BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
In 1891 Mr. Ilanbaugh wrote another article on the subject, from which we make the following extract:
The "golden corcoposis," or Spanish needle, stands at the head of all the honey-producing plants with which I have had any experience. It is not only the richest in nectar, but the quality is _par excellence_, and sells in my home market equal to, if not better than, clover honey. Its weight is fully 2 lbs. to the gallon, and it seems to need little if any curing by the bees when gathered. I have never yet seen any crude or unripe Spanish-needle honey, notwithstanding I have extracted it from the same supers three times in two weeks, and on one occasion twice in five and six days. One colony retted 73 lbs. in 5 days, and the apiary of 43 producing colonies in 8 days produced 2033 lbs., being upward of 47 lbs, per colony; and this is not true of that particular year only, but it has proven the surest honey-producing plant we have in this locality. Nothing short of cold rainy weather spoils the harvest from this plant.
**SPRAYING FRUIT-TREES.** See Fruit-HOLSSONS.
**SPRAYING DESTRUCTIVE TO THE BROOD** See Fruit-Blossoms.
**SPREADING BROOD.** As is very well known, queens are inclined to lay their eggs in circles in the comb, the circle being larger in the center combs and smaller in the outside ones. The whole bulk of eggs and brood in several combs thus forms practically a sphere which the bees are able to cover and keep warm. When the queen has formed this sphere of brood and eggs she curtails her egg-laying for the time being until enough brood is hatched out to increase the size of the cluster; and then she will gradually enlarge the circles of brood to keep pace with the enlarged ball of bees.
Yet the queen very often is overcareful--that is, she errs on the safe side, so that when warm weather has fully set in she sometimes lays fewer eggs than she should in the judgment of the aplarist, and accordingly he inserts a frame of empty comb in the center of the brood-nest. In this comb the queen will commence laying at once to imite, as it were, the two halves of brood; and when she has filled this with eggs the apiarist may insert another empty comb. If the queen has filled the first one given she will be likely, if the weather is not cold, to go into the second comb and fill it with eggs on both sides; for nice clean empty cells are very tempting to her. In a word, this operation of inserting empty combs in the center of the brood-nest is called "spreading brood," its object being to increase the amount of brood, and thus insure a larger force of workers for the prospective harvest. While this spreading of the brood _may_ be done by practical and experienced beelepers, because it stimulates the queen to greater egg-laying capacity, yet when practiced by beginners and the inexperienced it generally results in much more harm than good. An \(\Lambda\) B C scholar without previous experience might, on a warm day in early spring, think it high time to put empty comb in the center of the bood-nest. The queen, we shall say, immediately occupies it, filling it with eggs. This, of course, requires a large force of nurse-bees to take care of the young bees and hatching larvae. A cool spell of weather is almost sure to come on, with the result that the cluster of bees is contracted, leaving the brood that was forced outside by inserting the empty comb, out in the cold, where it chills and dies. The outside edge of the cluster, in its effort to take care of this brood, is likewise chilled, with the result that the colony suffers a check and setback far worse than had it been left to its own devices.
Ordinarily we may say that the spreading of brood can be practiced safely only after settled warm weather has arrived. The beginner, who desires to give extra combs for egg-laying, especially in early spring, would do well to put those extra combs at the _outside;_ but after settled warm weather has come, when the temperature does not go below 40 degrees Fahrenheit at night at any time, he may insert a frame of empty comb at the center of the brood-nest.
It should be borne in mind that the practice of spreading brood has been largely abandoned, even by experienced bee-keepers. Where the queen has plenty of room somewhere in the brood-nest (and that "somewhere " should be outside the brood-cluster), both bees and queen will ordinarily rear as much brood as they can safely and profitably care for.
Spring DWINDING. See Winter-
**SPRING MANAGEMENT.** All
colonies should be gone over very carefully
the first warm day the bees can fly in the
spring. Unless they have two or three
combs of honey, stores should be taken from
some other colonies that can spare them. If
no hive has a surplus, then the needy should
be fed a thick syrup consisting of two parts
of sugar to one of water. See Feeding,
especially those instructions
urging
fall
rather than spring feeding.
Feeders should be placed on top of the
frames, and covered with packing. It may
turn cold shortly after; and even if the syrup is left in the feeder, starvation will be
averted, for the bees will cluster around it
and help themselves as they have need.
If colonies have been well housed and fed
in the fall, there will usually be no
ecasion
for feeding or equalizing
of stores. Of
course, there is liable to be here and there
available. The warm weather may last several
days. During this time brood-rearing
will start up rapidly; and if there is no
plen in the hives the bees will be hunting
around in the barns and stables and chicken-
-coops for bran or chopped feed. It is
necessary at such times to give artificial
bollen. Trays should be set out in sunny
places, under cover if possible, containing
a few quarts of rye or pea flour.
