BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
Extending from the lower extremity of the abdomen of the bee is its sting. It is barbed like a spear, so that the bee can seldom withdraw it when once it is inserted, and it is the tearing away of its sting that so mutilates and cripples the bee that it usually dies after sting. The poison of the sting is similar to that of the bite of the rattlesnake, and it is estimated that if a person should be stung by five hundred bees at a time the poison injected into the system would be about the same in quantity as that from the bite of a rattlesnake. The drones have no stings, and the queen seldom uses hers except to aid in depositing her eggs.
As we stated at the beginning of this chapter, it is impossible to give more than a casual glance at the physiology of the bee and merely call attention to some of its organs, for to do full justice to the intricate and delicately adjusted machinery of these wonderful little creatures would require a work three times the size of the present one. The nature student who is interested solely in the natural history of the honey bee, and to whom the commercial and profitable part of bee-keeping does not appeal, we would refer to the excellent books by Cowan, Cheshire, Cook, Langstroth, Burroughs, and others who have gone into a detailed and elaborate discussion of the subject of bee physiology.
The organs and various functions outlined are practically the same in all varieties of bees, and it is the possession and use of these various powers that enables them to carry on their laborious and profitable work.
## Chapter 3 Races of bees
THERE are many races of bees, as many, in fact, as there are different races of the human family, and each race has its distinctive racial characteristics. Among them are the Common Blacks, the Italians, the Carniolans, the Caucasians, the Cypians, the Banats, the Holy Lands, as well as many others which it would be useless to describe, as the majority of beekeepers keep either the Italians or the Blacks.
The Blacks are widely distributed throughout the United States, having been brought over by the early settlers, while the Italians are of quite recent importation. The Blacks, while fairly good honey gatherers, and builders of the whitest combs, a thing much desiredRACES OF BEES
**by the producer of comb honey, are seldom if ever kept by the progressive beekeeper, owing to certain undesirable traits of character.**
**They are of a very nervous temperament, and are apt to rush all over their combs when being manipulated, which renders the finding of the queen a hard task; they will also gather in great clusters on the ends of their frames and fall to the ground, to the annoyance and discomfort of the person handling them. They are very irritable, and will often fly from their hives and attack the passerby with no provocation whatever. Whether they are naturally lazy or quickly disheartened, the fact remains that they do not seem able to resist disease and enemies as vigorously as the Italians. Again and again have I seen a strong colony of Blacks completely destroyed through the ravages of the bee moth or from disease, which a weak colony of Italians seem able to resist.**
**One thing is certain, the Blacks become how to keep bees for profit discouraged and quit working upon the first indication of a cessation of the honey flow, and thus leave a lot of unfinished sections in their _supers,_ while other races will continue working right up to the close of the flow.
These undesirable traits have induced the majority of beekeepers to discard them, though some beekeepers prefer a hybrid race of Italians and Blacks, as they claim they get in such a mixture of blood the gentleness and hustling qualities of the Italians and the superior comb-building qualities of the Blacks. However, any one who has kept Hybrids can vouch for the fact that what is gained is more than offset by the viciousness of the Hybrid, as they seem possessed of an incurable propensity to sing.
The Cyprians have been extensively kept; they are natives of the Island of Cyprus, and as honey-gatherers are without an equal.
They are good defenders of their hives, and will repel the attacks of diseases and robber bees better than any other known face, and are most excellent winters. As workers they are indefatigable, gathering honey from every available quarter even after other races have quit, but they have the habit of filling their cells completely full, so that the combs have a watery appearance, which renders its sale difficult, hence the few beelepers who stick to them run them mostly for extracted honey. While this race has all of the desirable qualities attributed to them, their dispositions are so vicious, that there is hardly a beekeeper in the land who keeps an absolutely pure strain of Cyprians. By no means should the novice ever think of keeping Cyprians, as they are extremely sensitive, and resent the slightest jarring of their hives, and when once aroused no amount of smoke will subdue them, in fact, it seems to infuriate them the more.
The Carniolans are large gray bees from the Alpine regions of Carniola in Austria, and with the exception of the Caucasians are the gentlest race known. Coming originally from a cold country, the Carniolans are the hardiest race we know, and not being so sensitive to cold as other races, will begin to go afield earlier in the morning, and work later in the day than others, and for this reason, they winter unusually well. Their comb honey is the best produced, as they do not, like the Cyprians, fill their cells completely full, and thus they produce comb honey of snowy whiteness.
To handle them is a delight, as they seldom sting, and I have worked with them day in and day out without any protection for the face or hands, and for weeks at a time have gone without being stung.
