BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
I have now to remark, that during the nine days after the swarm had been returned to the parent-stock, the thermometer continued to rise until it reached the temperature of 90 with in the collateral boxes; and on the tenth day at five o'clock in the morning, I witnessed the grand secret--I viewed with unutterable delight the extraordinary fact I had been endeavoring to ascertain,--viz. _two royal nymphs laid prostate on the alighting-board,_ near the exterior entrance of the hive. This circumstance alone convinced me that no more swarming would ensue. I have further to notice, that on the third day afterwards the Bees commenced their destruction of the drones, which was a satisfactory proof that I had gained my point. That colony has never swarmed since the period I thus first satisfactorily ascertained the utility of ventilation. And on minutely attending to the extraordinary movements of this my favorite colony, it was not uncommon to notice the most infant appearance of the royal brood lying upon the front-board of the pavilion. So that I am well satisfied that the royal larva is always in existence in the live, independently of the reigning Queen. Let me not be misunderstood ; I do not mean by this expression to assert--that the royal larva exists in the live without the instrumentality or agency of the reigning Queen;--far from it; for no common 'Bees can make a sovereign Bee without the egg from the royal body : what I do mean is--that the royal larva is always in existence in a colony of Bees, notwithstanding the existence and presence of a reigning Queen--that the Queen is there, and the royal larva is there at the same time. In this the wisdom of Providence is manifest; for Nature has _thus_ provided that the royal cradle should contain the royal brood, that in case any accident, misfortune, casualty, or necessity, should occasion the loss of the reigning Queen, another may be brought into existence. This larva in reserve, as it were, is protected and reared by the inhabitants with the utmost care, may, in the absence of the Queen, it is almost worshipped, until it becomes sufficiently matured to take the office and fulfil the duties of its royal predecessor; of course it then reigns supreme,--it is then Queen absolute. On this point I not only coincide in opinion with Thorley, but have seen enough in the course of my experience among Bees to confirm the truth of what I have now stated. As, however, the further discussion of this nice point belongs to the natural history of the Honey-Bee rather than to the explanation and inculcation of my practical mode of Bee-management, I refrain from saying more upon it, lest by so doing I should inadvertently excite criticism and controversy. I therefore proceed with my proper subject.
The following thermometrical observations are from the journal before mentioned. The first column gives the day of the month,--the second shows the hour of the day when the thermometer was examined,--and the third is its height at those several times in the colony of Bees upon which my experiments were so successfully made.
egin{tabular}{r r r|l}
1826. & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{April Hour Ther.} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{At this state of the thermometer it is highly necessary} 1 & 8 & 35 & to remove your Bees to their 2 & 8 & 38 & summer stand. A great decrease 3 & 8 & 32 & of wealth in the hive will appear 4 & 12 & 37 & daily under this temperature; \ \end{tabular}
and feeding should be resorted
Summary of memorandums of the several derivations or takings of honey from one set of boxes this season--1826.
May 27. Glass and box... 54 lbs.
June 9. Box............. 56 --
10. Glass............. 143 --
12. Box............. 60 --
13. Ditto............. 52 --
Collateral-box............. 60 --
296\({1\over 2}\) lbs.
