BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
WITH the exception of an occasional gathering from honey-dew (to be presently explained), Bees gather the whole of their honey from flowers, and, consequently, where there are no flowers they cannot thrive ; but the term flowers must be taken in a broader sense than meaning such as we cultivate for garden or home decoration. The inconspicuous blossoms of many trees, the wee modest wild flower, scarcely noticed by passers by, furnish abundant pasturage for Bees. Many persons who have lived in the country all their lives are scarcely aware that our noblest forest trees have flowers at all, but from the brave old oak and the wide spreading beech, Bees gather many a pound of honey. An avenue of limes or sycamores, a field of beans or white clover, forms a very El-dorado for the busy Bees, their pleasant hum on the snowy hawthorn, or the sweet smelling "allow" (palm as it is commonly called), is very noticeable when Nature is awakening from the gloomy sleep of winter, and our thoughts and feelings are glad with the prospect of returning summer. Where large heaths abound, the Bees have a second harvest, and it is a common practice in such localities for Bee-keepers to send their lives to the moors for about two months, the trouble and cost being amply repaid by the immense weight of honey brought home which the common - heather yields freely during August and September. In Scotland, and on the Continent, cartloads of hives may be seen travelling to and from the heather. Often on the spot they are looked after by some - resident cottager, who receives a gratuity of about \(1s\). per hive from the propriators of the stocks. In the south of England this practice is not pursued, although - I do not see why it should not be in many places, there being miles of heather equally available as in Scotland. On the Nile there are. Bee barges which travel only at night, stopping in the daytime at any place that affords abundant pasturage for the Bees; and we read in _Pliny_ that this was likewise the practice in Italy in his time. " As soon," says he, " as the spring food for Bees " has failed in the valleys - near our towns, the hives of " Bees are put into boats and carried up against the " stream of the river - in the night, in search of better " pasture; the Bees go out in - the morning in quest of " provisions, and return regularly to their hives in the " boats with the stores they have collected; this method " is continued till the sinking of the boats to a certain " depth in the water shows that the hives are sufficiently " full, - and - they are then carried back to their former " homes, where their honey is taken out of them." And this is still the practice of the Italians who live near the banks of the Po, the river which Pliny instanced particularly in the above quoted passage.
It was the advice of Celsus that after the vernal pastures were consumed, the Bces should be transported to places abounding with autumnal flowers, as was done by conveying the Bces from Achosia to Attiea, from Euboca, and the Cyelad Islands to Seyrus, and also in Sicily where they were brought to Hybla from other parts of the Island.
What portion of our fertile land does not afford sustemance for Bces? Mr. Alfred Neighbour in his work, _The Apiracy_, devotes a chapter to "Bee-keeping in London." Could we cvcr imagine a more unpromising field for honey gathering--London! foggy, smoky London! But think a moment; London has parks, squares, gardens; and each of these has trees, flowers, and shrubs. What matters if the flowcrs be dirty, their nectaries secrete the coveted sweet, and the natural filter of the Bces will clarify it better than any artificial one could do. Only last year, a lady living in Kensington, told me she kept Bees there; they throw well, and had furnished her with a super of fourteen pounds weight! It has been asserted that Bees will fly five or six miles for honey, if a supply nearer home be not obtainable; they may, but such an extreme labour would not allow the stock to thrive. Too much time and muscular strength would be consumed in making the journey. The great duger to Bces in town is their liability to be tempted into shops, such as grocers, confefioners, &e., where they get bewildered, fly to the window, and, in vain, attempt to penetrate the glass, they die. Brewerics are also fatal places, the swcct wort attracting numbers who perish by drowning.
Most Bee-keepers have a garden, and in it can be grown many flowers pleasing to the eye, grateful to the nose, and useful to the Bees. Mignonette, borage, honeyuckle, hyacinth, crocus, laurustinus, lavender, lily, primrose, and many other flowers are visited by Bees, and may all be cultivated with advantage ; the arable fields supply buckwheat, beans, mustard, clover, and luecme, which all give an abundant supply of honey ; and, if we follow America's example, we should sow, when possible, special Bee flowers. Borage has th reputation of being the best of all Bee flowers. It blossoms continually from June till November, and is frequented by Bees, even in moist weather. The honey from it is of superior quality, and an acre would support a large number of stocks.
Dwellers in the country cannot fail to have observed occasionally that the leaves of the trees and shrubs have a gummy appearance, and are sticky to the touch. If a leaf so covered be put to the tongue it will taste sweet ; this is honey-dew, and is a secretion of some species of aphides ejected from their abdomen in little squirting streams. This substance the Bees readily gather, and when it is abundant, make large additions to their stores. It is generally most plentiful in June or July, and is chiefly found on forest and fruit trees, although often on low growing bushes ; at the season of its greatest abundance the pleasant hum of the Bees engaged on it is very audible.
floating in the atmosphere, and which, when finding an appropriate habitat, germinate and produce the disease; probably the foulness of dead larvae provides this condition, and the fungi spores there find the essential condition, as in like manner typhus finds it in squalor, and dirt.
