BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
The fact that living animals could be produced without the intervention of the male, is not confined to the honey-bee, but is known to be the case with many species of insects, and is very common among radiates, worms, and crustaceans. Leuckart has given this mode of generation the name of _Parentsogenesis_, and it is also known as agamic reproduction. It is a kind of budding process, analogous to the production of plants from buds without the intervention of seeds. The propagation of the strawberry and raspberry is again, as is also the potato, one species of lily, and one variety of onion. In fact, all buds are perfect infant plants, but those we have named multiply themselves agamically.
## 0.10 ALL Eggs Are Buds.
All eggs are buds, and it is not strange that they should be governed by the same laws that govern the vegetable bud; and there is no reason why the same budding process in the less perfectly developed worker bee should not produce as perfect a drone as in the queen bee. This theory also accounts for the anomalous fact, discovered by Dzierzon, that a pure Italian queen crossed with a common, or black bee, would produce Italian drones; while her female, or worker, progeny would be hybrid.
**LAW OF VEGETABLE REPRODUCTION.**
This law of reproduction in vegetables is taken advantage of by our nurserymen and gardeners in propagating desirable varieties of fruits, flowers, and vegetables, the bud always reproducing the same variety, while the seeds are liable to be crossed, and are not reliable.
A **NORMAL COLONY OF BEES.**
A perfectly balanced, normal colony of bees consists only of a queen and workers; and so long as that balance is maintained, there is no necessity for any other members being added.
**ANOTHER FACT.**
Another fact of great importance is, that so long as the balance is perfect no drone-comb will be constructed by the bees, nor will any queen cells be commenced.
**AND STILL ANOTHER.**
And we venture to assert another fact, that in such a colony the bees can generate wax and construct comb as rapidly as it is needed for the brooding of the queen and the storing of honey.
**PERFECTION NOT ATTANED.**
With our present knowledge of the habits and instinets of the bee, we admit that such perfection is seldom reached in the management of bees, but we are sanguine in the belief that it can be attained. To do so will require that we should be thoroughly, intimately, and correctly informed of the natural laws governing all the operations of the hive, and of the offices performed by all its inmates.
**WORKERS IN CLASSES.**
We have spoken of workers collectively, as if they were all alike in capacity, when the fact is that they are naturally divided into classes, each class adapted to certain work, which the others are as incapable of performing as if they were different insects; and when we speak of a perfectly balanced colony we mean one in which there is the proper proportion of each class to do all the work necessary in its department at the proper time, to chime in with, and harmonize with the labors of the others.
A **PERFECT COLONY OF BEES.**
A natural prime swarm is, as a rule, a perfect colony; and if furnished with a hive that is perfectly adapted to their wants and properly managed, will continue so. In order, therefore, to see in what perfection consists, it is necessary that we consider the bees from the swarm to the time that the comb system is completed, and through all their works.
**A NATURAL SWARM.**
If we hive a natural swarm of bees in an empty hive, of such construction that we can observe and closely watch their work, we find that they suspend themselves from the top of the hive, or chamber, in which they areplaced, in as compact a form as possible, appearing as an inverted cone; but, in reality, the true, efficient, active force is composed of bees in the shape of a sphere, or ball, the bees, forming the inverted base, being stationed in that position for the purpose of suspending the true cluster,
A Living Hive.
By a close observation we will find that the outside bees of the cluster are not a part of the active force, but form a crust, enclosing the active cluster; in fact, they and the suspending bees form a natural hive, inside of which the organized forces are working. By taking a small stick or wire, and passing it horizontally and suddenly through the middle of the cluster and letting all below it drop, we can, by looking quickly, see that the solid wall of bees is not exceeding an inch and a half in thickness, while inside it is not at all crowded, but that there is a hollow about three inches in diameter, and no more bees inside of it than can work on the new comb structure.
How They Commence.
They commence working, at the point where the circumference of the hollow sphere touches the top of the hive, by forming a narrow neck of comb, at first not more than three or four cells wide. This they carry down, slowly widening, but rapidly lengthening, until they reach a point exactly at the center of the hollow. Here they establish a center from which they work. Cells are built in a circle around this center, and it soon becomes the widest part of the comb; but as it widens and thickens it gets heavier, and would break down if the stem were not strengthened, so that it gradually widened, until the comb at the center is about three inches wide, when the neck is equally widened.
How They Progress.
The edges of the comb now touches the inside of the crust, and the crust recedes. Just at this time two parallel sheets of comb are begun, as before, and are run down opposite the center.
HONEY STORING.
When the first cells on the stem are about one-eighth of an inch deep, the bees begin to place honey in them, and continue to fill them as they are built up, until they get within one or two inches of the center; below that they place no honey.
THE Queen STARTS HER BROOD-NEST.
