[G]Whatever inducement the bees of Egypt may have to ply the roses of that country, with us they pay very little attention to those beautiful flowers.
[G]Whatever inducement the bees of Egypt may have to ply the roses of that country, with us they pay very little attention to those beautiful flowers.
These, however, are advantages which very few situations can afford; probably but few of my readers may reside in the neighbourhood of heaths, and still fewer may be disposed to incur the trouble and expense of removal. If therefore incorporation be desirable in any particular case, I can only recommend that attention be paid to feeding the bees with sugared ale; by the assistance of which, indeed, I should not be afraid of carrying, even a weak stock, very safely through the winter and early spring. “Give your bees,” says Mr. Isaac, “two harvests in one summer” (alluding to the practice of transportation), “and you may make almost any swarm rich enough to live through the following winter.” This second harvest may be very efficiently supplied by an attention to feeding, during mild weather in winter, and particularly in the early spring,—for the management of which, see,Chap. XXIII.on Feeding.
PROPER PERIODS OF DEPRIVATION.
Itshould be an invariable rule with the apiarian, never to remove an upper hive or box, till an under one be quite full; and even then, it should be ascertained that the contents of the inferior one, (if taken at Michaelmas,) be not less than 18 pounds. If it do not contain so much, a sufficient quantity should be returned in the box that has been removed, otherwise recourse must be had to feeding.Mr. Isaacsays that he has carried a colony that had no honey at Michaelmas, safely through the winter and spring, with only eight pounds of honey. Huber succeeded with less; but it appears that his observations were made upon weak stocks that were not altogether destitute.
A variety of experiments were made byMr. John HunterandMr. Keys, to ascertainthe quantity consumed duringthe respective months ofwinter and spring, and they all led to one conclusion, namely, that itamounted upon an average to eight pounds, taking the season through, from the beginning of October to the end of May, when the spring proves ungenial.During the first six months the consumption was not morethan five pounds upon an average, and the colder the weather the smaller was the consumption.Vide2nd pageof Chap. XXIV.
As a general rule,—no honey should be taken from a colony the first year of its being planted, though there may be an extraordinary season now and then, which may justify a departure from this rule; but neither in such an uncommon year, nor even in the second year, should the whole of the combs in any box be taken, (unless it be clearly ascertained that the centre combs contain no brood,) but only the external ones, which should be examined carefully one by one, and the brood-combs, if any, be returned in the box to the stock. The apiarian, asHuberobserves, if he wish to obtain a considerable quantity of honey, should endeavour to secure his object rather by the number of his colonies, than by plundering a few of a great proportion of their treasures.A moderate participation is the most infallible means of preserving the stock.
Should “Summer signs auspicious ride.And tubes unfailing pour the balmy tide,A full rich harvest, Bee-herds, may ye claimFrom the blithe tenants of your crystal’d frame.But long ere Virgo weaves the robe of sleet,Or binds the hoar-frost sandals round her feet.Close seal’d and sacred, leave your toil-worn hosts.The last kind dole their waning season boasts,Lest coop’d within their walls, the truants preyOn hoards reserv’d to cheer stern Winter’s day.”Evans.
Should “Summer signs auspicious ride.And tubes unfailing pour the balmy tide,A full rich harvest, Bee-herds, may ye claimFrom the blithe tenants of your crystal’d frame.But long ere Virgo weaves the robe of sleet,Or binds the hoar-frost sandals round her feet.Close seal’d and sacred, leave your toil-worn hosts.The last kind dole their waning season boasts,Lest coop’d within their walls, the truants preyOn hoards reserv’d to cheer stern Winter’s day.”
Evans.
Mr. Hubbardsays that he has foundcolonized bees frequently fail, in consequence of their having been robbed of too much honey;it prevents early breeding.Wildmanparticularly recommends cautious deprivation after July, to avoid the attention which might be required in feeding, if the autumn should be unfavourable.
So much for the first and second years.—On the third, if the summer of that year as well as the summer preceding have been favourable for honey-gathering, the superior box will probably contain no brood, and may then be taken all at once.
The proceedings of the fourth and fifth years may fall under the practice of the second, but will probably allow of an earlier deprivation; some side combs may perhaps be taken away in July, and in October either the nadir or the centre box be removed entirely, and those above (if more than one) be brought down, and remain so till April; when the nadir may be introduced again.
