The Project Gutenberg EBook of Humanity to Honey-Bees, by Thomas Nutt This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: Humanity to Honey-Bees or, Practical Directions for the Management of Honey-Bees Upon an Improved and Humane Plan, by Which the Lives of Bees May Be Preserved Author: Thomas Nutt Release Date: November 4, 2018 [EBook #58229] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUMANITY TO HONEY-BEES *** Produced by Tom Cosmas Thomas Nutt: Humanity to Honey-Bees « i » Principio sedes Apibus statioque petenda, —— Virgil. Click on image above to view larger sized. HUMANITY TO HONEY-BEES: OR, PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF HONEY-BEES UPON AN IMPROVED AND HUMANE PLAN, BY WHICH THE LIVES OF BEES MAY BE PRESERVED, AND ABUNDANCE OF HONEY OF A SUPERIOR QUALITY MAY BE OBTAINED, BY THOMAS NUTT. —— Vos non vobis mellificatis Apes: Sic ———————————————— Virgil. SECOND EDITION. WISBECH: PRINTED BY H. AND J. LEACH, FOR THE AUTHOR, OF WHOM IT MAY BE HAD AT MOULTON-CHAPEL, OR AT 131, HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON. SOLD ALSO BY LONGMAN AND CO. PATERNOSTER-ROW, LONDON. Price Ten Shillings, 1834. ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL. Also may be had on application to my agent, Mr. G. Neighbour, 131, High Holborn, near Southampton Street, London, honey taken on the principles here specified, with hives stocked with bees, or unstocked. All letters must be post paid to the author. DEDICATION, BY PERMISSION, TO HER MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY, QUEEN ADELAIDE MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY, To pen a dedication skilfully is generally the most difficult part of an Author's task; but a dedication to ROYALTY is so delicate a matter, that I almost tremble for the success of my undertaking—tremble lest I should fail to express myself dutifully, gratefully, properly; though I am not without hope that your Majesty's goodness will graciously extend to the Author that degree of indulgence of which he is sensible he stands so much in need, especially as nothing unbecoming a dutiful subject to write, or improper for a gracious Sovereign to read, is intended to be here expressed. As, however, every colony of Bees, wherever domiciled, whether in a box, or in a cottage-hive, in the roof of a house, or in the trunk of a hollow-tree, is under an admirable government, the presiding head and Sovereign of which is a QUEEN,—as no colony of Bees, deprived of its QUEEN, ever prospers, or long survives such loss,—as this insect government, or government of insects, exhibits to man the most perfect pattern of devoted attachment, and of true allegiance on the part of the subject Bees to their Sovereign, and of industry, ingenuity, prosperity, and apparently of general happiness in their well-ordered state,—and as these most curious and valuable little creatures have hitherto been most cruelly treated—have been, and still are, annually sacrificed by millions, for the sake of their sweet treasure; I do feel a pleasure, and think there is a sort of analogical propriety, in dedicating to your Gracious Majesty this work, the leading feature of which is—Humanity to Honey-Bees. Under your Majesty's fostering and influential Patronage, I cannot but anticipate that this object will be essentially promoted, and that the management of Bees, in this country at least, will not hereafter reflect disgrace upon their owners. In this pleasing hope, I humbly beg to subscribe myself, YOUR MAJESTY's most dutiful and most grateful Subject and Servant, THOMAS NUTT. Moulton-Chapel, Lincolnshire, Nov. 27th, 1832. PREFACE. Could I disarm criticism as easily as I can deprive Bees of their power to sting, this would be the proper place to do so; though I am doubtful whether it would be well-judged in me, or to my advantage, to stay the critics' pen. But, possessing no such talismanic power, I shall adventure my little book into the world, without any attempt to conciliate the critics' good-will, or to provoke their animosity, conscious that from fair criticism I have nothing to fear. That I shall be attacked by those apiarians who are wedded to their own theories and systems, however faulty, is no more than I expect: of them, I trust, I have nowhere spoken disparagingly; towards none of them do I entertain unkindly feelings— far otherwise. Their number, I am led to believe, is not formidable; and as gentlemen, and fellow-labourers in the same work of humanity, their more extensive learning will hardly be brought to bear against me with rancour and violence. « ii » « iii » « iv » « v » « vi » « vii » « viii » Should any one of them, or of any other class of writers, so far degrade himself, I shall have the advantage of the following preliminary observation, viz. that one set of my collateral-boxes, placed in a favourable situation, and duly and properly attended to, for one season only, will outweigh all the learning and arguments that can be adduced against my Bee-practice,—will be proof positive, visible, tangible, that there is in my pretensions something more than empty boast. Luckily for me, there are plenty of those proofs to be met with in the country, and there are some— several, not far from town; they are at Blackheath, at Kensington, at Clapham, and at other places. As hundreds of the Nobility and Gentry