But the great objection to the Carniolans, and one that has led most beekeepers to discard them, is their proneness to frequent and excessive swarming, which means a loss of bees and a loss of honey. The Caucasians are in appearance not unlike the Carniolans, and certain strains of them are hardly distinguishable from the Blacks, but in dis position they are in a class by themselves, as their gentleness is simply marvellous. Again and again **I** have tried to anger them without success; in fact, **I** have kicked their hives, shaken their frames, blown my breath on them, and, whereas other races would have attacked me at once, the Caucasians would offer no retaliation. It might be inferred from this that they are not good defenders of their hives; but such is not the case, for there have been times when **I** have been abusing them, when they would sally forth and fight to the death robber bees that tried to take advantage of their hives being opened out of season, to rob them of their stores.
They are good winterers, and builders of choice white combs, and not given to excessive swarming, but they have an unpleasant habit of plastering balls of propolis, or beeglue, all over their frames and at the entrances of their hives.
The main objection to this otherwise most excellent race is the fact that they so closely
resemble the Blacks that only an expert can distinguish the difference, and if one is not careful, before long the entire apiary will be made up of Blacks.
The Banats are a race of bees from Hungary, in appearance similar to the Caucasians, remarkably gentle, and, best of all, are great breeders in the early spring, so when the honey flow comes on they have a great force to gather it. They build beautiful white combs and gather little propolis, and are so little given to swarming that some beekeepers have claimed that they are a non-swarming race. However, their introduction is so recent that the beginner will do well to pass them by until a thorough test shall have firmly established their good qualities.
On the whole it may be said that fully 75 per cent of the professional beekeepers prefer the Italians, as this race seems to have more desirable traits and fewer disagreeable ones than any other. These bees came originally from Italy, the first successful importation ofqueens being about 1861, and at once leaped into favor, maintaining their precedence to the present time. In appearance they are very handsome, varying in color from a leather-brown to the most lustrous gold, and, as compared with the Blacks, are remarkable for their gentleness. They rarely get nervous when they are handled, and it is very easy to find their queens. I have frequently opened their hives after nine o'clock in the evening, and have often brought a comb of bees into the house and passed it around for visitors to examine, and I have yet to know of an occasion where those so examining them have been stung, though they will sting if sufficiently provoked. They are energetic workers, not easily discouraged, and, having originally come from a warm climate, they are alert for enemies and seem to have no trouble in repelling the bee moth. It has been said that the Italian bees are more prone to rob than other races, but this How to keep bes for profit is an evidence of their honey-gathering qualities. It may be likewise said that when precautionary methods are taken they soon cease to rob, a thing that cannot be said of some of the other races when the habit has once been formed. After many years of experience with almost every known race of bees, I have been compelled to come back to the Italians as the best general-purpose bee in existence.
Of late years there has been a tendency toward golden-all-over Italians on the part of some beekeepers, and this demand has led some breeders in their anxiety to quickly produce them to use a Cyprian cross because of their bright golden color, with the result that some strains of Italians are as vicious as the pure Cyprians. For this reason the beginner will do well to select Italians of a leather color, as they are more certain to be of a pure strain, and experience has proved that they winter much better than the golden ones.
In selecting Italian bees it would be a wise thing to secure from some reputable breeder queens of the red clover strain, as these bees will visit and secure a rich harvest from red clover, whereas ordinary Italian bees will seldom visit it, as their tongues are not sufficiently long to reach down into the deep corolla of the blossom.
## Chapter 4 The home of the bees
The natural home of the honey bee before it became domesticated was in the heart of a forest tree, or in the cleft of a rock, sheltered from the wind and rain, and more or less protected from the cold.
That the remembrance of their early homes still remains is shown by the fact that when a swarm is not lived, and gets away before its owner can care for it, they are apt to seek the interior of a partially decayed tree, entering and emerging through a knothole. It is not uncommon to find a tree thus tenanted by a vagrant swarm. I have also found many swarms that have made their homes under the weather boards of a house or under the caves of a garret; only a few years ago I
removed a swarm of bees from a bird box, where the bees had driven the birds from their homes and taken complete possession.
Whether a swarm finds its home in a modern hive or in the heart of au old tree, the first thing they proceed to do is to remove all trash and render it scrupulously clean, for they are the most cleanly little creatures in existence. Again and again have I seen bee trees where the process of decay had already begun, but no sooner had a swarm of bees taken possession than they at once removed all decayed wood, and so completely varnished its interior with propolis, or bee-glue, that future decay was impossible.
