BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
Figures \(k\), \(l\) and \(m\) show how comb is usually extended from a small piece of foundation, leaving, very often, holes in both upper corners. If the honey is coming in slowly and the colony is not very strong, the sections are liable to be finished like the two shown at \(o\) and \(p\) of the same plate. Not only are these sections light in weight and slow to sell, but they will not ship well, for the jar of handling will break many from their attachments in the sections. I have found, however, that such sections of honey are due much more to a weak condition of the colony and a poor honey flow than to the manner of using foundation. Under such conditions even large pieces of foundation are often gnawed away, as shown at Figures \(g\) and \(r\). When the colony is strong and the honey flow good, small pieces of foundation, like the one shown at \(a\), will often produce just as finely filled sections as can be obtained from full-sized pieces with strips below. Moral : Keep the colonies strong.
Comb built upon foundation is always tougher and more waxy than the natural comb, and a cross-section will show that the mid-rib and bases of the cells are darker in color. So that while the large pieces of foundation result in a somewhat finer appearing capped honey, the small starters will result in a more delicate and brittle comb.
supers. Without them the comb is sure to be uneven in a large proportion of the sections, and in many cases it will be bulged so as to make it very difficult to pack the sections in a crate for shipment. Illustrations of such sections are shown at \(h\) of Plate 5. These sections also vary much in weight, some weighing considerably more than a bound, while others weigh as much less. They are not as attractive nor as easily handled upon the market as those that are built with flat faces that do not project beyond the edges of the section, and that are all uniform in weight and appearance, as shown at \(s\) of Plate 6. I have used the tin and board separators in about equal numbers and have been unable to see that one has any special advantage over the other.
I have also used separators upon one side and upon both sides of the sections. While very good sections of honey are obtained by the use of separators upon one side only, the results have been enough better when used upon both sides to make the latter plan advisable. In my experiments the sections that had no separators averaged one half ounce more in weight than those with separators on one side only, and the latter weighed one-half ounce more than the sections that had separators on both sides. As these lighter, better appearing sections sell better than the heavier, ill appearing ones, there is a double advantage in their production.
## 5 Proportion of wax in comb honey.
Beeswax does not melt at the temperature of the body and is indigestible in the human stomach. Although this does not necessarily imply that beeswax is harmful in food, it becomes a matter of some interest to know how much wax is taken with ordinary comb honey when the latter is eaten. It is also a matter of interest to know how much wax the bees are compelled to secrete for every round of honey that they store in the natural way.
As a thick comb has but one midrib, and as the walls of the cells are heavier near the midrib than they are towards their outer portions, it is evident that comb one and one-half inches thick would not be half heavier than comb one inch thick. The increased weight of the thicker comb would be due entirely to the additional wax required to extend the walls of the cells one-half inch, and to that only. On the other hand, it is equally evident that the honey filling a comb one and one-half inches thick would weigh half more than honey filling a comb one inch thick. Consequently the weight of wax in thick combs is less in proportion than in thin combs. The weights given in the following table shows this to be true:
In case of natural comb honey 1.37 inches thick the honey weighed 28.38 times as much as the wax, while the sample.75 of an inch thick, which was built at the same time as the thicker comb and by the side of it, had only 18.43 times as much honey as wax. The intermediate sample (1.13 inches thick) had 26.66 times as much honey as wax.
All other comb samples in this table were taken from sections measuring 4x4x4 inches and 1x inches thick. The combs were built on small top starters, except in case of the last two examples, one of which was built upon a full-piece of the "1899" deep-cell foundation and the other upon a similar sheet of "1898" deep-cell foundation. The thickness of the comb was not taken in these sections, but it did not vary much from one and, one-fourth inches in any case.
The comb in the sections with small starters did not vary much from one-twentieth of the weight of honey in any case, and the proportion of wax was somewhat greater than in the samples of natural comb of similar thickness.
Passing to the sample of comb on the "1899" deep-cell foundation, we notice, first, that it is much heavier than any of the preced.ing, and hence much thicker, and in consequence it has a much higher ratio of honey to wax, 1 to 27.75. This is also in keeping with results announced on previous pages, indicating that this foundation is drawn out by bees into a comb approximating the lightness of the natural product.
