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P5|| ALBERT R. MANN
}2 S | LIBRARY

NEw York STATE COLLEGES
OF
AGRICULTURE AND HoME ECONOMICS

AT

CoRNELL UNIVERSITY

EVERETT FRANKLIN PHILLIPS

BEEKEEPING LIBRARY

Cornell University

Library

The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003700071

THE

HANDY BOOK OF BEES

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS
ON THE ‘HANDY BOOK OF BEES.”

“The author of this volume is evidently a practical man, and
knows a great deal more about bees and their habits than most of
the bee-keepers in England: indeed he may be said to be a very
master in the art of bee mysteries.”—Bell’s Life in London.

“This volume is throughout so obviously the result of observation
and ripe experience as to leave no doubt of its value as a manual for
the apiarist.”—Bristol Mereury.

“How to manage bees properly, so as to make a profit, is so clearly
and pleasantly told in this capital work, that we need not trespass
on its pages longer.” —Sherborne Journal.

“We recommend his book to all who wish to spread a knowledge
of this useful art among their neighbours and friends.”—Land and
Water.

THE

HANDY BOOK OF BEES

BEING

A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THEIR
PROFITABLE MANAGEMENT

BY

A. PETTIGREW

FOURTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
MDCCCLEXXI

PREFACE.

SOME years ago, I was induced by my respected
friend, Mr W. Thomson, then editor of ‘The Gar-
dener,’ to contribute a series of articles on bees for
that periodical. Mr Thomson heralded these ar-
ticles with a few complimentary remarks. He then
said: “ We had practical proof of the extraordinary
success resulting from Mr Pettigrew’s system of bee-
management when he was our foreman in the gar-
dens at Wrotham Park, Middlesex, twenty-five years
ago. We assure our readers who may peruse his
letters, that though he may recommend what may
clash violently with their present knowledge of the
subject, he is, notwithstanding, a safe guide; and
that where profit is the object, no writer that we
have ever read can be compared to him. We predi-
cate that his letters will be of far greater value to all
interested than the cost of the journal for many years
to come.”

My father, James Pettigrew, was a labouring man,
and perhaps the greatest bee-keeper that Scotland
ever produced. He was so successful and enthusi-
astic in the management of his bees that he earned

vi PREFACE.

and received the cognomen of “ The Bee-man ;” and
by this name he was well known for thirty years in
a wider circle than the parish of Carluke, Lanark-
shire, in which he resided. The district of the
parish in which he lived when he kept most hives,
took then the name of “ Honey Bank,” which it still
bears. While a common labouring man he saved a
great deal of money from his bees; indeed it was
reported in the Glasgow newspapers that he realised
£100 profit from them, one season. His example
and success have, twenty-five years after his death,
not yet lost their influence on the successful bee-
keepers of Carluke, who say, “The old bee-man
taught us all we know.” The bee-man saved money
enough to purchase the Black Bull Inn of the village,
and therein commence business as a publican and
butcher. When his sons reached their teens, the
management of his bees was left in great measure to
them. It was then that the foundation of what I
know of bees was laid ; and though I left my native
village thirty-five years ago, I am still known there
as “the bee-man’s son.” As most readers of a book
like to know a little of the author, I may be par-
doned the egotism of saying, that at the age of eight-
een I was apprenticed to the occupation of gardening
at Carstairs House. In about four years afterwards
I went to London to pursue my business. While an
apprentice at Carstairs, and a journeyman in Middle-
sex, I kept bees in “hidden places” in the planta-
tions and shrubberies; and while acting in the
capacity of head gardener, managed the bees of my

PREFACE, vii

employers. Now I have a small garden of my own,
in which bees are kept for profit. Such is a brief
outline of my history. The work before the reader,
then, is a practical one, and written by a practical
-man. Indeed the book is simply an exposition of a
system of management practised by my father for
forty years ; and profitably, for forty years since his
day, by myself and others.

Dr M‘Kenzie, in a small book on bees, says he
was induced to study the subject from the fact that
one of his two labouring men, having found a swarm
of bees in a hedge, and therewith commenced bee-
keeping, was enabled to go without his wages till
they were earned. Previously, both labourers got
their wages in advance. The lift given to the one
man by the possession of this fugitive swarm was so
pleasing to the Doctor, that he commenced to read
works on bees, and study their management both in
this country and on the Continent. This little in-
cident shows what a swarm or two of bees may do
for a pour labourer. Indeed there are few things
more profitable to cottagers living in the country or
on the skirts of towns, than a few swarms of bees, or
more easily managed. “ Bees,” says Cobbett, “are of
great use in a house, on account of the honey, the
wax, and the swarms they produce: they cost noth-
ing to keep, and want nothing but a little care.”

In bee-keeping I reckon the question of profit is
of first importance. Stings do not seem half so pain-
ful to the man whose annual proceeds of bee-keep-
ing amount to £10, or £20, or £50. It is my desire,

viii PREFACE.

therefore, in this work to show how bees may be
kept with both profit and pleasure. In addition to
the profits of bees, there is a fund of interest and
enjoyment derived from keeping them, uplifting in
its nature and tendencies. One of the most pleas-
ing sights on earth is that of a son of toil, after the
labour of the day is done, taking a child in his hand,
and going to see his pig, or cow, or bees in his gar-
den. Who has not seen hundreds of working men
charmed beyond description in attending to their
bees or cows!

I hold that all employers of labour would do well
to encourage their servants to spend their leisure
hours in a profitable way.

A. PETTIGREW.

NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

THE author gratefully acknowledges the many favourable notices
of the first edition of this book by the press, and the kindly
reception it met with from the bee-loving community.

More gratifying still are the statements and evidences of priv-
ate letters to the author. Hundreds of apiarians, in all positions
of society, are now masters of the art of bee-keeping, and are
successfully practising the system of management unfolded in
the pages of this work.

He trusts that this edition will be found as useful as the first,
in giving its readers a firm grasp of the subject ; and that it will
encourage all who are seeking profit or honey from bee-keeping,
to carry into practice most of its lessons,

SaLe, CHESHIRE, 8th February 1875.

NOTE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

Tue author gratefully acknowledges the kindly welcome
given to former editions of this work, and is pleased to
know that the perusal of its pages affords gratification
and encouragement to bee-keepers of every class. Every
week evidence of this fact is received. As the system
of management which it unfolds stands on the stable
foundation of experience, and has been successfully and
widely practised for half a century, there is no reason
to doubt that the work will long be considered a stand-
ard one, and a safe guide in bee-keeping.

As there are other schools of apiarians, a Supplement
has been added to this edition. In this Supplement a
description of the best system of managing the bar-
frame hive and the Stewarton hive has been given.
The reader of this work will thereby have an oppor-
tunity of gaining a comprehensive knowledge of the
best systems of bee-management practised in Great
Britain

Priory VINEYARD, SaLe,
October 1830

CONTENTS.

PART FIRST.

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BEES.

CHAPTER I.
PAGE
The: Queen: bee, sisinrecdsserscinnss 1
Her shape and appearance,..... nT
Mother and monarch, ... saan ey
The age of queens,...............66 2
How long in being hatched?... 2
The food of princesses,........... 3
The fertilisation of queens,..... 4
Where fertilisation takes place, 6
Sometimes lost on their mar-
riage-tour, 6
Hepa Fin) y wecmascasneveiearne ute
How many eggs laid daily?.... 8
The sexes of eggs,.....2 00.006 ew 8
The ovaries of queens, 9
The eggs of virgin or unmated
QMCCDS i vicsis sa ceveravsacanwavawsnaie 10
CHAPTER II.
Drones) sasvcceiensereveravactinneresines 10
How long in their cells ?......... a,
Why so many ?............ uae
Their idleness,.... ~ll
Their sorrowful end,.... ......... 12
CHAPTER III.
Working bees, .........cccecceceeeee 13
Imperfect females, ............006 13

Possess five Senses, .........0..0008 14
Their industry,..... dos a
Their ingenuity,.
Their courage,
How to tame and domesticate

VICIOUS DOCS ne savcreesmawoseves 18
Have bees a language ?.......... 19
CHAPTER IV.
Ligurian or Italian bees,......... 20
CHAPTER V.
Government of a hive,............ 21

CHAPTER VI.

Swarming, ...cc.cccsnes ‘ ve. 22
Preparations made for it, .. 23
The signal and the rush,. .. 24
PUPIN By ewioss oper vinnie ve setwtenaysneainn 25
Second and third swarms,....... 26
Royal battles, ...........:cecceees 27
CHAPTER VII.
HOnGY).0a2-sseesesvsneccsarsveceneseee 27
Crude and perfect honey, ....... 28
No two kinds of different plants
yield honey alike,...........++ 28

Xii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII. CHAPTER X.
H MOEW, ssecainurngseyessainmes 29
Sones Bee-bread,, 0. sccecncssnnondesssecess 32
CHAPTER Ix. Too much collected, ............+6 33
WA caida teeinrnasroranneasane 380
The product of bees,........ 0.0005 30 CHAPTER XL
How much honey is consumed
to make 1 Ib. of wax ?......... 80 | Propolis and water, ...........+06 33
PART SECOND.
PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT.
CHAPTER XII, The materials of hives,........... 52
The apiary,.e.ccsccsssesssecseseeeee 3g | Straw hives Dest, roneenawnaeavans 62
How far should hives be off the ae quackery of new inven-
ibinsectonrt hv ia econo as. 37 LOWS sisson, cangepe cds spdtencdave ce
a cae asunder 3g | Improvements and success,.
: ae Shapes and sizes, .....
-h pine oniabnobangalretandea 39 PD >
ee ey The bar-frame hives,.... se
CHAPTER XII. The American slinger,............
The advantages and disadvan-
The pasturage of bees,............ 39 ‘
Much sacs olan Seaceset 40} G act OF bar-frame Rives sue a
Can a parish be overstocked ?.. 40 eee —
All localities not equally good, 40 ap Pie 60
Honey-plants, ..........::eseeeeeee 40 The quilt ane 60
Rich soil better than poor,...... 43 ph ipeces “
Guide-combs, .. , (G1,

Exposed and sheltered pasture, 44
How far will bees go for honey? 44
44

Short journeys desirable,........
CHAPTER XIV.

Agriculture and horticulture, ..
Apiculture has loitered, .........
Facts and figures,
Successful management at Car-

English bee-keepers far behind, 48
Large hives) csciecemicsseosanerss 50

Cross-sticks,...... ai
The unicomb hive,...............

CHAPTER XV.

CHAPTER XVI.

Covers for hives, .............ese0e8 65
CHAPTER XVII.

DEINE 52.2205: 0nockontatncaacnanadiens 66
CHAPTER XVIII.

Fumigation,. 0.00... ceeceeeeee 68

CONTENTS. xii
The Irishman’s secret,............ 68 | Can be performed at any hour, 89
Old corduroy,........... ... 68 | How to know when hives are
Nothing else necessary,.......... 69 | ready for swarming,.......... 90
Where to place swarms,.. 91
CHAPTER XIX. Bee-barrow,..........0e0 92
Swarming and non-swarming,.. 70 | Vacant thrones,... 93
Can swarms and honey be ob- Successors provided,. 93
tained from hives the same A little difficulty with sepa
SOASON GS 8 cal. eaten oeeee 70 | SWATMS, «0... seeeeeeeeeeseeserens 94
Swarming system best,........... 71 | Surplus queens,.. vox OD
Reasons giveny..........cccseeeees 71 | Very useful in many ways,.. 95
Which system yields most su- How to find the queens in a
POTS Peccivcsasnsisercwmesacianeeces SWAP) ssesevcsansnaeapeananesnecs 97
Great success of Mr Fox,
His magnificent supers,.... CHAPTER XXIV.
His adjusting principle, Natural swarming,..........00.0 98
Time of swarming,......... 98
CHAPTER XX. Small hives cluster before,..... 98
Supers and supering,............ 77 | Large hives seldom cluster, ... 98
Straw, wood, and glass supers, 77 Miscarriages,............:::seeeecee 99
The art of supering unfolded, 78 | Their cause, 99
Assisting bees to fill large su- The hiving of swarms,.......... 100
POUS}- sveseesacgadiy ado igegenns 79 | Artificial thunder and rain,... 101
No doors in supers,.........200 82 | Fugitive swarms,..... 101
Cutting supers off,.....-.....66 83 | Cannot be stopped,..... 101
American swarm-catcher, 102
CHAPTER XXI. Third and fourth swarms,...... 103
Test ao nak tenet 34 | Conflict of queens, ............... 108
Better for gettingagreat weight Regicidal knots, ...... - 103
of honey than supers,........ g4 | The loss of queens,... . 104
They prevent swarming,....... 84 | Making good the loss,.. - 104
Virgin SWarMs,........ccscceceeee 105
; CHAPTER XXII. CHAPTER XXV.
DUEIER: caniuiaasercaoresencsesnsats 85 DaROUS
ited when ‘beth. honey aud see Pidadue ha dengasgeades
stocks are sought from the ew noneys
swarms of the current year, 86 CHAPTER XXVI
Feeding ssicsscssscswsaveacnesavareeve 109
CHAPTER XXIII. Bad seasons, ..........cseeeeeeeeeee 109
Artificial swarming, ............. 87 | Disappointment of beginners, 109
Probably invented by ee 87 | Success is certain to the per-
Invaluable,... 87 | SeVETING, ...... see eeeeeeeeeeereee 109
Easily performed, 87 | The profits of bee-keeping dur-
HOW cceseersseaverseas .. 87] ing the last five years, ....... 110
brevents waste of time,......... 88

The author's profits since 1870, 110

xiv

Theimportance of feeding well, 110
What happens if not well fed, 111
111

Hunger-swarms,
Wealthy mill-owners of Lanca-
SHIRE sovinsitiwriennsogdeceeeen ver
Best artificial food, ....
In what proportions mixed,...
Many ways of feeding bees, ...
Feeding- board, cistern, and
trOUPH, ss veces cncasdiesnseniceoene 118
The express method of feeding, 115
Feeding in winter, 116
Feeding at home,............0066

CHAPTER XXVII.

The diseases of bees, 117
Dysentery, .......... ve LL
Pod 00) cmassesmnonreses 1

How to discover its existence, 119
Incurable, 120

CHAPTER XXVIII.

RODDETS, vacsssinecisinnderveiaunosaves
How bees know each other,...

121
122
CHAPTER XXIX.

Transporting bees,.............+
Great care required,

Ventilation,...... ‘ . 124
The value of cross-sticks, era 125
CHAPTER XXX.

The selection and preparation

of stock-hives for another

Should be full or nearly full

of combs, 126
Should contain young queens, 127
The destruction of swarms

CONTENTS.

Greater consumption of food
in populous hives,.............
What to do with very light
HIVS), sesesavnrieutiaeurieiaieeser

YOUNG SWAT, ....... see eeeeee
What is to be done when all
the hives are too heavy for
RROD ING wracsumonniamaviaenrs
Sugar-syrup healthy winter
food,

CHAPTER XXXI.

On driving and uniting

SWATHS) sccuvondsinsennnarne cons
How bees are driven,
How to succeed in cold wea-

ther,... elie tei te tal 132
How to shake s swarms out,.... 183
Often done in candle- dighije: . 134
Minted syrup and MATOS vine 134

The hilarity of children and

CHAPTER XXXII.

On taking honey and wax,.....
How to know the quantity of

honey in a hive,........... eee
The process of taking honey,..
The American slinger has not

187

137
188

power to sling heather-
honey from comb,............. 139
Is never likely to come into
general use amongst bee-
LATMONS; ces assescaereriesoveseey 140
Taking War ..e...ccceeeceeeeeeesees 141
CHAPTER XXXIII.
On winter treatment,............ 142

The importance of keeping
ees WAP cm ommewverciasinn
Fresh air necessary in win-
HOD; weiss sada neeassnse sits oe Seseged
Many destroyed for want of

sufficient attention,........... 148

CONTENTS. XV

Bad luck comes from bad

CHAPTER XXXIV.
management, 0... cee 143
Can bees be wintered under When should bees be pur-
GLOUNA ? rcasessnncwsweseoneancer 144 CHASED fo sisiweiveenssspuccenee sean 144
SUPPLEMENT.
The Bar-frame Hive,........... 146 | The Stewarton Hive,........... 150
THE CALENDAR.
PANMATYS a. scone seee tare seeas Lees 160 a ca aeienwnenanun 165
MODEUALY, s.chneidommasenas ... 157 | August, .... 167
Mareh,...... evan LOS.\) SO Ptenwbers yo sccsn'se vecalorestinncecien 168
April, .... .... 160 | October, November, and De-
DAY on csrnedacereanccsssenanannnceas 161 BOOT es cvmennrncarncenicvecavane 171

THE

HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

PART FIRST.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BEES.

Ix every healthy hive of bees there may be found, at cer-
tain seasons of the year, a queen or mother bee, males or
drones, and working bees; honey and wax, bee-bread
and propolis.

Worker.

CHAPTER I.

THE QUEEN BEE.

By looxing at the representations of the different bees,

the reader will see that a queen bee is less in size than a

drone, and larger than a working bee. In shape she is
A

2 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

more like a worker than a drone, but more genteel and
beautiful than either. Her abdomen or belly is compara-
tively long, and gradually tapers to a point—giving her
an appearance quite distinguishable from all in the hive.
She is really a queenly creature, modest and graceful in
all her movements.

Being mother and monarch of the hive, her life is very
precious. The loyalty of her people, and the activity of
her body-guard, are remarkable. No human monarch was
ever half so well attended to by his subjects as a queen
bee is by hers. The life and prosperity of a hive depend
on the presence of a queen—a queen moving and reigning
in it—or in prospect—that is, in embryo; for when a queen
dies, or goes with a colony or swarm, she leaves behind
her some princesses in their cells-—that is to say, in their
infant state—or eggs which the bees hatch into queens.
If a hive lose its queen, and is without expectation of
getting another, all prosperity comes to an end—the con-
tentment, loyalty, and industry of the bees depart from
them: their stores of honey are often undefended by
themselves, and stolen by the bees of prosperous hives.

The Age of Queens.

They live about four years. In this the worth of their
lives to the community is seen. The working bees live
but nine months, and the drones are not permitted either
to live or die ; they are destroyed. The climax of their
history is not a pleasing one. But queens, generally
speaking, live four years. Some die when they are three
years old: very few die a natural death sooner.

Queens are fourteen days in being hatched—that is to
say, perfect queens are produced on the fourteenth day
after eggs have been put into royal cells. To a thought-
ful bee-keeper the length of their days is not so great a

THE AGE OF QUEENS. 3

marvel as the shortness of time they are in their cradle-
cells. Only fourteen days for the process of developing
small eggs into princesses of the blood! A worker is
twenty-one days in the cell, and a drone twenty-four days.
Queens are perfected in ten days less time than drones.
The mystery of this is beyond our depth; but the fact
indicates the value of the presence of the queens in their
hives. When a queen is accidentally killed, or dies un-
expectedly, or is taken from a hive, as in artificial swarm-
ing, the bees have the power to make another. They
take an egg meant for a worker from a common cell,
where, if undisturbed, it would be developed into a
worker in twenty-one days, and place it in a royal cell,
and there convert it into.a queen in fourteen days. In
the royal cell the egg is developed into a bee—different in
size and colour, perfect every way, and perfect in seven
days’ less time than it would otherwise have been if
left in a common worker-cell. This is an exceedingly
interesting point in bee-history, and a wise provision of
nature. It is a fact established beyond dispute that bees
have the power of rearing queens from common eggs. It
may be asked how they accomplish this, and by what
means. The power seems to be in a substance termed
“royal jelly,” which has a milky, gelatinous appearance.
Whenever an egg is set in a royal cell, the bees place
around it some of this milky-like substance, and soon
after a little worm or grub may be seen floating on it, and
by it this grub is fed. What this royal jelly is, we do not
know—neither can we tell where it comes from. No writer,
we think, has ventured to describe how or where it is manu-
factured or obtained. If an analytical chemist would ever
like to examine this substance, we would gladly furnish
him with a thimbleful of it at the swarming season—taking
it, of course, from the cells in which it may be deposited.

Seven days after eggs have been deposited in royal

4 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

cells, lids are placed on them—which is technically termed
“sealing them up.” What takes place at the birth of
queens will be explained when we come to the chapter on
swarming.

Fertilisation of Queens.

This a very important affair—so important that a bee-
keeper should know all he can about it ; when and where
it takes place, and what happens when it never takes
place at all. Queens are mated or take the drone when
they are very young—viz., from two to ten or twelve days
old. If they are not mated before they are twelve days
old, they are worthless for breeding purposes, and worth-
less for every purpose save that of keeping the bees
together till they are worn out by labour or old age.

When we consider the importance of the fertilisation
of queens, the number of drones in a hive is not to be
wondered at, especially when we consider that copula-
tion never takes place inside a hive. If the weather be
unfavourable for ten days after the birth of a queen, she
is not mated. Some five-and-twenty years ago we caused
a hive to rear a queen in the month of September, after
all its drones had been killed. This was done with a
view to ascertain how many days she left her hive to find
acompanion. The mouth of the hive was shut, so that
every bee going out had to pass through a narrow tube,
projecting two or three inches, before it took wing.
Though the way out was plain and easy, neither the
queen nor bees ever found their way back through the
tube. For nine days the queen came through the tube,
though the weather was rather showery at the time, and
was invariably found outside the hive about four o’clock
p.M., either nestled up in a cluster of bees near the door,
or trying to find an entrance into the hive. Once she
came home and alighted on the flight-board in our pre-

FERTILISATION OF QUEENS. 5

sence at four o’clock, when the sky was heavily clouded
and the atmosphere rather cold. Of course the queen
and bees found outside the hive were admitted every
afternoon. This simple experiment fully convinced me
that the impulses of a young queen for a mate are very
strong and urgent; and when she fails to find one, the
fault is not hers.

Drones seldom leave their hives but in very fine
weather. This fact accounts for the non-impregnation
of queens during unfavourable weather. Very cold or
stormy weather may, and often does, we daresay, prevent
queens from leaving their hives on these errands. Failure
is very uncommon in fine weather. About the time her
majesty is expected to leave her hive, the drones come out
in great force, and make a tremendous noise in front of
the hive. By reason'of their number their buzz becomes
a roar, and may be heard at a considerable distance from
the hive. Last year we happened to hear this well-known
sound, and went to see her majesty come out of her hive
and go away on her marriage-tour. The hive was no
sooner reached than she was seen going into it. She had
been abroad before the drones had come out. In about
five minutes after her return she came out again, and
took wing amid a noisy rabble of drones.

The statements of some authors about queens selecting
their lovers in their hives, and then going away together
to make their nuptial couches high up in the air, where
no eye may follow, are mere poetical fancies. When
a queen comes out of her hive for this purpose, she
comes by herself: she has no favourites, and as readily
accepts a mate from another hive or community as
from her own. How far she will fly in search of a
mate is not known. Drones fly great distances from
home, and often impregnate queens which they happen
to meet. Though there were a great many hives ip vur

6 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

garden last year, and drones enough in every one of them,
some of our young queens were made fruitful by contact
with Italian or Ligurian drones. No bee-keeper that we
knew of, having Ligurian bees, lived within four miles’
distance of our apiary. Pairing does not take place in-
side of hives.

But where does copulation take place? In the air, or
on the ground? Most writers on bees think it takes
place in the air. We think it takes place on the ground—
that the queen is caught in the air by one or more drones,
and both come to the ground. Last summer we saw a
queen hotly pursued by two drones. They overtook her,
when she doubled, and went back as a hare does when
pursued and overtaken by dogs. She gained a few paces
at the turn, and all went out of my sight. When I was
a lad, in my father’s house, a labouring man called to tell
us what he had seen while digging in a field about half
a mile distant from our house. He heard a great noise,
as if a swarm of bees were passing over his head ; he in-
stantly looked up, when a ball of drones fell at his feet,
half the size of his spade-handle. With a bit of stick
he began to poke among the drones, when to his astonish-
ment a queen crawled out of the cluster and took wing,

followed in a twinkling by all the drones. His statement '

we believed at the time, and still believe it.

A great many queens are lost on their marriage-tours .
they never return. Whether they fall into water and are
thus lost, or lose their way home,or go into wrong hives, we
cannot say ; but most bee-keepers of observation and ex-
perience well know that these necessary excursions are
not unattended with risk, and often with loss.

It is well for apiarians that their queens, when timely
fertilised, never require drones again as long as they live.
It is believed that during the first ten days of their lives
copulation may take place more than once, but after-

EGG-LAYING. 7

wards it never takes place. This is one of the most
extraordinary things in bee-history. A queen bee lives
four years, and lays a vast number of egos — at least
2000 a-day—in the heat of summer, for months together,
every year. We guess that a healthy fertile queen, during
her life, lays 800,000 eggs—200,000 a-year—all duly
fecundated, and capable of hatching into young bees,
though the queen never meets a drone after the first few
days of her existence.

Eqgg- Laying.

This commences from six to ten days after impregna-
tion. Who can think of the laborious and monotonous
life of a queen bee without being touched with a feeling
of tenderness and compassion for her? This queenly
creature leads a life of toil. Six months of the year does
she move from comb to comb, and from cell to cell. In
thus travelling up and down the hive, she is seeking
empty cells in which to lay her eggs, which are of some
size and substance, being in shape somewhat akin to
birds’ eggs. When she finds an empty cell, she inserts
her abdomen, and drops an egg, which adheres to the
bottom of the cell by the small end. The eggs come so
fast from her that she has neither time nor strength to
lay one in each cell: often two, and sometimes three,
drop into one cell. The bees remove the supernumeraries
that are found in some cells, and fill the cells that have
no eggs in them. This point or statement has been dis-
puted by one or two apiarians, but never disproved. We
have known eggs removed from cells to other cells hun-
dreds, if not thousands of times. There is, we admit,
great difficulty in seeing the transit of eggs from cells to
cells; but on examination of combs after queens have
gone over them, empty cells may be found near to other

8 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

cells containing two or three eggs. On another examina-
tion some time after, the empty cells will be found all
filled. And often, when bees are building combs, eggs
are set on the foundations of cells—that is to say, as soon
as the bottoms of the cells are formed, eggs are placed on
them, and afterwards their sides are built up around the
eggs.

Some one may ask how it is known that a queen bee
lays 2000 eggs every day in the height of the season.
Some hives contain more than 2000 square inches of
combs each. Let us suppose that only one half of these
combs is filled with brood, and the rest filled with honey
and bee-bread: that is 1000 inches of comb for brood in
each hive. Oneinch of comb.has 50 worker-cells in it, 25
on each side. Very well, 1000 inches of comb contain
50,000 young bees, in all stages of development, from the
egg up. These 50,000 young come from one queen in
three weeks. Divide the 50,000 by 21, and it will be
found that the average number laid per day for three
weeks amounts to some hundreds beyond 2000 per day.
We have not yet seen a hive large enough to overtask the
laying powers of a queen bee.

The Sexes of Eggs.

On this question there appeared in the first edition of
this work some very interesting and well-written letters
from the pen of the late Mr Woodbury of Exeter, who
held “ that eggs of queen bees when laid are of two sexes,
male and female, and that no after-treatment can alter
either sex.” We then were inclined to believe that all the
eggs of queen bees in proper condition are of one kind
only, and convertible into queens, drones, or workers.
Mr Quinby, an able American writer on bees, held the
same opinion, and argued thus: “If food and treatment

THE SEXES OF EGGS. 9

would create or produce organs of generation in the female,
by making an egg destined to be a worker into a queen
(a fact which all apiarians admit), why not food and treat-
ment make a drone?” We suggested some experiments,
with the hope that they would be fairly and widely tried.
We tried them ourselves, and in every experiment the
bees failed to hatch female eggs into drones, and drone
eggs into females. Mr Woodbury, and all of his way of
thinking on this question, are right, and we were wrong.
As soon as we were satisfied on the question, we published
our change of views in the columns of the ‘Journal of
Horticulture,’ and there gave an account of the experi-
ments which led to the change. A bit of drone-comb
containing eggs was placed amongst some bees which had
lost their queen, and were in a state of great commotion
and lamentation for their loss, running hither and thither
in search of her. The hive contained no eggs of its own,
as the queen lost was a virgin one. As soon as the bees
found the eggs, they commenced at once to erect royal
cells around them, and became as calm and contented as
possible. The eggs became maggots in the royal cells,
and were covered with lids at the proper time. On the
sixteenth day after the royal cells were formed, they were
cut out for examination. Only one of the maggots had
taken the insect form: all were dead. The bees made
a great effort, but failed to produce queens. In various
ways, and many times during the last few years, have we
had proof that queen bees lay both male and female eggs,
and that no treatment by the bees can alter the sex.