of this country will recollect, there was one of these incontrovertible proofs of the truth of what I am stating, exhibited for several weeks at the National Repository last autumn, where it was seen, examined, admired, and, I may without any exaggeration add, universally approved. Practice, which has resulted from more than ten years' experience in the management of an apiary, and from innumerable experiments, carried on, and a hundred times repeated, during that period, is what I ground the utility of my discoveries upon. To theory I lay no claim. Born and brought up in the fens of Lincolnshire, where I have spent the greater part of my life amidst difficulties, misfortunes, and hardships, of which I will not here complain, though I am still smarting under the effects of some of them, my pretensions to learning are but small: for, though sent to the respectable Grammar School at Horncastle in my boyhood, my education was not extended beyond writing, arithmetic, and merchants' accompts. As soon as it was thought that I had acquired a competent knowledge of these useful branches of education, it was my lot to be bound apprentice to learn the trades and mysteries of grocer, draper, and tallow-chandler. Whilst endeavouring to gain an honest livelihood as a grocer and draper, at Moulton-Chapel, in 1822, I was afflicted with a severe illness, which, after long-protracted suffering, left me as helpless as a child, the natural use and strength of my limbs being gone; and, though supported by and tottering between my crutches, it was a long time before I was able to crawl into my garden. Fatigued and exhausted with the exercise of journeying the length of a garden-walk of no great extent, it was my custom to rest my wearied limbs upon a bench placed near my Bees. Seated on that bench, I used to while away the lingering hours as best I could, ruminating now on this subject, now on that, just as my fancy chanced to fix. Among other things my Bees one day caught my attention: I watched their busy movements,—their activity pleased me,—their humming noise long- listened to became music to my ears, and I often fancied that I heard it afterwards when I was away from them. In short, I became fond of them and of their company, and visited them as often as the weather and my feebleness would permit. When kept from them a day or two, I felt uneasy, and less comfortable than when I could get to them. The swarming season arrived; and with it ideas took possession of my mind which had not until then possessed it:—I conceived that swarming was an act more of necessity than of choice,—that as such it was an evil; but how to provide a remedy for it—how to prevent it—was a problem that then puzzled me. I studied it for a long time, and to very little purpose. The old-fashioned method of eking did not by any means satisfy my mind; it might answer the purpose for one season, but how to proceed the next did not appear. Then the time for taking honey was approaching: to get at that treasure without destroying my little friends that had collected it, and that had, moreover, so often soothed me in my sorrow and my sufferings, was another problem that long engaged my mind. After some years' unremitted attention to my Bees, for I had formed a sort of attachment to them during the first stage of my convalescence, which never left me, an accident aided my studies by directing my attention to the effects of ventilation, as will be found related in the body of this work, and I began to make experiments, which being repeated, varied, improved, and then gone through again, have gradually led to the development of my improved mode of Bee-management, attempted to be explained in the following pages. At the time I have been speaking of, I had not read one single book on Bees; nor had I then one in my possession. Whatever my practice may be, it has resulted from my own unaided experience and discoveries. To books I am not indebted for any part of it: nay, had I begun to attempt to improve the system of Bee-management by books, I verily believe, I never should have improved it at all, nor have made one useful discovery. The Bees themselves have been my instructors. After I had so far succeeded as to have from my apiary glasses and boxes of honey of a superior quality, to exhibit at the National Repository, where, with grateful thanks to the Managers of that Institution for their kindness to me, I was encouraged to persevere, Bee-books in profusion were presented to me, some of them by friends with names, some by friends whose names I have yet to learn. I have read them all: but nowhere find, in any of them, clear, practical directions, how honey of the very purest quality, and in more considerable quantity than by any of the plans heretofore proposed, may be taken from Bees, without recourse to any suffocation whatever, or any other violent means;—how all the Bees may be preserved uninjured;—and how swarming may be prevented. These are the grand features in my plan; and minute directions for the accomplishment of these most desirable objects are laid down in this book. I by no means maintain that my system of Bee-management is incapable of improvement; but I do think that the principles upon which it is founded are right,—that the foundation is here properly laid,—and that every apiarian, who may hereafter conform to, or improve