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L, L. LANGSTROTH. AT 70,
L. L. LANGSTROTH AT 80.
LANGSTROTH
ON THE
‘Hive and Honey Bee
REVISED, ENLARGED. AND COMPLETED BY
Chas.Dadant & Son.
SEVENTH EDITION OF THE REVISION.
PUBLISHED BY CHAS. DADANT & SON,
HAMILTON, HANCOCK COUNTY, ILLINOIS, U. S. A.
1904.
ba.
Ya
COPYRIGHTED 1888, BY
CHAS. DADANT & SON,
ALL RIGATS RESERVED
PREFACE
By his invention of the most practical movable-frame
hive, aud by his book, ‘‘The Hive and Honey-Bee’’,—a
book as attractive as a novel, —Mr. Langstroth has laid
the foundation of American Apiculture, whose methods
and implements have become popular throughout the world.
The re-writing of the ‘‘ Hive and Honey-Bee’’ was en-
trusted to us, in 1885, by Mr. Langstroth, as his feeble
health rendered him unable to attend to it since its last re-
vision in 1859.
In this difficult work, which demanded a review of the
progress accomplished in the past thirty years, we have had
to introduce more new matter than we had anticipated.
This will probably please the Apiarists who have already
read former editions, and who have been waiting for this
long-promised revision. Yet, we have retained as much as
possible. of Mr. Langstroth’s writings, and all who are con-
versant with his style will readily recognize his masterly
pen.
Our thanks are due to Mr. C. F. Muth, of Cincinnati, for
the enthusiastic interest which he has taken in this book,
and to the able teacher and writer, Miss Favard, of Keokuk,
for her criticism of the literary part of the work.
As bee-keeping, like all other sciences, is but an accumu-
lation of former discoveries, we have borrowed much from
all sides, but we have tried to give due credit to all. Some
of the engravings given are not original with the works
I
pat PREFACE.
from which we take them. Those of Girard, for instance,
are reduced copies of the beautiful chromos of Clerici, after
the microscopic studies of Count G. Barbo, of Milan. Text-
books are never entirely free from compilations of this kind.
Having spared neither time nor expense to produce a
book worthy of the father of American Apiculture, we hope
that our work will be favorably received and will prove of
some use in helping progress.
THE REVISERS
Decemsen, 1888
BIOGRAPHY OF L. L. LANGSTROTH.
Lorenzo Lorrain Lanestrorta, the ‘father of American
Apiculture,”’ was born in the city of Philadelphia, December
25, 1810. He early showed unusual interest in insect life.
His parents were intelligent and in comfortable circum-
stances, but they were not pleased to see him ‘ waste so
much time’’ in digging holes in the gravel walks, filling them
with crumbs of bread and dead flies, to watch the curious
habits of the ants. No books of any kind on natural history
were put into his hands, but, on the contrary, much was said
to discourage his ‘‘ strange notions.’’ Still he persisted in
his observations, and gave to them much of the time that
his playmates spent in sport.
In 1827, he entered Yale College, graduating in 1831.
His father’s means having failed, he supported himself by
teaching, while pursuing his theological studies. After serv-
ing as mathematical tutor in Yale College for nearly two
years, he was ordained Pastor of a Congregational church
in Andover, Massachusetts, in May, 1836, and was married
in August of that yearto Miss A. M. Tucker of New Haven.
Strange to say, notwithstanding his passion in early life
for studying the habits of insects, he took no interest in
such pursuits during his college life. In 1837, the sight of
a glass vessel filled with beautiful comb honey, on the table
of a friend, led him to visit the attic where the bees were
kept. This revived all his enthusiasm, and before he went
home he purchased two colonies of bees in old box hives.
11
iv BIOGRAPHY OF L. L. LANGSTROTH.
The only literary knowledge which he then had of bee-culture
was gleaned from the Latin writings of Virgil, and from a
modern writer, ‘‘ who was somewhat skeptical as to the exist-
ence of a queen-bee.”’
In 1839, Mr. Langstroth removed to Greenfield, Massachu-
setts. His health was much impaired, and he had resigned
his pastorate. Increasing very gradually the number of his
colonies, he sought information on all sides. The ‘‘ Let-
ters of Huber’’ and the work of Dr. Bevan on the honey
bee (London, 1838), fell into his hands and gave him an
introduction to the vast literature of bee-keeping.
In 1848, having removed to Philadelphia, Mr. Langstroth,
with the help of his wife, began to experiment with hives of
different forms, but made no special improvements in them
until 1851, when he devised the movable frame hive, used at
the present day in preference to all others. This is re-
corded in his journal, under the date of October 30, 1851,
with the following remarks: ‘‘ The use of these frames will,
I am persuaded, give a new impetus to the easy and profit-
able management of bees.’’
This invention, which gave him perfect control over all
the combs of the hive, enabled him afterwards to make
many remarks and incidental discoveries, the most of which
he recorded in his book, on the habits and the natural his-
tory of the honey-bee. The first edition of the work was
published in 1852, and in its preparation he was greatly
assisted by his accomplished wife. A revised edition was
published in 1857, another in 1859, and large editions,
without further revisions, have since been published.
In January, 1852, Mr. Langstroth applied for a patent on
his invention. This was granted him; but he was deprived
of all the profits of this valuable discovery, by infringe-
ments and subsequent law-suits, which impoverished him
and gave him trouble for years; though no doubt remains
now in the mind of any one, as to the originality and prior-
ity of his discoveries.
BIOGRAPHY OF L. L. LANGSTROTH. v
From the very beginning, his hive was adopted by such
men as Quinby, Grimm and others, while the inventions of
Munn and Debeauvoys are now buried in oblivion.
Removing to Oxford, Ohio, in 1858, Mr. Langstroth, with
the help of his son, engaged in the propagation of the
Italian bee. From his large apiary he sold in one season
$2,000 worth of Italian queens. This amount looks small
at the present stage of bee-keeping, but it was enormous at
a time when so few people were interested in it.
The death of his only son, and repeated attacks of a
serious head trouble, together with physical infirmities
caused by a railroad accident, compelled Mr. Langstroth to
abandon extensive bee-culture in 1874. But when his health
permitted, his ideas were always turned toward improve-
ments in bee-culture. On the 19th of August, 1895, he
wrote us, asking us to try the feeding of bees with malted
milk, to induce the rearing of brood. He had also written
to others on the same subject. On the 19th of September
he wrote in the American Bee Journal, that, after compar-
ative experiments he had found that a thirteen comb Lang-
stroth hive gave more honey than the ordinary ten frame
hive, thus showing that his mind was at all times occupied
with bees.
Mr. Langstroth died October 6th, 1895, at Dayton, Ohio,
while delivering a sermon. He was nearly eighty-five years
old. His name is now ‘‘venerated’’ by American bee-
keepers, who are aware of the great debt due him by the
fraternity. He is to them what Dzierzon* is to German
Apiarists. A master whose teachings will be retained for
ages.
Mr. Langstroth was an eminent scholar. His bee library
was one of the most extensive in the world. He learned
French without a teacher, simply through his knowledge of
* Pronounce Tseertsone.
vI BIOGRAPHY OF L. L. LANGSTROTH.
Latin, for the sole purpose of reading the many valuable
works on bees in the French language. He was a pleasant
and eloquent speaker. His writings are praised by all, and
we can not close his biography better than by quoting an
able writer, who called him the ‘‘Huber of America.”’
CHARLES DADANT at 70.
BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES DADANT.
Mr. Charles Dadant was born May 22, 1817, at Vaux-
Sous-Aubigny, in the golden hills of Burgundy, France.
After his education in the College of Langres, he went
into the mercantile business in that city, but ill-success
induced him to remove toAmerica. He settled in Hamil-
ton, Ilinois, in 1863, and founda profitable occupation in
bee-culture, which in his hands yielded marvelous results.
He soon became noted as one of the leading apiarists of
the world.
After a few years of trial he made atrip to Italy, in
1873, to import the bees of that country to America.
Though at first unsuccessful, he persisted in his efforts
and finally achieved great success. He was the first to lay
down rules for the safe transportation of queen bees
across the sea, which is now amatter of daily occurence.
Later on, in partnership with his son C. P. Dadant, he
undertook the manufacture of comb foundation which
has been continued by the firm, together with the manage-
ment of several large apiaries, run almost exclusively for
the production of extracted honey.
Although well versed in the English language which
he had mastered at the age of forty-six, with the help of
a pocket dictionary, Mr Dadant was never able to speak
it fluently and many of the readers of his numerous writ-
ings were astonished when meeting him to find that he
could converse with difficulty. His writings were not
confined to American publications, forin 1870 he began
writing for European bee-journals and continued to do so
until his methods were adopted, especially in Switzerland,
France andItaly, where the hive which he recommended
is now known under his name. Fortwenty years he was
a regular contributor to the Revue Internationale D’ Api-
culture, and theresult has been that there is probably not
another bee-writer whose name is so thoroughly known,
the world over.
Mr. Dadant has been made an honorary member of
more than twenty bee-keepers associations throughout the
world and his death which occured July 16, 1902, was
lamented by every bee publication on both continents.
Mr. Dadant was a congenial man, and a philosopher.
He retained his cheerfulness of spirit to his last day.
In addition to his supervision of the revision of this
book, he was the author of a small treatise on bees, ‘‘Petit
Cours d’Apiculture Pratique’’. He also published in
connection with his sona pamphlet on ‘‘Extracted honey’’,
1881, now out of print. The translation of Langstroth
Revised into the French language was also undertaken
by their united effort. This book has since been re-trans-
lated into the Russian language.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
BY PARAGRAPHS.
Cuarrer I—Physiology of the Honey-Bee
1. GenzraL Remarns. 2. The Honey-bee. 8. The Hive, 4. The three
Kinds of inhabitants.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. —&. The skeleton. 6. The frame of their
bodies 7%. Hairs. 8. The three sections of the body. 9. Eyes.
10, Their structure. 11. Comparison. 12. Use of the small eyes.
13. Why so many facets? 14. Help in finding their way back. 15,
16. Colors as guides. 17,18. Color not their only guide. 19. The
antennz. 20. Our gratitude to Huber and his servant Burnens. 21. His
wife. 22. His ability. 23. His experiments on the antennzw. 24. Can
bees perceive sounds? 25. Where is their hearing located? 26. Where
are their smelling organs located? 27. The wonders of the microscope.
28. Number of atoms in a pinhead. 29. Smelling organs. 30. Mar-
velous power of smell. 31. Smelling blossoms a mile away. 32, 33,
Remembrance. 34. Depriving bees of their antennz. 35. Cannot live
without antennw. 36. Brain of bees. 37. Our reverence for Swammer-
dam. 38. Themouth. 39. The glands. 40. Queen fed by the produc-
of the upper pair. 4. The others are salivary. 42. Mandibles 43.
Compared with those of hornets. 44. Other parts ofthe mouth. 45. Chin
andtongue. 46. Labial palpi and maxilla. 47. The tongue is not a tube.
48. Action of the tongue. 49. Its possibleimprovement. 50. The thor-
ax. SL. Legs. 52. Claws and pulvilli. 53. How the pulvilli work.
64. Uses of the hairs of the legs. 55. The notch of the first pair. 56. The
pin of the second pair. 57. The pincers of the posterior pair. 58. The
pollen combs. 59. Pollen baskets. 60. The wings. 61. Their power and
speed. 62. Digesting apparatus. 63. Honey sac and stomach month.
64. Is the larva fed by the glands? 65, 66. Comparison with mammals.
67. Process of digestion. 68. Nervous system. 69. The heart. 70 The
lungs or trachea. 71. Their connection with the flight. 72. Bees unable
totake wing. 73. Their discharge in flight. 74. Girard on the trachea.
75. Thehumming. 76. Language of bees. 77. Stahala on this subject.
78. The sting. 79. Poisonsack. 80, 81. Shape of the sting and how it
works. 82. Not easily withdrawn. $3. Very polished weapon. 84. Loss
of the sting. $5. Can be withdrawn. 86. Bees can live withoutit. 87.
The odor of the poison. 88. The sting can wound after removal. 89.
When left inthe wound. 90. Thanks to the writers. 91. Conclusions of
Packard. 92. Intelligence of some insects.
VII
Vill TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Tut QueEN.—93. She was called king-bee. 94. Her sex discovered by
Butler. 95.Swammerdam. 96. She does not govern. 97. Her fecund-
ity. 98. How totestit. 99. She lays more !n Spring. 100. Description.
101. Love of the bees for their queen. 102. Interesting experiment.
103. Reproduction of the queen. 10%. Queen cells. 105. Their number.
106. Are eggs deposited in the queen-cells by the queens? 107. Queens
from worker eggs. 108. Different food, its result. 109. How orphan
bees rear queens. 110. Duration of development. LIL. The virgin queen.
112. Haber on the destruction of theirrivals. 213. Bees help in the
work. L14. Rivals not destroyed when bees intend to swarm. 115.
Voice of the queen. E16. Combat of queens. 117. Two queens in one
hive. 128. Narration of the fact. 119. Otherinstances. 120. Impreg-
nation of the queen. 121. Time ofimpregnation. 122. Leaving the hive
and returning. 4223. The mating. 124. Single impregnation for life.
125. Getting rid of the drone organ. 126. Fertilization in confiuement,
127. Fecundation of the eggs. 128. Leidy and Siebold on the contents of
the spermatheca. 129. How fertiilzation takes place. 130. Swammer-
dam’s observations. 131. Huberconfining young queens. 132. Dzier-
zon’s discovery. 133. Parthenogenesis. 134. Drone-laying queen. 135.
Examination of her ovaries. 1436. Bees trying to raise queens with drone
eggs. 137. Otherexpvriments. 138. Other proofs of parthenogenesis.
139. Impregnation of the egzs. 140 No visible difference between drone
and workereggs. 141. Effect of delayed fecundation. 142. Do queens
know the sex of their eggs? 243. S. Wagner’s theory. 244. Facts
azainst that theory. 145.Effect of the removal of drone cells. 146.
Queens laying worker eggs in drone cells. 147. Root’s experiment. 148.
Bordeaux experiment. 149. Difficulty of raising drones early in Spring.
150. Drones in worker cells. 151. Refrigerating queens. 8352. Queen
begins tolay. 153. Howshelays. 154 Breeding seasons. 155. Dif-
ference in prolificness. 156. Supernumerary egys. 157. Old queens.
Tne Worker Bees. —158. Numbers in a hive 1459. Their functions.
160. Donhoff’s experiment. 161. Their first flight. 162 Their first
honey gathering. 163. Young bees build combs. 164. They feed the
brood. 165. Theeggs. 166. Thelarvey. 167. Casting the skin. 168.
Capping the brood. 169.Thenymph. 170. The cast-off skins. 171.
Duration of development. 172. The newly-hatched bee. 173. The first
flight. 174. Should not be mistaken for robbers. 175. Sexual orzans
not developed. 176. Fertile workers. 477, Their probable use. 178,
Easily discovered. 179. Attempts to raise queens. 180 Remedy. 181.
Instinct of the worker bees. 182. Short life, 183. Crippled workers.
1814. Signs of old aze.
Tue Dronrs.—185. Description and office. 186. Time of their appear-
ance. 187, Insearchofthe queens. 188. Perishinthe act. 189. Num-
bers in a hive. 190. No necessity forsomany. 191. Drone traps, and
preventing the breeding of drones. 192. Their expulsion by the bees.
193. Bythebee-keeper. 19-£. Raised in worker cells. 195. Why impreg-
nation does not take placein the hive. 196 In-and-in breeding avoided.
197. Comparative table of devclopment of queen, worker, and drone.
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1X
Cuarter II.—Buildings of Bees.
Comm. —198. The furniture of the hive. 199. Made of wax. 200. Is
waxafat? 201. Formation of wax scales. 202. Produced mainly by
young bees. 203. Old bees can produce it also 204. Produced by digest-
ing honey. 205. Bees hanginzinchains. 206. Root on comb-building.
207. The first discoverer? 208. Scales of wax on the bottom of hives,
209. Bees jiicking up old wax. 210. Solving aproblem. 211. Shape of
thecells. 212. Marvelousindustry. 213, Natural explanation. 214.