It has been stated by more than one writer that the
ovaries of a queen are never impregnated, the matter of
the male being stored in a distinct vesicle called the
spermatheca, a portion of the contents of which is either
withheld from, or communicated to, every egg as it passes
through the oviduct—and this difference determines the

10 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

sex. If this is true, it appears to us all but impossible to
account for the fact that impregnation makes a queen
prolific, causing her to lay a hundredfold more eggs than
a queen unimpregnated. If the fertilising matter of the
male is simply lodged in a distinct vesicle, and does not
affect the productive powers of the queen, but merely
touches and femalises so many eggs in passing through
the oviduct, how comes it to pass that unmated queens are
nearly barren? We think that the explanation given as
to the cause of some eggs being male and some female is
not satisfactory, and that the mode of fecundation may
be for ever veiled from the ken of mortals. Also, how the
queen knows what kind of eggs she deposits—placing
male eggs in drone-comb and female eggs in worker-comb.

The eggs of virgin or unmated queens are male in
character.

CHAPTER IL
DRONES.

These are about the most idle and unfortunate creatures
in existence. They are generally hatched in drone-combs,
the cells of which are considerably larger than those of
worker-combs. These large cells, built up together, are
called drone-comb. The less of drone-comb there is in a
hive, the better it is for breeding purposes ; for though the
bees can rear drones in worker-cells, they never rear workers
in drone-cells. Drone-combs are generally situated on the
extreme outsides of the worker-combs, but sometimes
they are found near the centre of the hive. It is the
position and number of drone-cells in a hive that deter-
mine the number of drones reared. If such cells are near

DRONES. ll

the centre, drones will put in an appearance long before
the hive is ready for swarming ; and if on the outside of
the combs, the hive will be ready for swarming about the
time drones are first hatched. Their appearance in a hive
is therefore no safe guide as to its ripeness for swarming.

Drones are twenty-four days in being hatched from
eggs—that is, they come to perfection in twenty-four
days, being three days longer in their cells than workers,
and ten days longer than queens.

But why so many idle fellows in a community remark-
able for industry and activity? It is easier to ask this
question than to answer it. They are produced for a pur-
pose, and that is the impregnation of the queens. When
the importance of this impregnation is considered, the
apparent want of economy in the production of so many
otherwise useless creatures will not be wondered at. The
time given for this fertilisation is limited to ten or twelve
days at most. When weather is cold or wet, drones do
not leave their hives ; and even when the weather is fair
and favourable, they do not all leave their hives at the
same time. As the reader is already aware that copula-
tion takes place outdoors—it may be at some distance
from the hive—he will more easily understand why so
many drones are usually produced. Better to have a
superabundance of 10,000 drones than the queen fail to
meet one. The more drones—indeed, the more hives in a
garden—when a queen becomes marriageable, the more
likely is she to be seen and mated when she leaves on
that errand. =

Queens and drones, the produce of one mother, mate
without the least deterioration of blood. In-and-in breed-
ing amongst bees for generations and ages does not in
the smallest degree produce bad results.

The great characteristic of a drone bee is his laziness.
He will die of want rather than work. Drones have

12 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

never been known to do “a hand’s turn.” In recently
hived swarms, before any honey is stored up, drones may
be frequently seen stooping down to be fed by working
bees! Drones wanting to be fed place their feeding-
tubes alongside those of workers, and thus remain appar-
ently motionless while the pumping process goes on.

But these idle gentlemen know the country geographt-
cally better than the working community. In fine weather
they take longer excursions into the country for pleasure
than working bees do for food. If a hive be removed in
fine weather two miles, some few bees and a great many
drones return to the old place. If removed three or four
miles, a considerable number of drones return, but no
workers.

Comparatively useless in their lives, drones come to a
sorrowful end. What is termed the massacre of drones
seems a strangely cruel process. Well might a great
naturalist exclaim,—‘“‘ The climax of drone-life is wonder-
ful—a chapter of horrors, which clouds the harmony of
an otherwise beautiful system of insect-life.”

About fourteen days after the queen of a hive has been
fertilised, or some days after she has begun to lay, the
working bees begin to haul and maul the drones about.
Day by day the bees become more anxious to worry the
drones. Inside the hive the drones are driven from the
honeycombs, and may be found in heaps on the board
for days. Here they become weak from want of food;
and when they leave the hive many of them have savage
tormentors on their backs. Some fall off the flight-board
so weak that they cannot fly ; but most of them die ata
distance, being unable to return.

During weather unfavourable for honey-gathering,
drones and drone-brood are often destroyed. On the
appearance or prospect of hard times the bees destroy
these comparatively useless creatures and cast them out of

THE WORKING BEES. 13

their hives. Whenever white drones are seen being cast
out, the owner may be pretty certain that his bees are on
the border-land of starvation. The lives of drones being
always cut short, no one can say how long they would
live if let alone.

CHAPTER IIL
THE WORKING BEES.

The common working bees are twenty-one days in their
cells, and live nine months. Probably nine-tenths of
them die, from some cause or another, before they reach
their allotted span ; but at the end of nine months or
thereabouts, after their birth, all perish. The working
bees are considerably smaller than either queens or drones.
They do all the work and drudgery of a hive, and do it
with a willingness and activity that baffles and beg-
gars description. They manufacture the wax, build the
comb, gather honey by day, and store it away by night.
It is hard to believe that they never sleep, though we
have never seen one either sleepy or asleep, in winter or
summer.

The working bees are female in character, and are pro-
duced from the same kind of eggs as queens. The
queens are of course fully developed, and have their
reproductive organs in a normal or perfect condition ;
whereas the working bees are undeveloped females, with
reproductive organs imperfect. The treatment which the
eggs receive in their cells determines whether the bees
shall be born perfect or imperfect. This is one of the
many interesting things in bee-history which is at present
veiled in mystery. The same egg may be reared into a

14 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

queen in fourteen days, or into a working bee in twenty-
one days. Whether the queen is developed and made
perfect by special treatment in the cell, or whether the
working bee is dwarfed and made imperfect by special
treatment, is a question yet unanswered—and is, perhaps,
beyond the powers of human investigation.

It is a fact established beyond all doubt that bees can
procure a queen for themselves, provided they have larve
not more than three days old in worker-cells. Royal
cells and a particular kind of food only appear necessary
for the conversion of common larve into queens.

The development of queens from worker-eggs or grubs
is a most marvellous transformation, and comprehends
far more than the development of the reproductive organs
in queens, or the repression of them in worker-bees. The
transformation alters the anatomical structure and in-
stinctive propensities. Queens are different in form,
colour, and habit from, and live six times longer than,
working bees. They have more slender trunks and more
crooked stings than bees ; they have no downy brushes
at the joints of their limbs, or basket-shaped cavities on
their legs for holding bee-bread. Queens in numerous par-
ticulars are very different from the working bees. In this
transformation there is a world of wonders and mystery.

Bees, like the human family, possess five senses—
viz., sight, feeling, taste, hearing, and smelling; and a
very interesting and instructive chapter could be written
in proof of their existence and acuteness. We must

hasten to notice the industry, ingenuity, and courage of
bees.

The Industry of Bees.

How few bee-keepers know the worth of their own ser-
vants—the value of their own stock! No writer can get
near enough to touch the hem of the garment of the in-

THE INDUSTRY OF BEES. 15

dustry of honey-bees. Fancy a large and prosperous hive
full of combs, bees, and brood ; fancy 20,000 little grubs
in this hive requiring constant attention and proper food,
and all receiving them in due season ; fancy the care and
diligence of the bees in mixing and kneading this food
before they give it to their young; fancy 20,000 of these
grubs daily requiring and receiving beautiful lids on their
cells while they pass into the insect form and chrysalis
state; fancy 800 or 1000 square inches of this brood
being built up every three weeks. Try these combs in
the scales against a twenty-cight-pound weight and see
which conquers. Stand and look at that hive of bees,
and remember that all therein goes on with unerring ex-
actness and without light: then think of the untiring
energy and perseverance of the bees outside the hive—
ranging fields and woods from morn till night, gathering
up the sweets and the pollen of flowers, storing the one in
sacks and the other in baskets, returning to their homes
laden as a donkey with panniers, increasing their honey-
stores in weight from 2 Ib. to 6 Ib. per day; and after
their honey has been twice swallowed and disgorged, and
thus made into honey proper, they securely lock it up.
Yes ; think of all these things being done, together with
countless and nameless offices performed every hour, and
methinks the reader will be dumb with amazement at
the industry of these wonderful bees!! Bonny wee crea-
tures! your own fanning wings will drive from your
hives scores of tons of the sweat of your labours ere the
imagination of the poet or the pen of the historian can
compass your industry !

Without any pretension to accuracy, and anxious to be
within the circle of facts, we may state that the daily
consumption and waste of a large and prosperous hive of
bees in the summer-time, while honey is being gathered,
is about 2 lb. To repair the waste of such a hive, upwards

16 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

of 2 Ib. of materials have to be collected every day.
Beyond this there is often, in favourable weather, a great
accumulation of honey. We have known a hive gain 20
Ib. weight in two days. This year, at Cairnie, in Aber-
deenshire, Mr Shearer had a hive that gained 10 Ib, in
weight in one day.

The Ingenuity of Bees.

To mention half the instances of ingenuity seen in a large
apiary would filla book. In the building of combs and for-
mation of*cells, design is strikingly evident. Honeycomb-
cells are made to dip to the bottom. Ifa piece of guide
is put in wrong side up, the bees adapt it as a commence-
ment, but reverse the dip of the cells, so that they slant
in the best direction for holding honey. The stays and
props so frequently given to weak places and loose combs
display great ingenuity.

When a swarm is put into an empty hive which it can
only half fill, the bees, on commencing work, find that
the way to the door by the sides of the hive is round
about; and to shorten the way, they let down two or
three beautiful bee-ropes, on which to descend and ascend.
These ropes are made by one bee suspending itself to
another, each bee coming lower down till the board is
reached.

In spring months bees are anxious to hatch as many
young bees as possible, and therefore spread themselves
out as widely as they can. Sometimes the weather sud-
denly becomes cold, causing the bees to have some fears
about their brood being chilled. In order to protect the
brood some bees gather themselves into a cluster in the
doorway, and thus prevent the cold from going into the
hive; or, as our more accurate friends would say, to keep
the heat in. Often is the door so closely wedged up—so

THE COURAGE OF BEES. 17

nicely corked—that there is just room enough left for one
bee to pass in and out. On the return of warm weather
the protecting sandbag is removed.

The story of the dead snail in a bee-hive is worth
mentioning. Snails are very fond of honey, and often
take lodgings for months inside a hive. They eat both
honey and wax. Bees attack and drive from their hive
every enemy but snails and worms. ‘These they will not
touch. It happened that a snail died in one, and was
more unpleasant to the bees after death than before ; but
they could not cast it out. Their ingenuity was set to
work, resulting in a coffin of wax being built around the
snail.

The ingenuity of bees is manifest when they are at
work on a windy day. In calm weather they fly pretty
straight on their journeys to and from the fields; but
when wind is high, they seek the shelter of houses,
banks, and fences. Often have we seen them flying at
great speed along open drains and ditches, and in this
way escaping the violence of the wind. And when it
becomes necessary for them to leave their sheltered course,
they rise like a rocket, and dive again into the most
sheltered way.

The Courage of Bees.

Cowardice is not an element of their nature; they fear
no foe, and shrink from no danger. A bee cannot be
cowed or dispirited by knock-down blows from the hand
of man. If not stunned to inability, it will rise courage-
ously to attack after being knocked down ten or a dozen
times. Bees are furnished with weapons of defence ; and
they know how to use them. We say defence, for that is
the proper word ; for when they attack anybody or any-
thing, it is owing to some molestation either received or

B

18 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

anticipated. The bees of hives placed near a peopled
thoroughfare, or in a garden in which men, women, and
children are often moving about, become as quiet and
peaceable as cocks and hens. They become really domes-
ticated, and will not annoy anybody if they are not first
annoyed. Human breath and sweat are very offensive
to bees, and hence it is not wise to move amongst them
while in a state of perspiration.

But what about vicious bees and their courageous attacks?
All bees born away from the haunts of human beings—that
is to say, in a lonely place—are very apt to attack people
going near their hives. Away from their own hives they do
not attack anybody ; but on seeing strangers (men or cattle)
approach their hives, they anticipate molestation, and
are not slow to use their stings. Often have we proven
that bees once domesticated never become vicious. Bees
that are quiet and peaceable in autumn are quiet and
peaceable in spring, though they may not have seen any-
body near their hives all winter, But bees that are born
in lonely places, and there fly about, will fearlessly attack
both men and beasts that go too near their habitations.

How to Tame and Domesticate Vicious Bees.

Though this properly belongs to the practical part of
our book, we may be permitted to say here, that the way
to cure vicious bees is to make them acquainted with the
sight and form of human beings. A scarecrow or two
(what the Scotch folk call “potato bogles”), placed in
front of their hives, soon make them all right. The scare-
crows can be shifted from one position to another a few
times. Some years ago I bought a hive in the country,
and placed it amongst some others at home. The bees
would not let me go near their hive. A bogle was placed
in front of it, and to me it was interesting to watch the

HAVE BEES A LANGUAGE ? 19

attack ; one or two of the savage creatures were seen eye-
ing the face of the scarecrow, looking for a tender spot
on which to dart. In a few days they became as quiet
as the rest.

Have Bees a Language ?

To be sure they have. Who has not seen a flock of
rooks or crows feeding quietly in a green or ploughed
field rise on wing as a black cloud on hearing the watch-
word sounded by a single bird, which had seen apparent
or possible danger near? So bees have a language well
understood by themselves ; and, we might venture to say,
pretty well known by bee-masters of extensive experience.

There is the hum of contentment and the hum of
trouble—the hum of peace and the hum of defence—the
hum of plenty and the buzz of starvation—the hum of
joy and the roar of grief—the cry of pain and the music
of their dance—the buzz of the heavy-laden and the scream
of suffocation. The cry of pain from a bee at the door of
a hive affects the whole community.

Where is the bee-keeper who is not acquainted with
the sound of bees bent on mischief? They have not
stung him, but he knows they mean it. Often we have
let the bees of a weak hive have the honey of some
combs half empty. When no bees have been at work
outside, 2 morsel of comb has been taken to the door of
the weak hive; and as soon as four or six bees have
begun to feed on it, they have been carried to stores or
combs to be emptied. As soon as these few bees have
got home with their booty, the whole hive seemed to be
made aware that more might be had, and hundreds of bees
belonging to this hive were soon busily carrying it home,
before the rest of the hives have known that honey could
be had. Bees have a language.

20 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

CHAPTER IV.
LIGURIAN OR ITALIAN BEES.

As our object in writing this book is to guide inex-
perienced bee-keepers in a safe and profitable course, we
may be expected to say a few words about Ligurian bees,
which were introduced into this country some few years
ago.

"The principle of novelty is implanted in the human
mind, and the weakest part of an Englishman is his gulli-
bility. Anew style of dress, a Cochin-China fowl, a
Ligurian bee, if well puffed up and advertised, will com-
mand lots of customers. People are bewitched by
novelties.

But do you mean to say that the Ligurian sort of bees,
which is so much praised, and sold at such high prices,
is not better than the common English sort? Better for
what? Do they fly faster? No. Do they carry heavier
loads? No. Do they lay more eggs? It has not been
proven or tested to our knowledge. Do their eggs become
perfect bees sooner? No. Are they not earlier astir in
the morning? No. Do they work later at night? No.
Do they gather more honey? No. Are they not better in
any sense? No; neither in Great Britain nor America has
their boasted superiority been established. Still, amongst
bee-fanciers they are fashionable. There is a gratification
arising from the possession of what we like, and to many
the cost of the gratification is of no importance. The
satisfaction derived from the possession of a swarm of
Ligurian bees to many gentlemen is an ample return for
the money paid for them. But to those who are more

THE GOVERNMENT OF A HIVE. 21

anxious for profit than for novelty we would say, wait till
you are certain that the Ligurian bees are better than
the common sort, ere you pay an extravagant price for
them. We have no words strong enough to express our
admiration of the old English bees; and if a public con-
test between them and Ligurian bees could be instituted,
we should confidently stand by the old sort. We like
to speak well of the good roads and sound bridges that
have borne us along for fifty years.

CHAPTER V.
THE GOVERNMENT OF A HIVE.

The queen bee is monarch of the hive; and every hive
of bees must have a queen reigning or in prospect—that
is to say, in embryo. The monarchy of a bee-hive is a
very limited one, for the presence of the queen amongst
the bees is all the authority she wields, but is enough to
secure the greatest order, contentment, and activity. De-
prive a hive of its queen, and we presently find the bees
thrown into a state of chaos and commotion, tumultuous
to a degree. Let her be restored to them, and there is
presently a great calm, and evident tokens of joy and
satisfaction.

The workers are the governors or rulers over both queen
and drones. The harmony of a hive is so great and unique
that it is but seldom necessary for the bees to exercise
their powers of mastership. "When queens become old
and enfeebled, their governors resolve to have younger
ones. Royal cells are prepared, eggs are set in them, and

22 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

then comes the dethronement of the old ones. Frequently
the old queens are cast out alive. We have known one
such crawl back into the hive four or five times. It was
asad end to a useful life. But the bees mercifully ab-
stained from hurting her. The welfare of the community
demanded her removal, and a worthy successor in her
place. Hence they cast her out, and reared another.
If they had let her die a natural death, it might have
taken place when there were no eggs in the hive, and thus
have doomed the whole colony to extinction.

In times of threatened poverty and starvation, a queen
may lay many eggs; but the bees often wisely remove
them, rather than consume the little food left for them-
selves in rearing brood. Frequently half-hatched brood
is torn out of the cells and cast out of the hives by the
workers. Commands are often given not to swarm, after
arrangements have been made for swarming. When we
come to explain swarming, it will be seen that it is by the
will and authority of the working bees that it does or
does not happen—weather not interfering.

CHAPTER VI.
SWARMING.

It is our intention to explain this more fully when we
come to the practical part of this work. Though it is
one of the most interesting parts of bee-history, swarming
and all its adjuncts are very difficult to explain, or put in
a tangible form. The building of drone-combs, and the
formation of royal cells, long before they are needed, indi-

SWARMING. 23

cate that swarming is a law amongst bees—it is an instinct
of their being, and tends to their preservation.

In spring months, hives, generally speaking, have not
much honey in them. The combs afford plenty of scope
for hatching brood; and young bees are born much faster
than they die. Hives soon become very full. Sometimes
clusters of bees, like bunches of grapes, hang outside.
They are ready to swarm. Preparations are made for the
important event. The bees well know, long before it
comes to pass, that the queen (call her the old or mother
queen) goes with the first swarm from every hive. What
about a successor to the throne? When the swarm shall
have gone, there will be no queen, no fresh-laid eggs.
These wonderful creatures know all this, and therefore
never fail to set eggs in royal cells, and thus have young
queens on the way when the first swarm is sent off.
Generally the eggs for young queens are set about four
days before swarming takes place. Inclement weather
may prevent the swarm leaving at the usual time; and
therefore the young queens may be nearly ripe, and ready
to leave their cells, ere the old queen with the swarm
leaves the hive. Sometimes these young queens are torn
out of their cells, by reason of wet or cold weather; and
when this takes place, swarming is postponed for a week
or two. The weather may become favourable, and a
second time preparations be made for swarming. As the
time draws near, scouts are sent to find a place for the
swarm to goto. Like a queen wasp in spring, seeking a
place to build her nest, these scouts may be seen going
from bush to bush, and along the hedgerows in the neigh-
bourhood of their hives. When the spot is fixed on,
there is, in some way or other, a consultation about it in
the hive, for messengers may be seen going straight to
and from the place some short time before the swarm

24 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

leaves, It may, and sometimes does happen, that two
places are selected, half the swarm going to the one, aud
the rest to the other place.

But let us return to the hive, and there we shall find
something to excite our admiration. Thirty or forty
thousand bees are about to leave the place of their birth,
and comforts of home, never to return, Home-sickness is
unknown to emigrant bees, provided they have a queen
amongst them. The signal for departure will soon be
given, but not before these thousands of bees have well
filled their bags with honey. Which great bee gives
the signal to go will never be told, but unquestionably a
signal is given, for in a moment the swarm begins to gush
pell-mell, like a flowing stream, out of the hive. What
an exodus! What an interesting sight! Talk about the
Pilgrim Fathers (and all honour to them) leaving their
native land for the shores of America! Look at these
courageous bees in the act of swarming, rushing forth
to make the air ring with their cheers, rising into the
atmosphere, and there roaring at the fullest pitch of
joy and gladness. The swarming of bees is like a
wedding, in this particular, that it seems to inspire all
spectators with a felt interest and enthusiasm in the
scene. Brave colonists! go and prosper, and multiply
exceedingly !

Let us look into the mother hive. Why so quiet now?
No crowding, no suffocation, scarcely a sound is heard.
More than half the bees are gone ; still there are enough
left to rear and hatch the brood. Comparatively few
hands can be spared now to gather honey ; but great
numbers are born daily — brood becomes population,
There is no queen to lay eggs. In a short time many
cells will be empty, and an ample population, all but free
from the duties of nursing, ready and willing to fill them

SWARMING. 25

with honey. In this transition state, while the brood is
passing into insect forms and living bees, there is con-
siderable loss of weight. But what about second swarms ?
Well, we had intended to look into the hive after the
swarm had departed. On turning it up we find three,
four, or five royal cells have little maggots in them, float-
ing or lying in a white substance like milk. This milky
substance is royal jelly: where the bees get it no one
knows. These little maggots grow uncommonly fast, and
become beautiful princesses in ten days. If there is ever
anything like a regency in a bee-hive it is now, for their
is no queen reigning, no queen born—-still, all goes on
well.

By-and-by there are strange sounds made in that hive.
They come from a royal cell. One of the princesses has
come to maturity, and intimates her intention to claim
the queendom of the hive. She calls “ Off, off, off,’ which
sounds like the barking of a dog at a distance. These
sounds she repeats several times; and, being unanswered,
she leaves her cell, and becomes the rightful sovereign of
the hive. She now commences to speak in another tongue
altogether—uttering sounds more sharp and shrill. She
calls, “Peep, peep, peep,” or rather, “ Pa-ay, pa-ay, pa-ay,”
eight or ten times. The other young princesses come to
maturity, and commence to bark “ Off, off, off,” in their
cells. This barking provokes the reigning queen very
much. With murderous intent she runs up and down
the hive to find these barking queens. Again and again,
every few minutes, is she heard calling “‘ Pa-ay, pa-ay,”
sometimes in one part of the hive and sometimes in an-
other. And the responses, ‘‘ Off, off, off,” come regularly
from the cells of her rival sisters. This calling of the
queens is termed “ piping.” What is it for? Who can
tell? It goes on for three days and three nights. The

26 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

‘reigning queen during this time is seeking an opportunity
of killing her rivals, but the working bees ward off her
attempts to get at her sisters ; and they too are securely
watched and kept in their cells. If the weather be fa-
vourable on the fourth day after the piping began, a second
swarm will issue from the hive, taking with it the queen
which called “ Peep, peep.” Now one of the princesses
kept in confinement for three days is permitted to take
the place of her sister. She in her turn calls “ Pa-ay,
pa-ay ;” and if the responsive bark of “ Off, off” be con-
tinued, a third swarm may be expected on the following
day, or, at latest, the day after that. Third and fourth
swarms have been known to issue from a hive in one day.
Third and fourth swarms are not very common ; for the
bees of most hives: find that two swarms in a fortnight
are enough to send off—and sometimes they cannot afford
to do that. To prevent second swarms leaving, the bees
adopt signal measures. As soon as the first princess is
born, and commences to “pipe,” they hush her into silence
at once. Before she gets one “pa-ay” half uttered, the
bees prevent her from going on with it. In stopping her,
they make a sound like the word “ hush” spoken by the
human voice. The supernumerary princesses are killed
and cast out of the hive.

It has been already said that the usual time of piping
for second swarms is three days and nights ; but it ought
to be stated that when the weather prevents swarming, and
the bees are bent on swarming, the piping will be con-
tinued for some days longer. Ihave known it continued
for seven days ; and during those seven days not one of
the princesses ever closed an eye in sleep. The piping of
the queens, and their deadly hatred of one another, are
two of the interesting and striking features of bee-history.
Two old queens or two young ones—it matters not whether

HONEY. 27

they be mother and offspring, or sisters of the blood, or
strangers every way—will, on meeting, rush savagely at
each other, and fight with greater fury than bull-dogs.

In every contest between two queens it is death or
victory. In some such contests both die, I have known
two engaged in this deadly and violent struggle roll out
of the door of the hive, over the flight-board, and fight it
out on the ground. In this battle one was killed and the
other wounded. Once we saw two young queens meet on
the flight-board of a hive while a second swarm was issu-
ing from it. They ran and embraced each other in furi-
ous combat; but, as we wished to obtain the second
swarm, we tore the combatants asunder and threw them
up in the air. Both went with the swarm. Next morn-
ing one was found dead in front of the hive into which
the swarm was put.

CHAPTER VIL
HONEY.

This substance is found in the flowers of certain plants
in almost every country. Doubtless it is odoriferous; and
hence the honey-bee, whose smelling powers are wonder-
fully keen, can easily find it. The bee is furnished with
a proboscis of some length, wherewith it can reach most
of the nectaries of flowers in which honey is found. It
has been said that at the point of the proboscis there
is a brush of exquisite softness, which is used for col-
lecting honey, and thus enabling the bee to fill its own
bag.

28 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

The honey as it is collected in the flower and carried
to the hive is not honey proper. The nectar of flowers
is a thin sweet juice which may be properly called crude
honey. This is collected by bees into the hives, and
there converted into honey proper. During the day, the
bees collect as much of this crude honey as they can, and
place it in open cells till night, when they re-swallow it,
thus making it into real honey. In this process it be-
comes thicker and sweeter. Before it is swallowed a
second time, it readily runs out of cells whenever the
hive is turned up or held a little to one side; but after
having been put twice through the stills of bees, it is
not easily disturbed in the cells. Besides, the taste and
quality of the honey are greatly improved by the change
effected on being re-swallowed. Doubtless much water is
eliminated during the process.

Crude honey being thin and watery, will not keep:
like badly-preserved fruit, it soon becomes mouldy and
sour; but after it has been made into honey proper, it
will keep good for two or three years, if not for a longer
period of time.

The honey of one kind of plant is different in some
small degree from the honey of other kinds of plants—dif-
ferent in substance, colour, and taste. For instance, the
honey collected from the flowers of gooseberry and syca-
more trees is of a sea-green colour, the flavour of which
cannot well be surpassed for excellence. It has been
often said by others that the honey from wild thyme is
richer than any other honey. We have never lived
where this plant grows abundantly, and have not tasted
honey from it. The honey collected from the flowers of
white or Dutch clover is clearer—more like spring-water
—than any honey gathered from other flowers known in
England. It pleases the eye better than honey of a higher

HONEY-DEW. 29

colour. The flavour of clover-honey is good and pun-
gent, but not so rich and pleasing to the palate as that of
sycamore and gooseberry.

Honey gathered from heather-blossoms is considerably
darker in colour than any other pure honey gathered in
Great Britain and Ireland. It has a much stronger fla-
vour too—peculiarly grousey. This heather-honey, though
to appearance of greater substance and consistence, is con-
siderably lighter in weight, taking bulk for bulk. The
clear sort goes to the bottom of the jar, and swims the
heather-honey when both go together.

CHAPTER VIII.
HONEY- DEW.

This material is found on the upper surface of the leaves
of some trees, has a shining appearance, and is sticky to
the touch. Many ignorant people think that it falls from
the skies during the night. It is simply the product of
an insect (aphis) found frequently on the under sides of
the leaves of some kinds of trees. This insect is most
plentiful in times of prevalent east winds ; and it is well
known that flowers yield very little honey indeed when
winds come from either east or north. In these times of
scarcity bees work on these shining leaves, and thus col-
lect honey-dew. It is dark in colour—disagreeable both
to the eye and the palate ; and is a great nuisance to bee-
keepers whose aim is profit. It isa great pity that bees
touch it at all.

Oaks, sycamores, limes, and beeches are the trees most

30 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

liable to be attacked by the aphis which yields honey-
dew. A small quantity of it mixed with pure honey dis-
colours the whole, and makes it quite unsaleable. It
never candies or crystallises like good honey. Though
bees gather and eat it in times of scarcity, it is improper
food even for them.

CHAPTER IX.
WAX.