No hive or box should have its breeding combs left more than five years;and in general, after the first year, the lower boxes will be found to be principally occupied for this purpose.
By this practice for four years out of everyfive, whatever combs are removed will be new ones, which, on account of the purity both of the wax and the honey, are greatly preferable to old ones.
Virgil, probably copying his predecessorAristotle, describestwo harvests of honey every year, namely, in the spring and in the autumn.
“The golden harvest twice each year o’erflows,Thou, twice each year, the plenteous cells unclose,Soon as fair Pleïas, bright’ning into day.Scorns with indignant foot the wat’ry way,Or, when descending down th’ aërial steep,She pours her pale ray on the wintry deep.”Sotheby’s Georgics.
“The golden harvest twice each year o’erflows,Thou, twice each year, the plenteous cells unclose,Soon as fair Pleïas, bright’ning into day.Scorns with indignant foot the wat’ry way,Or, when descending down th’ aërial steep,She pours her pale ray on the wintry deep.”
Sotheby’s Georgics.
"Varromentionsthree harvests; namely, at the rising of the Pleiads, about the twenty-second of April; the latter end of summer, and when the same stars set about the end of October:Columellarecommends them to take place about the twenty-fifth of April and the twenty-ninth of June;Plinyin May and July; andPalladiusin June only."—Evans.
Should such an accident occur as the destruction of a queen, by the introduction of a divider (and she might be so unfortunately situated as to fall a sacrifice to it), the stock will appear very much distressed and very restless all day, particularly if there be no Royal Embryo or no very young larva; for in either of these cases they will soonbecome reconciled. But if neither of them be present, and the bees be left to themselves, they will lose their wonted activity, gradually dwindle in number and pine away: or they will transfer their allegiance to another sovereign; and in that case, convey all the treasured sweets of their own hive, to that of the family they join.The only remedy for such a misfortuneis to unite the bees to another stock, in the manner already directed, or to procure a supernumerary queen from another family. The latter, however, is an operation which few will have courage to attempt.
TAKING HONEY BY MEANS OF DIVIDERS.
Afterhaving noted the utility of Dividers, in adding freshemptyboxes, the reader will readily perceive their importance in the removal offullones, when the period arrives for depriving a colony of a portion of its honey. In this case, the two dividers must be introduced between the middle board of the box to be removed and the box below it, precisely as in nadir hiving. In the act of deprivation a little more force will be required to push in, as well as to withdraw the divider, as it will generally have to pass through a portion of honey-comb. The above directions apply to the removal of an upper box, which will in general be the first for which they will be required. When any other is to be taken away, the plan of proceeding must be varied, but it would be tedious to give directions for every case; an intelligent operator by an attention to the instructions already given, and his own reflection, will be able to adapt his mode of proceeding to the particular exigency. Only one divider should be introduced till the situation of the queen be ascertained: if she be in the box intended for removal, the divider must be withdrawn,and the experiment tried again in a week or two. If in an hour after the introduction of the divider, the bees in the box intended to be taken should exhibit symptoms of inquietude, it may be assumed that the queen is not within that box, the disturbance being caused by the anxiety of the bees to have access to her; whereas if she be in the box, the bees in company with her will be tranquil, and the excluded portion of the family will be in a state of commotion. Having, we will suppose, ascertained that the queen is in the desired place, the second divider should be introduced as before directed, when the box, with one of the dividers underneath it, must be removed. The apiarian, when performing this operation for the first time, may find it convenient to raise a stage of empty bee-boxes or other convenient articles, on one side or at the back of the box to be removed, and upon a level with the bottom of its middle board; he can then, after having introduced the dividers, very easily slide the full box, with its middle board and divider, over his temporary stage. (This mode of proceeding may likewise be found applicable on other occasions.) The operation having proceeded thus far, the box is ready for being applied over the hole of delivery, where a floor board should be placed with its sliding shutter open, and with an uncovered empty boxupon it. (If the full box were itself placed upon the floor board, stranger bees might smell the honey and become very troublesome intruders:—this is the reason why an empty box is interposed betwixt the full one and the floor board.) The full box and middle board, with the divider underneath them, being raised upon the empty box and the divider withdrawn, a portion of the bees will immediately sally forth, to join the family from which they have been separated. I say a portion, for notwithstanding their attachment to their queen, they will not all quit, without reluctance, so great a treasure as a box full of honey; if any of the combs contain brood also, this reluctance will be increased. When therefore the bees issue slowly, the sliding shutter should be closed, and re-opened in a quarter of an hour. This short imprisonment will produce some impatience and restlessness, and consequent eagerness to be set at liberty; and on re-opening the shutter there will be a fresh sally: this method must be pursued, at similar successive intervals, till all or nearly all the bees have quitted the box; should a few still remain, the box, towards evening, may be taken out of doors and the stragglers brushed out upon a board or cloth, with a wing, and placed upon a support near the entrance to the stock; those that are not injured by the wing will soon find their way in: thus will the wholeoperation be completed. But if the upper story be taken, it will be obvious that either an empty box or a top board must be placed over the stock.
