BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
On the 26th of June, 1827, at one o'clock p.m. the thermometer, in one of my colonies of Bees, suddenly rose to 96.The progressive rise and constantly high temperature in that colony, during the evening and night, together with the extraordinary weight of the hive, induced me to suspect that swarming, if not prevented, would shortly take place. Not, however, perceiving any of the symptoms that usually precede the immediate act of swarming, I suffered matters to go on until the 6th of July, on which day the thermometer stood at 102. The drones came out and sung their merry tune ; and during the whole night the temperature of the colony continued to increase. On the next day unequivocal symptoms of swarming presented themselves. These urged me to push my experiment to the highest degree of proof; I therefore went on narrowly watching and ventilating this stock, until the 10th of July, when, in spite of my endeavours
the thermometer standing at 82 in that box, and in the space of five minutes the other collateral-box was under the same agreeable temperature. By this continued ventilation, within the short space of twenty-four hours afterwards, I ascertained the following important fact, -- viz. -- that no sooner did the Queen-Bee feel the agreeable change that had taken place in the interior of her domicil, than the royal nymph was dislodged from its cell, and by the Bees brought out of the position, and laid lifeless on the front-board.
This fact taught me by experiment, that the reigning Queen would very soon, from absolute necessity, have been compelled to leave the now discarded nymph to take possession of the live. The Queen, owing to the excessive and daily increasing heat of the live, would have left her wealthy colony--would have been compelled to leave it--had not the ventilation, and the enlargement of her domicil, prevented the painful necessity of her so doing. This, I think, proves the truth of the observation--that it is the old Queen which leaves, when Bees are compelled 12 to swarm; but, if not,
assisted, and all the mischiefs attending the old mode of management may be guarded against and prevented. For when adequately relieved and properly assisted, they proceed to rid the colony of all embryo Queens, which would only become so many supernumeraries in a hive where the reigning Queen is fertile, and the necessity for emigration is superseded. But, unless Bees could be made to understand that accommodation will be extended to them at the proper time, they, guided by _their_ sense of their situation--not by ours--naturally and wisely provide _their__on__means_ of relieving themselves ; and in so doing frequently bring forth what afterwards become supernumerary Queens, which are invariably destroyed and cast out of the colony, as soon as the Bees are sensible that they have no occasion for them. And, whenever a royal nymph or a virgin Queen is thus cast out, swarming need not be apprehended.
then to their richer stock-hives, in the latter end of August, or any time in September. This is by far the best plan that can be adopted with poor hives; and there really is no difficulty in the operation: it strengthens the population of rich stocks, and causes them to swarm early in the ensuing spring,_-it preserves the Bees,_ which is of itself, independently of the advantages accruing from it afterwards, a consideration that never should be lost sight of,--it leaves the contents of the fumigated hive, as absolutely in the possession of the. Bee-owner, as if the Bees had been suffocated and destroyed,--and in most cases it entirely does away with the necessity of feeding. I confess I should rejoice greatly, and flatter myself that every friend of humanity would rejoice with me, to see this mode of disposing of weak hives universally adopted; because, it may be presumed, that the next step in the way of improvement would be to take away the superabundant treasure of the Bees and _still preserve them._
Notwithstanding, under certain circumstances it will always be necessary, and judicious in Bee-masters, to have recourse to _feeding._ If, for instance, after an early swarm is put into a hive, or into a box, two or three or more cold, ungenial days should follow, and more particularly if those days should happen to be rainy also, by feeding such a swarm you will assist your famishing labourers, not only with _necessary food,_ but with materials for building comb, which, unfortunately for them, they cannot at such an unfavorable juncture get abroad to collect elsewhere.
