BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
The hives in the apiary are of almost every description that is, and has been, in use ; the original Langstroth, the Langstroth Simplicity, the Long-Iden, the Heddon, the Berlepsch, the Observation, the Munday, the old straw skip, and even the old box orgin-case hive, are to be seen. But why so many types of hives! And why so many varieties of fowls in the poultry-yard! Simply, to use a vulgarism, ''you pay your cash and take your choice.'' Every variety of poultry has its advocate, either as profitable or ornamental. So with the bee hives. But why go back so far as the old gin-cases ; why not go back further to the cave days when bees were kept in clay pots? The main reason for the variety of hives is that in the country districts of this State apiculture is in a transitional state, especially so in the backblocks, and gin-case hives will serve as object lessons in transferring and demonstrating the advantages of modern methods.
The bar-frames are of all patterns. In some the thin top bar, bottom bar and sides of equal width (experience only will teach how to space), the full length, thick top bar, with self-spacing sides and narrow bottom bar, the short thick top bar with staple ends, are all in use. They are all educational, and answer many a student's and visitor's query of "Why?"
The sections, too, in like manner are very diversified ; so also are the separators and the section holders or cradles. One section holder or cradle with its separators is unique, as it is only at the Hawkesbury Agricultural College, and at the author's home it is in use. It was exhibited at a Royal Agricultural Show, and called forth the usual amount of comments that are bestowed upon all improvements in bee-keeping or anything else. It is made of wire; two of the sides act with a spring and the sections therefore are self-adjusting. It is Fig. 3 in the illustration, shows 3 spring sides, which are not necessary. There are no thumb-serews, wedges, or other appliances used for keeping them firm in the super. The separators are made from queen-excluding zinc. When the cradle is fitted it is not made secure in the shallows as is usually the case. The burr-comb being removed from the frames of the brood-chamber, the wire cradle, with its contents, is placed thereon, as seen in the accompanying Fig. 2, the frame of the half-size super _surrounds it_, and the ordinary lid covers it. The two latter are easily removed, and when so removed, the cradle resting on the frames, by pressing open the spring side or end the full sections can be removed, and the empty ones replaced without the slightest trouble. The only drawback to these wire cradles coming into general use is, they are rather expensive; but then they are everlasting. These last remarks will also apply to the concrete hive-stands.
In the centre stands the kiosk. There is nothing new either in design or make, but there is in its use. It is an ornate structure, having a concrete floor. In the centre is an octagon table, and there is ample room for six or eight visitors to sit underneath the shade of its roof, which has an octagonal ceiling. From the centre of this ceiling there is suspended a mosquito net, sufficiently large to envelop the visitors seated around the table. The object is to protect the timid visitor from the too inquisitive bee. A bee playing to near a person unaccustomed to the hunt gives rise to the fear that the bee so humming must be bent upon mischief, and accordingly a dive is made for the nearest protection. Some persons once stung remain timid for ever, and inagine that they are the individual object of the hatred of all bees ; hence we often hear it said, ''I would not go near bees, they have a dislike to me,'' when the boot should be on the other foot --they have a dislike to the bees. Well, this kiosk and its fittings are for such ones. Underneath, and surrounded by this net, they can examine the marvellous sights to be met with in the domestic economy of the hive, and to my mind it is one of the most interesting--a hive of bees under the control and manipulation of man.
The sides of the kiosk are trellised. There are two openings in the walls, the one for ingress and egress, the other contains two Berlepsch hives. In these, visitors can be shown all that is most interesting in bee life, whilst close to the door are the Langstroth and other hives ; the frames from these, containing the queen and brood in various stages of development, can be easily removed and carried within, where they can be examined freely by the most curious of visitors.
From the door of the kiosk to the honey-house is an asphalt path, 4 feet in width. The honey-house is fitted with all the most modern appliances used in the honey industry, and not the least conspicuous amongst them is a four-frame Cowan rapid reversible extractor. This latter has been fitted so as to be driven by treaddle-power.
TO REMOVE BESS TO ANOTHER LOCALITY.
It was only the last week in December that the bees were removed from the old site. This was a valuable object lesson for the students engaged in the work. "Being so close won't the bees go back to the old stands!" was the question asked by more than one. On the marrow not 1 per cent. of the bees returned to the site of their old home, although it was in such close proximity. This is the way it was done. All things being in readiness, a moonlight night was selected. At the old apiary the entrance to each hive was closed by means of damp rags, and the hives were placed on hand-barrows and carried to the concrete stands in the new apiary; these were all in place beforehand; pieces of board, two or three bricks, bushes, in fact anything, was placed in front of each hive; these, when the bees came out for their morning flight, caused them to study the new location, and at the same time to forget the old. A clean sweep had been made of their old homes. Every piece of loose wood, brick, bush, etc., had been removed. There was really nothing left to indicate that an apiary had ever stood there. Any one wishing to remove an apiary to a site near by, if they follow this plan need have no apprehension that the bees will return to the locality whence they came.