Unless bees can have natural or artificial
pollen when brood-rearing starts, considerable
brood will be found dead. On
this the beginner is apt to conclude he has
some form of bee disease\(-\)possibly
brood. If the brood dies shortly after a sudden warming-up
spell, during which there
is very little natural pollen in or out of the
hives, the owner of the lees should
further developments. See the last paragraph of the general subject of
Pollen and
bee Diseases for further particulars.
It may be necessary in some
clinates, after the bees are set out of the
ellar on their
summer stands, to provide some sort of
protection. Some use wooden winter
cases,
and others use paper folded over the hives
as shown in the accompanying illustration.
Where colonies are very weak it may be
advisable to unite; but this
, if the
bees are in the cellar, should take place before they are set out. See Uniting.
One difficulty in uniting outdoor bees is that those moved to a new stand are quite inclined to go back to the old hive. This can be overcome to a certain extent. See Uniting. Uniting in the spring is often unsatisfactory. Unless the colony is very weak we advise taking out the surplus of combs that they do not occupy or use, and crowd the little cluster on as few frames as they can occupy. In that ca-e, divisionboards should be moved over, and the frames set over on the other side. The hive should be warmly packed, and the entrance contracted down to one inch wide to prevent robbing and to conserve the heat.
In going over the yard in early spring one is likely to find, if the bees are wintered outdoors, one or more dead colonies. Their entrances should be shut up bee-tight, for on the first warm fly day they will be robbed out by the other bees, resulting in a general disturbance of the whole yard. See Ionbing. Combs on which bees have died may be used later on by putting fresh bees on them. Unless they are very badly soiled with dysentery so they are fairly smeared over with a brown excement, or the stores are very bad, they can be used again. But badly soiled combs, or otherwise undesirable, should be put through the wax-extractor. See Wax; also Dysentery.
In early spring it may be necessary to take out the dead bees in the entrances of some colonies. If a colony is strong it will usually do its own house-cleaning; but some.mes the dead accumulate in such numbers as actually to block the entrance. In all such cases there is danger that the few survivors may die outright.
Some very weak colonies will be found with queens, while there will be some other colonies fairly strong without any queen. In that case it is best to unite these two, moving the weak colony over to the stong one. See Uniting; also Introducing.
Some experienced bee-keepers can "spread broad" in early spring; but the beginner had better not practice it. See Spreading Biood.
**STINGS BESS.** See BESS, StingLES.
**STINGS.** It is true, that bees can not bite and kick like horses, nor can they hook like cattle; yet most people, after having had an experience with bee-stings for the first time, are inclined to think they would rather be bitten, kicked, and hooked, all together, than to take the risk of a repetition of that keen and exquisite anguish which one feels as he receives the full contents of the poisoning from a vigorous hybrid during the height of the honey-season. Stings are not all alike, by any means; and while we can stand the greater part of them without even wineing, or stopping our work, we _occasionally_ get one that seems as if it could not possibly be borne. Always obliged to bear it, however, we do so as best we can.
The path is much harder to bear if we stop to allow our minds to dwell on it; or after being stung, if we just think of former times when we received painful stings, at the mere thought a sudden pang darts along the wounded part. We do not know why this is, unless it is the effect of the imagination; if so, then it is clear that even imaginary pains are very hard to bear. We have sometimes purposely, by way of experiment, allowed the mind to dwell on the pain of the sting the moment it was inflicted, and the increase would be such that it would almost make one seream with pain. If you doubt this, the next time your feet yet yet, just think of wading barefooted in the frozen snow, at a zero temperature.
Of course, where stings swell on one so badly as to shut an eye, or the like of that, one possibly might be obliged to stop work awhile; but even then, it would be advisable to pay as little attention to the matter as possible, and by all means avoid rubbing or irritating the affected part. We have known stings to be made very painful by rubbing and fussing with them which we have good reason to think would have given little if any trouble otherwise. You allknow that, when you get warmed up with hard work, a bruise, a bump, or a slight flesh wound, gives little if any pain; but to sit down calmly and cut into one's flesh gives the most exerciating pain. When young we repeatedly cut great gashes on the fingers with a jack-knife, and felt but little pain at the time; but when it became necessary to lance the flesh to get a sliver out of the foot, or to cut open a stone-bruise, the pain was most intense.