Different apiarians have adopted and recommended different ways of feeding Bees, none of which, in my opinion, possesses any great merit. In order, therefore, to improve this part of Bee-management, my endeavours have been directed to the contrivance and construction of a feeding department; which is attached to my collateral-hives in so convenient a manner, that **1** can feed my Bees, at any time whenfeedingisrequired-inspring, in autumn, or in winter, without disturbing the position of the hive, and without changing its interior temperature; which temperature cannot be kept equable and comfortable, where a hive is frequently lifted up from its stand, and its interior is suddenly exposed to the action of perhaps an extremely cold atmosphere. Besides, a hive cannot be lifted up without breaking the propolis by which it has been cemented all round and made fast to its floor-board. In sharp, cold weather, disruption of the hive from its floor-board is a serious mis-chief done to the Bees; because, however carefully it may be set down again, there will have been made many rents and crevices between the edge of the hive and the floor, which will occasion various currents of air, cold, frosty, or other--proper or improper--to be continually passing through the lower part of the hive. And should Bees be tempted by food, or urged by hunger, to descendintothese currents in sharp, frosty weather, but few of them will get away alive; the keen air acting upon them whilst feeding, paralyzes and kills them. I am an advocate for keeping Bees cool in winter--_yes, cool and still also;_ let them not be disturbed nor disunited,--let them not be forced nor tempted to (if I may so say) _uncluster themselves._ I have no objection to a current of air passing through the lower part of a hive in winter, _provided the Bees be not disturbed--be not exposed singly to its nipping influence;_ but I strongly object to the feeding of Bees in such currents, because, in that case, feeding is prejudicial to them. The cottager seldom protects his hives in winter with any other covering than that which a bot, called a pancheon, whelmed over each live, forms; capped with this unsightly piece of carbenware, his hives are exposed to all weathers;* consequently the less he disturbs then the better. He therefore should give hisweakstocks _acopiousfeeding,_ in September at the latest,--not molest then during the severity of winter,--but in the spring, as soon as the Bees begin to make their appearance at the mouth of his hives, introduce his wooden trough furnished with _a little_ Bee-siup, and then close up the entrance,--withdraw the troughinthemoming,andreturnite-plenished every evening as long as feeding is necessary._
_Tearing off a hive at Christmas, and scattering a few ounces of brown sugar upon the stand, and then setting down the hive again, deserves not the name of feeding; though it is all the bounty that is bestowed on some stocks; and is even more than others_
* This is true of the cottage Bee-keepers in this neighbourhood; but in the northern counties and in Scotland stock-hives are generally protected in the winter with a substantial coat of wheat or rye straw. This covering is called by some _a hook_, by others _a hackle;_ and, if well made, is very neat in appearance, and looks comfortable: but then it harbours mice and vermin that are destructive to Bees when in a state of toridity,--Eb.
are treated with. It need not then be wondered at that so many stocks of Bees - perish in the winter, and in the spring of every year. _By judicious feeding, at proper seasons, almost any stock of Bees may be preserved : by injudicious feeding,_ at an improper season, even good stocks--stocks that would survive, if not fed at all, nor molested, during the depth and severity of winter, may be seriously injured--may be totally destroyed. The peasant Bee-keeper, however, does not often subject himself to the charge _complinental_ of being necessary to the death of his Bees _through mistaken kindness._
The sum and substance of my directions, as respects Bee-feeding, are these :--
1. In spring feed _sparingly :_
2. In autumn feed _plentifully :_
3. In winter _do not feed at all_:
4. Feed swarms, if unseasonable weather immediately follow the act of swarming :
5. Preserve the Bees of weak stocks,* and *"Never kill your bees, - never kill one,*"-is the _emphatic_ advice of the " Bee Preserver,"-Mr. Cotton. " Feed them," (weak hives) " with a match made of brimstone, as by far the shortest and best way," is a barbarous direction, _re-published in the said Mr. Cotton's Book,_ * Cotton, pp. 60 and 66. * Page 225.