There are other additions and improvements contemplated, such as a small pond or fountain, in which floating plants of the duck-weed order are to be placed, where the bees can slake their thirst at pleasure. Such a provision is a great boon to bees. They are thirsty creatures, especially so during the dry warm seasons we have had of late. Every bee-keeper should place a tub or bucket of water in his apiary and if a few aquatic plants are put therein, those of a floating habit being placed amongst them, it will be found to be very advantageous for the bees. The water can be made ornamental by being placed in the centre of a rockery, and trailing plants grown around it.
The Hawkesbury College Apiary is a place worth visiting, and it will be more so when the seasons are better, and the flowering plants, shrubs, and hedges have had more time for establishment.
The Advance of Bee Life Under Domes-
Ticatons.
Tie strides bee-keeping has made of late years have been very great both in Europe and America, more so in the latter than in the former, and the financial result of the enterprise by modern methods has been more surprising than that of almost any other industry that was brought prominently to the fore at or about the same time, and that has marched side by side with it for the same period. The State of California leads in the proportion of honey, and the largest bee-farmers in the world are met with in the southern part of that State.
The amount of capital invested in the industry in Southern California is stated to be PS90,000 exclusive of land. The people engaged in the work pay for labour annually PS14,000, and circulate no less than PS15,000 every year amongst the manufacturers of bee-keepers' supplies. The making of these must supply the means of living to a large number of families. In the same State there are nearly PS,000 bee-keepers, each one averaging 150 colonies, or PS50,000 colonies in the Southern State alone. From this State 5,000 tons of extracted honey and a proportionate amount of comb honey was sold in 1896. The price for honey in America is much less than here. In California extracted honey is sold at PS16 per ton, and comb honey at double that price. Therefore, the bee industry of the Southern State referred to must have put into circulation not far short of PS200,000 that, prior to the inauguration of the bar-frame method of bee-keeping, was permitted to go to waste. Arizona and other places in the States rival the California in honey production. These figures were obtained from an article recently published in the _Los Angeles Journal_.
According to the last annual statistical number of the _Californian Fruit-grover_ there are in the United States 110 apiarian societies, eight journals devoted exclusively to the bee and honey industry, and fifteen steam factories for the manufacture of hives and apiarian implements. There are 300,000persons engaged in the culture of the bee, and according to the United States census report, they produced in 1869 14,703,815 lb. of honey, and in 1889, twenty years later, 53,894,168 lb. According to the eleventh census, the value of the honey and beeswax production of the United States at wholesale rates was about PS1,458,333, and a conservative estimate of the present annual production is about PS4,167,500. As supplementary to these figures, it may be stated that in addition to the fifteen steam-power factories, there is a very large number of smaller factories, using mainly hand and horse power, which are engaged in the production of supplies, such as hives, smokers, honey extractors, and other apparati.
Bee-keepers in Southern California have as many as 600 or even 1,000 colonies of bees in a single apiary, and secure from 100 to 200 lb. of extracted honey per colony. One bee-keeper in Riverside county reported one year a crop of 10 tons of first quality of extracted honey and 3 tons of the finest comb honey, all from 154 colonies, which, during the season, increased to 196. A report reaches this office of one San Diego county man whose bees this season produced six carloads of honey. Not long ago a Ventura county man had the misfortune to lose 2 tons of honey, which ran down a canyon through an accident, and still had 50 tons remaining for sale. Statistics as to the Californian output of honey are not available, but the crop of 1897 is estimated variously at from 225 up to 400 carl loads of 12 tons each, of which San Diego is expected to furnish sixty. California honey is known in nearly all markets.
Bee-keeping in this State has not kept pace in proportion with the population, as is the case in America, neither are we such honey consumers. The Americans are proverbially fond of sweets and our people do not appear to be educated in their tastes to consume a like proportion. Certainly all the honey produced in this State is consumed here, or nearly so, and occasionally we hear of a few tons being imported. In the country places of America nearly everyone is his own bee-keeper, the townspeople consuming the overplus.
In 1891 there were twelve competitors for the National Prize offered by the Government of New South Wales, and in 1892 the increase of competitors was but two. Since then the increase of bee-keepers has been gradually swelling, until this year the dealers in the bee-keepers' supplies have been unable to execute their orders, especially in the supply of foundation comb; but this demand has been mainly by those who are engaged in the industry as an occupation, or bee-keepers in a large way.