Dr. Schonfeld of Germany, has made a variety of experiments, which tend to prove the correctness of this theory, and I extract the following from a paper, translated by Mr. J. S. Wood :--
" Dr. Dzierzon proposed, by the wish of the editor " (of _Bienen-zeitung_), at the last (Vandreforsamlingen) "Exhibition at Saltsborg, the following question :--
" What is to be looked upon as decided relative to foul
" broad, both as regards theory and practice, and what
" remains now undecided?" But, although he laid all
" his views and his name's influence in the balance in
" favour of the correctness of the Preusziske theory, he
" must still acknowledge that the incontestable proof
" was wanting, as at the conclusion of his answer he
" declared, 'If also the theory brought forward by Dr.
" Preusz should prove correct, yea, even if it is the
" most probable, so is yet the question--cause, the sick
" ness's real nature--even now enveloped in obscurity.'
" Thus we stand in relation to the problem which I
" previously stated :--
" Firstly. It must incontrovertibly be proved that
" the spores of the fungus leave the dried-up foul-broad,
" and they must, inasmuch as they float in the air, be
" able to be caught.
" Secondly. It must next be shown that such fungus
" spores, that are caught in the atmosphere, when placed
" on healthy larvae, can grow and increase to an "uneountable number, until at last they kill the brood, " and so prove themselves the cause of the sickness.
" (I.) When quite a small portion of the wool was " washed in distilled water, and thereafter a drop of " this water placed under a microscope, it showed " a considerable quantity of fungus Microcoeous.
" (2.) If a plug of wool, as large as a pin's head,
" was laid dry on a piece of glass thereafter moistened
" with distilled water, and placed under the microscope,
" the Microcoeous could be seen partly in the water,
" and partly adhering to the threads of wool.
" (3.) If the wool was examined dry it was difficult
" to see the Microooccus, and it could only be seen by aid
" of the strongest lens, and through three objectives.
" (4.) Of gun-cotton, of which I had two plugs,
" which were prepared with water as sub. 1 and 2,
" Microeocci were to be seen in still greater quantities
" than in the ordinary wool, probably because the one
" is finer and better suited to retain the spores.
" Thus, by a practical method, I have solved the
" first part of my problem; and it is without a doubt
" proved, though in an uncqual degree, that the spores
" of the fungus from the dried-up matter escape, and
" are borne away by the atmosphere.
" Therefore there cannot be the slightest doubt of
" the fact, that in consequence of the Bces ventilating
" so strongly as they so often do, that the spores must
" be driven out of a scvcrely infected hive in very large
" quantities.
" When V. Molitor-Muhlfeldt, in order to refute this
" assumption, declares that there is no circulation of air
" in a Bce-hive, but that, owing to the motionless air,
" the spores must sink down, and not pass from cell to * "cell, it sounds almost as if he had no idea of ventilation being caused by the Bees, and as if he had not "read paragraph 111 of Von Berlepsch's _Der Biene_.
* "When Gunther has succeeded in working a small "windmill of paper by placing it at the entrance of a "hive containing a strong stock, then it is evident that "the circulation of air produced in the hive by the "Bees must, in proportion, be a much stronger "hurricane for these light spores than any such hurricane Von Molitor-Muhfeldt has witnessed on the "earth. And when the same opponent declares on the "whole that the atmosphere cannot be the bearer of "the infection, so has that invalid assertion been so "thoroughly refuted by Dr. Ulde, of Halle, that I will "not waste a word on the subject.
* "It is quite certain that it is not over all, and at all "times, that the atmosphere will contain such a "quantity of seed-germs; and Dr. Preusz goes too far "when he declares that the atmosphere is _everywhere "loaded_ with these germs. If such was the case, fouling- " brood infection would appear in every district where "there are Bee-keepers; but there can be shown many "districts where this disease is quite unknown; as "in my district, up to the present time, it has not " appeared.
* "I certainly succeeded in producing a whole comb of "dead rotten, and stinking brood; but although I ex- "perimented with this comb in the most various ways, "placed it at the fly-hole at the open door, and exposed "to the sun's warmth and the atmospheric currents "about my parilion, I, after examination, found no "more fungus than Fischer, who never had anything "to do with foul-brood.
"_Where there is no fungus present, there can never "_" arise infectious foul-broad._
"_Hercwith we have approached nearer to the "_" solution of the second part of my problem.