In contrast to this last example, but also in harmony with results given on preceding pages, notice that the "1898" deep-cell foundation gave a comb heavier than the preceding, though the honey weighed less by more than one-fourth. The proportion of wax to honey was greater in this case than in any of the others, except that of natural comb only.75 of an inch thick. It should have given a larger proportion of honey than any of the samples built on small starters, as the comb in the latter was thinner in every case.
From the facts given in the above table, it is evident that if we are to secure a comb honey with the least possible amount of wax, it will be necessary to have it built in sections that will secure the greatest thickness of comb. In this way we can also economize very considerably the labor and energy of the bee in wax secretion and comb building.
Attention might also be called to the fact that it takes more wax and more work for the bees to cap ten pounds of honey in thin comb than in thick comb.
The reader will not understand that I am advocating the use of deep sections; there may be other reasons why they are not preferable; I am only mentioning points which, according to my experiments, favor thin sections.
SUBSTITUTES FOR POLLEN.
It is a well known fact among bee-keepers that bees can be stimulated to early brood rearing in spring by putting out some kind of finely ground meal or flour, which they take as a substitute for pollen. Writers vary in their opinions as to what is the best, but it is commonly recommended to use rye, oats, or pea meal. Common wheat flour, wheat middlings, corn meal, barley meal, and malt all have their advocates. It was thought best to put out at one time a good number of these substitutes for the purpose of determining which would be given the preference by the bees. To do this a number of boards were laid flat upon the ground in the vicinity of the apiary, a small pile of each kind of meal put upon them and notes taken upon the results.
It was found that any of the substances used would be taken freely when used alone. Also that the preference did not always go to the same feed.
Results with the first series of tests were published in the Seventh Annual Report of this Station. As that report did not reach a large number of general readers, and as subsequent tests lead to some change in the order of preference, I have thought it best to report upon the work again here. The order of preference as nearly as could be judged ran as follows : Ground whole kernels of oats, corn, and wheat, fine wheat bran,* cleaner dust,+ cotton-seed meal, wheat bran, pea meal, wheat flour, rye flour, bean meal, barley meal. The three last named they would hardly touch as long as others were accessible.
Footnote *: Bran ground over so as to be fine.
Footnote : Waste dust and chaff as taken from cleaners at flouring mill.
As pollen furnishes the bees with nitrogenous food, it seems probable that those substitutes for pollen that have most nitrogen, or rather, that furnish the chemical compounds most nearly in the proportions that they are found in pollen, would be best suited to take the place of pollen in the dietary of the bee.
In order to determine whether or not the chemical composition of the food-stuffs best liked by the bees were more like the composition of pollen than the others, I had a quantity of corn pollen col lected and taken to Dr. W. P. Headden, Station Chemist, for analysis. In the table below the first analysis is that of corn pollen made by Dr. Headden, and the analyses of the other materials are compiled :
egin{tabular}{l|r|r|r|r|r|r} \hline \hline & Name. & Water. & Ach. & Crude & Fat. & Protein. & Nitrogen \ & & & Fibre. & Fibre. & & Free Extract. \ \hline Corn Pollen & 3.444 & 5.030 & 7.970 & 1.526 & 19.598 &.62.423 \ Oats Gronad & 9.3 & 3.5 & 8.5 & 3.6 & 11.4 & 63.7 \ Corn " & 13.6 & 1.4 & 1.9 & 3.4 & 9.6 & 20.1 \ Wheat " & 11.5 & 2.0 & 2.0 & 2.0 & 12.1 & 60.5 \ Wheat Bran & 11.0 & 5.7 & 10.4 & 5.0 & 15.9 & 52.0 \ Cotton-ceed Meel & 8.0 & 6.0 & 6.7 & 10.0 & 42.0 & 25.7 \ Pes Meel & 8.8 & 2.6 & 17.7 & 1.6 & 19.2 & 50.1 \ Wheat Flonr & 11.6 & 0.7 & 0.7 & 1.2 & 11.8 & 74.1 \ Rye Flonr & 14.0 & 1.0 & 1.5 & 1.6 & 10.5 & 72.5 \ Bean Mosl & 18.0 & 1.4 & 8.1 & 8.5 & 11.0 & 65.0 \ Barley Meel & 13.1 & 2.4 & 5.7 & 1.0 & 11.8 & 65.0 \ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
It will be noticed that, while the nitrogen-nous material (protein) is high in the pollen, it is not very high in some of the flows best liked by the bees, as for example, corn and oats. Cotton-seed meal runs very high in protein and was not specially liked.
