“Ah! see where robb’d and murder’d in that pitLies the still heaving hive! at evening snatch’d.Beneath the cloud of guilt-concealing night,And fix’d o’er sulphur...“Sudden the dark oppressive steam ascends.And, us’d to milder scents, the tender raceBy thousands tumble from their honey’d dome,Convuls’d and agonizing in the dust.”
“Ah! see where robb’d and murder’d in that pitLies the still heaving hive! at evening snatch’d.Beneath the cloud of guilt-concealing night,And fix’d o’er sulphur...“Sudden the dark oppressive steam ascends.And, us’d to milder scents, the tender raceBy thousands tumble from their honey’d dome,Convuls’d and agonizing in the dust.”
The bee is generally allowed to be a short-lived insect. (VideLongevity of Bees.) Whatever advantage can be derived however, from preserving the lives of the bees, at the period of taking their honey, those, who keep them upon the storifying plan, will have the full benefit of it, and be spared that torture of feeling, which the sensitive always experience, when destroying life in any way.
“True benevolence extends itself through the whole compass of existence, and sympathizes with the distress of every creature capable of sensation. Little minds may be apt to consider a compassion of this inferior kind, as an instance of weakness, but I consider it as affording undoubted evidence of a noble nature.”—Melmoth.
SYMPTOMS WHICH PRECEDE SWARMING.
“See where with hurry’d step, th’ impassion’d throngPace o’er the hive, and seem with plaintive songT’ invite their loitering queen; now range the floor,And hang in cluster’d columns from the door;Or now in restless rings around they fly,Nor spoil they sip, nor load the hollow’d thigh:E’en the dull drone his wonted ease gives o’er.Flaps the unwieldy wing, and longs to soar.”Evans.
“See where with hurry’d step, th’ impassion’d throngPace o’er the hive, and seem with plaintive songT’ invite their loitering queen; now range the floor,And hang in cluster’d columns from the door;Or now in restless rings around they fly,Nor spoil they sip, nor load the hollow’d thigh:E’en the dull drone his wonted ease gives o’er.Flaps the unwieldy wing, and longs to soar.”
Evans.
Notwithstandingwhat I have said in the last chapter on the subject of clustering, it is too important a circumstance to be omitted in the following enumeration of the signs of swarming.
1. Clustering or hanging out, if taken singly, may be regarded as a fallacious symptom, but when conjoined with other indications, it may be considered as a sign of swarming, particularly if accompanied by the signs enumerated at the commencement of my motto.
2. The drones being visible in greater numbers than usual, and in great commotion, especially in the afternoon.
3. The inactivity of the working bees, whoneither gather honey nor farina, though the morning be sunny and the weather altogether inviting. Reaumur regarded this as the most indubitable sign of preparation for swarming.
4. A singular humming noise, for two or three nights previous, which has been variously described and accounted for. It cannot always be distinguished, unless the ear be placed near the mouth of the hive; the sounds, which are sharp and clear, seem to proceed from a single bee. Some suppose the noise to be made by the young queen, and to resemblechip chip peep peepor thetoot tootof a child’s penny trumpet, but not so loud; Mr. Hunter compares it to the lower a in the treble of the piano-forte. It is readily distinguishable by those who have been accustomed to hear it.Dr. Evansinquires, is it the sound emitted by perfect queens, on emerging from their cells, as described by M. Huber? The noise is sometimes in a shrill, at other times in a deeper key; this difference in the intensity of the tones may arise from the distance whence the sound proceeds, or may be intended to intimate to the bees the respective ripeness of their queens.ButlerandWoolridgeascribe it to a parley between the old and young queens, the latter at the bottom of the hive requesting leave to emigrate, and the former answering inher bass note from the top.Wildmansupposes it to arise from a contest betwixt the queens, about sallying forth; and endeavours to account for its less frequency before first swarms, from the young chiefs being then in their embryo state. This however is mere hypothesis, and not at all consonant with later discoveries, particularly those of Huber and Dunbar.Videpages18and22.
5. Unusual silence in the hive, during which the separatists are supposed to be taking in a cargo of honey before their flight, as a provision against bad weather. Mr. Hunter opened the crops of some bees that remained in the parent hive and the crops of some emigrating bees, when he found the latter quite full, whilst the former contained but a small quantity.
The above symptoms oftener precede second or third than first swarms, which latter sometimes issue forth without any previous notice.Keysspeaks so emphatically upon this subject that I shall quote his words. “Although there are no signs that precede first swarms, those, before-mentioned, convey to the apiator one certain meaning, and when heard he may be assured that the first or prime swarm has escaped, if that will comfort him.”