"_It next requires to show and afterwards to prove "_" that pure fungus collected from the atmosphere by "_"_ means of the cotton wool, has the power to kill larvae, "_"_ and by so doing cause foul-broad. To do this, I "_"_ took, on the 30th of July, a comb with brood from a "_"_ first swarm, brushed off all the Bces, and covered "_"_ about one hundred larvae with wool, which was made "_"_ fast by means of some thread. The comb was hardly "_"_ replaced again before the Bees attacked the wool, "_"_ and commenced casting it out in small pieces. On "_"_ examination of the comb on the 1st of August, it "_"_ showed that all the larvae that had bccn covered with "_" the wool were cleared away by the Bees. Three larvae "_"_ above the previously covered cells died shortly after "_"_ the Bees had sealed the cells which they were in. "_"_ The cell-covers were sunk, and the well-known small "_"_ hole was in the centre.
"_After this, about one hundred other larvae were "_"_ covered with wool ; but again, as also a third time, "_"_ the larvae and wool were torn out. I had nearly lost my "_"_ patience, and I had only now two plugs and one of the "_"_ squares left, which should be used for other experiments.
"_I now, rather anxiously, for a fourth time, covered "_"_ a brood-comb, and this time, fortunately, the Bees "_"_ let most of the brood remain in the cells. After an "_"_ interval of four days, scvcn larvae died. An instantaneous and conseicntious examination, by aid of the "_"_ microscope, revealed the presence in their bodies of "_"_ immense numbers of Microococci.
"Unfortunately, I was obliged now, on the 12th of "August, to defer my experiments, as I could not "postpone for a longer time a Bath tour on which I "should have started at the beginning of the month. "I forgot now to slide in a wire netting to prevent "those larvae that remained being torn out by the "Bees, but on my arrival at home from the Baths I "found all in the best order.
"Still the fact that Micrococcus possesses an enormous power of infection, and that it also attachs "itself to perfectly healthy brood until it kills them, "cannot longer be denied. As incomplete (which I myself acknowledge) as the above proof turned out, " owing to the scantiness of matcri that I had at my " disposal, and the haste with which I was compelled " to operate, as strikingly and as unrefutably have I "succeeded by another process to prove it.
"As I at once saw beforehand that under the circumstances before mentioned, and the well-known "strong propensity of every strong hive of Bees to "remove as quickly as possible every sickly or dead "larva from the hive, it would be extremely difficult " to arrive at a complete and satisfactory result, so the "idea occurred to me to try the experiment of infection on the larvae of other insects, which it would " be possible to observe without obstruction.
"As specially adapted for the purpose of this experiment, it occurred to me that the larvae of the "blow-fly would be the best, as these larvae especially " possess an extraordinary vitality, that, notwithstanding its voraciousness, it suffers hunger and " thirst, and in defiance of its nudity, can withstand "cold and heat most astonishingly; and besides the " above, this insect resembles the Bee in its develop-" ment, insomuch as it is as larva fourteen days," and it is as pupa about the same length of time." I could, without difficulty, procure and nourish these " larvae, and, what at that time was of most importance," I could take them with me to Johannishath, and" there comfortably observe them under the ordeal." I, therefore, on the 11th of August, laid a juicy " piece of meat in the window, and a fly of metallic " lustre, desirous of laying, soon deposited a heap of" eggs on it. The next day about one hundred were " hatched, and these grew with their well-known " rapidity. The second day of my stay at Johannis-" bath, to where, of course, besides these larvae, I " brought my microscope, some of the wool that " contained the fungus, and also a few bell-glasses," under which latter I placed three separate sets of " larvae." The first and second had each ten, and the third " the remaining larvae. The larva under the first " bell-glass on the same day, together with the meat " which was their resort, were covered with wool. Six " days after this the larva attained their normal size," and this without my being able to detect the slightest " unhealthiness; on the same ten larvae, under the " same bell-glass, and on the top of the wool, I laid a " fresh piece of meat, which, together with the wool," was well saturated and smeared with the exerement " of the larvae." Two days afterwards, seven of the larvae were " dead ; some lay on their backs, others on their sides," but all were stretched out. The others lived and " transformed after one, two, or three days' interval.
"A very careful microseopical examination the next "day of a dead larva showed that the whole surface of "its body was covered with Microcoeci. I might wash "any portion of the larvae and examine the water ; I " might place the minutest piece of skin under the "objective and then moisten it, but always the same "result--Microcoeci in innumerable numbers.
"As the remaining six larvae soon decomposed, three "of them were dried on a piece of wadding so that "they could at a later date be used for experiments of "the same kind. Again, two were examined while "decomposing, and were found full of uncountable "Microcoeci ; and these last were spread on a piece of "meat and given as food to the ten larvae in the "second bell-glass, which, up to this time, had not "shown signs of transformation. While we for the "present leave these ten unfortunate victims to their "fate, let us turn to the three pupae, which, to all "appearance, fortunately have transformed, and whose "cocooons gradually get of a darker colour.