We are, however, more interested in the modern home, or hive, of the bee. Lifting its lid and glancing within, we find a set of eight or ten frames of comb, according to the size of the hive. We say "frames" of combs, for no up-to-date beekeeper would think of throwing a swarm of bees into an empty hive and permitting them to build their combs in
every direction, as this would render manipulation of the hive an impossibility. The late Lorenzo Langstroh was the inventor of the movable frame hive with bee space, and his invention has revolutionized the industry. These frames fit the hive bodies and have a bee space all around them so as to leave no space for the bees to build bur and brace combs, which would make it impossible to lift them out to examine the brood, find the queen, and do such other work as from time to time is essential.
By the use of frames it is possible to lift out a single frame of comb at a time without tearing each comb from the sides of the hive, as each comb is nicely built in the frame and bound on all sides by wood. To insure straight combs and a large proportion of worker cells, all progressive beekeepers place in each frame before the time of hiving the swarm a large sheet of wax foundation, which nearly fits the frames, and on which have been stamped the rudiments of cells. These sheets of foundation are wired in, so that when the combs are built out from them each comb is held securely in place and no danger of the comb breaking loose from the frame is possible in handling or when extracting the honey. This foundation must of necessity be pure beeswax melted and moulded, as the bees will not accept or work on any substitute that has been found, so that, the foundation being pure beeswax like the comb that is built on it, the honey is in no sense adulterated.
Many thousands of pounds of foundation are used annually by beekeepers, and this has given rise to the popular notion that it is possible to make artificial combs, fill them with glucose, cap them, and sell them as pure honey. It might be said here that there never yet has been produced a pound of artificial comb honey, and so determined are the beekeepers to stop the lie that the National Beekeepers' Association offers a standing reward of $1000 for the first pound of artificial comb honey that shall be produced.
Looking down into the home of the bees, we find a number of frames of comb running from front to back of the hive and covered by clustering bees. These combs constitute the furniture of the bees, for in the cells of the combs they rear their young and store their honey. The bees usually begin at the tops of their frames and build their combs downward until every frame is nicely filled.
These combs are made of wax, which the bees manufacture from the honey with which they have filled their stomachs. Hanging in clusters, they produce small pentagonal disks of wax from the little wax scales or pouches on the under side of the abdomen of the worker bee. The work of wax-building, like that of feeding the eggs, is done mostly by the young bees, as the older bees seem to have lost the wax-producing power with old age. It usually takes the bees about twenty-four hours to produce wax after having gorged themselves with honey, and they will consume from nine to ten pounds of honey to produce a pound of wax. Sometimes, but not often, a colony will use pieces of old comb in waxbuilding, but generally they prefer the fresh disks, as being more pliable.
Their cells are hexagonal in shape, thus conforming to one of the main principles of mathematics, in the matter of occupying all available space and also of securing the greatest structural strength. The cells are not horizontal, but incline from their opening to their bottom, so as to be filled with honey the more easily by the bees and to prevent their running over.
The comb is a trifle over an inch in thickness, with cells on each side, and in their natural state the bees space their combs about \(
rac{7}{16}\) of an inch apart, so that they may travel with comfort between them. These combs when first built are a beautiful white, but they soon become discolored, and when old will be almost black, but this does not impair their usefulness, as they will last for several years. Being non-conductors of heat and cold, they become a perfect medium for keeping the bees warm, and likewise usually prevent the honey from granulating.
The cells in which the workers are reared are much smaller than those in which they rear their drones. While it cannot be said that all cells are mathematically correct, it can be generally stated that there are about twenty-five cells to a square inch.
It cannot be said that the bees act with intelligence in the matter of cell-building, first building worker and then drone cells, for recent experiments seem to prove that they are simply reflex machines, obeying without violation a law of nature.
Besides the combs we will find that the bees have used some propolis, or bee-glue, with which they have stopped the cracks of their live and rendered it rain and wind proof. For some reason the bees cannot tolerate any foreign object in their homes, and should a piece of wood or other movable substance be thrown into their hives, they will immediately proceed to tightly propolize or glue it in place. I have known of instances where squirrels, snakes, mice, and even toads, have invaded a hive and been stung to death, and the bees, being unable to remove the carcass, have covered it with a thick coating of propolis until it has been literally embalmed or mummified. The propolis is secured from resinous trees, and when first gathered is so sticky that the bees smear it over their hives at once. Certain races of bees gather more propolis than others, the Caucasians particularly being generous, in fact too generous, in its use. There is no doubt that while propolis is troublesome when prying off the lids of hives, and taking out the frames, it is nevertheless a preservative to the wood of the hives and adds to their life and usefulness. It was their love for propolis or glue that led to the wide publication some years ago of the story of the funeral of a German beekeeper, whose cofin, as it was carried from the house to the hearse, was covered by the bees, who clustered upon it as a token of their esteem for their departed keeper. The truth was, the bees were securing some of the fresh varnish with which the coffin was polished, and were perfectly oblivious of the fact that their owner had left them. A superstitious custom is still practised in some parts of Europe on the death of a beekeeper of draping the hives with black; a relative of the dead man then whispers into the entrance of each hive the sad intelligence that their owner is no more. It is believed by many such people that if this is not done the bees will leave the hives and will not return.