But as soon as the central cell is one-eighth of an inch deep, the queen lays an egg in it. She then goes around on the opposite side, and lays eggs in the three cells that are built from the base of the central one. She then returns and deposits eggs in the six cells surrounding the first one, and continues to keep the cells on both sides filled with eggs, as fast as they are ready to receive them, thus establishing the center of her brood-nest, at the center of the comb structure, and when the comb on each side of the first is brought down opposite the center, she embraces them in her circuit, thus giving her brood-nest a globular form.
The honey storing bees keep the store cells above filled with honey down to the brood. As the sheets of comb are widened they come down lower, and as each additional comb-sheet is built they occupy more of it, thus storing the honey in an arch or dome over the brood.
### Brood-Neet Limited.
The work thus progresses and will continue in the same order for twenty-one days, if the space be large enough; at which time the brood-nest attains its full size, for, at the expiration of that time, the cells in the center, first filled with eggs, are vacated by the maturing bees, and the queen returns to the center to refill them with eggs; and as they are emptied in the same rotation in which they were filled, she continues to follow them up, going over the same ground every twenty-one days.
## 3 Comb Building Unlimited.
The completion of the brood-nest does not stop the comb-building. That continues as rapidly as ever, but as it is not filled with eggs by the queen, the honey-gatherers keep it filled with honey, thus surrounding the brood with honey.
### All Worker Comb.
Let us now examine the comb that has _been_ constructed, and we find that all of the cells embraced in the brood sphere, are of a regular size, and is all worker comb. The cells in the upper part, filled with honey, are most likely a size larger, and frequently irregular. So far there is no drone comb.
### Bee-BREAD.
Around the brood-nest on every side, and below, there is found a border of cells that are neither filled with brood nor honey, but are partly filled with bee-bread.
### The Queen on Her Circuit--Young Bees.
Let us again accompany the queen on her circuit, and note what occurs. The first bees that emerge from the cells, remain on the sheets of comb that reared them. For three days they eat nothing. Their alimentary organs are not matured, although their stomachs are filled with food which they received in the larval state. A part of this is taken up by the circulation, and is used in completing their internal organism.
### Egggs Hatch in Three days--How LArv/e Are Fed.
At the end of three days, the eggs laid in cells from which they came, hatch, and the young bees disgorge the remaining contents of their stomachs into the cells as food for the young larvae. They then begin to eat the bee-broad that we have said is placed around the brood-nest on all sides, which is taken into their stomachs, and after being partially digested, is given to the larvae. For about four days or a little longer, they continue to feed the larvae;their growth being then completed, the nurse bees begin to eat honoy sparingly, and become wax-makers.
### Wax-Workers.
The bee-bread and honey they consume is no longer disgorged as food for the larvae, but is thoroughly digested, and in the laboratory of their stomachs is changed into wax, which is secreted in glands (perhaps), from which, as it hardens, it finds its way into the wax-pockets under the abdomen. The first formed is perhaps used to cap over the larvae they have been nursing. This period does not necessarily limit the capacity of the young bees as nurses, but it is probable that they can perform that office as long as they continue in their adolescent state, and are eaters of bee-bread, but the food not given to the larvae is converted into wax.
### Comb-Builders.
As the wax accumulates on them, they gradually, following the course of the queen, recede from the center, and find room on the outskirts of the comb-structure for depositing their wax.
### Honey-Gathering and Old Age.
The bees that have been comb-building up to this time, pass out into the fields as gathers of honey, to be stored in the comb as built by the new wax-workers; the latter, after passing their allotted time in that mechanical labor, in turn becoming honey-gatherers, and after laboring in the fields for about a month, and performing duty as crust bees, die of old age.
### The Life of a Bee.
We thus see that there is a perfect system governing the work of the bee; that, contrary to former notions, which supposed that the different offices of the bee were directed, as a system of police in a government, by a head, and were executed by the exercise of reason and discretion, they are involuntary, and each bee in succession performs all the duties. As it increases in age, it is crowded outwardly by the development of others in the center. From a nurse in the brood nest, its labors are first transferred to the wax structure; thence to the gathering and storing of honey; and when it is no longer of use as a productive agent, it takes its place in the living wall that protects what it can no longer produce, and finally is cast off like the withered leaf.
### Effects of Want of Room.
So far, we have gone n the supposition that there was room for the bees to extend their work in every direction, except up. But as that is seldom the case with the bees in hives, let us consider the effect of a failure of room in any direction. We have said that when the cluster is first formed, a part of the bees form a living hive or crust around the hollow in which the first work is done, and that as the comb-building progresses they recede before it. This they continue to do, swelling out like an India rubber balloon as it is inflated with air, always encompassing the comb. They are the hive proper. The bees claim no occupancy of any other part of the hive, be it large or small, than is inclosed inside of this globular crust.
