BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
Every Bee-master will have had opportunities of observing--that this curious, I may say--intelligent, little insect--the Bee,is ever alive to the mostready methods of exticating itself from difficulties, and of bettering the condition of the state, whenever accident or misfortune has placed it in jeopardy: and, I will add--that the timely assistance of the Bee-master will frequently save a stock from that ruin, or at least from that trouble and inconvenience, which apparently trivial circumstances,such for instance as uncleanliness, excessive heat in summer, intense severity of winter, too contracted an entrance at one season, a too extended and open one at another, or wet lodged on and retained by the floorboard, may, and very often do occasion.
The subjoined cut is a representation of an INVERTED HIVE fixed in its frame, trellised, roofed, completely fitted up, and
depth, or rather its height, is fifteen or sixteen inches, or just sufficient to reach to, and be level with, the edge of the inverted cottag-hive, when placed within it: in fact, the octagon-box (A) is a strong case or cover for the inverted-hive; and, if made an inch or two deeper than the hive to be placed in it, it is an easy matter to pack the bottom, so that the edge of the hive and the top-edge of the octagon-box (A.) may be exactly on a level. Fitted and fastened to this is a top or floor, made of three-fourths-inch deal, which top should sit closely upon the edge of the hive all round. The centre of this top is cut out circularly to within an inch and a half of the inner circumference or edge of the hive upon and over which it is placed. Upon this floor is a box, made of inch or inch-and-quarter deal, seventeen inches square within, and four inches deep. This I call the ventilation-box, because through two of its opposite sides are introduced horizontally two cylindrical ventilating-tubes, made of tin, thickly perforated, and in all respects similar to those described in page 20. The top of this box is the floor upon which nine glasses are placed for the reception of honey, namely--a large bell-glassin the centre, and eight smaller ones around it. By a _large_ bell-glass 1 mean--one capable of containing twelve or fourteen pounds of honey, and by _smaller_ ones--such as will hold about four pounds. The Bees of an inverted-hive in a good situation will work well in glasses of these sizes, and soon fill some or all of them : but, if in an unfavourable situation, lesser glasses, down to one-half the above-mentioned sizes, will be more suitable. Situation, season, and strength of the stock,--strength, I mean, as respects the number of Bees, must, after all, guide the apiarian in this matter. The floor abovementioned should be made of three-fourths-inch deal. Of course proper apertures must be cut through this floor under each of the glasses to admit the Bees into them from the box beneath. Around and over the glasses is placed another neat box or case, made like the ventilation-box, upon which it rests or stands. The lid of this box is made to open and shut. It is represented in the foregoing cut as opened at B. an inch or two, and may be so retained at pleasure by a proper weight attached to a cord passed over a pulley fixed in the inside of the roof (C.) and fastened to the edge of the lid above B. The depth of the box or cover for the glasses must of course be regulated according to their different sizes. The alighting-board is on the front side, directly opposite to the latticed doors, and on a level with the upper-side of the first floor; so that the entrance for the Bees must be cut through the lower edge of the ventilation-box; and is made there most conveniently for them to pass either into the inverted pavilion below, or into the glasses above such entrance, as their inclinations may direct.
The octagon-coverplaced upon the pavilion-hive, as represented in the view of the closed boxes (in page 29) if _inverted,_ would be a tolerably good model of part A. of the inverted-hive.
**I**: advise that every part be well made--the floors and the boxes particularly so; and that the whole exterior be well painted too, previously to being exposed to the sun and to the weather. This advice has reference to all my boxes and hives, collateral as well as inverted.
The stocking of this hive may be effected in the following manner. Having made choice of a good, healthy, well-stocked, octage-hive, you may, at any time between the beginning of March and the end of October, _carefully_invert and place it in the octagon below the ventilation-box,_ that is, in the apartment (A.) then fasten the floor with four short screws to the top of the octagon, taking especial care that this floor sits upon the edge of the inverted-hive all round. It will be necessary to keep the Bees from annoying you whilst adjusting this floor and the other parts of the hive, by putting a sheet of tin over the open circular space in the floor : by which tin every Bee may be kept in the hive below. When the boxes, ventilators, glasses, and all things, are duly adjusted, the dividing-tin may be withdrawn; and the operation of stocking will be then completed.
