BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
I will conclude this subject with an anecdote :--In the year 1828, I was engaged by the Honourable Lady Gifford, of Roehampton, to unite the Bees of two hives ; and as the operation was novel to the spectators, who on that occasion consisted principally of the branches of that worthy family,--when I had drawn the Bees from the coutage-hive and they were all spread on a white cloth, and every eye was anxiously intent upon discovering the Queen-Bee, there was some trouble in finding that particular Bee ; even I myself--an old practitioner--had overlooked her ; and having occasion to leave the table and my fumigated Bees surrounded by my young Lord and Lady Gifford, and by the rest of her Ladyship's family, her infant son, in the arms of his nurse, eagerly called out--\({}^{\star\star}\)Mamma, manma, what is that? " Hearing the child's animated expression, I returned to the table, and instantly beheld and caught the Queen of the Bees,and her actually pointed out by an infant not three years of age. Is there any excuse then for not knowing the Queen-Bee? And, as a true description of this Bee and of the office she fulfils in the hive, will be given in the course of this work, accompanied with a plate of her and also of the other Bees, I trust my Bee-friends will not hereafter allow a child of only three years of age (although that child was the son of a late Attorney General,) to excel them in this particular point of apiarian knowledge, which is not only highly interesting, but very useful to the operator, when uniting stocks, or transferring Bees from one domicil to another. Never shall I forget the look of satisfaction that beamed on the countenance of the affectionate mother. To see each of her eight amiable children around the table with her Ladyship, minutely searching every little cluster of Bees, in order to give the first information of the Queen, was a lovely sight ; but to hear her infant son, proclaim, as it were, the Queen of the Bees, by pointing his little, delicate finger to the object of his curiosity, and exclaim--"Mamma, mamma, what is that? " was most gratifying even to me. Well might the little naturalist inquire--"whatis that!" when he was in the presence of royalty, and pointing to one of the most extraordinary monarchs in the world, while I myself--an old practitioner, had not previously observed her. Be it so, I acknowledge my oversight in this instance, and I feel it incumbent on me to give the merit of the discovery to him, to whom on that occasion it was so justly due.
ponent was granted to John Gedde, to secure to him for a term of fourteen years the advantages of his invention of boxes for storifying; so that it is at least of a hundred and seventy years' standing. After Gedde it was successively adopted and encouraged by Rusden, Warder, and Thorley, and has been the fashionable or fancy practice down to the present day; for it is a mode of managing Bees that has been strongly recommended by some modern authors--principally by Dr. Bevar.; and it is practised by some Beemasters, who consider it to be the most humane mode, and the only humane mode of managing Honey-Bees. I have no wish to depreciate the inventions and labours of others, as others * have endeavoured to depreciate mine, * The Quarterly Review--the formidable Quarterly--with all its admiration of, and affection for, its " time-honored straw hive " improved, as it may think, " by two or three coats of paint inside," has erroneously _made_ Mr. Nutt call "the green-painted wooden box--the Temple of Nature." Wherever the Quarterly may have picked up this expression, it has not met with it in Mr. Nutt's book; and therefore it ought not to have attributed it to _him_: neither, had the Quarterly examined the dates and contents of the first edition of Nutt's book and of Mr. Cotton's " Letters to Cottagers," would it have be-praised the latter for a variety of improvements in Bee-management_fleched_from_Nutt, and appropriated by Mr.
especially the super-nadir-centre-living Dr. Bevan, who at the expense of truth and fairness has vainly attempted to write me and my Bee-system down; nor am 1 disposed to offend any man, particularly that man who has exerted himself so much to better the condition of the Honey-Bee. If he has been mistaken in the _means_ to be employed to gain so desirable an end, and in my humble opinion he certainly has been mistaken, every praise is due to him for his good intentions.