Cells not horizontal ; thickness of comb. -215. Color of combs. 216. Size
of cells. 217. True measurement of cells. 218. Intermediate cells.
219. Economy of material. 220. Wax not made of pollen. 221. Pollen
needed. 222. Chemical composition of honey and wax. 223. Cost of
comb, 224. Worker and storecells. 223. Not the same relative quan-
tity. 226. Not by foreknowledge. 227. Bees follow their desires. 228.
Five facts. 229. Preference of builders opposed to the preference of the
queen. 230. Bees building few storecells. 238. Building about one-
third. 232. Building them here and there. 233. Rebuilding without
change. 234. Swarms provided with oneortwocombs. 235. Concln-
sion. 3
PRopouis. —236. How obtained. 237. Soils the combs. 238. Used to
cement the cracks, 239. Gathered mainly when honey is not found.
240. Hardin winter. 241. Snails inclosed in propolis . 242. Remarks.
243. Superstitions. 244. Usesin Italy. 245. Uses in Russia.
CuHartTEerR III.—Food of Bees.
Honry. — 246. What is honey? 247. Is honey the same as nectar ?
248. How nectar is produced. 249. Itis more or less watery. 250. Its
yield varies greatly. 261. Reabsorbed by the plants, if not gathered.
252. In other parts ofthe ;Jlants. 253. Best conditions. 254. Bonnier on
the nectaries. 255. Honey dew from plants and trees. 256. From
aphides. 257. How ejected. 258. Season and trees that produce it.
259. Bonnier on the origin of honey dew. 260. Nectar in deep corollas.
261, Storing and evaporating, 262. Are the cappings of cells air-tight?
POLLEN. — 263. Its uses. 264. Indispensable for breeding. 265. Flour
instead of pollen. 266. Gathering. 267. Substitutes. 268. Bees use-
fal in plant impregnation. 269. Help in interbreeding plants. 270. In-
fluence of bees upon the fecundation of plants.
Water. — 271. Water is necessary to bees. 272. How to provide it.
273. Experiments of De Layens.
SaLT.—274. Bees are fond of salt.
CuaprrmR IV.—The Bee-Hives.
Hives witH Immovasir Comps. — 275. Earthen hives. 276. Brimston-
ing bees. 277. Cutting the combs. 278. Caps for surplus, Section hives
279. Vertical divisions.
ReQuisiTEs oF a CompLeTE Hive. — 280. Twenty-six conditions. 281.
The most indispensable is good management. —
x TABLE OF CONTENTS.
MovanLe Coms-Hivrs. — 282, Used in Greece more than 100 years ago.
283. The success of Dzierzon. 284 The Huberhive. 28%. Improved in
America. 286. Suspended frame hives 287. The superiority of the
Langstroth hive. 288. Modesty of the inventor. 289. The Berlepsch
hive. 290. Both having their partisans 2918. Disadvantazes of the Ber-
lepsch hive. 292 Will yield to the Langstroth. 293. Advantages of the
movable ceiling. 294 A standard frame hinders progress. 295. Success
of American bee-culture. <96. Progress in 30 years. 297. Gravenhorst
hive. 298. Diversity ofsizes 299. The frames used in America. 300.
Is one better than another? 301. Which is the best shape for frames?
302. Objection to two stories in brood chamber. 303 Square frames
objectionable. 30. Deeper frames more so yet. 305. Superiority of
Langstroth and Quinby frames. 306 Beware of excess. 307. Experi-
ments. 308. Number of frames. 309 Why limit the laying? 310.
How many cells are necessary in a good hive? $11. Comparison of
frames. 312. Figures cannot lie. 313. Large hives can be reduced.
314, Excessive swarming. 313. Improving bees. 316. Distance be-
tween frames. 317. Increaseddistance preferable. 318. Straight combs.
319. How secured. 320. Standard Langstroth frame 3212. Stronzer
top and bottom bars. 322. Regularity of outside measure. 323. Wide
top bars detrimental. 324. Simplicity frame. 325. Tin corners. 326
The Quinby frame. 327 Slanting bottom 328. Frames perpendicular
to the entrance 329 The first Langstroth hive. 330. The glass dis-
carded. 331. The honey board. 332. The bottom board. 333. Venti-
tilation. 334. Hlow given. 335. Prevents clustering outsile $836.
Ventilation controlled. 337. Bees propolizing small holes. 438. The
portico. 329. Entrance blocks. 340. The hive we prefer. 341. Its
successin Europe. 342. Encased bottom. 243. Apron. 344. Movalle
bottom board. 45. Double thickvess of the back 346. Space around
the frames. 347. Spacing wire. 348. Height of entrances. 349.
Division board. 350. Space under it, and how made. 351. Strip to
widen the projection of the rabbet. 352. Enamel cloth. 3533 Straw
mat. 354. Upper story. 355. Caps. 356. Painting hives. 357.
Numbcring hives. 3858 Beware of patents. 359. Material for
hives. 360. Circularsaws. 361. Filing the saws 362. Boards warp-
ing. 363 Chaff hives. 364. Ventilation considered azain, 363 Bees
ventilating inside. 366. Pure air indispensable. 367. Effect of want of
air. 368. Suffocation. 369. Combs melting 370. The result. 371.
Combs of honey melting first. 372. Bees our models. 373. Pure air in
our dwellings.
OBSERVING Htves.—374. Very interesting. 375. Useful. 376. llow im-
proved. 377. Parlor observing hive.
Cuartrr V.—Handling Bees.
378. The honey-bee capable of being tamed. 379. Peaceable when laden
with honey. 380. Peaceable when swarming. 381. When frightened.
382. The smokers—how to manage them. 38%. Apifuge. 394. Car-
bolized sheet. 385. Maznetizing bees. 386. Bee-\eil. 387. Gloves.
388. Woolen clothes objectionable. 389. Smoke not always necessary.
$90. Cy :rians difficult to subdue. 391. Bees quietest at mid-day. 392.
TABLE OF CONTENTS. x!
Slow motions. 393. Old precepts. 394. Fear of stings a great obstacle.
395. Light bewilders bees. 396. Care in using smoke. %97. How to
proceed. 398. Returning combs. 399. Mismanagement. 400. Bad
odors anger bees. 401. Effect of their poison. 402. Remedies. 403.
Coli water and ammonia. 404. Old bee-keepers poison-proof. 405.
Bees as means of defense. :
Cuarrer VI.—Natural Swarming.
406. Preparations. 407. Not in season. 408. When effected. 409.
Firstswarm. 40. Conditions and hour. 441. Last preparations. 412.
Queen missing. 413. Rinzing bells useless. 414. Deportment of bees.
415 TBeessend scouts. 416. Variousincidents. 417. Alluring swarms.
418. Bers generally peac: ful when swarming. 419. No delay in hiving.
420. Departing swarms. 421. Have hives ready andcool. 422. Hives
furnished with combs. 423. Beware of honey. 424. Comb guides 425,
Advantages of combs or comb foundation. 426. Securing straight
combs in the brood chamber. 427. Fularging the entrance. 428. Bres
on a small limb. 429 Swarm sack. 430. Be cautious. 431. Sack
preferable tohasket. 432. Swarmonatrunk. 433. Catching the‘queen.
434. Clipping wing of the quren. 435. Swarms mixing. 436. Two
queens in the same swarm. 437. Ten swarms mixed. 438 Securing
the queenin hivinga swarm. 439 Swarms temporarily hived. 440. Put
in place assoonashived. 441 Feeding swarms. 442. Building straight
combs. 483 Primary swarms with young queens 444 Secondary
swarms. 445 Theircauses. 446. Piping ofthe queens 447. Several
queens in the swarm. 447 (bis). Superiority of after-swarms. 448.
Absconding swarms. 449. Thirdswarms. 450 Prevention of natural
swarming, its desirability. 450. Excessive natural swarming. 452.
Natural swarming and eelection. 453. Too many swarms lost. 454.
Causes of swarming 4535 Swarming fever 456. Heat a stimulus
457. Dronesalso. £58. Lack of ventilation, 459. Giving empty combs.
460. Ofcasy access. 461 Hefore complete fullness. 462 Shading the
hive. 463. Drone comb removed. 464. Good vwintilation, 465.
Swarming cannot be absolutely prevented. 466. Prevention more difficult
when raising com) honey. 467. Queen and drone traps. 468 Preven-
tion of aftvr-swarms.
Cuarrer VII—Artificial Swarming.
469 Uncertainty of natural swarming. 470. Dividing. 471. Unre-
liable. 472 Removing the hive. 473. Driving bees. 474. Its advan-
tages. 475. With movablecombs. 476. Improvement. 477. Giving a
fertile queen. 478. Nucleus method 479. With sealed queens. 480,
Building nuclei. 481. Too much dividing 482. Queen cells made pre-
viously, 483. Severalalvices. £84. Operations more successful during
honey harvest. 485. Bees don’t quarrel. 486. When the weather is too
cold. 487. Increasing too fast. 488. Caution.
Cuaptzer VIII.—Queen Rearing.
489. How bees raise queens. 490. Are larve inferior to eggs? 492,
De Planta’s experiments. 492. Are young worker larva better fed? 493.
R11
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Can workers use older larvm? 494. Their growth retarded. 495.
Queens raised during swarming fever. 496. Old workers are poor nurses
497. Conditions to raise good queens. 498. When is the raising of
queens necessary? #99. Loss of the queen. 598. Unableto fly. 501.
Lost in her wedding flight. 502. Entering the wrong hive. 503. Sound
advice. S04. Backed by examples. 515. Bees anticipating danger.
506. Ilow they ascertain their loss. 507 Detecting queenlessness. 518.
Friendly advice. 509. Drones not killed. 510. Plaintive hum of bees.
511. Rearing improved races. S12, Selecting drones. 513. Using
moderately populous colonies. 524. Raising from eggs. 515. Lar-e
number of queen cells. 516. Preparing their reception. 517. How
to transfer queen cells. 618. Precautions. 519 Inspection. 520.
Nucleus. 6&8. Divisibleframe. 522. How to prepare nuclei. 523.
Beware of bees returning. 6&2£. Making strong nuclei. 523. Prepare
on the preceding day. 526. Watching and removing the laying
queen. 527. Precautions. 528. Alley’s method. 52%. Queen nur-
series. 530, Lamp nursery. 531. Progress of the business of rearing
queens. 532. Some advice. 533: Introducing impregnate| queens.
534. Conditions of success. 535. Sprinkling scented water. 536.
Queen cage. 537. How to use. 538. Balled queens. 539. Queens
starving and Simmins’ method. 540. Stupefying bees. 541. Introduc-
tion of \irgin queens. 542. Bees swarming with introduced queens. 543.
How to finda queen. 544. The odor of queens.
Cuarrer [X.—Races of Bees.
545. Bees not indigenous to America. 546. First noticed in Florida.
547. Bees going westward. 6548. Several varieties. 549. The first in-
troduced. 550. The main varieties. 551. Italian bees. 552. Their
qualities. 553. Description. 554. The best test. 555. Italian drones
and queens irregularly marked. 556. Vary even in Italy. 557. First
importationin Austria. 558. In America. 559. Apis fasciata. 560.
Holy Land and Syrian bees. 561. Apis dorsata. 562. Australian bees.
563. Melipones.
CuapTeR X.—The Apiary.
Cuarter XI.—Shipping and Transporting Bees.
564. Who should keep bees ? 563. Honey resources. 566. Begin on a
small scale. 567. Protect the hives. 568. Avoid weeds. 569. Separ-
ate stands. 570. Covered apiavies. 571. Sheds. 572. Out-door apiaries.
573. Procuring bees. 574. Transferring. 575. Decoy hives. 576.
Drumming. 577. Be sure of having the queen. 578. Tools and Imple-
ments. 579. Howto proceed. 580. Spare worker brood. 581. IIed-
don method. 6582 Onut-apiaries. 583. Conditions required. 584.
Our terms for a location. 585. How many apiaries? 586. Honey house
and window netting.
587. Ventilation. 588. Fastening frames. 589. Rough handling.
5690. Sending South. 69. Bees on boats. 592. Floating apiaries.
593. Sending to better pastures. 594. Shipping queens. 595. Best
food. 596. Bees from Italy. 597. Queen the last todie. 598. Mailing
°
TABLE OF CONTENTS. xr
queens. 599, Bees by the pound. 600. How many ina pound? 601.
Raising queens in the South. 602. Bees inthe North. 603. Transport-
ing colonies. 603 (bis). Shade board in front. 604. Transporting
swarms.
Cuaprer XII.—Feeding Bees.
605. Feeding often necessary, 606. Spring feeding. 607. Bees starv-
ingin Spring. 608. Fall feeding. 609. Feeders. 610. Feeding syrup.
G11. Sugarcandy. 612. Root’s experience. 613. Scholz method. 614.
Loafsugar. 615. Feeding not to be encouraged. 616. Beesdo not make
honey. 617. Beware of candy shops. 618. As bad for bees as grog-
shops for men.
Cuaprer XIII.—Wintering Bees.
619. Wintering in cold climates. 620, How becs cluster. 621. Their
tremulous motions. 622. Eating tokeep warm. 623. Amount of food
needed. 624, Beware of mistakes. 625, An unlooked-for experiment.
626. Quality of the food. 627. Bad food. 628. How to dispose of it.
629. Syrup instead ofhoney. 630. Narrowing the hive. 631. Winter
passages. 632. On summer stands. 632 (bis). Scant population in
Winter. 633. Uniting colonies. 634. How to prevent fighting. 635.
Winter protection. 636. Warm absorbents above. 637. Entrance left
open. 638. No disturbance in cold weather. 639. Advantages ofa Win-
ter flight. 640. Chaff hives. 641. Their defects. 642. Less trouble.
643. Outer boxes. 644. Best conditions. 645. Indoor wintering in
Europe. 646. Cellar wintering. 647. Directions. 648. Temperature.
649. Cellar blinds. 650. Quietness and darkness. 651. Results of bad
wintering. 652. Selecta warm day. 653. Lowest degree nceded. 654.
Putting colonies in same place. 655. Danger of robbery. 656. Flight
during winter. 657. Beesinclamps. 658. Beware of cold repositories.
659. Spring dwindling. 660. Constipation. 661. Best condition. 662.
Water needed. 663. Care to be given.
Caarter XI V—Robbing.
664. Robber bees. 665. Difficult to detect. 666, Promoted by the bee-
keeper. 667. How detected. 668. Difficult to stop. 669. Exchang-
ing places. 670. Carbolized sheet. 671. Latent robbing. 672,
Prevention. 673. Weak colonies. and precautions.
CuHaprer X V.—Comb-Foundation.
674. Its advantages. 675. Replacing drone comb, 676. Value of
workercomb. 677. Theinventor of comb foundation. 678. His imitat-
ors. 679. Root’sroller mills. 680. Goodresults. 681. His followers
682. Given press. 683. Plaster mould. 684. Improved mills. 685.
Selected wax. 686. Atsolutely pure. 687. Light and heavy machines.
688. Foundation for comb honey. 689. Preparing the sheets. 690.
Printing. 691. A special industry. 692. Weight of the different grades.
692 How fastened. 694. Wiring foundation. 695. How to cut it:
696. The right position. 697. It is a success.
x1V TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CuartER XVJ—Pasturage and Overstocking.
Pasturacrt —698 Quantity varies. 699. Even in the same kind of blos-
soms. 700 Study of the resources. 701. Clover. 702. Linden. 703
Alsike. 704, Several others. 705. Fall flowers. 706. List of 200 honey or
pollen-yielding plants
OVERSTOCKING.—707. Is it possible? 708. How far bees fly? 709. How
many colonies to the acre?,710. In Germany. 741. In California. 712,
The crop of our county. 713. Opinions on overstocking. 7VI4. Helping
bees. 715. Averaze of crops.
Cuaprer XVII—Production.
716. Its history. 717. Our prozress. 718. Conditions of success.
Comp Honry.—719. Very attractive. 720. Its improvements. 721.
Honey insections. 722. Smallsections. 723. Howmade. 724. Upper
story. 725. Difficulties. 726. Reversing. 727 Reversible hives.
728, Built sections 729. Brood chamber full. 730. Exchanging
combs, 731 Straight combs. 732 Queen in thelower story. 733.
