BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
"The cultivation of honey-bees is of remote antiquity. The Bee was regarded as the emblem of royalty with the ancient Egyptians, and Bees have been held in the highest estech by all nations, whether barabrous or civilized; yet the united experience of ancients and moderns has never hitherto led to the happy results, which, by a connected series of experiments, patient research, and logical induction, have in twelve years been achieved by Mr. Nutt. In the course of his observation he saw, not only that the destruction of the Bees was barabrous in the extreme, but that this cruclty was equally subversive of the crops of honey; his inquiries were hence directed to find how this destructive system could be exchanged for a conservative one. In this he has completely succeeded, and by preserving the Bees has been enabled to increase their produce many-fold, and that too, in a far more salutary and improved quality. It is equal even to the samples usually obtained from young hives, called virgin honey, which is scarce, dear, and seldom to be had genuine.
"Owing to the want of knowledge on the subject, the consequent impurities, and the great price of foreign honey, together with the adulterations practised, the use of this valuable article has been nearly abandoned in this country, whether as an article of the material media or of domestic economy ; and for the reasons just stated, the preparations of honey have even been expunged from the Edinburgh Pharmacopcia. From the recent improvement, however, by the gentleman just mentioned, we have reason to hope its use will be restored in a condition vastly improved, and that at a great reduction in price, the facilities of production being greatly enhanced, and such as to render it in time available to all classes of society.
" Pure honey was justly considered by the ancients to possess the most valuable balsanie and pectoral properties--as a lenitive, eco-protic, and detergent ; and it is well known to dissolve viscid phlegm and promote expectation. As a medium for other remedies, it is in its pure state far superior to sirups, as being less liable to run into the acetous fermentation. It appears that honey procured on Mr. Nutt's plan is not excelled by the finest and most costly sampl\(cute{
m s}\)s from the continent, as that of Minorca, Narbonne, or Montpelier. The various impurities and extraneous matter usually contained in honey, cause it in many cases to produce griping pains, or uneasy sensations in the stomach and bowels ; this however has no such effect, unless it be taken to an imprudent extent.
"Purehoney, though in its ultimate elements similar to refined sugar, yet differs considerably in its physiological effects on the body, being a _lenitive, aperient,_ or general laxative, and hence incomparably more beneficial in coistive habits. It has in a dietetic or medicinal point of view been recommended in gravel or calculous complaints ; of this however I have no knowledge, but its utility in asthma I have experienced in my own person as well as in others ; as also as an efficacious remedy in hooping cough, taken with antinomial wine, eanphor, and opiun. For sedentary persons and those troubled with constipation of the bowels, there is no dietetic or medicinal substance so useful as pure honey, whether taken in drink or with bread and butter, &c. It is well known as a detergent of full sores, and I have often found it to succeed in healing deep-scated sinuous or fistulous ulcers, and thus to obviate the necessity of surgical operations.
"In South America and amongst the Spaniards, honey is considered as one of the best detergents for sloughing sores and foul ulcerations ; so it was formerly in Europe. Its uses in a surgical point of view have in this country long been lost sight of. Its detergent power is such, that it was formerly denominated a _regetable soap_, as we may see in the older writers. It is still made the basis of _cosmetics_, and this empirical practice goes to prove its efficacy--to those at least who have experienced its effects in cleansing and healing sinuous ulcers, its stimulating property producing with the sanitary adhesive inflammation. A species of wine made from honey; called metheglin and mead--the _mulsum_ of the ancients--was formerly much in use in this country, and most deservedly so from its pleasant taste and salutary properties. By the perfection of honey, this may now be obtained no doubt of equal excellence here, and a rich mellifluous species of wine of the most wholesome kind will be acquired, and open a new source of national industry.
**"It has been said, that where the air is clear and hot, honey is better than where it is variable and cold, and this seems to have served as an apology for the inferiority of much of the honey contained in this country. It is a position, which I am persuaded is not well-founded; for the honey in hot climates, notwithstanding the fragrance of the flowers, is mostly inferior to the commonest samples produced here. This inferiority, however, may be entirely owing to the difference in the Bees--for I speak here of the wild or native honey--anditis probable that the _apis mellifica_ might, in South America on Mr. Nutt's plan, produce the best of honey, and in very great abundance, because it would there work all the year, and the product therefore would be greatly increased.
"I have seen honey taken in the forests of South America from several different species of Bees; they were always destitute of a sting, although entomologists consider it as one of the generic characters of _apis_. It is also singular that their wax is always _black_, or dark brown, although the pollen of the flowers, which is said to give colour, is equally yellow as in this country. Bees obtain honey from most kinds of flowers, but appear in general to prefer the labiati or lip flowers, as those of sage, majoran, nint, thymne, lavender, &c.