Wax is not gathered like pollen or propolis. The bees
have to manufacture it at very great cost, both to them-
selves and their owners, As milk is manufactured in the
body of the cow, so wax is manufactured in the bodies
of bees. It is both a secretion and excretion of bees. In
collecting honey, bees carry it in their bags; and when
they wish to make wax and build combs, some of the
honey goes into their intestinal canals, passes into the
juices of their bodies, and scales of wax ooze from, or are
excreted on the under sides of, their bellies. Wax, then,
is a homespun article, wholly made by the bees them-
selves. Dr Liebig, in the appendix to his great work on
‘Animal Chemistry,’ says that “bees have to consume
20 lb. of honey to make 1 lb. of wax, and 1 oz. of comb
holds 1 Ib. of honey.” We do not vouch for the accuracy
of Liebig’s calculations or experiments; but they are
stated merely to show that wax costs the bee-keeper a
great deal more than he gets for it in the market. But
we are not quite sure that 20 lb. of honey are consumed
in the manufacture of 16 oz. of wax. A swarm was put
into an empty hive. This swarm, hive, and board would

WAX. 31

weigh about 17 1b. In seven days it weighed 45 ]b., and
was filled with combs. These combs, pure and simple,
would weigh about 2 lb. If 40 1b. of honey were con-
sumed in their production, the gathering of this swarm
was enormous, Liebig’s experiments were honestly made,
and the results honestly recorded: but no close observer
of comb-building in bee-hives will admit that they are,
or ever can be, conclusive in their character ; because the
experiments were made with about 10 oz. of bees—a
mere handful. Both the weather and the warmth of a
hive have a great influence in comb-building.

Dr Liebig says that it takes thirty-eight hours to
convert honey into wax—that is to say, that the laminz,
or thin plates of wax, do not appear on the bellies of bees
till thirty-eight hours after the honey has been taken into
their intestines. This surely is not correct; for bees that
are driven into a hive at six o’clock of a summer evening
often commence to build combs before six o’clock next
morning. And if no combs be formed or visible then,
there may be seen the lamine or flakes of wax lying on
the board beneath the swarm. The making or secreting
of wax is voluntary on the part of the bees; and this is
one of the secrets of bee-history that can never be fath-
omed, and must remain veiled for ever from the ken of
mortals. Bees do not secrete wax when their hives are
filled with combs; but remove the bees into an empty
one, and in less than twelve hours they build one or two
pieces of comb.

As honey from one kind of plant differs in taste from
that of another kind of plant, so wax differs in colour if
different kinds of honey are used in its manufacture.

Wax is made from treacle or syrup as well as from
honey ; but the combs made from these are more brittle
than those made from honey.

In the covers or lids of brood-cells there will be no-

32 HANDY BOOK OF BEES,

ticed this fact, that they are always like the cells they
cover: the cells of dark combs get lids of the same col-
our, and white combs have white lids. Doubtless part
of the old combs are used in the manufacture of lids ;
but why it is so used, or why bees will have lids and
combs of the same colour, has ever appeared a very re-
markable thing.

In Professor Liebig’s remarks on wax, there is another
statement which is not absolutely correct. He says
combs are never built in a hive unless the bees have the
presence or prospect of a queen. Now we have seen
a second swarm that lost its queen a day or two after
being hived, half fill its hive with combs, chiefly of the
drone kind.

The question of wax-making and comb-building is a
very important and interesting one in the history of a
bee-hive, and at present, little is with certainty known
about it. In comb-building, bees are wonderfully frugal
in the use of wax. We guess that not more than 2 lb. of
it are used in the construction of 80,000 cells. It is a
very inflammable substance, containing, as it does, more
than 80 per cent of carbon.

CHAPTER X.
BEE-BREAD.

This is the pollen of flowers. Bees can with great ease
gather it, and carry it home in pellets sticking on their
hind-legs, Of course the colour of pollen is different in
different kinds of flowers. Anciently it was considered
crude wax, and even now some novices think it is made

PROPOLIS AND WATER. 33

into wax. It is used principally for feeding maggots in
their cells, and hence it is termed “ bee-bread.”

If it were used in comb- building, swarms put into
empty hives would gather much of it; but we find that
all such swarms do not gather any pollen for some days,
or till some combs are built to contain it. In most hives
it is stored in their centres where the young are hatched ;
and often there is stored far too much of it. Though
some seasons are remarkable for tha abundance of bee-
bread stored up, and though some hives have more than
others, it is never in Great Britain a scarce article in
hives of bees. The hive that has fewest cells filled, or
half filled with it, is generally the most prosperous—all
other things being equal. Bees do not eat it, and will
die of starvation with a superabundance of it in their
combs,

CHAPTER XI.
PROPOLIS AND WATER.

Propolis is a kind of cement used in hives to fill up all
holes and cracks, and prevent unnecessary ventilation.
It is a substance not absolutely necessary to the well-
being of a hive; but, doubtless, the bees derive benefit
from using it, otherwise they would not collect it. It is
a sort of resin or gum, sometimes called bee-glue, and is
collected from the buds of poplar and other trees. It is
a harder substance than either wax or bee-bread.

Water is largely used in the height of the breeding
season. It is used with bee-bread in feeding young bees.

It is collected in dewy mornings, and after showers, from
c

34 HANDY BOOK OF BEES,

blades of grass and the leaves of plants. In the absence of
showers and dew, bees resort to brooks, rivers, and water-
tubs for it, often preferring the impure water from manure-
heaps. The sight of bees seeking and sipping water, is a
proof that breeding is going on in their hives. During
inclement weather, when not a particle of honey ean be
obtained, bees often venture out for water.

PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT, 35

PART SECOND.

PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT.

WE now come to the practical part of our work ; and our
aim is to make the reader understand everything neces-
sary to the successful and profitable management of bees.

_This book is not written for the benefit of the advanced
students of bee-history and apiculture, but to instruct the
most ignorant to manage bees intelligently and well. It
is Cobbett who says that all books should be written for
the benefit of those who are ignorant of the subject of
which they treat. The reader is requested to remember,
that our stating certain facts and opinions will not make
him, or anybody else, an intelligent bee-master, unless his
mind be fully convinced and held captive by the reason-
ableness of such statements. All is to be weighed in the
balance of his own reason, and whatever is found light
and wanting should be cast aside. By the formation of
correct and comprehensive ideas in apiculture, the reader
will be able to guide his own industry, and rise to a
position superior to those who follow and imitate others.
Let all remember that those who follow are always
behind.

36 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

CHAPTER XII.
THE APIARY OR BEE-GARDEN.

It is not which garden, but which place in the garden,
shall the bees occupy? Every bee-keeper consults his
own convenience in the choice of a spot on which to
place his bee-hives. Near the door, or in front of a win-
dow, from which the swarms can be seen, is generally
preferred by cottagers ; for they have not much time to
lose in watching for swarms leaving their hives. So far
as honey-gathering goes, one corner of the garden will
answer as well as another. It does not matter much, if
anything at all, whether the hives look east or west, north
or south. Hives placed in the centre of a wood or small
forest, where the rays of the sun never reach them, thrive
as well as those placed outside to bask in his smiles all
day long.

A sheltered corner, with an open front, and at some
distance from ponds or sheets of water, is perhaps the
best possible in any neighbourhood for bees. If hives
are placed in an exposed and bleak situation, or near
sheets of water, high winds do some harm to their bees.
Bees with heavy loads are fatigued when they return to
their hives, and therefore it is desirable to let them enter
as safely and speedily as possible. If driven to the
ground by the violence of the wind, they sustain a rueful
shock, and have to rest a considerable time before they
can rise, perhaps to be driven down a second time. Still,
practically and experimentally considered, the advantages
of sheltered places are of small importance. If the pas-
ture of the neighbourhood be good, bees will do well
wheresoever placed. On the housetop and bleak hillside,

THE APIARY OR BEE-GARDEN. 37

underneath the hedgerow and in an open field, we have
found them to thrive exceedingly. We have seen them
placed amid lofty houses, where they were compelled to
rise to their tops in short spiral turns, and drop down
about as perpendicularly as a bucket in a well, and yet in
this position collect from 4 1b. to 6 lb. per hive every fine
day. Bees have wits enough to make the most of every
position. A warm sheltered place is, however, recom-
mended for the home of bees.

How far should hives be off the ground, and how far
asunder ?

We think 8 inches above the ground is quite enough,
and most of our hives are never more than 6 inches
above the level of the ground. Is the health of the bees
not affected when placed so near the earth? Bees are as
healthy when placed 2 inches above the ground as when
placed 20 inches. If hives are raised 2 and 3 feet, the
bees, when heavily burdened, often miss the flight-board
on their return from the fields, and thus come unexpect-
edly to the ground; and, by reason of the sudden and
severe shake, do not rise for some time—and some are
chilled to death ere they gain nerve and resolution enough
to make another attempt. If an elevated position has any
advantages at all, we have failed to learn what they are.

Three posts, about 15 inches long, driven half their
length into the ground, answer well for a stand for one
hive. These posts are driven into the ground about 15
inches apart, and the front one a little lower than the two
behind, so as to make the water run off the flight-board,
and not into the hive. Three round stones or river
bullets, half buried in the soil, answer as well as the
posts. Some bre-keepers are of opinion that bee-hives
are like corn-stalks—if not placed high above the ground,
vermin will go in and eat their treasures. A very little
schooling will teach bee-keepers how to keep mice out of

38 HANDY BOOK OF BEES,

their hives, without hoisting them aloft on ugly single
posts.

Hives should be placed as far asunder as convenience
permits. When we come to the chapter on artificial
swarming, it will be seen that 6 feet distance between
stock-hives is little enough. Many reasons could be
given in favour of some distance being left between hive
and hive.

But where many hives are kept, would you place them
all over the garden? No, if economy of space and com-
pactness of appearance are objects aimed at. Besides, it
is possible to place a great number of hives within small
compass, and be free from all danger of mistaken visits, or
molestation of any kind, from the bees belonging to each.
Many of our hives are removed, in spring, to cottage and
market gardens in the country. We pay rent for a small
space, and make it answer well. The following represen-
tation will show the reader how ten hives can be safely
placed on a spot not much larger than a dining-room
table.

Ot 2 ©]
«, ac
a 1 a

Here every hive is separate from the rest, and so placed
that there can be no mistakes made by the bees as to
their own hives ; but there is not room between them to
hold a swarm from each hive without risk.

As there is a peculiar smell in each hive of bees, which

THE PASTURAGE OF BEES. 39

appears to be the bond of union in the community of it,
—bees knowing each other by smell—the intelligent bee-
master will keep his hives as far asunder as he conveni-
ently can, or sufficiently far to prevent the peculiarity
from being lost. Close proximity may destroy it.
BEE-HOUSES are very expensive and inconvenient. All
bee-masters of experience consider them a hindrance to
good management, and objectionable in many senses. We
have nothing to say in their favour, save that they help
to protect hives from the severity of winter storms. To
say more about bee-houses in a work on the profitable
management of bees would be a work of supererogation.

CHAPTER XIII.
THE PASTURAGE OF BEES.

It is believed that a twenty-acre field of grass, well
sprinkled with the flowers of white clover, yields to bees
every fine day at least 100 lb. of honey, and strongly
scents the air as well; and that twenty acres of heather
in flower yield 200 Ib. of honey per day. If this cal-
culation is correct (and we think it is), who will ven-
ture to estimate and give the sum total of all the counties
of Great Britain and Ireland? We remember being
startled at the statement of a citizen of Manchester, in a
paper which he read before the British Association for
the Advancement of Science, when that Association met
in that city some years ago. I forget the title of the
paper, but the subject of it was the poisonous exhalations
of the town. The number of tons of carbonic acid gas
constantly passing off into the atmosphere was named—a

40 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

number great enough to quicken the attention of all
sanitary reformers, and the movements of the Corpora-
tion of Manchester. But who can accurately weigh or
number the millions upon millions of pounds of honey
that pass away (ungathered) into the atmosphere? Who
can estimate the millions of pounds’ worth of honey thus
wasted on the “ desert air” ?

But is it not possible to overstock a given locality or
parish with bees? Yes; though we have never known
one overstocked. We have seen from fifty to one hun-
dred hives standing in one garden, the stronger of which
gathered from 2 1b. to 5 lb. each per day in fine weather.

But are all localities equally good for bees? No;
there is a great difference. Some are very much more
honeyed than others ; and some are rich at one period of
the season and poor at another.

It is perhaps beyond the powers of the most observant
and best-informed mind in the realm to name every plant
in this country that yields honey. The number of such
plants is very great ; but as there are some of greater
value to bees than others, we will now mention those
which we consider the best for bees.

Crocuses in early spring receive great attention from
bees. Much pollen and some honey are collected from
their flowers.

In some places there are certain kinds of willow (saliz),
which bear yellow flowers in spring, much visited by bees.

The border hyacinths of our gardens—the same sort
that are forced to decorate and scent our conservatories—
furnish bees with many a sweet mouthful.

Single wallflowers—grown largely in some localities for
cut-flowers and seed—are excellent for bees.

The flowers of gooseberry and plum trees are super-
excellent, yielding honey of the finest quality in great
abundance.

THE PASTURAGE OF BIES. 4)

Apple, pear, and currant trees are of great value to
bees, furnishing them with rich and large stores of
honey.

Almond, cherry, peach, and apricot are also honey-yield-
ing plants.

Field-mustard (Sinapis arvensis), which is a weed,
superabounding in some districts, frequently covering
our corn-fields with its yellow flowers, is an invaluable
thing for bees. In Yorkshire and Derbyshire this plant
is called ketlock, in Lanarkshire it is called skelloch, and in
Wigtownshire it is termed ranches. Here, in Lancashire
and Cheshire, it is called the yellow flower. It continues
a long time in flower, and the honey gathered frcm it is
clear, and soon crystallises. The flowers of turnip, cabbage,
and all the brassica tribe, like those of field-mustard, are
exceedingly tempting to bees,

The flowers of field-beans are about as rich in honey as
they can be. There is some mystery as to the means em-
ployed to extract it from bean-flowers, which are tubular
in shape, and of considerable thickness and depth. The
honey, of course, lies at the bottom of these—deeper than
the length of a bee’s proboscis. The tubes are pierced or
tapped near their bottoms, and through the holes thus
made the bees extract much rich treasure. It has been
said that bees are unable to pierce the tubes of the
flowers, and that the holes are made by humble-bees,
which have greater powers. No one can watch humble
or earth bees at work in a field of beans, and remain in
doubt they do some work in this way. They push their.
trunks through the petals of the flowers with a view to
reach their honey; but the question is, Can bees make
holes for themselves? We have never seen a honey-bee
make a hole through the petals of a bean-flower ; but, from
the scarcity of humble-bees in some neighbourhoods
where the flowers of many acres of beans are found well

42, HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

pierced, we believe that the “jemmies” of our own
friends are used for breaking through the thick walls of
bean-flowers.

Maple, sycamore (or plane), and lime trees are of great
value to the bee-farmer. Maples are not so abundant in
this country as sycamores and limes. Honey is not dis-
tilled (does not drop) from the flowers of the sycamore, but
it literally lies on them, and is clammy and sticky to the
touch of human hands. It continues a long time in
flower, coming into flower before apple-blossoms disappear,
and lasting till white clover is in bloom.

The strong scent of lime-trees in flower, and the music
of beés busy at work on them, indicate that an abundance
is collected from them in the month of July.

Wimberry, raspberry, and brambleberry deserve honour-
able mention as honey-producing plants.

Borage, mignonette, heliotrope, buckwheat, birds’-foot
trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), gorse, broom, and wild thyme,
are all honey-plants, and useful in their day.

White or Dutch clover is the gueen of honey-plants.
It is widely cultivated in this country, and continues to
flower a long time. In Scotland the farmers use more
clover-seed in laying down land in grass than the farmers
of England; hence the clover-fields are, generally speak-
ing, better there than here. The use of bone-dust and lime
as manure has a great influence in the production of
clover.

Pastures eaten bare by cattle are, of course, not so good
for honey as those less severely eaten. Sheep are fonder
of clover than cattle, and are more able to nibble off its
young heads ; hence sheep-pasture is inferior in a honey
point of view to cow-pasture.

Clover is perhaps more uncertain in its yield of honey
than most other plants, inasmuch as it is more easily
affected by cold nights. Some years ago, a stock-hive from

THE PASTURAGE OF BEES. 43

which one swarm only was obtained, was weighed every
morning during the hot weather of July. On the 17th
and 18th it gained 12 Ib. in weight, next two days only
4 lb., and on the following day it gained 4 Ib. The dif-
ference of the weight of honey gathered was attributed
to the variation of night temperature, for one day was as
hot as the other.

Heather-blossoms, during the months of August and
September, yield a harvest of honey prodigiously and
marvellously large. This is so well known, that in Scot-
land and some parts of the Continent, there may be seen
cartloads of bee-hives going to grouse-land. Bee-masters
find that there is an ample return for the trouble and
expense of taking bees to the moors, even though the
distance be thirty or forty miles.

On no spot of Scotland can it be said that heather is
not within easy distance of it, so that all Scottish bee-
keepers can avail themselves of the honey that is so
abundantly produced by its pinky-purplish blooms. To
me it appears wonderful that in England we have heather
enough for all the bees in the world. In Yorkshire there
are magnificent seas of it. On the hills of Derbyshire
and Cheshire, within twenty miles of Manchester, we find
miles of heather excellent for bees. In both Staffordshire
and Warwickshire, heather in abundance may be found.
In the south, we find large tracts of heather in Devon,
Surrey, Hampshire, and Sussex. In Ireland, Wales, and
the northern counties of England, it is as abounding as it
is in Scotland.

All plants grown on warm well-drained soils yield more
honey than those grown on cold heavy land. Even in the
case of heather this is true. In ordinary seasons heathery
hills yield more honey than heathery swamps. And the
good sense of every bee-master will tell him that hilly
exposed pastures and districts are better in showery

44 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

seasons for honey than flat and sheltered ones. We have
known hives placed in hilly districts increase in weight
in such seasons ; whereas those standing in low sheltered
places could scarcely keep themselves, the flowers there
being hardly ever dry.

How fur will Bees go for Honey ?

This question we cannot answer with accuracy. Our
experience in this matter goes dead against the wonderful
stories that are told in some books. We read of bees fly-
ing four, seven, and twelve miles for food! Our bees will
perish and die for want of food within three miles of good
pasture. Our bees here never find the hundreds of acres
of heather which cover Carrington Moss within three miles
of them. In fine sunshiny weather bees go farther from
home than they do in dark cloudy weather. But even in
the best and brightest of weather in June and July, very
few, if any, find their way home to their old stand if
removed three miles off. Moreover, the return of some
bees does not prove that they travel three miles in search
of food. It proves that some of them goa little more than
one mile anda half from home, and finding themselves on
known pastures within one mile and a half of the old place,
they return thither, forgetting, as it were, where they last
came from. I am therefore of opinion that very few bees
go more than two miles for food.

It is very desirable to have bees near the pasture on
which they work. Short journeys are not only a saving
of labour to bees, but also a protection of their. lives,
When compelled to fly far for honey they are often caught
by showers and destroyed. In warm genial weather, with
a superabundance of honey in flowers, bees will have it.
They go beyond the bounds of safety for it. Gentle
showers do not stop outdoor labourers. Black clouds

HIVES. 45

often send them hurriedly home; but they are frequently
caught, and die on the altar of their industry. Hives con-
taining 8 Ib. and 10 1b. of bees have lost two-thirds of their
ranks by sudden showers in warm honey weather. Bees
driven to the earth by showers do not die at once. If the
following day be warm and fair, the rays of the sun some-
times reanimate these storm-beaten creatures, and enable
them to return to their hives.

CHAPTER XIV.
HIVES.

As we have now come to the most important chapter of
the book, it is hoped that all readers seeking profit from
bee-keeping will try to go through it in the light of common-
sense. Bees ever have been, and ever will be, profitable
to their owners, when well managed. Many bee-keepers
in England are fifty years behind the day, and have yet
to learn the first principles of profitable management.
Agriculture has made great advancement during the
last half-century—so has horticulture ; and they are not
going to stand still now. But apiculture, alas! has
made but poor progress. What hinders it? When the
astronomer discovered and reported the fact that the
planet Uranus loitered in one part of his orbit, it was an
act of common-sense on the part of another man to push
his telescope towards that part in order to find out the
hindering cause. He was thus successful in discovering
another immense planet (Neptune) lying far behind, the
attractive influence of which is so great as to impede and
hinder Uranus in his course round the sun. Now there

46 HANDY BOOK OF BEES,

is something which hinders many bee-keepers from making
as much honey, or money, as they ought. More than
twenty-five years ago we told them that all the books that
were ever written, and all that we could possibly say,
would never put them on the highroad to the successful
and profitable management of bees unless they kept large
hives.

We are well aware that it is a difficult matter to remove
prejudices of long standing. When water cuts its own
channel it runs along it, year after year. Toa large extent
bee-keeping has done the same. We are glad to see and
know that a great alteration is now taking place. The
adoption of large hives by many bee-keepers has enabled
them to double their profits, and given a great impulse to
bee-keeping in their neighbourhoods and counties. The
use of such hives by one or two bee-masters of intelligence
and ability in every county would, in process of time,
revolutionise apiculture throughout England.

Having far more confidence in the power of facts and
figures than in that of logic and argumentation for con-
vincing men that large hives, well managed, are incompar-
ably better than small ones, we have of late recorded the
results of bee-keeping in our native village, where hives
are of considerable dimensions. These records have
already stimulated the attention of many apiarians
throughout the country, and their pluck and energy
are now in full play. If the weight of Carluke swarms
rise up to 100 lb., 130 lb., and 150 Ib. each, according
to the season, why should not swarms elsewhere rise
to the same weight? In 1864, the weights of an old
hive and its two swarms, belonging to Mr Robert Reid,
Carluke, were published in the ‘Hamilton Advertiser’ of
that year :—

HIVES. 47

“Qld stock, or mother, was 92 lb. weight.

First swarm from it, 160 ,, 4;
Second swarm, 76 4, 5
Altogether, 328 lb. weight.”

In the year 1865, the first swarms at Carluke weighed
about 90 Ib. each while on the clover; but after being
taken to the moors many of them lost weight, owing to
the weather being unfavourable for gathering honey.

The heaviest swarm of 1866 at Carluke was 148 Ib.

The account of the success of 1868 came to us in a
letter from our friend Mr Reid, part of which we shall
here quote :—

“ CARLUEE, 25th Sept. 1865.

“My pear Frienp,—We brought our bees home from
the moors the week before last ; the weather being fine,
we thought they would be gaining weight, but were
wrong. Henshilwood got his home about ten days before
us. During that time ours lost each 8 Ib. and 10 lb. in
weight. Our heaviest swarm was 112 lb.—another about
6 lb. lighter. Our best second swarm was 75 lb.

“ Robert Scouler had three first swarms, which were
about 120 Ib. each. His best was 130 Ib.

“ John Jack had two stocks in spring, which did better
than most. One first swarm weighed 161 Ib., another
104 1b., and a second swarm 68 Ib. I have not heard of
the weights of the old ones, but he took 230 lb. of honey
from the produce of his two stocks.

“ Samuel Dempster had two also in spring. His first
swarms weighed respectively 110 lb. and 148 1b. Hen-
shilwood had one 168 lb., and my brother one 130 Ib.

“ P.S.—Scouler had two seconds, one of which weighed
80 lb. and the other 90 lb.—Yours truly,
“ Ropert Rep.”

48 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

Mr Reid’s letter containing some of the results of 1869
has already appeared in print, in connection with our own
balance-sheet, which appears annually :—

“‘ CARLUKE, 5th Oct. 1869.

“My pear oLD Frienp,—I beg to be excused for not
replying to your note sooner, but I waited till I got my
bees home from the moors, and the honey taken from
them. I jarred it all up yesterday, and find that out of
ten hives we have taken upwards of 400 Ib. of honey.
The heaviest hive was 1204 lb., two or three of them
about 90 Ib. each, the rest from 60 lb. to 70 Ib. each.
We had three boxes of honeycomb, which realised 27s.;
and one second swarm, 80 Ib. weight, was sold for £2, 2s.
The above is the produce of six stock-hives ; so you see
the bees have done well with us this season.—Yours
truly, R. R.”

In 1869, the heaviest swarm in the parish was 128
lb. And an old widowed aunt of the author got 250
lb. of honey from four stocks.

These facts and figures are quoted with the view of
stimulating the attention of bee-keepers generally. We
are of opinion that agricultural and horticultural exhibi-
tions do more to advance the sciences of farming and
yardening than the teaching of books and periodicals ;
and we fancy that example, even in bee-keeping, is better
than precept. When we resolved to write a book on bees
for publication, we sent the following three questions to
bee-keepers in many counties: 1. What is the general
size of hives used in your county? 2. What time does
swarming commence? 3. In good seasons what weight
are first swarms at harvest-time 4

Our correspondent near Norwich, in Norfolk, says:
“ The hives here are rather smaller than usual ; the middle

HIVES. 49

of May is a good time for early swarms; and at the end
of the season a good stock may weigh only one stone.
This may surprise you, but some are not half that
weight.”

From Yorkshire, a gentleman at Hull answered the
questions as follows: ‘The size of hives used here-
abouts contain 1300 cubic inches, and swarm about the
first week in June. As to the general weight, that de-
pends on the management of them. The most I have
ever taken from a swarm was 32 lb.”

From Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire, we learn that
“the first week in June is the time of general-swarming ;
the size of the hives about 12 inches deep and 12 wide ;
and the weight of swarms at the end of the season depends
on the summer. If not much rain to stop their work, a
good swarm ought to weigh 30 Ib.”

Our informant in Cornwall, near Launceston, says :
“In favourable and pleasant spots, bees begin to rise
from the 16th to the 20th of May; but the time of gene-
ral swarming is the first and second week of June. The
size of hives in use is, I think, about 14 inches diameter
and 11 inchesdeep. The average weight in good seasons
is about 28 Ib., hive and combs together ; the heaviest
I have ever known was 35 Ib. Taking one year with
another, the average produce of a hive is about one gallon
of honey. In the parts of Devonshire which I have
visited, bees appeared to be treated much as we treat
ours, the hives being a little less, if anything.”

In Lincolnshire, swarming generally takes place from
the 10th to the 20th of June ; hives 12 inches diameter
and 8 or 9 inches deep; and the weight of good swarms
ranges from 30 lb. to 45 lb.

“ We think,” says our Devonshire correspondent, “ 25
Ib. to 30 Ib. a good weight for swarms in common hives ;

I have known some 50 |b., but this is rare. Ido not
b

50 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

think your figures could be approached in this county
with hives of any size.”

We happen to think differently of Devonshire, and be-
lieve that if large hives were introduced and properly
managed in that splendid county, the honey harvests
would be enormous. Instead of swarms being rarely 50
Ib. each, they would often be 100 1b., and sometimes 150
Ib. each.

Let us now go to Northumberland, where we are told
“that the time of general swarming is the month of
June, but some early swarms are obtained about the 18th
of May. The general size of the hive here is 15 inches
in diameter and 12 inches deep; and the best hives at
the end of an average season contain from 25 Ib. to 35
lb. of honey.” Northumberland is a long way in ad-
vance of any other county south of the Tweed that has
responded to our questions.

Ayrshire, Perthshire, Wigtownshire, and Mid-Lothian,
are about on a par with Northumberland. No answers to
our questions came from Ireland and Wales.

“ Now, come back to the parish of Carluke, and tell us
if you think that the great success of the bee-keepers
there is owing altogether to the use of large hives.” No,
not altogether. A great measure of their success comes
from good management. But good management, without
large hives, will not end in great results—tlarge hives be-
ing the basis or foundation of success, and good manage-
ment the superstructure. They go hand in hand, though
they stand in the relation of parent and child ; and when-
ever the intelligent bee-keepers of this country adopt and
use large hives, they will be utterly astounded at their
former blindness in this matter.

A queen bee lays about 2000 eggs every day in the
height of the season. She lays as many in a small hive
as she does in a large one: but in a small one there are

HIVES. 51

not empty cells for 500 eggs a-day ; and therefore 1500
eggs are destroyed in some way daily. The bees must
either eat them or cast them out. Now, suppose the bees
were allowed to set and hatch all these eggs, how much
more numerous the population would be, how much more
honey would be collected, and how much larger the swarms
sent off would be too !

On former occasions, when we have been trying to
make bee-keepers think, we asked them to consider the
folly of a farmer’s wife expecting large eggs from bantam
hens. And we ventured to predict that if Shetland ponies
only were used by farmers, agriculture would speedily
collapse—nay, it never would have advanced to its pre-
sent state, commanding’ the energies of our best men.
Without the muscle and strength of the fine horses of
the Suffolk, Clydesdale, and other breeds, what would
agriculture have been? Would it be worth the attention
of men of skill and energy? So it is, and so it will be,
with bees kept in small hives. They are hardly worth
the attention they require; and the profits from them
will never call out that enthusiastic energy and latent
power which, put in play, make the most of everything.
Of course, apiculture is a thing of trifling importance to
agriculture; but we hold that the general adoption of
large hives would bring about a reform and revolution in
bee-management, that would confer large and lasting bless-
ings on the rural populations of this and other countries.