prevent a great deal of the necessity for feeding, by adding them to those that are rich and able to support them. This last is the best, without one word of comment upon it, or of reprobation of this suffocating practice, although utterly at variance with the humane advice in his "_simple_ letter to cottagers." In the preface "_to his book_ the self-same Mr. Cotton has written--"As for profit I do not pretend to have made much by my Bees, though I hope the Bees of England will make much by me before I have done with them. At least, they will get as much by me as their lives are worth, and I will leave each Bee to put a price upon his own life, and the sum total which they put upon themselves will be the value of the good I have, or shall do to English Bees: to say nothing of what my book, if any copies go into foreign parts, may do for outlandish Bees." What a rigmarole eunciation of some incomprehensible benefit conferred, or to be conferred on English Bees is here put forth! Its real meaning, if any such it have, is unintelligible ; but it may be supposed to shadow forth some disinterested, mighty boon, which the benevolent " Bee-preserver" --Cotton has bestowed, or has to bestow upon "English Bees, to say nothing of what _may_ be done to outlandish Bees."_ Who, after this flourish would have dreamt of the introduction of brimstone matches with which to feed weak hives? Is this what Bees' lives are worth? Is this the price each Bee puts upon its own life? But the value of the good Mr. Cotton has done to "English Bees, to say nothing of outlandish Bees," will further appear from the very minute instructions! how to stifie the Bees of rich, poor, or other hives with brimstone, given in another part of the _elegant_ volume, audaciously extolled in the Quarterly.--Fie, Cotton! Fie, Quarterly!--Eb,
* Page xli.
\(\dagger\) Cotton, pages 129, 130.
and cheapest, and most scientific, may--it is even a _profitable_ method of feeding Bces.
Early swarming, where swarming is necessary, as in the straw-live colonies,is of great advantage to the watchful apiarian, but not to the inattentive and slothful manager. I have seen in a cottager's garden a swarm of Bees on the 10th of May, which was considerably weaker in the month of August, than was a swarm on the 10th of July, and that solely on account of not having been fed and properly attended to.
If early swarms are judiciously fed, and supported by a natural heat within, they will be greatly benefited thereby, and eventually prosper.
But, notwithstanding what has been already said, the cottager may probably ask--"how can I feed my Bees without lifting up their hive?" I again and again request him to examine my collateral box-live and the feeding apparatus attached to it, and he will perceive that he may easily feed the Bees in his cottagebive in the same easy manner, if he have but ingenuity enough to attach a proper feeder to the stool or floor of his hive.
Mr. Huish advies apiaians to make choice
**227**
I persevered in my endeavours to induce then to feed for four days, but they would not touch the well-intended boon : 1 therefore resolved to ascertain the cause of their refusal, and on tuning up the hive I discovered that thousands of the Bees were in a dying state. I had the curiosity to take the whole of them out singly. After several hours' particular attention and patient search, I found the Queen was dead. I then united the weak, enfeebled Bees to a rich stock, and they nearly all recovered their strength. Their numbers greatly assisted in the labour of the hive to which they were joined. Certain it is, that if any accident befal their Queen in winter, it is total _run_ to that stock of Bees : where such a death is discovered, feeding will avail nothing, the Bees dwindle away and perish.
Mr. Huish says--and he is perfectly correct in saying--that there are some persons who defer the feeding of their Bees until the moment they suppose that they may be in actual want. This is a most reprehensible plan **;** for should feeding be too long delayed, the Bees will become so weak and debilitated, that they will be unable to convey the food into their cells : the food ought to be administered topoor stocks, three weeks or a month before they may be supposed to be in actual want; it will then be conveyed with the greatest despatch into the cells, and the hive will be saved from death by famine. He then goes on to observe--that some apiarians conceive that the feeding of Bees in the spring renders them lazy and inactive. On what this opinion is grounded he is at a loss to conjecture, as must be every practical apiarian; for it is in direct contradiction, not only to Mr. Huish's experience, but also to that of many other apiarians. A little food granted to a populous, and even well-provisioned box or hive in the spring, is attended with very beneficial consequences. It diffuses animation and vigour throughout the whole community;--it accelerates the breeding of the Queen--and consequently conduces to the production of early swarms, where room is not previously given in order to prevent swarming altogether.