Mr. Nutt, in the course of his observation, has noticed the curious fact, that the nectar or honey obtained from different plants is carefully deposited by the Bees in separate cells, or at least that the nectar from different _genera_ of plants is kept distinct. It appears indeed, that the produce of the flowers is classed by them, and arranged with a precision not inferior to that of the most accurate botani. What but a hand Divine could guide those little insects thus to mock the boasted power of human reason! This consideration too, coupled with our own interests, should operate as a powerful argument in favour of Mr. Nutt's new conservative system of management, and against the reckless destruction of the Bees. Mr. Nutt has already been patronised by the Royal Family and several of the "nobility, and no doubt his plan will be adopted by all persons of intelligence, who engage in this pursuit, whether for profit, or the most rational amusement."
When I first entered into my apiarian pursuits, I felt convinced of the great and profitable extent to which they might be carried ; and of this I have been all along since confirmed as success has crowned my efforts. If I could demonstrate--and I have repeatedly demonstrated--how much honey might be in
## Chapter II.
bee-boxes and management of bees in them.
The schemes and contrivances, and ways and means, to which apiarians have had recourse, in order to deprive Bees of their honey, without at the same time destroying their lives, have been various, and some of them ingenious; but hitherto not one of them has been crowned with the desired success. The leaf-hives of Dunbar and of Huber--Huish's hives with cross-bars,--the piling of hive upon hive, or box upon box, called storifying, strongly advocated by Dr. Bevan, and practised by him and his disciples--and several other contrivances, have all had this great object in view,--have all had their patrons and admirers,--have all had fair trials,--but have, notwithstanding, all failed of fully accomplishing it.
Whether my inventions may merit and may meet with a similar, or with a better fate, it is not for me to predict--time will show,--I think I may safely say--_time has shoven._ I feel warranted, however, in asserting of my COLLATERAL BOX-HIVE, which I am now about to explain,--of my INVERTED HIVE, and of my OBSERVATORY HIVE, of which in their proper places minute descriptions will be given,--I feel, I say, warranted in asserting, that these--my inventions--possess such conveniences and accommodations both for Bees and Bee-masters, that the pure treasure stored in them by those industrious, little insects, may at any time be abstracted from them, not only without destroying the Bees, but without injuring them in the least, or even inconncoding their labours by the operation; that they afford accommodations to the Bees which greatly accelerate the progress of their labours in the summer-season;--and that the Bees never leave them in disgust, as it were, as they not unfrequently _do leave_ other hives, after being deprived of their stores; but, as if nothing had happened to them, continue day by day to accumulate fresh treasures, the quantity of which in good seasons has astonished many strangers and friends who have visited my apiary, and not only the quantity, but the quality also.
That my boxes do not admit of improvement is more than I assert; but having worked them successfully for upwards of twenty years, and knowing that many other persons, following my directions, have succeeded with them as well as myself, and far beyond their utmost expectations, I do flatter myself that the _principle_ of managing Bces according to my plan is right.
The engraings here presented to my readers exhibit a set of my collateral Bee-boxes open, and every compartment exposed to view, especially to the view and for the examination of experienced workmen. I make use of the word_experienced,_because better the boxes are made, the more certain will the apiarian be of success in the management of his Bees in them.
There has been great difference of opinion as to the most suitable dimensions for Bee-boxes. I approve of and recommend those which are from eleven to twelve inches square inside, and ten inches deep in the clear.
The best wood for them is by some said to be red cedar; the chief grounds of preference of which wood are--its effects in keeping moths out of the boxes, and its being a bad conductor of heat. But of whatever kind of wood Bee-boxes are made, it should be well seasoned, perfectly sound, and free from what carpenters term _shakes._ Good, sound, red deal answers the purpose very well, and is the sort of wood of which most of my boxes have been made hitherto. The sides of the boxes, particularly the front sides, should be at the least an inch and a half in thickness ; for the ends, top,and back part, good deal one inch thick is sufficiently substantial; the ends, that form the interior divisions and openings, must be of quarter-inch stuff, well dressed off, so that when the boxes and the dividing tins are closed, that is, when they are all placed together, the two adjoining ends should not exceed three-eighths of an inch in thickness. These ends, the bars of which should be exactly parallel with each other, form a communication with, or a division from, the end-boxes, as the case may require, which is very important to the Bees, and by which the said boxes can be immediately divided without injuring any part of the combs, or incommoding, and, as it were, bird-liming the Bees with the liquid honey, which so frequently annoys and destroys numbers of them, by extracting their combs from piled or storified boxes.