Since the publication of the first edition of this work I have received communicationsfron different quarters, intimating doubts as to the accuracy of the foregoing statement. To remove, oratleast--to modify those doubts, I feel it to be my duty--_not to retract one word nor one figure of the account,_ but to add by way of explanation--that the above is the gross weight of what was taken; in which, of course, is includedthe weight of the several glasses and boxes;--that that year (1826) was the most extraordinary honey-year I have ever witnessed;--and that I have nowhere said that mighty colony of Bees actually collected in that one season the whole of the honey I took from it: the factis that itwas superfluously which at the commencement of the season with honey that \(I\)_might have taken the autumn before._ With these allowances there still was from one colony of Bees a produce unequalled in the annals of Bee-husbandry.\({}^{\divide}\)
\({}^{\divide}\) Dr. Bevan, with the assistance of his friend - the Rev. W. Dunbar--a Scotch apiarian, has endeavoured to throw discredit upon the truth of this statement by showing that the boxes, affirmed by Mr. Nutt to have been taken, were not sufficiently capacious to contain so great a quantity of honey ; and has, _rather injudiciously_, paraded an array of figures to convince his readers that that quantity could not be taken ;-- consequently, that Nutt's statement is a falsehood. The foundation upon which these _eunning_ gentlemen have built their proof is, unfortunately for _their_ credit, too extraordinary to be passed by without special notice. It is this--"a box measuring 12 in. x 12 x 9--: 104+ solid inches can contain only fifty pounds of honey-comb." * This, if true, would have been startling, had it been first proved that the boxes in which Nutt states that the honey was taken were of the _assumed_ dimensions: but that preliminary is not proved; neither is it true that 12 x 12 x 9 = 104+: it equals 1296, that is 252 cubic inches _more_ in a box than Dr. Bevan and his calculator Dunbar have found, and quite enough to show the utter worthlessness of their argument: but _aliquando bonus dominat Homerus!_ Apprized, however, as Dr. Bevan has been for upwards of six years of this 'blemish' in his book, it is not creditable to his character to continue the sale of it with this _mischievous_ blunder uncorrected. If it was intentional he may let it stand ; if it were accidental, it is his duty to rectify it :--candour, character, honesty, justice, alike demand it from his hand.--_Eb._
\({}^{\divide}\) Bevan, p. 128. Edition of 1838.
As an accompanimentto the foregoing statement of facts, and as data from which may be formed a comparative estimate of the advantages Bees managed in collateral-boxes possess,--and at the request of my Rev. friend I. Clark, who has furnished me with the following particulars, I respectfully refer the reader to a detailed and well-authenticated account of an extraordinary colony of Bees, from which 146\(
rac{3}{2}\) lbs. of rich honey-combs " were taken in one year--1800, and in which " 35 lbs. of honey-combs " were left. That colony--the property of a Mr. Wotton of Moreton-Hampstead, was so poor as to require feeding in the winter previous to its great prosperity. It was managed in ill-assorted hives, and had serious inconveniences to encounter. In 1799 it was a stock in a cottage-hive mounted upon an eke: in 1800 two more ekes were added; then by means of a horizontal tube that formidable pile was connected with another hive upon another eke, and that was afterwards connected by a second tube with a third cottage-hive; so that in the whole it occupied three cottage-hives and four ekes; or, as the account states it, "the room of near three bushels,"--i. e. a space exceeding that con tained in _five boxes,_ each eleven inches square and ten and a half deep,--and almost equal to that of all the boxes and glasses taken from my colony. "About the beginning of June, "a Queen or Mother-Bee was found on the "ground before the Bee-house." Notwithstanding _that decisive proof that it could not sacram,_ " Mr. Wotton still indulged the " hope that another young Queen might come " forth, and a swarm would reward his attention. But in this he was entirely disappointed;" consequently the ekes and hives were added, as before related. Now, had that powerful colony been judiciously accomodated with glasses and collateral-boxes, I hesitate not to say that its produce would probably have equalled, if not have exceeded that of my fine colony. Managed as it was, it approximated nearer to it than any other I have either met with or yet heard of,* and affords good proof that Bees have done great things long before collateral-boxes, ventilation,and my mode of management were introduced.
Though this account of Mr. Wotton's colony is no corroboration of the truth of the statement respecting mine, yet an inference in favour of its probability may be fairly drawn from it.
The account alluded to is published in "the Transactions * of the Western Apiarian Society," and bound up with " the General Apiarian." It is given in a letter to Sir Lawrence Palk, Bart. M. P. by the Rev. J. Isaac, Secretary of that Society and Author of the General Apiarian.