Another method of accomplishing the same object, i. e. of stocking an inverted hive,is this:
Take the floor that is to rest upon, and be fastened to, the top of the octagon A. and that is to rest also upon the hive when inverted, and with a sheet of tin cover and securely close the circular space made by cutting out its centre : then invert it, that is--let the timed side be undermost, and place upon this floor, thus prepared, the hive you intend to be inverted. Return it to, and suffer it to occupy, its usual place in your apiary; and _there_ for two or three weeks let it work ; in which time the Bees will have fastened the live to their new board with propolis. Then, early in the morning, or late in the evening, when all the Bees are in the live, make up the entrance, and, having two doors made in opposite panels or sides of the octagon (A.) ten inches by six, or sufficiently commodious for the admission of your hands, _steadily invert_ your hive and prepared board upon which it has been standing, and, without wandering from the hive the board that will now be at its top, _carefully_ place them in the octagon ; which with the help of an assistant, and by the facility afforded by the two little doors in the panels of the octagon for staying and properly supporting and adjusting the live and its attached floor, may be performed without the escape of a single Bee. As soon as this, which is properly the inversion of the hive,is completed, proceed with the ventilation-box, glasses, &c. as before directed : and, lastly, be careful to liberate the Bees by withdrawing the tin that has kept then prisoners since the entrance was closed. In inverting a hive by this method an expert ajarian need not confine the Bees five minutes.
The Bces will commence their labour by filling the square box between the position and the glasses; they will then extend their beautiful - combs into the glasses above. The appearance of their most curious works in this stage of their labour is highly interesting--nay, gratifying, to the apianian observer; and, moreover, proves the extraordinary influence and utility of ventilation in the domicil, or, rather let me say, in the store-house apartment of Bces; for in the pavilion, or breeding and nursing apartment, it is seldom wanted.
The method of taking off the glasses, whether large or small ones, when stored with honey, is in every respect the same as that of which a particular account has been already given, in pages 38 and 39: to that account, therefore, I beg to refer the reader, instead of here repeating it.
patient attention are all the requisites that I entreat my apiarian friends to bring with them to the studying of this _grand hive_. I call it _grand_, not because it is my own invention, but because it is admirably adapted for advancing, and perhaps for perfecting, our knowledge of the habits and economy of Honey-Bees.
With the variation of one short word, the following passage from Evans' delightful poem on Bees is so applicable to my observatory-hive, that I am tempted to adopt it as a motto.
By this bless'd hive our ravish'd eyes behold
The singing masons build their roofs of gold;
And mingling multiudes perplex the view,
Yet all in order apt their tasks pursue;
Still happier they, whose favour'd ken hath seen
Pace slow and silent round, the state's fair Queen.
The way into the winter-pavilion, or octagon (g.) is made by cutting a circular hole through the very centre of the plane top, an inch in diameter, directly under the upward passage ; so that the Bees, whether their way be into the summer-pavilion above, or into the winter-pavilion below, lies through the pedestal, and the only difference is, that one passage leads upwards and the other downwards. The covered-way which has been so often mentioned, may easily be made by taking out of the underside of the bottom-board of the paneled and roofed box, made to secure the observatory-hive, and which is placed upon the top of the winter-pavilion,just as much as will allow a sufficient space for that way.
Having completed the passages, my next business is--to describe the novel apartment into which the passage through the pedestal leads--that is, the real observatory-hive.