So there are, doubtless, other reasons than the amount of nitrogen-gonous food material, that influence the bees to take substitutes for pollen. It is probable that the aroma and "mechanical qualities may have much to do in determining their choice. There is nothing very definite in the above order of choice of the different foods used. The order will often vary on consecutive days, or even on consecutive hours.
It is by no means certain that the flour the bees like best is best for them, for this manner of supplying them nitrogen-food is entirely artificial. The best substitute for pollen is that food which the bees will take and upon which they do best, and it seems probable that it will have a chemical composition approximating that of natural pollen.
Summary of More Important Conclusions.
1. Bees use freely the wax in foundation to extend both the midrib and the cell walls of honey comb.
2. The heavier the foundation used, the heavier, as a rule, will be the comb built upon it.
3. If the midrib of a foundation is much lighter than that of natural comb, the bees are likely to strengthen it by adding wax to the bottom of the cells.*
4. If the midrib of the foundation is thicker than the midrib of natural comb, it will result in a comb with a midrib thicker than the natural. Or, to state it differently, the bees will not thin the midrib of a foundation down to the thickness of worker comb built in the natural way.
5. Midribs of foundation that are not more than.17 of a millimeter (.007 ineh) in thickness, are thinned little or none by the bees.
6. Drone comb has a thicker midrib and heavier cell walls than worker comb.
7. A foundation with a heavy midrib and very slight cell walls, will still produce a comb with heavy cell walls.
8. Very high cell walls in foundation are not cut down to the thinness of cell walls in natural comb.
9. The thin and extra thin and the "1899" deep-cell foundations produce a comb that approximates very closely the lightness of that which is naturally made by the bees.
10. When heavy foundations are used, the extra weight of the comb built upon them is due more to the extra weight of the cell walls'than to the heavier midrib.
11. When very light foundations are used, the somewhat heavier comb is due almost entirely to the midrib being heavier than that of natural comb.
12. When foundations containing an abundance of wax to build the entire comb are used, the bees still add much more wax, sometimes nearly enough to build the comb without the help of the wax in the foundation.
13. Wax seems to be given with the best economy when the midrib of the foundation is of the thickness of the midrib of natural comb, and when there is a small, or at most a moderate, amount of wax in the cell walls.
14. Poorly attached combs in sections seem to be more the result of weak colonies and poor honey flow than to the kind of starter that is used; though large starters and strips of foundation in the bottom of the sections do help to strengthen the union of comb to the section.
15. Separators between the sections are essential to the best results in producing comb honey.
16. The thicker the comb, whether natural or artificial, the greater the proportion of honey to wax in it.
17. In natural worker comb, one inch thick, the proportion of wax to honey is between 1 to 20 and 1 to 25 by weight.
EXPLANATION OF PLATES.
Plate 1.
\(a\), blackened super foundation ; \(b\), sections of comb built on a strip of blackened foundation as shown at \(a\) ; \(c\), como built on narrow strip of foundation as shown at \(a\) ; \(d\), fully drawn comb built on full-piece starter of black foundation ; \(e\), midrib of natural worker comb after removing the cells ; \(f\), midrib of comb built on "1898" deep cell foundation ; \(g\), comb that the bees have just begun to draw on medium brood foundation, enlarged about two diameters ; \(h\), like the preceding except that the cells are fully drawn.
Plate 2.