Sections given to the swarm, 734. No propolizing. 735. Securing
sealed combs. 736. Fastened solid. 737. Preventing bridges. 738.
How deep the upper story. 739. Section crate. 740. Manum clamps.
741. Foster open-side sections. 742. Foster case. 743. Removing
sections. 744. Some other facts. 745 Conclusion.
Extractrp Honry —746 Strained honey. 747. In Europe. 748. From
hollow trees. 749 Invention of Hruschka. 750. Our first extractor.
751. Our mistake. 752. Anvantages of extracting. 753. Advice to
beginners. 75 Less work. 755 Swarming prevented. 756. Use of
extractor allvised. 757. Halfstories. 758. Defects of full depth uppér
stories. 659. How to use upper stories. 760. Greater facilities for
bees. 761. Ins; ection. 762 How many pounds of honey 763. Fur-
nishing empty combs. 764 Artificial ripening. 765, Equalizing the
surplus. 766. Harvesting. 767. Implements needed. 768. Robber-
cloths. 769. ‘Ihe Bee Escape. 770. Implements iu the honey house.
771. Extracting from the broodchamber. 772. Cappingcan. 773, Ex-
tractors 774. Uncapping knives. 775 Extracting. 776. Inviting
neighbors. 777. Automatic extractors. 778. Emp ying the extractor.
779 Caution. 780. Beware of robbing. 781. Returning the combs.
782. Separate the crops. 783. Conclusion.
Cuarrer XVIII.—Diseases of Bees.
784, Diarrhea. 785. Hairless bees. 786. Contagious diseases. 787.
Foul-brood. 788. Experiments of Dupont. 789. Description of the dis-
ease, 790. Detected in Spring. V9. Jones’ treatment. 792. Muth’s
method. 793 Bertrand method. 794. Fumigating process. 795.
Cheshire method. 796. Care and perseverance. 797. Preventive care.
798, Infected queens. 799. Antiseptics. 800. Divers contagious dis-
eases. $01. Accidental dead brood.
Cuarrer XIX.—Enemies of Bees.
802. Bee moth 803. Description, 804. Theiractions. 805. Their gal-
leries, 806. Their worms. 807. Their food. 808. How they behave.
TABLE OF CONTENTS. xv
809. Temperature required. 810. Killed by heavy frosts. SIE Dis-
gusting results. 812. How to protect gombs. 813. Italians nearly moth-
proof. $14. Queenless colonies their easy prey. 815. Moth not to he
feared. 816 Mice. 817. Birds. 818. Sparrows. $19. Do not kill
birds. 820. Barnyar] fowls. 82%. Toads. 822. Bears. 823. Braula
caca. $228. Other insects.
CuarTer XX.—Honey Handling, and Marketing. Uses of Honey.
$25. Different grades. 826. Comb-honey sweating. 827. Leakaze of
sections, 828.Care in shipping. 829. Barrels for extracted. 830.
Granulation, 832. Experiences on granulation. $32. Coarse granula-
tion. 833. Fermentation. 834. Melting honey. 835. Result of in-
er ased production. 836. Adulteration. 837. That vile Wiley lie. 838.
Objections to granulation. 839. European people not prejudiced. 810.
Inducing consumption. 841. Showy labels. 842. Tin packages to be
preferre!, 843. How to stop leakare. S&££. Persualing grocers. 845
Explaining what honey is. 846. Gaining confidence. 847. Honey as
food. 848. Very healthy. 849 Honey dainties. 850. French pain-
d’épice. 851. Crisp ginzerbreal. 852. Alsatian gingerbread. 853.
Honey cakes. 854. Italian croccante. 855. Muth honey cake. 856.
Vinegar. 857. Honey as medicine.
CuHapTeR XXI.—Beeswax and its Uses.
858. Laying up wax. 859. The cappings. 860. Washing dark comb.
$61. Melting. 862.Pressing. 863. Steam and sun extractors. 864.
Treating wax residues. 865. Cleaning. 866. Care and bleaching. 867.
Wax on writing-tablets and for embalming. 868. Wax candles. 869.
Other uses. $70. Recipes for medicinal and other purposes,
Cuaprer XXII.—Bees and Fruits and Flowers.
871. Bees cannot injure fruits. $72. Our experiments. 873. Damaged
by birds. 875. Bees improving wine. 876. Annoyance. 877. Juice
of fruits injuring bees. $78. Bees always beneficial to flowers.
Cuaprer XXIII.—Bee Keeper’s Calendar. Mistakes and Axioms,
879. January. 880. February. 881.March. 882. April. 883. May.
881. June. 885. July. 886. August. 887. September. 888. October.
889. November. 890. December. 891. Spring. 892.Summer. 893.
Fall. 894. Winter. 895. Mistakes. 896. Axioms.
_ THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE.
CHAPTER I.
PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
1. Aut the leading facts in the natural history, and the
breeding of bees, ought to be as familiar to the Apiarist, as
the same class of facts in the rearing of his domestic ani-
mals. A few crude and half-digested notions, however
satisfactory to the old-fashioned bee-keeper, will no longer
meet the wants of those who desire to conduct bee-culture
on an extended and profitable system. Hence we have found
it advisable to give a short description of the principal or-
gans of this interesting insect, and abridged passages taken
from various scientific writers, whose works have thrown an
entirely new light on many points in the physiology of the
bee. If the reader will bear with us in this arduous
task, he will find that we have tried to make the descriptions
plain and simple, avoiding, as much as possible, scientific
words unintelligible to many of us.
2. Honey-bees are insects belonging to the order Hy-
menoptera; thus named from their four membranous, gauzy
wings. They can flourish only when associated in large
numbers, as in a colony. Alone, a single bee is almost as
helpless as a new-born child, being paralyzed by the chill
of a cool summer night.
1
2 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE NONEY-BEE.
3. The habitation provided for bees is called a hive.
The inside of a bee-hive shows a number of combs about
half-an-inch apart and suspended from its upper side.
These combs are formed of hexagonal cells of various sizes,
in which the bees raise their young and deposit their stores.
4. In a family, or colony of bees, are found (Plate II) —
Ist, One bee of peculiar shape, commonly called the Queen,
or mother-bee. She is the only perfect female in the hive,
and all the eggs are laid by her;
2d, Many thousands of worker-bees, or incomplete females,
whose ollice is, while young, to take care of the brood and
do the inside work of the hive; and when older, to go to
the fields and gather honey, pollen, water, and propolis or
bee-glue, for the needs of the colony; and
3d, At certain seasons of the year, some hundreds and
even thousands of large bees, called Drones, or male-bees,
whose sole function is to fertilize the young queens, or virgin
females.
Before describing the differences that characterize each
of these three kinds, we will study the organs which, to a
greater or less extent, they possess in common, and which
are most prominently found in the main type, the worker-
bee.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.
!
&. In bees, as in all insects, the frame-work or skeletos
that supports the body is not internal, as in mammals, bu!
mostly external. It is formed of a horny substance, scientis
ically called chitine, and well described in the following
quotation :
6. ‘“Chitine is capable of being moulded into almost every
conceivable shape and appearance. It forms the hard back of
the repulsive cockroach, the beautiful scale-like feathers of the
gaudy butterfly, the delicate membrane which supports the lace-
Puats 2
QUEEN, DRONE, axp WORKER—Magnified and Natural Size.
4 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
10. The faccts of the composite eyes, thousands in num-
ber, are six-sided, like the cells of the honey-comb, and
being directed towards nearly every point, they permit the
insect to see in a great number of directions at the same
time.
"Figs ls
A, Head of worker. B, Head ofqueen. C, Headofdrone. (Magnified.)
(From ‘‘Les Abeilles’’ of Maurice Girard.)
11. In comparing the eyes of worker, queen and drone,
Mr. Cheshire says:
“The worker spends much of her time in the open air. Accu-
rate and powerful vision are essentials to the proper prosecution
of her labours, and here I found the compound eye possessing
about 6,300 facets. In the mother of this worker I expected to
find a less number, for queens know little of daylight. After
wedding they are out of doors but once, or at most twice, in a
year.* This example verified my forecast, by showing 4,920 facets
on each side of the head. A son of this mother, much a stay-at-
home also, was next taken. His facets were irregular in size,
those at the lower part of the eye being much less than those
near the top; but they reached the immense number of 13,090 on
each side of the head. Why should the visual apparatus of the
drone be so extraordinarily developed beyond that of the worker,
whose need of the eye seems at first to be much more pressing
than his?”
© When going out with a swarm,
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. i]
This question Mr. Cheshire .answers, as will be seen fur-
ther, in considering the antenne. (26)*
12. The three small eyes, ocelli, are thought by Maurice
Girard (‘‘ Les Abeilles,’’ Paris, 1878), and others, to have
a microscopic function, for sight at short distances. In the
hive, the work is performed in the dark, and possibly (7)
these eyes are fitted for this purpose.
13. Their return from long distances, either to their
hive or to the place where they have found food, proves that
bees can see very far. Yet, when the entrance to their hive
has been changed, even only a few inches, they cannot
readily find it.
Their many eyes looking in different directions, enable
them to guide themselves by the relative position of objects,
hence they always return to the identical spot they left.
14. If we place a colony in a forest where the rays of
the sun can scarcely penetrate, the bees, at their exit from
the hive, will fly several times around their new abode, then,
selecting a small aperture through the dense foliage, they
will rise above the forest, in quest of the flowers scattered
in the fields. And like children in a nutting party, they
will gather their crop here and there, a mile or more away,
without fear of being lost or unable to return.
As soon as their honey-sack is full, or, if a threatening
cloud passes before the sun, they start for home, without
any hesitation, and, among so many trees, even while the
wind mingles the leafy twigs, they find their way ; so perfect
is the organization of their composite eyes.
15. Bees can notice and remember colors. While ex-
perimenting on this faculty, we placed some honey on small
pieces of differently colored paper. A bee alighted on a
yellow paper, sucked her load and returned to her hive.
© The reader will readily understand that the numbers between parentheses
refer to the paragraphs bearing those numbers. This is for the convenience of
the student.
6 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
While she was absent, we moved the paper. Returning,
she came directly to the spot, but, noticing that the yellow
paper was not there, she made several inquiring circles in
the air, and then alighted upon it. According to Mr. A.
J. Cook a similar experiment with the same results, was
made by Lubbock. (‘‘Bee-keepers’ Guide,’’ Lansing, 1884.)
16. We usually give our bees flour, in shallow boxes, at
the opening of Spring, before the pollen appears in the
flowers. These boxes are brought in at night. Every morn-
ing they are put out again, after the bees have com-
menced flying and hover around the spot. If by chance,
some bits of white paper are scattered about the place, the
bees visit those papers, mistaking them for flour, on account
of the color.
17. But “the celebrated Darwin was mistaken in saying that
the colorless blossoms, which he names obscure blossoms, are
scarcely visited by insects, while the most highly colored blos-
soms are very fondly visited by bees.” (Gaston Bonnier, “‘ Les
Nectaires,’’ Paris, 1879.)
18. For, although color attracts bees, it is only one of the
means used by nature to bring them in contact with the
flowers. The smell of honey is, certainly, the main attrac-
tion, and this attraction is so powerful, that frequently, at
daybreak in the summer, the bees will be found in full
flight, gathering the honey which has been secreted in the
night, when nothing, on the preceding evening, could have
predicted such a crop. This happens especially when there
is a production of honey-dew, after a storm. We have even
known bees to gather honey from the tulip trees, (Lirioden-
dron tulipifera) on very clear moonlight nights.
19. The antenme (fig. 2, A, B), two flexible horns which
adorn the head of the bee, are black, and composed of
twelve joints, in the queen and the worker, and thirteen in
the drone. The first of these joints, the scape, next to the
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 7
head, is longer than the others, and can move in every di-
rection. The antenna is covered with hairs.
Fia. 2.
LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF DRONE ANTENNA, NERVE STRUCTURES
REMOVED. '
(Magnified 20 times. From Cheshire.)
A. sc, scape; fl, flagellum; 1, 2, &c., number of joints: af, antennary fos-
8a, or hollow; ¢r, trachea; 7, soft membrane; wh, webbed hairs; lm, levator
muscle; dm, depressor muscle.
B, small portion of flagellum (magnified 60 times); n, nerve; a, articula-
tion of joint.
“These hairs, standing above the general surface, constitute
the antennz marvelous touch organs; and as they are distributed
all round each joint, the worker-bee in a blossom cup, or with its
head thrust into a cell in the darkness of the hive, is, by their
means, as able accurately to determine as though she saw; while
the queen, whose antenna is made after the same model, can per-
fectly distinguish the condition of every part of the cell into
which her head may be thrust. The last joint, which is flattened
‘on one side, near the end, is more thickly studded, and here the
hairs are uniformly bent towards the axis of the whole organ.
No one could have watched bees without discovering that, by the
antenna, intercommunication is accomplished ; but for this pur-
pose front and side hairs alone are required; and the drone,
unlike the queen and worker, very suggestively, has no others,
since the condition of the cells is no part of his care, if only the
larder be well furnished.’’ (Cheshire.)
20. The celebrated Francois Huber, of Geneva, made a
8 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
number of experiments on the antenne, and ascertained that
they are the organs of smell and feeling.
Before citing his discoveries, we must pay our tribute of
admiration to this wonderful man. (Plate III.)
Huber, in early manhood, lost the use of his eyes. His
opponents imagined that to state this fact would materially
discredit his observations. And to make their case still
stronger, they asserted that his servant, Francis Burnens, by
whose aid he conducted his experiments, was only an igno-
rant peasant. Now this so-called ‘‘ ignorant peasant’’ was a
man of strong native intellect, possessing the indefatigable
energy and enthusiasm indispensable to a good observer.
He was a noble specimen of a self-made man, and rose to be
the chief magistrate in the village where he resided. Huber
has paid a worthy tribute to his intelligence, fidelity, pa-
tience, energy and skill.*
Ifuber’s work on bees is such an admirable specimen
of the inductive system of reasoning, that it might well be ay
studied as a model of the only way of investigating nature,
so as to arrive at reliable results.
21. Huber was assisted in his researches, not only by
Burnens, but by his own wife, to whom he was betrothed be-
fore the loss of his sight, and who nobly persisted in marry-
ing him, notwithstanding his misfortune and the strenuous,
dissuasions of her friends. They lived longer than the ordi-
nary term of human life in the enjoyment of great domestic
happiness, and the amiable naturalist, through her assiduous
attentions, scarcely felt the loss of his sight.
22. Milton is believed by many to have been a better
poet in consequence of his blindness; and it is highly prob-
able that Huber was a better Apiarist from the same cause.
* A single fact will show the character of the man. It became necessary, in a
certain experiment, to examine separately all the bees in two hives. ‘‘Burnens
spent eleven days in performing this work, and during the whole time he scarcely
allowed himself any relaxation, but what the relief of his eyes required.’’
PLATE 3.
FRANCOIS HUBER,
Author of the * Nouvelles Observations sur les Abeilles,” published in
Geneva, Switzerland, 1792-1814.
This writer is mentioned pages 7. 8, 9, 13, 14, 44, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 66,
67, T4, 76, 81, 94, 99, 100, 106, 119, 120, 139, 177, 201, 204,
239, 274, 290, 291, 376, 460.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 9
His active, yet reflective mind, demanded constant employ-
ment; and he found, in the study of the habits of the honey-
bee, full scope for his powers. All the observations and
experiments of his faithful assistants being daily reported,
many inquiries and suggestions were made by him, which
might not have occurred to him, had he possessed the
use of his eyes.
Few, like him, have such command of both time and money,
as to be able to prosecute on so grand a scale, for a series
of years, the most costly experiments. Having repeatedly
verified his most important observations, we take great de-
light in holding him up to our countrymen as the PRINcE oF
APIARISTS.
23. Huber, having imprisoned a queen in a wire cage, saw
the bees pass their antenn through the meshes of the cage,
and turn them in every direction. The queen answered
these tokens of love by clinging to the cage and crossing her
antenne with theirs. Some bees were trying to draw the
queen out, and several extended their tongues to feed her
through the meshes.* Huber adds:
“ How can we doubt now that the communication between the
workers and the queen was maintained by the touch of the
antenne.”
24. That bees can hear, either by their antennz or
some other organ, few will now deny, even although the
sound of a gun near the hive is entirely unnoticed by them.