If this method of deprivation should fail of success, some other course must be pursued.Mr. Isaac’splanpromises well. After removing the box from the stock, he used to confine his bees in it, till their anger and agitation had rendered their prison so hot and uncomfortable, and probably so unwholesome, by the deterioration of the air, that they were glad of an opportunity to quit it, which he soon afforded them. Unscrewing the top of his box, and introducing a divider underneath it, he placed an empty boxoverthe full one, and opened a communication between the two, by withdrawing the divider. At the same time he gave an additional impulse to the ascent of the bees by drumming smartly upon the sides of the full box. When the bees were entirely or nearly gone, he took out either the whole of the combs or such as contained honey without brood, proceeding according to the directions given in page 163. There is another resource, inthe methoduniformlypractised byMr. Keys, viz. that of fuming, which is effected by placing an empty box over the full one, in the manner described above, and expelling the bees with the smoke of burning puff balls, probably that of woollen rags would answer as well, though Mr. Keys relies upon thestupifying quality of the puff balls, which however, he says, is in a great measure lost if the balls be kept more than a year. The operation may be afterwards finished in the usual way.
Where straw-hives are used, or where boxes are surmounted by them,a very simple methodof taking the honey, without destroying the bees, wasadopted byJ. F. M. Dovaston, Esq.a Salopian gentleman. I will suppose that he took off the hive with a middle board and divider underneath it; he then inverted it upon a kettle of hot water, fitted to receive the hive without any part sinking into the water; the whole being surmounted by an empty box, and the divider withdrawn: in ten minutes the heat so annoyed the bees, that they were heard marching,magno cum fremitu, into the empty hive. In a few minutes, when all was quiet, the divider being introduced again, the hive was replaced by the box containing the bees. Mr. D. found that on this plan not a single bee remained among the combs. I see no good reason why a similar practice should not be adopted with boxes or Moreton-hives; in this case the water in the kettle should be heated gradually by a chaffing-dish, and the box or hive should have a perforated divider under it, like that for uniting stocks: the empty box had better communicate with the open air, lest the heat of the steamshould be intolerable to the bees. Having the top unscrewed would probably answer the purpose, as it could then be easily pushed on one side.Dr. Evans, when he could not readily dislodge the bees from the box, had recourse toDr. Warder’splan of placing it over an inverted empty box, that contained a lighted sulphur match, the fumes of which stupified the bees’; and on the upper hive being rapped, they fell down in a state of insensibility, but soon revived and joined the family, by the usual entrance. The fumes of sulphur answered as well as those of the narcotic fungus recommended by Thorley and Keys, which it is sometimes difficult to procure and troublesome to prepare. Immersing the bees in cold water would answer, with a glass or earthenware hive.Dr. Evanswas led to adopt it in consequence of reading Wildman’s account of Madame Vicat’s method of clearing her bees from vermin, by plunging them in water. The chapter on Bee-maladies contains some remarks on this subject.