The moment before their departure exhibits avery lively agitation, which first affects the queen, and is then communicated to the workers, exciting such a tumult among them, that they abandon their labours, and rush in disorder to the outlets.
If a swarm quit the first place on which it clusters, it hovers in the air for some time, as if undetermined, and then flies off with great velocity.
We hear now and then of a swarm of bees being lost, of its having eluded the vigilance of the proprietor; I think that its loss is generally attributable to negligence. As a different opinion is prevalent, I shall state a few of the facts upon which that difference is founded.
HomerandVirgilspeak of bees in their wild state as fixing their habitations in the rocks and in hollow trees.
“As from some rocky cleft the shepherd sees,Clustering in heaps on heaps, the driving bees.”Pope’s Homer.
“As from some rocky cleft the shepherd sees,Clustering in heaps on heaps, the driving bees.”
Pope’s Homer.
“And oft, (’tis said,) they delve beneath the earth,And nurse in gloomy caves their hidden birth,Amid the crumbling stone’s dark concave dwell,Or hang in hollow trees their airy cell.”Sotheby’s Georgics.
“And oft, (’tis said,) they delve beneath the earth,And nurse in gloomy caves their hidden birth,Amid the crumbling stone’s dark concave dwell,Or hang in hollow trees their airy cell.”
Sotheby’s Georgics.
Many instances are also recorded of domesticated bees seeking an asylum in some hollow partof an old building or tree.Dr. Warder,Mr. Butler,Mr. Knight,Dr. Evans,M. Duchet, and other writers think that the bees about to swarm regularly send out scouts, to explore an eligible situation for their future residence; though Dr. Evans admits that this disposition to resume wild habits, like many of the instinctive faculties of the animal creation, has its intensity weakened by domestication. Dr. Warder asserts that the bees always send out providers, to select a suitable residence for them, several days before swarming, and considers that their clustering upon a bough, &c. soon after they issue forth, proceeds from their desire to be all congregated together prior to the last flight: this is likewise the opinion of Mr. Knight. If the place selected be a deserted hive, it is first cleared by the bees of all heterogeneous matters, the old combs alone being allowed to remain. An observance of this conduct probably ledColumellato recommend the placing of empty hives, during the swarming season, in appropriate situations near an apiary.Keysgives a similar recommendation.Reaumuron the other hand ridicules the idea of “spies and quartermasters,” as ingenious fable. What I have stated in ChapterXVII.p. 148. confirms Reaumur’s opinion: he is also supported in it byBuffon,Bonnet, andHuber: the former says,that the swarming bees form a cloud round their queen, and set off without seeming to know the place of their destination;—“the world before them, where to choose their place of rest.” I will however detail a few cases that support the theory of “spies and quartermasters.” In the Philosophical Transactions for 1807,Mr. Knight, writing to Sir Joseph Banks, relates several instances of the kind. On one occasion he observed from twenty to thirty bees paying daily visits to some decayed trees, about a mile distant from his garden; the bees appeared to be busily employed in examining the hollow parts, and particularly the dead knots around them, as if apprehensive of the knots admitting moisture. In about fourteen days, these seeming surveyors were followed by a large swarm from his apiary, which was watched the whole way, till it alighted in one of these cavities. It was observed to journey nearly in a direct line from the apiary to the tree. On several similar occasions the bees selected that cavity which Mr. Knight thought best adapted to their use. He has also noticed that, a stock being nearly ready to swarm, one of these hollow trees was daily occupied by a small number of bees; but the swarm from that stock, being lodged in anotherhive, the tree was wholly deserted. This preference of ahive, when offeredthem, to a place chosen by themselves, Mr. Knight ascribes to a habit acquired by domestication, which generating a dependence upon man for providing them a dwelling, descends hereditarily from the parents to their offspring. Another instance is related byDr. Evans: he suffered a hive, whose tenants had died in the winter, to remain upon the stand till spring: he then observed several bees paying it daily visits, and busily employed within, but leaving it at the close of evening. These soon appeared, like Dr. Warder’s providers, to be the harbingers of a swarm; for, early in June, an immense body of these insects were seen rapidly approaching, and then surrounding the hive: they took possession as quickly as its narrow entrance and crowded combs would permit. The same result was noticed after the mild winter of 1806-7, which untenanted one of his hives by famine: he was present when the swarm issued (from another hive in his garden) to take possession of the empty one, which, on his endeavouring to raise it, to give facility to their entrance, he found already cemented to the floor. The Doctor also relates a case in which a swarm of bees "made its way either over the tops of some very high houses, or through several winding streets, to an old house in the centre of Shrewsbury, andpassing