“Should some alien being watch humanity during a thunder-
stcrm, he might quite similarly decide that thunder was to us in-
audible. Clap might follow clap without securing any external -
sign of recognition; yet let a little child with tiny voice but
shriek for help, and all would at once be awakened to activity.
So with the bee: sounds appealing to its instincts meet with im-
mediate response, while others evoke no wasted emotion.”
(Cheshire.)
® Wonderful as the experiment seemed at that time, the fact is verifled now
by daily occurrences in queen-rearing.
10 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
“The sound that bees produce by the vibrating of their wings
is often the means of calling one another. If you place a bec-hive
in a very dark room, their humming will draw the scattered bees
together. In vain do you cover the hive, or change its place, the
bees willinvariably go towards the spot whence the sound comes.”
(Collin, “‘ Guide du Propriétaire d’Abeilles,”’ Paris, 1875.)
25. To prove that bees can hear is easy, but to determine
the location of the organ is more difficult. The small holes
which were discovered on the surface of the antennz, have
been considered as organs of hearing by Lefébure (1838),
and by others later. Cheshire has noticed these small holes
in the six or seven last articulations of the antenne: holes
Oy
PARTS OF SURFACE OF ANTENNZ,
(Magnified 360 times. From Cheshire.)
A, portion of front surface of one of the lower members of the flagellum
(worker or queen). s', smelling organ; /', feeling hair.
B, portion of the side and back of same (worker). 4, ordinary hair; c',
conoid hair; ho (auditory ?) hollows.
C, portion of one of the lower members of flagellum (drone).
D, portion of lower member of flagellum (back, worker or queen).
which become more numerous towards the end of the antenna,
so that the last joint carries perhaps twenty. He, also, con-
siders these as the organs of hearing, especially because they
are larger in the drones, who may need to distinguish the
sounds of the queen’s wings.* On this question, Prof. Cook,
in his ‘‘ Bee-keepers’ Guide,’’ says:
“No Apiarist has failed to notice the effect of various sounds
made by the bees upon their comrades of the hive, and how con-
© The queens and the drones, in filght, each have 4 peculiar and easily dig-
tinguishable sound.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 11
tagious are the sharp note of anger, the low hum of fear, and the
pleasant tone of a swarm as they commence to enter their new
home. Now, whether insects take note of these vibrations as we
recognize pitch, or whether they just distinguish the tremor, I
think no one knows.”
26. It is well proven that bees can smell with their
antennz, and Cheshire carefully describes the ‘‘ smell hol-
lows,’’ not to be mistaken for the ‘‘ ear holes,’’ which are
smaller, but also located on the antenna.
“In the case of the worker, the eight active joints of the an-
tenna have an average of fifteen rows, of twenty smell-hollows
each, or 2,400 oneach antenna. The queen has a less number, giv-
ing about 1,600 oneach antenna. If these organs are olfactory, we
see the reason. The worker’s necessity to smell nectar explains
all. We, perhaps, exclaim—Can it be that these little threads
Fig. 4.
LONGITUDINAL SECTION THROUGH PORTION OF FLAGELLUM OF
ANTENNA OF WORKER.
(Magnified 300 times. From Cheshire.)
J, feeling hair; -, smelling organ; ho, hollow; ¢, conoid or cone-shaped
hair; #1 hypodermal or under-skin layer; 7,7, nerves in bundles; ar, ar-
ticulation; ¢’, conoid hair, magnified 800 times.
we call antennz can thus carry thousands of organs each requir-
ing its own nerve end? But greater surprises await us, and I
must admit that the examinations astonished me greatly. In the
drone antenna we have thirteen joints in all, of which nine are
barrel-shaped and special, and these are covered completely by
smell-hollows. An average of thirty rows of these, seventy in a
row, on the nine joints of the two antenna, give the astounding
12 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
number of 37,800 distinct organs. When I couple this develop-
ment with the greater size of the eye of the drone, and ask what
is his function, why needs he such a magnificent equipment? and
remember that he has not to scent the nectar from afar, nor spy
out the coy blossoms as they peep between the leaves, I feel forced
to the conclusion that the pursuit of the queen renders them nec-
essary.’’? (Cheshire.)
27. While giving these short quotations and beautiful
engravings from Cheshire’s anatomy of the bee, we earnestly
advise the scientific bee-student to procure and read his
work. Mr. Cheshire shows us those minute organs so beauti-
fully and extensively magnified, that in reading his book we
feel as though we were transported by some Genius inside
of the body of a giant insect, every detail of whose organ
~igm was laid open before us. However wonderful the
statement made above, of the existence of nearly 20,000
organs in such a small thing as the antenna of a bee, this
fact will not be disputed. Those of our bee-friends, who have
had the good luck to meet the sympathetic editor of the
British Bee-Journal, Mr. Cowan, during his trip to America,
in 1887, will long remember the wonderful microscopical
studies, and the microscope which he brought with him.
This instrument, the most powerful by far that we ever had
seen, gave us a practical peep into the domain of the infini-
tesimal.
28. Better than any other description of the smallness of
atoms is that given by Flammarion, in his ‘‘Astronomie
Populaire ’’ :
“Tt is proven,” he says, “that an atom cannot be larger than
one ten-millionth of a millimeter. It results from this, that the
number of atoms contained in the head of a pin, of an ordinary
diameter, would not be less than
8,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
And if it was possible to count these atoms, and to separate them,
at the rate of one billion per second, it would take 250,000 years
to number them.”
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 13
29. Girard reports, as follows, an experiment on the ol-
factory organs of our little insects:
“While a bee was intently occupied sucking honey, we brought
near her head a pin dipped in ether. She at once showed symp-
toms of a great anxiety; but an inodorous pin remained entirely
unnoticed.”
30. Whatever be the location of their olfactory organs,
they are unquestionably endowed with a marvelous power of
detecting the odor of honey in flowers or elsewhere.
One day we discovered that some bees had entered our
honey-room, through the key-hole. We turned them out,
and stopped it up. Some time after, more bees had entered,
and we vainly searched for the crevice that admitted them.
Finally a feeble hum caused us to notice that they were
coming down the chimney to the fire-place, which was closed
by ascreen. The wedge which held this screen having be-
come somewhat loose, the motion of the screen in windy
weather opened a hole just large enough for a bee to crawl
through. , labial palpi; c; maxilte.
marvels can so well clean themselves from the sticky body honey.
The saliva is to them both soap and water, and the tongue and
surrounding parts, after any amount of daubing, will soon shine
with the lustre of a mirror.”—(Cheshire.)
49. The length of the tongue of the honey-bee is of great
importance to bee-keepers. Some flowers, such as red clo-
ver, have a corolla so deep, that few bees are able to gather
the honey produced in them. Therefore, one of the chief
és
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 21
aims of progressive bee-keepers, should be to raise bees with
longer tongues. This can undoubtedly be done sooner or
later, by careful selection, in the same way that all our do-
mestic plants and animals have been improved in the past.
For this, patience and time are required.
50. The thorax is the intermediate part of the body. It
is also called ‘‘corselet.’’ It is formed of three rings sol-
dered into one. Each of the three rings bears one pair of
legs, on its under side; and each of the last two rings bears
a pair of wings, on its upper side; making four wings and
six legs, all fastened on the thorax.
51. Each legis composed of nine joints (B, Plate IV), the
two nearest the body (c, tr) being short. The next three
are the femur (f), tibia (ti), and planta (p) also called
metatarsus. The last four joints form the tarsus (¢) or foot.
52. The last joint of the tarsus, or tip of the foot, is pro-
vided with two claws (an, fig. 12), that cling to objects or
to the surfaces on which the bee climbs. These claws can
be folded, somewhat like those of a cat (A, fig. 12), or can
be turned upwards (B, fig. 12) when the bees are hanging
in clusters. When they walk on a polished surface, like
the pane of a window, which the claws cannot grasp, the
latter are folded down; but there is between them a small
rubber-like pocket, pulvillus (pv, A, B,) which secretes a
sticky, ‘‘ clammy ”’ substance, that enables the bee to cling
to the smoothest surfaces. House-flies and other insects
cling to walls and windows by the same process. It was
formerly asserted that insects cling to the smooth surfaces
by air suction, but the above explanation is correct, and you
can actually see ‘‘ the footprints of a fly’ on a pane of glass,
iwith the help of a microscope, remnants of the ‘‘ clammy ’’
substance being quite discernible. By this ingenious ar-
‘rangement, bees can walk indifferently upon almost any-
thing, since wherever the claws fail, the pulvilli take their
place. ;
22 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
%3. ‘But another contrivance, equally beautiful, rernains
to be noticed. The pulvillus is carried folded in the middle (as
at C, fig. 12), but opens out when applied to a surface, for it has
at its upper part an elastic.and curved rod (c) which straightens
as the pulvillus is pressed down, C and D, fig. 12, making this
clear. The flattened-out pulvillus thus holds strongly while
pulled, by the weight of the bee, along the surface, to which it
adheres, but comes up at once if lifted and rolled off from its op-
posite sides, just as we should peel a wet postage stamp from its
envelope. ‘The bee, then, is held securely till it attempts to lift
the leg, when it is freed at once; and, by this exquisite yet
simple plan, it can fix and release each foot at least twenty
times per second.’’—(Cheshire.)
: Er ar,
Fig. 12.
BEE’S FOOT IN CLIMBING, SHOWING ACTION OF PULVILLUS.
(Maguified 30 times. From Cheshire.)
A, position of the foot in climbing slippery surface or glass; pv, pul-
villus; fh, feeling hairs; an, anguiculus, or claw; ¢, tarsal joint.
B, position of the foot in climbing rough surface.
C, section of pulvillus just touching flat surface; cr, curved rod.
D, pulvillus applied to surface.
54. The legs of bees, like all other parts of their body,
are covered with hairs of varied shapes and sizes, the de-
scription of which is beyond the limits of this work. We
will confine ourselves to a short explanation of the uses,
which have a direct bearing upon the work of t\e bee.
The hairs of the front, or first, pair of legs (C, Plate IV)
are especially useful in cleaning the eyes and the tongue,
and gathering the pollen grains.
55. On the metatarsus, the lower of the two largest joints
of these front legs, is a rounded notch (E, a, Plate IV),
closed when the leg is folded, by a sort of spur or velum,
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 23
(v, C, E, H) fastened to the tibia, or upper large joint.
The learned Dr. Dubini, of Milan (L’Ape, Milan, 1881),
speaks of it as being used to cleanse the antenne and the
tongue of the pollen that sticks to them. Mr. Cheshire
thinks it is used only to cleanse the antennze, from the fact
that this notch, which has teeth like acomb (F, Plate IV), is
found as well in the queen and the drone as in the worker,
and that its aperture corresponds exactly to the different
sizes of the antenna of each sex. (H, Plate IV.)
56. The second pair of legs have no notch, but the lower
D
Fig. 13.
POSTERIOR LEGS.
(Magnified. From Maurice Girard.)
A, of the queen; B, of the worker (under side); C. of the worker (upper
side); D, of the drone.
extremity of the tibia bears a spur (D s, Plate IV) or spine,
which is used in loosening the pellets of pollen, brought to
the hive on the tibias of the posterior legs (PlateIV). This
spur also helps in cleaning the wings.
57. The posterior or hind legs are very remarkable, in
several respects. Between the tibia and the metatarsus
(B, wp, Plate lV) they have an articulation, whose parts close
like pincers, and which serves to loosen from the abdomen
the scales of wax to be mentioned further on (201). As
neither the queen nor the drone produces wax, they are des-
titute of this implement.
24 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
58. “But the chief interest centers on the two joints last men-
tioned (ti, p, A. B., Plate IV), asa device for carrying the pollen of
the blossom home to the hive. The metatarsus is enlarged into
a sub-quadrangular form, constituting a flattish plate, slightly con-
vex on both surfaces. The outer face (p, A, Plate IV) isnot remark-
able, but the one next the body (», B) is furnished with stiff
combs, the teeth of which are horny, straight spines, set closely,
and arrangéd in transverse rows across the joint, a little projecting
above its plane, and the tips of one comb slightly overlapping
the basis of the next. Their colour is reddish-brown; and en-
tangled in the combs, we almost invariably discover pollen gran-
ules, which have been at first picked up by the thoracic hairs,
but combed out by the constant play of the legs over the breast —
in which work, the second pair, bearing a strong resemblance to
the third, performs an important part.”
59. ‘‘Sosoon as the bees have loaded these combs, they do
not return to the hive, but transfer the pollen to the hollow sides
of the tibia, seen at zi, A. This concavity, corbicula, or pollen
basket. is smooth and hairless, except at the edges, whence spring
long, slender, curved spines, two sets following the line of the
bottom and sides of the basket, while a third bends over its front.
The concavity fits it to contain pollen, while the marginal hairs
greatly increase its possible load, like the sloping stakes which
the farmer places round the sides of his waggon when he desires
to carry loose hay, the set bent over (see G, Plate IV) accomplish-
ing the purpose of the cords by which he saves his property from
being lost on the road. But a difficulty arises: How can the pol-
len be transferred from the metatarsal comb to the basket above?
Easily ; for it is the left metatarsus that charges the right basket,
and vice versa. ‘The legs are crossed, ind the metatarsus naturally
scrapes its comb-face on the upper edge of the opposite tibia, in
the directior from the base of the combs towards their tips.
These upper hairs standing over wp, B, or close to ¢i, A (which are
opposite sides of the same joint), are nearly straight, and pass
between the comb teeth. The pollen, as removed, is caught by
the bent-over hairs, and secured. Each scrap adds to the mass,
until the face of the joint is more than covered, and the hairs just
embrace the pellet as we see it in the cross-section atG@. The
worker now hies homewards, and the spine, as a crow-bar, does
its work.’’—(Cheshire.)
60. The four wings, in two pairs, are supported by hol-
LEGS OF WORKER-BEE.
(Magnified 10 times. From Cheshire.)
A, third right leg, side fromthe body. ti, tibia, showing pollen basket; p, planta or
metatarsus; t, tarsus. B, third right leg, side next the body. ¢, coxa; tr, trochanter;
wp, pincers. ©, front right leg. v, velum; », brush; eb, eye-brush. D, second right
leg. b, brush; E, joint of first leg, more enlarged. v, velum; a, antenna comb;
b, brush. F, teeth of antenna comb, magnified 200 times. G, cross-section of tibis
through pollen-basket. %, nerve; , holding hairs; fo, farina or pollen. 4H, an-
tenna in process of cleaning. v, velum; », scraping edge; a, antenna; /, section of
-eg; c, antenna comb
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 25
low nervures or ribs, and have a great power of resistance.
In flight, the small wings are fastened to the large ones by
small hooks (fig. 14), located on the edge of their outer
nervure, that catch in a fold of the inner edge of the large
wings. Thus united, they present to the air.a stronger
surface and give the bees a greater power of flight. No
doubt, a single pair of wings of the same surface would have
better attained the desired aim, but their width would have
annoyed the bees in going inside of the cells, either to feed
7? ¢
on
eG uff
VLA
Abe“
WINGS OF THE HONEY-BEE.
(Magnified. From Cheshire.)
A, anterior wing, under side; p,p, plait.
B, posterior wing, under side; h,h, hooklets.
C, cross-section of wings through line a,b, showing hooklets in plait,
the larvae or to deposit supplies. Imagine a blue fly trying,
with its wide wings, to go inside of a cell!
61. ‘‘ Mr. Gaurichon has noticed that when the bees fan,
or ventilate the entrance of the hive,-their wings are not
hooked together as they are in flight, but act independent-
ly of one another.’? (Dubini, 1881.) A German entomolo-
gist, Landois, states that, according to the pitch of their
hum, the bees’ flight must at times be equal to 440 vibra-
tions in a second, but he noticed that this speed could not
26 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
be kept up without fatigue. It is well known that the more
rapid the vibrations, the higher the pitch.
62. Digestive Apparatus.—The honey obtained from
the blossoms, after mixing with the saliva (41), and passing
through the mouth and the esophagus, is conveyed into the
honey-sack.
