BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
When quantities of foundation are made something of the nature of a turn-table will be found very useful. This is simply a board fastened to the top of a table or stand by a screw in the centre, round which it revolves. It should be large enough to leave room all round the sheet for the guide wheel of the cutter; and is moved a quarter of a turn after each cut, thus doing away with the necessity of walking round the board to cut the four sides or to shift the pack of sheets.
The trimmed sheets are lifted in a body, and put into packs of not more than 5 lbs., with a straight board between the packs, so that the sheets may set perfectly straight and even.
When comb foundation is kept over through the winter it will sometimes become somewhat brittle, and show a whitish film on the surface. By exposing it for a short period to the rays of the sun, or to mild heat from a stove, this film will disappear, and the sheets become pliable again.
## Xxiii.--The Use of Comb-foundation.
Comb-foundation is the base or midrib of the combs in the frames of the modern bee-hive. It consists of a thin sheet of beeswax impressed on both sides with the shape of the basis of the cells of honey-comb, and is supplied to the bees with the object of obtaining a larger yield of honey than would be possible were they allowed to build their combs in their own way. The better results obtained by the use of full sheets of comb-foundation, instead of a comb-guide or narrow strip of embossed wax, are due to three factors :-r. A stronger force of worker bees and very few drones. 2. The faster building of the combs for brood and the storage of honey. 3. Stronger and straighter combs.
## 1 Stronger Colonies
By the use of full sheets of comb-foundation, the number of worker bees is greatly increased, and the number of drones reduced to a minimum, and as the former are producers and the latter consumers only, the profits of bee-keeping depend to a very large extent upon the ratio of worker bees to drones, and this is best regulated by the prevention of the building of drone-comb. The combs built by bees consist of two kinds of cells, one 1-5 inch in diameter, and known as worker cells, the other \(\frac{1}{4}\) inch, called drone cells, the former being the cradle of the worker bee, the latter that of the drone.
In a state of nature a large percentage of the comb consists of drone cells, and immense numbers of drones are raised, a provision of nature to insure the fertilization of the queen from one hive by a drone from another colony, which, when bees are in their wild state, is often a considerable distance away. In the meeting of the sexes, which always takes place in the air often a considerable distance from the hives, a further safeguard against inbreeding is the aversion of the young queen to drones which come from her own hive, and have the same family odour. When a number of colonies occur close together, as in an apairy, the necessity of large numbers of drones ceases, as a limited number are always raised in each hive. Notwithstanding all efforts to suppress their production, the aggregate number is quite sufficient under the conditions of closer proximity of colonies.
A sheet of foundation is embossed with the pattern of worker comb, 25 cells to the square inch, and as the inside dimensions of a standard frame are 17 inches by 8 inches, there are 3,400 cells on each sire, a total of 6,800. Making a liberal allowance of cells for the storage of honey and pollen around the brood, a comb of all worker cells produces fully 4,500 worker bees (1 lb. live weight) in one generation, while the same comb, but composed of drone cells, would, with the same allowance for
Figure 1: Comb Built from Starter, Nearly all Drone Cells.
storage cells, produce 2,900 drones. The amount of food and labour necessary for the raising of +,500 workers is probably the same as for 2,900 drones, but while the workers, from a few days after hatching onwards, engage in productive work, the drones remain consumers to the end.
Further, the presence of large numbers of drones in the hive stimulates the swarming impulse of bees by causing crowding of the brood combs and that condition of the colony which precedes swarming. It will be seen from the above that the use of all worker combs not only increases the amount of surplus honey, but also counteracts in a large measure the swarming propensity of bees. Under certain conditions, which will be death with later on, the use of starters instead of full sheets is not only permissible but even advisable.
#### 2. Faster Comb-building
Apart from the advantages of using full sheets of foundation enumerated above, the saving of the time of the bees by the quicker building of the combs and the consequent greater and earlier storing of surplus honey will amply repay the extra cost of foundation.
Up to a few years ago it was assumed that when given full sheets of foundation the bees used no wax of their own secretion and wasted that which they secrete involuntarily when swarming, while quite recently the prevention of the exercise of one of their natural functions, the secretion of wax, has been held responsible for impaired vitality and consequent predisposition to disease. Experiments have shown, however, that no wax is wasted, and wax secretion not interfered with. A sheet of foundation of the grade generally used weighs 2 ozs., while the finished comb built from it weighs 3\(\frac{1}{2}\) to 4 ozs., showing that an equal or nearly equal quantity of wax of their own secretion was added by the bees. In another experiment, when foundation of a different colour to that of the wax secreted by the bees was used, a cross-section of the resulting comb showed that nearly one-half of the total was newly-sected wax.
