BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
Winter well past with the bees, spring comes hopefully. We all feel cheered with its warmer days and its brighter sun, and all nature beginning to burst once more into new life--when 'the flowers appear on the earth, and the time of the singing of the birds is come.' But no one is more cheered in spring-time than the careful bee-keeper. He knows that his bees are ready to take all advantage of spring weather, still strong, and still with plenty of food.
SONG OF THE BEES.
We watch for the light of the morning to break,
And colour the eastern sky
With its blended hues of saffron and lake :
Then say to each other, 'Awake! Awake!'
For our winter's honey is all to make,
And our bread for a long supply.
And off we fly to the hill and dell,
To the field, to the meadow and bower;
To dip in the lily with snow-white bell,
To search for the balm in the fragrant cell
Of the mint and rosemary flower.
While each, on the good of her sister bent,
Is busy, and cares for all,
We hope for an evening of heart's content
In the winter of life, without lament
That summer is gone, or its hours misspent,
And the harvest is past recall. '
_Bee Journal, 1877._But however well the bees have wintered, there will always be plenty for the bee-keeper to do in spring ; only he must not be--as many bee-keepers are--in too great a hurry to do it. Of course with weak hives, and when stores of food are exhausted, he must not delay. Such a state of things--the very sight of empty combs and hungry bees, tells him what to do--that he must at once give them food.
But, with strong hives as well as weak, you must remember that the bees having lived all through the winter will now be comparatively old bees, and will not live much longer ; and you must remember what has been said of the great importance of strong hives. And thus we see at once the point of greatest importance to be attended to, namely, that the queen should--as soon as the weather is suitable--begin to lay the eggs, which, producing young bees, shall replace the old ones, whose time for work is nearly over,
And the careful bee-keeper can do something to this end--to hasten the time. It is an important part of his spring work. There is a way of giving liquid syrup which seems to make the bees think that the necessary continuous supply of food for young bees is to be had, and therefore leads the queen to commence egg-laying sooner than she otherwise would. This is called'stimulative feeding,' but such stimulation should never be practised before there is a good prospect of warm weather. If the bee-keeper is in too great a hurry--many are so--he will do a great deal more harm than good. He must not be beguiled by a few warm sunny days in February. He must remember that 'one swallow does not make a summer.'
But another thing is to be thought of, because it is not only syrup or even pure honey that by itself is sufficient for the young larvae. They must have pollen. This is their special flesh-forming food, and, although the bees will have some of it stored up from the previous year, the queen seldom begins to lay many eggs before the workers can find it in tolerable abundance. And so what the bee-keeper does is to give the bees artificial pollen, or something that will answer the purpose of pollen.
This is generally 'pea-flour,' which contains the same flesh-forming substance that pollen does. He places it in shallow boxes near the hives, and it is quite a curious sight to see the bees revel in it, tumbling into it, and getting completely covered with the flour--as white as millers, and carrying it home with the greatest delight.
But nevertheless, although it does well thus as a substitute, the bees, as soon as ever natural pollen is to be had in anything like plenty (very probably from the willows, which flower early), cease to take the artificial food. They greatly prefer nature's supply to anything we can give them. The object, however, has been attained, and the queen has been stimulated to activity, and there will be--earlier than otherwise--plenty of eggs and larvae in all stages, and many young bees ready to hatch out and strengthen the working power of the hive.
But all this requires care on the part of the bec-keeper, for, as with other things, there is a right and a wrong time to do it. If he does it too soon, and cold weather sets in, the larvae and young bees will certainly be chilled and die.
And then in spring-time there is another operation, called'spreading the brood '-gradually enlarging the space of the brood-nest--which is sometimes, when done by experienced bee-keepers, of very great use, and is the means of strengthening the hive with great rapidity ; but it is an operation of such difficulty, and requiring such knowledge and care, that I only just mention it. You must not attempt it before you have had long experience.