through an aperture in the wood-work to a room on the first floor, were there hived by the family."Mr. Butlerin hisFeminine Monarchiementions the case of a poor woman whose hive being depopulated by famine was allowed to remain out of doors till the ensuing summer, when a swarm took possession of it, from which she afterwards stored her garden. Other instances of a similar kind have been related; but in most of them it is not easy to ascertain how far the proprietors of the hives, from which the swarms went forth, had been improvident. The cases related by Mr. Knight are the most remarkable; but with respect to these, further information would be desirable. Was there any inducement beyond a snug housing in the cavities of the trees, to tempt the bees to wander so far from their native spot? such as favourite pasturage, or neighbouring trees that were wont to supply honey-dew? or were there in either of the hollow trees, thus occupied, any old combs which had been left there by another family? Lastly, were the emigrating bees exposed to any annoyance in their old habitation, either from neighbours of their own species or the attacks of other animals? or were they deprived of any sheltering protection to which they had been accustomed, by the removal of buildings, thecutting down of trees or otherwise?Bonner, who agrees in opinion with Mr. Knight, that bees often go in quest of a suitable habitation, before they swarm, has observed that he knew for certain that a swarm would not fly a mile to an empty hive, “whereas they will fly,” says he, “four miles to take possession of an old one with combs in it.”
HIVING OF SWARMS.
Thehiving of bees is a proceeding so well known that it seems unnecessary to offer any observations on the particular method of effecting it.
In every apiary there should be a stock of hives, boxes, &c. always ready before-hand, either for storifying or for single-hiving; a neglect of this precaution will often be productive of great inconvenience and confusion.
It is always desirable tohave swarms put into new hives, as old ones often contain the larvæ of moths and other embryo insects, which may prove injurious to the bees. If straw be the material with which they are made, every rough straw should be removed from the interior, otherwise the bees will lose that time in rendering it smooth, which they could employ to greater advantage in gathering honey and constructing combs. For a similar reason, if boxes be preferred, these should be made air-tight with putty or other cement, that the bees may not consume their time in filling the crevices with propolis. If on any occasion the apiarian be induced to have recourse toan old hive, for receiving a swarm, itshould, before being used, be dipped into boiling water, to destroy theeggs of moths and other insects, after which it should be made perfectly dry.
In the common straw-hive, two new sticks placed across each other, at the second round of straw from the bottom, will be useful to support the weight of combs: the bees require no aid at the top, to which they will themselves securely attach the combs, as may be seen in hollow trees where bees have taken up their abode.
Dressing the insides of the hivesis of doubtful advantage. Some people rub the interior of the hive with balm, bean-tops, fennel, &c. or smear it over with cream and honey. Wildman strongly reprobates this practice, as it gives the bees the trouble of making the hive clean again. If any thing be used, in compliance with custom, sugared or honeyed ale is the most alluring.Keyssays that a hive, containing old combs and dressed with sugared ale, will often decoy a swarm to settle in it.Huishrecommends sprinkling the interior of the hives with human urine; which he regards as a specific, on account of “itsaboundingwithsugarandsalt, two substances of which bees are particularly fond:” if such were the fact, it would I think, be more cleanly, and therefore a preferable plan, to mingle those favourite articles with a little ale or water for this purpose. Huish himself recommends smearing the interior of the hive with honey, when a swarm of bees settle ina situation, from which it cannot be dislodged and made to enter the hive, by shaking or other forcible means. If urine be attractive to bees, its attraction must proceed from other qualities than those which he has mentioned; it does certainly contain avery small portionofsalt, but I know of no analysis of healthy human urine, which admits sugar to be a constituent part of it.
A tinkling noise is generally, though I believe erroneously, considered to be useful in inducing bees to settle.Keysrecommends the use of a watchman’s rattle, but not till the queen has come forth, for fear of alarming her too soon, nor after the bees have begun to cluster.
Keysadvises also the throwing of sand or water among the bees, to make them cluster; likewise the making of someverygreat noise, such as firing a gun; some have supposed the bees to mistake a loud noise, for thunder foreboding a storm; but this, instead of causing them to settle, would rather cause their return to the parent stock.Dr. Evanssuggests the probability of noises being first used, as signals to the neighbours that a swarm was up, and being afterwards continued by habit only. The throwing up of handfuls of dust or sand, is said to make bees descend, when they soar very high; these missiles being mistaken for rain.