But let us return once more to the hives that weighed
from 100 lb. up to 168 1b. Why, it would take three
ordinary English hives, if not more, to hold as much
honey as was in one of these hives—it would take three
or more of them to hold bees enough to gather as much
in the same space of time.

It is not necessary to say half so much in favour of
large hives to minds unwarped and unprejudiced ; but as

52 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

almost all writers on bees, ancient and modern, have re-
commended for use hives unprofitably small, we have the
hard and painful task to perform of nullifying, in some
degree, the influence of their opinions, ere we can success-
fully recommend the general adoption of hives profitubly
large.

The Materials of Hives.

Straw hives, well sewed with split canes or bramble-
briers, are incomparably better for bees than any other
kind of hive yet introduced. Nothing better is needed,
and we believe nothing better will ever be found out.
On the score of cheapness and neatness, lightness and
convenience, suitability and surpassing worth, we advise
all bee-keepers seeking large returns in honey to use noth-
ing but straw hives as domiciles for bees.

Hives made of wood, at certain seasons of the year
condense the moisture arising from the bees, and this
condensed moisture rots the combs. The walls of a
wooden hive are often like the walls of a very damp or
new-plastered house. The outside combs, and sometimes
the inside combs too, perish before the wet walls of
wooden hives. They perish in this sense, that their
nature or adhesive power goes like mortar in walls, and
becomes as rotten as burnt paper. All such combs are
worse than useless in hives; for bees cannot use them for
either honey or brood, or even as the foundations for
fresh combs. They have to be taken down and new
ones put in their places. There is in this work of the
bees a waste of both time and honey.

But how can you account for the use of boxes as bee-
hives in this country at all? Well, the great bulk of
straw hives of English make are exceedingly small and
ill made; they are unsightly, and comparatively not
worth one shilling a dozen. Many bee-keepers, finding

THE MATERIALS OF HIVES. 53

them unsatisfactory, have invented hives of wood. Of
course, everybody loves his own offspring, and likes to
see it bear a good name, and be recognised in society.
Every invention is a grand affair! Both architect and
builder join hands in holding forth an article decidedly
superior to all that has gone before! And what was be-
gun in honest effort ends in full-fledged quackery. And
hundreds, ignorant of bee-science, are induced to purchase
these costly hives, which, in their own turn, are found so
unsatisfactory, that purchasers think they will never be
duped again. Another invention turns up in the shape
of a costly hive—to be managed on the “ depriving” or
humane system! Many, again, are bewitched by the very
name of the last invention, and spend their money for
hives which the writer would not accept as a gift.

It appears from Mr Quinby’s book on bees, that in
America the new inventions in bee-hives are more nume-
rous than they are here, and are well patented and pat-
ronised. After showing the worthlessness of many patent
hives, Mr Quinby says, ‘“ that in Europe the same ingen-
uity is displayed in twisting and torturing the bee, to
adapt her unnatural tenements, invented not because the
bee needs them, but because this is a means available for
a little change. Patent men have found the people gene-
rally ignorant of apiarian science. Let us hope that their
days of prosperity are about numbered.”

Mr Quinby, who is one of the largest bee-keepers in
the world, and president of the American Apiarian So-
ciety, knows well that common hives are the best, and
that straw is better than wood as niaterial for hives. At
page 300 of his book he says, “I shall greatly err in my
judgment if straw, as a material for hives, does not re-
gain its former position in public favour.” ‘“ We have,”
Mr Quinby says, “faithfully supported a host of specu-
lators on our business for a long time, often not caring

54 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

one straw about our success after pocketing the fee. of
successful humbuggery.”

In making these quotations and statements, we know
that the prejudices of some of our readers, and the selfish-
ness of others, will be offended. We are sorry for this,
but we cannot help it.

It is well known that in fine seasons for honey, there
are considerable profits derived from the produce of small
hives; but we wish the reader to know that in such
favourable seasons the produce and profits from large
hives, well managed, are incomparably larger. The
writer’s father once realised £20 profit from two hives
in one season, and £9, 12s. from another, held jointly by
him and James Brown of the same place. The profits
came from the honey gathered by the bees, not from
swarms sold at an exorbitant price, a practice common
in our day.

Since the first edition of this work was published, we
have received some hundreds of letters from the mansions
of the rich and the cottages of the poor, intimating how
well its lessons have been learned, and the great success
and satisfaction that have been realised from putting them
into practice. In the township in which we live (we
might venture to say the county), swarms were never
known to rise beyond 40 lb. each till our teaching and
example were followed. The best swarms last year (1874,
which was not a very good one) rose to 100 lb. each—
quite equal to those of Carluke last year.

The adoption of large hives by many of the bee-keepers
of Aberdeenshire and Banffshire put them last year in the
van of the advancing hosts. In a private letter which
lies before us, it is stated that the first swarms obtained
last year about -the Ist of July rose to great weights.
One belonging to Mr Gordon rose to 164 1b. Swarms
belonging to other bee-keepers rose to 128 Ib., 126 Ib.,

THE MATERIALS OF HIVES. 55

120 Ib., 109 lb., 104 1b, Mr George Campbell got four
swarms from one hive; their united weight (including
the mother hive, which was 93 lb.) was 373 lb. The profit
from this hive must have been very great.

The question of sizes and shapes we now come to con-
sider. Three sizes have been recommended: the first,
20 inches wide by 12 inches deep, inside measure; the
second, 18 inches by 12 inches deep ; and the third size,
16 inches wide by 12 inches.

The first size contains about 3000 cubic inches; the
second size, about 2700 cubic inches; and the third size,
about 2000 cubic inches. We say about, for hives are
sometimes made convex or round in the crown; and when
this is done, the cube measure will be lessened somewhat.
It is not expected that bee-keepers will be guided to the
adoption of hives corresponding exactly with the sizes
given above, but it is hoped that they will adopt and use
hives after their own models, equal in dimensions to the
second and third sizes. We use two sizes only in our
own apiary—viz., the 16 and 18 inch hives—because
three sizes necessitate a like number of boards and ekes,
and our aim is to manage bees with the least possible
expense and trouble. But in future our 16 and 1 inch
hives will be made 14 inches deep—that is, nearly one-
sixth larger than they are at present. In fine seasons
these hives will need to be enlarged by ekes or supers.
Enlarging hives by ekes is mentioned now with a view to
let the reader see the wisdom of fixing on certain sizes for
his hives—at least the width of his hives—so that enlarge-
ment may be easy when necessary

A hive 20 x 12, well filled, weighs 100 Ib. ; one 18 x 12,
80 Ib. ; and the 16-inch hive weighs about 50 1b. These
figures are meant to give the reader an approximate idea—
not an accurate one—of the contents of the hives recom-
mended. In the months of May and June, the hives would

56 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

be at the swarming-point before they reached the weights
here mentioned; and in the autumn of favourable seasons
they would probably go from 14 Ib. to 20 lb. beyond these
weights without the bees ever thinking of swarming.
How much honey can they gather perday? That greatly
depends on the state of the atmosphere, the number of
empty cells in them, and the quantity of brood that re-
quires attention. Soft warm winds from the south and
west fill the nectaries of flowers with honey, whereas
winds from the east and north seem to stanch the flow
of honey completely. But on good pasture, and with
favourable weather, healthy 16-inch hives will gather
from 2 lb. to 4 lb. of honey per day, and the larger
sizes from 4 lb. to 7 lb. The hive that gained 20 Ib.
weight in two days was placed in the midst of good pasture,
when it was 39 lb. weight. It rapidly rose in weight to
109 lb. The traffic of bees going out and in of this hive
was graphically described as resembling the steam of a
tea-kettle going two yards from its mouth before vanish-
ing amongst thin air. From 3 lb. to 5 Ib. of honey
gathered is,a fair day’s work for a good hive,

But why use the smaller sizes at all when we see that
the larger size does more work of every kind? We are
glad this question has been mooted, for it gives us the
opportunity of saying that hives of two or three sizes are
of great advantage to a bee-master who acts on a prin-
ciple, sound and natural, and with his eye constantly open
to his own interests. All seasons are not alike favourable,
and all swarms are not equally large, and some are early
and some are late in leaving the mother hives. The larger
sizes are used for large and early swarms; the smaller
sizes for small or later swarms.

The shape of hives may be rather conical at the top, or
flat-crowned. Itis a matter of taste and convenience this.
Some bee-masters like one sort and some the other; and

THE MATERIALS OF HIVES. 57

some skep or hive makers can build hives each after his
own pattern only. We have been accustomed to the use of
hives rather flat in their crowns, and we prefer them to
those with conical crowns.

Here is a straw hive 18 inches by 12. Its sides are
nearly perpendicular ; its crown rather flat. It has an
opening 4 inches wide in the crown fora super, and a
lid to cover that openirg when supers are not required.
The 16-inch hives are made after the same fashion—all
with holes in their crowns for supers of honeycomb. A
well-made 18-inch hive weighs about 6 Ib., and a 16-inch
one about 5 lb. when empty.

When an 18-inch hive receives an eke—say, 4 inches
deep—it will measure 18 x 16, and contain nearly 4000
cubic inches of space. Now, tell us if a hive of such
dimensions, well filled with combs, will overtask the
laying powers of the queen bee? No; we have seen
larger hives as full of brood as the smallest hive in the
country.

Before we leave the question of sizes, let us ask our
readers not to be too hasty in introducing the large sizes
into their apiaries. Begin with 16-inch hives; and
swarms from these will fill the larger sizes.

58 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

The Bar-frame Hive.

Amongst amateurs and bee-fanciers this hive is rather
popular at present. Apiarians of this class do not keep
bees for profit, and they purchase every novelty. Traders
in bee-hives are constantly offering to the public hives of
this sort, containing the latest improvements. Though
we think the bar-frame hive is very unsuitable for a bee-
farmer, or for filling the markets of Great Britain with
honey, we shall here describe, for the sake of those who
prefer the hive, what we consider are its best and worst
qualities,

It is termed “the bar-frame hive” because loose or
movable bar-frames are hung up inside of it. The bees
are tempted often to build their combs in the frames ; and
when they do this in a regular manner, the bar-frames are
filled with combs, and can be removed from the hive sep-
arately. In artificial swarming with this kind of hive,
half of the bees and half of the combs are put into
another bar-frame hive. There are many ways of artificial
swarming, but none more unnatural than this. In the
autumn, when these hives are filled with brood and
honey, some of the combs containing most honey are taken
and the others left. If the swarming system of manage-
ment (which is very much the best) be adopted, the
combs containing most brood in both hives can be fixed
in one, thus making it a good stock for keeping ; the rest is
taken for honey. ‘The American slinger” was invented
to sling or cast out honey from bar-combs without destroy-
ing them. It was introduced into this country recently,
and has been but partially tested. It can sling out
flower-honey from combs, but is quite unable to cast
heather-honey from them. The action and merits of “the
slinger” will be considered when we come to the chapter
on honey-taking.

THE BAR-FRAME HIVE. 59

The advantages of the bar-frame hive are found in
the fact that the combs, when accurately worked into the
frames, are movable. The disadvantages are manifold:
1. Loose bars in hives of bees are both unnatural and
obstructive. Bees are better architects than their masters,
and better house-furnishers. Bar-frames are, in the
nature of things, a hindrance to bees, by being in the
way of their operations. Man cannot teach bees anything,
but he can hinder them by placing complications in their
hives. All other things being equal, the best hives are
those possessing the least complications ; and the best bee-
master is he who takes the most hindrances out of their
way. The results from keeping bees in roomy but simple
straw hives have never, to our knowledge, been approached
by any kind of complicated hives. One straw hive ard
its swarms reached the gross weight of 328 lb., another
373 lb. This last one was in 1874.

2. Bar-frame hives have no cross-sticks in them to
steady and support their combs. There will therefore be
some risk run in removing them to the moors, where
strong hives gather from 30 Ib. to 50 lb. of honey each
in favourable seasons.

3. They cannot be eked or enlarged to prevent swarm-
ing. Most bar-frame hives are ready for swarming before
they are 50 Ib. weight apiece, and often bees swarm rather
than go into supers. Advanced bee-keepers, whose swarms
in straw hives rise to 100 1b., 120 Ib., and 150 1b. each,
cannot well be tempted to try bar-framers.

But are the bar-frame hives not useful to the student
of bee-history? Yes, very; for he can take out a bar of
comb daily, or as often as he likes, to examine the brood
init. And this hive may be useful to those who want a bar
of honeycomb occasionally, though to us it would be easier
to cut honeycomb from a common hive, than to unscrew
the lid and remove it from a bar-framer.

60 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

Here are two comb-knives, which are useful on many
occasions: by using them, we can cut easily and speedily
honeycombs from common hives. The one with chisel
end is used for cutting the combs from the sides of hives,
and splitting them elsewhere. The other is a small rod
of steel, not more than a quarter of an inch thick,
with a thin blade at the end 14 inch long, both edges
sharp, for cutting the combs from the crowns of the hives,

or crosswise elsewhere, To those who have a preference
for bar-frame hives, let us suggest the desirability of
having them made of straw, neatly and firmly sewed to
the outer frames, and large enough to hold 13 or 14 bars
each. It would be no difficult matter to have hives of
this kind made, more pleasing to the eye, and much better
every way, than any we have yet seen, An accomplished
Scotch skep-maker would produce hives that would
eclipse those made in the south, the straw of which is
simply laid in so thinly, that any one can put his finger
through it.

The latest improvement to the bar-frame hive consists
in the substitution of “a quilt” for the wooden top.
The inventor is of course a dealer, and till the invention
was completed, no one heard of the wooden tops being at
fault. In the language of the inventor, we shall now let
the reader have a description of the quilt. He says: “For
all crown covers, it is the very best for winter use, because
it permits the escape of all noxious vapours from the hive,
as soon as they are generated. The quilt arrangement
comprises a piece of carpet, or other material of hard tex-

GUIDE-COMBS AND CROSS-STICKS. 61

ture, with a hole in the centre for feeding purposes.; two
or three thicknesses of felt, flannel, or other porous mate-
rials, each with a hole in its centre of similar size as that
in the carpet ; a piece of perforated zinc or vulcanite as a
feeding-stage ; a pad like a kettle-holder to lay upon the
vuleanite ; a folded sack, blanket, or rug laid upon the
whole,—after which the roof may be put on, and should
be fastened to prevent blowing off. If closely covered, the
whole arrangement will become sopping wet, simply be-
cause the vapours cannot escape.”

I think no intelligent bee-keeper, after reading this de-
scription, will covet or ever purchase such lids; and it
grieves one to know that, after discovering the unsuita-
bility of wood as material for hives, the inventor has
not hit upon something better and more sightly than a
quilt made of carpet, felt, vulcanite, a pad, a folded sack
or blanket, and a roof.

This quilt will soon be cast aside for something very
much better. What willit be? We cannot tell the reader
what will come next, but we agree with Mr Quinby that
there is “nothing equal to straw for straining moisture
out of hives.” If wood is unsuitable for the crowns or
tops of hives, it is equally unsuitable for their sides.

Guide-Combs and Cross-Sticks.

Guide-combs are simply little bits of clean old comb
(the older the better) about two inches wide and one or
two inches deep, fastened to labels, such as are used for
naming plants. Well, the label and bit of comb are laid
together, and cemented by dropping between them a little
melted wax. This is best done by holding a warm poker
over the two, and touching it with a bit of wax. The
poker should be just warm enough to melt the wax: if
too hot, the wax will boil and melt the guide-comb as it

62 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

falls. When the wood and comb are thus cemented to-
gether, the wood is nailed in the crown of an empty hive,
as a guide to the bees to build their combs running from
front to back. "When the combs are so built, the bees
can see the door from the centre of the hive, or anything
going in at the door, which they could not do if the
combs ran from side to side.

As soon as the guide-comb is nailed into an empty hive,
we drive cross-sticks across the hive, from side to side.
In a 16-inch hive we use four and five, and in an 18-inch
hive we use five and six cross-sticks.

(eae |
° ° °
° ° °

As soon as the combs are well started from the crown
of the hive, they are securely fastened to the top centre-
stick ; and as they are enlarged they are cemented to the
other sticks. The bottom sticks should be at least four
inches above the board ; for if less, the bees sometimes do
not close their combs round them. Hives thus sticked
and filled with combs may be safely removed from one
end of the country to the other.

Another advantage of using sticks in hives is this, that
the bees, being great economists, use them for cross-lanes.
Where the combs cross the sticks, and are fastened to
them, the bees leave little holes or doors in the combs,
which they use as passages from comb to comb. They
thus shorten their journeys for indoor work. In hives
without sticks, such byways and convenient passages are
very rare indeed.

BOARDS. 63

The Leaf or Unicomb Hive.

This may be called “The Observatory Hive,” for no
other hive can be compared to it for observation ; and it
appears to us that no other is necessary. In this hive
every bee, and all it does, can be seen, as well as all the
movements of the queen and the attention she receives.
A square or round hive with glass windows is all but use-
less for observing what goes on inside. All that can be
seen in them are some combs and bees next the windows.
But when there is only one comb with glass on each side
of it, there is opportunity given for witnessing the inter-
nal operations of a bee-hive. As the unicomb hive is not
meant for honey or profit, we need say little about it.
To those engaged in the investigation of the habits of
bees, we strongly recommend the use of unicomb hives.

CHAPTER XV.

BOARDS.

Boards should be about 1 inch wider than the hives
standing on them. They are best when made of one
piece, without seam or junction. But whether made of
one piece or two, it is necessary to nail two bars of wood
on the under side of each board, to keep it from warping or
twisting. The wood of which boards are made should be
either # or 1 inch thick.

The flight-boards should be 7 inches in diameter.
Small flight-boards are objectionable, for bees returning
with heavy loads often miss them. This is not all; for

64 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

bees require breathing-room at their doors, as well as a
broad landing-stage. All birds and insects fill their bodies
with air before they take wing. A pheasant hops while
he does this, and a pigeon does it by taking two or three
deep inspirations. If the pheasant is suddenly disturbed,
and has to rise without hopping a bit, he does rise, but
so heavily and slowly—with a great cackling noise—that
he is often knocked down by the shot of the sportsman
ere he gets a fair start.

If bees have a broad flight-board they run in and out
quickly.

Two boards marked for sawing out of a deal board,

The Door of the Hive.

Some bee-keepers have channels cut in the boards for
doors. Where this is done, the flight-boards are uneven
and unlevel; but the hives are uncut. We prefer level
boards, with doors 4 inches wide and 1 inch high cut in
the hives. Our system of feeding, which will be men-
tioned hereafter, requires the flicht-boards to be level.

COVERS FOR HIVE. 65

CHAPTER XVI.
COVERS FOR HIVES.

In summer as well as winter hives require protection. If
not shaded from the summer sun, their combs are likely
to become softened at their fastenings, and drop down in
confused masses. And it is well when not a drop of rain
can touch hives either in winter or summer. Of course,
rains in summer that touch hives do less harm than those
of winter, inasmuch as the wetted parts are sooner dried
in hot weather. It may be stated as an axiom, that per-
fect protection of hives, from both sun and rain, should
be aimed at in covering them.

Milk-pans are often used by cottagers in many parts.
With small hives they answer in summer, but are a most
unsuitable protection in winter. For cheapness and con-
venience, anything at hand that will shed the rain off
hives is made use of. Three or four cabbage - blades
placed on a hive, and held there by astone, are sometimes
used till something better turn up. We now use felt
(sold at one penny per foot) largely as a covering for our
hives. It is impervious to water, and very durable ;
indeed we cannot say how long it will last. The covers of
felt that we got eight years ago have been in constant use,
and are still as good as ever they were, and apparently
will last for an indefinite length of time. These felt covers
suit also in this respect, that they are light, soft, and pli-
able. When we remove our hives to better pasture or to the
moors, the felt covers, being easily carried, go with them.

_ The felt, when first bought, is stiff and hard, but can be
made as soft as flannel by holding it before the fire for a
minute or two. When warm and soft it should be fitted

on the hives. It becomes softer every year. It is rather
B

66 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

too thin for a burning sun ; hence it is wise to place some
hay, heather, or rags between the felt and the hives.
Sods cut off peaty land and dried, are impervious to
water, and make excellent summer coverings. But straw
coverings are incomparably the best of all— best for
summer as well as winter; and they look better than
anything else I have seen used as covers for bee-hives.

Straw Covers.

A row of well-thatched bee-hives, all nicely clipped,
standing in a cottage garden, conveys to the mind of people
passing by the idea of comfort and profit. When first
used the covers should be dipped in water, then fitted on.
Thus they set and stiffen, and may be lifted off and on
like a man’s hat. In another chapter the reader will be
urged to use plenty of warm materials beneath the outer
covering of hives in winter.

CHAPTER XVIL

STINGS.

If bees had not been furnished with weapons of de-
fence, the probability is great that they would have been
destroyed centuries ago. The treasures of a bee-hive are

STINGS. 67

so tempting to men and brutes, birds, and creeping things,
that it was necessary to provide bees with a means of
defence—viz., stings and bags of poison, which they can
use at will, When they receive or anticipate molestation
they are not slow to make use of their “ poisoned arrows ;”
and every arrow is barbed, so that, if inserted, it sticks
fast—so fast that it drags the venom-bag attached to it
from the body of the bee. And after separation from the
bee, the sting is moved by a self-acting machinery, in-
tended, no doubt, to empty the entire contents of the
venom-bag into the part stung; hence the wisdom of
withdrawing a sting as soon as it is inflicted or inserted.

It may be stated here that bees cannot well insert
their stings till they get hold with their feet, and thus
apply a small amount of leverage. In many hundreds of
instances we have saved ourselves by destroying the bees
before their levers could act.

Some people are much disfigured by being stung on
the face; and the question has been asked, “If these
people were frequently stung, would the stings continue
to have as great influence?” We cannot answer this
question with certainty, though we have known men who
suffered great inconvenience in early life from stings,
disregard them after a time; the swelling or inflamma-
tory power of stings was comparatively lost on them.
Some people suffer more from the sting of a nettle than
of a bee. The sting of a nettle annoys us for many hours,
whereas the pain from a bee’s sting does not last more
than a minute.

Those who are liable to swell much on receiving a
sting should wear a bee-dress when likely to be attacked
by bees, or when doing anything amongst them. A bee-
dress is simply a piece of crape or muslin tied above the
brim of the hat, to hang over the face, and some inches
below the chin. The other parts exposed are the hands

68 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

only, which can be protected by gloves. Fortunately we
do not swell on being stung, and never use a bee-dress of
any description. When bees attack one, or mean to do
so, the hands should be spread in front of the face—or,
better still, a bush held before it—then walk quietly
away. When bees see the fingers or bush they are afraid
of an ambuscade—as sparrows are kept from gooseberry-
buds by the use of thread and string.

The venom of a bee is so immediate in its action that
some injury is doue, or pain felt, before any remedy can
be applied.

CHAPTER XVIII.
FUMIGATION.

This is a grand invention. About seventy years ago,
when selling honey in Edinburgh, my father met an
Irishman, who undertook to teach him how to carry a
hive of bees, open and exposed, through the streets of
that city without receiving a single “ stong,” for a gill of
whisky. Far too tempting an offer this to be rejected
by my father. He got the secret, and, I presume, the
Irishman got some whisky for it. The secret was worth all
the whisky in Edinburgh ; for ever since, we have been en-
abled to do what we like with our bees without risk or fear.
Smoke from the rags of fustian or corduroy, blown into
a hive, is the secret bought from the Irishman. A few
puffs of smoke from a bit of corduroy or fustian rolled up
lke a candle, stupefies and terrifies bees so much, that they
run to escape from its power. Tobacco-smoke is more
powerful still, but it has a tendency to make bees dizzy,
and reel like a drunken man; b2sides, it is more expensive

FUMIGATION, 69

and less handy than fustian. Old corduroy or fustian is
better than new, unless the matter which is used to
stiffen it be completely washed out. The stiffening matter
will not burn—will not let the rags burn; hence we use
and recommend old stuff which has lost it. Let us ask
the most timid apiarian to get a piece the size of a man’s
hand, rolled up and fixed at one end—not to blaze, but to
smoke. Let him now place the smoking end so close to
the door of the hive that most of the smoke may go in
when he blows on it. After six or eight puffs have been
sent into the hive, it may be gently lifted off the board,
turned over, upside down, so that the bees and combs stare
him in the face. By holding and moving the smoking
rags over the face of the bees, and blowing the smoke
amongst them, they run helter-skelter down amongst the
combs, more afraid than hurt. Now he can carry the
hive round his garden under his arm, and then round
the house, without being stung. Whenever the bees are
likely to rise, they should be dosed again. They always
should get plenty of smoke before the hive is touched at
all.

If the reader has hitherto not dared to handle his
bees in this manner, we ask him to try the experi-
ment, believing that he will be more than satisfied with
the result, and find that he has now got the mastery of
his bees, and can do with them as he likes. Yes; he
will be able to drive ‘his bees out of one hive into another,
and, moreover, tumble or even spoonful them back, as men
take peas from one basket to another.

This smoke does not injure the health of bees, or stop
them from work more than a few minutes.

70 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

CHAPTER XIX.

WHETHER IS THE SWARMING OR NON-SWARMING SYSTEM
OF MANAGEMENT THE MOST PROFITABLE 4

This question is of great importance, and therefore will
be considered as fully as our space will permit. The
swarming system of management is not only more profit-
able, but, taking a run of years, is better every way, and
more natural, than the system that prevents swarming.

One large apiarian in this neighbourhood who uses
bar-frame hives, once said to us that “honey and swarms
could not be obtained from hives in the same year.” We
venture to express a contrary opinion. During the last
few years our best swarms have risen in weight to a
greater figure than his non-swarmers ; nay, our old stock-
hives have been as heavy as his, which never swarmed at
all. All this has not been owing to their being allowed
to swarm, but partly to the size of the hives and our
system of management.

But after making many trials, we can state that in fine
seasons for honey, good early swarms will, at the harvest-
time, weigh more than hives that never swarmed at all.
A swarm put into an empty hive is doubtless placed at
a great disadvantage, and apparently wiil never both fill
its hive with combs and gather as much honey as an old
one —a non-swarmer — already full of combs, weighing
30 or 40 1b. But wait a little: the swarm which is far
behind during the first ten days of its separate exist-
ence, afterwards rapidly gains upon the old one, and gene-
rally overtakes it when both weigh about 70 or 80 lb.
each ; the young one now goes ahead, sometimes at the
rate of 2 lb. for 1 lb. We have known many swarms

SWARMING AND NON-SWARMING SYSTEMS. 71

go beyond 150 Ib. the first season, but we have never seen
an unswarmed stock-hive approach that weight. And,
besides the superiority of the first swarm over the hive
which did not swarm, there are the mother hive and pro-
bably a second swarm from it, weighing by the end of
the season from 50 to 80 Ib. each. Of course these
weights will not be gained in seasons unfavourable for
honey-gathering ; and in very unfavourable years, when
bees have to be fed, the fewer hives we have the better,
—as, in times of calamity or famine, or want of work, the
working classes of Manchester and other cities find it
cheaper to give up house and take lodgings—two or
three families swarming into one house, instead of each
family paying rent for a whole house. But, even in
ordinary seasons for honey-gathering, the swarming system
is by far the most lucrative.

If asked to explain how it is that swarms put into
empty hives gather more honey and do better than hives
not weakened by swarming, we might not be able to do
so satisfactorily ; neither can we explain how it is that
a spring-struck verbena plant grows more vigorously and
does better than an autumn-struck one. As with verbena
plants so with bees: swarms do better, and often run
ahead of stock-hives.

However, we may venture to guess, or give our opinion,
as to the reasons why good early swarms of the current
season outdo those that never swarm at all.

Ist, The stimulus of an empty hive makes the bees
work harder. In the absence of combs, all the eggs laid
by the queen must be lost. Combs must be built to hold
both eggs and honey. For the first two or three days,
the greater part of the honey gathered is eaten by the
bees with a view to secrete wax for comb-building, which
goes on with marvellous rapidity. Liebig thinks that it
takes 20 Ib. of honey to make 1 1b. of wax; but let us

72 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

suppose that 2 lb. of wax is manufactured from 20 Ib. of
honey. Now, in good-sized hives there are about 2 lb.
of wax. We have known a swarm fill, or nearly fill, its
hive with combs, and gain about 28 Ib. weight in ten
days. What a stupendous amount of work these young
colonists performed in ten days !