upon, my practice, will be instrumental in contributing a part towards raising the superstructure—namely—an asylum or sanctuary for Honey-Bees. I cannot close this preface without acknowledging myself to be under the greatest obligations to the Rev. T. Clark, of Gedney-Hill. But for his assistance the following work would not have made its appearance in its present form; if indeed it had appeared at all. He has revised, corrected, connected, and arranged the materials of which it is composed; and he has, moreover, gratuitously added much that is original and valuable from his own rich stores of knowledge. To him I am indebted for the selection of the Latin mottos. As an apiarian he is one of my most improved and skilful pupils, and bids fair to become an ornament to the science of Bee-management. As a mechanic he is ingenious enough to make his own Bee-boxes, and has actually made some of the very best I have yet seen. To his « ix » « x » « xi » « xii » « xiii » « xiv » knowledge of mechanics it is owing that the description and explanation of each of the different boxes, of all the other parts of my Bee-machinery, and of my observatory-hive, in particular, are more detailed, clearer, and more intelligible than they would have been in my hands. As a scholar there are passages in the following work that afford no mean specimen of his abilities. I have only to regret that the reward for the pains he has taken with it must be my thanks—that it is not in my power to remunerate him for his kind labours more substantially than by this public acknowledgement of the obligations I am under, and of my sense of the debt of gratitude that is due to him. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. "Out of print," though a somewhat laconic, might be a not inappropriate preface to this second edition, and of itself a quaint apology for its appearance. Out of print is certainly exhilarating news to the author anxious for the success of a work inculcating a new system of Bee-management, in which not only is his reputation as an apiarian involved and evolved, but, it may be, the very means of his subsistence are bound up in it; the oftener therefore he hears the bibliopolist expression—out of print—the more animating and welcome it becomes; because its reiteration can hardly fail to be considered by him an indication that the demand for his book continues.—that his system is progressing,—or, at any rate, that either curiosity respecting it, or some higher and more laudable motive, is still existent in the public mind. Thus cheered on, thus, as it were, encored, it has become his duty to the public no less than to himself to proceed forthwith to the publication of a new edition. Previously, however, to stating what alterations, emendations, &c. have been introduced in order to render the work, as far as I am yet able to render it, worthy a continuance of public patronage, I consider it to be my duty to record my grateful thanks for the success and encouragement I have already received. To the scientific and literary press, and to the several gentlemen of scientific attainments connected therewith, who, by their influence and kind professional assistance, and promptitude in the furtherance of my interest, have greatly contributed to my success, my best thanks are due, and are hereby respectfully tendered: amongst these I have sincere pleasure in particularizing Dr. Birkbeck—the talented President of the London Mechanics' Institution,—Dr. Hancock—Fellow of the Medico-Botanical Society—a veteran of high and esteemed attainments,—and Mr. Booth— the popular Lecturer on Chemistry—a young man of first-rate abilities. To J. C. London—the erudite editor of the Gardeners' Magazine,—to E. J. Robertson, Esq.—the able and ingenious editor of the Mechanics' Magazine,—to Richard Newcomb—the editor and publisher of the Stamford Mercury,—and to the several editors of the Metropolitan and Provincial Press, who have made favourable mention of my labours, my public thanks are justly due,—and particularly to the editor of the Cambridge Quarterly Review, for a highly commendatory notice of my work, evidently written by a practical apiarian, and with competent knowledge of his subject, which appeared in No. 3 of that Review, published in March 1834. Also to my long-tried, worthy Friend— George Neighbour—it is gratifying to me to have this opportunity of offering my sincere thanks for his valuable services in my behalf;—and to the conductors of those excellent and useful institutions—the National Gallery of Practical Science, Adelaide Street,—and the Museum of National Manufactures, Leicester Square, London, I gratefully acknowledge myself to be under no slight obligations for the advantageous opportunities which I have there possessed of extending the knowledge of my system, and of exhibiting, year after year, to thousands of visitors, the products of my apiary. With the view of making "The Humane Management of Honey-Bees" more interesting, the dialogue, which formed the introductory chapter in the first edition, has been withdrawn, and in its place have been substituted some valuable remarks of Dr. Birkbeck, Dr. Hancock, and Mr. Booth, respecting Bees, honey, wax, &c. of course the first chapter is new; as is chapter X. giving an account of the apiary of the Most Noble the Marquess of Blandford, at Delabere