As half the wax composing the combs is given to the bees and the other half secreted by them, it follows that without any interference with their natural functions, double the amount of comb is produced in a given time, thus bringing the colony much sooner into the condition for storing surplus
Figure 2: Comb from Full Sheet of Foundation, all Worker Cells.
boney. The speed of comb-building is also accelerated by the larger surface to work upon presented by full sheets as compared to combs from starters.
## 3 Stronger and Straighter Combs
The importance of good combs for the raising of brood as well as for extracting cannot be overestimated. Even under the most favorable conditions, the combs built from starters are rarely equal to those from full sheets for either purpose. To get the full benefit of the frame-hive system, all combs should be interchangeable without in any way interfering with their utility. This result can only be obtained when the combs are perfectly straight. The correct spacing of the brood combs is \(1\over 8\) inch from centre to centre ; this distance is necessary to allow of all the cells being used for brood, even when the combs are quite straight. When crooked combs are interchanged, the projecting portions prevent that part of the adjoining comb immediately opposite being occupied by brood. This also occurs in combs adjoining drone-brood. To get the maximum number of worker bees reared in the combs of the brood chamber, they should not only be of all worker cells, but also perfectly straight.
When the surplus honey is taken by means of the extractor, and the empty combs returned to the hive to be refilled by the bees over and over again, straight combs are not only much easier to uncap, but suffer less damage in the process than crooked combs, particularly those built from starters, while much time is saved to the operator in uncapping and to the bees in repairing damaged combs. Combs built from full sheets of foundation are also less liable to melt and break down in hot weather, owing to the stronger midrid in the comb and the fastening to the bottom bar of the frame, and no bee-keeper should use starters except under conditions as set forth below.
_Worker Comb from Starters_.
To get worker comb built from starters, it is necessary to understand the factors governing comb-building. Worker comb is built so long as cells are required by the queen to deposit worker eggs in ; under all other conditions more or less drone comb is produced. The production of worker cells, therefore, depends upon the rate of egg-production by the queen and the absence of worker comb already built. The ideal condition is that of
Figure 3: Comb Showing Cells Sealed by the Bees.
a newly-hived swarm with a prolific queen. If the queen is defective in laying owing to age or lack of vigour, and cannot keep pace with the comb-builders, drone comb will be built. The same result will occur when the bees from the first-haid eggs hatch out before the combs completely fill the frames. As soon as bees hatch out, the queen again deposits eggs in the wells, neglecting the new comb which is in course of construction, and thus causing the building of drone cells. After having lived a swarm on a set of frames with starters, and allowed them to work for four or five days, some of the frames in which little or no work has been done should 'be removed, and the number thus reduced to what they are likely to fill with comb in the first three weeks after hiving. This rule also applies to colonies which have been shaken down, that is, deprived of their combs, on account of leuthhood. Once bees begin to hatch from the new combs, it is extremely difficult to get further worker combs built from starters, except by removing all the combs but one or two, a procedure better left alone, as it would tend to run the colony down to a very small one. Additional worker combs are best secured by frames with full sheets of foundation given either above or alongside the existing combs.
In a good district with a fair honey flow on, large swarms with vigorous queens may fill a section super with honey while building their brood combs from starters, but a queen-exluder should be used between sections and frames. Such favorable conditions do not often obtain, however, and most bee-keepers prefer to hive their swarms on drawn combs of the previous season, and when these combs are occupied, put a set of frames with full sheets on top to get combs for the next season and for extracting purposes. Once two or three sets of combs for each colony are in existence, there is no necessity for further comb-building, as colonies can be kept fully occupied by extracting the combs whenever they are ready for it and returning them to be refilled, while all the wax secreted is required for the capping of the full combs.
It should be understood that the less drone comb there is in a hive, the more likely will drone comb be built when starters are given to an established hive between finished combs. Such a comb is shown in Fig. 1 of the illustrations. Fig. 2 is an unsealed comb built on a full sheet of foundation. Fig. 3 a comb completely sealed over, and Fig. 4 capped combs in half-depth or shallow frames.
Figure 4: Two Shallow Frames of Sealed Comb.
## XXIV.--Water for Bees.
Few beekeepers are aware what amount of water is required by a colony of bees during the summer months, and how important it is that a permanent supply should be available within a reasonably short distance of an apiary. As a general rule, bees are left to themselves to get their supply of water wherever they can. There is usually a natural water-course, dam, or waterhole somewhere in the neighbourhood, and if permanent and within a few hundred yards of the apiary, such sources answer well enough. When, however, water is not permanently available within a quarter of a mile, it is greatly to the advantage of the apiarist to provide an artificial supply as near the apiary as convenient. I do not think that the time occupied by the bees in carrying water over a longer distance need be seriously considered, but the greater liability of being caught by birds and insects, blown down during strong winds, or caught in rain-squalls during the longer journey is a serious matter. At the margins of dams and water-holes hundreds of bees are often destroyed within a few minutes by cattle or horses stamping them into the mud or swamping them through the plunging of the animals into the water. Where many bees are kept, and the water supply is limited, they become a nuisance to stock, and sometimes a source of ill-feeling between neighbours in consequence. Bees are also very annoying about the apiarist's own home, round water-taps, tanks, and the drinking dishes of poultry, when the weather is hot, and any other supply of water rather far from the apiary. The writer was confronted with all the troubles enumerated when first establishing his apiary in its present location ; an automatic artificial supply close to the apiary has overcome these difficulties, and has now been working continuously for fourteen years without a hitch.