To pure away with the razor until you get through the skin, and see the blood start--why, it makes the flesh creep to think of it now; but the clips that came unawares with the dull jack-knife were scarcely heeded at all, more than to tie up the wound to keep the blood from soiling the work. Well, the point is, we are to take stings just as we
STINGS.
tried them, have been enough to fill this whole chapter. We have tried a great many of them, and, for a time, we imagined they "did good;" but after giving them a more extended trial, we have been forced to conclude that they were entirely futile. Nay, further; they not only did no good; but if the directions with the remedy were to rub it in the wound, they did positive harm; for the friction diffused the poison more rapidly into the circulation, and made a painful swelling of what would have been very trifiting, if let alone. Please bear in mind that the poison is introduced into the flesh through a puncture so minute that the finest world like letting an ordinary sting alone, and going on with the work without even thinking about it. But, suppose we get a sting under the eye - one that closes up that very important organ; shall we go on with our work? That depends. If it brings on headache or causes great di-con.fort we would rst a while, and in the meantime apply a cold wet cloth until the local fever is aliyed. Sometimes applying a hot and cold wet cloth alternately brings relief.
A year or two ago kerosene oil was suggested as a remedy, and two of our friends regarded it of such importance that they almost got into a controversy about who was entitled to the honor of the discovery. Well, having received a very bad sting on the hand, we went for the oil-can and dropped oil on the spot for sometime. As kerosene will remove a rusty bolt or screw when nothing else will avail, and as it seems to have a wonderful power of penetrating all cracks and crevices, we began to have faith that it might follow the sting of the bee, and in some way neutralize the poison. But the only result was one of the most painful and lasting stings we ever had.
what to do when stung a great number of times at once.
Severe cases of stinging are usually the result of carelessness, either from allowing combs to be scattered, causing robbing, or because a hive has been bumped over by careless driving, or by some animal allowed the range of the apiary. There are a number of cases on record where horses have been stung to death; and it is hardly safe to hitch such animals within a few feet of a hive, nor yet to let them run loose in a bee-yard, although a few sheep may be let in to keep the grass down to advantage. Mr. Chalon Fowls, of Oberlin, Ohio, left a horse hitched near some hives of what he thought were gentle Italians; but by some means or other the animal bumped one of the hives, irritating the bees, causing them to rush out and sting. The horse, of course, began to plunge and kick, with the result that he demolished completely all the hives within reach. Mr. Fowls said the horse, when he could get to him, was almost literally covered with stings. He unhitched and led him away, and immediately called for a boiler of hot water. This was brought out as soon as it could be heated. Cloths and blankets were immersed in it. almost boiling hot, wrung nearly dry, and laid over the animal, now writhing in the severest agony.
The moment Mr Fowls applied the hot blankets he says the horse quieted down. During the escapade he himself was terribly stung in the face and on the hands; and he says that, as soon as the hot cloths were applied to his face, he felt almost instant relief. The hot cloths were applied to the horse on every portion that was stung, and Mr. Fowls had the satisfaction of knowing that he could save his horse, which was soon as well as ever.
Cases are on record of severe stinging of human beings where cold applications were used instead of hot, with almost as good results, apparently. In such cases the patients are wrapped in a bed sheet, wrung from cold water, and put to bed, and applications renewed until relief followed.
During the summer of 1902 at one of our outwards we had an experience which we thought at the time would be fatal to both man and beast. It came about somewhat in this way. A neighbor of ours who had a field of timothy near our yard had allowed his horse to eat grass within a few feet of the yard while he went to the further end of the field to look after some work. In the mean time the horse had managed to get over among the bees. The result was, she knocked over five hives, and was literally covered with stings when our neighbor came up. Being a practical bee-man as well as a horseman himself, he rushed into the fray, freed the horse, and started her for the barn. The animal was beginning to swell badly, and it was evident to him that she would die before relief could be given by a veterinary, even if called. He accordingly rolled up about a pound of common table salt in a paper, opened the animal's mouth, and with the left hand grasped her tongue, pulling it out as far as he could. He then with his right hand shoved the salt clear down her throat, reaching to his elbow. This done, he quickly closed her mouth and elevated her head until he saw the wad of salt go down the gullet. In a short time the hore showed relief, for the salt probably neutralized, to some extent, the effect of the acid poison. It also acted as a physic; for when a horse is sick at the stomach he can not vomit, and it is necessary to give him something at once to keep the bowels free. In three or four hours the horse was as well as ever.
Our neighbor did not apply wet blankets wrung out of hot water; but the veterinary, whom we consulted afterward, said that the giving of the salt was one of the best things that could have been done, and added that he would have wrapped the animal up in a a horse is badly stung, it he given a dose of common salt, and treated to applications of hot blankets, and that the blankets be renewed often. Where hot water can not be obtained, use cold.
When we first commenced bee-keeping, stings swelled so badly, and were so painful, that we had either hands or eyes swelled up most of the time, until we seriously contemplated giving up the business, just on this summer was over, we very seldom felt the effects of any sting, the day afterward. When first commencing, if the eye was swelled so as to be closed by a sting, it often took until the third day to have it go down entirely. The A B C class, almost without exception, corroborate this experience.