At the commencement of my apiarian inquiries, I felt that there was a want of more minute information than is given by Keys; and others with whom I have conversed upon the subject, have had the same feeling: this has induced me to enter into a descriptive detail of the whole business of super-hiving, nadir-hiving, and deprivation. Those whoare in possession of "The ancient Bee-master’s Farewell," will perceive that I have made some alterations in the boxes of Keys and some additions to them: the principal of these are the sinking of the entrances in the floor boards, instead of having them cut in the lower edges of the boxes; having fixed bars upon the tops of the boxes, instead of Keys’s loose ones, and the use of middle boards. The first was my own suggestion, the two last were improvements made by Mr. Walond. Entrances made in the floor boards enable the apiarian to place his boxes upon the boards in whatever direction he chooses, and render sliding shutters in the upper boxes unnecessary. The loose bars were inconvenient, from the bees attaching their combs to the sides of the boxes, which they almost always do, as well as from their attaching every comb to two or three bars. The middle boards facilitate the introduction of the dividers, secure the apiator against the effects of any little irregularity in the adaptation of the boxes to each other, at the time of adding or taking away, and form a good foundation for a superstructure of cell-work; for sometimes the bees depart from their usual practice of suspending their combs from the roofs of the boxes, and build from below upwards.
It is the usual custom in this country, to sacrifice the lives of the bees, in order to get possessionof their stores. This is generally done in September, by setting the hive, late in an evening, over lighted brimstone matches, placed in a hole dug in the earth; the soil being quickly drawn round the hive, as well to prevent the escape of any of the bees, as to confine the sulphurous gas. In about a quarter of an hour, if the hive receive a few smart strokes on its sides, the bees will be found to have dropped insensible into the hole, where they are immediately buried; otherwise they would revive, such of them at least as were not singed or otherwise injured by the fire. The heaviest and lightest hives are usually selected for the purpose, the former as yielding most profit, the latter as being unlikely to survive the winter.
If, after a hive of bees has been suffocated, the apiarian wish tosearch for the queen, the best mode of doing so is to lay the whole of the bees on white paper, or in water on a white shallow dish, and examine them singly; her colour upon the back is not so remarkably different from that of the workers as to be very striking; but on looking at the under part of her, she will be immediately recognised.
I adverted to this latter mode of robbing bees of their treasure inChap. XIV.and there quoted the lamentation of Thomson at their fate. Forthis humane appeal, he has been thus apostrophized by Dr. Evans.
“And thou, sweet Thomson, tremblingly aliveTo pity’s call, hast mourn’d the slaughter’d hive,Cursing, with honest zeal, the coward hand,Which hid, in night’s dark veil, the murd’rous brand,In steam sulphureous wrapt the peaceful dome,And bore the yellow spoil triumphant home.”
“And thou, sweet Thomson, tremblingly aliveTo pity’s call, hast mourn’d the slaughter’d hive,Cursing, with honest zeal, the coward hand,Which hid, in night’s dark veil, the murd’rous brand,In steam sulphureous wrapt the peaceful dome,And bore the yellow spoil triumphant home.”
THE BEE-DRESS.
TheStorifying system, when conducted with proper precaution, in a bee-house, renders a bee-dress quite superfluous to the apiarian, as all his operations may be safely performed at all times and in all weathers, without one.
They may be as securely performed, by the storifier in a simple shed, if the time of operating be either early or late in the day, when the bees are all at home and can be confined by shutting the slide of the floor board.
Still, as timidity may foster a feeling of insecurity, and as the armour of a bee-dress may give confidence to an operator, I shall describe the dress that appears to me most suitable.
In the first place the apiator should be armed witha pair of thick cloth gloves, made to tie over the sleeves of his coat. Secondly, his legs should be fortified by adouble pair of thick woollen or worsted stockings, or some kind ofstout leggingsas they are called. And thirdly, he should be provided witha short dress of Scotch gauze or catgut. This dress should be so formed as to tie round the crown of a hat having a shallow brim (about 2½ inches deep), should have short sleevesto tie round the arms, and descend low enough to tie round the body.A woollen apronshould also be worn, as high as the bottom of the catgut dress, otherwise, in the language of Mr. Keys, the prying little insects may find an opening of sufficient size to enable them to tickle the belly. “Women,” says Mr. K. “should not meddle with bees, without a bee-dress, nor then without the addition of a man’s coat, and I had almost said of breeches also.”