Did I deem it necessary, I could, from the letters of a variety of highly respectable correspondents, show that the mode of managing Bees in the way, and upon the principles, now explained, has been adopted, and has _succeeded_ even beyond the most sanguine expectations of many of my worthy friends and patrons ; but I will content myself at present with giving the two following letters, which I have just received from a Gentleman in this neighbourhood, whose very name, to all who have any knowledge of, or acquaintance with him, will be a sufficient guarantee that his statements are facts. Besides, his letters are a condensed, and I must say--clever epitome of my practical directions for the management of Bees in my boxes, and may be useful on that account; and moreover, I have, as will be seen presently, his unsolicited authority to make them public, and therefore run no risk of being called to order for so doing.
"Gedney-Hill, 13th July, 1832:
"Dear Sir,
"You will, I am persuaded, excuse me for troubling you with the information that I yesterday took off a fine glass of honey from one of my Bee-colonies. I went to work, secundum artem, that is, in one word, _scientifically_, or in four words, _according to your directions;_ and I have the satisfaction, may more,--I have the pleasure to add that I succeeded--I had almost said _completely_, but I must qualify that expression by saying, that _Is succeeded all but completely;_ for one luckless Bee had the misfortune to be caught between the edges of the dividing-tin and the glass, and to be crushed to death in consequence.
Excepting that accident, I believe that not one Bee was injured, nor lost. They left the glass, as soon as I gave them the opportunity of leaving it, in the most peaceable manner; in a subdued and plaintive tone they hummed round me,-settled upon me,-cret over me in all directions,-but not one of them stung me : in short, they returned to their home without manifesting the slightest symptoms of resentment, and in less than half an hour from the commencement of the operation, _there was not a single Bee left in the glass._ In my eye it is a very handsome glass of honey ; it weighs exactly 13 lbs. and it has not one brood-cell in it. I intend to close it up,-to label it,-and to keep it, at least until I get another as handsome. It is a _rich_ curiosity to exhibit to one's friends, especially to those who have never seen such a thing.
"On the other side, I send you a fortnight's register of the heights and variations of a thermometer, placed in the colony from which I have taken the glass, and also, of one placed in the shade, and apart from all Bees ; from which register you will know, in a moment, whether I have managed my Bees properly. I am willing to flatter myself that I have and that you will say I have been very attentive indeed.
on the score of their humanity to Bees. I believe the former to be the case with them : and therefore, in addition to the reason already given for troubling you herewith, and in order to set then right on this \(\,\)_vital_ subject, I give you full power to do what you please with these letters. If they will be of any use to you in your projected publication, give them a place in it, and welcome: only do not garble them,_give then entire, if you give them at all._ I am decidedly opposed to the driving scheme; and I as decidedly approve of yours, which is, if properly attended to, at once simple, practicable, profitable, admirable, and _truly_ humane.
Accept me, Dear Sir,
Thomas Clark."
" Mr. Editor,
" Since the publication of the last No. of 'The Voice of Humanity,' in which you treated your readers with some interesting particulars explanatory of the construction and different parts of Mr. Nutt's Bee-boxes, and also of the node_of managing the Bees in them, so far at least as regardsthe taking away a box when stored with the delicious sweet (i. e. with honey), it has been suggested to me, that a plain, simple history of a colony of Bees in my possession, and managed according to Mr. Nutt's excellent plan, may not be altogether unacceptable to the general readers and friends of 'The Voice of Humanity,' and may be even _a treat_ to amateur apiarians, who may be unacquainted with the merits of Mr. Nutt's plan ; or who, if partially acquainted therewith, may have their doubts as to its practicability, or, at least, as to its advantages, i. e. superiority over other plans. As far, then, as 'The Voice of Humanity' can make then (the merits of Mr. Nutt's plan) known, I trust it will be as music to that Voice to publish the following facts.