How one who is seriously affected by a single sting may become comparatively immune to the poison.
There are some who are so seriously affected by the bee-sting poison that even a single sting will cause the body to break out all over in red blotches. This may or may not be accompanied by a dilitiolly of breathing, and heavy pulsations of the heart--so heavy, indeed, that they seem like blows of a hammer. At such times there is danger, and a physician should be called at once. There is, perhaps, only one person in ten thousand who is thus affected. so rare are the reported cases that the editors of _Gleannings in Bee Culture_, a journal with a circulation of over 30,000, do not hear of them once in ten years. But there are quite a number of others who are less affected but who inform us that a single sting produces great discomfort. While there is no danger of loss of life, the results of a sting are such that they have been obliged to give up the delightful pastine of keeping bees, very much to their regret. We have formerly advised all such persons when going among bees to be veiled and to wear gloves. But in late years, we have found a better remedy. It was suggested by the fact that the average person becomes less and less affected by the bee-sting poison; and it occurred to me that, inasmuch as the human system has the power to withstand increasing doses of many poisons, after the first one, why should it not be able to immunize itself to a certain extent against the virus of beatings? It is a well-known fact, opium and morphine fiends are able to take doses of those drugs in amounts that would kill ten people who are not in the habit of taking then. The same thing is true of alcohol.: Returning to the subject under consideration, we reasoned that, if one who is very seriously affected by bee-sting poison would just merely pick himself with a sting and then brush it off before it has had time to throw much of its virus into the wound, the after-effects would not be very serious; and that if the dose were repeated some four or five days afterward, or about the time the effect of the previous sting had passed away, one could, by continuing this process, ultimately apply the dose at more frequent intervals until in time his system would be no more affected than that of an ordinary person.
An interesting case came under observation, and we will relate the circumstances which may help others. A boy in our neighborhood, when stung, became so affected that his body would break out in great red blotches; his breathing grow difficult, and his heart begin to pound like a sledge hammer. It was really a question whether there was not danger of losing his life. Nevertheless he was very desirous of engaging in bee-keeping, and determined to work with them. We finally suggested taking a live be and pressing it on the back of his hand until it merely pierced his skin with the sting, then immediately brush off both bee and sting. This was done; and since no serious effect followed it was repeated inside of four or five days. This was continued for some three or four weeks, when the patient began to have a sort of itching sensation all over his body. The hypodermie injections of bee-sting poison were th thn discontinued. At the end of a month they were repeated at intervals of four or five days. Again after two or three weeks the itching sensation came on, but it was less pronounced. The patient was given a rest of about a month, when the doses were repeated as before. Ife then went to school and was not back for eight or nine months. On his return the applications were given again, when it was plainly noticeable that the after effects were becoming markedly less. Ife then went out into the bee-yard and was stung occasionally, but, beyond a small swelling locally, there was no unpleasant effect. However, as a matter of precaution when he went among the bees he always wore a veil and heavy gloves; for the stings, after passing through these goods would retain only slight effect.
Some months afterward he was assisting one of our men at one of our yards, when, without warning, a colony of bees that was being dissected made a most furious attack on both the men. The young man who had been taking the immunizing doses of bee-virus received, he estimates, ten or a dozen stings all over his body. Ife had no veil nor gloves, for the other man was doing the work with the bees. Ife expected serious consequences; but, greatly to his surprise and gratification, no unpleasant effects followed. What was more, there was no swelling. Now, remember that this person used to be so seriously affected that a single sting would cause his parents to worry, as they feared he would not be able to survive the attack. Ife now handles bees with the same freedom that any experienced bee-keeper does.
How to avoid being stung.
Some may imagine that it is necessary for one who keeps bees to endure the pain of being stung several times every day. A lady once said that she could never stand it to have her husband keep 100 colonies, for she got stung four or five times a day from only a dozen,while 30 or 40 stings a day would be more than she could possibly bear. We could take any one of you into an ary of 100 colonies, and have you assist us all day long, without your getting a single sting. Nay, further: if you are very timid, and can not bear a single sting, by taking some pains you may be able to work day after day, without being stung at all. The apjary must be properly eared for, no robbing allowed, and you must do exactly as we tell you. See Anobe of Bees. In the first place, avoid standing right in front of any shive. We are often very much tried by visitors (some of them bee-keepers, too, who ought to know better), because they will stand right before the entrance until they have a small swarm scolding them because they can not get out and in the hive, and then wonder why so many bees are buzzing about in that particular spot. If you should go into a factory, and stand in the way of the workmen until a dozen of them were blocked up with their arms full of boards and finished work, you would be pretty apt to be told to get out of the way. Now, you are to exercise the same common sense in an apjary. By watching flying bees you can tell at once their path through the air, and then keep out of their way. Right back of any hive is a pretty safe place to stand.