Fig. 4.—Langstroth hive with two half-depth supers for surplus honey.
There being no patent on the Langstroth hive, and accurately made hives being obtainable at moderate prices from hive factories in various parts of the country, it is taken for granted that the enterprising beginner will adopt a simple form embodying this principle—the loose-fitting, suspended comb frame—as its main feature. The hive should not only be substantially built, but should have accurate bee-spaces and a close-fitting, rain-proof cover or roof. Factory-made hives, as a rule, best meet these requirements, as both lock joints and halved corners can only be made to advantage by machinery, and the expert hive builder understands, of course, the absolute necessity of great accuracy in bee-spaces, as well as the great desirability of good material and workmanship(figs.4,5, and11). Provision should also be made for winter protection. (See pages39-41.)
Fig. 5.—The Langstroth hive—Dadant-Quinby form—cross section showing construction.
For comb honey, hives permitting the insertion in the brood apartment of any number of frames up to eight, or frequently up to ten, are most in use. In securing extracted honey, those with ten to twelve frames in each story are preferable, and as many stories, one above the other, are employed as the strength of the colony and a given harvest may require. A construction, therefore, which readily admits of expansion and of contraction, as occasion demands, is desirable.
Mention should be made of a hive of quite different construction, a prominent feature of which is this ease of contraction and expansion. It is the last hive which the late M. Quinby gave to the public—the Quinby closed-end frame hive (fig. 6). This hive is used with great success by certain American bee keepers of long experience and whose apiaries are among the largest in the world.
Fig. 6.—Quinby closed-end frames.
MANAGEMENT IN SWARMING.
NATURAL SWARMING.
When a swarm is seen issuing or in the air, the best thing to do is, in general, simply to wait a bit. The weather is usually rather warm then, and rushing about to get tin pans, dinner gongs, spraying outfits, etc., aside from its disagreeableness, may get one so excited and into such a perspiration as to unfit him to do with the bees that which is likely to be necessary a few minutes later. The bees will probably gather in a clump on a tree or bush near the apiary, and however formidable getting them into the hive may at first seem, nothing will be simpler than shaking them into their new hive, or into a basket or box, from which they may be poured in front of the hive, just as one would pour out a measure of wheat or beans. If any stick to the basket or box, invert it and give a sharp thump with one edge against the ground. If the hive has been standing in the shade so that the boards composing it are not heated, and if it be now well shaded and plenty of ventilation be given above and below, the bees are almost certain to take possession at once and begin work actively.
The securing of swarms can be made, however, even simpler than this by having the colonies placed several feet apart on a smooth lawn or dooryard and clipping one wing of each laying queen so as to prevent her flying. The prime or first swarm from each hive is accompanied by the old queen, and if she be clipped she will of course fall from the alighting board to the ground and may be secured in a cage. The bees will circle about a few times and return. Meanwhile the only thing for the attendant to do is to replace the parent colony by an empty hive. The returning bees will enter the latter and the queen may be allowed to go in with them, the cage being placed with its open end directly against the entrance to insure this. The swarm is thus made to hive itself.
The parent colony removed to a new stand a rod or more away will rarely give a second swarm. But to make certain all queen cells except one may be cut out four or five days after the issuance of the first swarm. At the same time one-third to one-half of the remaining bee's of the removed colony may be shaken at the entrance of the hive containing the swarm. This reduces the population of the parent colony greatly, but the loss is soon made good by the young workers emerging daily, and the new queen which will issue from the single queen cell, spared when cutting out cells, will soon restock the hive with brood. The shaking out of additional bees, coupled with the removal of all queen cells but one, will prevent for the time all further swarming from the given hive, and in most instances end it for the season. The bees thus added to the newly hived swarm, even though too young to enter the field at once as honey gatherers, will nevertheless releasefrom inside work an equal number of older bees, enabling the latter to go out as field bees.
Each after-swarm (second, third, etc.), it should be borne in mind, is accompanied by one or more unimpregnated queens, and these must not be clipped until they have flown out and mated. The regular deposition of eggs in worker cells may nearly always be regarded as a safe sign that mating has taken place. Eggs will usually be found in such cells within the first ten days of the queen's life. After-swarms may remain in the air, circling about for some time, and they frequently cluster high—a good reason, in addition to the more important fact that their issuance is not consistent with the production of the most surplus honey, for the prevention of all after-swarming.
ARTIFICIAL SWARMING.
Where an increase of colonies is desired, and in case no one can be near the apiary to care for natural swarms with clipped queens, some one of the artificial methods of forming new colonies may be advantageously employed. Natural swarming is, however, to be preferred to a poor system of artificial increase. And no matter which of the artificial methods be adopted, it should be cautiously followed, lest, should unfavorable weather appear suddenly, considerable labor and expense be incurred to prevent disastrous results. It is also of prime importance not to weaken materially the gathering powers of strong colonies just at the opening of the harvest or during its progress; hence, whatever division takes place then must leave the field force—the gatherers—in one mass and in normal condition for work, that is, not discouraged by being queenless, and not overburdened by having brood without a sufficient number of nurse bees to care for it.
Dividing.—A plan which fulfills these conditions is the following: From a populous colony a comb or two with adhering bees and the queen may be taken and placed in a new hive, which, when other frames with starters have been added, is then to be put on the stand of the populous colony from which the combs were taken. The removed colony is to be taken a rod or more from its old stand, so that the flight bees returning from the field will enter the newly established colony. The old colony may be given a laying queen or a mature queen cell a day or two later This finishes the work in a short time.