Figure 2 shows the upper glass-frame of this
live with two small circular openings through the top of each arm, over which openings are placed small glasses, (at e. e.) in both Figures, for receptacles for honey, and are intended to answer the same purpose as those do which are placed upon the inverted-hive. A line drawn from one extremity of any one of these arms or wings, to the extremity of the arm or wing directly opposite to it, is twenty-three inches; and the distance between the dotted lines, which are intended to mark the glass-way, or, in joiners' phrase, the _rebate,_ to receive the edges of the glass, is exactly one inch and three-fourths. The lower glass-frame, which (in Fig. 1) is placed upon f. the shaft of the pedestal already described, is the exact counterpart of the upper frame, with the exception of its not having any perforations for honey-glasses: the only perforation in this frame is that at its centre; which must be made to correspond with that of the shaft, and be a continuation of the Bee-passage into the hive. These two frames are connected and made one by four upright pieces, or ends, (marked a. b. c. d. in Fig. 1,) these upright, end-pieces must be rebated, or channeled, to receive the ends of the glass-plates. Eight squares of
glass, each ten inches and a half by ten inches, fastened with putty into this frame-work,--that is, two squares into each wing, will complete the glass-hive; which, when placed upon the top of the pedestal, and made steady by an axis fixed at the central point of the upper frame, and turning in a socket under the ball, constitutes an _observatory-hive_. Confined as is the space between the glass-plates in each wing, they being but an inch and three-fourths apart, there is, nevertheless, room enough for the construction of one comb; and space for more than one comb would spoil it as an observatory-hive; and, though each wing may appear to be but small, there are upwards of 760 cubic inches of clear space in the hive. It is so constructed that plenty of light and the utmost transparency are afforded for observing and minutely examining the Bees and the works of the Bees in all their stages. Indeed the grand object of this contrivance is--to expose to view the labours of the Bees in the inside of their hive; and as the machine may be moved round at pleasure, not a Bee can enter it, without being observed, nor can a single cell be constructed in secret. I will only add--that the appearance of the Bees in this hive is beautiful, and excites admiration and surprise,--may, is capable of enlivening the drooping spirits of the most desponding a expense is no object, the mode of examining the observatory-hive would be improved by some such arrangements as those just mentioned; but _thehiveitselfrouldnot beingproved in the least,_--it would remain just as it was before these costly additions, whether ornamental, or useful, or both, were made to its covering only--_not to the hive_.
The following cut will, in some degree, represent and tacitly explain an observatory hive, fitted up in this way.
wings of the hive. When they are all safely lodged in it, you may carefully remove the sheet and the other coverings ; and, having securely made up the entrance into the winter-pavilion, then place the stocked hive upon its pedestal, and the Bees will be ready to commence their labour the next day.
At the latter end of August invert the parent hive from which the swarm issued, and place it in the octagon-box (g.) below the summer-pavilion. Take out the plug that is between the two hives, that is--open the passage into the winter-hive, and you will have accomplished the union of the two families : they will join or unite, and thenceforward continue to labour as one family. By this movement you give to your Bees a winter-residence, secure from allenemies which are numerous at this season. And so well-stocked will the winter-hive be, that an early swarm from it, for the observatory-hive, the following season may reasonably be expected.
The honey may be taken from the e. e. glasses, placed upon the arms of the summer-pavilion so easily, by turning round the loose boards under the glasses, that further explanation is unnecessary. The machine itself will point out to the perfect stranger the proper method of doing it.
Fumigation is a rather portentous word; but, as soon as I shall have explained for what purposes, and in what manner, I occasionally make use of it, it will be totally divested of all _deadly_ signification. In my practice it is not a Bee-destroyer, but a Bee-preserver;--when resorted to by me it is never carried, nor intended to be carried, to suffocation; but in the operation of uniting weak swarms or poor stocks with more wealthy and'pros ones --which I consider to be a meritorious and most humane practice,--when it is necessary to examine the state and condition of even a populous colony, should unfavourable symptoms as to its healthiness or its prosperity manifest themselves,--when it is known, or but suspected, that there are wax-moths, mice, spiders, or other Bee-enemies lodged in a live,which the Bees of themselves cannot dislodge nor get rid of; and which, if not got rid of by man's assistance, would soon destroy almost any colony,--when Bees and their works (for 1 never transfer the former without transferring an ample sufficiency of the latter at the same time) are to be taken out of a decayed straw-hive, in order to be put into a more substantial one, or into collateral-boxes, which I hold to be the best of all hives,--and on innumerable other occasions, it is absolutely necessary _to subdue Bees_ so far as to render them incapable of using that formidable, venomous, little weapon, with which Providence has armed them, and which generally dreaded little weapon they can use so dexterously, before we can operate upon them for their own good. By means of a very simple apparatus, which may be called _a fumigator,_ and which is a contivance as novel and as useful in the management of Bees, as any of my hives or other inventions, _Bees may be totally subdued without being injured in the slightest degree, and dealt with as if they had neither stings nor wings._
I beg, however, to re-state distinctly--that, in taking off a box or a glass of honey, no_fimigation whatever is necessary,_ or ever practisedby me. It is only in cases such as those just enumerated that I have recourse to it; _but in no case for the destruction of Bees._ Fumigation, therefore, in my practice, is not suffocation.