My first objection to the piling system is--because it occasions a great deal of extra Cotton without any acknowledgment whatever: neither would it have broadly asserted that "the beautiful bell-glasses of virgin honey from Mr. Nutt's hives," may "by a very simple alteration in the common straw hive "be therefrom obtained, had it been but one half as experienced in the _practical_ management of Bees, as it is in matters of criticism: neither should it have withheld from its readers a simple description of that "simple alteration " had it been in possession of it. By what motive actuated the Quarterly best knows, but, in my opinion, from sheer ignorance of the subject on which it has written, it has bestowed its praise where praise ought to have been withheld; and has withheld it, and even insinuated censure, where commendation was justly due. Knowing how sensitive and testy critics in general are, I will only add that Art.1 of No.141 of the Quarterly Review--is throughout a flippant production, and abounds with peccadilloes far too numerous to be pointed out in a short note.--Ep.
## Chapter 15
quires no great skill to know that the contents of box A. at this period are as just described. When nearly full it is placed upon another box (B.) to prevent what is called the mainstream. This box, like box A. is quickly filled with combs; the Queen too follows her labourers and progressively lays her eggs even to the lowest edges of the combs. Of course box B. like box A. soon contains quantities of brood. The second box (B.) gets full just as the first did, and as a cottage-hive does--not with pure honey, but with brood, pollen or farina, and other substances, as well as with honey; in short, there is no provision for, nor means of, dividing the works of the working Bees from the works of the Queen-Bee; consequently they become, as _of necessity_ they must become--one promiscuous mass. The brood continues to increase and occupies that part of the box which should be of pure honey and wax. This goes on until more room is wanted; and _then_ it is that the two full boxes (A. and B.) are exalted and placed upon the third and last box (C.) This, however, does not mend the matter; but, as will be seen presently, it_does_ occasion a great deal of additional labour and inconvenience to the Bees. In the meantime they carry on their works of nature and of art--they construct new combs and store some of the cells with honey, and the Queen lays her eggs in others, just as in the other boxes. The fact is--the three boxes soon become as one : they soon become and continue to be of one temperature,--the same compound of the old hive,--the brood-cells are intermixed with those containing honey,--wreaths of pollen are in every pile,--and animated nature is everywhere peeping from the waxen cells, in which nothing but pure honey should have been deposited. But this is not all, nor the worst part; though bad enough, if _purity of honey_ be any consideration.
It is a fact known by me and by every one at all experienced in the management of an apiary, that no sooner are the combs in box C. got into a state of forwardness--it would be saying rather too much to say--completed, than numbers of working Bees are, as it were, struck off their work there, and set about removing all superfluidities and nuisances from the combs lately filled with young brood in the uppermost box A. Every cell in those combs that has been the nest and nursery of a young
See they cleanse thoroughly, and repair, where repairs are needed, preparatory to its being made a receptacle for honey, or for the other treasures brought from the field. At this time, that is--as soon as the combs are free from the first brood, the uppermost box is nearly empty, instead of being full: it contains _empty combs and Bees, but little or no honey._ Here then the Bees are subjected to that extra labour and inconvenience which form my first objection to the piling-plan. From the entrance into box C. through box B. and up into box A. the way, to a loaded Bee, is neither short nor pleasant; it is a labyrinth beset with difficulties and obstructions, in surmounting which much of that time is occupied which would otherwise be more profitably, and we may supposc--far more agreeably employed, in passing from flower to flower, and in culling their various sweets. Any person, it may be presumed, would rather set down a heavy load on the ground-floor than have to tug it up two or three long flights of stairs, and through intricate, winding passages, and be jostled and impeded and pushed about, and perhaps backward every now and then, by countless crowds of busy men, unceasingly hurrying