Bees, when swarming, are generally peaceable, and if treated gently, may be hived withoutdanger or difficulty.A remarkable instance of their inoffensiveness at this timeis related byMr. Thorley. Wanting to dislodge a swarm from the branches of a codlin-tree, he placed the hive in the hands of his maid-servant, who being a novice, covered her head and shoulders with a cloth, to guard her face; on shaking the tree, most of the bees alighted upon the cloth, and quickly crept under it, covering the girl’s breast and neck up to her very chin. Mr. T. impressed her with the importance of neither flinching from nor buffeting the bees, and began immediately to search for the queen; which on finding, he gently seized and removed, but without effecting a dislodgement of the swarm: thus disappointed, he suspected that there was a second queen; which actually proved to be the case: on securing, and placing her also in the hive, with a portion of the bees, the rest followed in multitudes, till in two or three minutes not one bee remained upon the girl, who was thus released from her state of apprehension and alarm, without feeling the point of a single sting. All persons similarly situated may not be so fortunate, as, notwithstanding the greatest precaution, bees may be provoked to draw their swords.Dr. Evansrelates a case of this kind; a swarm having settled on the branch of a larch-tree, and its long tufts of narrow leaves flapping the bees as the bough was shaken, thewoman who hived them, received above thirty stings. If the weather be windy, at the time of swarming, they are often irritable, and apt to sting; though clustered, they will frequently return home: this last occurrence is generally caused by the absence of a queen; but it may also be produced by a sudden shower, or by the transit of a dark cloud.
A queen has sometimes a defect in her wings, or is disabled by some accident; either of these misfortunes may cause the return of a swarm, or produce symptoms of discontent after hiving.
As many persons doubtthe queen’s importanceto the harmonious union of a swarm, I shall give an instance or two, to show how essentially necessary her presence is to produce this effect.Dr. Warderbeing desirous of ascertaining the extent of the bees’ “loyalty to their sovereign, ran the hazard of destroying a swarm, for this purpose.” Having shaken on the grass, all the bees from a hive which they had only tenanted the day before, he searched for the queen, by stirring amongst them with a stick. Having found and placed her, with a few attendants, in a box, she was taken into his parlour; where the box being opened, she and her attendants immediately flew to the window, when he clipped off one of her wings, returned her to the box, and confined her there for above an hour. In less than a quarter of an hour, theswarm ascertained the loss of their queen, and instead of clustering together in one social mass, they diffused themselves over a space of several feet, were much agitated, and uttered a piteous sound. An hour afterwards they all took flight, and settled upon the hedge where they had first alighted, after leaving the parent stock; but instead of hanging together, like a bunch of grapes, as when the queen was with them, and as swarms usually hang, they extended themselves thirty feet along the hedge, in small bunches, of forty, fifty, or more. The queen was now presented to them, when they all quickly gathered round her, with a joyful hum, and formed one harmonious cluster. At night the Doctor hived them again, and on the following morning repeated his experiment, to see whether the bees would rise; the queen being in a mutilated state, and unable to accompany them, they surrounded her for several hours, apparently willing to die with her rather than desert her in distress. The queen was a second time removed, when they spread themselves out again, as though starching for her: her repeated restoration to them, at different parts of their circle, produced one uniform result, “and these poor loyal and loving creatures, always marched and counter-marched every way as the queen was laid.” The Doctor persevered in these experiments, till after five days and nights of fasting,they all died of famine, except the queen, who lived a few hours longer and then died.The attachment of the queen to the working bees, appeared to be equally as strong as their attachment to her; though offered honey on several occasions, during the periods of her separation from them, she constantly refused it, “disdaining a life that was no life to her, without the company of those which she could not have.”
My next instance is contained in theTransactions of the Society of Arts, &c.for 1790, in a paper written byMr. Simon Manley, of Topsham in Devonshire, for which the Society awarded him five guineas. “I have before now,” says he, “taken the queen-bee, while in the act of swarming, put her into a clean bottle, and kept her from the swarm a full hour. I have then shown her to several gentlemen, the swarm continuing to hover, without settling, the whole time. I brought her home, and laid her on the floor of a kitchen window. Being moist with her own breath in the bottle, when I took her out she licked herself clean, and being quite recovered, was carried out and placed upon the hive she swarmed from. About a handful of her subjects soon found her out, and seemed much rejoiced at finding her. From thence she rose up, and pitched upon a currant bush, and the remainder of the swarm came to her, and settled at once.”