There is no reason why bee-keeping should not be as general as that of poultry-keeping. In our cities, towns, suburbs, and rural districts, wherever there is convenience a few fowls are kept by all, if only for egg-production. Even in the city it is a common thing to see a small space set aside for a poultry-yard. The keeping of fowls in small enclosures is always more or less disagreeable, especially when too near to the dwelling-house. The care, attention, and expense necessary to success in egg-production is in no way a small matter and is generally, when on a small scale, a losing hobby, and if it were not that new-laid eggs of home production were a luxury that can only be depended upon when they are so obtained, few persons would take the trouble to keep fowls. Again, however ornamental, attractive and valuable the _fowls_ may be, the enclosures in which they are kept can never boast of the two former conditions. With bees it is otherwise. They add a picturesqueness and a rural appearance to the surroundings of every home, and are adaptable to all grounds, whether they are large or small. The hives admit of any amount of ornamentation, and an observatory hive (_i.e._ one with glass sides), creates an amount of educational interest alike to young and old that it is not open to dispute. Whether kept on a large or small scale, the apiary itself, in addition to the hives, can be made ornate and profitable, and can be so constructed as to be a pleasurable resort, equal to that of the bush-house or garden arbour. Indeed there is no reason why one or more glass hives for the purpose of observation should not be placed in every bush-house. Of course, the idea is that bees will sting, but the hives can be so placed that the dangers from stinging can be entirely avoided, and with ordinary caution in the handling of the bees very little danger need be apprehended. If proper care be exercised in the preparation of the soil for the reception of grape vines, and the annual pruning be systematically followed, an enjoyable vintage as an additional table luxury in the form of grapes will be obtained beyond that given by the bees. If the site for the hives is to be a thing of beauty it will admit of a lavishing expenditure to any extent, enough to satisfy the tastes of the most wealthy. On the other hand, for an individual of frugal means,the want of capital never stands in the way. Looking at bekeeping as a lobby, it is not surrounded with the expense and trouble that most other pastimes that are engaged in are. There is no daily attention required, such as feeding, cleansing, etc. No attention from the owner is necessary, as is the case in poultry, during breeding season, and no particular mixture given at regular intervals to ensure the best results in the increase, which is always an important factor with all hobbies. With bees the first expense need be the only one.
It is an industry well adapted to the physically deformed and the weak, and the delicate of both sexes. It is an out-door occupation and, at the same time, an occupation that can only be indulged in during fine weather. It offers a fine field to lades, of small means to augment their income, or at least, one that will be an addition to house-keeping. I one time met a lady who assured me that the earnings from her bees during the year exceeded those of her husband, who was in regular employment. Not long ago, the daughters of a household informed me that, after attending to their domestic duties, they attended to their bees when it was necessary, and in addition to using honey as a table luxury, they did all their fruit-preserving with it, while the sale of the surplus kept them in clothes. Bekeeping is valuable where there is a family of children, if only to give them something to do, and to train them to habits of thirit. I before said people keep fowls for the sake of there being a certainty of having new-laid eggs for breakfast. It is equally wise in these days of extensive adulteration to procure all kinds of food in its purest form, and home-procured honey offers one food that can be easily and cheaply obtained in its native purity.
As an article of diet, especially where there is a family of growing children, it should be much more largely used than it is. It is both health-giving and invigorating. Its consumption in these States is behind most of the European nations. We do not appear to have acquired a taste for honey to any extent. The partiality of the Americans for sweet things is proverbial. There honey is placed upon the tables in the hotels and private houses as regularly as butter. The rural districts of United States is a land literally "flowing with milk and honey." We have done wonders during the last few years in making this State "flow with milk," and every possible effort has been made to secure for the butter industry, both for home consumption and for export, world-wide repute. Why not do the same for honey? The honey crop of New South Wales should be as important as many others that are continually being trumpeted forth. In addition to the quotations I have given _re_ the production of honey in California, the _Australian Farm and Home_, referring to the great strides honey-production has made during late years says: "The bee business is evidently destined to expand into one of the greatest of Californian industries, and is already rivalling the production of fruit as a source of profit."
California is constantly being held up to us as a model in fruit-culture, and the newspapers, etc., are constantly inviting us to "go and do likewise," but in the Australian States the value of the bee is little known or, at least, it is greatly underrated. There are those amongst orchardists and other fillers of the soil who still believe that they are a prolific source of scattering the germs of disease that fruit-trees are subject to throughout our fruit districts; nothing can be more fallacious.
As a fruit preservative honey is equal to sugar. In pound for pound it is more economical. In cookery it answers the same purpose as sugar, and, in some sweet dishes, it is even superior. Medicially it formerly entered largely into various domestic compounds.