Nucleus system.—A better plan, though not so quickly completed, is to take from the populous colony only enough bees and combs to make a fair nucleus on a new stand. A queen is easily and safely introduced into this nucleus, or a queen cell is readily accepted a day or two later. As soon as the young queen has begun egg laying, combs of emerging brood may be added from time to time. These may be obtained from any populous colonies whose tendency to swarm it is desirable to check, the bees adhering to them when theyare removed being in all instances brushed back into their own hive. With fair pasturage the nucleus will soon be able to build combs and may be given frames of comb foundation, or, if the queen be of the current year's raising, frames with narrow strips of foundation as guides may be inserted, since all combs constructed by the nucleus will be composed of worker cells.
Shaken or brushed swarms.—The practice of shaking or brushing bees from the combs of populous colonies into new hives to form artificial or forced swarms has been practiced for many years, to a limited extent in this country and more largely abroad. As early, at least, as 1872 the late C. J. H. Gravenhorst, the editor of Die Illustrierte Bienenzeitung, author of Der Praktische Imker, and inventor of the Bogenstuelper hive, made artificial swarms in this manner. His articles led the author to experiment in this line and finally to settle upon the plan of placing colonies designed for honey production in pairs in the apiary and, after having brought them up to a suitable strength, shaking or brushing most of the bees of the two into a third hive at the approach of the main honey flow, one queen being allowed to enter the new hive with the shaken swarm. The latter is to be placed on the old stand midway in position between the spots previously occupied by the parent colonies, these having been removed some distance, to be managed thereafter as colonies that have swarmed. The newly shaken swarm is to receive comb foundation starters in the frames and within a day or two surplus receptacles for honey. In case, however, drawn combs be used in the super, there had better be one or two frames in the brood apartment partly filled with completed comb to hold the first pollen collected. The shaking or brushing should be done toward the latter part of the day and during a time when new honey is coming in, or in the absence of the latter liberal feeding should precede the shaking and be kept up until the start of the honey flow. The shaken swarm is thus brought into quite the same condition as usually obtains in the case of a natural swarm. It is able to send out a strong gathering force at once and will store honey rapidly. The increase of 50 per cent is as large as is consistent with the securing of the best honey yield.
PREVENTION OF SWARMING.
Under the conditions most frequently occurring, however—that is, where it is not practicable to be present at all times during the swarming season, or where the desired number of colonies has been attained—a system of management is advisable which in general contemplates the prevention, in so far as possible, of the issuance of swarms without at the same time interfering with honey storing. The paragraphs following on this subject are taken from the Department publication "The Honey Bee," cited on page 15, footnote:
The most commonly practiced and easily applied preventive measure is that of giving abundant room for storage of honey. This to be effective should be given early in the season, before the bees get fairly into the swarming notion, and the honey should be removed frequently, unless additional empty combs can be given in the case of colonies managed for extracted honey, while those storing in sections should be given additional supers before those already on are completed. With colonies run for comb honey it is not so easy to keep down swarming as in those run for extracted honey and kept supplied with empty comb. Free ventilation and shading of the hives as soon as warm days come will also tend toward prevention. Opening the hives once or twice weekly and destroying all queen cells that have been commenced will check swarming for a time in many instances, and is a plan which seems very thorough and the most plausible of any to beginners. But sometimes swarms issue without waiting to form cells; it is also very difficult to find all cells without shaking the bees from each comb in succession, an operation which, besides consuming much time, is very laborious when supers have to be removed, and greatly disturbs the labors of the bees. If but one cell is overlooked the colony will still swarm. The plan therefore leaves at best much to be desired, and is in general not worth the effort it costs and can not be depended on.
The most commonly practiced and easily applied preventive measure is that of giving abundant room for storage of honey. This to be effective should be given early in the season, before the bees get fairly into the swarming notion, and the honey should be removed frequently, unless additional empty combs can be given in the case of colonies managed for extracted honey, while those storing in sections should be given additional supers before those already on are completed. With colonies run for comb honey it is not so easy to keep down swarming as in those run for extracted honey and kept supplied with empty comb. Free ventilation and shading of the hives as soon as warm days come will also tend toward prevention. Opening the hives once or twice weekly and destroying all queen cells that have been commenced will check swarming for a time in many instances, and is a plan which seems very thorough and the most plausible of any to beginners. But sometimes swarms issue without waiting to form cells; it is also very difficult to find all cells without shaking the bees from each comb in succession, an operation which, besides consuming much time, is very laborious when supers have to be removed, and greatly disturbs the labors of the bees. If but one cell is overlooked the colony will still swarm. The plan therefore leaves at best much to be desired, and is in general not worth the effort it costs and can not be depended on.
Fig. 7.—The Simmins nonswarming system—single-story hive with supers:bc, brood chamber;sc, supers;st, starters of foundation;e, entrance.