Swammerdamtried the experiment of fastening the queen by one of her legs to the end of a pole, by which he induced the bees to follow him wherever he chose. Reaumur relates a somewhat similar instance of a bee-man mentioned byFather Labbatin his Travels, who had the address to conceal the source of his dexterity.Wildman’sexpertness in this way was celebrated far and near.Videchapter onUniting Swarms.
In confirmation of the evidence I have already given, of the queen’s importance to the well-being of the community, I will advert to some experiments ofHuber. He removed a queen from one of his hives; the bees were not immediately aware of it, but continued their labours, watched over the young, and performed the whole of their ordinary occupations. In a few hours afterwards, agitation commenced, and all appeared to be a scene of tumult; a singular humming noise was heard, the bees deserted their young and rushed over the surface of the combs, with delirious impetuosity. On replacing the queen, tranquillity was instantly restored; and from what will be said presently, it appeared that they knew her individual person. Huber varied this experiment with other hives, in different ways; instead of restoring their own queen, he tried to substitutea stranger queen; the manner of her reception depended upon the period at which she was introduced.If twenty-four hours had elapsed after the removal of the queen, the stranger was well received, and at once admitted to the sovereignty of the hive. If not more than eighteen hours had elapsed, she was at first treated as a prisoner, but after a time permitted to reign. If the stranger was introduced within twelve hours, she was immediately surrounded by an impenetrable cluster of bees, and commonly died either from hunger or privation of air. It appeared therefore, in the course of these experiments, that from twenty-four to thirty hours were required, for a colony to forget its sovereign, and that if, before the lapse of that period, no substitute was presented, they set about constructing royal cells, as stated inpage 22; and moreover, that if, during the time they were so occupied, a princess was brought to them, the fabrication of royal cells was instantly abandoned, and the larvæ selected to occupy them were destroyed. On the admission of a welcome stranger queen, more regard is perhaps shown to her at first, than to a restored natural queen,—at least there are more conspicuous demonstrations of it: the nearest workers touch her with their antennæ, and, passing their proboscis over every part of her body, give her honey. In the cases above related, the bees all vibrated their wings at once, as if experiencing some agreeable sensations, and ranged themselvesin a circle round her. Others, in succession, broke through this circle, and having repeated the same process, of touching her with their antennæ, giving her honey, &c. formed themselves in a circle behind the others, vibrating their wings and keeping up a pleasurable hum. These demonstrations were continued for a quarter of an hour, when the queen beginning to move towards one part of the circle, an opening was made through which she passed, followed and surrounded by her customary guard. Such is the substance of Huber’s account: it does not entirely correspond with what has been stated by Dunbar.Videchapter onBee-boxes.
The loyalattachment of bees to their queenextends even beyond this:Huberstates that he has seen the workers, “after her death, treat her body as they treated herself when alive, and long prefer this inanimate body to the most fertile queens he had offered them.” AndDr. Evansrelates a case, in which a queen was observed to lie on some honey-comb in a thinly peopled hive, apparently dying, and surrounded by six bees, with their faces turned towards her, quivering their wings, and most of them with their stings pointed, as if to keep off any assailant. On presenting them honey, though it was eagerly devoured by the other bees, the guards were so completely absorbed in the care of their queen, asentirely to disregard it. The following day, though dead, she was still guarded; and though the bees were still constantly supplied with honey, their numbers were gradually diminished by death, till, at the end of three or four days, not a bee remained alive.
Wildmansays that if the queen of a swarm be lost, though it happen several weeks after leaving the mother hive, the bees will return to it, carrying their honey with them. This, if true, must occur where no grub can be converted into a queen. BothReaumurandWildmantried the experiment of introducing a royal larva into a queenless stock, when the bees immediately set to work again, on the inspiration of hope alone.
Should symptoms of discontent be observed after hiving, the queen will probably be discovered on the ground, or somewhere apart; surrounded by a small cluster of attendants, whom nothing but violence can separate from her. If she be taken up either singly or with the cluster, and placed near the entrance of the hive containing the swarm, all will be harmony.
Sometimes a swarm divides into two portions, which settle apart from each other and have each a distinct leader. The conduct of the apiarian must be governed by the size of the two divisions, and the season at which they emerge; unless both be large and the swarming early, they had betterbe hived in separate boxes, and joined together, in the manner recommended inChap. XIX.
Columellawas the first who proposed union by killing the supernumerary queen.
The branch on which the swarm settled is sometimes rubbed with wormwood, or smoked with disagreeable fumes, to drive away all remaining loiterers.