63. This organ, located in the abdomen, is not larger than
a very small pea, and so perfectly transparent as to appear,
when filled, of the same color as its contents; it is prop-
erly the first stomach, and is surrounded by muscles which
enable the bee to compress
it, and empty its contents
through her proboscis into
the cells. She can also,
at will, keep a supply, to
be digested, at leisure,
when leaving with a
swarm, (418), or while
in the cluster during the
cold of winter (620), and
use it only as fast as nec-
essary. For this purpose,
the honey-sack is supplied
at its lower extremity, in-
side, with a round ball,
which Burmeister has
called the stomach-mouth,
DIGESTING APPARATUS. ad wien ies Been ee
(Magnified. From Maurice Girara.) _ “#fully described by Schie-
a, tongue; , esophagus:¢,honey-sack; eNZ (1883). It opens
d, stomach; e, malpighian tubes; f,emall by a complex valve and
intestine; g, large intestine. connects the honey-sack
with the digesting-stomach, through a tube or canal, pro-
jecting inside the latter. This canal is lined with hairs point-
ing downward, which prevent the solid food, such as pollen
Fig. 15.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 27
grains, from returning to the honey-sack. Cheshire affirms
that this stomach-mouth, which protrudes into the honey-
sack, acts as a sort of sieve, and strains the honey from the
grains of pollen floating in it, appropriating them for di-
gestion, and allowing the honey to flow back into the sack.
The bee could thus, at will, ‘‘ eat or drink from the mixed
diet she carries.’’
64. According to Schonfeld, (Iilustrierte Bienenzeitung)
the chyle, or milky food which is used to feed the young lar-
vee,—and which we have shown to be, most probably, the
product of the upper pair of glands (39-40),—would be
produced from the digesting-stomach, which he and others
call chyle-stomach. Although we are not competent in the
matter, we would remark that the so-called chyle-stomach
produces chyme, or digested food, from which the chyle, or
nourishing constituent, is absorbed by the cell-lining of the
stomach and of the intestines, and finally converted into
blood. We do not see how this chyle, could be thickened and
regurgitated by the stomach to be returned to the mouth.
65. In mammals, the chyliferous vessels do not exist in
the stomach, but in the intestine, the function of the stom-
ach being only to digest the food by changing it into chyme,
from which the chyle is afterwards separated, for the use of
the body. i
66. Again, in the mammals, the glands which produce
milk are composed of small clusters of acint, which take
their secretions from the blood and empty them into vessels
terminating at the surface of the breast. The action of the
upper gland (39-40), in the bee, is exactly similar to
the action of those lacteal glands, and the fact that this
gland is absent in the queen and in the drone is, to us, pos-
itive evidence that the chylous or lacteal food (given the
larve) is produced by these glands alone, and not by the
direct action of the digesting-stomach.
67. The food arriving in the stomach is mixed with the
28 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
gastric juice, which helps its transformation, and the undu-
lating motion of the stomach sends it to its lower extremity,
toward the intestines. But, before entering into them, the
thyme receives the product of several glands which have
been named Malpighian tubes (e, fig. 15) from the scientist
Malpighi, who was the first to notice them. A grinding
motion of the muscles placed at the junction of the stomach
Fig. 16. (From Girard.)
NERVOUS SYSTEM OF THE HONEY-BEE. (Magnifled.)
A, in the larva; B, in the bee.
with the intestines, acting on the grains of potlen not
yet sufficiently dissolved, prepares them to yield their
assimilable particles to the absorbing cells in the walls of
the small intestine. ‘Thence they go into the large intes-
tine, from which the refuse matter is discharged by the
worker-bees, while on the wing. We italicize the words,
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 29
because this fact has considerable bearing on the health of
the bees, when confined by cold or other causes, as will be
seen further on. (639.)
6S, “The nervous system (fig. 16) of the honey-bee, the seat
of sensation and of the understanding, is very interesting, on ac-
count of the profound difference which it presents when compared
with the nervous system of the larva. The honey-bee, more per-
fect in organization than the butterfly, begins as a larva deficient
in legs, very much inferior to the caterpillar from which the but-
terfly proceeds. It is very interesting to notice, that the drones,
although larger than the workers, especially in the head, have a
smaller brain. ‘This state of things coincides with the fact that
the drones are not intelligent, while no one can refuse gleams
of intelligence to the worker-bees, as nurses and builders.”
—(Girard.)
A
Fic. 17.
A, HEART OF THE HONEY-BER. B, RESPIRATORY SYSTEM.
(Magnified. From Girard.)
69. The heart, or organ of the circulation of the blood,
formed of five elongated rooms, in the abdomen, is termin-
ated in the thorax, and in the head, by the aorta, which is
80 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
not contractible. Each room of the heart presents, on
either side, an opening for the returning blood. The blood,
‘¢ soaking through the body’’ (Cheshire), comes in contact
with the air contained in the tracheal ramifications, where it
is arterialized, or in plainer words, renovated, before com-
ing back to the heart.
The bee is not provided with any discernible blood or
lymphatic vessels save the aorta, and its blood is colorless.
70. The breathing organ of the bee is spread through its
whole body. It is formed of membranous vessels, or tra-
chez, whose ramifications spread and penetrate into the
organs, as the rootlets of a plant sink down into the soil.
Connected with these, there is, on each side of the abdomi-
nal cavity, a large tracheal bag, variable in form and dimen-
sions, according to the quantity of air that it contains.
Bees breathe through holes, or spiracles, which are placed
on each side of the body, and open into the tracheal bags
and. trachez.
V1. “The act of respiration consists in the alternate dilatation
and contraction of the abdominal segments. By filling, or emp-
tying the air-bags, the bee can change her specific gravity.
When a bee is preparing herself for flight, the act of respiration
resembles that of birds, under similar circumstances. At the mo-
ment of expanding her wings, which is indeed an act of respira-
tion, the spiracles or breathing holes are expanded, and the air,
rushing into them, is extended into the whole body, which by
the expansion of the air-bags, is enlarged in bulk, and rendered
of less specific gravity ; so that when the spiracles are closed, at
the instant the insect endeavors to make the first stroke with,
and raise itself upon, its wings, it is enabled to rise in the air,
and sustain a long and powerful flight, with but little muscular
exertion.” * * ¥* “Newport has shown that the develop-
ment of heat in insects, just as in vertebrates, depends on the
quantity and activity of respiration and the volume of circu-
lation.”—(Packard, Salem, 1869.)
72. Mr. Cheshire notices that bees, even in full, vigor-
ous youth and strength, are not at at all times able to take
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 31
flight. The reader may have noticed that if they are fright-
ened, or even touched with the finger, they will occasionally
move only by slight jumps. This temporary inability to
fly, is due to the small quantity of air that their tracheal
sacs contain. They were at rest, their blood circulated
slowly, their body was comparatively heavy ; but when their
wings were expanded, the tracheal bags, that were as flat as
ribbons, were soon filled with air, and they were ready to
take wing.
Practical Apiarists well know that bees may be shaken off
the comb, and gathered up, with a shovel, with a spoon, or
even with the hands, to be weighed or measured in open ves-
sels, like seeds. The foregoing remarks give the explana-
tion of this fact.
73. When the tracheal bags are filled with air, bees,
owing to their peculiar structure, can best discharge the
residue contained in their intestines.
The queen is differently formed, her ovaries occupying
part of the space belonging to the air-sacks in the worker,
hence her discharges, like those of the drones (190), take
place in the hive. (40.)
V4. “The tracheous bags of the abdomen, which we would
be tempted to name abdominal lungs, hold in reserve the air need-
ed to arterialize the blood and to produce muscular strength
and heat. in connection with the powerful flight of the insect.
Heat is indispensable, to keep up the high temperature of the
hive, for the building of comb and rearing of brood. The aerial
vesicles increase, by their resonance, the intensity of the hum-
ming, and are used also like the valve of a baltoon, to slacken or
increase the speed of the flight, by the variation of density, ac-
cording to the quantity or weight, of the air that they contain.
This accumulated air is also the means of preventing asphyxy,
which the insects resist a long time. Lastly, these air-bags help
in the mating of the sexes, which takes place in the air; the
swelling of the vesicles being indispensable tothe bursting forth
of the male organs.”—(Girard.)
75. The hum that is produced by the vibration of the
32 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
wings is different in each of the three kinds of inhabitants
of the hive, and easily recognizable to a practiced ear. The
hum of the drone is the most sonorous. But worker-bees,
when angry or frightened, or when they call each other,
emit different and sharper sounds. On the production of
these sounds, bee-keepers and entomologists are far from
being agreed.
“Inside of every opening of the aerial tubes is a valvular
muscle, which helps to control the mechanism of respiration.
This can be opened or closed at will, by the bee, to prevent the
ingress, or egress, of air. It is by this means that the air is kept
in the large tracheous bags and decreases the specific gravity of
the insect. The main resonant organ of the bee is placed in front
of this stopping muscle, at the entrance of the trachea.”
“ The humming is not produced solely by the vibrating of the
wings, as is generally admitted. Chabrier, Burmeister, Lan-
dois, have discovered in the humming, three different sounds:
the first, caused by the vibrating of the wings; the second,
sharper, by the vibration of the rings of the abdomen; the third,
the most intense and acute, produced by a true vocal] mechanism,
placed at the orifices of the aerial tubes.”’—(Girard.)
76. The bee-keeper who understands the language of
bees, can turn it to his advantage. Here are some ex-
amples:
«“ When something seems to irritate the bees, who are in front
of a hive, on the alighting-board, they emit a short sound, z-z-z-,
jumping at the same time towards the hive. This is a warning.
Then they fly and examine the object of their fears, remaining
sustained by their wings, near the suspected object, and emit-
ting at the same time, a distinct and prolongedsound. This isa
sign of great suspicion. If the object moves quickly, or other-
wise shows hostile intent, the song is changed into a piercing
ery for help, in a voice whistling with anger. They dash for-
ward violently and blindly, and try to sting.
“ When they are quiet and satisfied, their voice is the hum-
ming of a grave tune; or, if they do not move their wings, an
allegro murmur. If they are suddenly caught or compressed,
the sound is one of distress. If a hive is jarred at a time when
all the bees are quiet, tae mass speedily raise a hum, which
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 33
ceases ag suddenly. In a queenless hive, the sound is doleful,
lasts longer and at times increases in force. When bees swarm,
the tune is clear and gay, showing manifest happiness.’’—(Cttl-
Klauss, 1836.) :
77. The German pastor Stahala has published a very
complete study on the language of bees, which has appeared
in some of the bee-papers of Italy, France and America.
We do not consider it as altogether accurate; but there are
some Sounds described that all bee-keepers ought to study,
especially the doleful wail of colonies which have lost their
queen, and have no means of rearing another.
78. Tur Stinc.—The sting of the bee, a terror to so
many, is indispensable to her preservation. Without it,
the attraction, which honey presents to man and animals,
must have caused the complete destruction of this precious
insect, years ago.
79. This organ is composed, Jst, of a whitish vesicle, or
poison sack, about the size of a small mustard seed, located
in the abdomen, in which the venomous liquid is stored
This liquid is elaborated in two long canals, similar in ap-
pearance to the Malpighian tubes, each of which is termin-
ated at its upper extremity, by a small round bag or en-
largement. It is similar to formic acid, although perhaps
more poisonous.
80. 2d, In the last ring of the abdomen, and connected
with the poison sack, is a firm and sharp sheath, open in its
whole length, which supports the sting proper, and acts in-
dependently of it. The bee can force this sheath out of
the abdomen, or draw it in, at will.
81. 3d, The sting is composed of two spears of a pol-
ished, chestnut-colored, horny substance, which, supported
by the sheath, make a very sharp weapon. In the act of
stinging, the spears emerge from the sheath, about two-
thirds of their length. Between them and on each of them,
is asmall groove, through which the liquid, coming from
the poison sack, is ejected into the wound.
3
34 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
82. Each spear of the sting has about nine barbs, which
are turned back like those of a fish hook, and prevent the
sting from being easily withdrawn. When the insect is
prepared to sting, one of these spears, having a little
longer point than the other, first darts into the flesh, and
Fig. 18.
THE STING OF THE WORKER-BEE, AND ITS APPENDAGES,
(Magnified. From Girard.)
a, ating; b, poison-sack; c,r, poison glands; ¢,d, secreting bags.
being fixed by its foremost barb, the other strikes in also,
and they alternately penetrate deeper and deeper, till they
acquire a firm hold of the flesh with their barbed hooks.
“Meanwhile, the poison is forced to the end of the spears,
by much the same process which carries the venom from the
tooth of a viper when it bites.””—(Girard.)
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 35
83. The muscles, though invisible to the eye, are yet
strong enough to force the sting, to the depth of one-twelfth
of an inch, through the thick skin of a man’s hand.
“The action of the sting,” says Paley, ‘affords an example of
the union of chemistry and mechanism; of chemistry, in respect
to the venom which can produce such powerful effects; of mech-
anism, as the sting isa compound instrument. The machinery
would have been comparatively useless, had it not been for the
chemical process by which, in the insect’s body, honey*is con-
verted into poison; and on the other hand, the poison would have
been ineffectual, without an instrument to wound, and a syringe
to inject it.”
“Upon examining the edge of a very keen razor by the micro-
scope, it appears as broad as the back of a pretty thick knife,
rough, uneven, and full of notches and furrows, and so far from
anything like sharpness, that an instrument as blunt as this
seemed to be, would not serve even to cleave wood. An exceed-
ingly small needle being also examined, it resembled a rough
iron bar out of a smith’s forge. The sting of a bee viewed
through the same instrument, showed everywhere a polish
amazingly beautiful, without the least flaw, blemish, or inequal-
ity, and ended in a point too fine to be discerned.”
84. As the extremity of the sting is barbed like an ar-
row, the bee can seldom withdraw it, if the substance into
which she darts it is at all tenacious. A strange peculiarity
of the sting and the muscles pertaining to it, is their spas-
modice action, which continues quite a while, even after the
bee has torn herself away, and has left them attached to the
wound. In losing her sting, she often parts with a portion
of her intestines, and of necessity soon perishes. Wasps
and hornets are different from bees in this respect, for
they can sting repeatedly without endangering their lives.
Although bees pay so dearly for the exercise of their pat-
riotic instincts, still, in defense of home and its sacred
treasures, they
“ Deem life itself to vengeance well resign’d,
* Die on the wound and leave their sting behind.”
86 f#HYSIOLOGY OF THE IONEY-BEE.
85. The sting is not, however, always lost. Whena
bee prepares to sting, she usually curves her abdomen so
that she can drive in her sting perpendicularly. To with-
draw it, she turns around the wound. This probably rolls
up its barbs, so that it comes out more readily. If it had
been driven obliquely instead of perpendicularly, as some-
times happens, she could never have extracted it by turning
around the wound.
86. Sometimes, only the poison-bag and sting are torn
off, then she may live quite a while without them, and
strange to say, seems to be more angry than ever, and per-
sists in making useless attempts to sting.
87. If a hive is opened during a Winter day, when the
weather does not permit the bees to fly, a great number of
them raise their abdomens, and thrust out their stings, in a
threatening manner. A minute drop of poison can be seen
on their points, some of ‘which is occasionally flirted into
the eyes of the Apiarist, and causes severe irritation. The
odor of this poison is so strong and peculiar, that it is eas-
ily recognized. In warm weather it excites the bees, and so
provokes their anger, that when one has used its sting in
one spot on skin or clothes, others are inclined to thrust
theirs in the same place.
88. The sting, when accompanied by the poison-sack,
may inflict wounds hours, and even days, after it has been
removed, or torn, from the body of the bee. But when
buried in honey, its poison is best preserved, for it is very
volatile, and when exposed to the air, evaporates in a
moment. The stings of bees, which, perchance, may be
found in broken combs of honey, often retain their power,
and we have known of a person’s being stung in the mouth,
by carelessly eating honey in which bees had been buried
by the fall of the combs.
Mr. J. R. Bledsoe, in the American Bee Journal, for
1870, writes:
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 37
89. “It may often happen that one or both of the chief parts
of the sting are left in the wound, when the sheath is with-
drawn, but are rarely perceived, on account of their minuteness ;
the person stung congratulating himself, at the same time, that
the sting has been extracted. I have had occasion to prove this
fact repeatedly in my own person and in others. * * * The
substance of the sting, on account of its nature is readily dis-
solved by the fluids of the body, consequently giving irritation
as a foreign body for only a short time comparatively. The sting
when boiled in water becomes tender and easily crushed.”