Dequeening.—The removal of a queen at the opening of a swarming season interferes, of course, with the plans of the bees, and they will then delay swarming until they get a young queen. Then, if the bee keeper destroys all queen cells before the tenth day, swarming will again be checked. But to prevent swarming by keeping colonies queenless longer than a few days at most is to attain a certain desired result at a disproportionate cost, for the bees will not store diligently when first made queenless, and the whole yield of honey, especially if the flow is extended over some time, or other yields come later in the season, is likely or even nearly sure to be less from such colonies, while the interruption to brood roaring may decimate the colony and prove very disastrous to it. The plan is therefore not to be commended.Requeening.—Quite the opposite of this, and more efficacious in the prevention of swarming, is the practice of replacing the old queen early in the season with a young one of the same season's raising, produced, perhaps, in the South before it is possible to rear queens in the North. Such queens are not likely to swarm during the first season, and, as they are vigorous layers, the hive will be well populated at all times and thus ready for any harvest. This is important, inasmuch as a flow of honey may come unexpectedly from some plant ordinarily not counted upon; and also, since the conditions essential to the development of the various honey-yielding plants differ greatly, their time and succession of honey yield will also differ with the season the same as the quantity may vary. Young queens are also safest to head the colonies for the winter. The plan is conducive to the highest prosperityof the colonies, and is consistent with the securing of the largest average yield of honey, since, besides giving them vigorous layers, it generally keeps the population together in powerful colonies. It is therefore to be commended on all accounts as being in line with the most progressive management, without at the same time interfering with the application of other preventive measures.Space near entrances.—Arranging frames with starters, or combs merely begun, between the brood nest and the flight hole of the hive, while the bees are given storing space above or back of the brood nest (figs.7and8), is a plan strongly recommended by Mr. Samuel Simmins, of England, and which has come to be known as "the Simmins nonswarming method," some features of it and the combination into a well-defined method having been original with him. It is an excellent preventive measure, though not invariably successful, even when the distinctive features brought forward prominently by Mr. Simmins—empty space between the brood combs and entrance, together with the employment of drawn combs in the supers—are supplemented by other measures already mentioned; but when, in addition to the space between the brood and the flight hole, the precaution be taken to get supers on in time, to ventilate the hive well, and to keep queens not over two years old, swarming will be very limited. If to these precautions be added that of substituting for the old queens young ones of the current season's raising, before swarming has begun, practical immunity from swarming is generally insured.Selection in breeding.—Some races of bees show greater inclination than others toward swarming, and the same difference can be noted between individual colonies of a given race; therefore, whatever methods be adopted to prevent or limit increase, no doubt the constant selection of those queens to breed from whose workers show the least tendency toward swarming would in time greatly reduce this disposition. Indeed, it is perfectly consistent to believe that persistent effort, coupled with rigid and intelligent selection, will eventually result in a strain of bees quite as much entitled to be termed nonswarming as certain breeds of fowls which have been produced by artificial selection are to be called nonsitters. These terms are of course only relative, being merely indicative of the possession of a certain disposition in a less degree than that shown by others of the same species. It might never be possible to change the nature of our honeybees so completely that they would never swarm under any circumstances, and even if possible it would take a long period, so strongly implanted seems this instinct. But to modify it is within the reach of any intelligent breeder who will persistently make the effort. Such work should be undertaken in experimental apiaries where its continuance when a single point has been gained will not be affected by the changes of individual fortunes.
Dequeening.—The removal of a queen at the opening of a swarming season interferes, of course, with the plans of the bees, and they will then delay swarming until they get a young queen. Then, if the bee keeper destroys all queen cells before the tenth day, swarming will again be checked. But to prevent swarming by keeping colonies queenless longer than a few days at most is to attain a certain desired result at a disproportionate cost, for the bees will not store diligently when first made queenless, and the whole yield of honey, especially if the flow is extended over some time, or other yields come later in the season, is likely or even nearly sure to be less from such colonies, while the interruption to brood roaring may decimate the colony and prove very disastrous to it. The plan is therefore not to be commended.
Requeening.—Quite the opposite of this, and more efficacious in the prevention of swarming, is the practice of replacing the old queen early in the season with a young one of the same season's raising, produced, perhaps, in the South before it is possible to rear queens in the North. Such queens are not likely to swarm during the first season, and, as they are vigorous layers, the hive will be well populated at all times and thus ready for any harvest. This is important, inasmuch as a flow of honey may come unexpectedly from some plant ordinarily not counted upon; and also, since the conditions essential to the development of the various honey-yielding plants differ greatly, their time and succession of honey yield will also differ with the season the same as the quantity may vary. Young queens are also safest to head the colonies for the winter. The plan is conducive to the highest prosperityof the colonies, and is consistent with the securing of the largest average yield of honey, since, besides giving them vigorous layers, it generally keeps the population together in powerful colonies. It is therefore to be commended on all accounts as being in line with the most progressive management, without at the same time interfering with the application of other preventive measures.
Space near entrances.—Arranging frames with starters, or combs merely begun, between the brood nest and the flight hole of the hive, while the bees are given storing space above or back of the brood nest (figs.7and8), is a plan strongly recommended by Mr. Samuel Simmins, of England, and which has come to be known as "the Simmins nonswarming method," some features of it and the combination into a well-defined method having been original with him. It is an excellent preventive measure, though not invariably successful, even when the distinctive features brought forward prominently by Mr. Simmins—empty space between the brood combs and entrance, together with the employment of drawn combs in the supers—are supplemented by other measures already mentioned; but when, in addition to the space between the brood and the flight hole, the precaution be taken to get supers on in time, to ventilate the hive well, and to keep queens not over two years old, swarming will be very limited. If to these precautions be added that of substituting for the old queens young ones of the current season's raising, before swarming has begun, practical immunity from swarming is generally insured.
Selection in breeding.—Some races of bees show greater inclination than others toward swarming, and the same difference can be noted between individual colonies of a given race; therefore, whatever methods be adopted to prevent or limit increase, no doubt the constant selection of those queens to breed from whose workers show the least tendency toward swarming would in time greatly reduce this disposition. Indeed, it is perfectly consistent to believe that persistent effort, coupled with rigid and intelligent selection, will eventually result in a strain of bees quite as much entitled to be termed nonswarming as certain breeds of fowls which have been produced by artificial selection are to be called nonsitters. These terms are of course only relative, being merely indicative of the possession of a certain disposition in a less degree than that shown by others of the same species. It might never be possible to change the nature of our honeybees so completely that they would never swarm under any circumstances, and even if possible it would take a long period, so strongly implanted seems this instinct. But to modify it is within the reach of any intelligent breeder who will persistently make the effort. Such work should be undertaken in experimental apiaries where its continuance when a single point has been gained will not be affected by the changes of individual fortunes.
Fig. 8.—The Simmins nonswarming system—double-story hive with supers:bc, brood chamber;sc, supers;st, chamber with starters of comb foundation;e, entrance.
SPECIAL CROPS FOR HONEY ALONE NOT PROFITABLE.