2d, The combs of swarms are sweet, and free from a
superabundance of bee-bread; therefore the cakes of
brood will yield a young bee from almost every cell,
making the hatch of the swarm considerably larger than
that of the old hive. By the end of a favourable season
the swarm is more populous than the other which we are
comparing with it. Even a second swarm, in honey
years, will sometimes pull itself abreast the stock or
mother hive, with a weight of 30 1b. to gain.

3d, By swarming we double and often treble the num-
ber of our hives annually, and therefore have two or
three queens laying instead of one. By-and-by it will be
seen more clearly how invaluable these additional swarms
are to a bee-keeper, and therefore the superiority of the
swarming system over the non-swarming one.

4th, By the adoption of the swarming mode of manage-
ment we can change our stock of hives every year—that
is to say, we can set aside one of the swarms for stock, and
take the honey from the old one and other swarm, and
thus the combs of our stock-hives are full of new sweet
combs, and free from foul brood, which is a great advan-
tage. Hives with old combs are objectionable for many
reasons,

Besides all these considerations, there is, in the swarm-
ing system well carried out, the CERTAINTY OF sUCCESS in
bee-keeping. On the non-swarming system, hives are
comparatively weak in bees in early spring ; whereas, on
the swarming system (as we recommend it to be done),
the hives are of great strength and power even in early

SWARMING AND NON-SWARMING SYSTEMS. 73

spring. And we maintain that ten strong hives will do
more work than twenty-five weak ones. How does the
swarming system secure strong hives? In this way: the
bee-keeper has one, and often two, swarms to spare for,
and unite to, every hive he selects for stock in autumn.
The hive selected for stock gets the one or two swarms
from the honey-hive united to it, and thus becomes
doubly or trebly strong. Hives of such strength are well
able to face the difficulties of a severe winter—difficulties
which often crush and kill weak ones; and when spring
arrives, these strong hives gain weight fast, and are ready
to swarm a month earlier than those that had no addi-
tional bees given to them in autumn. If hives are weak
in bees in spring, they gain but little from fruit-blossoms,
which are so rich in honey, simply because they are not
strong enough to do much work ; but when made strong
in autumn by the addition of extra swarms, they gain
daily off the fruit-blossoms, in fine weather, from 3 to
5 Ib. per hive.

5th, On the non-swarming mode of management the
queens become old and die; and at the time of the death
of a queen there is a great loss sustained. The hive in
which a queen dies will be without eges for three weeks
afterwards, or thereabouts; for ordinarily the young
queens are not matured till about ten days after the old
one dies, and it is ten days more before the young queen
that takes her place begins to lay. There is, too, the risk
of losing the whole; for if the old queen dies when she
is not laying, the bees cannot raise a successor.

In the swarming system, the bee-master may have
nothing but young queens in his hive, by destroying the
queens of the first swarm when the bees are united in
the autumn. We hope this matter is made so plain and
simple that none will misunderstand our meaning.

But some bee-keepers may say, “We don’t want

74 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

swarms ; we want supers of honeycomb. It is not an in-
crease of hives, but a supply of pure honeycomb we are
seeking.” And the question may be urged whether the
swarming or non-swarming system is best for getting
most supers of comb? At present we could not answer
this question with any degree of certainty, for we have
not tested it by experiment. And even if fairly tested
by actual experiment in one season or locality, the same
experiment in another locality or season may produce
different results. We are strongly inclined to believe
that the swarming system will yield more supers and
more pure honeycomb than the non-swarming one, if the
bee-master understands his work, and sets himself to the
task of getting all the supers possible. How would you
get supers and swarms too? We would have all our
hives well filled with bees in autumn, as already de-
scribed. They would be ready to swarm early in May ;
but before they were ready to swarm we would put a
super to hold 8 or 10 Ib. on each. If weather per-
mitted, and the hives did not swarm, these supers would
be filled in about fourteen days. After cutting them off,
we would swarm all the hives artificially, and put the
swarms in 16-inch hives, which is the smallest size
we use. The mother or stock hives would be left full
of brood, with bees sufficiently numerous to hatch it.
On each stock-hive a super would be placed, for every
day the population of the hives would be augmented
by the brood coming to perfection. Probably no combs
would be made in the supers for ten or fourteen
days, when second swarms may be expected to issue.
When second swarms are thrown off, the better way
is to cast them back on the front of the hives whence
they came, a few hours afterwards. They creep into
their hives, and rarely come a second time. The hives
are now full of bees with no brood to attend to. At this

SWARMING AND NON-SWARMING SYSTEMS. 75

time the bees generally gather a great deal of honey, and
will fill supers, weather permitting. We know an experi-
enced apiarian who thus obtains supers from hives not
weakened by throwing off second swarms. In about
three weeks from the time the first swarms were hived,
they will be nearly full of combs, and ready for supering,
if the weather has been favourable. They should have
supers placed on them before they are quite full, With
brood coming to perfection every day, these young swarms
will not be long in filling supers from the fields of white
clover, now at their best. Here we see the likelihood of
having three supers of combs from one hive managed on
the swarming system. With two strong hives in the
middle of July, there is still left the probability, if not
the certainty, of getting a super of honey from each of
them before the season closes. In favourable seasons all
this may be done under good management. Then there-
will remain a hive of honey for further profit, the bees
of which will be united to the other, to be kept for
stock ; and this will be incomparably better for keeping
than one that has never swarmed at all.

The great difficulty in obtaining supers of comb is the
tendency of the bees to swarm; and this difficulty is
greater by half in the non-swarming system of manage-
ment—for it is as natural for bees to swarm once a-year
as it is for birds to build their nests. In the hands of
inexperienced people, hives that have received supers
often swarm before a bit of zomb is built in them.

In certain seasons it is well known that a great deal of
pure honeycomb has been yielded by hives managed on
the non-swarming mode. In 1863, Mr George Fox of
Kingsbridge, Devonshire, got from two hives two glass
boxes (or supers) of pure honeycomb, weighing respect-
ively 1093 lb. and 112 Ib., their gross weights being 123
lb. and 126 Ib., the empty boxes being 14 1b. each, These

76 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

magnificent supers seem to throw into the shade all other
results of bee-keeping. But in the same year Mr Fox
got “‘an octagon box of fine white comb,” which weighed
93 1b. 4 0z., from a swarm of June 28, 1863. Here is
a late swarm yielding a super 93 lb. weight. If the
swarm had come off four or six weeks sooner, which is
the usual time, the probability is very great that it would
have overtaken and outrun those that never swarmed at
all. Well might Mr Fox say, as he does in a letter be-
fore us, “These glasses were exceedingly beautiful, but
the risk and fatigue of removing them were great; and as
I never like to ask assistance, in case of an accident, I
had to exert myself too much.”

SUPER

HIVE

Mr Fox’s supers were filled on the adjusting principle.
The above sketch will enable the reader to form a pretty
correct idea as to the way in which it is carried out, and
how Mr Fox succeeded in inducing his bees to fill such
large glasses. The supers fitted or slipped over the out-
sides of the hives, and were let down so far that their
crowns were not far from the crowns of the hives. The

SUPERS AND SUPERING. 77

bees had not far to go to make a commencement in them;
but as soon as the combs came down, the supers were
raised bit by bit till they were filled. The sides of the
supers being glass, Mr Fox could see when to raise them.
He says: “‘ The season of 1863 was better for honey than
any of the twelve years going before ; but, notwithstand-
ing, such large fine glasses of honey could not be obtained
except by working the hives upon his adjusting principle.”

We conclude this chapter as we began it, by saying
that, with an eye to profit, we greatly prefer the swarm-
ing mode of management. Hives that do not swarm are
often affected and made useless by that terrible and in-
curable disease of “ foul brood.”

CHAPTER XxX.

SUPERS AND SUPERING.

These are made of straw, wood, and glass. Straw shal-
low skeps, small and neatly made, are better than small
boxes for supers; and boxes are better than glasses.
Glass supers filled are the most ornamental and pleasing
to the eye, and therefore in some places realise a higher
price; but straw and wood supers are more convenient
for parties using their own combs, as well as more con-
venient to the bees while filling them.

It will be seen that one glass is a great improvement
on the other ; it looks better, and has a movable top or
lid. In glass supers the combs are generally built up-
wards, and when they reach the tops they are fastened to
them.

Supers of straw, wood, or glass, of all sizes, may be ob-

73 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

tained and used. Those that hold from 6 to 12 lb. are
more readily sold than larger ones; but for ornament or
exhibition, the larger they are the better.

It should be understood by all, that though supers
may be obtained from hives of all shapes and materials,
some kinds are better than others; and where the best
kinds are used, both the bee-master and his bees are

Common Honey-Glass. Improved Honey-Glass.

placed on vantage-ground. For instance, large hives are
incomparably better than small ones ; straw hives better
than wooden ones; and those of simple construction are
more easily managed, and give more freedom and scope to
the industrious inmates, than those that are complicated.

The position of the holes in the tops of the hives,
through which the bees reach and fill the supers, is of
little importance. The holes in our hives are all in the
centre of the crown, and measure 4 inches wide. Some
modern inventors object to centre holes because they are
immediately above the brood-combs, where queens are
ever at work laying eggs, and may readily step into the
supers and there deposit some. To avoid this danger
these inventors have the holes in their hives nearer or
over the outside combs, where honey is generally stored.
Both answer very well, for excellent supers of comb have
been filled through centre and also through side holes. We
get supers weighing from 10 to 40 Ib. filled over centre
holes, without a cell of brood or a speck of bee-bread in
them. The size of the hole is of some importance. We

SUPERS AND SUPERING. 79

think there should be a good thoroughfare and plenty
of room for travellers between hive and super.

The health and strength of hives should be our guide
as to the time supers should be placed on them. No rule
can be laid down. About a week after the bees cover
the combs of stock-hives they may be supered. And as
soon as the hives of swarms are filled with combs they
should be supered.

If the supers be made of wood or straw, two or three
bits of clean white drone-comb, well cemented or waxed
to labels, should be placed in and nailed to their crowns,
before they are put on hives. Such bits of comb tempt
the bees to go into them at once and commence work.
From the crowns of the supers to the crowns of the hives
we use ladders of wood about as thick as a child’s finger.
On these the bees go up, and commence to build their
combs downwards. This is of great importance, for bees
naturally build downwards ; and where supers are thus
filled, the combs are squared-off and finished before they
touch the crowns of the hives. When only half filled
they may be lifted and examined without injury. If
guide-combs be not used, the bees would probably com-
mence to fill the supers from below and build upwards.
Drone-combs are used in supers as guides for this reason,
that drones are seldom—we might venture to say are never
—bred in supers of ordinary sizes. These supers of
drone-comb are invariably filled with pure virgin-honey.
“ But if you had no drone-comb at hand, would you use
bits of worker-comb instead?” Yes, certainly, to induce
the bees to begin at the tops and build their combs in the
natural way. Thus the combs in the supers are at some
distance from the brood-combs, till they and the supers
are nearly filled with honey. At the season of supering,
any bee-keeper may lift one of his hives and cut out of it
a few pieces of drone-comb to be used for supering. In-

80 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

deed, when we are bending our energies to get many and
fine supers of honeycomb, we cut out of our hives all the
white drone-comb we can get. We prefer it empty, so that
it can be easily fixed in supers before they are put on
hives. As soon as such supers are put on, the bees go up
amongst the empty combs, fix them more securely, and
begin to-store honey in them ; and when such supers are
taken off, it is found that the clumsy work of the bee-
master has been hidden amongst the more perfect work
of the bees. These supers are just as beautiful and sale-
able as those that have never been touched and tinkered
by the hand of man.

One year we made a special effort to get a great number
of supers of comb. When all our straw and glass ones
were filled, we went to our grocer and bought some small
boxes which he had emptied of mustard and other things.
They were about 1 foot square and 3 inches deep—just
what we wanted. He charged 2d. each for them. A small
hole, 3 inches wide, was cut in the bottom of each box ;
then they were filled as full and as neatly as we could with
combs (white and beautiful) cut from large hives, and
placed on hives ready to fill them with honey. Thus
more than half the work was done for the bees before
they entered these supers.

In placing and fixing empty drone-combs in supers
before bees enter them, the bee-master should not forget
that there is a right and a wrong way of doing this. The
more closely we imitate nature, the more likely are we to
succeed. All honey-cells dip to their bottoms ; they are
not horizontal. As combs are found and cut out of hives
they should be placed in supers. If they be turned
bottom upwards, the cells will slope the wrong way, and
be much more difficult to fill, Well, then, let the combs
be properly placed and partially fixed in the supers. In
fixing combs in boxes we begin at one side and finish at

SUPERS AND SUPERING. 81

the other. .The combs are kept apart by little bits of wax
or wood; the lids are put on before they are placed on
full hives. When filled with honey they are taken off,
and other empty ones are used in the same way and
placed on the same hives.

The reader is now asked to take another look at the
improved honey-glass. It is narrow at bottom and wider
higher up. The lid is movable. It will be seen at once
how easy it will be to help the bees to fill this kind of
super. When one of these empty glasses is placed on a
full hive, we take the lid off and place at once some
empty pieces of drone-comb on the crown of the hive
inside the glass, and hold them erect and in proper posi-
tion by wedges or little bits of comb. The lid is put on,
and the super is thickly and warmly covered with cotton-
wool or woollen cloths. In a short time the bees adopt
and fasten the combs thus put in. “Why, these combs
are 6 inches high to begin with, and the bees are building
them upwards!” In filling very large glass supers (now
called crystal palaces), to hold, say, from 50 to 100 Ib.
of comb, we remove the glass lids, and put in their places
wooden or straw ones, with combs attached and pending.
Thus the bees have combs artificially fixed from both top
and bottom to unite and fill; and, when weather permits,
they do it with marvellous dexterity and rapidity. When
these supers are filled, the most expert apiarian or dealer
in honey could not detect a flaw in them. Supers so
filled are perfect in every sense, and cannot be surpassed
for excellence by those which may be filled by bees man-
aged on the old jog-trot system.

When the combs are well united and the supers nearly
full, the wooden lids are cut off with a table-knife or bit
of fine wire, and the glass ones put on. If the lids are
dome-shaped, with a cavity to fill, a few pieces of nice
comb may be placed on the tops of those broken by the

FP

82 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

knife or wire, so as to fill the cavity. Then, finally, put
on the glass lids.

If we have not white empty combs enough to half-fill or
quarter-fill a super of glass, a guide-comb is sealed to the
wooden lid, and a ladder is given to the bees to go up and
commence building at the top. Bees can hold by rough
wood and straw, but not by glass; hence the use of wooden
lids and ladders. When the combs reach the sides of the
glass, the wooden lids may be cut off, and the glass ones
restored to their places.

With this art of supering unfolded before the reader,
he will be able to help his bees to fill supers of any size,
and almost in any season. All the honey of refuse combs
and old hives may be given to bees when they are filling
supers. The filters of bees are so perfect, that not a speck
of impurity or a taint of pollen is carried from old combs
into supers. Even honey mixed with flour, soil, or bee-
bread, is well clarified when given to bees. All apiarians
who prefer to eat their honey in virgin-comb may thus
have a superabundant supply of it. The introduction of
large pieces of unsoiled combs into supers (and feeding
with honey when weather is unfavourable) may be com-
pared to travelling by express train. The other way, of
letting the bees do all the work, is travelling by the
parliamentary one, which is longer on the road. We
much prefer the speedier way of filling supers.

Let us here press on the attention of the reader the
necessity of covering glass supers warmly and thickly
with some material. If they are not warmly covered, the
bees will not work in them ; and if not kept quite dark,
the bees will try to shut out the light by bespattering
wax on the inside of the glass.

There should be no doors in supers. All bees from the
outside world should go in by the doors of the hives. If
outside workers were permitted to go into supers with

SUPERS AND SUPERING. 83

soiled feet, their combs would .soon be discoloured. The
housemaids only should enter supers.

When supers are full, they should be cut from their
hives by a piece of brass wire or small cord. If the wire
cut through any honeycomb, the supers should be raised
about half an inch by wedges, and left in this position
about one or two hours, to let the bees lick the honey
from the broken cells, and make all clean and dry. In
thirty years we have had three supers only that had
brood in them when cut off. The patches of brood were
cut out, and honeycombs from other hives were fitted in
their places, when the supers were replaced on the hives
for two or three days ; and, when finally taken off, the
patchwork could not be discovered.

The only question now to be considered is how to
drive bees from supers after they are cut off. The smoke
from fustian rags vigorously blown into the top holes of
supers is generally successful. Before this smoke the bees
run helter-skelter out of supers into their hives in a short
time. In cold weather they are more difficult to drive,
and on two or three occasions we have had to place a very
small bit of brimstone rag amongst the fustian, the fumes
of which frightened the bees out of the supers very
quickly. The smallest taste or sniff of it is enough to
make them run for their lives. But let us warn the
reader of the danger of using brimstone in this work, for
the fumes of sulphur are destructive of bee life if not
given in the smallest possible doses. And there would
be twenty times more difficulty in removing dead bees
than living ones from supers well filled with honeycomb.

84 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

CHAPTER XXI.
EKES.

Can bees be prevented from swarming? Yes, by the use
of ekes; and what are these? Additions or enlargements
from below—that is to say, eked or lengthened. Hives
are eked by riddle-rims, or hoops made of four or five rolls
of straw of the same description as those in a straw-hive, the
same width as the hives raised by them. These ekes are
fastened to the hives by nails or staples going into both,
and the junctions covered with any kind of cement or
paste.

Straw ekes, like straw hives, are better than wooden
ones. The sides of an old hive make two ekes, if pro-
perly cut and sewed a little.

Are ekes better than supers for getting a great weight
of honey? Very much; for bees can put more than
3 lb. of honey into ekes for every 2 1b. they can put into
supers. (This is another proof of the superiority of hives
of simple construction over those that are complicated.)
Bees not only gather more honey, but they breed more
by the use of ekes, and are thus prepared to do more work
for the future. The markets will determine whether eking
or supering is the most profitable. If the price of honey
be 1s. per lb., and comb 1s. 6d. per lb., the one mode of
enlargement will appear equal to the other for profit. In
the use of supers there is the risk (in hot seasons very
great risk) of swarms coming off unexpectedly and flying
away. In the eking mode there is the trouble of extract-
ing or running the honey and jarring it for sale.

But eking hives does not always prevent their bees
from swarming? Not always, but in ninety-nine cases

NADIRS. 85

out of a hundred it does. In some hot seasons, and on
rare occasions, bees have been known to square the ends
of the combs before their hives were quite full, and
swarm. This so seldom happens that it may be con-
sidered exceptional, and out of the usual run of events.
When our hives are timely eked we have never the
shadow of a fear that they will send off swarms.

It is by the use of large hives and ekes that the
bee-master can get his swarms in good seasons to weigh
from 100 to 160 Ib, each. But why not have hives big
enough to do without eking? This question has been
already answered. In many cold seasons, swarms cannot
fill such large hives ; and it is of great importance to have
all hives kept for stock full or nearly full of combs in
autumn.

When ekes are used, cross-sticks must be put into
them at the highest parts, so that the combs may be
fastened

CHAPTER XXII
NADIRS.

Nadirs are the opposites of supers. Nadirs go beneath
bee-hives, and supers above them. If a hive which we
wish to keep for stock becomes heavy in July, we place a
nadir beneath it—that is to say, we lift it off its board,
place a hive with cross-sticks and a large crown-hole on
the board, then place the full hive on the empty one, pin
the two together, and cement the junction. The bees are
soon found hanging in a large cluster, like a swarm,
through the crown-hole of the nadir. New combs are
speedily built from the upper hive, through the crown-

86 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

hole, down to the board ; and in process of time the nadir
is filled with combs and brood, almost all the honey going
to the upper storey. At the end of the season the top
one is taken off for honey, and its bees driven into the
bottom hive, which is kept for stock.

Nadirs are most useful for early swarms that become
heavy before the end of the season. By placing nadits
beneath them, both honey and stock-hives may be ob-
tained. Since the first edition of this work was published,
we have had two stock-hives that swarmed with nadirs
beneath them, though we never knew a case of the kind
before.

Last year our earliest swarm was taken off about the
10th of May. By the end of four weeks it was full, and
nearly ready for swarming. Instead of taking off a virgin
swarm, we placed it on anadir. At the end of the season
we found that it weighed 70 lb. All the bees were driven
below, and the top one taken. It weighed 50 Ib., and
the nadir 20 Ib. We thus got nearly 30 Ib. of honey and
a stock-hive from a swarm of May. A few pounds of
refuse honey were given to the nadir, which was a strong
hive in the spring following.

We consider nadirs inferior to ekes when weight of
honey is the only object sought. We use and recommend
them when both honey and stocks are sought from
swarms of the current year. For gaining great profits
in a favourable season, and for continued prosperity for a
succession of years, the system of having strong hives and
early swarms is far before all the other systems of manag-
ing bees. Supers, nadirs, and ekes are useful, profitable,
and indispensable for hives that require enlarging later in
the season. The question of which is best, the interest
and aims of the bee-master must determine.

ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 87

CHAPTER XXIII.

ARTIFICIAL SWARMING.

It does not pay to wait and watch for hives casting, and
it does not pay to lose swarms. The adoption of the in-
valuable invention of swarming artificially saves the bee-
keeper from a world of anxiety and the loss of swarms.
Probably Bonner was the inventor of artificial swarming,
for he wrote a book about 80 years ago, which my father
read at the time. Bonner’s system (with some slight
modifications) was adopted by my father, and carried into
practice for forty years. He swarmed his bees artificially
before he knew the value of fustian smoke for stupefying
them. After finishing his day’s work, he often swarmed
three or four hives on an evening. The only bee-dress
he ever used was a cabbage-blade hung over his face: and
this was for ever cast away when he was taught by an
Irishman to use the smoke of fustian rags.

The bother of bee-keeping would be too great for us if
we did not swarm artificially. We can easily take off
four swarms in an hour; and with the assistance of a lad
to drum a bit, we could take off six swarms, place them
all in proper places, and cover them up in less than an
hour. The process of artificial swarming is a very simple
affair—so simple that no person can see it done without
understanding it pretty well.

It is more easily performed and sooner done than we
can describe it with our pen. Take a hive ready for
swarming, and a skep prepared to receive the swarm ;
another empty hive and a table-cloth or piece of calico
are required. These are placed some yards—it does not
matter how many—from the old hive to be swarmed..

A few puffs of smoke are blown into the hive, which is

88 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

then carried to where the empty hive and calicoare. It is
turned upside down—that is, placed on its crown ; then the
empty hive is placed on and over it, and the calico rolled
round the junction of the two to keep all the bees in. The
hive to receive and contain the swarm for good is placed
on the board of the old hive, with a view to prevent the
bees flying about from going into other hives. The reason
why the hive with cross-sticks is not first placed on the
hive to receive the swarm, is owing to the difficulty of
seeing the queen in it. The bees would hang in clusters
on the sticks ; hence they are first driven into an empty
hive, in which the queen is easily seen, then shaken into
the other hive prepared to receive the swarm. Now the
drumming or driving commences, which is simply done by
beating the bottom hive with open hands for about five
minutes. This drumming confounds the bees, and causes
them to run up into the empty hive, and in nineteen
cases out of twenty the queen goes with the bees or
swarm so drummed up. But to be quite sure that the
queen is with the swarm, we take the hive (now contain-
ing the swarm) off the parent hive, turn it upside down,
exposing the whole swarm to view, in order to see the
queen. She is easily distinguished, and when we have
seen her, we take the swarm back to the old stand, and
shake all into the hive ready for them, the calico mean-
while being spread over the combs and bees in the old
hive. The swarm is now placed three, six, or nine feet
to the right, and the mother hive as far to the left, of the
spot or stand on which it stood before. How easy and
simple this work is! how soon over, and how natural it
appears! It is just about as easily done as shaking a
natural swarm from a branch into an empty hive. Look
at the advantages: the bees are not allowed to waste
their time in clustering about the door of the hive before
swarming ; and this clustering, in some cases and seasons,

ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 89

continues for weeks. Again, the bee-master can use this
artificial mode of swarming at his convenience—morning,
noon, or evening, and when there is the appearance of a
continuation of fine weather. It is a great advantage to
a swarm to get three or four fine days after being put into
an empty hive. In the chapter on feeding bees, the ad-
vantage of feeding young swarms in showery weather will
be pointed out. When the first swarms are taken off arti-
ficially, a number of royal cells are generally occupied or
employed for rearing young queens at the same time—that
is to say, three or four queens are set about the same time
—and these coming to perfection together, afford a greater
certainty of getting second swarms ; and this is an import-
ant affair in an apiary of large hives, for in a honey season
large hives that do not send off second colonies become
far too heavy for stock-hives. In mentioning the advan-
tage of second swarms, we are aware that the great bulk of
English apiarians do not agree with us; hut we are fully
convinced that as soon as they adopt larger hives, and seek
the largest quantity of honey from them, they will con-
sider second swarms an advantage—and not a small one.

Other favourable views of the advantages of artificial
swarming could be presented here, but we think that the
fact of its answering as well as natural swarming, and
that it can be done in a few minutes at any time of the
day, are sufficient to convince every earnest bee-keeper of
the folly of waiting and watching day by day for swarms
coming off naturally.

But the reader may say, “‘I am timid, and can’t believe
that I could manage to swarm my bees.” A great Amer-
ican once said: “J can’t do it never did anything; I'll
try has done wonders; but Z will do it has performed
prodigies.” The reader must allow us to tell him that
he can swarm his bees artificially if he wills to do it; and
what now appear wonders and prodigies in the manage-

90 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

ment of bees, will by-and-by be felt in his hands to be
a very simple affair.

But suppose the reader adopts this art of swarming,
how is he to know when his hives are ready for swarming,
and what size of swarms to take when they are ready ?
These questions are important. A little experience will
give more instruction than our pen can. Of course when
bees begin to cluster at their doors they are ready for
swarming. Large hives seldom cluster outside before
swarming, and small ones almost always do. But by
using the smoke of fustian rags we can ascertain when
hives are ready for swarming—that is to say, full enough
for swarming. When smoke is blown into a hive, the
bees run up amongst the combs ; and if the hive be lifted
off the board, there will be but a thin sprinkling of bees
left on it. When they so run up amongst the combs, the
hive is not ready to swarm. But when ready, the hive
is full of bees, so that the smoke drives them from the
door, but not up amongst the combs, which are pretty well
packed. Well, on lifting this hive there will be found
a rope or ring of bees on the board about as thick as a
man’s wrist ; and this rope of bees begins to run over the
edges of the board, so that, when the hive is replaced,
many bees are on the outside of it, most behind. Of
course the number of bees on the board will be greater in
some hives than others, according to their construction,
size, and ripeness. This is a far better test of the readi-
ness of a hive for swarming than the appearance of drones
in it, or even the heat or noise of it. A hive is often
ready to swarm before drones are perfected in it; and in
unfavourable weather, it is often as full of bees as it can
hold when there is neither much noise nor heat. The
examination should be made when the bees are all at
home.

The other question may be answered by saying that we

ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 91

follow the rule of the bees themselves. When a swarm
comes off naturally, bees enough are left to cover the
combs barely or thinly, so that the brood of the hive may
be all hatched. In artificial swarming we leave the
combs of the old hive as well covered with bees as in
natural swarming. If too many have been driven up with
the swarm, we put a few spoonfuls back ; and if too few
have gone with the swarm, we drum up a few more, and
unite them. A very little experience will make this mat-
ter safe and easy to the hand and judgment of the reader.

In bee-houses, and where many hives are standing close
together, there is some difficulty in placing the swarm and
mother hive aright, so as to prevent the bees of the one
going into the other. When each can be placed at least
four feet from the old stand, one to the right and the
other to the left, there is scope for successful action in
this matter. We always succeed—though there may be
less than four feet on each side; but then we have to use
a little stratagem. The front of the hives and flight-boards
have to be disfigured, so that the bees may not know or
discover the entrance of the old hive. When the doors
of the two are near each other, the bees of the swarm are
apt to go into the mother hive. This we prevent by so
altering the appearance of the door for a day or two that
the bees do not know it. A few pieces of broken bricks
or stones or coals laid on the flight-board up to the
entrance answer admirably. After the swarm has been
at work for a day or two, the bees will not go back to
the mother hive.

The reader will remember our saying that the farther
hives are placed asunder the better; and where the arti-
ficial system of swarming is practised, the wisdom of that
remark will be acknowledged. Artificial swarms must
not, like natural ones, be placed 12, or 20, or 40 yards from
the stands whence they were taken ; for if they are taken

92 HANDY BOOK OF BEES,

so far, the bees will return to their old stands. If moved
one or two miles off, they will be out of the influence of
their old home, and, weather permitting, will do well
there. My father being on good terms with all the
farmers of his parish, was permitted to put his bees on
any convenient place on their farms. Well, on an even-
ing he often swarmed three or four hives, put the swarms
on a light hand-barrow, and with the assistance of an-
other carried them 14 mile off, placed them under a
hedge, or in an old lime-kiln or quarry, or in any odd
corner, where they remained unmolested till they were
removed to the moors.