As we examine the combs in the home of the bees, we shall find some of the cells containing honey, others pollen, while nestling in still others we find the developing brood. In taking care of the brood as well as maintaining themselves, the bees require water, pollen, and honey; thus we find it present in their homes at all times.
Honey is not a product of the bees in that
from any available source, though there are times when they will hardly notice any other flowers if they have access to basswood.
Ripe honey sealed in the comb seldom granulates unless exposed to extreme cold, as each cell is practically air-tight.
Honey, pollen, and water are mixed with chyle, a secretion of the chyle-stomach of the nurse bees, and fed the worker larvae for about three days, when the chyle is withdrawn and more honey and pollen substituted.
During the winter months and early spring, more or less water is secured from the condensation of moisture in the hives, but as the season advances the bees make frequent visits to neighboring streams and pools, and at times are so plentiful around the drinking-troughs of stock as to become a nuisance.
The pollen is gathered from the various flowers and is carried to their homes by the bees in the little pollen baskets on their legs.
In the early spring, when the bees are active and the pollen scarce, a good substitute can be
**THE HOME OF THE BEES**
found in rye flour, and when a box containing a quantity of it is placed in the bee yard, it is astonishing to see how readily they will accept it and carry it away to their hives.
The hardest work a bee has to perform is that of pollen-gathering, and only the strongest bees in the colony engage in this work, while others are constantly gathering propolisis, water, and honey. The young or nurse bees have all they can do to feed the larvae, and to maintain a proper temperature of about ninety-eight degrees in the hive, without which the eggs will not hatch. About ten thousand bees are required in the hive to keep the incubator at work, for the hive is literally an incubator. The honey-gathering force of the hive is composed of all bees above this number, so the advantage of having large colonies at the time of the honey flow is manifest.
Thus we have seen that the things present in the home of the bees are combs, honey, propolisis, pollen, with a little silk used for lining the cells for the larvae, besides the bees and larvae.
## Chapter 5 The bee family
WATEVER the race of bees kept, we find at the beginning of the season that there are but three kinds of bees present in a hive, -- the queen, the drones, and the workers.
With very rare exceptions there is usually but one queen present, a limited number of drones for propagation, and about thirty thousand workers, or about six quarts of bees by measure.
The queen is the mother of the entire colony, and under average conditions will lay from three thousand to five thousand eggs in twenty-four hours, doing her best during the spring and early summer. She is revered by the workers and tenderly cared for, not because of any regal traits she possesses or royal
## The Bee Family
**prerogatives she exercises, but rather because she is the sole reproducer of workers, and her death usually means the extinction of the swarm unless the workers have means of replacing her. Their solicitude for her is founded upon the law of self-preservation, and not because she rules them as a monarch. When hatched from a queen cell she is a virgin, and of no use in the matter of reproduction until she takes her matrimonial flight, which usually occurs a few days after she is born, and mates with a drone. Many times a virgin is lost to a colony while seeking to be impregnated, as a bird may catch her in flight, and during her absence the bees are greatly agitated until she returns with evidences of having accomplished her purpose. The mating occurs outside of the hive while the queen is on the wing, and may take place within a hundred yards of the hive or a mile or so away, the distance depending upon the presence of drones in the vicinity. If it were possible to mate our queens in theHow to keep bees for profit
live, we could in every sense control it and be certain that she was purely mated to a drone of the same race, but, the mating occurring in the air, somewhat remote from her hive, we can never be certain that she has mated properly until after some of her eggs have hatched, when the markings of the worker offspring will tell the tale.
This uncertainty has been the bane of queenraisers, and to overcome it they have found it economy to seek out all owners of bees in a radius of three miles and to Italianize their colonies free of charge, by the introduction of pure queens, so as to be reasonably certain of the fact that none but pure drones are present in the immediate neighborhood. Again and again have I had a choice virgin queen mated to the common black drones that may be near by; and as her offspring will be hybrids with more or less vicious dispositions, the only remedy has been to pinch off her head and try again. The presence of impure races, however, need not prove a serious bug THE BEE FAMILY
while the drones from our own apiaries will succeed in fertilizing the virgins from any common stock, until most of the neighboring bees will in time be of pure blood.
When about nine days old a virgin sallies forth, and high in the air is mated to a drone who inserts an amount of seminal fluid into her spermatheca, and the single impregnation is sufficient for her lifetime, during which she may lay nearly half a million eggs.