With a small apiary, planting for honey alone certainly can not be made profitable. Small plats of honey-producing plants are valuable mainly because they afford an opportunity of observing when and under what circumstances the bees work on certain blossoms, and for the purpose of determining what might be depended upon to fill a gap in the honey resources of a given locality whenever the size of the apiary might make this a consideration of some importance. Even with a large apiary probably no case exists in which, in the present condition of the subject, planting for honey alone would prove profitable. But when selecting crops for cultivation for other purposes, or shrubs and trees for planting, the bee keeper should of course choose such as will also furnish honey at a time when pasturage for his bees would otherwise be wanting.
As complete a list as possible should be made of the plants and trees visited by honeybees, and notes should be added as to period of blossoming, importance of yield, whether honey or pollen or both of these are collected, quality of the product, etc. If gaps occur during which no natural forage abounds for the bees, some crop can usually be selected which will fill the interval, and, while supplying a continuous succession of honey-yielding blossoms for the bees, will give in addition a yield of fruit, grain, or forage from the same land. The novice is warned, however, not to expect too much from a small area. He must remember that as the bees commonly go 2½ to 3 miles in all directions from the apiary, they thus range over an area of 12,000 to 18,000 acres, and if but 1 square foot in 100 produces a honey-yielding plant they still have 120 to 180 acres of pasturage, and quite likely the equivalent of 30 to 40 acres may be in bloom at one time within range of the bees. A few acres more or less at such a time will therefore not make a great deal of difference.
But if coming between the principal crops—especially if the bees, as is often the case, would otherwise have no pasturage at all—the area provided for them may be of greater relative importance than the larger area of natural pasturage; for it frequently occurs that the smaller part only of the honey produced by the field over which the bees of an apiary range can be collected by them before it is washed out by rains, or the liquid portion is evaporated and the blossoms withered, while a smaller area may be more assiduously visited, and, the nectar being gathered as fast as secreted, a greater yield per acre may result.
It is further of some importance to fill in such a gap with something to keep the bees busy, instead of letting them spend their time trying to rob one another; and, what is probably even more important, the pasturage thus furnished will keep up brood rearing and comb building and assist materially in preparing the colonies for the succeeding honey flow.
There are many plants and trees of economic value, in addition to their production of honey, which may be utilized in one portion or another of the United States in the manner indicated. Adaptability to climate and soil, the periods of honey dearth to be filled in, markets for the crop produced, etc., must all come in to influence the choice. The following list includes the more important plants of economic value in this country which are good honey and pollen yielders. Most of those named are adapted to a considerable portion of the Union. Except in the case of plants restricted to the South, the dates given are applicable, in the main, to middle latitudes.
ECONOMIC PLANTS AND TREES FOR CULTIVATION FOR HONEY AND POLLEN.
Filbert bushes, useful for wind-breaks and for their nuts, yield pollen in February and March.
Rapecan be grown successfully in the North for pasturage, for green manuring, or for seed, and when permitted to blossom yields considerable pollen and honey. Winter varieties are sown late in the summer or early in the autumn, and blossom in April or May following. This early yield forms an excellent stimulus to brood rearing. Summer or bird rape, grown chiefly for its seed, blossoms about a month after sowing. It does best during the cooler months of the growing season.
Russian or hairy vetchis a hardy leguminous plant of great value for forage and use in green manuring. The blossoms appear early in the season, and, where there is any lack in early pollen, especially in northern and cool regions, this vetch will be found of great value to the bees.
Fruit blossoms—apricot, peach, pear, plum, cherry, apple, currant, and gooseberry—yield pollen and honey in abundance during April or May; strawberry and blackberry are sometimes visited freely by bees, but are generally far less important than the others mentioned. Colonies that have wintered well often gather during apple bloom 12 to 15 pounds of surplus honey of fine quality. The raspberry secretes a large amount of nectar of superb quality, and coming in May or June, thus later than the other fruit blossoms and when the colonies are stronger and the weather is more settled, full advantage can nearly always be taken of this yield. Grape and persimmon blossom also in June; the latter is an excellent source. In subtropical portions of the country orange and lemon trees yield fine honey in March and April, and the cultivation of the banana has added a profuse honey yielder which puts forth successive blossoms all through the summer months.
Locust,tulip tree("poplar," or whitewood), andhorse-chestnut, useful for shade, ornament, and timber, are all fine honey producers in May. The locust yields light-colored, clear honey of fine quality, the others amber-colored honey of good body and fair flavor.
Clovers.—Crimson, blossoming in April or May, yields fine, light-colored honey; white, alsike, and mammoth or medium, blossoming in May, June, and July, give honey of excellent quality and rich yellow color.
Mustardgrown for seed flowers from June to August. The honey is somewhat acrid and crystallizes soon, yet the plant, where abundant, is of much importance to the bees and the bee keeper in case other forage is scant at the time.
Asparagusblossoms are much visited by bees in June and July.
Esparcet, orsainfoin, yields in May and June fine honey, almost as clear as spring water. It is a perennial leguminous plant, rather hardy, an excellent forage crop, and particularly valuable for milch cows. It succeeds best on a limestone soil or when lime is used as a fertilizer, and is itself an excellent green manure for soils deficient in nitrogen and phosphoric acid.
Sulla, or sulla clover, a perennial plant, closely related to esparcet or sainfoin, succeeds, like the latter, best upon limestone soil or when fertilized with lime. It yields a splendid quality of honey from beautiful pink blossoms, which continue during May and June. The plant is an excellent soil fertilizer and of great value in connection with the feeding of stock, particularly dairy animals. It is, however, much less hardy than esparcet, and success with it can therefore hardly be looked for above the latitude of North Carolina and Arkansas. When the qualities and requirements of this plant were brought by the writer to the notice of a prominent scientific agriculturist of the South, this gentleman suggested as very probable that the black belt of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas would be well adapted to it, the lands of this region being exceedingly strong in lime. In portions of southern Europe sulla clover is a most important forage crop for farm stock as well as for honey bees.