For further particulars concerning the sting, we will refer
our readers to the chapter entitled ‘‘Handling Bees.”’—
(378.)
90. Before terminating this comparatively short, but
perhaps, to many of our readers, tedious study of the or-
gans of the bee, we desire to commend Messrs. Girard,
Packard, Cook, Schiemenz, Dubini, and especially Mr. F.
Cheshire, who, by their writings, have helped us in this
part of our undertaking. We must add also that the more
we study bees, the more persuaded we are that Mr. Packard
was right when he wrote:
91. “Besides these structural characters as animals, endowed
with instinct, and a kind of reason, differing, perhaps, only in
degree, from that of man, these insects outrank all the articu-
lates. In the unusual differentiation of the individual into
males, females, and sterile workers, and a consequent subdivision
of labor between them; in dwelling in large colonies; in their
habits and in their relation to man as domestic animals, subserv-
ient to his wants, the bees possess a combination of characters
which are not found in any other sub-order of insects, and which
rank them first and highest in the insect series.’’—(“‘Guide to the
Study of Insects.”) —
92. One of the especial peculiarities of the hymenop-
ters is the care most of them give to their progeny. We
will show how bees nurse their young. Other insects of
the same sub-order construct their nests of clay or paper,
or burrow in the wood, or in the earth. All prepare for
38 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
their young a sufficient supply of food; some of pollen and
honey, others of animal substance. Several kinds of wasps
provide their nests with living insects, spiders, caterpillars,
etc., that they have previously paralyzed, but without kill-
ing them, by piercing them with their stings.
Ants seem to possess even a greater solicitude. When
their nests are overthrown, they carry their larve to some
hidden place out of danger.
We have exhibited the use of the organs of bees as a
race. We will now examine the character of each of the
three kinds of inhabitants of the bee-hive.
Tue QUEEN.
93. Although honey-bees have attracted the attention
of naturalists for ages, the sex
of the inmates of the bee-hive
was, for a long time, a mystery.
The Ancient authors, having no-
ticed in the hive, a bee, larger
than the others, and differently
shaped, had called it the ‘‘ King
Fig. 19. Bee.”’
94. To our knowledge, it was an English bee-keeper,
Butler, who, first among bee-writers, affirmed in 1609, that
the King Bee was really a queen, and that he had seen her
deposit eggs. (‘‘ Feminine Monarchy.’’)
95. This discovery seems to have passed unnoticed, for
Swammerdam, who ascertained the sex of bees by dissec-
tion, is held as having been the first to proclaim the sex of
the Queen bee. (Leyde, 1737.) A brief extract from the
celebrated Dr. Boerhaave’s Memoir of Swammerdam, show-
ing the ardor of this naturalist, in his study of bees, should
put to blush the arrogance of those superficial observers,
THE QUEEN. 39
who are too wise to avail themselves of the knowledge of
others:
“This treatise on Bees proved so fatiguing a performance, that
Swammerdam never afterwards recovered even the appearance
of his former health and vigor. He was most continually en-
gaged by day in making observations, and as constantly by night
in recording them by drawings and suitable explanations.
“His daily labor began at six in the morning, when the sun
afforded him light enough to survey such minute objects; and
from that hour till twelve, he continued without interruption, all
the while exposed in the open air to the scorching heat of the
sun, bareheaded, for fear of intercepting his sight, and his head
in a manner dissolving into sweat under the irresistible ardors of
that powerful luminary. And if he desisted at noon, it was only
because the strength of his eyes was too much weakened by the
extraordinary afflux of light, and the use of microscopes, to con-
tinue any longer upon such small objects.
“He often wished, the better to accomplish his vast, unlimited
views, for a year of perpetual heat and light to perfect his inqui-
ries; with a polar night, to reap all the advantages of them by
proper drawings and descriptions.”
96. The name of queen was then given to the mother
bee, although she in no way governs, but seems to reign
like a beloved mother in her family.
97. She is the only perfect female in the hive, the laying
of eggs being her sole function ; and so well does she accom-
plish this duty, that it is not uncommon to find queens,
who lay more than 3,500 eggs per day, for several weeks in
succession during the height of the breeding season. In
our observing hives we have seen them lay at the rate of six
eggs in a minute. The fecundity of the female of the white
ant is, however, much greater than this, being at the rate of
sixty eggs a minute; but her eggs are simply extruded from
her body, and carried by the workers into suitable nurser-
ies, while the queen-bee herself deposits her eggs in their
appropriate cells.
98. This number of 3,500, that a good queen can lay
40 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
per day, will seem exaggerated to many bee-keepers, own-
ers of small hives. They will perhaps ask how such lay-
ing can be ascertained. Nothing is easier. Let us suppose
that we have found a hive, with 1,200 square inches of
comb occupied by brood. As there are about 55 worker-
cells to the square inch of comb (217), 27 to 28 on each
side, we multiply 1,200 by 55, and we have 66,000 as the
total number of cells occupied at one time. Now, it takes
about 21 days for the brood to develop from the egg to the
perfect insect, and we have 3,145 as the average number of
eggs laid daily by that queen, in 21 days. Of course, this
amount is not absolutely accurate, as the combs are not
always entirely filled, but it will suffice to show, within
perhaps a few hundred, the actual fecundity of the queen.
Such numbers can be found every year, in most of the
good colonies, provided that the limited capacity of the
hive will not prevent the queen from laying to the utmost
of her ability.
99. The laying of the queen is not equal at all seasons.
She lays most during the spring and summer months, pre-
vious to the honey crop and during its flow. In late autumn
and winter months, she lays but little.
100. Her shape is widely different from that of the
other bees. While she is not near so bulky as a drone, her
body is longer; and as it is considerably more tapering, or
sugar-loaf in form, than that of a worker, she has a some-
what wasp-like appearance. Her wings are much shorter
in proportion than those of the drone, or worker;* the
under part of her body is of a golden color, and the upper
part usually darker than that-of the other bees.t Her mo-
tions are generally slow and matronly, although she can,
when she pleases, move with astonishing quickness. No
colony can long exist without the presence of this all-impor-
*The wings of the queen are in reality longer than those of the worker.
t This applies only to queens of the black or common race.
THE QUEEN. 41
tant insect; but must as surely perish, as the body without
the spirit must hasten to inevitable decay.
101. The queen is treated with the greatest respect and
affection by the bees. A circle of her loving offspring often
surround her, testifying in various ways their dutiful re-
gard; some gently embracing her with their antenne, others
offering her food from time to time, and all of them politely
backing out of her way, to give her a clear path when she
moves over the combs. If she is taken from them, the
whole colony is thrown into a state of the most intense agi-
tation as soon as they ascertain their loss; all the labors of
the hive are abandoned ; the bees run wildly over the combs,
and frequently rush from the hive in anxious search for
their beloved mother. If they cannot find her, they return
to their desolate home, and by their sorrowful tones reveal
their deep sense of so deplorable a calamity. Their note at
such times, more especially when they first realize their loss,
is.of a peculiarly mournful character; it sounds somewhat
like a succession of wailings on the minor key, and can no
more be mistaken by an experienced bee-keeper, for their
ordinary happy hum (76), than the piteous moanings of a
sick child could be confounded by the anxious mother with
its joyous crowings when overflowing with health and hap-
piness. We shall give, in this connection, a description of
an interesting experiment.
102. A populous stock was removed, in the morning, to
a new place, and an empty hive put upon its stand. Thous-
ands of workers which were ranging the fields, or which left
the old hive after its removal, returned to the familiar spot.
It was truly affecting to witness their grief and despair;
they fiew in restless circles about the place where once stood
their happy home, entering the empty hive continually, and
expressing in various ways, their lamentations over so cruel
a bereavement. Towards evening, ceasing to take wing,
they roamed in restless platoons, in and out of the hive, and
42 PHYSIOLOGY OE THE HONEY-BEE.
over its surface, as if in search of some lost treasure. A
small piece of brood-comb was then given to them, contain-
ing worker-eggs and worms. The effect produced by its
introduction took place much quicker than can be described.
Those which first touched it raised a peculiar note, and in a
moment, the comb was covered with a dense mass of bees;
as they recognized, in this small piece of comb, the means
of deliverance, despair gave place to hope, their restless
motions and mournful voices ceased, and a cheerful hum
proclaimed their delight. If some one should enter a build-
ing filled with thousands of persons tearing their hair, beat-
ing their breasts, and by piteous cries, as well as frantic
gestures, giving vent to their despair, and could by a single
word cause all these demonstrations of agony to give place
to smiles and congratulations, the change would not be more
instantaneous than that produced when the bees received
the brood-comb!
The Orientals called the honey-bee ‘‘ Deborah; She that
speaketh.’? Would that this little insect might speak, in
words more eloquent than those of man’s device, to those
who reject any of the doctrines of revealed religion, with the
assertion that they are so improbable, as to labor under a
fatal a priort objection. Do not all the steps in the devel-
opment of a queen from the worker-egg, labor under the
very same objection? and have they not, for this reason been
formerly regarded, by many bee-keepers, as unworthy of
belief? If the favorite argument of infidels will not stand
the test, when applied to the wonders of the bee-hive, is it
entitled to serious weight, when, by objecting to religious
truths, they arrogantly take to task the Infinite Jehovah for
what He has been pleased to do or to teach? With no
more latitude than is claimed by such objectors, it were
easy to prove that a man is under no obligation to believe
any of the wonders of the bee-hive, even although he is him-
THE QUEEN. 43
self an intelligent eye-witness to their substantial truth.*
103. The process of rearing Queen-bees will now be par-
ticularly described. Early in the season, if a hive becomes
very populous, and if the bees make preparations for swarm-
ing, a number of royal cells
are begun, being commonly
constructed upon those edges
of the combs which are not
attached to the sides of the
hive. These cells somewhat
resemble a small pea-nut,
and are about an inch deep,
and one-third of an inch in
diameter: being very thick,
they require much wax for
their construction. They are
seldom seen in a perfect state
after the hatching of the
queen, as the bees cut them
down to the shape of a small
Fig. 20. acorn-cup (fig. 20). These
QUEEN-CELLS IN PROGRESS. queen-cells, while in prog-
ress, receive a very unusual
amount of attention from the workers. There is scarcely a
second in which a bee is not peeping into them; and as fast
as one is satisfied, another pops in her head to report prog-
ress, or increase the supply of food. Their importance to
the community might easily be inferred from their being
the center of so much attraction.
104. While the other cells open sideways, the queen-cells
always hang with their mouth downwards. Some Apiarists
*The passages referring to religious subjects have been nearly all retained in
this revision, at Mr. Langstroth’s request, even when not in accordance with
our views. As intelligent men are always tolerant, we know our readers will
not object to them. ,
44 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
think that this peculiar position affects, in some way, the
development of the royal larvie ; while others, having ascer-
tained that they are uninjured if placed in any other posi-
tion, consider this deviation as among the inscrutable
mysteries of the bee-hive. So it seemed to us until convinced,
by a more careful observation, that they open downwards
simply to save room. The distance between the parallel
ranges of comb in the hive is usually too small for the royal
cells to open sideways, without interfering with the opposite
cells. To economize space, the bees put them on the unoc-
cupied edges of the comb, where there is plenty of room for
such very large cells.
105. The number of royal cells in a hive varies greatly ;
sometimes there are only two or three, ordinarily not less
than five; and occasionally, more than a dozen.
Some races of bees have a disposition to raise a greater
number of queen-cells than others. At the Toronto meet-
ing of the North American Bee-keepers’ Association, in
September, 1883, Mr. D. A. Jones, the noted Canadian im-
porter of Syrian and Cyprian bees, and publisher of the
Canadian Bee Journal, exhibited a comb containing about
eighty queen-cells, built by a colony of Syrian bees (560).
Such cases are rare in the hive of any other race.
106. As it is not intended that the young queens should
all be of the same age, the royal-cells are not all begun at
the same time. It is not fully settled how the eggs are de-
posited in these cells. In some few instances, we have
known the bees to transfer the eggs from common to queen-
cells; and this may be their general method of procedure.
Mr. Wagner put some queenless bees, brought from a dis-
tance, into empty combs that had lain for two years in his
garret. When supplied with brood, they raised their queen
in this old comb! Mr. Richard Colvin, of Baltimore, and
other Apiarian friends, have communicated to us instances
almost as striking. Yet, Huber has proved that bees do
THE QUEEN. 45
not ordinarily transport the eggs of the queen from one cell
to another. We shall hazard the conjecture, that, in a
crowded state of the hive, the queen deposits her eggs in
cells on the edges of the comb, some of which are afterwards
changed by the workers into royal cells. Such is a queen’s
instinctive hatred of her own kind, that it seems improbable
that she should be intrusted with even the initiatory steps
for securing a race of successors.
(For further particulars concerning the raising of large
numbers of queen-cells, see 515.)
107. The egg which is destined to produce a queen-bee
does not differ from the egg intended to become a worker;
but the young queen-larve are much more largely supplied
with food than the other larve; so that they seem to lie in
a thick bed of jelly, a portion of which may usually be
found at the base of their cells, soon after they have hatched,
while the food given to the worker-larve after three days,
and for the last days of their development, is coarser and
more sparingly given, as will be seen farther on.
108. The effects produced on the royal larve by their
peculiar treatment are so wonderful, that they were at first
rejected as idle whims, by those who had neither been eye-
witnesses to them, nor acquainted with the opportunities
enjoyed by others for accurate observation. They are not
only contrary to all common analogies, but seem marvelous-
ly strange and improbable. The most important of these
effects we shall briefly enumerate.
ist. The peculiar mode in which the worm designed for a
queen is treated causes it to arrive at maturity almost one-
third earlier than if it had been reared a worker. And yet,
as it is to be much more fully developed, according to ordi-
nary analogy, it should have had a slower growth.
2d. Its organs of reproduction are completely developed,
so that it can fulfill the office of a mother.
3d. Its size, shape, and color are greatly changed; its
46 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
lower jaws are shorter, its head rounder, and its abdomen
without the receptacles for secreting wax ; its hind legs have
neither brushes nor baskets, and its sting is curved (fig. 21),
and one-third longer than that of a worker.
Fig. 21.
THE STING OF THE QUEEN.
(Magnified. From Girard.)
a,a, branches of the oviduct; «, oviduct; 6, spermatheca; d, sting;
e, poison-sack; f, gland.
4th. Its instincts are entirely changed. MJReared as a
worker, it would have thrust out its sting at the least provo-
cation; whereas now, it may be pulled limb from limb with-
out attempting to sting. As a worker, it would have treated
a queen with the greatest consideration ; but now, if brought
in contact with another queen, it seeks to destroy her asa
rival. As a worker, it would frequently have left the hive,
either for labor or exercise; as a queen, it never leaves it
after impregnation, except to accompany a new swarm.
5th. The term of its life is remarkably lengthened. Asa
worker, it would not have lived more than six or seven
months; as a queen, it may live seven or eight times as
THE QUEEN. 47
long. All these wonders rest on the impregnable basis of
demonstration, and instead of being witnessed only by a
select few, are now, by the use of the movable-comb hive,
familiar sights to any bee-keeper who prefers an acquaint-
ance with facts, to caviling and sneering at the labors of
others.
109. The process of rearing queens, to meet some spe-
cial emergency, is even more wonderful than the one already
described. If the bees have worker-eggs, or worms not
more than three days old, they make one large cell out of
three, by nibbling away the partitions of two cells adjoining
athird. Destroying the eggs or worms in two of these cells,
they place before the occupant of the other, the usual food
of the young queens; and by enlarging its cell, give it ample
apace for development.* As a security against failure, they
usually start a number of queen-cells, for several days in
succession.
110. Duration or Devetorpment.—The eggs hatch in
three days after they are laid. The small worm which is
intended to produce a queen, is six days in its larval state,
and seven in its transformation into a chrysalis and winged
insect. These periods are not absolutely fixed; being
of shorter or longer duration, according to the warmth
of the hive and the care given by the bees. In from ten to
sixteen daysf they are in possession of a new queen, in all
respects resembling one reared in the natural way; while
the eggs in the adjoining cells, which have been developed
as workers, are nearly a week longer in coming to maturity.