very elbows, let him proceed to take the uppermost box. He divides it from that on which it stands, that is--from box B. by a slide or a divider of some sort prepared for such an operation, or in any way he pleases, for that I leave to him. Well, with considerable difficulty he succeeds in getting off his prize; not however, without the destruction of a considerable number of Bees: for _to presume_ that he is acquainted with my easy mode of taking away a box, would be to presume too much; I therefore allow him a Bee-dress at once, and have accounted him in the best way I can for his arduous undertaking. The box, then, at last is off. He turns it up and examines it, and to his great disappointment, he finds that the combs are discoloured, that each pile of the expected treasure contains quantities of the young larvae, and that there is much pollen commingled with the other substances in the box; in short, he finds that the whole is dirty and filthy in appearance; and that he has destroyed a part of the most valuable brood for another year. And, if instead of box A. he take box B. he will fare little, if any better; may, he will in all probability destroy a greater quantity of brood;and in box C. he cannot expect to find more than half-filled cells, or empty combs. Such are the fruits and profits of the piling-system of Bee-management. There are Bee-masters resident within twenty miles of the good town of Spalding, and in many other places that might be mentioned, who know that the foregoing account is true, _lamentably true_: but until such practitioners are sensible of the faultiness of their system of Bee-management, it would be folly in me to appeal more directly to any of them for a confirmation of what I _know_ to be the truth. How, I would ask, can the Bees' sweet treasures be divided from their other works, if there be no means of varying and regulating the temperature in their hive? Without the aid of ventilation it is, in my opinion, impossible; but with it, it is perfectly easy, perfectly safe, and not at all distressing nor even unpleasant to the Bees.
Before I take my leave of the piling or storifying practitioner, whom I consider, as perhaps he may consider me, to be very, very imperfect in the management of Bees, I feel it to be my duty to my readers, and of course to the piling Bee-master, if he should vouchsafe to me a reading, to record a few other facts that bear strongly against the piling practice--facts derived from long and attentive observation of the nature and habits of honey Bees. Twenty years' steady practice and constant attention to the movements of these ingenious insects are the foundations I have to build upon. Besides I have proofs, well-authenticated, indisputable proofs, of the abundant produce of honey having been taken from collateral-boxes, and that of very superior quality too ; which honey I take from the Bees as being a superabundant store, and not as a part, the taking away of which has any tendency to weaken, or in any way to injure, the prosperity of the colony from which it is taken. But what do we behold when a box is taken from a storied pile?--what that in the least deserves to be termed humanity? Do not a thousand murders stare us in the face? Why should the operator be veiled and muffled up and made sting-proof, if no conflictwas expected--if no deeds of violence were anticipated? But violence is anticipated, and practised too, to such an extent that it is no uncommon occurrence for the Bees that escape destruction to desert the other boxes altogether. This ends one part of the business.
These objections against the practice of storifying boxes will, I trust, induce the reflecting, ingenuous reader to turn his attention to the importance of ventilation in collateral-boxes. By regulating the interior temperature of the hive, suitable and generative heat is confined to the middle-box, that is--to the mother-hive, which heat causes the Queen to propagate her young in this middle-box, and near the entrance, whereby a great advantage is afforded to the Bees passing in and out, that fully demonstrates the necessity of their labours being assisted in the breeding-season, _and not obstructed_.
It is the heat which causes the working Bees to deposit their burdens of collected pollen in the brood combs. This pollen or farina, which is called by some writers Bee-bread, is gathered and deposited for the special purpose of supporting the larvae, while helpless insects, or babies, as it were, in the hive. Combined with heat, it is this material which discolours the combs and works of the Bees ; it is this which also makes the wax and honey yellow : besides where this pollen is deposited by the Bees, there, or in that part of the hive, will the Queen lay her eggs,--and there of course propagate her species. And as animal nature advances to perfection, so rises the interior temperature of the hive, until the oppressive --almost suffocating heat, obliges the Bees to leave their homes, i. e. to swarm. This heat extends itself to the most remote parts of their domicil; and were it not for the influence of ventilation in the end-boxes, a discolouration of the beautiful works in them also would take place, and be extended through the whole hive, and the Queen would lay her eggs promiscuously as she does in the coutage-hive. But this mischief is corrected by ventilation. Can then any reasonable man deny the powerful and beneficial effects of ventilation in the management of Bees?