The following figure is a representation of a fumigator, which a brief explanation will render intelligible.
demands of twenty aparians. They are frequently as large as a man's head, or larger. In 1826 I had an unripe, white fuzzball, which weighed ten pounds. When ripe they are internally of a brown colour, and turning spongy and powdery become exceedingly light, and are then properly _fuzzballs_. For the substance of the following directions respecting the preparation of fuzzballs for Bee-fumigation, and for its application to that occasionally necessary purpose, I have no hesitation in acknowledging myself to be indebted to Thorley's treatise on Bees--no mean authority on such a subject.
When you have procured one of these pucks, put it into a large piece of stout paper,--press it down therein to two-thirds, or, if you can, to one-half, of its original size, and then tie it up closely,--and, lastly, put it into an oven sonetime after the household bread has been drawn, that is, when the oven is nearly cool, and let it remain there all night, or, until it will hold fire and smoother away like touchwood, i e. burn without handling into flame. In this state it is fit for the fumigating-lamp, and may be used in the manner following, when the union of two stocks is the apiarian's object.
Take a piece of this prepared fungus, as large as a hen's egg, (it is better to have too much of it than too little to begin with) ignite one end of it with a candle, and then put it into the fumigating-lamp,--next fix the lamp in its socket over the Bee-receiver, and place the whole inside the bag, as shown in the plate, and untie.B--the fastening round the middle. In a very short space of time the Bees in the hive placed upon the top-board (which is necessarily the first thing to be attended to in every operation of this kind) will be totally under your control. The operator should be particularly careful to close every vacancy, however small, that there may happen to be between the top-board and the edge of the hive, by tying a cloth round it--the hive--as soon as ever it is placed upon the board. This precaution will prevent the escape of any of the fume, and will also prevent the Bees from annoying the operator during the time he is making the arrangements necessary previously to every fumigating process.
In the course of a minute or very little more you will hear the Bees dropping like hail into their receiver at the bottom of the fumigating apparatus.
When the major part of them are down, and you hear but few fall, gently beat the top of the hive with your hands, in order to get down as many as you can. Then, having loosened the cloth, lift the hive off and set it upon a table, or upon a broad board, prepared for the purpose, and knocking the hive against it repeatedly, many more Bees will fall, and perhaps the Queen amongst the rest: for, as she generally lodges near the crown of the hive, or is driven thither by the fume, and surrounded and protected there by the other Bees to the very last, and as long as ever they have the power loyally to cling round her, she often falls one of the last. If the Queen is not among the Bees on the table, search for her among the main body in the Bee-receiver; first, however, putting them upon the table, if you discover her not before lying among the uppermost Bees therein.
During this search for the Queen, or with as little delay as possible, you, or some one for you, should be proceeding in a similar manner with the Bees in the other hive, with which those already fumigated are to be united. As soon as the Bees of the hive
in and with their new abode--new, at least, to one half of them, and new to the other half also when transferred into a fresh hive, or into boxes.
But in taking away the canvass discretion and caution must be used, because the Bees will for some time resent the affront put upon them by such to them, no doubt, offensive treatment.
The best time of the year for unions of weak stocks with strong ones is in autumn, after the young brood are all out--in the latter part of August, or any time during September: but for removals of stocks from straw-hives into boxes, the best time is early in the spring before the eggs of the Queen have changed and quickened into larvae,--I will say--in the month of March; and if the weather is cold, it is advisable to perform the operation in a room where the temperature is about 60 degrees. For if Bees are displaced, that is--taken from their hive, in a cold atmosphere, it is but rarely that they recover from the effects of the fume so as to marshal themselves into working order in a box or new hive. But this they can do, and will do most effectually, under the agreeable temperature of 60 degrees. As twelve hours are sufficient for the Bees to regain their former independency in their new domicil, you may place them at the end of that period on their summer stool, and they will work, as soon as the weather will permit them, as if they had never been removed from their former hive, nor in any way disturbed.
The great number of operations of this kind, which I have performed before hundreds of admiring and gratified spectators, chiefly of the higher ranks of society, renders it almost unnecessary for me to observe--that once being present at and witnessing it, will convey a more perfect idea of the whole performance than any written description of it can give. If, therefore, any gentleman, or other apiarian friend, who has not yet seen the performance of this operation, should be desirous of witnessing it, the author will freely undertake that, or any other Bee-service in his power, by which he can oblige, assist, or instruct him.
The same degree of precaution is not necessary on the removing of the Bees of a cutage-live on my principle; it is only requisite in the particular case of joining or
uniting the Bees of two or more hives, that such nice management need be observed. And certainly the more expeditiously the whole is performed, the more pleasing will be the result of the operation, and the more certain its success.