And now might be mentioned many other things which belong to the spring work of the bee-keeper, but I must leave you to learn of them elsewhere. You will see, however, from what I have said, that it is an interesting and busy season. It is, indeed, quite a time when you must use your head as well as your hands.
A great painter was once asked by a student, who wanted to be saved all trouble in learning his art, 'Pray, sir, with what do you mix your colours, to get these beautiful tints?' To which question there came the gruff answer from the painter, 'Brains, sir. This is what I mix with my colours: brains, sir!' And it was a good answer, full of meaning and good advice. And it is quite one that will do for the bee-keeper. You must help your bees with your brains.
## Chapter 3 Diseases and enemies of bees.
A word now about the diseases and enemies of bees--an important subject, for much will go wrong if we are not careful to watch, and to be ready with remedies and means of protection. And here may be given a very old piece of advice, but none the less useful because it is old,--that 'prevention is better than cure.' And the best 'prevention' possible is, in the first place, not only care and watchfulness, but in an especial manner, cleanliness.
It is the same with the bees as with our own houses and our own persons. To keep free from disease, there must be cleanliness. It is well known that some of the most frequent and fatal diseases, which break out as epidemics, and carry off thousands every year, come entirely from want of this care and cleanliness, especially the want of pure water and good drainage. Many diseases will, of course, come, notwithstanding all care, but very often they are thus preventible diseases, and may be kept at a distance by the exercise of forethought and care.
So with the bees. Due care and attention to cleanliness, and watchfulness against all causes of disease, and being ready, when disease first begins, to'nip it in the bud,' will do very much to keep our bees healthy.
**I** cannot now name all the diseases, but I may say that the most fatal of all is one called 'foul brood,'--when the young brood die and rot in the cells, and which is not only a fatal but also a most infectious disease.
It has often ruined whole apiaries, causing most serious loss. Many remedies have from time to time been tried, but only with partial success. Now, at last, what appears to be a sure remedy, an old remedy in a new form, has been discovered, so that, we hope, it will no longer be the dreaded pest it has been.
And what I have said of care and watchfulness in the matter of disease, will equally apply as useful advice with regard to many of the enemies of bees.
One of the most serious of these enemies is the wax-moth, which is particularly fond of laying its eggs in any crevice in the hive, and the grubs from which are most obnoxious and destructive. But these eggs may be looked for and destroyed--at least with frame-hives, although with skeps this is impossible.
'Their chambers of
Are choked with skulking beetles.
Or moths, an execrable race, intrude,
Or-savage hornet, with unequal arms,
Or spider, hateful to Minerva, hangs
Her straggling network at the vestibule.'
Other enemies are mice, slugs, and snails, but very ordinary care will prevent much danger from these.
Some birds are also enemies. The blue tomitt,--pretty little bird as it is,--is especially so in winter and early spring ; for, when once it has had a taste of beefsh, it will again and again come to the hive for fresh supplies, and, tapping at the door to draw the bees out, will seize them as they make their appearance, and carry them off to some neighbouring tree, there to eat them at leisure.
These rob the trading citizens, and bear
The trembling captives through the liquid air.'
Far worse enemies, however, are the wasps, for when once they have obtained a taste of the good honey within, they will, with great perseverance, force their way into the hive, and being active, strong, and resolute, will cause a great deal of mischief.
But here, again, much can be done in the way of prevention by carefully destroying queen wasps in the spring, and wasp-nests later on ; and also by lessening the entrance to the hive attacked, and so giving the bees more opportunity to defend it. Wasps, however, but seldom attack a strong hive, and thus here, again, we see the importance of the golden rule,'Keep your hives strong.'
But even yet worse than wasps are robber bees. The bees of any neighbouring hive, when once they begin a thieving life, are the most desperate thieves known.
They muster all in haste, their pinions flash,
Their stings they sharpen, and adjust their claws.'