Serradellais an annual leguminous plant which will grow on sandy land, and which yields, besides good forage, clear honey of good quality in June and July.
Chestnut, valuable for timber, ornament, shade, and nuts, yields honey and pollen in June or July.
Linden,sourwood, andcatalpa, fine shade, ornamental, and timber trees, yield great quantities of first quality honey in June and July.
Cotton.—In the South cotton blossoms, appearing as they do in succession during the whole summer, often yield considerable honey. It would appear, however, that when the plants are very rank in growth the blossoms—being correspondingly large—are too deep for the bees to reach the nectar.
Chicory, raised for salad and for its roots, is, whenever permitted to blossom, eagerly visited for honey in July and August.
Sweet, medicinal, and pot herbs, such as marjoram, savory, lavender,catnip, balm, sage, thyme, etc., when allowed to blossom, nearly all yield honey in June, July, or August. Where fields of them are grown for the seed the honey yield may be considerable from this source.
Alfalfafurnishes in the West a large amount of very fine honey during June and July. Its importance there as a forage crop is well known, but how far eastward its cultivation may be profitably extended is still a question, and even should it prove of value in the East as a forage plant, its honey-producing qualities there would be still uncertain.
Parsnips, when left for seed, blossom freely from June to August, inclusive, and are much frequented by honey bees.
Peppermint, raised for its foliage, from which oil is distilled, is most frequently cut before the bees derive much benefit from it, but whenever allowed to blossom it is eagerly sought after by them, and yields honey freely during July and August.
Bokhara, orsweet clover, is in some sections of the country considered a valuable forage crop. Animals can be taught to like it, and it is very valuable as a restorer of exhausted lime soils, while in regions lacking in bee pasturage during the summer months it is a very important addition. It withstands drought remarkably well and yields a large quantity of fine honey.
Cucumber,squash,pumpkin, andmelonblossoms furnish honey and some pollen to the bees in July and August.
Eucalypti, valuable for their timber and as ornaments to lawn and roadside, are quick-growing trees adapted to the southern portions of the United States. They yield much honey between July and October.
Thecarob tree, whose cultivation has been commenced in the Southwest, is an excellent honey yielder in late summer. It is an ornamental tree and gives, in addition to honey, another valuable product—the carob bean of commerce.
Sacaline, a forage and ornamental plant of recent introduction, is a great favorite with bees. It blossoms profusely during August, is a hardy perennial, and thrives in wet and also fairly in dry situations, withstanding the ordinary summer drought of the Eastern States because of its deeply penetrating roots.
Buckwheatis an important honey and pollen producer. Its blossoms appear about four weeks after the seed is sown, hence it may be made to fill in a summer dearth of honey plants.
HOW TO OBTAIN SURPLUS HONEY AND WAX.
Good wintering, followed by careful conservation of the natural warmth of the colony, the presence of a prolific queen—preferably a young one—with abundant stores for brood rearing, are, together with the prevention, in so far as possible, of swarming, the prime conditions necessary to bring a colony of bees to the chief honey flow in shape toenable it to take full advantage of the harvest. In addition it is only necessary to adjust the surplus honey receptacles in time, making the space given proportionate to the strength of the colony, and, while continuing to prevent as far as possible the issuance of swarms, to remove the accumulated honey fast enough to give abundant storage room.
EXTRACTED HONEY.
To secure extracted honey, the requisite number of combs may be in one long hive, or in stories one above another. Preference is most generally given to the latter plan. The brood apartment is made in this case to hold eight to twelve Langstroth frames, and a second, and sometimes a third or even a fourth story, may be added temporarily. These added stories may be for full-depth frames, or, for convenience in handling and in order to be able to control more closely the amount of space given, they may be half the usual depth, and but one of the half-depth stories added at a time. If numerous sets of combs are at hand, or if it is desirable to have others built, additional stories are put on as fast as the combs already occupied by the bees are filled. Before removing the filled combs time should be allowed the bees to ripen and cap the honey; hence enough combs are necessary to give the bees storage room while they are capping others, the honey in combs that are quite or nearly sealed over may be considered sufficiently ripened to be removed from the hive.
Fig. 9.—Quinby uncapping knife.
It should also be taken promptly, in order to keep the various grades or kinds separate. However, when the combs of a given super are completely filled and sealed it may be marked and left on the hive if more convenient to be extracted later.
The cells are uncapped by means of a sharp knife, made especially for this purpose (fig. 9), and the combs are then made to revolve rapidly in the honey extractor (fig. 10). The centrifugal force exerted on the honey throws it out, leaving the comb cells uninjured, or so slightly injured that they are wholly repaired within an hour or so after the return of the comb to the hive. The chief advantages of this method of harvesting over that of crushing the combs are at once apparent when it is known that each pound of comb saved represents several pounds of honey (consumed in its construction), and may, with care be used over almost indefinitely in securing surplus honey. Furthermore, extracted honey is of much finer quality than that obtained by crushing the combs and straining out the liquid part, since it is free from crushed bees, larvæ, pollen or "bee bread," etc., which not only render strained honey dark and strong in flavor, but also make it liable to fermentation and souring.