What is now required is to educate people in the many uses of honey and the keeping of bees, as universally as that of poultry.
## Chapter 11 Applications and how to use them.
The advent of the bar-frame system of bee-keeping necessitated the introduction of a number of other appliances, all more or less necessary for manipulation either to avoid the open warfare of the bees or to aid them in their labour, so as to adapt their work to man's better convenience or to obtain their produce_with the least possible waste of bee-labour and bee-material. Apart from the poetic side of bee-keeping, there is undoubtedly a phase in it, whether it be indulged in as a hobby or as an industry, which sorely tests the patience of both men and women bee-keepers--not only their patience, but also their courage. Oftentimes when the bees have asserted their supremacy and put their enemy to flight, they, the enemy, do not feel the retaliatory courage necessary to renew the attack. Many a one whose heart and soul has been in the idea of bee-keeping, whilst he has been watching veteran bee-keepers handling their bees as if they were so many flowers, has given up that idea when he attempted to do likewise because the bees resented the amateur's interference. Stings from bees are things that no one is desirous to indulge in.
The callous indifference of the practical bee-keeper, and the contempt he has for the little warriors, is all brought about by use--that is, by experience. We are told that we can get used to anything. Proverb hath it that the very eels get used to being skinned, so the practical bee-keepers get used to being stung, _i.e._ their systems become inoculated against the virulency of bee-poison, but in their apprenticing-days all necessary care had to be taken before they could laugh at the danger arising from the action of a bee's sting.
_Protection_ is the starting-point towards the consumnation of perfect success in the handling of bees. The first part of the body that a bee tries to attack is the most vulnerable--the eye. Why, I cannot tell you. Perhaps the brightness or the sheen of it, or perhaps the quick movements of the eye and eyelids may suggest to the bee a challenge. At the best of times it is not nice to be stung about the eye. Between the eyes is one of the most painful points that can be assailed. I say one, because under the tip of the nose is another. I saw a gentleman stung on the last point named and he sneezed nine times in succession. He was a big man, too, and it nearly shook his head off. After he ceased to sneeze, his eyes ran water for about half an hour.
Now in the first place protect the face. A veil is the orthodox thing. Whether veils are necessary or unnecessary is a question for the bee manipulator to decide, and the decision can only be arrived at by experience. To me a veil is always a nuisance. It always more or less obstructs the vision, and as it is always best to look at your bees in the heat of the day a veil prevents the free circulation of the air, and you will feel something like suffocation. Always wear a veil 'Bosh!'' you say ; ''I saw in the _Gaarette_ Mr. Gale handling bees as freely as I can handle cabbage plants!'' When you have had the experience that I have you will be able to do the same. Let your veil be large enough to come well down around you. Have a hat with a broad leaf or brim to it. A straw hat if it fits well is cool and comfortable. The veil must be made like a bag open at both ends with an elastic band around one, so that it will draw closely around the crown of the hat, and hang loosely over the brim. P'ub your veil on and tuck it under your braces, or your vest, or even your coat if you intend to protect the arms. When you have sufficient knowledge of the work, wear your veil thrown back over your head in readiness to cover up the face should ocean require it. American bee books give a list of about a half-dozen different kinds of bee veils ; Capeharts', Coggshall's, Martin's, Mrs. Axtell's, Mrs. Harrison's, Mrs. Holm's, etc.; but a piece of silk tulle, mosquito net, or Brussel's nct, about 11 yard long, and sufficiently wide to encircle the shoulders so they may have full play underneath is all that is needed. Whatever the material may be, in colour it should be black. If white be used a square of black should be inserted so as to be worn in front of the face, because black is more easily seen through than white.
One of the most convenient protections for the face is a veil sewn around the rim of a broad leaf hat, and the said hat to be kept in a handy place always ready for use. When the eyes only are to be protected, a pair of close fitting goggles with wire sides and clear glass vision are admirably suited for the purpose.
If the arms are to be protected by a coat, the cuff of it should be tied firmly around the wrist. Many bees will alight on the hand, and crawl up the arm if this be not done; not with the intention of stinging, but finding themselves imprisoned will retaliate with the only weapon they have available. With experience even this protection will be found cumbersome and unnecessary. Bare arms and the shirt sleeves rolled up above the elbow, will be found a better security against stinging than the protection I have described. If a bee alights on the bare arm, let it alone : it has not gone there for the purpose of stinging, and driving it off may irritate it into action. If a bee intends to sting the only notice it gives is a little sharper tone than usual. If it has made up its mind to sting, it don't go fooling around before the final attack is made, it goes to business at once.