In every operation, it is desirable to avoid crushing a single bee, as, in case of discovery, the rest are excited to anger. See chapter on theSenses of Bees.
Immediately on the bees taking to the hive, it should be placed upon a table, on a proper floor board, and be covered with boughs or a cloth; and the hive should be near the parent stock, to catch stragglers, on their return home. At night it should be removed to its permanent station.
ON REMOVING BEES FROM COMMON STRAW-HIVES TO STORIFYING HIVES OR BOXES.
Manyplans have been suggested for transferring bees from hives to boxes; but excepting in the case of a recent swarm, I would not recommend any, but an experienced apiarian, to attempt an immediate transfer.
In the case of a recent swarm, the method of effecting the object is simple and easy; for if, when the bees have retired for the night, the hive be placed upon a middle board, with a divider underneath it, and the whole be inverted upon a small tub or a peck measure, and an empty box be raised upon the divider, this latter being withdrawn, and every opening besides what is necessary for admitting air being well secured, the bees will all probably have ascended into the box by morning, when with the assistance of the dividers they may be placed in the bee-house or any where else that the proprietor chooses, just as if they had been originally hived in the box. If the ascent have not taken place in the morning, it may be effected by drumming smartly with two sticks, upon the sides of the hive: in this way, the ascentmay be known by the loud humming noise by which it will be accompanied.
I have said that the above plan is only to be recommended in cases of recent swarming: by this I mean, in swarms of the day on which it is attempted, and before any works are constructed in the hives, to such an extent as to make the bees tenacious of their new habitation; for wherever they form a settlement, though even for the short time that they occupy a bush or tree before hiving, there are always to be seen the rudiments of one or more combs, showing, that they always intend, (so far as one can give bees credit for intention,) to take up their abode, permanently, upon the very spot on which they first cluster round their Royal Leader.
If however, from want of forethought or from any other causes, a swarm have been allowed, for a longer period, to occupy a hive from which it is desirable to dislodge it, in that case I would recommend the apiarian, towards night, to place the hive upon a middle board with a divider underneath it, to lute the junction with clay, so as to prevent the bees from escaping, and to invert the whole upon a stool that has had an opening made in it of sufficient size to allow the hive to sink about half-way through it. Then, if he raise a couple of empty boxes upon the divider, in the manner already directed for super-hiving, andhaving adjusted the whole, withdraw the divider, the bees will soon desist from carrying on their works in the hive, and commence new ones in the upper box; the hive at the period of deprivation may be separated from the boxes in the usual way.
The middle board that is used on this occasion, provided the colony be designed to stand out of doors, must have a resting board attached to the edge of it, for the bees to alight upon. And as it is intended to serve as a substitute for a floor board, it must be made to correspond with the floor boards in its construction, so far as respects its giving liberty for the bees to have ingress and egress, and its affording a power to shut them in.
If it should be thought more convenient, an entrance could readily be formed, by cutting a piece out of the lower edge of the box, in which also a groove might be cut for a slide to run in.
SUPER- AND NADIR-HIVING BY MEANS OF DIVIDERS.
Whenone hive or box is to be raised upon another in a bee-house, the operation may be performed at any time; the best time is about ten or eleven o’clock in the morning, when a great portion of the bees are ranging the fields. If the bees be kept in an out-door hive, the operation will be best performed in an evening or early in a morning, when, all the bees being at home, they may be shut in and thereby prevented from annoying the operator.
Ifsuper-hivingbe the object of the apiarian, he must first withdraw the four screws out of the top board of his stock-hive or box, so as to enable him to push one of his dividers from front to back, between that board and the box which it covers; he may then safely take off the top, and screw it upon an empty box. (He would of course be enabled to accomplish the business with more promptitude, if he have a supernumerary top already screwed down.) Having put the fresh box upon a middle board, the whole is to be carefully placed upon the divider, that covers the stock: when accurately adjusted to each other, if anassistant hold firmly in their places the two boxes, or the inferior box and the middle board, the divider may be withdrawn, and thus a communication between the two boxes will immediately be effected, without the escape, and perhaps without the destruction, of a single bee.
When I have had no assistant near me, upon whose steadiness I could rely, at the time of withdrawing the divider, I have fixed a piece of double quarter with one of its ends against the inferior box, and the other against the wall opposite to it, and have thus effectually prevented the box from moving, whilst with one hand I held firmly the middle board, and drew out the divider with the other. My readers are to suppose me operating in a bee-house, for in an out-door apiary an assistant will always be required, whenever any important operation is to be performed.
