances, will be a greater benefactor than a Jenner or a Watt, a Fulton or a Morse.
In the ventilation of my hive, I have endeavored, as far as possible, to meet the necessities of the bees, under all the varying circumstances to which they are exposed in our uncertain climate, whose severe extremes of temperature forcibly impress upon the bee-keeper, the maxim of Virgth.
"Utraque vis pariter apibua metuenda."
"Extremes of heat or cold, alike are hurtful to the bees."
To be useful to the majority of bee-keepers, _artificial_ ventilation must be simple, and not as in Nutt's hive, and other labored contrivances, so complicated as to require almost as close supervision as a hot-bed or greenhouse.