Bee-Barrow.

This barrow is simply made of six larch rails, thin and
light, not weighing many pounds—being held together
by eight screws or nails. As soon as the bees are placed,
the screws are withdrawn, the rails tied together, and
carried home. We had an exceedingly light and con
venient barrow of this kind made of five pieces of bam-
boo-cane. When only two hives are removed, a common
“yoke” placed across the shoulders—the hives hanging
like a couple of pails of water—is a safe mode of carriage.

It will be seen and understood that we take care to see
that the old queen goes with every first swarm. Hence
we look for her—and the way and time of doing so has
been already described. But it is not absolutely neces-
sary to see the queen in every swarm, or even to look for
her. Young beginners, mere ’prentice hands in bee-man-

ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 93

agement, will succeed beyond their expectation by drum-
ming rather more than half the bees of a hive ready for
swarming into one prepared with sticks and guide-comb
for the swarm, and placing them right and left of the old
stand, And when no time is spent in looking for the
queen, anybody can take off a swarm, artificially, in ten
minutes at most, and often in five minutes. It should
be remembered that five minutes is quite long enough to
drum in hot weather; and during the day, when the bees
are at work, four minutes is long enough: when weather
is cooler, the bees do not run so fast. If the queen does
not go with the swarm, all the bees will return within
the space of an hour to the old hive. Farther than loss
of time, no harm has been done. A second effort will
have to be made. It is but rare indeed that the queen
does not go with the bees on being first driven up.

But in artificial swarming, the old or mother hives are
deprived of their queens, and, generally speaking, have
no eggs set in royal cells. They are therefore without
the appearance or prospect of successors to their thrones.
What happens? ‘The bees, on discovering their loss, are
thrown into a little consternation, which is of short dura-
tion. Some few bees will now and then come out of
their hives, and run about the front of them in search of
their lost queens. When fully convinced they have gone
for good, they commence to prepare royal cells for the re-
ception of eggs—common worker-eggs—from which they
raise queens. Very often they let the eggs selected for
queens remain where they find them, but so alter the
shape and size of the cells containing them, that they be-
come at once “ royal cells.”

No fears need be entertained as to the ability of the
bees making queens for themselves. They never fail to
raise queens, if the hives have left in them sufficient bees
to cover their combs thinly. Well, these eggs placed in

94 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

royal cells, or otherwise royal cells built around them,
become perfect princesses in fourteen days, when the pip-
ing and barking begin, which was explained in a former
chapter. After three nights’ piping, second swarms may
be expected, if the weather be at all favourable for swarm-
ing. Second swarms are less particular than first ones
about having fine weather on the occasion of their leay-
ing home as colonists. But cannot second swarms be
taken off, as well as first ones, artificially? Yes; but it
is necessary to be a little more cautious while doing it,
for such young princesses are apt to take wing during the
operation. Old queens never take wing, however much
they may be tossed about in swarming and uniting of
swarms. Not so with these young unimpregnated queens.
Hence there is a little manceuvring required in swarming
second swarms by art. As soon as the queens are heard
calling and answering each other (piping), we turn up the
hive and cut two of the royal cells out—those that have
queens in them—and wrap each up in a corner of our
handkerchief, separate, and so that they cannot come out
of their cells. We have got over the difficulty ; and in
less than five minutes a swarm is drummed up into a
hive prepared for it: the swarm is set on one side of the
old stand, and the mother hive on the other side. In the
handkerchief there is a queen for each hive. We gene-
rally take the lids off the cells, and let the beautiful young
creatures run in at the doors. It requires no master-
stroke to do it; any one who puts aside the mistrust of
bis own powers will manage this affair easily. Second
swarms generally come naturally on, the day following
the third night of piping. If piping ceases, no second
swarm will be obtained,

If there are more than two queens in a hive—and fre-
quently there are four or five—we cut them all out, if pos-
sible, on such occasions. But presently we shall come to

SURPLUS QUEENS, 95

notice the use of these spare queens. Hives that yield
first swarms have sometimes small second swarms taken
from them, and two of these united thus making one
good swarm—leaving the old ones strong in bees, and
scarcely feeling the loss of those taken from them, Let
us, by figures, show how this is done.

I 2 3 4 5 6 7
O O O O O O O

ist Swarm, Stock. Stock. 2d Swarm. Stock, Stock. 1st Swarm,

At the commencement of the season, let us suppose we
have two stock-hives—standing at 2 and 6. When the
swarms are taken from them they are moved to 3 and 5,
and the swarms to 1 and 7. 2 and 6 are blotted out for
the present, and 4 remains unoccupied. Suppose we
want one swarm more from the old stocks. Part ofa
swarm is taken from each and set at 4, removing the old
ones back to their original stands, 2 and 6, leaving 3 and
5 empty. If it be deemed advisable to take a second
swarm from each, and keep them separate, their positions
will have to be arranged a little differently.

Surplus Queens.

Now we come to notice the uses of these surplus queens.
By using them aright, the bee-keeper does exercise some
master-strokes of policy and good management. They will
be welcomed into hives without queens, and into hives
with princesses unmatured, if presented to them. Sup-
pose we have one or two hives ready to swarm for the
first time when such queens are available. We hasten
to take swarms from them; and as soon as the bees in
the old hives have discovered the loss of their own
queens, we give them young ones instead. The hives
that thus get queens as soon as their own are taken from

96 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

them are lifted fourteen or sixteen days in advance of
those that do not get queens. For it would take them
fourteen days, at least, to rear queens, even if the eggs
were set the hour on which they lost their old ones,
and the giens from such eggs were allowed to leave
their cells on coming to perfection. These transplanted
queens would lay about 28,000 eggs in fourteen days-—
that is to say, before queens reared at home could begin
to lay at all. Of course, the introduction of these sur-
plus queens to hives that have just swarmed, either natu-
rally or artificially, prevents all preparations being made
for throwing second swarms. The old hives are never
without brood, for the young queens thus implanted be-
gin to lay before all the brood is hatched. Such hives
soon become very strong, and capable of doing a great
deal of work in various ways. In honey seasons they
will rise to a great weight, and fill a good super with
comb.

In the case of hives swarming late, it is of vast import-
ance to give them queens from early swarmers ; for, if left
to rear queens for themselves, the season is nearly over
before the eggs of such queens come to perfection. Let
us see how long it is before young bees are matured from
such queens. Suppose a swarm be obtained on the 15th
of June, the eggs will be matured into queens in fourteen
days—1. e., about the last day of the month. If there be
no days wasted in piping and preparing to send off second
swarms, the young queen will take the drone in three
days, and commence to lay in about ten days after—say
about the 12th of July. Well, the brood is three weeks in
the combs, so that the month of July is nearly gone before
young bees are hatched. First swarms have pregnant
queens, and generally do well, though they be not ob-
tained till the end of June; but it is otherwise with the
old hives and second swarms. How manifest, then, is

SURPLUS QUEENS. 97

the advantage of having all hives ready for swarming in
May, or very early in June—also the advantage of im-
porting queens from early swarmers into later ones !
Small bee-keepers oblige one another by transplanting
surplus queens from one apiary to another. One thus
enriches his neighbour without impoverishing himself.
The question has been asked how queens can be found
or seen amongst the bees that have been driven into
empty hives. After a swarm has been driven into a
hive, it is turned on its crown—not gently, for we wish
all the bees to fall from the sides of the hive on the
crown ; and when they are running back, we try to get
a sight of her majesty. She is conspicuous and easily
known, but the eye of the bee-master does not see all
parts of the swarm at once; and as the queen is very
modest, she often hides herself amongst the bees before
she is noticed. In about two minutes all the bees leave
the crown of the hive and settle on its sides) When she
has escaped our notice the first time, we give the hive a
great “thump,” and thus bring all the bees on the crown
of the hive again, when they rapidly leave it for the sides,
giving another opportunity of seeing the queen. But in-
stead of shaking them down a second time, we sometimes
shift them down to the crown of the hive with a table-
spoon, allowing each spoonful to run off before we put
another down ; and by beginning at one side of the swarm
and going all round it, we do not fail to see the queen if
she is with the swarm—and in nineteen cases out of
twenty she is. It is very rare indeed that bees sting, or
ever think about it, when dealt with in this manner.

98 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

CHAPTER XXIV.
NATURAL SWARMING.

This has been described in the first part of this work ;
but as there are so many things in natural swarming that
should be well understood, we trust we shall be excused
if we venture to examine briefly a few of them.

The time or season of swarming depends on both the
locality and the management of the hives. Some places
are warmer and earlier than others. Some places have
more spring flowers than others. In the southern parts
of our island, swarming in ordinary seasons should
commence in the beginning of May. Much depends on
autumn treatment. If hives kept for stock are well filled
with bees in autumn, they will be ready to swarm four
weeks sooner than those that are left to their own re-
sources, We have already touched on this point, and may
return to it again.

When hives are ready to swarm and mean to do so, eggs
are set in royal cells generally about four days before the
swarms issue. The combs are well filled with brood from
the egg up, in all stages. The hives are choke-full of bees,
There is much noise, and the internal heat is very great.
They may or may not cluster outside. Usually small
hives do cluster and large ones do not.

Hives, whether large or small, that have but little
honey in them, are much better filled with bees than
hives containing a good deal of honey. Bees do not sit
closely on honeycomb, even on the eve of swarming.
Those with little honey in them yield the largest swarms,
and afterwards yemain stronger in bees. First swarms
vary in weight from 4 to 8 lb. each; second swarms,
from 14 to 5 lb. The second swarms from small hives

NATURAL SWARMING. 99

are hardly worth the price of the hives into which they
are often put.

We have said that the eggs are generally four days in
royal cells before first swarms issue. But sometimes the
weather prevents swarming till the young queens are
nearly matured. The time is therefore uncertain. Some-
times there is a miscarriage. The swarm goes without
the queen, and soon returns. Next day, probably, a suc-
cessful attempt will be made, both swarm and queen going
together. Sometimes there are several miscarriages. The
swarm always returns. How is this? The queen cannot
fly. In attempting to follow the swarm she falls over the
flight-board, and may be found crawling on the ground,
The noise of the bees on their return to the hive attracts
her to it. This may happen again and again ; hence these
miscarriages. Such queens are old, and will soon die. If
a young queen (virgin) could be obtained anywhere, it
were wise to unite her to the swarm rather than carry
the old one to it. If the old queen found below the
flight-board be put in an empty hive, and placed on
the stand of the old one for an hour till all the bees
return, the swarm may now be placed in any part of
the garden, and the old hive put back to its original
place.

While a swarm is in the act of leaving the hive, there
sometimes comes a sudden change of the atmosphere.
The sun is clouded, the air chilled, and rain may fall.
The bees already on the wing cannot fly. They are full of
honey, and come to the ground in thousands,—hees being
unable to carry such heavy loads in cloudy cold weather
as they doin the sunshine. If a shower follow, thousands
never rise. If the sun shine out warmly in the afternoon,
or even next day, many of the bees which fell will rise
and go back. The attempt to swarm at an unfavourable
moment is often disastrous. The skill of the beekeeper

100 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

can do little in such a case. If a small cluster reach the
place chosen by the bees, all should be brought back and
thrown on the front of the old hive.

Swarms generally alight on a branch of a tree or bush
or hedge, if these grow near their mother hives, Where
there are no trees or hedges, they will settle on a stone, or
post of a fence, or clod, or big weed in a garden. It is
wise to have some bushes near an apiary managed on the
swarming system ; for swarms can be easily hived from
branches that bend.

Hiving is usually done by holding the hive prepared for
the swarm underneath it, and then giving the branch on
which it hangs a sudden shake or jerk, when all the bees
lose their hold and fall into the hive. The hive is set on
the ground with its crown downwards, and mouth and
swarm exposed. The board is instantly placed on and
over the whole, just giving the bees time to gather their
feet and get hold of the sides of the hive (about half a
minute) before it is inverted into its proper position.
Let it stand for a few minutes to gather in all the bees
that have not been hived—the noise inside speedily at-
tracts them—and then let the hive be placed where it is
to remain. When a swarm goes into a thick hedge, or
settles on astone or wood fence, the hive is placed over it,
so that the bees can easily run up into it. If on the trunk
of a tree, the hive is tied on above it ; and when it settles
on the branch of a tree far from the ground, the branch is
usually cut and let down.

Nothing should be put in hives intended for swarms
but cross-sticks and guide-combs. Ignorant people often
wet their insides with sugared ale or sugar-and-water, a
most foolish practice.

Another foolish practice, and a widespread one, is to
make a great effort to induce swarms to settle by drum-
ming on kettles and frying-pans, thus producing artificial

NATURAL SWARMING. 101

thunder, to frighten the bees from all idea of flying away.
Sand and soil are thrown up amongst the bees to make
them believe it rains. Such artificial thunder and rain
have no influence whatever over a swarm of bees. It is
understood by some that in ancient times these noises
were made to intimate to the neighbours that a swarm of
bees was on the wing, believing that the noise gave the
owner a legal right to claim and hive the swarm wherever
it alighted.

Fortunately swarms almost always settle near home
for a short time before they seek a more abiding habita-
tion elsewhere ; but when they have decided to go toa
distance, and have commenced their march, nothing will
stop them. We have known one or two fugitive swarms
shot at. The poor fellow who shot said, ‘If I can hit
and bring down the queen the bees will return.” He
was right enough in his ideas, but unfortunately he
missed the queen, and lost his swarm.

These fugitive swarms rise higher than houses and
trees, and travel at the rate of about eight miles an hour ;
so it is hard work to follow them.

If swarms are not speedily hived they may be lost;
and sometimes they will hang for a day before they de-
part. Old combs in the hollows of trees or roofs of
houses are very inviting. All hives that have lost their
bees in winter should be placed where swarms belonging
to other people cannot find them. All honest persons
will do this. Some dishonest persons expose their dead
hives with combs in them, for the purpose of catching
swarms not their own.

When a swarm alights on two separate places, both
lots should be put in one hive.

In large apiaries two swarms, and sometimes three,
issue at the same time, and generally unite. The queens
go with the multitude, and follow the noise. It is an

102 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

awkward affair when two swarms unite, for to separate
them is rather difficult. Some of the extensive bee-
keepers of America use “swarm-catchers” to prevent
such unions. These swarm-catchers are about 12 inches
square at the end, and 4 or 5 feet long. Four posts about
one inch thick, fastened as a frame and covered with
inuslin or other thin cloth, may be termed “the American
swarm-catcher,” and is simply a square sack of thin
materials. Well, when one swarm is half or wholly on
the wing, and another commences to issue, the sack is
placed around the door of the hive, and the swarm rushes
into it, and may be hived as convenience dictates.

But two swarms united may be separated—that is to
say, the two queens may be caught and put into different
hives, and the bees divided between them. There are
various ways of doing this, all of which will answer if
done with a skilful hand. The man who can swarm bees
artificially has experience enough to divide and subdivide
swarms as much as he likes. The man who has not
courage to do this will let both swarms remain together.
If separation be attempted, it should be done as soon after
swarming as possible, otherwise one of the queens will be
destroyed.

When two swarms belonging to different people unite
and cannot be separated, the one who retains the swarm
should allow the other about half value—say 10s. for a
20s. swarm, for it is of less value in its united state than
when separate and single.

In natural swarming, as has already been explained,
the old queen goes with the first swarm, and leaves he-
hind her in the old hive eggs or grubs in royal cells.
When these come to perfection, the piping commences,
and lasts three days and nights. If the bees determine
not to send off a second swarm, the piping is stopped at
first, and all the surplus queens are killed and cast out. If

NATURAL SWARMING, 103

the piping continues, a second swarm may be expected ;
and if a second swarm issues, and the piping continues
still, a third swarm may be expected on the day follow-
ing. Third and fourth swarms have been known to come
off on the same day. It does not answer for queens to
pipe three days before third and fourth swarms; the
time for their impregnation has arrived, and they cannot
wait with safety. In north-west Aberdeenshire a bee-
keeper got four swarms from one hive in 1874. The
first swarm rose in weight to 124 Ib., the second to 75 lb.,
the third to 45 lb., the fourth to 36 Ib., the mother hive
to 93 Ib.—altogether, to 373 lb.

The year 1874 was a good one for honey in the north
of Scotland. In ordinary years it is not profitable to
take third swarms. In very favourable seasons they
may fill their hives, and weigh 40 or 50 Ib. each.” Two
swarms are sufficient to take from one hive in ordinary
seasons.

It is often not desirable to take second swarms from late
swarmers. Butif they come when we do not want them,
what is tobe done? Hive them, and let them remain for
a few hours in their hives, and then throw them back on
the flight-boards of the hives that cast them off. In nine-
teen cases out of twenty they do not issue a second time.
But is it not wise to kill the queens of second swarms
before returning them? We never do it when uniting
swarms at the swarming season. We have known one
instance only in which the conflict of two queens ended
in the death of both. The bees generally interfere to pre-
vent a conflict between two queens thus brought together.
In such cases one of the queens may be often found in the
centre of a cluster of bees termed ‘‘a regicidal knot.” In
such a knot the queen comes to grief.

If the piping be heard after the second swarm has been
returned to the old hive, it will probably issue again, and

104 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

should again be thrown back ; but this, as we have said,
seldom happens—for arter the second swarm has departed,
all the queens but one are generally destroyed, and no
more swarming takes place.

There is in the history of swarming a critical time for
old hives and second swarms. A day or two after second
swarms have left their mother hives, the queens of both
go out to meet drones. The bees become very uneasy if
their queen stay long away. Sometimes they never re-
turn—have been lost on their marriage-tours. When the
bees find that they have lost their queen, they make mani-
fest their loss by their wild excitement and bewilderment.
No one can witness this excitement without seeing that
something is wrong. Every now and then the bees are in
a state of wild commotion, rushing hither and thither in
search of their lost queen. During these paroxysms of
grief every bee in the hive seems to be affected. They
have no eggs, and therefore are unable of themselves to
make good their loss. What should be done with hives
thus bereft of their queens? If surplus ones can be ob-
tained, they should be introduced at once to these queen-
less hives. If ripe queens cannot be obtained, probably
royal cells containing infantile queens may be had. One
of these cut out of its hive, and placed between two combs
of the queenless one, answers well; for the bees soon
cement it to their combs, and bestow proper care on their
now infant and future queen. In the case of the swarm,
it is rather dangerous to turn the hive upside down, with
a view to place a royal cell between its combs just being
formed, as they are apt to fall. Even the smoke of rags
should be gently blown into a swarm recently hived.
But if one person lifts the hive off the board, say 3 feet
perpendicularly, and another person puts in the queen-
cell, the work may be easily and safely performed. And
if no combs at all have been formed before the queen has

NATURAL SWARMING, 108

been lost, how can a royal cell be given to the swarm?
In such a case, we resort to a pin or skewer of wood, sharp-
ened at both ends. The royal cell, with a bit of comb
attached, is stuck on one end of this skewer, the other is
stuck in the side of the hive, leaving the comb with the
infant queen in the centre of the swarm. The bees know
the value of the boon thus bestowed—a great calm and hum
of joy take the place of the wild roar of excitement. If
neither a matured queen nor an infant one can be obtained,
the case is not hopeless. Remember that bees can make
queens from common eggs ; so that we have only to cut a
small bit of comb containing eggs from another hive, and
place it between the combs of the queenless one, in order
to avert its threatened loss. The moment a queenless, egg-
less hive receives the gift of a few eggs from another hive
through the hands of their owner, the bees begin to fashion
royal cells, and royal tenants in them. Two notable in-
stances of bees without queens finding eggs for themselves
have been known. They had been without queens, and
of course without eggs, for fourteen days or thereabouts,
when an egg was seen in a royal cell in each hive. This
was a most unusual and extraordinary occurrence! Where
did the eggs come from? They must have been obtained
from other hives, not by the hand of man, but by two bees
remarkable alike for wisdom and courage. Brave bees!
you injured no other community, but you saved your own
from ruin and extinction !

If a second swarm or the old hive lose its queen on its
marriage-tour, and the other does not, they could be
united. And in other ways queenless swarms can be used
up. They could be united to weak stocks and small
swarms, and removed to a distance for a while.

Virgin swarms are the grandchildren of stock-hives ;
they come from swarms of the current year. They are
generally obtained from first swarms, and therefore possess

106 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

the oldest queens. They are misnamed, but we have no
desire to give them a new name. In seasons remarkable
tor earliness and abundance of honey, virgin swarms are
not uncommon. Indeed in one such season our stock-
hives began to send off a second series of swarms. Insuch
fine seasons it is easy to multiply greatly the number of
hives ; but for profit, we find that it is better to enlarge
hives than to take virgin swarms from them.

CHAPTER XXV.
TURNOUTS.

This is a name we give to swarms evicted or ejected from
parent hives three weeks after they sent off their first
swarms. Second swarms may have gone from them as
well as first ones; but on the twenty-first day after the first
swarm leaves a hive, the combs are free from brood, save
a few drone-cells—drones being twenty-four days in being
hatched, and workers twenty-one days. The eggs laid by
the queen on the morning of the day she left the hive
with the first swarm, come to perfection on the twenty-
first day after. The young queen that has taken her place
has not begun to lay, and therefore there is no brood in
the hive. Very well. Large hives gather a great deal of
honey before they swarm. If the weather be fine while
fruit-trees are in blossom, they generally gather from
2 to 5 lb. a-day per hive. In fine seasons, large hives,
properly managed, contain from 20 to 30 lb. of honey
before the end of May. New honey will not be in the
market for a month or two after May, if we do not turn
out or evict the bees from these hives. But we do turn

TURNOUTS. : 107

them out; and for sixty years at least, my father and
his son have practised this mode of getting honey in great
quantity so early in the season. Such honey is super-
excellent, having been gathered chiefly from fruit and
sycamore trees, and commands a high price and ready sale,
We reckon 1s. 3d. per Ib. for run honey, and Is. 6d. for
honeycomb, a fair price. If there be only 20 Ib. in a hive,
we drum the bees out of it into an empty one. In this
way 25s. worth of honey, and another swarm (the evicted
one), which we term “a turnout,” are obtained from the
stock-hive, which has before yielded one or two swarms,
Thus we get two or three good swarms, and 20 or 30 lb.
of honey from a stock-hive. These turnouts are generally
a shade better than the second swarms from the same
hives ; and when no second swarms have been obtained
from the hives, the turnouts are very large swarms in-
deed, and require large hives. By practising this mode
of taking honey from stock-hives three weeks after swarm-
ing, the apiary contains hives that are filled with fresh
young combs, free from foul brood, and never over-
burdened with bee-bread. Then there is the encourage-
ment of profits already in the pocket, and two months of
summer yet to come.

A hive should weigh 42 or 45 lb. weight to yield 20
lb. of honey. Sometimes we pass sentence against hives
of less weight, drum the bees out of them at the proper
time, and take the honey ; and sometimes, instead of tak-
ing their honey, after the bees have been driven out, we
place them in a dry room till autumn; and if we ther
find it will be advantageous to keep them for stock, and
take the honey from heavier hives, they are refilled with
bees taken from honey-hives, and placed in the garden.

The process of turning bees out is simply that of driv-
ing them into empty hives prepared for them. In the
case of artificial swarming, we drum but a few minutes ;

108 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

but when we wish to drive all the bees out, we drum for
fifteen or twenty minutes. When there is brood in a
hive, the bees are loath to leave it; but as there is no
brood at the time of eviction, the bees are easily driven
out.

It is understood that, if the spring months be unfavour-
able for honey-gathering, the hives will be too light for
yielding much honey. In such a season it is unwise to
have turnouts, unless it be to rid the apiary of old hives
and old combs.

But looking closely into this turning-out system, the
reader may say, ‘“‘It is not a wise and economical one ;
for by putting the bees into empty hives, you compel
them to make new combs, which cost them a great deal of
honey. Leave them in their own hives, and thus save the
consumption of honey necessary in the building of fresh
combs.” This remark is both logical and full of common-
sense. No sensible man will attempt to resist its force.
But nevertheless it is a system which has many advan-
tages, some of which are already mentioned. Stock-hives
that swarm early become too heavy in good seasons for
stocks. If they yield 25s. worth of honey each, and
swarms (turnouts) that will become excellent stocks by
autumn, as they often do, we thus realise both honey and
good stocks from old hives after they have done swarming.
Another thing is this, that a few pounds of sugar, now
costing very little, given to turnouts, enable them to half
fill their hives with combs. We do not turn the bees out
of all our stock-hives. Our aim in this chapter has been to
point out the advantages and disadvantages of the system,
that the reader may be guided by his own judgment.

FEEDING. 109

CHAPTER XXVI.
FEEDING.

In bee-keeping, as in many other things, it is not all
honey and sunshine. Stings and venom-bags are placed
side by side with honey-bags in the bodies of these
industrious creatures. Cold rainy seasons come some-
times ; and when they do come, bees have to be fed
pretty constantly. One year, well remembered by some
apiarians, the best hives, though well attended, never
rose in weight beyond 22 lb. each. They were near
starvation-point the whole of the summer. In such
seasons the management of bees is attended with anxiety,
disappointment, and loss. Part of the profits of former
years have to be spent on sugar to keep them alive. In
two noticeable years, bees had to be fed from April to
August, when the weather changed, and became so favour-
able for honey-gathering, that strong hives rose rapidly
in weight to 70 and 80 Ib. It is rather an unfortunate
circumstance for a working man to commence bee-keeping
in an unfavourable season. His bees must be fed again
and again; and his wife does not like to see so great a
waste of sugar, and may grumble sorely about it. To put
an end to such loss and dissatisfaction, he sells his bees
at a sacrifice. Such failures we have seen with sorrow.
We should be glad if any words of ours contribute in the
smallest degree to encourage all beginners to go forward,
even if one bad season succeed another. Success is
certain to the persevering. During the last fifteen years
we have had far more favourable seasons for honey-
gathering than unfavourable ones. In our native village
in Lanarkshire the profits of bee-keeping in 1864 were

110 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

about £4 per hive; in 1865, about £3; in 1866, about
£2; in 1867, nothing; in 1868, between £3 and £4;
and in 1869, about £3. Our own profits altogether from
1870 to 1874* from bee-keeping are upwards of £220,
after deducting an annual expenditure of 10s. per hive.
But years unfavourable for honey - collecting may be
expected ; and when they come, our bees will require
attention and feeding. We do not care much how bees
are fed, so that they get enough.

As large hives, well populated, gather more honey in
fine weather than small ones, it should be borne in mind
that they consume more in rainy weather. Strong hives
lose 1 lb. in weight during the night in summer, and no
one can tell how much food is consumed during the day
when the bees are at work. In a large hive there are
probably upwards of 50,000 bees, and about the same
number in embryo in their cells. Both bees and brood
need food, and a great deal of it. He is the hest bee-
master who feeds his stock liberally and judiciously in
rainy summers, for he will receive a return for all his
attention and liberality. If bees be well fed they remain
strong and healthy—the hum of prosperity and content-
ment is kept up—breeding goes on—thousands are added
to the community ; and if fine weather come, they will
gather twice or thrice as much honey as those that have
been barely kept alive. Dees that are kept on the point
of starvation instinctively cast out their young, and wisely
refuse to set eggs. Their combs become empty of brood ;
their numbers decrease ; their bankruptcy blights them
for a month, if not for a whole season. We speak of
stock-hives in the months of April, May, and June.

Look at swarms lately hived. Every natural swarm
can live three days on the food it takes from the mother
hive. The bees of artificial swarms, being hurried out of

* Four of these five seasons were considered unfavourable.

FEEDING. lll

their mother hives, have not all filled their bags so well
as those of natural swarms. If rainy weather overtake
these young swarms, and continue some days, they will
starve if not fed. Thousands of young swarms are ruined
for want of feeding after being put into empty hives. If
they do not die right out, they never recover from the
blight and blast of hunger then undergone.

We have known swarms starved out of their hives.
Having made a few pieces of comb, and being without
brood, no eggs having been set in them, the bees, from
sheer want, cast themselves on the wide world. These
are called “ hunger-swarms,” and their name has a very
painful significance.