This dress is the most complete mode of securing an operator from bees or wasps; but if he be adventurous enough to brave their attacks, I recommend him first to drink or rinse his mouth with a little malt liquor; to wash his face and hands with the same, and to approach them with a bunch of sweet herbs in his hand, gently fanning his face with them, whilst he is in the vicinity of their domicile, and breathing as much as possible through his nose. (VidePart II.Bee’s Sting.) In case of an actual or threatened attack, (the latter of which may be known by the peculiar noise which precedes it,) a defence by striking at them would be highly imprudent. An attempt may be first made to put them gently away; should that not succeed, the only resource is to retire quietly, and to conceal the face in shrubs or boughs, if any be near, or if not with the hands spread over it. The bees will then generally desist from further attack, and go home.
The smart quick strokes of the wings, when bees are angry and prepared to sting, give a sound very different from their usual buz. “Instead,” says Mr. Hunter, “of that soft contented noise made by the bee when coming home loaded on a fine evening,—when a bee meditates an attack with its sting, it makes a very different one.” There is a piercing shrillness in the sound, as the author and some of his friends have often experienced.
Messrs. Kirby and Spence, after quoting a passage from Mr. White’s Natural History, relative to the feigned attacks of some wild bees near Lewes in Sussex, which “with a sharp and hostile sound dash and strike round the heads and faces of intruders,” make the following observations. “The hive-bee will sometimes have recourse to the same expedient, when her hive is approached too near, and thus give you notice what you may expect, if you do not take her warning and retire.—Humble-bees when disturbed, whether out of the nest or in it, assume some very grotesque and at the same time threatening attitudes. If you put your finger to them, they will either successively or simultaneously lift up the three legs of one side; turn themselves upon their back, bend up their anus and show their sting accompanied by a drop of poison. Sometimes they will even spirt out that liquor.”
FEEDING.
Astockof bees will, generally, consume a pound of honey per month, betwixt the 1st of October and the 1st of March: from this time to the end of May, they will consume two pounds per month;if the spring be unfavourable for gathering early, and less than ten pounds of honey per stock have been left for their winter’s support, and that winter have proved mild, the bees should be fed early in the season, and sometimes through a considerable part of the month of May.
I believe the best spring food for bees is the followingcompound: A pound of coarse brown sugar and half a pint of ale or sweet wort, boiled to the consistence of a syrup, to which may be added a small portion of salt. According to Huberthe coarsest sugar enables the bees to form the whitest wax. The above mixture is regarded, by some, as a useful food for bees even when there is no deficiency of honey;it is supposed to encourage early breeding, and to preserve the health of the bees; I administer it invariably from the end of February or the beginning of March till the bees seem to disregard it, which always happensas soon as the flowers afford them a supply of honey.
There are two opinions uponthe best mode of administering the syrup: one party gives the preference todaily feeding, in small quantities;the other, tointroducing a considerable quantity at once, and repeating it as occasion may require. The majority of apiarians favour the latter practice; among the number areReaumur,Thorley,Isaac,Morris, &c. the latter gentleman obtained an award often guineas from the Society of Arts, for his method of feeding. The advocates of the first method areKeys,Espinasse, and some others. Copious feeding in effected by filling the cells on one side of a spare drone comb, laid flat upon the floor of the hive; or by pouring the syrup into a dish, or an excavated floor board of twice the usual thickness, covering the food with short straws or pieces of reed, about half an inch long, to prevent the bees from soiling themselves. The stock being placed in an evening over the whole,—in the course of the night, or the following morning, the bees will carry up the syrup, and store it in unoccupied cells. Where it has been ascertained that the bees have not stored a sufficient quantity of honey to carry them through the winter and ensuing spring, and it is determined to furnish them with a supply in the autumn, I think this method of copious feeding is the best.But when they are fed in the spring, I think it preferable to give them about a table-spoonful a day. This has generally been accomplished, by introducing into the mouth of the hive a long boat, formed by scooping out the pith from an elder stem, and filling it with the composition. Upon this plan, no more is introduced than the case requires, and frequent opportunities are afforded of learning the condition of the bees, from the manner in which they receive the boon. If a little irascibility be exhibited, it is a symptom of health; and though indifference to the proffered bounty may not actually betoken mischief, yet it deserves attention, and should induce vigilance in the apiarian. Feeding upon the large scale in spring, tempts the bees to fill those cells which may be wanted for the queen to deposit her eggs in, and thus proves a drawback upon the strength and prosperity of the hive. It may also cause the bees to partake too freely of the syrup, and suffer from their intemperance. Whichever mode be adopted, the external entrances must be closed, during the time of feeding; and I know of no better contrivance for this purpose than Mr. Huish’s tin guards. Without this precaution, unfed stranger bees, attracted by the smell of the syrup, will banquet upon it; and these marauders, having once tasted the repast, will not only return to it again and again themselves, but bring intheir train a multitude of others, to the great injury of the well-fed apiary. The way in which I feed my own bees is exceedingly simple, and attended with no risk to the apiarian. At the close of the gathering season, I turn my boxes and their floors a quarter round, and adapt to them a long narrow box with a glass top and two openings, one at the end, serving as a street door, the other in the side serving as a hall door leading into the box, as shown in the following sketch.
