BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
Plate II. Drones can only be bred in the larger and workers in the smaller cells. The comb-foundation obtained from manufacturers is invariably impressed with the bases of worker-cells, so that it is impossible, unless by accident some portion has stretched, for the bees to build other than worker-comb on it. The illustrations will make this clear. Plate I. shows a perfect worker-comb built out on a full sheet of comb-foundation, while Plate II. exhibits the result of the breaking-away of a portion and the stretching of another portion due to careless fixing of what was originally a full and perfect sheet of worker-comb foundation. These are very interesting reproductions from photographs taken specially for the purpose of this article. To the right of Plate II. can be seen where the bees took advantage of the accident to build drone-comb, and also where on the upper left centre the original worker-cells have stretched and been utilised for breeding drones. At the lower right-hand corner of Plate I. a small portion of the original sheet of comb-foundation upon which the comb is built can be distinctly seen.
Securing control over breeding is not the only advantage gained by a free use of comb-foundation. For instance, a fair swarm of, say, 5 lbs. weight hived upon ten sheets of comb-foundation in a Langstroth hive will have in twenty-four hours, in an average season, several of the sheets partially worked out and a goodly number of eggs deposited in the cells, and in thirty-six hours the queen can henceforward lay to her full extent. In from a week to nine days (depending upon the weather) the whole ten sheets will be worked out into worker-combs, and a great deal occupied with brood and honey, and the hive will then be ready for the top or surplus honey super. In twenty-two or twenty-three days young worker-bees will begin to emerge, and from this on the colony will grow rapidly in strength from day to day.
Contrast this favourable condition of things with what takes place when only narrow strips of comb-foundation are furnished. It will take under the same conditions a similar swarm from four to five weeks to fill the hive with comb, and then there will be a large proportion drone-comb, which is the very thing to guard against. Consider what the difference in time alone will make in the profitable working of a hive, especially in a short season. Then, again, with regard to the difference in the initial expense between using full sheets and strips, which seems to influence many beekeepers in favour of the latter system : Even in that there is a gain in favour of the method I am advocating. For instance, the cost of filling the ten frames with sheets of best comb-foundation would be (with expenses of getting them added) about 4s, and with strips--say, two sheets--10d.: au apparent saving in the first instance of 3s. 2d. We must then consider the matter from another point of view.
The consensus of opinion among the most experienced beekeepers is that there is an expenditure of about 12 lbs. of honey in making 1 lb. of wax--that is, the bees consume that quantity of honey before secreting 1 lb. of wax. The ten sheets of comb-foundation weigh 1 lbs. and cost 4s. For this there would have to be an expenditure of 18 lbs. of honey, which at the low price of 3d. per pound is 4s. 6d., so that there is a saving of 6d. in favour of the full sheets, to say nothing about all the other advantages gained.
I trust I have now made the matter clear enough to influence all our beekeepers in favour of making the fullest use possible of comb-foundation.
II. RIPENING EXTRACTED HONEY.
That ali honey should be thoroughly ripe when sent to market goes without saying, otherwise it will sooner or later ferment and become useless for table purposes, and injure future sales of the same brand. It is not an uncommon thing to find honey going bad after being on the market a short time, to the loss of the merchant and producer. Quite recently I saw a line of 2 lb. tins of honey condemned through fermentation and sent to auction. The tins bore the label of a well-known beekeeper, and the result, no doubt, will be that his honey will be avoided in future, in that district at least. All beekeepers I have visited so far appear to realise the importance of ripening honey, but less than half a dozen had the proper apparatus for doing so.
Nectar or honey when first gathered contains a variable quantity of water, usually ranging from 18 to 23 per cent., according to the weather. Mr. Otto Hehner, F.I.C., F.C.S., public analyst, and analyst to the British Beekeepers' Association, in a lecture before that body some years ago stated, " Essentially, honey consists of water and of sugar. Of the water I need say but little except that I have found it to vary in quantity from 12 to 23 per cent., the normal proportion being from 18 to 21 per cent. When the percentage falls below 18 the honey is generally very hard and solid; when it is higher than 21 it is frequently quite or almost clear."
Honey even in its ripened state, as will be seen, contains some water. When first gathered, if it contains, as it usually does, too much, the bees after storing it allow the honey-cells to remain open until the surplus moisture has evaporated, when they are capped or sealed by the bees, and the honey so capped is then considered ripe and fit for market. The length of time the honey-cells may remain uncapped depends entirely on the state of the weather when the honey was stored. I have known them to be open for several days, and in very dry, warm weather I have seen the cells being capped directly they were filled.