## 10.1.
Artificial food proper for Bees may be made by mixing _coarse_, raw sugar, and good, sound, ale or sweet-wort, in the following proportions:To a quart of ale or word add a pound and a half of sugar, gently boil then in a sweet, well-tinned saucepan, over a fire clear from smoke, for five or six minutes, or until the sugar be dissolved and thoroughly incorporated with the ale; and, during the process of boiling, skin off the dress that rises to the surface. Some persons boil these ingredients much longer, and until they become, when cool, a thick, clannny sirup; this not only diminishes the quantity of the mixture, but renders it rather disadvantageous, to weak Bees in particular, by clogging and plaguing them, if, as they are almost sure to do, they get their legs or wings daubed with it. I prefer sirup in a more liquid state.
For spring feeding, I advise--that not more than a pound of sugar be put to a quart of ale, or sweet wort, if it can be obtained, and that a small quantity of common salt be added. By a _small quantity_ I mean--a drachm or two at the most to a quart of the sirup. Salt, it has been said, is conducive to the health of Bees, and the most efficacious remedy for the dysentery, which sometimes affects Bees in the spring; therefore, it may not be amiss to put a little salt into their food, by way of preventive, rather than to have recourse to it afterwards as a remedy.
**233**
1 think it highly probable that fermentation may alter the properties of honey, and perhaps may render it unwholesome to Bees. But fresh, unfermented honey, even that in the blackest and oldest combs--the very refuse, and all such as the octage-houserife makes into common need, if spread upon large dishes and placed in an apiary, will be banqueted upon by the Bees in the most eager manner, and is apparently much enjoyed by then. They soon carry into their hives what they do not consume on the spot and suffer no inconvenience whatever from the treat. I have feasted my Bees in this way scores of times, and esteem it the very best mode of autumnal feeding, and the most profitable way of disposing of broken combs and refuse honey. "Honey alone" is the natural food of Bees, and if given to them pure and untainted, in its primitive, limpid state, so far from being injurious, it is highly beneficial to them ; of this I have not the shadow of a doubt. For autumnal feeding, I prefer honey to all other substances, and recommend it as the most proper food that can be given to them. I may add that I an supported and borne out in this opinion by the practice of my respected
**234**
friend--the Rev. T. Clark--who says that he esteems the refuse or waste honey in a hive or box to be as valuable for autumal feeding for his other stocks as the fine honey is for market--and that it is a truly apiarian pleasure to see the Bees banquet upon it in a fine day. I hardly need observe that I entirely agree with him.
Of these some are valuable for the supply of pabulum they afford Bees early in spring; as _the achite alyssum, broom, crocus, furze, hazel,laurustinus,mezereon,ozier,plane-tree, popular-tree, snocdrop,sycamore-tree, the willow tree, sc_. Others again are valuable on the other hand, and they are valuable for the supply of pabulum.
account of the lateness of the season that Bees derive assistance from them ; as _the golden-rod, heath, ivy, laurustiinus, miginiente, rageveed, &c_. Some -- abound with honey ; -- as _borage, buckwheat, burnet, coleseed, current, and gooseberry-trees, heath, leek, niginiente, nustard, onion, thyme, the blossoms of apple, apricot, cherry, nectarine, pear, and plumes, and the leaves of those trees remarkable for what is called honey-dew, as the aspin, blackberry, laurel, laurustiinus, line, maple, oak, plane, poplar,andsycamore-tree_. Among those that are rich in pollen may be classed--the arbutus, ash, blackberry, box, chestnut, cypress, elder, laurel, marsh-mailov, turnip, &c_.