But if swarms are well and liberally fed in rainy
weather, after being hived, they rapidly build combs,
and these combs are as rapidly filled with eggs from
pregnant queens. <A few pounds of sugar given to a
swarm will enable it to build combs to its own circum-
ference and size; and these combs, as we have seen, will
soon be filled with brood, which will quickly come to per-
fection, and thus greatly add to the strength of the com-
munity. During the cotton panic, and at other times
when no work was going on, some of the wealthy mill-
owners of Lancashire kept their machinery in order, and
even enlarged their premises ; so that when the dark day
had passed away, and the sun of a brighter sky fell upon
them, they found themselves in possession of greater
powers for active and successful work. So the skilful
bee-master is not inattentive to the machinery and mill-
hands of his factories when they are not working “full
time.” Idleness in a bee-hive is often the mother of
mischief. When weather forbids bees leaving their hives,
it is a stroke of good policy to give them something to do
indoors, A few pounds of sugar (made into syrup), wisely
administered, keeps up the hum of health and prosperity,

112 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

promotes breeding, and prevents collapse and disaster.
Often when feeding is not absolutely necessary, when
there is plenty of honey in a hive, a little sugar given to
it in dull weather is of great service in keeping up its
temperature. and in promoting the laying and hatching
of eggs.

Loaf or refined sugar boiled in pure water, at the rate
of one pound of sugar to one imperial pint of water, is
excellent food for bees. No artificial food is so good for
them as this ; indeed it is better for them than heather-
honey. The mortality of bees fed on heather-honey is
greater in winter than when fed on pure sugar-and-water,
mixed and boiled as described above. Flower-honey, as
it is termed in Scotland, or clover-honey, is the best and
healthiest food for bees; and, strange as it may appear,
10 or 11 1b. of this honey lasts or feeds a hive as long
as 15 Ib. of heather-honey. Brown sugar is relaxing, and
should not be given to bees as winter food. On the score
of cheapness it is often used in summer, and with safety.
White soft sugar, now sold at 34d. per Ib., is nearly as
good as loaf-sugar for feeding bees.

Some old-fashioned gentlemen, doubtless fond of a glass
of good ale themselves, like to give their bees sugar-and-
ale instead of sugar-and-water ; and some are so kind as
to give them wine mixed with sugar. Pure water mixed
with the sugar is better for bees than either ale or wine.
The elephant grows strong on water, the ox fattens on
water, the horse does its work on water, and bees want
nothing better.

In mixing sugar and water for bees, it is desirable to
present it to them sweet enough, and yet not too thick
and sticky. We have mentioned one pint of water to
one pound weight of sugar—that is, nearly weight for
weight. We wish to make ourselves well understood
here ; for the English and Scotch pints are very different.

FEEDING. 113

The imperial pint-measure of England holds 4 gills;
the Scotch one holds 16 gills. In Yorkshire and Lanca-
shire many people call half a pint “a gill.” It is the
English or imperial pint of water which we use with one
pound ofsugar. One pound of each, slightly boiled, makes
excellent syrup for bees. It is about the same thickness
or substance as honey when first gathered from flowers.

There are various ways and appliances for feeding bees.
Many amateur bee-keepers feed from the tops of their
hives. It is avery good plan. A kind of tin trough or
cylinder, with a wooden float full of holes, is used for
this purpose. The lid on the top of the hive is removed,
and this cylinder, filled with syrup, is placed there. The
bees speedily find their way to the syrup, and carry it
down into the hive. This system prevents strange bees
from getting the syrup.

The following are the only instruments we have ever
used in feeding, all of which are cheap, simple, and
excellent.

The trough of our feeding-board is 11 inches wide, 14
inch deep, and holds 3 quarts or 6 Jb. of syrup. It is
a very useful instrument, and can be refilled without
touching the hive or troubling the bees. For feeding
young swarms, or giving large quantities to a hive, it
is far superior to anything of the kind we have ever
seen. In the plate of this feeding-board it will be ob-
served that there are cross pieces of wood in the trough
for the convenience of the bees getting at the liquid. We
think this is an improvement on ours, which is used
without them; but then we have to use chips of wood to
keep the bees from drowning. We have never known a
bee lose its life in the trough of our feeding-board.

The feeding-cistern holds about 3 pints of syrup, and
is handy. When it is used, the board of the hive must
be placed very level, so that the liquid runs to the far

H

114 HANDY BOOK OF BERS.

end of the trough attached. The trough is about three-
eighths of an inch deep and 12 inches long. The open-
ing between the trough and cistern must be less in height
than the edges of the trough, in order to prevent the

|

ina
ATTN

,

Ui TTT

iio

Feeding-Board.

Feeding-Cistern.

syrup from running over, and the bees from going into
the cistern. As the bees empty the trough, the cistern
fills it. It is generally used at nights—.e., when bees are
not flying about.

The feeding-trough is an exceedingly handy thing. It
is used for giving syrup in small quantities. It holds
about a gill, but one could be made to hold more or less,
A single troughful of sugar-and-water, costing about one
halfpenny, given to a hive daily in dull weather, has a
wonderful influence for good, even if the hive is not
hungry. For the feeding of bees in spring this little
trough is unsurpassed for excellence.

FEEDING, 115

In hives that are not full of combs, a common soup-
plate or a flower-pot saucer, answers well for feeding bees.
Some chips of wood or short straws are placed in these
saucers. After being filled with the bee-food, they are
placed on the boards inside the hives, In times of comb-
building, the hives should be lifted off their boards with
the greatest care, and without turning them in any way;
otherwise their combs might be jarred down. We fre-
quently use flower-pot saucers for feeding swarms. Lift-
ing the hive off the board, and gently placing it on the
ground for a moment or two, we put the saucer on the board,
fill it with the liquid, and then lift the hive on the board.

In feeding bees we have always tried to do the work
simply and rapidly. When we have one or two dozen of
stock-hives needing food, we do not call to our aid feed-
ing-troughs of any kind. We simply pour the sugar-and-
water amongst the combs and bees, and can easily give
20 lb. of sugar to fifteen hives in half an hour. In doing
this we dose a hive well with the smoke of corduroy,
turn it up, and hold it with the combs in a slanting posi-
tion to the left. From a pitcher or jug with a spout
the syrup is now to be poured first along one comb and
then another, till all are gone over; then turn the hive
with the combs slanting to the right, and pour the liquid
on the reverse side of the combs in the same manner.
Owing to the slanting position of the combs, the syrup
runs into the open cells before it reaches the crown of
the hive. Thus one hive after another is fed; and if
necessary or convenient to give more, each hive can get
three or four such doses every day. The liquid thus
poured amongst the bees does no harm whatever, as they
lick it off one another quite clean in a few minutes. The
syrup, as we mix it, is not thick and sticky like treacle
or honey, and when administered as above, does not in-
jure a hair on the body of a bee.

116 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

In the spring and summer months, when the weather
is unfavourable, constant feeding by small quantities is
the better way, because it keeps hives full of glee ; but in
antumn the more speedily it is done the better. By giv-
ing the food rapidly, 3 or 4 Ib. a-day, the bees store most
of it up, and then settle down into the quiet of winter
life. If autumn feeding be continued for days or weeks,
the bees are kept in a state of excitement, and may con-
sume as much as they store up; and moreover, may be
induced to commence breeding at an untimely season.

Sometimes hives have not been fed enough at the
proper time in autumn (September), and the bees in them
may be found in the dead of winter nearly starved to
death, so cold and hungry that they will not leave their
combs for food. What should be done to save them?
Take them into a warm room or hothouse for an hour, and
pour amongst them a very little warm syrup, which will
revive them in a few minutes. I say “a very little”
syrup, for it is not wise to wet much comb with syrup in
winter. Of course the door of the hive should be closed
while it is in the house, unless the place be in complete
darkness.

The practice of exposing refuse honey, or hives and
combs wet with honey, to all the bees in a garden or
neighbourhood, cannot be too strongly condemned.
Honey thus given to bees is like blood to a tiger ; they
will have more, and make earnest attempts to rob their
neighbours. And there is great danger of making bees of
different hives too familiar with one another in a mixed
congregation thus brought together. Bees should be fed
at home, and never tempted to come in contact with
those of another family.

In presenting refuse honey or combs wet with honey
to a hive, we put it in an empty hive, and place over it
a board with nine holes braced throughit. At night the

THE DISEASES OF BEES, i

hive to be fed is placed on this board. The bees go
through the holes and carry the honey from the combs
into their own. In this way, too, we present honey to hives
on which supers are being filled by artificial means.

CHAPTER XXVIL
THE DISEASES OF BEES.

Amongst the many distempers of bees, dysentery may be
named. It is of rare occurrence; but doubtless it is
caused by unwholesome food, or a cold damp dwelling-
house in winter. Damp hives are very destructive of the
lives of bees in weak stocks during the winter months.
To-day (January 17th) some of our hives were examined.
All were found quite dry save a few that were eked with
riddle-rims. Even the hives of these were perfectly dry ;
but the insides of the wooden ekes were as wet as water
could make them. This shows the danger of wooden
domiciles for bees! For dysentery, loaf-sugar and water
boiled is a safe and certain cure.

Foul brood is the great and incurable malady of bee-
hives. From some cause or other, and in some seasons
more than others, larve, or half-hatched bees (or brood),
perish in their cells, and become a putrid pestilential mass
inahive. Prosperity departs from a hive whenever this
happens, and sometimes the stench of it has driven the
bees wholly out of their hives, and made them build fresh
combs underneath their boards ; and sometimes they have
gone off as swarms, abandoning their hives in utter despair
and detestation. An experienced bee-keeper can smell
this disease outside the hive in which it exists long before

118 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

it is so fully developed as to make the bees forsake their
hive, and will not hesitate to give the bees suffering from
it a clean hive as soon as he wisely can. Foul brood ina
bee-hive is as dangerous and destructive of health and life
as foul air or choke-damp is in a coal-pit. We are not
going to waste time and space in theorising as to the
cause of this distemper in bee-hives, which is not under-
stood. Long and elaborate essays on foul brood have
been printed from the pens of great and distinguished
apiarians of both Europe and America during the last
few years, a careful perusal of which will convince any
man of ordinary intelligence that the writers themselves
are not quite certain as to the correctness of their opinions.
The best of them, to say the most, are but “‘ good guesses.”
But the last, and every attempt made to clear up the
mystery of foul brood, indicates that the person who
makes it thinks that all who have gone before him have
failed in their attempts. Though we are unable to speak
with authority or certainty on this subject, we may
be excused for saying that we are yet to be convinced
that it is in its nature infectious or self-communicating, or
that it is ever carried in honey from one hive to another.
That it spreads in an infected hive of living bees, all will
admit; but a satisfactory explanation of the law or pro-
cess by which it spreads we have never seen. Many
single cells of foul brood, far asunder in a hive, often
appear. ‘These cells are covered with lids, rather flat, or
slightly concave or scooped, resembling in shape the lids
of honey-cells. The lids of cells containing healthy brood
are slightly raised or convex. The disease spreads—the
cells multiply, apparently not by contact, but singly and
separately all over the brood-combs, like berries of a bunch
of grapes colouring one by one.

A great deal has been said about chilled brood perish-
ing and becoming foul. The bees of a hive full of brood

THE DISEASES OF BEES. 119

seem to dread the exposure of their combs to a cold,
chilling atmosphere. In the spring months eggs are as
widely set as the bees can cover them; but if severe
weather overtake the hive, and compel the bees to creep
together for mutual warmth, some brood may be left un-
covered and perish. Some years ago, we placed a hive in
a garden of gooseberry-bushes. A mischievous boy found
it and kicked it over for a lark. The hive remained in
this position some days. The boy had cast a stone into
the centre of the hive and bees, which we found on plac-
ing the hive on its board. In about fourteen days after,
we took a swarm from this hive and gave it a young
queen. In the autumn we found foul brood in it, but as
there was but little of it, we cut it clean out, and put
pieces of healthy comb in the place of what was cut out.
The hive did well the following year. Foul brood is
often found in hives that have suffered more from heat
than cold; those hives that are long on the point of
swarming, and prevented from swarming by some cause
or other, oftener catch the distemper than those not so
full. In fact, the non-swarmers are oftener affected with
this disease than swarmers or their swarms: and this is
an argument in favour of the swarming system of manage-
ment. By keeping young hives—that is to say, swarms
of the present year—for stock, no bee-keeper will suffer
much from foul brood, if he ever suffer at all. If hives
containing older combs are kept as stock, they should be
carefully examined twice a-year to see that they are free
from diseased brood. The first examination should be
made from the 2lst to 24th day after first swarms are
obtained. All the healthy brood is hatched, and the
young queens have not begun to lay. The second ex-
amination should be made at the end of the season when
breeding has ceased. By blowing the smoke down
amongst the combs the bees will leave them, so that we

120 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

can see whether any cells have lids. If the cells are all
apparently empty, the hives are clean, and eligible to be
kept another year. If some cells have lids covering them,
at once proceed to drive the bees out of such hives into
empty ones. If this happen at midsummer, the bees will
do better in every way in clean hives. If the diseased
brood be discovered in autumn, drive the bees out and
unite them to other hives. There can be no prosperity in
a hive containing diseased and stinking brood ; and to the
bee-master there will come from it loss and disappoint-
ment instead of profit.

CHAPTER XXVIII
THE ENEMIES OF BEES.

Tt has been said that swallows, sparrows, tomtits, frogs,
and hens eat bees. We have never seen them do so, or
even attempt to seize a living one ; we are therefore scep-
tical on this point.

Mice often rob bees of their honey in the winter
months when they are sitting quiet and in little compass.
Indeed mice sometimes take up their winter quarters in a
bee-hive, which they find comfortable every way. Mice
dare not enter hives in summer when bees cover all their
combs. Experienced men contract the doors of their
hives about the middle of September, and so contract them
that mice cannot enter. The doors of our hives are about
4 inches long and 1 inch high. We cut pieces of wood
to fit the doors, in each of which we cut a small doorway
about 1 inch in length and one-quarter of an inch in
height. The small doorways prevent the mice from going
into hives, and allow the bees ample room for all the

THE ENEMIES OF BEES. 121

traffic they need, and for carrying out their dead during
the fine days of winter. These contracted doors assist
greatly in keeping up the warmth of the hives in cold
weather. It should be known that mice kill bees and eat
their heads off. Both house and field mice do this in cold
weather when bees are sitting closely together. ‘The mice
pick off from the mass a bee at a time and carry it outside
for decapitation.

Snails are very fond of honey and frequently find their
way into bee-hives, and there live and consume a great
deal of honey. Bees will face and kill a lion, but will
not touch a snail ; it is therefore allowed to go in and out
without let or hindrance. A bee-master should kill all
the snails he finds in the neighbourhood of his hives.
Hornets, wasps, and humble-bees seldom do harm or get
admission.

Bees of one hive often rob those of another. <A hive
of bees is a community of selfish creatures, which will,
without reluctance or remorse, rob another community of
all its stores. The greed and predatory habits of bees are
very remarkable. Doubtless these habits are the outcome
of the instincts of industry—instincts which make bees
the greatest enemies of bees. Jf one swarm succeeds in
its efforts to enter the citadel of another, it is sacked in a
comparatively short space of time. When once a hive is
invaded by a number of robbers, it can be saved only by
removal. We remember a strong hive of ours being
robbed by a second swarm belonging to a neighbour
bee-keeper. The second swarm had stolen about 20 lb.
in two or three days previous to our discovery of the
robbery. We removed the strong hive to a distance of
two miles (where it soon gathered as much as it had lost),
and placed another hive on the spot where it had been
robbed. Early next morning the robbers came for more
plunder, when every attempt to enter the hive was re-

122 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

sisted. The robbers, thus thwarted, instantly let the
whole fraternity of their own hive know that “ their
game was up”—that no more honey could be got from
that quarter. Often have we seen hives assaulted again
and again with spirit and determination, and every assault
successfully and spiritedly resisted. These continuous
and persistent attacks are probably owing to one or two
of the enemy having got access to the city, and escaped
with some spoil before the defenders were aware. It has
ever been a marvel to witness the result of a few bees in-
timating to their companions that honey has been found,
and that more may be had. How the intimation is given
we cannot tell; but sometimes combined attacks are sud-
denly made, and sometimes as suddenly ended. When
the bee-master sees any of his hives assaulted, and every
assaulting bee hurled back, he has little to fear ; and all
that he can do is to contract the door, and thus enable
his bees to defend their citadel. If robbers have no
mercy, neither have the defenders. Every bee defending
its hive is a qualified judge and executioner. If a robber
is caught, lynch-law takes its course.

Bees know each other by smell, and they know strangers
in the same way. If robbers are not resisted, and kept
out of the hive attacked at first, there is no attempt made
to resist them after having been allowed to go in and out
for some time. They soon pillage the hive of all its trea-
sure. While this pillaging is taking place, the bees work
early and late, wet and dry. Weak hives are generally
the sufferers ; but sometimes strong ones are invaded and
tobbed while busy gathering honey.

Every experienced apiarian knows robbers by their
stealthy manner of attempting to enter hives for plunder,
and he knows them by the way they leave the hive laden
with it. This knowledge cannot be obtained by reading,
but is gained by observation.

TRANSPORTING OF BEES. 123

CHAPTER XXIX.

TRANSPORTING BEES FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER.

Earnest men who keep large strong hives find it profitable
to remove them to the neighbourhood of orchards, clover,
and heather, when these are at some distance from their
own gardens. In some Continental parts, carts are made
on purpose, shelf over shelf, to carry hives. In Scotland,
the bee-keepers, generally speaking, remove the bees to
the moors every year. In August, large hives in good
seasons will gather from 40 Ib. to 60 lb. each off the
heather ; whereas, if they had no heather within reach,
they would lose weight during that month. We remove
our bees farther into the country every spring, bring them
home in August, and take them to the Derbyshire moors
—a distance of twenty-five miles. Many of the apiarians
of this neighbourhood are copying our example—and we
expect their number will multiply annually. There are
three seasons for honey—viz., the fruit-trees yield honey in
April and May ; sycamore-trees, field-mustard, beans, and
clover, &c., in June and July ; heather in August. With
large hives bees will gather honey enough in one day to
pay the expense of removal from here to Derbyshire and
back. We put fifteen hives on a green-grocer’s cart which
leaves here at 4 o’clock in the morning to catch the train
leaving Manchester at 5.45 a.m. In less than an hour
after, they are dropped from the train at a station on
the edge of a moor skirted by the Manchester and Shef-
field line of railway. In September the hives are brought
home in the same way.

Our mode of confining bees for removal is as simple as

124 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

it is safe. The doors of our hives are pretty large, and
the holes in their crowns are about 4 inches in diameter.
We nail a piece of fly-proof wire over their mouths and
crown-holes, then tie the hives tightly to their boards
with strong string or cord, and drive three two-inch nails
through the bottom rolls of the hives into the boards.
They are thus prepared to bear pretty rough handling.
The fly-proof wire at the doors and on the tops secures
ample ventilation for hives as full as they can be ; indeed
this ventilation is so great that the heat of full hives is
less at the end of the journey than it was before they
started : and frequently the bees lessen the ventilation by
waxing up the wire on the tops. If hives are not full or
crowded with bees, we do not always put wire on the
crown-holes. The wire at their doors, and a few thin
wedges or penny-pieces, slipped in between the hives and
their boards before they are tied together tightly with the
string, prevent suffocation. They travel safely. The
nails are used to make all doubly secure. If hives travel
over a rough road on a cart, the jolting sometimes causes
them to move or slide on their boards, especially if the
bottom of the cart is not level. The nails through the
rolls of the hives, driven into the boards, prevent the
hives from moving laterally. Of course hives are thus
prepared for travelling either before they commence work
in the morning, or after the outdoor labour of the day
has closed. In this way not a bee is lost; and the cool
of the day is the better time to transport and transplant
hives. Ifthe weather be cold or rainy, and the bees not
at work, they may be confined at any hour, and their
hives secured as already described. In fact, the colder
the weather is, and the less the bees are at work when
about to be transported and transplanted, the less danger
there is, for in cold weather the bees need less ventilation.
This is our mode of ventilating and securing hives for

TRANSPORTING OF BEES. 125

travelling hundreds of miles, and we have no break-
downs.

The value of cross-sticks in each hive to support its
combs will be seen ; indeed they are indispensable, for
if combs are not supported and kept steady by cross-
sticks they are easily shaken down. Hives without cross-
sticks are exposed to great risk in being moved at all.
And if bar-frame hives are not full of combs, and these
combs cemented to bars, it will be risky to transport them
by cart. Sometimes they are turned upside down in be-
ing removed, but even in this position their combs will
not bear much jolting or shaking.

Inexperienced persons almost always learn a lesson
never to be forgotten on their first journey to the moors
with their bees. Some of their best hives have been
suffocated. It should be well understood and remembered,
that whenever a hive of bees is closed up to keep in the
bees, natural ventilation comes to an end; and moreover,
the commotion of the bees caused by the first and con-
tinued motion of the hive increases the internal heat.
The admission of plenty of fresh air into their hives is the
secret of success.

When hives are so full that some of the bees are clus-
tering outside, they should be enlarged by ekes or nadirs
one or two days before they are prepared for removal to
a distance.

On arrival at their destination, all hives should be
speedily placed where they are to stand, the wire on their
crowns removed, and their lids put on, then covered, and
their doors opened. If the weather and time of the day
be favourable for honey-gathering when the bees arrive,
they will begin to work in less than fifteen minutes after
having been set at liberty, if they have not suffered dur-
ing the journey. How quickly bees find honey-flowers
and return with loads from them may be seen by placing

126 HANDY BOOK OF BEES

hives in a strange locality on a fine day. If they have
suffered from being overheated by the way, the bees will
not go into full work for one or two days afterwards.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE SELECTION AND PREPARATION OF STOCK-HIVES
FOR ANOTHER YEAR.

This is a very important matter in the profitable manage-
ment of bees, and “ bad luck” is often the consequence of
inattention to it. When we see our hedgerows and the
fruit-trees of our orchards covered with blossoms in
spring, we should not forget that we are indebted to
the autumn’s suns of last year for the beauty and abund-
ance that meet our eyes. Those suns ripened the wood,
filled the buds, and set the flowers before the cold and
snows of winter came. This year’s suns can develop
those buds into blossom and fruit. So the autumn treat-
ment of bees is to be considered of primary importance.

In selecting hives for keeping, one should have his eye
on many points.

Hives that are full of combs, well built, and as free
from drone-cells as possible, are to be preferred to those
that are not full of combs or that contain much drone-
comb. In the spring months, or in prospect of breeding
young queens for swarming, bees do build too much
drone-comb ; hence it is desirable to select hives in
autumn that are filled with combs or nearly so—it is the
number of drone-cells in a hive that determines the num-
ber of drones bred in it.

In this work of selecting hives for stock, the age of

STOCK-HIVES, 127

queens must not be lost sight of or forgotten. All the
old queens will be found in the top or first swarms (if all
the hives have swarmed) ; and if any of these containing
queens more than two years old be selected for stock, it is
desirable to remove and destroy their queens, and put
younger ones in their places. All parent hives, second
swarms, and turnouts have young queens. Second swarms
and turnouts with pretty and closely-built combs, weigh-
ing from 36 to 50 1b. each, make valuable stock-hives.
If some of them have faulty combs, or are otherwise ob-
jectionable, they are marked for honey, and the parent
hives kept for another year.

First or top swarms in ordinary seasons are too heavy
for keeping, and are therefore generally put down for
honey, but in rainy seasons they are often kept for
stock.

Now let us suppose a bee-keeper has twenty hives at
the end of August, ten for stock and ten for honey.
Should he apply the brimstone to the ten for honey?
No, but drive the bees out of them, and unite them to those
selected for keeping. This is a consideration of prime
importance ; for hives thus plentifully furnished with
bees in autumn are worth much more than those which,
being otherwise equal, receive no additions of bees.
Hives thus strengthened are well able to bear the sever-
ities and difficulties of cold winters: they swarm about
a month sooner than others in spring; and their first
swarms, in fine seasons, will have their hives filled with
combs, and be nearly ready to swarm (virgins) themselves
before hives not so liberally and skilfully dealt with begin
to swarm at all. No words of ours can describe the value
of this hint. Let it go and be circulated widely with
that of large hives, and the success of those who carry it
into practice will soon stimulate the attention of those
who do not; the awful brimstone-pit used to destroy

128 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

valuable lives will soon be considered as something be-
longing to ‘‘the dark ages.” The way to unite swarms is
simple and easy, and will be explained presently.

Let me here say that hives so well filled with bees in
autumn require more food in winter than those not so
well filled. A Continental writer, ‘a Swiss clergyman,”
has broadly stated that two swarms united eat no more
honey than each does separately. This wild notion has
now a pretty wide and free currency, having been quoted
and repeated by one writcr after another.

Some experiments have been made to test the truth of
this statement. The results, as recorded, seem to favour
the clergyman’s opinion ; but what strikes one is the ex-
ceedingly small quantity of honey eaten by the swarm,
doubled and trebled in the recorded experiments. Neither
single, nor double, nor treble swarms eat more than 7 lb.
of honey from September till March, whereas each of our
strong hives consumes 15 lb. of honey in the same space
of time! Who can rationally account for the difference
between 7 lb. and 15 1b. consumed if numbers are not
considered? We think the clergyman is wrong in his
statements and doctrines as to the food required by bees
in winter. It were easy to put bees enough into a hive
to consume 7 lb. of honey in a few weeks in autumn.
Fifty thousand bees require about as much honey in one
hive as they do in two.

In autumns of rainy seasons, what should be done
with hives containing but little honey? The bees of
them should be united to others selected for stock. If
there be not more than 5s. worth of honey in each hive,
it is better to let it remain in the hives and combs, and
be carefully preserved till the following spring for new
swarms, than to break up the comb for honey. A hive
of fresh young combs is worth 7s. at least for receiving a
swarm. Three years ago two good swarms came off on

STOCK-HIVES. : 129

the 20th of May. One was put into an empty hive, and
the other into one containing some sweet empty combs.
In about two months the swarm that was put into the
empty hive weighed 70 lb., whereas the other that had
the advantage of the combs weighed 90 1b. The swarm,
on being hived amongst the combs, was apparently a little
less than the other. A hive even half or a third full of
young combs is a great advantage to a swarm, for the bees
at once begin to collect honey and set eggs. If it be
desired to feed the hives kept for stock with honey in
those set aside for swarms next season, it is easily done
by placing the comb-hives under the bee-hives for a single
night. The bees will go down and empty every cell of
honey, and carry all up into their own combs, without
injuring those of the beeless ones. Thus the weak hives
are made to feed the strong ones in unfavourable honey
years.

But one of the greatest difficulties which overtake a
bee-master well up in the profitable management of his
stock, is when all his hives become too heavy for keeping.
Some seasons his second swarms and turnouts and stock-
hives will rise in weight to 70, 80, and 100 Ib. each,
and first swarms will go 30 or 40 lb. beyond 100 Ib.
weight. When this happens, both the season and the
locality are favourable for honey-gathering. Well, what
should be done with such heavy hives? Put them ail
down for honey and honey-comb. The profit in such a
season is very great. But if all the hives are put down
for honey, there will be none left for stock. Stop a little.
There are three ways of keeping up the number of stock-
hives and getting honey from all the hives.

1. One is to drive the bees out of all the hives before
the honey season ends, and put two swarms into an
empty hive. A few days of fine weather will enable the
bees to fill their new hive with combs, but there will be

I

130 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

a proportionate loss of honey by interfering with heavy
hives before the season is over. When two swarms are
thus united, the oldest queen should be destroyed before
the union takes place.

2. The second way is to select the proper number of
stocks from these heavy hives, and greatly reduce them
in weight by freely using the comb-knife in cutting
out 20 Ib. of honey or more from each hive, and
uniting to them the bees of those that are wholly put
down.

3. The other way of meeting the difficulty is the best,
though it causes a little more trouble to carry it out.
The bees are allowed to gather all they can in their own
hives till the season ends, which is generally about the
commencement of September. Suppose we have twelve
or fifteen hives, and wish to have six stocks, Well, all
the bees are driven out of their hives into empty ones,
and united in pairs in 16-inch hives—that is to say, all
the bees of the twelve or fifteen hives are put into six
empty ones, with cross-sticks in them. If the swarms are
very large, these hives will hardly hold them; in that
case they should be enlarged with ekes. Now they are
to be fed vigorously, each to get 25 lb. of sugar boiled in
its own weight of water. The feeding-boards are suitable
instruments to use in giving large quantities of syrup for
comb-building and storing-up. The 25 lb. of sugar will
make about 50 Ib. of syrup. All this should be given to
a hive so filled with bees in ten, twelve, or fourteen days.
The door should be well contracted, and the hive kept
warm to promote comb-building. By the end of fourteen
days, every hive so filled and fed will be nearly, if not
quite, full of combs, and many of the combs well filled
with eggs and brood. The weight gained by the hives
will be found to be equal to the weight of the sugar (or
thereabouts) given to them. From 50 Ib. of syrup, a

STOCK-HIVES. 131

swarm can nearly fill its hive with combs and store up
25 Ib. of food.