The ripening of honey within the hive always appeared to me to be a mechanical process--that is to say, a process carried out by the heat of the hive, and not due to any particular manipulation on the part of the bees, so that it could be equally well done outside as within the hive. I have always acted on this belief with very satisfactory results. Instead of waiting until the bees had capped the whole of the cells, I have commenced to extract directly the bees started sealing the upper cells of the combs and finished the ripening in my tanks. It is not difficult to realise the enormous saving effected by this method in a large apiary during the season. The bees instead of secreting wax for capping the cells are at liberty to act as field workers, the combs are quickly available again for refilling, and plenty of working-room is always assured, which will tend to keep down swarming.
Ripening-tanks.
The most effective method of ripening honey is to expose as large a surface as possible to a warm, dry atmosphere. The "tanks" generally in use at the present time, so far as I have seen, consist of tin cylinders about 18 in. in diameter by 36 in. deep, similar to the cylinder of a two-comb honey-extractor, and these have been usually covered with a cloth or lid "to keep out bees and dust." As I have pointed out, it is simply impossible for honey to ripen under those conditions. The tank is too deep and the surface too small. The body of honey set to ripen should never be more than 15 in. or 16 in. deep, while showing as much surface as possible. A tank 6 ft. long by 4 ft. wide and 18 in. deep, with a centre division, would hold, when filled up to 2 in. from the top, about 2,500 1bs. of honey. A long, wide, shallow tank in similar proportions to the above is the proper intensil for ripening honey. (See illustration.)
Even when the honey is not removed from the hive until it is capped by the bees it is necessary to have such a tank to properly clarify the honey. No matter what pains are taken to strain the honey so as to clear it of all foreign substance, very fine particles of wax will remain or run into the tank with the honey. If the body of the latter is shallow the fine specks of wax and pollen, hardly discernible, will rise to the surface, forming a scum, which,
of their length (as shown in illustration), so that two days' extracting can be run separately into the one tank, and they may be made to any proportions suitable to the beekeepers' needs, but they should not be of greater depth than the figures already given.
The specific gravity of average-ripened honey, which may be obtained by the use of a hydrometer, is usually given at 1'350, though I have had it as high as 1'488, or nearly half again as heavy as water. But for the average beekeeper it will be sufficient for him to decide that the honey is ripe enough to run off as soon as it shows signs of "clouding "--that is, granulating.
In conclusion, the beekeeper, working for extracted honey, should have a bee-tight, yet well-ventilated, honey-room, in a warm, and sunny situation, large enough to do all his extracting and tuning in, and a ripening tank or tanks such as I have described, which should never be covered except when out of use.
III. " FOUL BROOD " (_Bacillus alvei, Cheshire_) AND ITS TREATMENT.
The germ disease of "' foil brood " has evidently caused more or less trouble to beekeepers from very early historical times. References are made to some such disease before the Christian era by Aristotle in his works on husbandry, which no doubt was what we now know as "' foil brood." It is quite possible that the disease was not so troublesome in former times, as the facilities for its spreading were few compared with what they have been during the last twenty-five or thirty years. The trade in bees and queens that has accompanied the expansion of modern bee-culture, and their consequent transportation from district to district, and from country to country, is accountable, no doubt, for the universal extent of its ravages at the present time. When or where it first made its appearance in New Zealand is not known so far as I am aware, but I do know that " foil brood " was very prevalent in some districts--notably in Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, and Poverty Bay--before 1880.
Very little, if anything, was known or understood concerning this disease in New Zealand before the dissemination of modern bee literature about that time, consequently it had not been recognised previously by our beekeepers. The loss caused by "' foil brood " during the intervening years in this colony has been enormous, and calls for serious consideration. We have everything in our favourclimate and bee-forage second to none in the world. We raise some of the very finest houey in the world, and there is nothing but this disease to prevent the beekeeping industry in this country from developing into a very extensive business. We have the honey at our feet and the animals for gathering it, yet until some measures are devised to prevent disease running rampant through the colony, as is the case at present, we cannot profit to the full by these advantages.
STATE LEGISLATION.
The difficulty of individual beekeepers dealing successfully with "'fou] brood," so easily propagated and spread abroad from apiary to apiary, lies in the carelessness and often wilfulness of many so-called beekeepers who (as I have frequently pointed out in my writings), in utter disregard of advice given them by more careful men, will persist in leaving lying about old boxes with their combs in which diseased colonies have died, for other bees to enter and so to carry away disease-germs, and occasionally living stray swarms in the same infected boxes, only to propagate and spread the disease, and to finally perish as the others did before them. It is absolutely necessary and just that the careful beekeeper should be protected from his careless neighbour, and the only way this can be done is by State legislation, which shall control and compel the careless man to take such steps as will prevent the propagation and spread of disease in and from his apiary. The sale of diseased bees, or implements that have been used in a diseased apiary before being thoroughly disinfected, or the transportation of diseaseed bees to or from any district, should not be allowed.
Symptoms of "Foul Brood."