The cultivation of some of the most valuable of -- these is too limited to be particularly advantageous to Bees, as _alyssum, borage, burnet, golden-rod, laurustiinus, nezereon, niginiente, &c_.. The most extensive and lasting Bee-pasturage in this country is _clover, heath_, and in my own immediate neighbourhood, _mustard_. In short, every one of the flowers, &c. mentioned in the foregoing catalogue, and others innumerable, are -- in their turns resorted to by Bees, and of -- course are more or less advantageous to them.
state as that on the other side. In the cells first finished the Queen begins to deposit her eggs. In an incredibly short space of time, an immense number of cells is completed, and the Bees store pollen, farina, or Bee-bread, (which are so many names for the same substance) in some of those not already occupied by eggs, and in others honey soon becomes visible : all is activity, industry, and apparently happiness. But, to cone to particulars :- As Dr. Bevan, in the course of his _masterly_ chapter " on the Architecture of Bees," has given an engraved representation of a piece of honey-comb,--and as Mr. Huish also has given a somewhat similar representation, but better than Dr. Bevan's, inasmuch as it is more varied, and shows the royal-cells in their different stages to more advantage, and the drone-cells likewise ;--I cannot, perhaps, do the _honey-comb_ so much justice in any way, as by presenting to my reader a copy of Mr. Huish's piece of comb, which has been _greatly improved_ by the skilful hand of my engraver, and by giving along with it Dr. Bevan's able description. Though after all, a piece of _real comb,_ to look at and examine, is more beautiful and for better than any engraving possibly can be, however cleverly it may be executed : and therefore, notwithstanding the plate, I would recommend it to my reader to procure a piece of real honey-comb, and with it in his hand read the following account, which is chiefly from Dr. Bevan's pen, or from his book at least.
Royal-cells in different states of forwardness, common-cells, and drone-cells, are intended
stage of its existence, as it does not require the assistance of nurses or common Bces, it is closed up entirely, as in the royal-cell, marked --f. In this closed cell it progresses from nymph to Bee, and in due time--that is, in about sixteen days from its being deposited as an egg, it emerges a virgin Queen. When the temperature of a live, or pavilion of nature, is at a proper height--namely, between 70 and 80 degrees, sixteen days is the period nature requires for the production of a Queen-Bce, twenty-one for the perfection of a working Bee,--and twenty-six for a drone Bee. But, as Dr. Bevan very justly remarks, "the developement of each species proceeds more slowly when the colonies are weak, or the air cool,--and that when the weather is very cold it is entirely suspended."
But to return from this short, though it is hoped, not uninteresting digression, into which the explanation of the Queen-cells has led us.
"The combs of the Bee-live comprise a congeries of hexagonal cells, formed by the Bces, as receptacles for honey or for embryo Bces. A honey-comb is allowed to be one of the most striking achievements of insect industry, and an admirable specimen of insect architecture. It has attracted the admiration of the contenpulative philosopher in all ages, and awakened speculation, not only in the naturalist, but also in the mathematician : so regular, so perfect, is the structure of the cells, that it satisfies every condition of a refined problem in geometry. Still a review of their proceedings will lead to the conclusion, as Huber has observed, that "the geometrical relations, which apparently embellish the productions of Bees, are rather the necessary result of their mode of proceeding, than the principle by which their labour is guided." "We must therefore conclude, that Bees, although they act geometrically, understand neither the rules nor the principles of the arts which they practise so skillfully," and that the geometry is not in the Bee, but in the great Geometrica who made the Bee, and made all things in number, weight, and measure.
"Before the time of Huber, no naturalist had seen the commencement of the conb, nor traced the several steps of its progress. After many attempts, he at length succeeded in attaining the desired object; by preventing the Bees from forming their usual impenetrable curtain by suspending themselves from the top of the hive; in short, he obliged them to build upwards, and was thereby enabled, by means of a glass window, to watch every variation and progressive step in the construction of a conb.
"_Each conb in a hive is composed of taco_
And when by accident or otherwise, a comb happens to be broken, displaced, or injured, they display astonishing architectural skill in the means they adopt to repair such accident or injury, and soon make all right and safe, and neat. The writer hereof has in his possession some combs that had been transferred from one hive to another, on which the Bees, to surmount the difficulties and to repair the damages occasioned by the transfer, have displayed ingenuity that proves them to be, as circumstances may require, skilful engineers and good practical mechanics: but still _they are devoid of reason:_ un-erring instinct is their guide in all they do; of other rules and principles they have no need.--E\({}_{
m D}\).