\(a\), cross-section of very heavy foundation ; \(b\), midrib of comb built on very heavy foundation in upper two-thirds, the lower third being natural midrib extended by the bees ; \(c\), cross-section of medium brood foundation ; \(d\), like the preceding except that the bees had begun to draw out the cells in the upper two-thirds of the figure ; \(e\), the same as \(d\) with the cells farther drawn ; \(f\), a rather heavy super foundation blackened with lamp-black ; \(g\), section of comb on heavy foundation shown at \(a\) ; \(h\), comb on foundation shown at \(f\); \(i\), the upper two-fifths like \(h\) and the remainder natural drone comb ; \(j\), section of thin super foundation ; \(k\), the same as the preceding with the cells partly drawn ; \(l\), section of extra thin foundation.
Plate 3.
\(a\), section of comb on thin foundation in upper half, natural comb in lower half ; \(b\), natural comb ; \(c\), natural comb cut from side to side of a section of honey ; \(d\), comb built on "1898" deep-cell foundation ; \(e\), cells of natural worker comb cut in cross-section ; \(f\), cells of natural drone comb in cross-section ; \(g\), cells of worker comb in cross-section, the upper one-third of which was built on the foundation shown at \(f\) of Plate 2, and the rest is natural.
Plate 4.
\(a\), cross-section of comb cells, the upper third of which were built on "1898" deep-cell foundation ; \(b\), cross-section of worker combi built on very heavy foundation ; \(e\), section of comb built on "1898" deep-cell foundation ; \(d\), section of "1898" deep-cell foundation ; \(e\), cross-section of the cells of "1898" deep-cell foundation before being worked by the bees ; \(f\), section of comb on the "1898" deep-cell foundation ; \(g\), section of "1899" deep-cell foundation ; \(h\), partly drawn comb on the preceding foundation.
Plate 5.
\(a\), section of comb on "1899" deep-cell foundation ; \(b\), cross-section of cell walls of the "1899" deep-cell foundation before they have been worked at all by the bees ; \(c\), section of the Weed "thin-base-and-heavy-wall" foundation ; \(d\), section through comb to show that the midrib can be cut so as to give a straight line ; \(e\), another sample of comb manufactured by Mr. Weed with extremely thin midrib and high and heavy walls ; \(f\), comb on medium brood foundation ; \(g\), comb on extra thin super foundation ; \(h\), sections of honey showing how comb is bulged when separators are not used ; \(i\), comb on "1898" deep-cell foundation somewhat magnified, showing the heavy basal portion of the cell walls.
Plate 6.
\(a\) to \(g\), different methods of using starters in sections ; \(h,i\) and \(j\), showing how comb is built on starters that fill the sections half way down ; \(k\), \(l\) and \(m\), showing method of building down comb from small starter ; \(n\), comb built on a full-piece starter ; \(o\) and \(p\), the way sections are finished in weak colonies or during a poor honey flow, particularly with small-piece starters ; \(q\) and \(r\), large piece starters that the bees have gnawed away during dearth of honey ; \(s\), the way sections should be finished.
ambridge
# **BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE.**
**Advance Australia.**
## Chapter Xvi--Taking Rush Swarms
Tools and implements--Smoke bellows--Get the bees into a box--Save all brood comb--To secure the queen--Maui object; bees and brood-combs not honey...... 103-107
## Chapter Xvi.--Haydin
Eyes, ears, fingers--Manipulation--Kindness and gentleness--Docility--Bee knowledge--Length of bee life--Subdued by smoke--Language of bees--Don't stand in their way--When and how to examine--Charging the smoker--How to smoke--Signs of subjugation...... 108-112
## Chapter Xix.--Division of Swarms
When to divide--Conditions for--The season for--Internal appearances of hive--Virgin queen--Accessity for fertile questions--Summary...... 103-116
When to divide--Conditions for--The season for--Internal appearances of hive--Virgin queen--Accessity for fertile questions--Summary......... 103-116Constrants, vii.
CHAPTER XXV.--HAWKESBURY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE APIARY.
1, General views--2 shows floor, wire cradle, and sections--Page Various hives in use in college apiary--The kiosk--Removing hives and bees to another site...... 154-160
CHAPTER XXVI.--ADVANCE OF BEE-LIFE UNDER DOMESTICATION.