This is not the only advantage my boxes possess: the receptacles or frame-work for the ventilators, which appear upon each of the end boxes,--the one with the cover off, the other with it on--should be four inches square, with a perforated, flat tin of nearly the same size, and in the middle of that tin must be a round hole, to correspond with the hole through the top of the box, and in the centre of the frame-work just mentioned, an inch in diameter, to admit the perforated, cylindrical,tin ventilator, nine inches long. This flat tin should have a smooth piece of wood made to fit it closely, and to cover the frame-work just mentioned, so as to carry off the wet; then placing this cover over the square, perforated tin, your box will be secure from the action of wind and rain. The perforated cylinder serves both for a ventilator, and also for a secure and convenient receptacle for a thermometer, at any time when it is necessary to ascertain the temperature of the box into which the cylinder is inserted. Within this frame-work, and so that the perforated, flat tin already described may completely cover them, at each corner make a hole with a three-cighths centre-bit through the top of the box. These four small holes materially assist the ventilation, and are, in fact, an essential part of it.
We next come to the long floor, on which the three Bee-boxes, (A. C. C.), which constitute a _set_, stand collaterally. This floor is the strong top of a long, shallow box, made for the express purpose of supporting the three Bee-boxes, and must, of course, be superficially of such dimensions as those boxes, when placed collaterally, require ; or, if the Bee-boxes project the eighth part of an inch over the ends and back of this floor-box, so much the better, because in that case the rain or wet, that may at any time fall upon them, will drain off the better. For ornament, as much as for use, this floor is made to project about two inches in front ; but this projection should be sloped, or made an inclined plane, so as to carry off the wet from the front of the boxes. To the centre of this projecting front, and on a plane with the edge of the part cut away for the entrance of the Bees into the middle-box, is attached the alighting-board, which consists of a piece of planed board, six inches by three, having the two outward corners rounded off a little. The passage from this alighting board into the middle-box, (not seen in the plate, it being at the centre of the side not shown) is cut, not out of the edge of the box, _but out of the floor-board,_ and should be not less than four inches in length, and about half an inch in depth ; or so as to make a clear half-inch way under the edge of the box for the Bee-passage. I recommend this as preferable to a cut in the edge of the box,--because, being upon an inclined plane, if at any time the wet should be driven into the pavilion by a stormy wind, it would soon drain out, and the floor become dry ; whereas, if the entrance-passage be cut out of the box, the rain that may, and at times will, be drifted in, will be kept in, and the floor be wet for days, and perhaps for weeks, and be very detrimental to the Bees. In depth the floor-box, measured from outside to outside, should be four inches, so that, if made of three fourths inch deal, there may be left for the depth of the box-part full two inches and a half. Internally it is divided into three equal compartments, being one under each Bee-box : admission to these compartments or under-boxes is by the drawer and drawer-fronts, or blocks, which will be described presently.
The bottom, or open edge of each of the boxes, (A. C. C.) should be well planed, and made so even and square that they will sit closely and firmly upon the aforesaid floor, and be as air-tight as a good workman can make them, or, technically expressed, _be a dead fit_ all round. In the floor board are made three small openings, _i. e._ one near the back of each box: These openings are of a semi-lunar shape, (though any other shape would do as well) the straight side of which should not exceed three inches in length, and will be most convenient if made parallel with the back-edge of the box, and about an inch from it. They are covered by perforated, or by close tinslides, as the circumstances of your apiary may require. The drawer (G.) the front of which appears under the middle box, is of great importance, because it affords one of the greatest accommodations to the Bees in the middle-box. In this drawer is placed, when necessity requires it, a tin made to fit it, and in that tin, another thin frame covered with book-muslin, or other fine strainer, which floats on the liquid deposited for the sustenance of the Bees. Here, then, we have a feeding apparatus, conveniently situated, in the immediate vicinity of the mother-hive, so as not to admit the cold or the robbers to annoy the Bees. When you close the drawer thus prepared with Bee-food, you must draw out the tin placed over the opening already described, which will make for the Bees a way to their food in the drawer beneath. The heat of the hive follows the Bees into the feeding apartment, which soon becomes of _nearly_ the same temperature as their native hive. Herethe Bces feed in the utmost security, and in _nearly_ the temperature of their native domi-cil. Under such favorable circumstances it is an idle excuse, not to say--a want of humanity, to suffer Bees to die for want of attention to proper feeding.
I now come to notice the use of the block-fronts on each side of the feeding-drawer, marked G. These two block-fronts answer many good purposes, and furnish the apiarian with several practical advantages: first, in the facility they afford of adding numbers to the establishment, as occasion may sonetimes require, which is done without the least inconvenience or trouble to the apiarian, and without the least resentment from the native Bees; second, in affording to the Bees a place of egress when you are taking from them either of the end-boxes ; third, in the effectual and beautiful guard they furnish against robbers; for instead of the solid block, seen in the plate, a safety-block (of which a description will be given presently) may be substituted, which is so contrived that ten thousand Bees can with ease leave their prison and their stores in the possession of the humane apiarian, without the possible chance of a single intruder forcing its entrance to rob the box or to annoy the operator. Perhaps this is the most pleasing part, and the most happy convenience attached to the boxes. Its origin was this : Whilst explaining to some gentlemen at the National Repository the method to be pursued in the management of Bees in a set of collateral-boxes,--and, in particular, the manner of taking off a box of honey, it was objected--that, on removing the block-front and withdrawing the tin that opens a communication into the box above, though a passage would thereby be opened for the imprisoned Bees by which to make their escape, it would at the same time afford an opening and an opportunity--may, be a sort of invitation for the Bees of other hives,--for strange Bees and robbers to get in, annoy, and destroy the native Bees, then subdued by having been imprisoned, and to plunder and carry away their treasures.