Park, which can hardly fail of being interesting to every reader: it is principally from the able pen of Mr. Booth. Chapter XVIII. on Apiarian Societies, is new also. And, besides these three entire chapters, not short paragraphs merely, but whole pages of new matter have been introduced interspersedly by my most respected friend—the Rev. T. Clark, of Gedney-Hill, who has revised, corrected, and re-arranged the whole; and who has not only bestowed much time and pains upon the improvement of my work, but in the kindest and most disinterested manner has, in superintending this and the former edition through the press, actually travelled upwards of eight hundred miles. The friendly performer of services so generous, so laborious, and so perseveringly attended to, without any stipulation for fee or reward, merits from me, and has from me, every expression of my gratitude, and, were it in my power, should have one expression more. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Chapter Page I.Introductory Matters 1 « xiv » « xv » « xvi » « xvii » « xviii » « xix » « xx » « xxi » II.Bee-Boxes and Management of Bees in them 14 III.Ventilation 49 IV.Thermometer 58 V.On Driving Bees 90 VI.Inverted-Hive 96 VII.Observatory-Hive 107 ——Mode of Stocking an Observatory-Hive 119 VIII.Fumigation 121 IX.Objections against Piling Boxes 135 X.Apiary at Delabere Park 149 XI.Honey-Bees 156 ——For the Sting of a Bee 171 XII.Impregnation of the Queen-Bee 175 XIII.Supernumerary Queens 181 XIV.Bee-Feeding 190 ——Bee-Food 200 XV.Catalogue of Bee-Flowers, &c. 206 XVI.Honey-Comb 211 ——Bees' Wax 232 XVII.Winter Situation for Bees 237 XVIII.Apiarian Societies 246 XIX.Miscellaneous Directions 253 INDEX TO THE ENGRAVINGS. Frontispiece, to face title. Page Octagonal-Cover for the Pavilion 16 Collateral-Boxes apart 17 Ditto closed. 29 Inverted-Hive 100 Observatory-Hive 109 Ditto with additions 118 Fumigator 123 Tower at Delabere to face 149 The Three Bees 157 Honey-Comb 213 MANAGEMENT OF BEES. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY MATTERS. The object of the generality of persons who keep Bees, is—profit: and that profit might be indefinitely augmented were Bees properly managed, and their lives preserved—were the still extensively-practised, cruel, and destructive system superseded by a conservative one. Some few there may be in the higher ranks of life, who cultivate bees from motives of curiosity—for the gratification of witnessing and examining the formation and progress of their ingenious and most beautiful works, and with a view to study the instinct, habits, propensities, peculiarities, or, in one word, the nature, of these wonderful, little insects, in order to improve their condition, and to gain additional knowledge respecting their natural history, hitherto, it must be confessed, enveloped in much uncertainty, and very imperfectly understood. To this class of Bee-masters and Bee-friends the system of management to be explained in the following pages, will, it is hoped, unfold discoveries and impart facilities and improvements hitherto unknown in apiarian science. And they, whose sole object in keeping Bees is profit, may derive incalculable advantage from conforming to the mode of management, and strictly attending to the practical directions hereinafter to be detailed: because as their profits are expected to arise principally from honey and wax, it evidently must be for their interest to know how to obtain those valuable Bee- « xxii » « 1 » « 2 » productions in their purest state and in the greatest quantity. The quantity obtained in a good honey-year (viz. 1826) from a well-stocked and exceedingly prosperous colony—still in existence, and still flourishing, (i. e. in 1834) was so considerable, and so far beyond anything ever realized from a common straw-hive colony, that my statements respecting it have been doubted by some, and totally discredited by others, unacquainted with my (I trust I may say) improved system of Bee-management. With respect to the purity of the honey taken according to my plan, and the general properties and medical virtues, and, of course, value of honey when pure, I have much pleasure in being enabled to submit to the reader the opinions of my scientific friends—Dr. Birkbeck, Mr. Abraham Booth, Lecturer on Chemistry, and Dr. Hancock; because their opinions may safely be considered as unimpeachable authority on this subject, viz. the uses and medical virtues of pure honey. In some observations on the effect of the temperature of Bee-hives on the quality of honey, published in a scientific journal, Mr. Booth observes—"notwithstanding the adequate justice which has been done to Mr. Nutt's improved and admirable system of Bee-management, there is one point which does not appear to have elicited much attention—the superiority in quality both of the honey and the wax. It does not appear to me that the whole of this superiority consists in freedom from extraneous animal or vegetable matters, a point of very great importance, however, as its dietetic purposes are concerned; but that it greatly depends upon the modified degree of temperature at which the Bees effect their labours, and which is insufficient to produce any chemical changes in the constitution of these substances; whereas under the old system, the continued high temperature of the hive is sufficient to induce