Except in the observatory hive, the Queen-Bee is but seldom seen by the most acute observer; she loves to propagate her young in secrecy, at the regular temperature of the hive at her own birth. If she can possibly avoid it, she will not lay her eggs where man can overlook and examine her movements; consequently the ventilation in the side-boxes deters her from depositing her eggs in combs beyond the limits and out of the temperature of her native hive. As soon as she feels a cooling
superadded,itdoesnotexceed eighteen inches; so that in one day, when the honey-dew is plentiful, ten thousand Bees will gather more treasure than three times that number on the piling system, in which the Bees are compelled to mount up to the Babelonian height of Thorley's fourth box.
These (partly repetitions of what has been stated before, I am aware), are conveniences which collateral-boxes possess, and which _do not belong to piled-boxes_. In piled-boxes Bees are subjected to unnecessary labour, which is so far a waste of time. From piled-boxes not nearly the quantity of honey and wax is procured, that may be procured from collateral-boxes, nor is that deficient quantity of a quality at all comparable with the other. In managing piled-boxes many Bees are destroyed.\({}^{*}\)Dr. Bevan, who has _soft solderd ad nauseam_most of the apiarians of whom he has made mention, has not administered one grain of that emolicent to poor Nutt: on the contrary, he has invariably treated him with causative, and has gone so far as to assert--that " from the objections to storifying mad by Mr. Nutt, he appears to be unacquainted with the rationale of the system which he condemns, for they apply only to an injudicious method of practising it; he confines his observations to nadiring, and does not at all advert to These are my objections to that system of Bee-management; and I put it to every un-prejudiced, inpartial person, who has practised storifying, to say whether they are not well-founded.
supering." Whatever Dr. Bevan may mean by "_the rationale of the system,"_ it is evident from the explanation of storifying given at the beginning of this chapter, that Mr. Nutt is perfectly-well acquainted with the storifying system in all its modes; and from the whole tenour of his objections to that system, it is evident that they are not confined, nor intended to be confined to _nadiring_, but are applicable alike to nadiring, supering, and centring; in short, to the rationale of the system, because that rationale _is irrational_, and detrimental to the prosperity of Bees subjected to its effects in the several ways set forth in the foregoing chapter.--Eo.
* Dr. Bevan's Book--p. 197.
Reading.10 Situated in a part of the country most abundantly favoured by nature,--replete with every variety of Bee-herbage, and with every local advantage combined in its favour, the nobleMarquess has prosecuted his apiarian pursuits with a spirit of liberality and enter-prize redounding to his credit, and well meriting the success which has equalled my own as it has his most sanguine expectations. I do not consider that I can introduce this better to the notice of my readers, than by transcribing the account of a visit, that was paid to it by my intelligent friend Mr. Booth, the Lecturer on Chemistry, and which appeared in the _Stanford Mercury_ of July 26th, 1833. It is as follows :--
Footnote 10: Since this account was first made public, the Marquess of Blandford has become Duke of Marlborough, and removed to Blenheimhis Grace's patrimonial property and princely residence,Ep.
" To the Editor of the Mercury.
" Sir,
" From the interest you appear to take in whatever relates to the extension of Mr. Nutt's invaluable system of Bee-management, and the prompt attention you have given to former communications on the subject, I am induced to detail the successful results of that system in the hands of the Marquess of Blandford, who has gone most extensively into the subject, and with an ardour and enthusiasm second only to that of the intelligent inventor. As I had the permission of the noble Marquess to make my observations, so I am enabled to make reference to his Lordship for the accuracy of my statements, and I am only fulfilling the wishes of the noble Lord, in making these details as extensively public as possible, for the information of those who are interested in this most important, though long neglected branch of rural economy.