The water is obtained from the roof of the honey house and stored in two tanks of 1,000 gallons each. An iron water-pipe, laid underground (18 inches deep) so as to keep it cool in summer, conducts the water to the drinking troughs, which are at a distance of about too feet from the building, and the same distance from the nearest hives. This distance is necessary, otherwise the bees, when flying to and from the water, interfere with work in the apiary, and also cause confusion at swarming time. There are two drinking troughs ; they are placed on a stand at a height of 3 feet from the ground, in order to prevent poultry going to them, and to keep drifting leaves and other material out as much as possible. Each trough measures 36 inches x 24 inches inside, with a depth of 6 inches, and consists of a frame made of 6 x 8 white Baltic flooring boards, with a bottom of 6 x 12 lining boards. It is lined with plain galvanized iron, No. 26 gauge, neatly fitted inside the wooden casing, to which it is secured at the top with fine tacks. It is better to have two or even three of such troughs instead of a large one of the same surface area as the two or three combined. If only one large trough is used the bees are too much concentrated, and a good deal of fighting and stinging takes place occasionally. It is, therefore, better to have several troughs a little distance apart, and if they are placed on the same level and connected by means of a piece of garden hose attached to a stud at the bottom of each, one stand pipe, with automatic tap, will supply them all. On the top of each trough floats a raft, upon which the bees might to drink, and it is so constructed that they cannot drown, and even dead bees cannot drop into the water and thus pollute it. The raftis made of slats of \(\frac{1}{2}\)-in. lining boards, \(35\frac{8}{2}\) inches long, \(15\)-\(16\)th inch wide, and \(\frac{1}{2}\) inch thick. The edges on the upper side are planed away at an angle of \(45\) degrees, so that when the slats are placed side by side they form V-shaped gutters, with an opening i-\(16\)th inch wide at the bottom. Twenty-four of these slats are nailed on to three cross-pieces of \(\frac{8}{2}\)-inch flooring board \(23\frac{1}{2}\) inches long and \(z\) inches wide, in such a way that the thin bottom edges of the slats are i-\(15\) inch apart. The raft is then fitted into the trough and dressed till a space of not more than \(\frac{1}{8}\) inch remains all around between the raft and the lining of the trough. To keep the raft always at the proper level, that is, with the water not higher than about \(\frac{1}{8}\) inch between the slats, air-cushions are fastened underneath the raft, one at each end. They are made of light zinc, such as the lining of piano or drapery cases. Fold a piece of this material, cut to the correct dimensions, over a piece of wood \(35\) inches x \(5\) inches x r inch,
solder the joints, and, after withdrawing the board, also the end. It may be tested as to being air-tight by pressing it under water to see whether air-bubbles escape ; if so, there is a leak which has to be re-soldered. In soldering zinc, raw spirits of salt, diluted somewhat with water, should be used, not killed spirits (chloride of zinc); this rule also applies to galvanized iron. The solder-iron should be clean, well faced with solder, and only just hot enough to melt the solder, but not the zinc; this is only possible if the solder is of good quality. If the air-cushions raise the raft too high at first the latter should be weighted down to the proper level by means of small stones evenly distributed, and as the wood becomes saturated with water they may be removed as required. The raft of the trough, which is under the stand-pipe, has an upright iron rod pivoted to it in the centre. This rod connects by means of a hinge-joint with a lever fastened to the head of the water tap, which is screwed into the stand-pipe, so that the cone of the tap is in a horizontal position, and, therefore, lowering the lever will open the tap, and raising close it. No dimensions for rod and lever can be given, as these depend upon the height of the tap above the raft, its distance from the centre of it, and the size and passageway of the tap itself. The measurements and the angle of bend in the tap lever can, however, be easily ascertained. The tap should be completely shut when the raft is within an inch of the top of the trough, but should begin to run as soon as the raft sinks and draws down the lever, when the water level is reduced by the bees drinking.
The accompanying illustration will give a general idea of the arrangement. The troughs shown are of the dimensions stated, and give drinking accommodation for r50 colonies. When the season is very hot and dry, and the colonies strong, a third trough is added by means of a hose connexion, as stated before. The roof of the honey house, with a ground measurement of 2f feet by 18, collects with a rainfall of 20 inches sufficient water for the bees and the ordinary requirement of extracting, &c.