111. THe Vircin Queen.—Feeble and pale, in the first
moments after her birth, the young queen, as soon as she
* It was a German bee-keeper, Schirach, who discovered that a queen can be
raised from a worker-egg. (‘‘ The New Natural and Artificial Multiplication
of Bees,’’ Bautzen, 1761.)
+ In ten days, if the larva selected is about three days old; in sixteen, if
newly laid eggs are selected.
48 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
has acquired some strength, travels over the combs, looking
for a rival, either hatched or unhatched.
112. ‘Hardly had ten minutes elapsed after the young queen
emerged from her cell, when she began to look for sealed
queen-cells. She rushed furiously upon the first that she met,
and, by dint of hard work, made a small opening in the end. We
saw her drawing, with her mandibles, the silk of the cocoon,
which covered the inside. But, probably, she did not succeed
according to her wishes, for she left the lower end of the cell,
and went to work on the upper end, where she finally made a
wider opening. As soon as this was sufficiently large, she turned
about, to push her abdomen into it. She made several motions,
in different directions, till she succeeded in striking her rival
with the deadly sting. Then she left the cell; and the bees,
which had remained, so far, perfectly passive, began to enlarge
the gap which she had made, and drew out the corpse of a queen
just out of her nymphal shell. During this time, the victorious
young queen rushed to another queen-cell, and again made a
large opening, but she did not introduce her abdomen into it;
this second cell containing only a royal-pupa not yet formed.
There is some probability that, at this stage of development,
the nymphs of queens inspire less anger to their rivals; but they
do not escape their doom; for, whenever a queen-cell has been
prematurely opened, the bees throw out its occupant, whether
worm, nymph, or queen. Therefore, as soon as the victorious
queen had left this second cell, the workers enlarged the opening
and drew out the nymph that it contained. The young queen
rushed to a third cell; but she was unable to open it. She worked
languidly and seemed tired of her first efforts.’’—( Huber.)
113. Huber did not allow this experiment to go on any
further, as he wished to use the remainder of the queen-cells.
Had he left these cells untouched, the bees would have fin-
ished the work of destruction.
114. We have noticed repeatedly, that the queen-cells
are always destroyed a few hours after the birth of the
queen, unless the colony has determined to swarm. In the
latter case, the workers prevent the newly-hatched queen
from approaching the queen-cells, till she is old enough and
strong enough to leave with the swarm. (443.)
THE QUEEN. 49
115. Like some human beings who cannot have their own
way, she is highly offended when thus repulsed, and utters,
in a quick succession of notes, a shrill, angry sound, not
unlike the rapid utterance of the words, ‘‘ peep, peep.’ If
held in the closed hand, she will make a similar noise. To
this angry note, one or more of the unhatched queens, im-
prisoned and nursed in their cells by the bees, answer by
the sound ‘‘kooa, kooa’’; the difference in their voices,
being due to the confinement of the latter in the cell.
These sounds, so entirely unlike the usual steady hum of
the bees, are almost infallible indications that a swarm will
soon issue. ‘They are occasionally so loud as to be heard at
some distance from the hive.
The reader will understand that all these facts relate to a
hive of bees, from which the old queen has been previously
and suddenly removed, either by the Apiarist for some pur-
pose, or by swarming, or accident.
116. Sometimes two queens hatch at the same time. We
give below a translation of Huber’s account in such event:
“On the 15th of May, 1790, two queens emerged from their cells,
at about the same time, in one of our observing hives. They
rushed quickly upon one another, apparently in great anger, and
grasped one another’s antennz, so that the head, corselet and
abdomen of the one, were touching the head, corselet and ab-
domen of the other. Had they curved the posterior extremity
of their bodies, they could have stung each other, and both
would have perished. But it seems that Nature has not wished
that their duels should result in the death of both combatants,
and that it is prescribed to queens, while in this position, to
flee instantly with the greatest haste. As soon as both rivals
understood that they were in danger from one another, they dis-
entangled themselves and fled apart...... A few minutes after,
their fears ceased and they attacked one another again, with the
same result. The worker bees were much disturbed, all this
time, and more so while the combatants were separated. Each
time, the bees stopped the queens in their flight, keeping them
prisoners for a minute.” ‘At last, in a third attack, the
stronger, or more savage, of the queens, ran to her unsuspecting
4
50 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE,.
rival, seized her across the wings, and, climbing upon her,
pierced her with her sting. The vanquished queen, crawled
languidly about, and soon after died.”—(‘* Nouvelles Observa-
tions.”’)
117. Although it is generally admitted that two queens
cannot inhabit the same hive, it happens, sometimes, that
mother and daughter, are found living peaceably together,
and even laying eggs at the same time. This is when
the bees, having noticed the decrease in fecundity of the
old queen, have raised a young queen to replace her. But
this abnormal state lasts only a few weeks, or a few months
at most.
118. Our junior partner was, one day, hunting for a
queen with his sister. ‘‘ What a large and bright-colored
queen! ’’ exclaimed he, on finding her. ‘‘ Why, no! she is
dark and small,’’ said his sister.. Both were right, for there
were two queens, mother and daughter, on the same comb,
and not six inches apart. At another time we were looking
for an old queen, whose prolificness had decreased, intend-
ing to supersede her. To our wonder, the hive was full of
brood. We found the old queen. Evidently a queen so
small, so ragged and worn, could not be the mother of such
a quantity of brood. We continued our search and found
another queen, daughter of the first, large and plump. Had
we introduced a strange queen into this hive, after having
destroyed the old one, thinking that we had made the col-
ony queenless, she would have been killed.
119. We could relate a number of such instances. The
most interesting case was the simultaneous laying of two
queens of different breeds in the same hive, one black, the
other Italian. ‘The colony had two queens, when we intro-
duced our Italian queen. We found the younger one and
killed her, and the old one was so little considered by her
bees, that they accepted our imported queen and allowed
both to remain together. To our astonishment there were
THE QUEEN. 51
some black bees hatching among the pure Italians, and it
was not till we accidentally discovered the old black queen
that we understood the matter.
There are more such cases than most bee-keepers would
imagine, and when these happen to buyers of improved
races of bees, if they are not very close observers, they are
apt to accuse the venders of having cheated them. Such
instances make the business of queen selling quite disagree-
able.
120. Imprecnation.—The fecundation of the queen bee
has occupied the minds of Apiarists and savants for ages.
A number of theories were advanced. If a number of
drones are confined in a small box, they give forth a strong
odor: Swammerdam supposed that the queen was impreg-
nated by this scent (awraseminalis) of the drones. Réaumur,
a renowned entomologist, in 1744, thought that the mating
of the queen was effected inside of the hive. Others ad-
vanced that the eggs were impregnated by the drones in the
cells.
After making a number of experiments to verify these
theories, and finding all false, Huber finally ascertained
that, like many other insects, the queen was fecundated in
the open air and on the wing; and that the influence of this
connection lasts for several years, and probably for life.
121. Five days or more after her birth, the virgin
queen goes out to have intercourse with a drone. Several
bee-keepers of note, such as Neighbour of England (‘‘Cook’s
Manual,’’ 1884, page 72) and Dzierzon of Germany, wrote
that a queen may go out on her marriage-flight when
only three days old. The shortest time we have ever
noticed between the birth of a queen and her first bridal-
flight was five days, and on this we are in accordance
with Mr. Alley of Massachusetts, one of the most exten-
sive queen breeders in the world. The average time is
six or seven days. Earlier bridal-trips are probably due to
52 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
the disturbing of the colony by the Apiarist, for we have no-
ticed that this disturbing hastens the maturity of the work-
ers. The bridal-flight takes place about noon, at which
time, the drones are flying most numerously.
122. On leaving her hive, the queen flies with her head
turned towards it, often entering and departing several
times before she finally soars into the air. Such precautions
on the part of a young queen are highly necessary, that she
may not, on her return, lose her life, by attempting, through
mistake, to enter a strange hive. Many queens are lost in
this way. :
123. As the mating of the queen and the drone takes
place in the air, very few persons have witnessed it. The
following narration will please our readers:
“ A short time ago, during one of those pleasant days of May, I
was roaming in the fields, not far from Courbevoie. Suddenly I
heard a loud humming and the wind of a rapid flight brushed my
cheek. Fearing the attack of a hornet, I made an instinctive mo-
tion with my hand to drive it away. There were two insects,
one of which pursued the other with eagerness, coming from high
in the air. Frightened no doubt, by my movements, they arose
again, flying vertically to a great height, still in pursuit of each
other. I imagined that it was a battle, and desiring to know the
result, I followed, at my best, their motions in the air, and got
ready to lay hold of them, as soon as they would be within reach.
“J did not wait long. The pursuing insect rose above the other,
and suddenly fell on it. The shock was certainly violent, for both
united, dropped with the swiftness of an arrow and passed by me,
so near that I struck them down, with my handkerchief. I then
discovered that this bitter battle was but a love-suit. The two
insects, stunned and motionless, were coupled. ‘lhe copulation
had taken place in the air, at the instant when I had seen one of
them falling on the other, twenty or twenty-five feet above the
ground.
“Tt wag a queen-bee and a drone. Persuaded that I had killed
them, I made no scruple of piercing them both with the same pin.
But the pain recalled them to life again, and they promptly sepa-
rated. This separation was violent, and resulted in the tearing
off of the drone’s organ (188) which remained attached to the
THE QUEEN. 53
queen. The queen was yet alive on the following morning. For
some time after her separation from the drone, she brushed the
last ring of her abdomen, as though trying to extract the organ
of the drone. She endeavored to bend herself, probably in order
to bring this part within reach of her jaws, which were con-
stantly moving, but the pin prevented her from attaining her aim.
Her activity soon decreased and she ceased to move.’’—(Alex.
Levi, Journal Des Fermes, Paris, 1869.)
Messrs. Cary and Otis had witnessed a similar occurrence
in July 1861. (American Bee Journal, Vol. I, page 66.)
124. It is now well demonstrated that in a single mating,
a queen is fertilized for life, although in a few rare instan-
ces they have been said to mate two days in succession, per-
haps because the first mating was insufficient.
125. After the queen has re-entered the hive, she gets
tid of the organ of the drone by drawing it with her claws,
and she is sometimes helped in this work by the worker-
bees. The drone dies in the act of fertilization. (188.)
126. Although fertilization of the queen in confinement
has been tried by many, it has never been successful. Those
who, from time to time, claimed to have succeeded were evi-
dently deceiving themselves through ill-made experiments.
(187.)
127. Having ascertained that the queen-bee is fecund-
ated in the open air and on the wing, Huber still could not
form any satisfactory conjecture how eggs were fertilized
which were not yet developed in her ovaries. Years ago,
the celebrated Dr..John Hunter (1792), and others, sup-
posed that there must be a permanent receptacle for the
male sperm, opening into the oviduct. Dzierzon, who must
be regarded as one of the ablest contributors of modern
times to Apiarian science, maintained this opinion, and
stated that he had found such a receptacle filled with a fluid
resembling the semen of the drones. He does not seem to
have then demonstrated his discoveries by any microscopie
examinations.
5 PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE.
128. In the Winter of 1851-2, the writer submitted for
scientific examination several queen-bees to Dr. Joseph
Leidy, of Philadelphia, who had the highest reputation both
at home and abroad, as a naturalist and microscopic anat-
omist. He found, in making his dissections, a small globu-
lar sac, about 3 of an inch in diameter, communicating
with the oviduct, and filled with a whitish fluid; this fluid,
when examined under the microscope, abounded in the
spermatozoids* which characterize the seminal fluid. deut a thimble-
ful of pure alcohol. If the honey is pure the solution will remain
unchanged, but if adulterated with glucose, it will be turbid and
whitish.
“This is the means used by the honey dealers of Paris, to detect
adulterated honey.” — (Annales de la Société d’Apiculture de l Aube.)
The present low prices have put an end to adulteration,
for, a fair grade of Southern or California honey can now
be bought as cheaply, at wholesale, as the vile, unhealthy
MARKETING HONEY. 485
compound, adorned with the name of golden s, up, golden
drip, etc.
837. But a slight prejudice remains in .fe minds of
some buyers, against honey, unless they are acquainted
with the producer. This prejudice has been helped by idle
writers whose sensational stories found their way in the
newspapers, concerning the supposed manufacture of arti-
ficial comb-honey.
Alas! that so many sensible people should give credit
to such ridiculous canards! A minute’s examination of
a sealed honey comb, will convince any sensible person
of the utter impossibility of its artificial manufacture. Nev-
ertheless, we knew of grocers who bought and sold beauti-
ful comb-honey believing it to be artificial, on the strength
of those newspaper stories. These willful and silly lies
were finally put an end to by an authoritative article in the
‘* American Grocer’? of November 10th, 1886, concerning
manufactured honey and manufactured eggs. We quote a
few passages of this lengthy article:
‘Glucose at all fit for adulteration is worth from 43 to 5 cents
per pound. In California, excellent honey is now sold for 3
cents(*) per pound. This state of affairs makes it more feasible
and more likely that glucose should be adulterated with honey,
than that honey should be adulterated with glucose. We now come
to artificial comb-honey. The only way in which it is possible
to put a spurious article of comb-honey on the market would be
by feeding the bees glucose or some other substitute; and
there would beagreater probability of this being done were it not
for the fact that the bees must consume a very large quantity of
honey or other sweets to enable them to secrete a very small
quantity of white wax from which the comb is made....
“Our last point isin reply to the newspaper statements that
were so widespread a year or two ago, to the effect that our comb
© We have before our eyes the price-list of a San Diego, Cal. firm, who
offered extracted honey (October lst, 1886), as low a3 3 cents per pound;
with a discouxt of 3 per cent. on car load lots.
486 HONEY HANDLING.
noney on the market was made by machinery, and that neither
comb nor contents ever came from a bee-hive. So widespread
was this falsehood, that in our journal of November 1, 1885,
page 738, I offered $1,000 to anybody who would tell me where
such spurious comb-honey was made. No one has ever given
the information, neither has one ounce of manufactured comb-
noney ever been forthcoming. It is a mechanical impossibility,
and will, in my opinion, always remain so.... I hardly need
add, that the above slanderous report in regard to bogus comb-
honey was very damaging to the bee-keeping industry. It prob-
ably obtained wider credence because one Prof. Wiley, some
years ago, started it by what he termed a ‘scientific pleasantry ’.
“Jn regard to the artificial eggs, I believe this will be a feat
still more difficult to accomplish than making artificial honey-
comb, especially if these artificial eggs are expected to hatch.
Some of the newspapers have jocosely declared that such eggs
would hatch, but that the chickens did not have any feathers on
them, the invention not yet being sufficiently ‘perfected’, etc.”
—A.I. Roor.
838. The granulation of honey was objected to by many
consumers, at first, from the prejudiced idea that granula-
ted honey had been mixed with sugar. It has ceased to be
an objection, for, in our neighborhood, nearly all honey
consumers now know that good ripe honey generally gran-
ulates in cold weather. But, now and then, a person is
found who wants liquid honey, or comb honey, thinking
that no other is pure.
We were told that the judges at an agricultural exposi-
tion refused to give a premium to a bee-keeper for his honey,
because it was spoiled by granulating. These competent
judges probably think that water is spoiled by freezing, for
granulated honey if carefully melted ($34), is as good as
before hardening.
839. We have always found an easy sale for extracted
honey among foreigners — especially German or French;
as they have been used to granulated strained honey,
which has been produced for centuries in almost all parts of
Europe. Some of them are so well acquainted with it, tkat
MARKETING HONEY. 487
they prefer it to the finest comb-honey, saying that comb
is not made to be eaten.
Once, having received a favor from a French farmer,
living a short distance from us, we selected a beuwutiful
large comb of nicely sealed clover honey, while extracting,
and sent it to this family after having carefully laid it
on a dish. Much to our astonishment, we learnt, a few
days after, that the good French housewife had put our
nice comb in a clean towel, carefully pressed the honey
out, and melted the wax; and besides, that she was very
much astonished at our having sent comb honey to her,
when we had such nice extracted honey on hand. The
reader may readily imagine that thenceforth we never sent
to them anything but extracted honey, much to their satis-
faction and ours.