The extracted honey is run into open buckets or tanks and left, covered with cheese cloth, to stand a week or so in a dry, warm room not frequented by ants. It should be skimmed each day until perfectly clear, and is then ready to be put into cans or barrels for marketing, or to be stored in a dry place. Square tin cans, each made to hold 60 pounds of extracted honey, are sold by dealers in apiarian supplies. This style of package is a convenient one to transport, and is also acceptable to dealers. Wooden shipping cases are usually constructed so as to hold two of these cans. Barrels and kegs may be used, especially for the cheaper grades of honey used chiefly in the manufacture of other articles. They should be dry, made of well-seasoned, sound wood, and the hoops driven tight and secured, as well-ripened honey readily absorbs moisture from wood, causing shrinkage and leakage. They should also be coated inside with bees-wax or paraffin. This is easily done by warming the barrels and then pouring in a gallon or two of hot wax or paraffin, and, after having driven in the bungs tightly, rolling the barrels about a few times and turning them on end. The work should be done quickly and the liquid not adhering to the inner surfaces poured out at once, in order to leave but a thin coating inside.
The surplus combs are to be removed at the close of the season and hung an inch or so apart on racks placed in a dry, airy room, where no artificial heat is felt. Mice, if permitted to reach them, will do considerable damage by gnawing away the cells containing pollen or those in which bees have been bred, and which therefore contain larval and pupal skins. Moth larvæ are not likely to trouble them until the following spring, but upon the appearance of milder weather their ravages will begin, and if the combs can not be placed under the care of the bees at once they must be fumigated with burning sulphur or with bisulphide of carbon.
COMB HONEY.
The main difference to be observed in preparing colonies for the production of comb honey, instead of extracted, is in the adjustment of the brood apartment at the time the supers are added. After the colony has been bred up to the greatest possible strength, the brood apartment should be so regulated in size, when the honey flow begins and the supers are added, as to crowd many of the bees out and into the supers placed above.
Fig. 10.—Automatic reversible honey extractor.
On each hive a super is placed (fig. 11) holding 24 to 48 sections, each section supplied with a strip or a full sheet of very thin foundation. It is best not to give too much space at once, as considerable warmth is necessary to enable the bees to draw out foundation or to build comb. A single set of sections is usually sufficient at a time. When the honey is designed for home use or for a local market, half-depth frames are sometimes used, the same as those often used above the brood nests when colonies are run for extracted honey, but for the general market pound sections (fig. 12) are better adapted.
It is the practice of many to have nice white comb partially drawn out before the main honey flow begins, or even the season before, feeding the colonies, if necessary, to secure this; and, when the honey yield begins, to supply sets of sections with these combs having cells deep enough for the bees to begin storing in as soon as any honey is collected. Earlier work in the sections is thus secured, and this, as is well known, is an important point in the prevention of swarming. Mr. Samuel Simmins, of England, has long contended for this use of partially drawn combs, and though it forms a feature of his system for the prevention of swarming it has been too often overlooked. Comb foundation is now manufactured with extra thin septum or base and with the beginnings of the cells marked out by somewhat thicker walls which the bees immediately thin down, using the extra wax in deepening the cells. This is not artificial comb, but a thin sheet of wax having the bases of the cells outlined on it. Complete artificial combs have never been used in a commercial way, although there exists a widespread belief to this effect, which is founded on extravagant claims that have appeared from time to time in newspaper articles.
Fig. 11.—Langstroth hive—super above holding 28 sections for comb honey.
Fig. 12.—Comb honey stored in pound section—size 4¼ by 4¼ inches.
If the brood apartment has been much contracted when the superswere added, the queen may go into the sections and deposit eggs unless prevented by the insertion of a queen excluder (fig. 13). This, merely a sheet of zinc with perforations which permit workers, but not the queen, to pass, is placed between the brood apartment and the supers. The great inconvenience of having brood in some of the sections is thereby prevented. When the honey in the sections has been nearly capped over, the super may be lifted up and another added between it and the brood apartment. Or, should the strength of the colony not be sufficient, or the harvest not abundant enough to warrant the giving of so much space, the sections which are completely finished may be removed and the partly finished ones used as "bait sections" to encourage work in another set of sections on this hive or in new supers elsewhere. The objections to the removal of sections one by one, and brushing the bees from them, are (1) the time it takes, and (2) the danger that the bees when disturbed, and especially if smoked, will bite open the capping and begin the removal of the honey, thus injuring the appearance of the completed sections.
A recent valuable invention, the bee escape (fig. 3), the use of which is explained onpages 15 and 16, when placed between the super and the brood nest, permits the bees then above the escape to go down into the brood apartment, but does not permit their reentering the super. If inserted twelve to twenty-four hours before the sections are to be removed, the latter will be found free from bees at the time of removal, provided all brood has been kept out of the supers.
Grading and shipping comb honey.—Before marketing the honey it should be carefully graded, and all propolis ("bee-glue"), if there be any, scraped from the edges of the sections. In grading for the city markets the following rules are, in the main, observed. They were adopted by the North American Bee-Keepers' Association at its twenty-third annual convention, held in Washington, D. C, in December, 1892, and are copied from the official report of that meeting:
Fancy.—All sections to be well filled; combs straight, of even thickness, and firmly attached to all four sides; both wood and comb unsoiled by travel stain or otherwise; all cells sealed except the row of cells next to the wood.No. 1.—All sections well filled, but with combs crooked or uneven, detached at the bottom, or with but few cells unsealed; both wood and comb unsoiled by travel stain or otherwise.In addition to the above, honey is to be classified, according to color, into light, amber, and dark. For instance, there will be "fancy light," "fancy amber," and "fancy dark," "No. 1 light," "No. 1 amber," and "No. 1 dark."
Fancy.—All sections to be well filled; combs straight, of even thickness, and firmly attached to all four sides; both wood and comb unsoiled by travel stain or otherwise; all cells sealed except the row of cells next to the wood.
No. 1.—All sections well filled, but with combs crooked or uneven, detached at the bottom, or with but few cells unsealed; both wood and comb unsoiled by travel stain or otherwise.