In an evening, when the bees are all at home, I push in the slide of the floor board, raise the glazed box, and place the syrup under it: then I close the external entrance, and withdraw the slide to admit the bees to the food: by morning I generally find that my donation has been removed. I place the syrup in a small shallow saucer, covered over with Scotch gauze, through which the bees suck it without smearing their wings. If the gauze hang over the sides of the saucer, itwill act as a syphon, and the syrup be wasted: to obviate this inconvenience, a small hoop of whale-bone, cane, or other pliable material should be just dropped within the edges of the saucer, and upon this hoop the gauze should be stretched, turned over and secured with a needle and thread.
DISEASES OF BEES.
Isuspectthat much which has been written upon this subject is fanciful, and that most of the ailments of bees originate from want of cleanliness or want of food; for if bees be not kept clean, and be not supplied with food in backward springs, particularly in those which succeed mild winters, a mortality among them is usually experienced; and it is in spring that their alleged maladies prevail.
“For late the lynx-ey’d scout, in nice survey,Had mark’d the ravage of ungenial May,Where the lorn bee-herd wail’d his empty shed,Its stores exhausted, and its tenants dead.”“So mourn’d Arcadia’s swain[H]his honey’d host,By keen disease or keener famine lost.Till his fond mother, on her glassy throne,Heard through deep Peneus’[I]wave the filial moan.”Evans.
“For late the lynx-ey’d scout, in nice survey,Had mark’d the ravage of ungenial May,Where the lorn bee-herd wail’d his empty shed,Its stores exhausted, and its tenants dead.”
“So mourn’d Arcadia’s swain[H]his honey’d host,By keen disease or keener famine lost.Till his fond mother, on her glassy throne,Heard through deep Peneus’[I]wave the filial moan.”
Evans.
[H]Aristæus, the son of Apollo and the nymph Cyrene, to whom mankind were said to be indebted for the art of curdling milk,managing bees,making hives, and cultivating olives; on which account he was worshipped as a God by the Greeks. He was the father of the unfortunate Actæon.
[H]Aristæus, the son of Apollo and the nymph Cyrene, to whom mankind were said to be indebted for the art of curdling milk,managing bees,making hives, and cultivating olives; on which account he was worshipped as a God by the Greeks. He was the father of the unfortunate Actæon.
[I]A river of Thessaly.
[I]A river of Thessaly.
During a mild winter the stock of honey is often exhausted, such a season encouraging the bees tobe active, without affording any resources beyond their own domicile; yet it is not uncommon to hear the keepers of bees speak of a mild winter as favourable for the bees. It is most unfavourable to them; and if feeding be not duly attended to, frequently fatal. Hencea northern aspecthas beenrecommendedfor hivesduring winter; and if guarded by proper coverings, and contrivances against snow and other bad weather, such an aspect is highly proper. TheRev. Stephen Whiteobserves, that if hives be placed on the northern side of a building, the bees will seldom be induced to come out, and will eat much less than if exposed to the winter’s sun.Mr. Gedderecommendskeeping them during winter,not onlyina cold, butina dark situation, in order to lessen the consumption of honey. He even suggests the use of an ice-house, having found that bees survive the cold in Siberia, and render Russia somewhat remarkable for its productiveness of honey. “A very observing gentleman,” saysDr. Darwin, “at my request, put two hives for many weeks into a dry cellar, and observed, during all that time, that they did not consume any of their provision, for their weight did not decrease, as it had done when they were kept in the open air.” The same observation is made in the Annual Register for 1768, p. 113. The sudden transitions from heat to cold, and from cold to heat, experiencedin this country, are detrimental to bees; but these vicissitudes would not alarm me, if the bees were well sheltered, and had a convenient supply of water, salt and sugar, in the early part of the spring.