They will without pity attack a weak hive, and when once they begin their depredations are most difficult to subdue or stop. Virgil says--
All this commotion, all this deadly fray,
The scattering of a little dust shall quell.'But I am afraid this will not always be quite effective. And what is worse, this ill conduct, as usually the case with bad examples, is most infectious, so that very often the whole apiary joins in the raid, and is, for a time, thoroughly demoralised. But here, again, carelessness is often the cause. A little honey, left exposed near the hives, will often raise the storm.
## Chapter Xxxxix.
The uses of honey and wax.
I must now tell you something of the great usefulness of bees. Possibly you think that their only use is to collect honey and to make wax. But this, indeed, is very far from the case; it is not one half the truth. We will try and see how this is; but it is a very large subject, and I can only give you the most general outline, but sufficient, I hope, to make you wish to know more, and to see more clearly how marvellous and wise are all the ways of that Providence which rules in nature.
But, first of all, I must say a word of the honey itself. This, of course, is useful, and we keep bees, in a great measure, for its sake. You like it; it is pleasant to the taste. In olden days, and, indeed, until something like four hundred years ago, it was invaluable as the great substitute for sugar. Virgil speaks of its use:And then, in those days gone by, several beverages, and some fermented drinks, were largely made of it. Mead is often made with it now. In Russia a drink is made of it of about the same strength as beer, and is an article of regular consumption. It is called 'Mjod.'
But it is as actual food that it is also very useful ; I mean by this that it can not only be used largely in many articles of food, but that it has in itself some of those properties which supply the wants of our bodies.
There is with our bodies a daily wear and tear going on, which soon causes exhaustion, unless they are continually replenished with proper food. And the food we take for this purpose must be of varied kind ; for one description of food, or some portion of that food, supplies a certain class of wants ; and another food, or a part of such food, some of the other wants. No one food by itself, except, perhaps, milk, supplies all the wants of our bodies. Roast beef is good, but no one could live upon it without something else. The body would soon starve, for, although the beef contains some things good for the body, it is wanting in others which are essential. Thus, as I have said, there must be variety in our food.
One of the most important varieties which is necessary to us is sugar. I do not mean only the sugar as you generally eat it, but the sugar which, although you do not know it, is contained in many things which you eat. A great deal of this important sugar is contained in honey, and is there present in a form which makes it especially useful to the body, giving it heat and energy, and acting as a most useful stimulant. It supplies, in short, some fuel to that fire of which I spoke in a previous chapter. We could, of course, no more live upon honey than we could upon beef, but, as a variety of food, it is thus most useful ; and may be made to enter most advantageously, as well as agreeably, into the manufacture of a great number of articles of food.
Then, again, speaking of the usefulness of bees, they are very useful because of the wax which they make. Wax is a most important product, and is put to many uses.
Formerly many hundreds of tons of it were used to make candles, and some is even now thus used. In Spain bees are kept in some parts almost entirely to provide wax for tapers used in the Roman Catholic churches. In Russia,also, only such candles as are made of pure bees-wax are used in the churches. But since so many kinds of cheap oil have been discovered, and gas has come so extensively into use, bees-wax has been in most countries, in great measure, superseded.
It is still, however, much used for other purposes, such as polishing and cleaning, and as an ingredient in some articles of manufacture. A vast quantity is also now used in making that comb-foundation which is so invaluable in modern bee-keeping. The wax is thus given back to the bees, and is used over and over again for the purpose of fresh comb.
And not only honey and wax, but even propolis has some use as a product of the bees. It is extensively used in Russia for lacquer-work. It is also said to make an excellent glue for some fabrics for which ordinary glue does not answer.
And here, while dwelling on the uses of bees and their products, I may tell an amusing story of a very unusual, but ingenious, use to which some bees were put on one occasion many years ago in Austria.