California--Extensive apiaries--Value of apparati--Honey har-vests--N.S.W. National prizes a hobby--Ornamental apiaries --As an article of diet--Some uses for honey... 161-165
CHAPTER XXVII.--APPLIANCES AND HOW TO USE THEM. How to manipulate--Protection--Bee veils--Bee gloves--Other protections...... 166-169
CHAPTER XXVIII.--CHARACTERISTIC SITES FOR AN APIARY. Make the most of it--Uses for honey--Will it pay?--Flower culture--Gardening--Will it pay?--Bees kept on bonse rooi --Bees at Agricultural Shows...... 170-175
CHAPTER XXIX.--HIVE ARRANGEMENTS. Success and failure--As a hobby--Semi-circular and straight quineux plan--Advantages of--Bush-house apiary--Its fittings--Herlepsch hive preferable...... 176-181
CHAPTER XXX.--FOLUTION OF THE BEE-HIVE. Domestic -- Nature's home -- Clay-hives -- Hollow logs--Hives of the first bee-keepers--Wild honey--Early writers--Destroying bees for the honey--Nutt's supernumary box--The bar frame--Huber's book hive--Langstroh and Dzier-zon--Bees working in the open--Spacing--Bar-frames--Heddon frame, its measurements--Shallow frames--Quinby and other types, measurements of--Bar frames in parts--Langstroh frame, its measurements--Thick top bar--Hoffman ends--Narrow bottom bar--Ginage for staples--Hendy-made bar-frames--Langstroh's 61 pros and cons--Materials --Broid chamber--Half-size super-roof--Quin--Full-size frame, page 221, and for shallows--Dummy--Section cradle --Sections--Half-size dummy--Section holder--Sections see diagram, page 223--Gale's wire cradle--Berlepsch hive--Hive in parts--The frame--Description of observatory doors --How arranged--The verandah--Advantages and otherwise--The combination hive--Its advocates and its pros and cons--a --Sections--and their attention to their own ability to use in
## Chapter 13.
The _Fractional Theory_ (Fractional Theory) is a very important tool in the field of physics. The Fractional Theory (Fractional Theory) is a very powerful tool in the field of physics.
N this volume I have collected together some of my published articles, chiefly those that appeared from time to time in the N.S.W. "Agricultural Gazette." One of my reasons for so doing is to make known the history of the introduction into this State, of so valuable an insect as the honey bee. The publication of newspaper and other extracts, herein presented, will prove the historical authenticity of the facts.
A large percentage of the following pages was uttered from public platforms, and what was there voiced was obtained by research and of life-long observation; not as Wisdom learned, but as knowledge gained from the book of Nature. Nevertheless, a well and judiciously selected library is the best of fertilizers to inspire a healthy growth in research and of keen observation.
ALBERT GALE
###### Abstract
bush that in the old George-street Markets, dishes and buckets full of it, mixed with dead and dying bees, dead larvae in all stages, broken comb, and rotten wood, were exposed for sale under the cognomen of bush honey. To look at it was anything but appetising. Better samples were bottled and sold under the name of "prime garden honey."
About 1872, our bees met with an enemy that bid fair to almost exterminate them--the bee moth put in an appearance, from whence we know not. Hitherto no skill was required in the management of bees that were kept at that time. New swarms were put into a piece of a hollow log, sawn off evenly at both ends, with pieces of stringy-bark nailed over the openings, and the bees had to obtain ingress or egress as best they could. Gin cases, tea chests, or boxes of other descriptions, were preferred, but in the bush at that time these were not always to be obtained. Manipulation of these lives was as crude as the grotesquely-made hives. There was no consideration given for the lives of the bees. These early beekeepers knew little or nothing of the importance of the queen bee; they did not understand "no queen, no bees," therefore no honey. It was a general destruction. When the bees were robbed, wax, brood, comb, and queen were all sacrificed for the honey, and the waste of the latter was almost as great in quantity as that obtained. This slovenly way of bee-keeping, combined with the ravages of the bee moth, would have set a limit to the days of bee-keeping in this country had not means been devised to check it.
## Chapter 1 Introduction of the Italian Bee,