those changes which impart the colour that so materially deteriorates the quality as well as the value of the products. From Mr. Nutt's hives we obtain pure honey, as it is actually secreted by the Bee, which cannot be ensured by any other mode of management." To my very intelligent friend and patron, Dr. Birkbeck, whose uniform liberality and kindness, from the infancy of my pursuits, I have reason to appreciate, I am indebted for introducing this subject in a Lecture[A] at the London Institution, Moorfields, on the application of the oxy-hydrogen light to illustrate the economy and structure of the insect world. In the course of his observations, on referring to the tongue of the Bee, the learned Doctor made copious allusions to my system, and the advantages which would in his view result from its general extension. He observed that "so small is the supply that we derive from the labours of Bees in this country, that the production of wax does not even more than equal its consumption in the simple article of lip-salve. Under this improved system, we may however hope that the advantages of Bee-management may be more generally diffused throughout the kingdom,—that Bee-hives will be multiplied, and that the choicest flowers of the field and forest will no longer 'waste their sweetness in the desert air.' In a dietetic point of view, it is of great importance that a saccharine, secreted by one of the most beautiful processes of nature, should be substituted for one produced by the most imperfect and complicated process of art, whilst the more salutary properties of the former would recommend it as far more eligible for use. He could not but hope that, in this view the system would soon receive that extension in practice to which its merits fitted it."[B] Delivered April 23d 1334. Dr. Birkbeck related the following instance of the power of recognition possessed by Bees to myself and Mr. Booth, which I cannot suffer to pass unnoticed. When a boy, he was accustomed to cover his hand with honey, and go to the front of one of the hives in his father's garden. His hand was soon covered by the Bees, banquetting on the proffered sweets, and the whole of it was speedily removed. The Bees appeared to recognize the learned Doctor ever afterwards when he appeared in the garden, his hand being always surrounded by them in expectation of there finding their accustomed boon. Some very important observations on honey, in a medical point of view, are those which were contained in a paper written by my very learned and valued friend, Dr. Hancock, and read before the Medico-Botanical Society at their sitting November 26th 1833.[C] For a copy of the first edition of this work, with specimens of honey, &c. the author received the thanks of the Society; and he has since been honoured with a diploma, which constitutes him a corresponding member thereof. An abstract of this important paper[D] I shall communicate for the information of my readers. An abstract of the paper was published in the Lancet and several other journals. "The great objects which recommend Mr. Nutt's plan, consist in the great improvement in quality and augmentation of honey produced, and that without destroying the Bees—a discovery equally creditable to Mr. Nutt, as a man of benevolent mind, and to his industry and indefatigable research. "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 esteem by all nations, whether barbarous 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 barbarous in the extreme, but that this cruelty 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. « 3 » « 4 » « 5 » [A] [B] « 6 » [C] [D] « 7 » "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 materia medica or of domestic economy; and for the reasons just stated, the preparations of honey have even been expunged from the Edinburgh Pharmacopeia. 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 balsamic and pectoral properties— as a lenitive, ecoprotic, and detergent; and it is well-known to dissolve viscid phlegm and promote expectoration. 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 samples 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. "Pure honey, though in its ultimate elements similar to refined sugar, yet differs considerably in its physiological effects on the body, being a lenitive, aperient or gentle laxative, and hence incomparably more beneficial in costive 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 antimonial wine, camphor, arid opium. 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 foul sores, and I have often found it to succeed in healing deep-seated 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 vegetable 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 withal 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—and it is 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, marjoram, mint, thyme, 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 botanist. What but a hand Divine could guide these 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 increased in quantity, its superior quality also struck me as a point of no less importance; and in this I am now most satisfactorily confirmed by the sanction of those scientific friends whose valuable opinions have been above quoted. With alacrity and pleasure I will therefore proceed, without further introduction, to give