Nadir-hivingis accomplished by introducing both dividers between the floor board and the box or hive which it supports, the first with its turned edge downwards, and the other upon it with its turned edge upwards. The box or boxes are then to be removed on one side or upon a table, together with the upper plate or divider, which will form a temporary floor to the box, while the lower plate covers the wooden floor and those few bees that may be lodged upon it.
In removing the box or boxes for nadir-hiving,some caution is requisite, to prevent the escape of the bees. The safest plan is gradually to draw forward the boxes with their temporary floor, till they hang nearly half over the wooden floor, and then, by spreading out the fingers and applying them under each side of the divider, the whole may be lifted up and moved wherever it be most convenient till raised upon the nadir. When the box has been drawn half off, a weight should be placed upon the covering divider, to prevent it from tilting up.
The removal being accomplished, an empty box should be quickly placed upon the divider which covers the floor, and upon the box a middle board; the adjustment being complete, the dividers are to be withdrawn separately, and with the same precautions as in super-hiving.
If the apiarian wish to practisecentre-hivingi. e.to introduce an empty box between a superior and an inferior one, he can easily apply the preceding directions to that particular case.
UNITING SWARMS OR STOCKS.
Theunion of swarms with their stocks, and of swarms or stocks with each other, in case of their being or becoming weak, has been attempted in various ways, and with various success, depending perhaps, in some degree, upon the skill and adroitness of the operator. Upon the storifying plan this operation will rarely be necessary, excepting in the case of weak stocks, as it is not a very common occurrence for storified bees to swarm, and when they do so, they generally throw off strong swarms. Still the object may occasionally be desirable, and it is worthy of attention, forthe tenants of well filled hives are always the most active.
The three usual methods by which union has been attempted, and indeed their advocates say, accomplished, arefuming them, immersing them in water, andaspersing them with sugared or honeyed ale. To these I may add a fourth, namelyoperating upon their fears, by confining them for a time, and then alarming them by drumming smartly upon the outside of their domicile. It was operating on their fears that enabled Wildman to perform such extraordinary feats with bees.When under a strong impression of fear, says he, they are rendered subservient to our wills, to such a degree as to remain long attached to any place they afterwards settle upon, and will become so mild and tractable, as to bear any handling which does not hurt them, without the least show of resentment. “Long experience has taught me, that as soon as I turn up a hive, and give some taps on the sides and bottom, the queen immediately appears.” “Being accustomed to see her, I readily perceive her at the first glance; and long practice has enabled me to seize her instantly, with a tenderness that does not in the least endanger her person.” “Being possessed of her, I can, without exciting any resentment, slip her into my other hand, and returning the hive to its place, hold her, till the bees missing her, are all on the wing, and in the utmost confusion.” When in this state, he could make them alight wherever he pleased; for on whatever spot he placed the queen, the moment a few of them discovered her, the information was rapidly communicated to the rest, who in a few minutes were all collected round her. In this way he would sometimes cause them to settle on his head, or to hang clustered from his chin, in which state they somewhat resembled a beard. Again he would transfer them to his hand, or to any other part of his body, or if more agreeable to the spectators before whom he exhibited,he would cause them to settle upon a table, window, &c. Prior to making his secret generally known, he deceived his spectators by using words of command; but the only magic that he employed was the summoning into activity for his purpose the strong attachment of the bees to their queen.
“Such was the spell, which round a Wildman’s armTwin’d in dark wreaths the fascinated swarm;Bright o’er his breast the glittering legions led,Or with a living garland bound his head.His dextrous hand, with firm yet hurtless hold.Could seize the chief, known by her scales of gold.Prune, ’mid the wondering train, her filmy wing.Or, o’er her folds, the silken fetter fling.”Evans.
“Such was the spell, which round a Wildman’s armTwin’d in dark wreaths the fascinated swarm;Bright o’er his breast the glittering legions led,Or with a living garland bound his head.His dextrous hand, with firm yet hurtless hold.Could seize the chief, known by her scales of gold.Prune, ’mid the wondering train, her filmy wing.Or, o’er her folds, the silken fetter fling.”
Evans.
Cautioning his readers as to the hazard of attempting, what he himself accomplished only by long experience and great dexterity, Wildman concludes his account with a parody of the reply of C. Furius Cresinus, a liberated Roman slave, who, being accused of witchcraft in consequence of his raising more abundant crops than his neighbours, and therefore cited before a Roman tribunal, produced his strong implements of husbandry, his well-fed oxen, and a hale young woman his daughter; and pointing to them, said, “These, Romans! are my instruments of witchcraft; but I cannot show you my toil, my sweats, and anxious cares.” “So,” says Wildman, “may I say,These, Britons!are my instruments of witchcraft; but I cannot show you my hours of attention to this subject, my anxiety and care for these useful insects; nor can I communicate to you my experience, acquired during a course of years.”