For some reason there was a great uproar in a certain town, and a very angry mob collected, surrounding the house of the chief inhabitant. They threatened violence. They would not listen to reason. They were about to attack the house. No time was to be lost, but no help was at hand. What could be done? Both house and owner were in danger. But a happy thought, and just in time, occurred to the latter. He called his servants, and told them to run and bring him his hives of bees as quick as possible. And these at once, with all his force, he threw amongst the crowd. You may imagine how the bees rushed out, and began to attack everyone near. At all events, it fully answered the purpose, and far better, and quicker, than any good advice. It was more than the crowd could stand, and in a few minutes they fled, scattering here and there, to escape, if possible, the stings of the countless and enraged insects.
But leaving all such uses of bees, we must pass now to the consideration of that part of the subject of which I wish to speak more particularly, and which, when understood, shows that the bees are not only the most wonderful, but the most useful, of insects.
## Chapter Xl.
Flowers in relation to Rees and other insects.
Of course you know that bees could not exist without flowers ; but do you know that many flowers could not exist without bees?
Now it is this that I want to show you. I want you to have some idea of the great truth, that bees are quite as useful to the flowers as the flowers are to the bees, and that, if it were not for the bees, a great many flowers would altogether die away, and a great deal of what is beautiful around us would be quite changed in appearance. And further than this, many of our valuable fruit-bearing trees would, without bees, almost cease to give us any crop at all. They might flower, but they would not bear fruit. This seems a great deal to say, but it is quite true. In order in any way to understand it, you must, however, first know a little of the construction of a flower, and what a flower requires.
What, then, is a flower made of? What are its parts? There are, of course, numberless forms of construction. Nothing varies more than the form, colour, and appearance of flowers ; but if we take them to pieces, we shall find in all, to some extent, the same parts, each designed for its own proper purpose.
Suppose, for instance, we take the flower of a cherry-tree. Pick it carefully to pieces, and you will find that you can separate it into many parts, all ofwhich have names. I will not, however, now trouble you with all these names, but some of them you must remember in order to understand what I am going to say about bees and flowers.
Well, first of all, take away the white outer leaves of the flower, which are called _petals_. When they are removed, you have in your hand a small, solid-looking centre, from the middle of which springs up a thread-like little stalk, which, remember, is called the _pistil_.
Take notice of this pistil, and examine into its origin, and you will find that it leads down to a receptacle called the _seed-vessel_, in which is situated the very tiny thing which, when the time comes, will grow into a seed, and ripen ready for another year. At the upper end of the pistil there is a sticky substance called the _stiguna_.
But now look again at the flower, and around the pistil you will see several other fine, thin stalks called _stanne_, having at their upper ends not a sticky substance like the stigma, but a very small, oval-shaped head, which, when the time comes, and it is ripe, will develope into a small packet of the finest possible dust, which is the _pollen_ of which you have heard so much.
This is the simplest arrangement. You will understand it by looking at the first of the following illustrations, which is that of a cherry blossom cut in half. You will see the same in rather a different form in the apple blossom, and the same in another simple form in the buttercup.
And now, whatever the plant, or the construction of its flower, you must always remember this most important fact--the great law of life in all flowering plants--that before that tiny little beginning of a seed, of which I spoke, can come to perfection, and \(\cdot\)be a ripe seed, _some small portion of the fine pollen-dust from the end of a stanueu must fall, or be placed, upon the stigma of the pistil._ Unless this happens, the flower fades and falls, and no fruit or seed follows. When it does take place, then the great object of the flower is attained. The flower is 'fertilised,' as it is termed, and, in the case of the cherry, just for one instance, the flower gives place, after a time, to the luscious fruit, which' encases the stone, which, in its turn, is the hard, protecting case of the kernel or true seed. In the first condition of the flower this kernel, or true seed, was the tiny thing of which I spoke, situated at the lower end of the pistil.
We must now, however, proceed a step further, and take notice of this, that before any such result can come from the pollen being placed upon the pistil, it is necessary that both the pollen and the pitstil should be ripe at the same time. There is, in fact, just one right time, and no other, when that which is necessary can take place.