**"** His Lordship's Park is most pleasantly situated near the beautiful and romantic village of Pangbourn, in Berkshire, and the choice of situation for the apiary is most excellent. It is at the top of a tower* forty-six feet high, situated in the midst of a wood, and commanding a most extensive view of the surrounding country, including Hampshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, and Oxfordshire, the face of nature being clad in an almost endless
variety of fertility, and old Father Thames gently meandering through the valley, formed by the distant hills which bound the scene, affording but few prospective traces of the immense physical developments of his powers, which render him, truly, the monarch of rivers. At the top of this tower his Lordship possesses four colonies in collateral-hives, and one inverted-hive, all of which have been started since April, 1833. In the collateral-hives the labours of the Bees have been highly successful. From one colony has already been taken a box containing thirty pounds of honey ; whilst another box and three small glasses, which cannot together contain less than forty pounds, are quite ready for taking, and which will afford the sum of seventy pounds, and this without infringing on the quantity necessary for the winter support of the Bees. The thermometer in the collateral-boxes did not exceed 70 degrees, whilst in the air it was at 64. A most remarkable contrast was afforded by the superior quality of the honey in the end-box and that of the 'pavilion of nature :' the superiority of the former was most evident. Mr. Smith, the keeper, who quite follows in the steps of Mr. Nutt, informed
these, and his collateral hives, which are getting into prime condition for the winter.
"I have troubled you with these details because they relate to facts, and a publication of such facts is all that is required to introduce this admirable system of Bee-management into universal practice. To what extension it may be brought, it is impossible to state, but these results most stronglyimpress upon others of the nobility to 'Go and do likewise.' The mantle of the warior has indeed fallen upon the philanthropist in the person of the heir to the title and fortunes of a Marlborough ; and let the example but be extended, and the practice inculcated amongst our rural population, and, whilst it will greatly conduce to their advantage, we need no longer look to France or Italy for a supply of treasures, which our own country and peasantry can so efficiently produce. Nothing could possibly more advance these objects, than the formation of an Apiarian Society, which should offer premiums and prizes to the most successful competitors ; and I do hope that for the sake of humanity as well as philanthropy, and when I see the long and noble list of names which dignify Mr. Nutt's patronage, I shall not be deceived in my anticipations of the speedy formation of a society, established for such laudable purposes.
Yours, &c.
Abraham Booth,
Lecture on Chemistry.
" Reading, July 22d, 1833."
To the above able and explicit description, and which is to me the more interesting because not written by a _practical_ a
## Chapter XI honey bees.
That branch of natural history which treats of INSECTS is called entomology. And Linnaeus,the celebrated naturalist and botanist, and the father of the classification of animated and vegetable nature, has divided insects into seven orders; the fifth of which is termed hypenoptera, and includes all those insects that have four membranous, gauze-like wings, and that are furnished with a sting, or with a process resembling one. To this class the **Honey-Bee belongs.** It has, however, been so repeatedly described by naturalists and by apiarian authors, that it would be difficult to say any thing respecting it as an insect merely that has not been said before. It is, moreover, so universally known, that it may seem to be a superfluous undertaking to attempt to describe it at all. As, however, my little work might be deemed to be imperfect without someaccount of it, I will present to my readers the substance of what appears to me to be a condensed, well-written article on the Bee. It is from Watkins' Cyclopaedia.
There are, he says, and I believe it, fifty-five species of Bees. The general characteristics of the Bee are these:-its mouth has two jaws and a proboscis enfolded in a double sheath; its wings are four, the lower or under pair of which is smaller than the upper pair; in the anus of the female and working Bees is a concealed sting. Of the fifty-five species the HONEY-BEE--classically, or at any rate entomologically--apis mellifica, is the most interesting and important, and that with which I am directly concerned. Of this Bee there are three kinds--the Queen, the Drone, and the working Bee; and it is no more than justice to the draughtsman and to the engraver too, to say, that the following are correct and beautiful representations of thethree Bees above-named.
**176**
Fig. 1. represents a Drone.
-- 2. -- a working Bee.
-- 3. -- a Queen Bee.