"Having had a complete set of Mr. Nutt's boxes presented to me,I, though comparatively a novice in a apiarian science, and not at that time particularly attached to it, could not, in compliment to the donor, do less than endeavour to work them, that was--get then stocked. That was done with a swarm on the 18th of May, 1830 ; and the middle-box, or pavilion of nature, as Mr. Nutt calls it,into which the said swarm was taken just in the same way it would have been if put into a common straw-hive, was conveyed a distance of nearly four miles and placed in my garden in the evening of the same day. The next day being fine, I observed that the Bees were very busy constructing comb, and had, within twenty-four hours of their being domiciled in their new abode, actually made a progress in that most curious work that astonished me: they were passing and re-passing, and literally all alive; many were visibly loaded with materials for their ingenious work. My curiosity was excited, and so much was I pleased with my multiudinous labourers that I visited them daily, and many times in the course of each day, when the weather was favourable for their getting abroad. Their combs were rapidly advanced: but to my great morfification they very soon obstructed my view of their interior works, by bringing a fine comb quite over the only little window at the back of the pavilion, at the distance of about half an inch from the glass. **I** was not, however, without the means of ascertaining that they were filling the pavilion with their treasures, and consequently that they would soon be in want of more room.
"The preservation of the Bees unhurt, uninjured, very many of them undisturbed at all,--the quantity of honey that may be had,--the very superior quality of that honey, are advantages of Mr. Nutt's mode of Bee-man-agement, over the barbarous, stifling system, that cannot fail to recommend it to the adoption of every friend of humanity,--to every lover of the delicious sweet,--and to every apiarian who has nothing beyond self-interest in view.
"One word more, and I have done. There are, I observe with pleasure, persons of considerable influence among your subscribers, and probably there may be persons of still greater influence among your readers. To such I would most respectfully suggest the propriety of doing something to reward Mr. Nutt for the services he has already rendered the Honey-Bee and the cause of humanity. I--an obscure, country clergyman, know not how to set about procuring it ; but a _premium was never more richly deserved._
"Though longer than I intended, when I sat down to write, I hope you will find no difficulty in giving the foregoing communication a place in your pages ; and, in this hope, I beg to subscribe myself,
Your humble servant,
Thomas Clark.
Gedney-Hill, near Wisbech, Oct, 20, 1851,"
## Chapter 5 on driving bees.
As my reverend correspondent has introduced the subject of _driving_ Bees from their full hive into an empty one, in order that they may be deprived of their honey and wax, and has animadverted upon that practice with some severity, I will take the opportunity of here stating my objections to it.
Mr. Huish, in his treatise on Bees, has twice described the manner in which "_driving a hive_ " may be performed ; but nowhere, that I can find, has he once recommended it. In a note (in page 24) he says--that by "_driving a hive_ may be understood the act of obliging the Bees to leave their own domicil, and take refuge in another. This is performed by placing the full hive under an empty one, (or he might have said, by placing an empty hiveupon the full one inverted) and by gently tapping the lower hive the Bees will ascend into the upper, and the lower one then remains vacant for experiments, or the purpose of deprivation." He afterwards (in page 252) gives a more detailed account of the manner of performing this operation; and having done so, he presently observes that " by the driving of the Bees a number is unavoidably killed." I do not find that Mr. Huish himself pracises it further than for the purpose of making experiments; and that, having made those experiments, he returns the driven Bees to their hives and to their treasures in them. In short, he describes it to his readers because they may wish to be acquainted with it, and not because he approves of it. I mention this because I consider Mr. Huish to be respectable authority on such a subject.