If it happens in a flower that both the pollen-bearing stamens and the stigma-bearing pitstil are ripe at the same time, and there is no peculiarity of construction in the flower to prevent it (although there very often is), the process is easy. The wind, perhaps, shakes the flower, and a little of the pollen-dust is blown on to the pistil, and, since the stigma is sticky, adheres to it, and nothing more is needed. Nature does the rest.
But with a great many flowers the process is not so easy. Nature, indeed, for a most wise purpose, puts various difficulties in the way. For instance, the fine pollen dust of some flowers is so constituted as to be of no use to the pistil of its own flower,--although both may be ripe together, and may come in contact, --but can only fulfil its purpose when carried to an other flower, or, in some cases, to another plant of the same species. It is so remarkably with the common primrose. Again, in a great number of flowers, the stamens are not ripe at the same time as the pistil. In some the stamens are ripe first, and shed all their pollen, and then afterwards the pistil appears, and holds up its head ready for pollen, which now its own flower cannot give it. In other cases the pistil is ripe first, but cannot get pollen from its own flower, as the stamens are not as yet in a sufficiently forward state.
Here is a meadow geranium. When, first of all, the stamens are ripe the pistil is not ready. You sec this condition in Fig. 1. After all the pollen has been shed the stamens die away, and the pistil appears as you see it in Fig. 2.
As another example, we have the wood sage. In Fig. 1 you see the stamens standing forward, and the pistil behind, not yet ready for pollen. Afterwards, when the pollen has been shed, the stamens bend down, of no more use, and the pistil stands erect, ready for the pollen from some other flower, as you see in Fig. 2. When the bee visits the first flower, it does not touch the pistil, but only the stamens and pollen. In the second stage it only touches the ripe pistil.
Again, in other flowers, although stamens and pistil are mature together, the pistil is so situated, at the time, that it cannot get the pollen belonging to its own flower.
Again, some plants'have two kinds of flowers, the one kind with only the stamens, and the other with only the pistil.
And, once more, of some kinds of flowers, one whole plant will have only stamen-bearing flowers, and another none but pistil-bearing flowers.
So that, as I said, there seems to be all kinds of difficulties,--and there are many more than I have mentioned,--in the way 'of getting pollen to its appointed place; and yet it must get there.
What is the way out of the difficulty? Nature has made the difficulty, how does nature provide for it to be overcome?
Well, first of all, you must remember that, although in any one flower the stamens and pistil may not be mature at the same time, yet that there will certainly be close at hand, perhaps on the same plant, other flowers in which there will be the mature pollen or the mature pistil, as the case may be, or, in fact, just the state of things required, if only the pollen can be carried and placed where it is wanted. If, in any flower we may be looking at, we see that the stamens have died away, and the pistil is ready and ripe, we may be almost sure that, somewhere near, there is a flower which is not in such a forward state, but where only the pollen is ready.
And now, I think the great truth, to which all this leads will already have occurred to you, and when the question is asked,'How can the mature pistil get the mature pollen which it requires?' you are ready with the answer that it is done, not only by the wind, but by the work of bees and other insects, which when they come searching for honey, get the pollen on to their bodies, and so carry it from flower to flower.
Yes, this is the great truth ; and the honey,--which is situated in what is called the 'nectary'of the flower,--is by the wonderful care of Nature so situated (its situation being varied according to the form and situation of the stamens and pistil), that, when a bee gets into the necessary position on, or in the flower, in order to gather the honey, its hairy body must of necessity touch, in the first place, the ripe pollen on the stamens, which at once, like dust, sticks to its hairs, and so is carried away, and then rubbed off again by the ripe pistil of another flower, which,--on account of the position of the nectary, cunningly situated,--cannot fail to touch the body of the bee as it makes an effort to obtain the honey.