Healthy brood in the larvae stage--that is, before it is sealed or capped--presents a clear nearly whiteness, but when attacked by "'foul brood '' it rapidly changes to light buff, then to brown, coffee-and-milk colour, and finally to black, at which stage nothing is to be seen in the cell but a flattish scale-like substance when examined closely. It is, however, when the brood has been attacked after it has advanced to the pupa period of its existence --that is, when it has been capped over--that the novice is better able to detect the presence of "'foul brood."
In the early stage of an attack a capped cell here and there will appear somewhat different from the surrounding healthy brood. Instead of theappings or seals being bright, full, and of convex form, characteristic of healthy brood, they will be of a dull blackish-brown colour, and flat or sunken, an indication that the cells contain
Treatment of "Foul Brood."
The drug treatment for the cure of "foul brood" so strongly recommended by Cheshire and others, who claimed to have been successful, has, after about a quarter of a century's trial under all conditions, been almost universally condemned. I have no reason to doubt that in the hands of scientific men like the late Mr. Cheshire
cures can be effected by drugs. What we have to consider, however, is not what the scientific man can accomplish by any particular method, so much as what effective treatment is there that will come
within the accomplishment of the average beekeeper? What is
known as the "starvation" plan, brought so prominently forward of
late years by Mr. McEvoy, answers to this, and it has been found to
be the most successful generally of any treatment yet tried. Mr.
McEvoy, in fact, claims to have cured thousands of diseased colonies
by the starvation method, and it is now almost the only one adopted.
It is by no means new, for in 1885 Mr. D. A. Jones, of Canada,
who was at that time one of the most extensive beekeepers in the
world, advocated the plan in a little work lie published on "Foul
Broad : its Management and Cure," and it was afterwards known as
"Jones's starvation plan." Mr. Cowan, editor and proprietor of the
_British Bee Journal_, in reviewing the work in December of the same
year, pointed out that "as far back as 1767 one J. G. Seydel, and
in 1775 J. C. Voight, recommended similar treatment." Bonner
in 1789, and Della-Roux in 1790, were both practising it, while
Quinby in 1865, in his book, gives it as " the only effectual cure."
_The Jones Method_.
The treatment given in his work was to shake the bees from
the infected combs into an empty box, and to close the top and
entrance with wire cloth; then to place the box of bees in some
dark place (a cellar if possible), turning the box on its side so as
the wire cloth is at the side to allow air to pass through. Darkness and a cool temperature are important, as also that all the
bees should be equally filled with honey. They are to remain where
deposited until they show signs of hunger. This they will do in
from four to six days, and they must be carefully watched after
the third day, as they are liable to die very quickly. When sufficiently
starved, which is known by some of the bees dropping down
and crawling about in a slow, quiet manner, they are shaken in
front of a hive prepared with some combs, and are allowed to run
in just the same as a swarm. If there is no food in the combs
the bees should be fed. The combs from infected hives should be
melted into wax and the frames boiled for some minutes.
The McEvoy Treatment.
It may be meentioed that Mr. McEvoy is Foul Brood Inspector of Ontario, Canada, and has the credit of having had a wider experience in the treatment of "' foil brood " than any man living. He says, "In the honey season, when the bees are gathering freely, remove the combs _in the evening_, and shake the bees into their own alive. Give them frames with comb-foundation starters on, and let them build combs for four days. The bees will make the starters into comb during the four days and store the diseased honey in them which they carried from the old combs. Then in the _evening of the fourth day_ take out the new combs and give them, comb-foundation [Full sheets--I. H.] to work out, and then the cure will be complete."
He further adds, "By this method of treatment all the diseased honey is removed from the bees before the full sheets of foundation are worked out. Where you find a large quantity of nice brood with only a few cells of'foil brood' in the most of your colonies, and have shaken the bees off for treatment, fill two hives full with these combs of brood, and then place one hive of brood on the other, and shade this tiered-up brood from the sun until the most of it has hatched; then, _in the evening_, shake these bees into a single hive and give them frames with comb-foundation starters on and let them build comb for four days; then, _in the evening of the fourth day_, take out the new comb and give them comb-foundation to work out to complete the cures. After the brood is hatched out of the old combs the latter must be made into wax or burned, together with all the new combs made out of starters during the four days, on account of the diseased honey that would be stored in them.. All the curing or treating of diseased colonies should be done in the evening, so as not to have any robbing, or cause any bees from the diseased colonies to mix and go in with the bees of sound colonies."
It will be noticed that Mr. McEvoy says nothing about confining the bees to the hive during the first process as in Jones's plan, nor does he advocate giving a clean hive or disinfecting the old ouc, which most beekeepers consider a very necessary precaution to take.