Now, were there nothing in a hive but Bees and honey, driving then into an empty hive (were it as easy in practice as it seems to be upon paper, though I presume it is not) in order to rob them of their all, would be a most arbitrary and unjust method of treating them: but, besides Bees and honey, there are other substances in a prosperous hive which ought not to be disturbed. There are the future inhabitants of the colony in every stage of existence, from the egg to the perfect Bee, and these in a driven hive are all totally destroyed --eggs, larvae, nymphs, in one word, _the brood_ in whatever state, is inevitably destroyed, when the Bces are driven from it and not suffered to return. And is it not an unnatural operation that thus destroys many thousands of lives in embryo, over and above the _"number unavoidably killed"_ thereby? as painful must it be for the Queen--the mother of the colony, and to all the other Bees, to be _forcibly expelled_ from a hive and home of plenty and prosperity, as it is for an industries man and his thriving family to be rudely ejected from a comfortable house and home, without the leastnotice of, or preparation for, so calamitous an event, and forced by lawless marauders to take shelter in an empty house, and left there destitute, to subsist as best they can, or to starve, as probably they may, their spirits being cast down by the violent depriations and desperate robbery they have experienced, and it may be, the winds, and the weather, and the elements of heaven, are warning, as it were, against them at the same time. And, con
if later, it is hardly to be expected that the surviving Bees will or can prosper. Can the Bee-master for a moment think that when Bees are so driven from their old hive, they will work in their new one, as if they had swarmed voluntarily and then been put into it : it is some considerable time before Bees thus treated will work vigorously ; and during that time of lingering and irresolution the honey-season is passing away,--the Bees' difficulties multiply,--and they become paupers at a time they should be rich. Nine times out of ten the hive so treated perishes by famine, and like the young brood, dies the worst of deaths, --the whole hive becomes a melancholy wreck, and is absolutely sacrificed to the mistaken notions of the speculating, or experiment-making propriator. It is a practice of which \(I\)_disapprove altogether_ : and I am surprised that any one could so far misunderstand the principles and nature of my practice as to recommend the driving of Bees out of a full hive into an empty one as an admirable addition to my Bee-hive--that is--to my Bee-boxes. I have the satisfaction, however, to state that in the management of Bees in my boxes _no driving is necessary, nor even possible:_ by then _driving_ and _supfocution_ are both superseded, and rendered as useless to operators as they have long been destructive to Bees,--and, I cannot but say--disgraceful to apiarians. What I have already said (in page 54) I will here repeat with as much emphasis as I am able, because that passage comprehends the very essence of my directions relative to the management of Bees in the middle-box,--and because those directions are utterly incompatible with _driving_. "I say, then, disturb not this box--this pavilion of nature: weaken not its population; but support its influence, and extend to it those accommodations which no practice, except my own, has yet put into operation, or made any adequate provision for.
"The practice here advocated partakes not of the _driving_, nor of the _funigating_, nor of the _robbing_ system. It is _a liberal method_ of Bee-cultivation, founded on _humanity_. And it is by such practice that we must succeed, if we hope to be benefited in the culture of Honey-Bees."
Inverted-iiive.
Many useful discoveries have been made by accident ;--and to some of the greatest and grandestof those discoveries even philosophers and men of science have been led by accidents apparently the most trifling and insignificant.
To the playful tricks of some little children that astonishing and most scientific instrument --the telescope, it is said, owes its origin ; and it is said also that that great and good man--Sir Isaac Newton, was led to investigate the laws of gravitation by accidentally observing an apple topple to the ground from the twig that had borne it. One of the sweetest of our poets however, informs us--that
All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee,
All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not see.
If, therefore, a beautifully delicate honey-combsuspended from the stool of a live first led me to discover the utility of ventilation in a colony of Bees, though there may be nothing very surprising, there is, I trust,--may, I an convinced, and therefore I assert--there is something very useful in it : and if an accident ofanother description induced me to endeavour to turn it to advantage, there is nothing to be greatly wondered at. So, however, it happened ; and here follows the account of it.
On rising early one morning in July, 1827, and walking into my apiary, as my custom then was, and still is, I discovered that some malicious wretch had been there before me, and had overturned a fine stock of Bees. The reader may judge how much my indignation was aroused by that dastardly act of outrage against my unoffending Bees. My feelings of vexation soon, however, subsided into those of pity for my poor Bees ; and fortunately for them, no less than for me, their overturned domicil, which consisted of a live eked or enlarged by a square box upon which I had placed it some weeks previously, was so shaded from or towards the east by a thick fence, that the rays of the sun had not reached it ; this compound-live, and the
assisted then by every means I could devise. They gradually surmounted all the difficulties to which they had been exposed. In short, they prospered; and from that malicious trick of some miscreant or other I first took the idea of an _inverted-live,_ which I have since studied and greatly improved.