a description of my Bee-boxes, and other hives, and of all my Bee-machinery,—and directions for the proper construction of them,—and also for the proper ordering and management of Bees in them. « 8 » « 9 » « 10 » « 11 » « 12 » « 13 » 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 hive with cross-bars,—the piling of hive upon hive, or box upon box, (called storifying), 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 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 incommoding 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 has astonished the beholders, 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 most successfully for many years, and knowing that several other persons, following my directions, have succeeded with them as well as myself, and far beyond their most sanguine expectations, I do flatter myself that the principle of managing Bees after my plan is right. « 14 » « 15 » « 16 » « 17 » The plates 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 the 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 some 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 nine or 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 half-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 five-eighths of an inch in thickness. These communication-ends, the bars of which should be exactly parallel with each other, form a communication, or a division, 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 deluging the Bees with the liquid honey, which so frequently annoys them, by extracting their sweets from the 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—must 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, cylinder, tin ventilator, nine inches long. This flat tin must have a smooth piece of wood well-made to fit it closely, and to cover the frame-work just mentioned, so as to carry the wet off it, 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-eighths 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 square 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 completely. For ornament, as much as for use, this floor is made to project about two inches in front; but this projection must 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 pavilion, 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 pavilion, (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 « 18 » « 19 » « 20 » « 21 » « 22 » 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 for 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 tin-slides, 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 boxes. In this drawer is placed, if necessity require 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, you have a feeder, containing the prepared sweet, in the immediate vicinity of the mother-hive, and without admitting 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 semi-lunar aperture, which will open to 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 the temperature of their native-hive. Here the Bees banquet on the proffered boon in the utmost security, and in the temperature of their native domicile. Under such favourable circumstances it is an idle excuse, not to say—a want of humanity, to suffer your 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 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 about to take from them one 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 sweets in the possession of the humane apiarian, without the possible chance of a single intruder forcing its entrance to rob the magazine or to annoy the apiarian. Perhaps this is the most pleasing part, and the most happy convenience attached to the boxes. Its origin was this: Whilst explaining to some scientific 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 to get away, it would at the same time afford an opening and an opportunity—nay, 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 Bee-matters, may, I grant, appear to be plausible—nay, reasonable: but every practical apiarian, who has taken off two or three 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-eighths-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 of silk, and make that thread fast round a tiny 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 made its 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 beautiful, little creatures pushing open first one little trap-door and then another, popping out their heads, and then winging their flight to the entrance of the pavilion. « 22 » « 23 » « 24 » « 25 » « 26 » « 27 » « 28 » 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 frame 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 superfluities of the colony, without their being exposed to the cold atmosphere of an autumn 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 wide enough to cover the divisional openings, and to throw off the wet. I choose an octagon because of the neatness of its appearance. In endeavouring to recommend these Bee-boxes as worthy of general adoption, in order to succeed in my object, it is undoubtedly necessary that the parts and construction of them, 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 back 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 and 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-hive 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 two end-boxes. D. D. are neat moulding...