While on my rounds I examined a colony at an apiary in Hawke's Bay, on the 17th February last, which had been badly infected with disease and treated in the previous November, and out of some thirty-two colonies in the same apiary it was certainly one of the strongest when I saw it. Instead, however, of following the McEvoy plan closely, the bees were shaken off the frames down in front of a clean,empty kerosene-case placed on the old stand, and on the fourth day after, changed into a clean hive furnished with full sheets of comb-foundation. While at the apiary I assisted in treating anothcr in the same way. I am well aware that some years ago the owner of the same apiary was near giving up beekeeping in despair owing to "' foul brood," but he is now well satisfied to continue, having practically mastered the disease by his treatment.
Treatment recommended.
During the course of my rounds I have discussed the subject of treatment of " foul brood " with quite a number of our leading and most extensive beekeepers (to whom I acknowledge my indebtedness for their valuable assistance), who have had many years' experience in dealing with the disease, and who have by care and perseverance been able to master it, in so far that it now gives them but little anxiety. They, however, never relax their watchfulness for symptoms, and treatment at once follows their first appearance, as a matter of course. They were unanimous in their opinion that the only certain and effective treatment that will suppress and cure the disease is the starvation method, and there are only very trifling differences in some of the details in their mode of carrying it out.
The following remarks practically convey the gist of their several opinions and my own experience, and I have full confidence in recommending to our New Zealand beekeepers the following slight modifications of the McEvoy treatment.
In the spring, after the weather has become warm and settled, and honey being stored freely, and before much breeding is in progress (some time in November), is the most suitable time to deal with diseased colonies. Two good reasons may be advanced for this : First, because the disease in its earlier stages is more readily detected in spring; and, secondly, because the colonies treated at that time have an opportunity of recovering and becoming strong before the main honey-flow sets in. Treatment may also be carried out at any time during the honey season, but there must of necessity be greater sacrifice than when done in spring.
Keep a sharp look-out when going through the hives in early spring and mark any containing disease for treatment later on. Be cautious not to disturb the affected colonies more than can be avoided until time for treatment, lest robbing should take place. Where the disease is in an advanced stage and the colony very weak, it will be more safe and profitable to destroy the bees by sulphur or other means, and to melt the combs into wax or burn them _at once_. The bive, frames, and bottom board should be either disinfected or burned as soon as possible before other bees get near them. To avoid the risk of the bees decamping, as they are liable to do when suddenly deprived of their combs, especially in spring, the queen may be caged just previous to the operation, and the cage suspended between the frames after the operation and until the bees are again changed on the fourth day, when she may be released in the new hive. It is not absolutely necessary to cage the queen except as a precautionary measure. Examine the bees towards the close of the third day, and if many have fallen from the cluster feed them at once, either with frames of _clean_ honey from healthy stocks or with sugar-syrup. Food should also be given when the weather is unfavourable at this time for gathering honey. Carry out all such operations _in the evening_ when the other bees are quiet; get through as quietly and speedily as possible, and take care the diseased bees do not have an opportunity to enter other hives.
Food and Feeding. Frames of honey from healthy colonies may be given, but if there be any doubt feed with sugar-syrup, made by adding half a pint of water to each 1 lb. of sugar used, and bringing it to the boiling-point; stir for the first few minutes till all the sugar is dissolved; when cool it will be ready for use. Empty, clean combs make capital feeders. They may be filled by placing them at an angle in a large milk-dish or a similar vessel and pouring in the syrup from a small strainer held 1 ft. or 1 ft. 3 in. above them. The failing syrup drives the air from the cells and takes its place. After filling them the combs should be suspended until they are free from drip, when they will be ready for use. In the absence of empty combs, syrup may be given in any of the ordinary feeders sold by hive-manufacturers, placed above the frames, turning a corner of the nat up to make a passage for the bees. It is advisable to put on an empty half-story body for convenience while using a feeder above the frames. Feeding should always be done late in the evening to prevent excitement and robbing.
Disinfecting Hives. I certainly, in all cases, strongly recommend disinfecting hives and other implements that have been in contact with diseased colonies. In fact, I think it a good plan to do so with everything at the end of each season as a precautionary measure, whether " foil brood " is present or not. The hives should be well scraped, free from propolis, and the scrapings burned ; then brush them with a solution of carbonic acid--1 oz. of acid (Calvert's No. 5) to 4 quarts of water well mixed--taking care the solution does not come in contact with the hands. Let the hives remain exposed to the air for several days before using them.
IV. THE LARGE BEE OR WAX MOTH (_Galleria mellonella_, Linn.).
This moth, so far as I am aware, has only quite recently made its appearance in New Zealand, brought here probably from Australia, where it is said to have been introduced from Europe about the year 1880. The larvae or grubs of the moth were first sent to me by Messrs. H. Betts and Son, of Okaiawa, near Mount Egmont, in the early part of 1904, and I had no difficulty in recognising them as the larvae of the large moth, having previously seen similar grubs in boxes with bees imported from Europe.