Keys thought they were not fond of salt: from my own experience as well as from that of my apiarian friends, I am satisfied that he was mistaken, and my opinion is confirmed by the following observation in Crevecœur’s Travels. “One day, having remarked that my bees frequently settled on spots, where brine had been spilt, I placed some grains of salt before their hives. What was my astonishment, when I saw them repeatedly tasting it with eagerness, and carrying it away with them! Before this experiment, I could not have believed that the manufacturers of honey could taste with pleasure, a substance so different from the nectar of flowers.”
In the winter of 1782-3, a general mortalitytook placeamong the beesin this country, which was attributed to various causes: want of honey was not one of them; for in some hives considerable store was found, after the bees were gone. Some were of opinion that it arose from the preceding being a bad breeding year, and thought the bees died of old age. Others attributed it to the moistness of the spring of 1783, which rendered the providing of pollen difficult, for without pollenno brood can be raised. The difficulty of collecting pollen was ascribed to the continual closing of the flowers over the anthers, the want of sun to burst the anthers, and the washing away of the pollen by the frequent showers after they did burst. The fatal influence ascribed to the wetness of the spring of 1782 seems to be improbable; though the wet might have affected the quantity of bees bred, it was not likely to put a stop to their breeding altogether, and the young bees ought at any rate to have escaped the desolating evil, if it were old age alone; yet wherever the mortality once made its appearance, every bee became its victim.
A similar incident occurred among the wasps in the year1824. The queen wasps were unusually numerous in the spring of that year, and yet scarcely a wasp could be seen of any sort in the ensuing summer and autumn, though there was a great deal of fine weather and plenty of sunshine, the fruits having ripened remarkably well. In both cases, it seems probable that the mortality arose from some unfavourable circumstance at the breeding season, with which we are unacquainted. I am not aware that it has been attributed to any specific distemper of an epidemical nature.Mr. Knightnoticed a similar occurrence, as to wasps, in the year1806 (Philosophical Transactions 1807, p. 243); andin1815,Messrs. KirbyandSpencemade the same observation. Mr. Knight supposed the scarcity to arise from a want of males to impregnate the queens.
I shall now proceed to notice the maladies of bees; and state their causes, symptoms and remedies, as I have collected them from ancient and modern authors.
Dysentery.
This malady was attributed byColumellato the bees extracting and feeding upon honey collected from the blossoms of elms and spurge; he regarded it as an annual distemper. By others it has been ascribed to their feeding too freely upon the vernal honey, from whatever source derived; or from their being obliged to eat wax, through want of other food, in the early part of the spring.Madame Vicatsupposed it to arise from the feeding upon honey that had been candied, in consequence of the hive being exposed to a severe winter.Reaumurinstituted some experiments to ascertain the cause of dysentery, but they were not satisfactory.
The presence of this disorder is indicated by the appearance of the excrement, which, instead of a reddish yellow, exhibits a muddy black colour, and has an intolerably offensive smell. Also by its being voided upon the floors, and at the entrance of the hives, which bees, in a healthyState, are particularly careful to preserve clean.Huishcompares the morbid excrement to linseed.
Vertigo.
Vertige, asDu Carne de Blangycalls it, is supposed to arise from the bees extracting the honey of deleterious plants. I have treated fully upon this subject under the head of Pasturage. In addition to what has been there stated I will give an extract fromDr. Barton’sPaper, who after observing that there is more poetry than philosophy in the following lines of Pope—
“In the nice bee what sense so subtly trueFrom poisonous herbs extracts the healing dew?”
“In the nice bee what sense so subtly trueFrom poisonous herbs extracts the healing dew?”
says: “It is however much to be questioned whether this noxious honey proves so to the bees themselves.” Sir J. E. Smith asserts that “the nectar of plants is not poisonous to bees.”Syllabus to Botan. Lect.And Dr. Barton, though disposed to adopt the contrary opinion, gives instances to the same effect. Thus a party of young men, induced by the prospect of gain, having removed their hives fromPennsylvaniatothe Jerseys, whose vast savannahs were finely painted with the flowers of theKalmia angustifolia, could not use or dispose of their honey, on account of its intoxicating quality; yet, “the bees increased prodigiously,” an increase only to be explained by their being well andharmlesslyfed.