Every bee-keeper who understands his business, should
try to sell his honey when granulated, explaining to his cus-
tomers that adulterated honey does not granulate, and
that granulation is the best proof of purity. We have
these words printed on all our labels.
840. To improve the present prices of honey, which are
in some cases lower than the prices of second class sweets,
it is necessary that the masses should be induced to buy it.
Thus far it is an article which few persons will buy regu-
larly. Consumers will go to the grocery for tea, coffee,
sugar, flour, meal, butter, etc., but very few make it a cus-
tom to buy honey — not that they dislike it, for ‘‘ what is
sweeter than honey?’’ but because they are not used to it.
All children, even in the heart of our manufacturing cen-
ters, have heard of ‘‘honey,’’ but how many have never tasted
it! Why? Twenty-five years ago honey was thirty cents
per pound. Ten years ago the very cheapest grades retailed
higher than the best sugars. To-day, in many places, honey
is still retailed at from fifteen to twenty cents, while four-
teen pounds of the best sugar are sold for a dollar. Yet
488 HONEY HANDLING.
the Apiarists crowd it to the markets at prices ranging as
low as three cents. What is lacking? Proper distribution.
Instead of shipping our honey to the cities, whence it will
be partly shipped back to our village retailers after having
passed through the hands of commission men, and wholesale
merchants, we must cultivate home consumption. We must
show our neighbors, our farmers, our mechanics, at home,
that our progressive methods enable us to furnish to them
the sweetest of all sweets, at nearly as low a price as syrups.
The occasional depression of the honev markets is but tem-
porary and its termination is only a question of time.
841. It is important, in offering honey, whether to gro-
cers or to consumers, to have it put up in neat and at-
tractive shape. Comb-honey in
sections weighing only a pound
sells best, because itis, and always
will be, a fancy article. <
But in putting up extracted =
honey, a one-pound package is :
now too small. We must encour-
age a consumption in which the
expense of packing will not ma-
terially advance the cost, and we
find that, owing to this advance
of cost, the one or one and-a-
quarter-pound package is less in
demand than it was a few years
ago.
842. Tin is the cheapest pack-
age for honey, in small quantities.
Our favorite sizes are two and-a-
half-pound, five-pound, and ten- Fig. ue.
pound pails. The two and-a-half- re ee
pound pail is in great demand, and in the Winter of 1886-7,
the bulk of our crop of that year, about 24,000 lbs., was sold
Sova wpm
HAH HNC guts ALLE
'AS.DADANT
amu
MARKETING HONEY. 489
in this package, at twenty-three cents per pail, or about
nine cents per pound.
Some of our readers will ask why we do not put up our
honey in these pails from the first, instead of putting it up
in barrels. We never do so, because we do not know what pro-
portion of each size will be required by the trade; because
honey in cans occupies too much room, and is not so easily
moved out of the way ; and especially because we keep honey
from the best seasons for the years of poorer crop, and it
keeps best in barrels. We have kept honey in pails for two
years or more, but the pail often rusts on the outside, and
becomes unsalable. The objections above given are very
weighty, in extensive production, when tens of thousands
of pounds have to be cared for, but the small producer
may, if he chooses, put up his honey, at once, in retail
packages.
$438. To stop the accidental leakage of honey in pails —
for, owing to its weight, it will leak through seams that are
water-tight— we simply rub over the leaky spot a little
tallow-wax, prepared by melting beeswax with tallow or
lard, in varied quantities. We also prevent the running
over of pails of liquid honey, when transported in hot
weather, by dipping the top edge of the pail in melted
tallow-wax, before filling it. This puts a small rim of the
ingredient around the outer edge of the pail, and the cover
fits over it, air-tight.
A great deal of honey is sold in glass jars, but our objec-
tion to them is that granulated honey does not look well in
them, and they are more costly than tin. Honey, in tin,
can be put up gross weight, and although no one objects to
the weight of the pail, this weight helps to pay for its cost.
Those who use glass as a honey package, melt the honey
before bottling it.
For shipping honey in small packages, Mr. Aug. Christie,
a large producer of Towa, puts it up in soldered cans. But
490 HONEY HANDLING.
the honey must be very ripe, or else must be previously
heated, for the least fermentation would burst the can.
844. In every case when honey is sold, it should be
neatly labeled with the name and address of the producer,
which is, in itself, a guarantee of its quality.
When you go into a strange grocery, where you are
unknown, the immediate answer of the grocer, to your
mention of honey is: ‘‘I don’t want any honey; I have no
sale for it, and I don’t like to handle it.’’ Should you then
take your leave and go, there would be but little hope of
increasing your salis. You have to study, and learn to
imitate the cunning and the perseverance of the traveling
agent, and quietly talk it out. You first have to assure the
grocer that you only wish to show him your goods and your
prices at his leisure, and that he can then refuse to buy, if he
chooses. You must show him why he has no sale for honey.
You tell him that pure honey is one of the best sweets in the
world, to which he readi y agrees. You then explain that
honey, not being a staple, his customers never come on pur-
pose to buy it, but that when they see it, they are tempted
to buy; that, for this reason, it should be put up with large
and showy labels, and placed in a conspicuous position, so
that it will readily catch the eye.
845. White honey in nice sections (721) will generally
sell at sight, unless the grocer has had some leaky pack-
ages, which dripped honey on the counter, left a sticky
reminiscence of their presence, and attracted flies and bees.
But if your honey is put up carefully, according to direc-
tions given, the first sale alone will be difficult. In selling
extracted honey it may be necessary for you to explain the
difference between extracted honey, and the strained (276)
honey of old; for now and then some persons are found
who do not know any thing about this, or about the facility
with which granulated honey may be liquefied.
With grocers that were unacquainted with us, we usually
MARKETING HONEY. 491
began by supplying them with yellow honey, such as buck-
wheat, or heartsease, or golden rod. This honey, strong in
flavor, sells better to the inexperienced, who are afraid of
getting sugar, or glucose. It is only after one or two years
that we venture to offer to such grocers our whitest clover
and bass-wood, which, though of superior flavor, are ob-
jected to, on account of their very beauty and quality. In
every case we try to furnish some good reference to the
grocer, and we give him a full guarantee of satisfaction,
with an agreement to take the honey back, if it does not
prove altogether as we represent it. When a dealer is well
satisfied that the merchandise which he sells is pure, his
customers are quite likely to have confidence in it them-
selves; but, on the other hand, if he isin doubt as to the
quality and purity of it, he will have but little chance of
selling it, unless he does not care for the satisfaction of his
patrons.
846. We must therefore spare no pains to fully convince
our grocers of the quality of our goods.
After the first sales have been made, the sales always be-
come larger and easier. Of course, occasional objections
are made, by persons who are unacquainted with the prop-
erties and qualities of good honey; but these are easily
overcome, when you have once gained the confidence of
the dealers.
Extracted honey is usually sold at between half and two-
thirds of the price of comb-honey. It ships better, leaks
less, and keeps more easily than comb-honey ; and its lower
cost of production will sooner or later make it the honey for
the masses.
492 HONEY HANDLING.
Uses or Honey.
847. The traditions of the remotest antiquity show that
honey has always been considered a pleasant and healthy
food. For several thousand years, it was the only swect
known.
Now that the sap of the cane, or the beet, converted into
sugar, has become a necessity in every family, let us see
what place honey may occupy in our diet, not only asa
condiment like sugar, but as food, drink, and medicine.
As Food.
Honey as food is very healthy. It is admitted that those
who use honey freely at meal time, find in it health and
long life. *
“Tt is Nature’s offering to man—ready for use, distilled drop
by drop in myriads of flowers, by a more delicate process than
any human laboratory ever produced.”— (T.G. Newman, ‘‘ Honey
as Food and Medicine.’’)
*The following extract from the work of Sir J. More, London, 1707, will show
the estimate which the old writers set upon bee-products:
“«Natural wax is altered by distillation into an oyl of marvellous vertue; it
is rather a Divine medicine than humane, because, in wounds or inward dis-
eases, it worketh miracles. The bee helpeth to cure all your diseases, and is
the best little friend a man has in the world...... Honey is of subtil parts,
and therefore doth pierce as oyl, and easily passeth the parts of the body; it
openeth obstructions, and cleareth the heart and lights of those humors which
fall from the head; it purgeth the foulness of the body, cureth phlegmatick
matter, and sharpeneth the stomach; it purgeth those things which hurt the
clearness of the eyes, breedeth good blood, stirreth up natural heat, and pro-
longeth life; it keepeth all things uncorrupt which are put into it, and is a
sovereign medicameht, both for outward and inward maladies; it helpeth the
grief of the jaws, the kernels growing within the mouth, and the squinancy;
{tis drank against the biting of a serpent or a mad dog; it is good for such as
have eaten mushrooms, for the falling sicknéss, and against the surfeit. Being
boiled, it is lighter of digestion, and more nourishing.’’
HONEY AS FOOD. 493
848. When Augustus-Julius-Cesar, dining with Pollio-
Rumilius on his hundredth birthday, inquired of him how he
had preserved both vigor of body and mind, Pollio replied:
““Interius melle, exterius oleo.’?— Internally by honey, ex-
ternally by oil. é
Honey is in daily use on our table, and we find that
children prefer it to sugar. The only cause of its not
being in general use in place of ‘‘vile syrups”’ is the high
price at which it was formerly sold.
Mr. Newman in his little pamphlet above quoted, says:—
“Tt is a common expression that honey is a luxury, having
nothing to do with the life-giving principle. This is an error—
honey is food in one of its most concentrated forms. True, it
does not add so much to the growth of the muscle as does beef-
steak, but it does impart other properties no less necessary tc
health and vigorous physical and intellectual action! It gives
wartoth to the system, arouses nervous energy, and gives vigor
to all the vital functions. ‘Io the laborer it gives strength—
to the business man, mental force. Its effects are not like ordinary
stimulants, such as spirits, &c., but it produces a healthy action,
the results of which are pleasing and permanent —a sweet dis-
position and a bright intellect.”
These words are so true that we have found them trans-
lated, in European books, by noted Apiarists.
849. As a condiment it can be used in many ways. In
candies it will finally replace the unhealthful glucose of
commerce. The confectioners who now use it, increase
their trade every year.
In France, ‘‘ pain-d’épice,’’ ‘‘ ginger bread,’’ is sold in
immense quantities at the fairs. The best makes are sold
at the most important fairs through the country. It keeps
an indefinite length of time, and farmers’ wives are wont to
“buy enough to last for months. The following is the
recipe:
$50. Dissolve 4 ounces of soda, in a glass of warm skimmed
milk. Take 4 pounds of flour and pour in the milk and enough
warm honey to make a thick dough, flavor with anise and corian-
494 USES OF HONEY.
der seeds, cloves, and cinnamon, all powdered fine. Knead care-
fully, as you would bread. Let it rise two hours in a warm place,
spread in pans and bake in a moderately warm oven. Ten or
twelve minutes will do, if the cakes are thin. As soon as the cake
resists to the touch of the finger it is done. Before baking, it
may be decorated with almonds, preserved lemon peel, etc.
Wheat flour makes good *pain-d’épice,” but some prefer rye
flour. Fall honey is preferable for it, on account of its stronger
taste.”—L’ Apiculteur.
The spices may be varied according to taste. Some add
powdered ginger, or grated lemon or orange peel.
851. Crisp ginger bread can be made by mixing in it a
quantity of broken almonds, blanched by dipping in boil-
ing water, hazel-nuts, English walnuts, ete. The same
dough, in skilled hands, with different seasonings, will
make a variety of dainties, all with honey.
Instead of lard or butter, artistic cooks use olive oil to
grease the pans; in America, cotton seed oil takes its place,
and is good. The Italians sometimes use beeswax.
852. Alsatian Ginger Bread: * Take, yellow honey 1 pound,
flour 1 pound, baking soda } ounce. Dissolve the soda in a table-
spoonful of brandy, heat the honey and put in the flour and the
soda. Knead the whole carefully, and cut in lumps before put-
ting in the oven.
“This mixture can be kept in the cellar for months and can be
used to make the
“Leckerli: Add to the dough, chopped almonds 4 .lb., preserved
orange peel 2 drams, ditto lemon 1 dram, cinnamon 4 dram, and
20 cloves, all finely powdered. Mix well and bake.” (DENNLER,
‘ Honey and its Uses.’’)
$53. Honey Cake. Warm half a glass of milk with } pound of
sugar in astew pan. Put in } ofa pound of honey and boil slowly.
Then add 1 pound of flour, } dram of soda, and knead, spread on
a pan and bake for an hour.
S54. Italian *' Croccante Di Mandorle”: ‘: Blanch two pounds
of almonds, by dipping in boiling water. Slice them witha knife.
Add the yellow peel of a lemon cut fine, some powdered
vanilla, and a few lumps of sugar flavored by rubbing them on
orange peel. Boil2 pounds of good honey with an ounce of olive
HONEY AS FOOD. 496
oil or good unsalted butter, till it is reduced to thick syrup
Then add the almonds, lemon, etc., a little at a time, mix well,
pour in a buttered tin pan and press the mixture against the
sides with a lemon peel. It should not be more than half an
inch thick. When cool take the crisp cake out of the vessel by
warming it a little.’ (Sarrorr & RauscuEnrsxs, L’Apicoltura in
Italia.)
855. Muth’s Honey Cake: 4 quarts of hot honey and 10 pounds
of flour, with ground anise seed, cloves and cinnamon to suit the
taste. This is made into a dough and left to rest for a week or
two, when it is rolled out in cakes and baked. The longer the
rest, the better the cakes.
Fruit jellies with honey. Take the juice of currants or other
fruits, and after adding a like quantity of honey, boil to a jelly.
Put in small tumblers, well sealed, in a dry room.
856. Honey-vinegar is superior in quality to all other
kinds, wine vinegar included.
It takes from one to one and a half pounds of honey to
make one gallon of vinegar. Two good authorities on
honey vinegar, Messrs. Muth and Bingham, advise the
use of only one pound of honey with enough water, to make
each gallon of vinegar. We prefer to use a little more
honey, as it makes stronger vinegar, but the weaker grade
is more quickly made. If the honey water was too sweet,
the fermentation would be much slower, and with difficulty
change from the alcoholic, which is the first stage, into the
acetic. This change of fermentation may be hurried by the
addition of a little vinegar, or of what is commonly called
vinegar mother.
If honey water, from cappings, is used, a good test of
its strength is to put an egg init. The egg should float,
coming up to the surface at once. If it does not rise
easily, there is too little honey. As vinegar is made by the
combined action of air and warmth, the barrel in which it
is contained must be only partly filled, and should be kept
as warm as convenient. It is best to make a hole in each
head of the barrel, about four or five inches below the up-
496 HONEY HANDLING.
per stave, to secure a current of air above the liquid.
These, as well as the bung hole, should be covered with
very fine wire screen, or with cloth, to stop insects.
. A very prompt method consists in allowing the liquid to
drip slowly from one barrel into another, as often as pos-
sible during warm weather.
As we make vinegar not only for our own use, but also to
sell to our neighbors, we keep two barrels, one of vinegar
already made, the other fermenting. When we draw a gal-
‘lon of vinegar, we replace it with a gallon from the other
barrel. This keeps up the supply.
Vinegar should not be kept in the same cellar with wines,
as its ferment would spoil the wines sooner or later.
Honey as Medicine.
857. In Denmark and Hanover, the treatment of Chlor-
osis, by honey, is popular. The pale girls of the cities are sent
to the country, to take exercise and eat honey. The good
results of this treatment have suggested to Lehman the
theory that the insufficiency of hepathic sugar is the cause
of Chlorosis, which thus explains the curing effect of honey.
(Jaccoub, as quoted by the Revue Internationale d’ Apicul-
ture.)
Houey, mixed with flour, is used to cover boils, bruises,
burns, etc.; it keeps them from contact with the air, and
helps the healing. Beverages, sweetened with honey, will
cure sore throat, coughs, and will stop the development of
diphtheria, especially if taken on an empty stomach, at bed
time. A glass of wine or cider, strongly sweetened with
honey, is advisedin ZL’ Apiculteur, as a cure for colds.
(1886. )
Suckling babies are cured of coustipation, by a mixture
of bread and honey given them, tied in a ‘‘ sugar teat.’’
PuiatEF 19,
THOS. G, NEWMAN,
Formerly Editor of
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