THE HornNET'S NEST.
This living crust has its analogy in other hypernopterous insects--for instance, the papery nest-covering around the brood-nest of the hornet (_Vespa Grabro_), which, simultaneously with the building of the first brood-cells, has its commencement, and soon assumes the shape of a globe surrounding the cell-structure of the nest. As the number of galleries and additional comb is built, it is enlarged until, from a ball the size of a boy's toy, it attains near a foot in diameter. The hornet, not being accompanied by a host of animals out of which to form a living wall, nature provides an instinct to produce a substitute in the paper crust that protects the nest.
MORE ROOM.
We will now suppose the bees to be placed in a hive ten inches deep, thirteen inches wide, and two feet long, and that the cluster is formed in the center of it each way. In an ordinary sized swarm, the brooding-center will be placed three and a half inches below the top; and if the comb be built across the hive, it will be equidistant from the sides and bottom, so that when the first sheet of comb is extended six inches from the center each way, it will have reached within one-half inch of the sides and bottom, which is as near as the bees will approach with brood-comb to a solid wall. The store-comb above will be joined to the sides.
THE CRUST GIVES WAY.
The crust, having recededed to the wall and bottom, gives way and is broken; but as the solid walls and bottom of the hive take its place, no harm is done. Lengthwise of the hive the circle has been maintained, and the eighth and ninth sheets of comb have been commenced, which are twelve inches apart. Around them the crust is maintained. The cluster can extend no farther laterally, and is forced out toward the ends. The cluster is divided into two hemispheres, and the work extends toward the ends of the hive, pushing them before it.
CRACKS AND HOLES.
If there are any cracks or openings in the evacuated territory too small for a bee to pass through, they are carefully stopped up with propolisis, as to leave them behind would disorganize the harmony of the operation. If large enough for a bee to pass through, a part of the crust bees are left to stop them with their bodies, many of them passing to the outside. If there are holes in the ceiling or top of the chamber, they are managed in the same way.
THE HIVE FILLED.
Thus the work progresses, until the hive is filled with comb, brood, and honey, the crust finally giving way, and leaving none thus engaged except such as are guarding the openings.
mence and carry on their operations from the top, as we have described in the horizontally long hive, for twenty-one days, or until the first brood matures. At the end of that time the central sheets of comb will have been extended down below the first brood.
QUEN ALWAYS OOCUPIES THE BOTTOM OF THE COMB. The queen will, in refilling the cells with eggs, lower her center and recede with her brood-nest so as always to occupy the bottom of the comb with it; the honey-storing bees filling the upper vacated cells with honey as the brood-nest sinks, so that when the hive is finally full of comb, the globular brood is at the bottom, and the upper part of the hive is filled with stores.
BROOD COWED OUT BY HONEY. In a hive only ten inches deep, the queen is necessarily confined to her first brood-nest, for as soon as it is fully occupied and once filled, the comb all around it is filled with honey and bee-bread, and if honey is very abundant in the flowers they will soon begin to encroach on the brood-cells, filling them with honey, and to that extent contracting the queen's brooding room.
THE REMEDY. This is easily remedied, by at least once in every three weeks inserting in the center of the brood-nest at least three empty sections (or frames) to be filled with new comb; to make room for which the brood-chamber should be separated in the middle and pushed apart so as to admit them. The bees will rapidly fill them with comb, and the queen will occupy it with eggs. It is better to insert one section each week, than to put in all at once; but, when time is important, they can all be given at once, each time the brood-nest is filled. From the theory here proposed it can be easily seen :
UNCERTAINTY OF FORME DEVICES. First. Why all bee-hives heretofore used, that required the surplus honey to be stored in apartments separated from the brood-chamber, have been so uncertain in their results.
LOSS BY SWARMING. Second. Why bees in such hives swarm just at the time when honey is most abundant, and thereby lose the best part of the honey season.
WHY ATTEMPTS TO CONTROL SWARMING FAIL. Third. Why all attempts at controlling swarming, either by the manipulation of the hive or its size, have been failures.
THE MEEXTRACTOR OVERRATED. Fourth. Why hives that were constructed for the purpose of using the mel-extractor, produce such enormous yields, which has been erroneously attributed entirely to the use of that machine.
## Chapter 1 Progressive Bee Culture.
to the ends of the side pieces, and projecting in front three-sixteenths of an inch, and setting back from the edge of the side pieces the same distance in the rear.