This disorder is marked, we are told, by a dizzy manner of flying, and by irregular motions, such as starting, falling down, &c. when the bees are pursuing their usual occupations. To these symptoms succeed lassitude and death. No remedy has hitherto been discovered for this malady.
Hubersays that vertigo attacks ants, and causes them to lose the power of moving in a straight line, and occasions the performance of rapid gyrations always in the same direction: he observed one insect make about 1000 turns in an hour, describing a circle of about an inch in diameter; this continued for seven days: he does not say whether he ever knew any instance of a recovery.
In Dr. Barton’s ingenious paper, to which I have already referred in the chapter on Pasturage, the plants enumerated as yielding poisonous honey areKalmia angustifolia, latifolia, andhirsuta;Rhododendron maximum,Azalea nudiflora, andAndromeda mariana. The honey of these is stated to have proved injurious both to dogs and the human species.The symptomsit usually producesare dimness of sight or vertigo, delirium, ebriety, pain in the stomach and bowels, convulsions, profuse perspiration, foaming at the mouth, vomiting and purging; in some instances,temporary palsy of the limbs, but veryseldom death. The best mode of treatment is not yet ascertained; though the similarity of the symptoms, the Doctorsays, would induce us to pursue the same plan as in counteracting other narcotic poisons. In those cases,early vomiting, whether spontaneous or induced by art, removes the disease at once; andcold bathing, so useful in other spasmodic or convulsive affections, is employed with considerable advantage by both Natives and Europeans. This should seem to be one of those cases in which thestomach-pumpwould be peculiarly beneficial, from the promptness and certainty of its action.
To the credit of the genus of plants last named, it should be mentioned that one species (Andromeda nitidaorlucidaofBartram) affords abundance of excellent honey; hence the name ofhoney-floweris given to it, by the country people inGeorgiaandCarolina, not however merely from the circumstance just mentioned, but from the regular position of the flowers on the peduncle, which open like the cells of a honey-comb, and from the odour of these flowers, which greatly resembles that of honey."—Barton.
“As most of the plants enumerated in the above list are now introduced into our gardens, and theDatura(common Thorn Apple) has long become perfectly naturalized, they might be supposed to injure the British honey. Most probably, however, their proportion to the whole of the flowers in bloom, is too small to produce any such inconvenience; whereas on their native continentthey exclusively cover whole tracts of country, as instanced above in the Jerseys.”Evans, B. ii. p. 95.
Tumefaction of the Antennæ.
The antennæ, in this disorder, become swelled at their extremities, which resemble the bud of a flower ready to open, and they assume a yellow colour, of which the forepart of the head shortly partakes; the bees becoming gradually languid and dying, if they have not timely assistance.—This malady occurs about the month of May.
Pestilence, orFaux Couvain(as Schirach calls it).
Pestilence has been reckoned among bee-maladies, and attributed to the residence of dead larvæ in the cells, from a careless deposition of ova by the queen, (the head of the grub not being placed in a proper position for exclusion, when that period has arrived,) it has also been ascribed to cold, and to bad nursing, that is, feeding with unwholesome food.
Treatment.
The remedies which have been found most successful in all these maladies, excepting vertigo, arecordials, namelywineandsugar. This circumstance, taken in conjunction with their occurring at the spring of the year, tends to confirm my opinion that the ailments of bees arise from hunger and filth.
Cleanlinessandtimely supplies of sugared ale, particularlyduring the months of February and March, are the preventive remedies which have hitherto preserved my bees in a state of healthful activity. In ungenial springs, feeding should be continued eventhrough a considerable part of May, if the preceding autumn have been unfavourable, or if a cold May have succeeded to warm weather in early spring,—the earliest vernal flowers affording but a scanty supply of honey. The apiarian is sometimes astonished that he should lose his bees at this advanced season of the year, when but a short time before he had seen them in full health and activity. Had he afforded that food which his bees could not obtain from a comparatively immature and honeyless vegetation, their hives would still have gladdened him with the spectacle of a thriving population.