In addition to the above, honey is to be classified, according to color, into light, amber, and dark. For instance, there will be "fancy light," "fancy amber," and "fancy dark," "No. 1 light," "No. 1 amber," and "No. 1 dark."
Fig. 13.—Perforated zinc queen excluder.
The sections, after grading and scraping, are to be placed in clean shipping cases having glass in one or both ends (fig. 14). Several of these may be placed in a single crate for shipment. To prevent breaking down of the combs it is best to put straw in the bottom of the crate for the shipping cases to rest on, and the crates should be so placed as to keep the combs in a perpendicular position. The crates are also likely to be kept right side up if convenient handles are attached to the sides—preferably strips with the ends projecting beyond the corners. Care in handling will generally be given if the glass in the shipping cases shows.
Fig. 14.—Shipping cases for comb honey.
Owing to the appearance of statements of a sensational character to the effect that complete honey combs are manufactured by machinery and filled with sweets lower in price than honey (glucose, cane sugar, or mixtures of these), then sealed over and sold in the market as genuine honey, a strong suspicion exists regarding the comb honey commonly offered for sale. Wide circulation has been given to these wild stories by sensational newspaper writers, and even monthly periodicals, usually far more discriminating and accurate, have repeated them. Some writers have even tried to locate the "comb honey factories" in given cities, but investigation has always shown that the locations were mythical. The forfeit of $1,000 which a reputable firm has had standing for fifteen years past for a pound of manufactured comb honey of a nature to deceive the buyer still remains unclaimed.
The National Bee-Keepers' Association, at its annual convention held in St. Louis in 1904, offered also a like forfeit of $1,000 for satisfactory proof of the existence of such a thing as manufactured comb honey. But no claimant has come forward, notwithstanding the $2,000 which awaits his proof. The fact is, there is no truth in the "yarn," and no one has thus far shown the thing possible. The comb honey in the markets is pure and wholesome—a healthful and nourishing sweet, easier to digest than cane sugar or any of the sirups so commonly sold. It is worth a place on the tables of all who can afford to use it.
PRODUCTION OF WAX.
No method has yet been brought forward which will enable one, at the present relative prices of honey and wax, to turn the whole working force of the bees, or even the greater part of it, into the productionof wax instead of honey; in fact, the small amount of wax produced incidentally in apiaries managed for extracted or for section honey is usually turned into honey the following season; that is, it is made into comb foundation, which is then employed in the same hives to increase their yield of marketable honey. It is even the case that in most apiaries managed on approved modern methods more pounds of foundation are employed than wax produced; hence less progressive bee keepers—those who adhere to the use of box hives and who can not therefore utilize comb foundation—are called upon for their wax product. As each pound of wax represents several pounds of honey, all cappings removed when preparing combs for the extractor, all scrapings and trimmings and bits of drone comb, are to be saved and rendered into wax. This is best done in the solar wax-extractor (fig. 15), the essential parts of which are a metal tank with wire-cloth strainer and a glass cover, the latter generally made double. The bottom of the metal tank is strewn with pieces of comb, the glass cover adjusted, and the whole exposed to the direct rays of the sun. A superior quality of wax filters through the strainer.
Another method is to inclose the cappings or combs to be rendered in a coarse sack and weight this down in a tin boiler partly filled with rain water or soft spring water and boil slowly until little or no more wax can be pressed out of the material in the sack. Melting in an iron receptacle makes the wax dark colored. A special utensil made of tin, for use as a wax-extractor (fig. 16) over boiling water, can also be had. The bits of comb are placed in this, in an inside can having fine perforations, through which the steam from below enters and melts out the wax, which drips from a spout into another receptacle partly filled with water, from the surface of which the cake of wax may be removed when cold.
THE WINTERING OF BEES.
How to bring bees successfully through the winter in the colder portions of the United States is a problem which gives anxiety to all who are about to attempt it for the first time in those sections, andeven many who have kept bees for years still find it their greatest difficulty. It may happen occasionally that a queen, apparently young and vigorous in the autumn, will die during the winter, when a young one can not be reared, and as a result the colony will dwindle away. Such losses are, however, rare, and, aside from the possible results of fire, flood, or violent storms, are about the only ones which can not be avoided by careful attention to right methods in wintering. Insufficient or poor winter stores, hives faulty in construction, lack of protection from cold and dampness, too much or too little ventilation, too great a proportion of old bees or too great a proportion of young ones, overmanipulation late in the season, etc., are the most important and most easily detected causes of loss in wintering bees. In some instances colonies supposed to have been placed in the same condition under which others have wintered well become diseased and die or dwindle away without prominent signs of disease. It is evident, however, that some condition existed in one case which was not present in the other, or that, in spite of some unfavorable condition, the favorable ones combined, in the first instance, to render the wintering successful.
In the South wintering in the open air on the summer stands is the only method followed, while in the colder portions of the country, although with proper precautions bees may be wintered successfully in the open air, many prefer to house them in special repositories built with double walls, or to place them in darkened cellars, or in clamps. Indoor wintering should be confined to regions where there are several weeks, at least, of continued severe weather. When all conditions are right, consumption of honey will be less indoors and loss of bee life less than with the methods usually practiced in outdoor wintering. Under proper conditions, however, especially when abundant protection has been given, colonies out of doors will consume no more food nor meet with greater losses in numbers than those wintered under favorable conditions indoors. In wintering indoors certain essential conditions are, in a measure, beyond the control of the bee keeper, hence must be left to chance, and certain other conditions and emergencies liable to arise, though easily understood and met by the man of experience in this direction, are yet very likely to be overlooked by the novice or to be puzzling and disastrous to him. For these reasons it is safer for him to keep closer to the natural method at first and try outdoor wintering.