The neatest and most scientific modewith which I am acquaintedof uniting weak families together in harmonywas invented by my friend TheRev. Richard Walond, whom I had occasion to mention in a former chapter, and whose experience in the management of bees, for nearly half a century, entitle his opinions concerning them to great respect. His theory and practice upon this subject are as follow. Bees, says he, emit a peculiar odour, and it is by no means improbable that every family of bees emits an odour peculiar to itself: if so, as their vision seems to be imperfect, and their smell acute, it may be by this distinctive and peculiar odour that they are enabled to discriminate betwixt the individuals of their own family and those of a stranger hive. Upon this supposition, if the odours of two separate stocks or swarms can be so blended as to make them completely merge into each other, there will then probably be no difficulty in effecting the union of any two families that it may be desirable to unite. To accomplish this end therefore, Mr. Walond had recourse to a very ingenious contrivance: heprocured a plate of tin, the size of a divider, and thickly perforated with holes, about the size of those in a coarse nutmeg-grater. Having confined in their respective hives or boxes, the two families to be united, and placed them over each other, with only a divider between them; he introduced his perforated tin plate upon the divider, which was then withdrawn. Immediately the bees began to cluster with hostile intentions, one family clinging to the upper, the other to the under side of the perforated plate; when after remaining in this state for about twenty-four hours, they had so far communicated to each other their respective effluvia, and so completely commixed were the odours in both hives, that on withdrawing the perforated plate, the bees mingled together as one family, no disturbance being excited, but such as arose from the presence of two queens, the custom being always, in such case, to dethrone one of them. According to Huber this is effected by single combat between the queens: which subject will be adverted to in a future chapter.Keyshas observed thatthese incorporations seldom turn to account unless they be effected in summer; and when it is considered that the principal gathering months are May and June, (excepting in those neighbourhoods that abound in lime, sycamore, and other trees that are apt to be affected with honey-dew,)we cannot, of course, expect them to be very successful. I have entered fully into this subject, when speaking of early and late swarms,page 115.
To obviate the consequences there apprehended, some apiarians have had recourse to the practice of removing their bees to fresh pasture; to districts where buckwheat is cultivated, or to the neighbourhood of heaths, or to any other place where such late blossoming flowers abound as afford honey. Mr.Isaacassures us that he once had a poor swarm of a month’s standing, which only weighed five pounds four ounces, and that on the 30th of July he had it removed toDartmoor Heath, from whence it was brought home, two months afterwards, increased in weight twenty-four pounds and a half. He moreover states that the increase of others, that were sent there, was nearly proportional, and is of opinion that the whole addition was made during the month of August.
InLower Egypt, where the flower harvest is not so early as in the upper districts of that country, this practice oftransportationis carried on to a considerable extent. The hives after being collected together from the different villages, and conveyed up the Nile marked and numbered by the individuals to whom they belong, are heaped pyramidally upon the boats prepared to receive them, which floating gradually down the river andstopping at certain stages of their passage, remain there a longer or shorter time, according to the produce which is afforded by the surrounding country. “After traveling three months in this manner, the bees, having culled the perfumes of the orange flowers of the Said, the essence of roses[G]of the Faicum, the treasures of the Arabian jessamine, and a variety of flowers, are brought back to the places from which they had been carried. This industry procures, for the Egyptians, delicious honey, and abundance of bees-wax. The proprietors, in return, pay the boatmen a recompence proportioned to the number of hives which have been thus carried about from one extremity of Egypt to the other.”Latreillestates that between Cairo and Damietta a convoy of 4000 hives were seen upon the Nile byNiebuhr, on their transit from the upper to the lower districts of that country. Floating bee-hives were formerly common also inFrance. One barge was capable of containing from 60 to 100 hives, which, floating gently down their rivers, enabled the bees to gather the honey which is afforded by the flowers on their banks.Reaumurlikewise states it to have been the practice in some districts to transport them with similar views, by land, in vehiclescontrived for the purpose. InSavoy,Piedmont, and other parts ofItaly, the practice is also common. It is indeed of very ancient origin. Columella speaks of it as a very general custom among the Greeks, who used annually to send their bee-hives from Achaia into Attica.