"Our first closer examination convinced us that they "were dead, as the cocoons here and there were sunken "in. Two of them that I cut out of the middle in the "direction of the length revealed such large quantities "of Microcoeci fungi, that they, without a doubt, must "be acknowledged as the cause of their death.
"The third pupa, like the three before mentioned "larvae, was reserved for future experiments.
"When I to the above add the ten larvae from the "second bell-glass died before transformation, after a "few days' interval, being the result of having eaten "their fungus--containing sisters--that one larvae that "I examined before its death already contained an "' enormous amount of fungi, and that all the others "after death proved to be full of fungi inwardly--more "especially in the intestines--while the larva in the "third glass transformed and came into existnce as "flics, that I for many days bcnt over the microscope, "and had examined more than a hundred pieces; so "there can be no longer doubt of the fact that Micro-"coceus also infects perfectly healthy larvae, and in the "end kills them.
"This result, willingly and without opposition, will "be accepted by the scientific, as there is nothing to "find therein that is opposed to experience or research.
"Herr Molitor Muhlfeldt rightly enough declares in "answer to my earlier articles, that no fungus-spores "can take root on the undamaged skin of healthy " animals, because the main principle--the suitable "underlayer--is only found when the animal is un-"healthy, or when about and unnoticeably has already " begun to decompose or dissolve; and this assertion "does not allow of scientific proof. And even if it were "correct, Dr. Preusz's theory is by no means refuted "thereby, or even threatened, as in reality every larva " that is seized by infection, finds itself in an extremely "sickly state, which may be traced to another cause.
"In general, the larva dies soon after the cell is "closed, and before it envelops itself as a pupa; during "the time that the larva changes itself to a pupa; not "alone the skin of the larva decomposes, but the larva, "certainly as the result of the natural metamorphosis, "finds itself in a sickly condition, and is to every "deadly attack peculiarly and specially adapted for "infection.
"We could, therefore, if we might allow Muhlfeldt's
dic, then is created just the nidus requisite for the Microcoecus to flourish.
Whatcvr the cause of foul-brood, I now proceed to say how its prescence may be known. If the apiary has been long unproductive, the Bocs showing no energy or increase in their numbers, but, on the contrary, dwindling, _suspect foul-brood_ ; if extensively prescnt, the combs will give out a bad odour like stinking animal matter, as indeed it is, and on examining the combs they will be found hcrc and there black on the surface, with the cells having their caps somcwhat concave with minute perforations ; on removal of the caps the cells will be found to contain a foul smcling sticky scmi-liquid coffee-coloured mass, which may be drawn out into threads like heated glue ; the dead larvae may also be found in all lesser stages of decomposition. Other cells will be found in which the liquid has dried, leaving at the bottom a mass containing the highly infectious fungus spores experimented with by Dr. Schonberg. Should the Microcoecus theory be correct, it will easily be imagined how every comb, Bec, and drop of honey in a foul-brood hive, becomes a centre of infection, spreading the disease far and near. If we at any time discover in the combs dead and rotting larvae, excise the whole comb, or at any rate such portions as contain the foul cells. If the disease has not made much progress, it may be thus stopped, but the combs should receive a thorough examination frequently, to see if any more work for the knife appear. It will be perceived from Dr. Schonberg's experiment that the disease in its wet state is not contagious, although this is denied by some eminent Apariarians. Supposing, however, it is found that the combs are in a bad state of disease, half measures will not do ; there remains nothing but total destruction of the combs and honey, as well as the hives, if they are not valuable ; straw hives should on no account be kept, and wooden hives, floor boards, &c., must be thoroughly disinfected by boiling or painting with carbonic acid or other disinfect. The destruction as advised should be by burning, for if any piece of comb, &c., is left about, and be visited by a Bee, she carries home, perhaps, the germ of further trouble. The Becs may be saved thus : Let them be driven, or by other means taken out of the hive and confined in a straw skcp with plenty of ventilation for two days, the act of driving will have induced evcry Bee to fill herself with honey from her old home ; this, if allowed to be deposited in a new hive, would probably communicate the disease to the new combs, but by keeping the Bees confined for the time mentioned, all the honey will be consumed, and the risk of infection considerably lessened. After the quarantine has expired, transfer the Bees again to a clean hive ; if they carried infection away from home they will probably leave it in the temporary hive, which, to be on the safe side, should be also destroyed.
Honey that is found in an infected hive should on no account be given to other Becs, and as it comes from an atmosphere of putridity, is not fit for human consumption ; so is much better consigned to the flames with the combs, &c. Foul-brood is often introduced into a hive by feeding the Bees on foreign honey, which is not seldom infected with it.
One cause of the dwindling of a foul-broody stock is the constant reduction of the number of breeding cells, for when a larva dies it is simply left to rot in its cell, which, of course, becomes useless, and the number of these cells may be so increased that the poor Queen cannot find sufficient for her eggs.