When two of these sections are placed together, the projections of one fit over the shoulders of the other, thus holding them true, horizontally. In addition to the nine sections, tharc are two other sections, or rather frames; both of which are made of strips same thickness as the sections, one one-half an inch wide, in which is inserted a glass 10x14 inches; the other of pieces one-half inch wide, with a back of the full size of the frame nailed permanently on it, so that when one is placed on each end, the box is closed at both ends. The back is ordinarily of thin boards or lath, but for winter it is better to form it of a layer of straw held in the section by strips of lath nailed on the back of the section, and also on the inside, setting back one-half inch from the front, as shown in Fig. 2. The straw, A, is cut to go inside of the section crosswise, and after nailing on the strips at the back, the section is laid down and the straw placed evenly in it, so that when slightly pressed down by the inside strips, they will set back about on-half inch, leaving the holes clear. It should not be pressed so heavily as to mash the straw, as the dead air in the cells is the best non-conductor, and it should be loose enough to permit a slow circulation of air, but not _Fig. 2._
A similar section should be prepared for the front, and at the approach of winter the section containing the glass should be taken off, and the straw front substituted until spring. The straw will absorb any excess of moisture, and give all the ventilation necessary, even though every other hole be closed, while the bees will be kept warm.
When the nine sections, and back and front frames, are placed together, a side strip two inches wide, one-half inch thick, and fifteen inches long, is fastened on each side at the top, by a screw and two nails in the center section, leaving the other sections unfastened, so that they can be slipped out and in, without taking off the side strips, as formerly. As first constructed, there were four side strips, two on each side, but two are sufficient. The whole is held together by two wire hooks on each side, which hook over screw-heads in the center section, and also over screw-heads in the end sections. The cut represents but one continuous wire wrapped around a screw in the center section. It is better to have them separate, and to have them of different lengths, so that, when it is desired, the chamber may be contracted or enlarged by using shorter or longer hooks.
As first constructed, the brood chamber had the back and glass put into the and section, which did not leave room to build comb in them of full thickness, end give room for the bees to pass outside of it. Since the addition of the shallow sections or frames on the ends, the bees build all of the comb perfect, without obstructing either of the end frames, and they can be removed readily by raising the hooks and slightly prying with a knife-blade.
The back frame has two holes, three inches long, and half an inch wide, one and one-half inch from each end of the bottom and top pieces, and five inches apart, for entrance-holes, and passages to the honey-boxes.
Square guides of wood, \(
rac{1}{2}\pi
rac{1}{2}\) inch, are placed in the center of each top piece, with a corner or angle down. The bees do not fail to follow them once in fifty times, and then only in case of weak or disorganized swarms.
When pieces of honey comb can be had, four to eight inches long, and one inch or more in width, the guides may be left out, and the comb fastened to the sections, at the proper places, by first brushing on some hot melted resin, and, while warm, pressing the comb against it in proper position, which will fasten it tight.
If you have not sufficient comb to put in all the sections, put it in every other one, or every third one, and place the wooden guides in the others. Any comb that is composed of worker cells will do, even if old and black. In cutting it up into strips, use a thick knife that will retain heat, and frequently dip into hot water, to keep it hot, and remove the wax that will accumulate on the blade.
_Second._ The _honey-boxes_ are formed of similar sections, only varying in size. The top and bottom pieces are six inches long; the side pieces, five inches long, are put together in the same way, with the same number of sections, and are of the same length as the broad chambers. The pieces are one-fourth of an inch thick. The back end is closed by a piece five and one-half inches square, sprigged to the top and bottom pieces of the end section. The front end is closed by a piece of glass 5x6 inches. One passage hole is cut in the front side of the top, and one in the bottom piece of the back section, three inches long and one and one-half inches from each end. Guides are used as in the brood-chamber, but it is better to use comb guides, as the wooden guides are in the way of cutting out the honey.
Four honey-boxes are used on No. 1 hive. Two set on the brood-chamber, with the passage holes corresponding with the passage holes in the top of the broad-chamber; the other two are put on the top of the first two, with the passage holes corresponding. The top passage holes are closed by tacking oer them thin wooden strips.
The bees pass through the lower tier of boxes to get to the others. Four boxes, of the size used, will hold about fifty-two pounds, or about one pound to the inch in length. The two end sections should be made of pieces two inches wide, to give room to build the comb and leave a passage around it, or narrow sections or frames should be added as in the brood-chamber, as shown in the cut figure 4.
All of the sections may be made two inches wide, in the honey-boxes, if comb guides are used; but if wooden guides, not over one and a half inches. It is better, however, to have all the sections uniformally one and a half inches wide, as the comb will always be built more perfect and straight in them.
The bees enter from the back through grooves running under the brood-chamber, which they enter from the bottom, thence through the passage holes to the first tier of boxes, and through them to the second tier. They will work in the lower tier first; when they are half filled they are raised to the top and the top ones brought down and placed under them. This creates a vacancy between the stores of the hive, which the bees hasten to fill. By this means four boxes will be filled nearly as soon as two, thus nearly doubling the supply of honey.
_Third._ The case is made of inch boards, sixteen inches square, and in No.