In wintering out of doors the conditions within the control of the bee keeper are more readily perceived and easier to meet, and though the original work of preparation for good wintering out of doors is greater per colony, yet the work during the winter itself and the following spring is likely to be less; moreover, the feeling of greater security, as well as the greater certainty of finding the colonies in good condition to begin gathering in the spring, are points well worthy ofconsideration. In other words, indoor wintering should be left to such experienced bee keepers as may prefer it and are located in cold climates, while novices, wherever located, should first endeavor to meet the requirements of successful outdoor wintering; that is, to prepare the colonies so that Nature, whatever her mood as regards the weather, will bring her tiny charges safely through the perils and vicissitudes of the winter months.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.
Whatever method be followed in wintering, certain conditions regarding the colony itself are plainly essential: First, it should have a good queen; second, a fair-sized cluster of healthy bees, neither too old nor too young; third, a plentiful supply of good food. The first of these conditions may be counted as fulfilled if the queen at the head of the colony is not more than two years old, is still active, and has always kept her colony populous; yet a younger queen—even one of the current season's rearing, and thus but a few weeks or months old—is if raised under favorable conditions, much to be preferred. The second point is met if brood rearing has been continued without serious interruption during the latter part of the summer and the cluster of bees occupies, on a cool day in autumn, six to eight or more spaces between the combs, or forms a compact cluster 8 or 10 inches in diameter. Young bees, if not weir protected by older ones, succumb readily to the cold, while quite old bees die early in the spring, and others, which emerged late in the summer or autumn preceding, are needed to replace them. The third essential—good food—is secured if the hive is liberally supplied with well-ripened honey from any source whatever, or with fairly thick sirup, made from white cane sugar, which was fed early enough to enable the bees to seal it over before they ceased flying. The sirup is prepared by dissolving 3 pounds of granulated sugar in 1 quart of boiling water and adding to this 1 pound of pure extracted honey. Twenty to 26 pounds for outdoor wintering in the South, up to 30 or 40 pounds in the North, when wintered outside with but slight protection—or, if wintered indoors, about 20 pounds—may be considered a fair supply of winter food. A smaller amount should not be trusted except in case much greater protection be furnished against the effects of severe weather than is usually given. A greater amount of stores will do no harm if properly arranged over and about the center of the cluster, or, in case the combs are narrow, wholly above the cluster. In many instances it will be a benefit by equalizing in a measure the temperature in the hive, as well as by giving to the bees greater confidence in extending the brood nest in early spring.
INDOOR WINTERING.
A dry, dark cellar or special repository built in a sidehill or with double, filled walls, like those of an ice house, may be utilized for wintering bees in extremely cold climates. It should be so built that a temperature of 42° to 45° F. (the air being fairly dry in the cellar) can be maintained during the greater part of the winter. To this end it should be well drained, furnished with adjustable ventilators, and covered all over with earth, except the entrance, where close-fitting doors, preferably three of them, should open in succession, so as to separate the main room from the outside by a double entry way. The colonies, supplied with good queens, plenty of bees, 20 to 25 pounds of stores each, and with chaff cushions placed over the frames, are carried in shortly before snow and severe freezing weather come.
Any repository which is damp or one whose temperature falls below freezing or remains long below 38° F. is not a suitable place in which to winter bees. When in repositories, the bees have no opportunity for a cleansing flight, nor do they, when the temperature rises outside, always warm up sufficiently to enable the cluster to move from combs from which the stores have been exhausted to full ones; hence in a cold repository they may possibly starve with plenty of food in the hive. As a rule, colonies would be better off out of doors on their summer stands than in such places.
OUTDOOR WINTERING.
Cold and dampness are the great winter enemies of bee life. A single bee can withstand very little cold, but a good cluster, if all other conditions are favorable, can defy the most rigorous winters of our coldest States. But if not thoroughly dry, even a moderate degree of cold is always injurious, if not absolutely fatal. Dampness in winter is therefore the most dangerous element with which the bee keeper has to contend. The matter would, of course, be quite simple if only that dampness which might come from the outside were to be considered, but when the air of the hive, somewhat warmed by the bees and more or less charged with the moisture of respiration, comes in contact with hive walls or comb surfaces made cold by outside air, condensation takes place, and the moisture trickles over the cold surfaces and cluster of bees, saturating the air about them or even drenching them, unless by forming a very compact cluster they are able to prevent it from penetrating, or by greater activity to raise the temperature sufficiently to evaporate the surplus moisture, or at least that portion near them. But this greater activity is, of course, at the expense of muscular power and requires the consumption of nitrogenous as well as carbonaceous food. Increased cold or its long continuance greatly aggravates conditions.
Nature has provided that the accumulation of waste products in the body of the bee during its winter confinement should be small under normal conditions, but unusual consumption of food, especially of a highly nitrogenous nature like pollen, necessitates a cleansing flight, or diarrheal difficulties ensue, combs and hives are soiled, the air of the hive becomes polluted, and at last the individual bees become too weak to generate proper warmth or drive off the surplus moisture which then invades the cluster and brings death to the colony; or, what is more frequently the case, a cold snap destroys the last remnant of the colony, which has been reduced by constant loss of bees impelled by disease to leave the cluster or even to venture out for a cleansing flight when snows and great cold prevail.
The problem then is:To retain the warmth generated by the bees, which is necessary to their well-being, and at the same time to prevent the accumulation of moisture in the hive.A simple opening at the top of the hive would permit much of the moisture to pass off, but of course heat would escape with it and a draft would be produced. Absorbent material about the cluster creates, without free ventilation, damp surroundings, and again the temperature is lowered. It is only necessary, however, to surround the bees with sufficient material to protect them fully against the greatest cold likely to occur, and to take care also that this enveloping material is of such a nature and so disposed as to permit the free passage of the moisture which would otherwise collect in the interior of the hive, and to permit the escape into the surrounding atmosphere of such moisture as enters this material from within. This packing should also be fully protected from outside moisture.