There are many well-timbered areas in Northern Victoria where beee-keeping could be carried on successfully, but which remain vacant owing to the absence of a water supply for the bees. Every beekeeper requires a dwelling and a building for the requirements of his business; if these are constructed in time to get a supply of water for the following season, and if the roof area is sufficient to give the required quantity with the rainfall of the locality selected, there is nothing to prevent some of the waterless, but for beekeping, otherwise excellent country, being utilized.
### **XXV.--Bees and the Fertilization of Flowers.**
To the apiarist who follows bee-keeping for his living, as well as to the amateur who pursues it as a hobby, the better recognition, in recent years, of the bee as an important factor in fruit-growing and seed raising is very gratifying; because as fruit-growers and gardeners become bee-keepers to the extent necessary to success in their occupations, they acquire a knowledge of the habits of the bee, from personal observations, which will do much to remove the last of an antagonism which at one time was very pronounced.
Without going into the subject of bees and ripe fruit, I wish to state emphatically that bees do not injure sound fruit, but will, under the stress of a dearth of nectar, collect the juices of fruit damaged by rain, birds, and insects other than bees. This fact has been proved by numerous experiments in all countries, and by the experience of fruit-growing bee-keepers, and the opinion still held by a few that bees do attack sound fruit is based on superficial observation, the cracks or fine punctures of the skin of fruit escaping notice.
Relation of the Bee to Pollination of Blossoms.
There can be no doubt that insects play a most important part in the life of plants and flowers. Moths and wasps, bees, and many other insects, all assist in carrying the pollen from flower to flower; but of all insects for this purpose the bee is assuredly the most useful. The first object the bee has in visiting a blossom is to collect either nectar or pollen. The nectar is always lower in the flower than the pistil or stamens. In passing through the flower the pollen grains attach themselves to the numerous hairs on the body of the bee, and as the insect flies from flower to flower some of the pollen grains are transferred as the bee brushes against the stigma. The same result occurs when the bee is gathering pollen, a substance which is absolutely necessary to the existence of bee life, as not a single young bee can be reared without pollen.
The usefulness and the importance of this work of the bee can hardly be over-estimated, and successful orchard practice will never result until the work of the bee is recognised practically by the establishment or the temporary locating of bee colonies in or near every orchard.
The failure of fruit blossoms to become pollinated occurs chiefly in early spring and during bad weather. To insure as far as possible the pollination of fruit blossoms under these adverse conditions, it is necessary that the hives of bees should be near the flowering trees, that the bees should be of a race or strain which commences brood-rearing early in spring, so that the gathering of pollen for the needs of the brood is carried on even on cloudy and cold days. As black bees are less sensitive to cold and rain, and commence breeding earlier than Italian bees, the first-named and its crosses with the Italian bee will be found more suitable for the fertilization of early blooms.
Condition of Bee Colonies an Important Factor.
The pollen of flowers is used by bees in the preparation of the food of the young bee larvae, but is not required by adult bees for their own snetanance, which during inactivity consists entirely of honey; further, the time at which brood-rearing commences in spring is, apart from the factor of race, governed by the number of bees a hive contains and the amount of honey present. The stronger a colony is in bees and the richer in stores of honey, the earlier it will start brood-rearing, because considerable numbers clustered together are necessary to produce sufficient animal heat to enable them to rear brood at a time when the temperature is low, and even a large colony will, on the other hand, not start breeding early when short of stored honey. Honey is a good non-conductor of heat, and therefore protects the bees against the influence of the temperature outside the hive, and prevents the loss of animal heat created by the cluster of bees, and absolutely necessary to the rearing of brood. It must also be remembered that the first forage trips of bees early in the season are in search of pollen, not of nectar, and that a colony weak in numbers or short of stores cannot breed early. and does not require pollen. For the purpose of fertilizing early blossoms a strong colony of bees, well supplied with honey of the previous season's gathering, is therefore more effective than a number of weak or half-starved stocks.
Distance of Hives from Trees and Number of Hives Necessary.
The distance to which bees will fly in search of pollen and nectar varies with the season and the weather at time of fruit blossom. On warm sunny days bees will go a mile or more, even in early spring. On cold and cloudy days they do not venture far, and during short snatches of sunshine would probably not visit flowers more than 100 yards distant, if there is no blossom nearer to lead them on.
The bee is guided to the blossom by the sense of smell. When the air current is from the hive to the tree the blossom may not be visited, even though comparatively near, unless the weather is favorable enough for the bee to undertake a circular reconnoitring flight, during which the scent of blossoms is picked up and followed to its source. Whatever may be the guiding sense in the case of other insects, I am convinced that, with the bee, it is that of smell. I have never succeeded in inducing bees to come near artificial flowers which easily deceived the human eye, but can always rely on them finding a drop of honey placed somewhere out of sight.