This objection, to persons unskilled in Beematters, may, I grant, appear to be plausible--may, reasonable: but every \(practical\,a\,i\,a\,i\,a\), who has taken off end-boxes of honey, knows very well that there is not the least danger to be apprehended from robbers or marauders during the short time that the liberated, native Bees are hurrying away as fast as they can get.
I have never witnessed any thing like an attempt to besiege and rob a box so situated. Were, however, the communication to be left open for any considerable time after the Bees have departed, I have no doubt that, if not discovered by Bees belonging to other hives, it (the vacated box) would be re-entered by its own Bees, and by them be soon entirely emptied of its honey. Nothing, however, but down-right carelessness on the part of the operator, will ever subject a box of honey to a visitation of this description. But, notwithstanding the conviction in _my_ mind that the above-stated objection is _in fact_ groundless, I set my wits to work to answer it in a way more satisfactory to the highly respectable persons who raised it, and, if by any means I could, to obviate it entirely. It did not cost me much mental labour to invent--\(a\)_safety-block,--_nor does it require much manual labour to make one.
A safety-block must be made to fit the place of the common block, and may be cut out of a piece of half-inch deal board, having one side planed off so as to leave the bottom-edge less than one-fourth of an inch in thickness; then with a three-cighths-inch centre-bit cut as near the lower, that is--the thin edge, as you can, a row of holes. Ten holes in a length of six inches will allow a convenient space between each hole. Next, over each of these small holes, suspend a piece of talc, cut of a proper size for the purpose, by a thread, and make that thread fast round a small brass nail above. The talc, which is a mineral substance as transparent as glass, and much lighter, and on that account much better than glass, thus suspended over each hole, is easily lifted and passed by Bees from within, but is heavy enough to fall again as soon as a Bee has madeits exit, and forms an effectual bar or block against the entrance of Bees from the outside. A block of this description may be had for a trifling expense, and is recommended to all such inexperienced and timid--timid because inexperienced--apiarians, as are apprehensive of being annoyed by intruders when they are taking off a box of honey. Though this safety-block rather impedes the escape of the Bees, it has nevertheless a pretty appearance when it is neatly made,--and it is amusing enough to see the busy little creatures pushing open first one little door and then another, popping out their heads, and then wingingtheir flight to the entrance of the middle-box. After all, though it certainly is a complete _safety-block_, and was invented to obviate a groundless objection, it is more an article of curiosity than of real usefulness.
Lastly, I have to notice the security which the under-box or fiance gives to the stability of the three upper boxes,--the firmness with which it supports them,--and the dry and comfortable way in which the Bees by it are enabled to discharge their dead, and other superfluidities of the colony, without their being exposed to the cold atmosphere of an autunnal or a spring morning.
The octagon-box marked H, is a covering for the bell-glass, marked B, which is placed on the middle-box, or seat of nature. It matters not of what shape this covering is, because any covering over the glass will answer the same purpose, provided the under-board of it is large enough to cover the two joinings between the middle and end-boxes, and to throw off the wet. I choose an octagon because of the neatness of its appearance.
In endeavouring to recommend these Beesboxes as worthy of general adoption, in order to succeed in my object, it is undoubtedly necessary that the parts and construction of then, and of every thing pertaining to them, be fully explained and clearly understood : I therefore proceed to give another view of them.
In the former plate they are exhibited as open, or detached and apart from each other: in the following one they are represented as closed and standing together, as when stocked with Bees, and in full operation in an apiary : in both it is the bael of the boxes that is presented. With the exception of the alighting-board, the front is quite plain, being without window-shutters in the boxes, and without drawer or block-fronts in the under-board.
In this plate the engraver has made the floor-box to extend beyond the ends of the C. C. boxes; but, as has already been observed, and for the reason before given, it is better that the floor-box be made so that those (C. C.) boxes project a little over the ends and also over the back of the floor.
EXplanation of the references to the different parts of a set of collateral-boxes.
A. is the pavilion, or middle-box, which may be most easily stocked by a swarm of Bees, just as a cottage-live is stocked.
B. is the bell-glass in the first plate,--in the second, it only points to the place where the glass stands.
C. C. are the collateral, or end-boxes.