When the bees creep together by reason of cold weather
the ekes may be taken from them ; and if some combs
have been built down into the ekes, they should be
shortened or pared to fit.

These sugar-fed stocks are generally very prosperous
ones in the following year, their combs being young and
containing scarcely any bee-bread. Almost every cell
yields brood in spring. But it should be understood that
combs made from sugar are more brittle and easily broken
than combs made from honey gathered in the fields. We
have frequently known every hive in an apiary put down
for honey, and all the stocks made as now described. We
think it was in 1864 when a cousin of ours realised £40
profit from nine stocks. He found all his hives too
heavy for keeping, hence he took all the honey, and
formed his stocks by feeding.

In a year or two after, we found him forming stocks in
the same way. He had his hives placed over holes or
pits in the ground about a foot square, and the syrup in
dishes at the bottom of these pits. The hives were well
covered ; and in this novel and rustic way he succeeded
in furnishing his apiary with hives of surpassing worth
and strength.

132 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

CHAPTER XXXI.

ON DRIVING AND SHAKING BEES FROM HIVES AND
UNITING THEM TO OTHER SWARMS.

Though often mentioned before in other chapters of this
work, this matter deserves separate and distinct treatment.

Take a hive full of combs and bees, and an empty one
into which the bees are to be driven. After the full hive
has got a few puffs of smoke, it is turned upside down,
the empty one placed on it, mouth to mouth, and a
table-cloth is tied round the junction of the two hives,
to prevent the escape of a single bee. The drumming or
driving now commences, simply by beating the bottom
hive with open hands, or little blocks of wood. This
beating confounds the bees, and causes them to run up-
wards. In running up into the empty hive the bees
make a great noise as in swarming, and this noise facili-
tates the work in hand. In hot weather all the bees,
or almost all, may be thus driven out of a large hive in
twenty minutes. The drumming should be continued
the whole time, for if the bees have time given them to
think, they will cease running, the noise will abate, and
those that are below will cleave to the brood-combs to
keep them warm. In driving bees the work should be
done quickly, allowing no time for play or palaver.

In cold weather this work is more difficult to accom-
plish, the bees being then more disinclined to leave their
own comfortable habitations. But the work has to be
done, and the bee-master’s ingenuity will not forsake him
in a job of this kind. About ten minutes before he
commences to drive his bees in cold weather, he will
remember to turn up their hive and pour about half a

DRIVING AND SHAKING BEES. 133

pound of syrup (sugar-and-water) amongst the bees, and
place it on the board. Every bee will get a feed. The
heat of the hive will speedily rise twenty or thirty de-
grees, and in a short time the noise and mirth of the bees
will be great.

If the empty hive has been standing in a cold place,
it should be warmed by holding it before the fire for a
few minutes, before it is placed on the other. The bees
are now easily driven up; they run as fast and furious
under such treatment as they do in the warm days of
August. It is a hard-fought battle that kills every sol-
dier, and it is an unusually successful achievement when
all the bees are driven from the bottom hive. Sometimes
two or three dozens will refuse to leave the hive. The
brimstone-rag, or a puff of powder, will soon clear them
out; and though we never use the brimstone-rag, or
patronise it in any way, for killing whole swarms of valu-
able hives, we do not hesitate a moment about applying it
to destroy a few stragglers.

When hives are less than 30 lb. in weight, we take
their bees from them by a speedier mode than driving ;
we shake them out in less than half a minute of time.
When this is done no smoke is used ; the bees are taken
unawares. The hive to receive the bees is placed on its
crown ; the other is gently raised off its board, but not
turned up. The bee-master now places his fingers inside
the hive, and his thumbs outside, the hive being fairly
balanced on his hands, and his legs pretty well astride
the empty hive. He now acts as if he were going to dash
the one against the other, but they never touch; the
bees, however, go forward, and fall into the empty hive.
A few violent thrusts or shakes, well performed, are often
enough to empty the hive of every bee. In cold weather,
when bees are sitting fast amongst their combs, they can-
not be shaken out in this manner without first feeding

134 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

them as described above. A few minutes after having
been fed, they will be found moving lightly about over
their combs, when they may be shaken out readily in less
than half a minute. This expert “express” mode of
driving bees from light hives is useful to us ; for we have
many to drive, and little time to do it. But the thing is
so simple and easily done, that the greatest novice in the
world in bee-management could, on seeing it once done,
do it well. We often perform this operation by candle-
light, by feeding the bees about sunset, and taking them
into a room, or barn, or hothouse for a short time. Say
in about half an hour afterwards, they may all be readily
shaken on to the floor of the room, and a hive placed
over them ; and often there is not a bee lost in doing it.
Of course the hive containing the bees should be placed
on its stand before they begin to fly next morning.

Hives beyond 30 Ib. are not so easily handled. A man
of ordinary strength is unable to put them in motion
rapid enough to make the bees loose their foot-hold and
go forward.

The art of uniting swarms is a very valuable one, and
easily learned. The hive to receive the bees, or additional
swarm, is turned up, and some sugar-and-water, strongly
scented with mint, is poured over the bees. In about
fifteen minutes after they have been sprinkled, the other
swarm (temporarily driven into an empty hive) is shaken
over the combs and bees, and some more syrup sprinkled
over them. The hive is again placed on its board, and
the work is done. This minted syrup prevents the bees
from discovering which are strangers, and therefore pre-
vents fighting. On the Continent the bee-keepers have
begun to use nutmeg grated in the syrup, which they
give to swarms when uniting them. It is the same idea
and practice. If the nutmeg smells stronger than the
mint, it is better for this purpose. We could unite a

DRIVING AND SHAKING BEES. 135

hundred swarms successfully without the use of either
mint or nutmeg ; but these strongly-scented articles used
in the marriage-feast of two swarms tie the knot at once,
and cement a union lasting as life. When swarms are
united about sunset, and plenty of unminted syrup is
given to the bees, they rarely kill each other. When
they do, the work has not been well done,

The immediate effects of placing sweets in the mouths
of young folk are very noticeable. A kind of intoxication
or hilarity comes over their minds; and when this takes
place, it is rather difficult to make them cross-tempered.
All this kind of thing happens in a hive if the bees are
well fed with sugar. It is therefore wise to give them some
about fifteen minutes before the other swarm is shaken
amongst them. A swarm may be divided between two
hives, or three, as successfully as when wholly given to
one. We are now speaking of uniting bees in autumn.

The oldest queen of the two swarms should be killed
before the union takes place. And it is necessary to
remember that the hives standing against each other in
the same garden are the most eligible for being united, as
each swarm will be near its own stand.

When our hives are brought home from the moors, we
place the honey-hives in front of, or side by side with,
those marked for keeping, thus :—

as
HONEY HONEY
fi ial a

Here the four stock-hives get the bees of the two

126 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

honey-hives, and if there were four honey-hives the
stocks would get a whole swarm each.

But suppose a honey-hive is standing at some distance
from those we wish to strengthen by its bees, how can
we act without risk? There is some, if not great, diffi-
culty in arranging such matters.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Suppose we want to get the honey from No. 2, and
strengthen with bees 7 and 9. If the bees of 2 were
to be put into 7 and 9 they would return to their old
stand, and probably be killed at the doors of 1 and 3. In
such a case we drive all the bees out of 8 and unite them
to 7 and 9. Then we drive the bees out of 2, and
throw them into 8, placing 8 on stand 2. Thus the honey
is obtained, and all the bees preserved.

Sometimes it may be desirable to unite the bees of two
weak stocks in the winter season orin cold weather. This is
done bycandle-light in some roomor house. The bees of the
hive to be surrendered are fed by sprinkling syrup over
them. In about fifteen minutes after, they are suddenly
shaken into the other hive, or otherwise on the floor and
the other hive placed over them. We have never known
an unsuccessful effort made to unite bees by candle-light.
Of course the candle must be speedily removed, as the
bees on the floor would naturally fly or creep towards it.
Before daylight next morning the united bees should
be placed where they have to stand. A little self-confi-
dence, and a fair share of celerity, will enable any bee-
keeper to accomplish all he wishes to do in his apiary.

TAKING HONEY AND WAX. 137

CHAPTER XXXII.

ON TAKING HONEY AND WAX.

When we lived in Oxfordshire, we were pleased to find
the cottagers there could sell their honey in the hives,

Certain honey-factors came round
every autumn, and bought honey-
hives at sixpence perlb. gross weight,
after the bees had been killed by
brimstone. We then thought, and
think still, that the cottagers got
a fair price for their honey, and
doubtless the factors got a fair mar-
gin of profit.

It is not difficult to know pretty
accurately how much honey is in a
hive before the bees are removed
from it. Here is an illustration
of a German steelyard, which is a
handy instrument for weighing hives.
The dial or plate is figured on both
sides—one side for the large central
hook and ring, numbering from 1 Ib.
up to 200 lb. The other side, indi-
eating from 1 lb. to 40 lb. only, is
used when the hive is lifted by the

r German Steelyard,

small hook and ring seen on the left-hand side. This
steelyard is small enough to be carried in a coat-pocket.
There are other kinds of steelyards, perhaps more ac-
curate than this German one, but they are more bulky.
To ascertain how much honey is in a hive, we have a
tule or standard of calculation which comes near enough

138 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

to certainty for all practical purposes. After deducting
the weight of hive, board, and bees, we reckon 5 Ib. of
honey for every 7 1b. weight. Suppose a hive weighs 60 Ib.
The hive and board may weigh 10 Ib. jointly, and the
bees 8 Ib., leaving 42 lb. In this case there are 30 lb.
of honey, and 12 1b. of refuse combs. Another hive may
weigh 100 Ib., the hive, board, and bees of which may be
21 Ib.—leaving 79 lb. According to our standard, there
would be 57 lb. of honey and 22 1b. of refuse. In the case
of hives containing old combs, the yield of honey is less
in proportion to weight than it is in young or virgin
combs. Again, if the brood be all hatched, there will be
less refuse and more honey. And we need not add that
the yield of poor lean hives will be found wanting ; and
that in the yield of very fat ones, and those beyond 100
tb., there will be found a surcharge of honey.

But let us now come to the process of taking honey.
As soon as the bees are driven out of honey-hives, they
should be carried into a warm room, and not allowed to
cool, for it is very difficult to impart heat to honeycomb
without melting their wax. The sticks crossing the
combs are withdrawn by a pair of pincers, the combs re-
moved from their hives, and the honey portions of them
carefully cut off and placed on a flat dish or milk-pan,
standing near the fire, but not so near as to melt the
combs, Any pure white comb may be set aside for sale
as it is, and all the rest containing honey broken up with
a knife, and then put into a bag of cheese-cloth or thin
towelling td drain off into a vessel placed underneath.
The honey thus drained is as pure as it possibly can be,
if the bee-bread in the cell has not been broken by the
knife. As many of the cells contain both bee-bread and
honey, there is great danger (in taking honey) of having
its flavour tainted by bee-bread. In this school we cur-
selves are but pupil-teachers. We disapprove of hand-

TAKING HONEY AND WAX. 139

squeezing ; and yet where there is much pollen amongst
the honey, we have found the squeezing process safertand
better than that of cutting the combs with a knife, In
the case of heather-honey some pressure is absolutely
necessary, for it will not run without it.

We have seen instruments for pressing honey from
combs. Though small andimperfect, they did their work
well, but the process was slow and tedious. We earnestly
hope that the ingenuity of some bee-keeper will soon furnish
us with an instrument which will enable apiarians to take
hundredweights of honey from combs easily and speedily.

“ Have you never seen the American machine called
the Slinger?” Yes, we have seen several of them, and
tried one here that was highly commended at the apiarian
Jéte that came off at the Crystal Palace in September 1874.
We regret that its trial here was disappointing; for though
it cast the clover-honey from the combs by the action of
centrifugal force, it could not cast or sling off the heather-
honey in the same way. Heather-honey is beyond the
power of “ the American Slinger,” or honey-extractor.

The Slinger is intended for use with bar-frame hives—
that is to say, by apiarians who adopt the movable-comb
system of management. When honey is wanted, tho
bars of combs are taken from the hives, the lids are cut
off the honey portions of the comb with a knife, two are
placed in the Slinger, the revolving action of the instru-
ment slings the honey from the cells, and then the
combs are replaced in the hive. It casts the clover-honey
out pretty well; but,as we have said, heather-honey will not
go at the command of this American instrument, however
fast it revolves. The value of this instrument, we are told,
is that it takes the honey without destroying the combs,
and thus saves the bees from wasting much honey in
building more combs. In much that is said about the
Slinger by its patrons and advocates (who are chiefly

140 HANDY BOOK OF BEES,

traders in bar-frame hives), there is the ring of common-
sense which always captivates. But do you think the
Slinger is likely ever to come into general use in this
country? The present instrument, we think, will never
suit the bee-farmer whose object is profit, and therefore
will not come into general use. Some are, we are told,
endeavouring to improve the Slinger by making it more
efficient in action, and smaller in bulk. We sincerely
hope they will succeed. Those who keep bar-frame hives
may find the instrument useful in taking honey in small
quantities from their hives, but there are many objections
that could be offered to the use of the Slinger.

1. Honey and brood are generally found in the same
combs; and it appears to me that the whirling of the
machine will cast out unsealed brood as well as honey.
If it does, the honey will be impure. The breeding sea-
son was over when we put the instrument to the test here.

2. The Slinger is used to preserve combs two years old.
Young combs are too tender to stand the whirling of the
machine. Now we think combs quite old enough at the
end of their second year. At that age they are black and
tough, and moreover they are pollen-bound—that is to
say, their centre parts are clogged with bee-bread. The
bees cannot find empty cells in such combs for the eggs
laid by their queens. We hold that the preservation of
old combs in hives is neither wise nor profitable. Bees
thrive better and gather more honey in combs young and
sweet than they do in combs two years old. A swarm
put into a good straw hive in May will fill it with combs
and gather more honey in a good season than any kind of
hive managed on the non-swarming system.

3. The combs of a large hive yield about five shillings’
worth of wax. This sum would nearly buy sugar enough
for a large swarm, which, if properly given, would en-
able the bees to fill an ordinary bar-frame hive or a 16-

TAKING HONEY AND WAX. 141

inch straw one with combs, and store up food enough for
themselves from September till March. What advantage,
then, can be found in the use of old combs? Most cer-
tainly there can be no gain or profit in their retention.

We are most anxious to find an instrument that will
enable bee-keepers to take their honey from the combs
speedily ; for honey-taking, in any form, is very unpleas-
ant work. In the old process of draining or running
honey through a bag into a vessel beneath it, we have
to say, that after it has stood for a day in the vessel, it
is skimmed, jarred up, and made ready for use or sale.
A short time after honey is jarred up, it begins to set or
cerystallise ; and crystallised honey is gritty to eat. Those
who wish to use their honey in a liquid state have simply
to put the jars into an oven for a time. It soon liquefies
there, and becomes as good to eat as when first taken
from the combs.

Honey in the combs does not candy so soon as run
honey, but even in the comb and supers of comb it
sometimes does candy. By placing such comb in a warm
place, the honey liquefies, and the comb appears as in its
virgin state. Both honey and honeycomb will keep good
for two years, if not for a longer period of time.

Wax is obtained by putting the refuse combs into a
bag of cheese-cloth, and boiling them in a large pot of
clean water over a slow fire. Ifthe bag be pushed to the
bottom of the pot, and held there by some contrivance,
all the better. The wax speedily comes to the surface of
the water, and appears there as a beautiful yellow oil or
fat. This oil is ladled into a bag of fine cloth or strainer,
through which it passes into vessels. The wax may be
boiled again in clean water and put through the bag once
more, and thus become purified. Combs that yield £10
worth of honey, yield rather more than £1 worth of
wax.

142 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

CHAPTER XXXIIL

ON WINTER TREATMENT.

Doctors differ in their opinions as to the treatment bees
should receive in the winter months. One says, Keep
them warm ; another says, Keep them rather cold. One
suggests a nice warm spot facing the south ; and another
recommends all hives to face the north, lest the warm
rays of the sun tempt the bees to come out when the
atmosphere is too chilling. One prefers to winter bees
in the garret ; another has buried them in cavities under-
neath the ground. In America, some large bee-keepers
have erected large houses on purpose to hold their hives
during winter. These houses are meant to protect bees
from the severity of American winters. In Great Britain
such houses are quite unnecessary : here bees can be kept
sufficiently warm without anything of the kind.

Would you keep bees warm, then, in winter? Yes;
as warm as possible out of doors, so that they get fresh
air enough to breathe. The importance of keeping bees
warm in cold weather cannot be magnified too much,
They are easily benumbed by cold—easily chilled to death,
When a bee drops into snow, it seems to die sooner there
than if cast into a hot fire. Though bees apparently die
on touching soft snow, they are not quite dead ; for if
speedily gathered and carried to the heat of a fire, they
recover their powers. When snow is on the ground,
especially if the wind blows from the south or west,
all hives should have their doors closed, so as to pre-
vent bees leaving them.

In cold weather bees creep close together, but some
of them must necessarily be more exposed to the cold

WINTER TREATMENT. 143

than the rest. Those on the outside of the mass as it sits
among the combs suffer most. Sometimes they become
benumbed, and lose all power of motion. The rest creep
closer together, leaving the others to perish in their help-
less condition. Many hives are thus weakened for want
of sufficient protection in cold winters. Weak hives’ are
often killed outright by cold. Bees need extra covering
in winter, and they cannot well get too much of it. Be-
neath the outer covering plenty of other materials should
be used. Soft dry hay, two or three inches thick, or
waste cotton, or tailors’ clippings, old carpets, or grassy
sods, properly placed around hives, are a great protection
to bees in winter.

The seeds of consumption, and other diseases of the
human frame, have been sometimes sown at a date more
ancient than we think about; and so the “bad luck” of
many bee-keepers in the summer time could be traced to
their bad management during the winter season. Warmth
as well as dryness for bees is of prime importance in
every apiary in which profit is sought.

About the end of September, when all stocks have
received some additional bees, and feeding, if necessary,
they should be neatly plastered to their boards with some
kind of mortar, and then covered up as described. The
doors of the hives are to be contracted at this time. No
more attention is necessary for five or six months, save
that of keeping the bees inside their hives when snow is
on the ground. But here let us say that bees breathe
and require fresh air in winter as well as summer, and
that they prefer to go abroad to evacuate; hence care
and thoughtfulness are required in closing their doors to
keep them in. Bees in wooden hives soon perish if their
doors be closely shut. Bees in straw hives will be suf-
focated too if their doors be closely shut for some time,
if they have been crowded in autumn by the addition of

144 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

extra swarms. During long storms, the lives of bees in
very weak hives may be preserved by taking them into
the room of a dwelling-house. Bees have been wintered
beneath the ground in America. It has been found that
they consumed as much honey below as they did above
ground. The dampness of the air below ground, as might
be expected, rotted their combs.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

WHEN SHOULD HIVES BE PURCHASED ?

We think September is the best time to purchase hives
for stock, for then almost every bee-keeper has some to
part with—viz., those which he has marked for honey.
If he can get the value of the honey, hives, and board, he
will readily sell them, and thus save himself the trouble
of running and selling the honey. The taking of honey
and wax is the most disagreeable thing in bee-keeping,
and we would much rather sell our hives than put them
down for honey. This month is the cheapest time, too;
for hives that have weathered the winter are higher in
price, because all danger is over, and they are nearer the
time of multiplying their numbers. But bee-keeping can
be commenced at any time,—with stock-hives in spring,
autumn, and winter; and with swarms in May and June.
And those who keep bees largely will readily sell at any
season,

145

SUPPLEMENT.

Iy penning a Supplement for this—the fourth —
edition of the ‘Handy Book of Bees,’ it is but simple
justice to the reader and myself to state that after ten
years of extensive experience among bees, since the first
edition of this work was published, I find nothing in
the second and third editions which I wish to alter or
withdraw: in fact, our confidence in the system of
management unfolded and recommended in this work
grows stronger year by year. The same may be said
of the hives which are recommended. Mr Ollerhead,
who is a practical and disinterested bee-keeper, delivered
a lecture on Bees last autumn at Wimbledon. “We
now come,” said the lecturer, “to the question of hives.
Last autumn I prepared carefully twenty hives of bees
for the winter—viz., four Pettigrews, three Neighbours’
» Cottage hives, two Stewartons, five Woodburys, two
Carr-Stewartons, and four double Neighbours. A great
diversity of opinion exists as to which is the best hive
to use. The old straw skep, the 20-inch Pettigrew,
the Cottage Neighbour, the Woodbury, and the Carr-
Stewarton, are good in their way; but to my mind
the best hive for quantity of honey, either in the
comb or in supers, is the Pettigrew. The hive itself
has a capacity for a prodigious quantity of honey,
while sectional or other supers may be piled on its
crown to any extent desirable. I have visited every
show of the British Bee-Keepers’ Association, and have
so far failed to find any hives better adapted for the

profitable management of bees than the Pettigrew, the
K

146 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

Crystal Palace straw skep, and the common Wood-
bury; and I think it will be a long time before we
find better in the market. I took 110 Ib. of honey out
of one Pettigrew, and 97 lb. out of another, which was
considerably more than the returns from any other
hives on the same ground under the same treatment.”
This experience of Mr Ollerhead is in harmony with
my own, and that of hundreds of the most successful
bee-keepers of Great Britain.

Within the last few years great efforts have been made
to improve the bar-frame hive, and make the movable-
comb system of management popular. To some extent
these efforts have been successful. The most successful
bee-keepers of the bar-frame school now use large hives,
and are gradually making improvements in their con-
struction and management.

The “ Stewarton hive,” used by some bee - keepers,
deserves honourable mention and notice in this work,
as some clever men prefer it to either the straw hive
or bar-frame one. Our aim now is to give the reader
a short sketch of both the bar-frame hive and the
Stewarton, together with the ways in which they are
managed. And in noticing this, that, or any hive, let
it be well understood that no hive or system of man-
agement concentrates within itself all excellences and
advantages. Both the Stewarton and bar-frame hives
and systems have advantages and disadvantages.

The Bar-frame Hive.

In studying the natural history of bees, every facility
for examining hives internally is an advantage. The
movable-comb hive affords greater facilities for in-
ternal examinations than any other hive—save the
unicomb or leaf hive.

All the combs of properly constructed bar-frame hives
can be easily taken out and examined. The eggs of
the queen, and the brood in all stages of advancement,

SUPPLEMENT. 147

may be seen and examined day by day. For scientific
pursuits the movable-comb hive is excellent; and in
practical and profitable management it has some advan-
tages in certain seasons, or with certain ends in view.
For instance, a hive may be 60 Ib. in weight by the
end of August, and from this hive the owner may wish
to get some honey for use, and keep the hive for stock.
In such a case, two or three of the outside combs or
bars could be removed from the hive, leaving all the
rest for the bees to winter in. With straw ‘hives in
such a case, 10 or 12 Ib. of honey is cut out with the
comb-knife. Again, two hives with movable combs may
be 60 1b. each—too heavy for keeping—and one has to
be kept for stock. In this case half of the bars—the
outside ones containing most of honey—could be re-
moved for use or profit, and the central combs of both
hives could be united, with all the bees in one hive.
This is a very great advantage, which other hives do
not possess. But there is a difficulty in the use of this
advantage which should be remembered. Combs are
not built quite plumb or straight in the bars, and hence
the difficulty of getting two to fit each other. If the
undulations or bends in the combs run too near each
other, so that the bees have not room to work between
them, there will be a loss of comb and space.

Some advocates of the movable-comb system contend
for its superiority on the ground that the honey can be
taken from the combs by using the “ American slinger”
without destroying them. The advocates of the slinger
have said that its use saves the bees from the expense
and trouble of building fresh combs, and in this way
more honey is obtained. Our opinions on this point
remain unshaken, and we believe that the slinger will
never come into general or profitable use in this country.
The use of old combs in hives, and the practice of keep-
ing them for future use, will gradually grow in dis-
favour and disuse.

Doubtless many other things could be said in favour

148 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

of the movable-comb system of managing bees, but I
wish to be very brief. Perhaps the best thing that
can be said in their favour is the facility they afford
for the use of artificial comb foundations. The comb
foundations is a wonderful invention, and likely to be
of great advantage to bee-keepers who at present are
inexperienced in their use. In using them hitherto
failure has been the rule, and success the exception. I
believe they have been successfully used by some api-
arians, and I hope that the difficulties of using them
will be overcome, and that the advantages of their use
will be ultimately realised by all the schools of api-
culture. Let me again say that the bar-frame hive
affords the greatest facilities for the extensive use of
artificial comb foundations. The great objection to the
bar-frame hive is the materials of which it is made.
How any sensible honest man can advocate the use of
wood for bee-hives isa marvel to me. It is an improper
material, and should not be used if better can be found.
This is being found out in the bar-frame school itself.
Wooden hives do not permit the moisture of bees to
escape: it is condensed on their inner surfaces, and
runs down the sides of the hives, and the presence of
moisture in hives rots their combs. Various plans have
been adopted to let the moisture escape, and have failed.
Now chaff hives—that is, hives with double boards or
cavity walls, the cavities being filled with chaff—are
being tried and approved. Doubtless they are the best
things out at present, and a great improvement on all
that has gone before them. The chaff is good both for
warmth and ventilation, and if the inner case and outer
shell of the chaff hives are well pierced with holes, the
moisture of the bees will be sifted out of the hive and
do no harm. Something better than wood for bar-
frame hives will, I have no doubt, be discovered and
come into use. Last time I was at Carluke in Lanark-
shire, I saw a straw hive built as square, and its sides
as plumb, as any wooden hive ever made. It stood

Vy ee

SUPPLEMENT. 149

in the gas-man’s garden, and without speaking to any-
body about it, I took it to be a bar-frame hive in straw,
and a model of beauty it was. Something better than
wood is wanted for bar-frame hives.

As to the management of bar-frame hives, I have to
say that Mr Raitt of Beecroft, Blairgowrie, has brought
a great amount of intelligence and practical experience
to bear on this question, and in his hands the bar-frame
system is scientifically managed, and successfully too.

Mr Raitt’s hives contain sixteen frames, and have
partition - walls, which, of course, are movable. His
mode of management may be stated in few words. In
autumn he tries to get a hatch of brood by artificial
feeding, using some flour or pea-meal in the syrup. He
fancies the meal in the food causes the queen of a hive
to recommence laying, and thus a hatch of brood is
obtained after the season for breeding has passed, and
this hatch of young bees so late strengthens the hive
for winter. Mr Raitt may be right in thinking that
the meal tends to produce eggs, though I dare not
endorse his statement; for common syrup without the
admixture of meal, given to bees in autumn, almost
always secures a hatch of brood.

About the end of October, when bees creep closely
together and sit in little space, Mr Raitt removes about
ten frames of comb from every hive, and places the
partition-frames close to the bees, so that they may
have small, cozy, warm dwelling-places in winter. The
frames of combs that are removed are placed carefully
in a dry room, and there preserved till spring, when
bees begin to multiply in numbers, and want more
room. The partition-walls are removed further from
the bees to admit the bars of comb as they are needed.
Additional bars of comb are gradually given to the bees
till the whole sixteen are replaced ; and when these are
well filled with brood, supering begins, sectional supers
being used at Blairgowrie. The bar-frame school of
apiarians should be grateful to Mr Raitt for so far

150 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

improving the management of the frame hive. Both
Mr Raitt’s hive and system of management are improve-
ments on all former and existing hives and systems of
his school—viz., the bar-frame one. Mr Raitt places
his hives on dry peaty banks of soil, covers them well
up with bracken leaves, and keeps them warm and dry
in winter. This is but a very meagre sketch of what
is done at Blairgowrie. The great secret of success
there and everywhere else is the introduction and use of
large roomy hives, and vigorous intelligent management.

The contraction of the space of wooden hives in
winter is a piece of good practice, for if the unoccupied
combs were left in the hives, and exposed to the mois-
ture of the bees, they would lose their virtue and rot
during the winter. Straw hives permit the moisture
of the bees to escape, and hence their combs remain
uninjured, even though unoccupied, and at some dis-
tance from the bee-nest.

The Stewarton Hive.

This hive, so unlike all other kinds of hives in make,
appearance, and management, has some excellences and
advantages. It is so different from other hives, that
it is hardly possible to give a correct idea of it by a
pen-and-ink sketch. To be known it should be seen.
A respectable gentleman, who writes under the name of
“The Renfrewshire Bee-Keeper,” uses this hive success-
fully, and strongly recommends it. It is also used by
some bee-keepers in Ayrshire, and in other parts of the
country, but it has never come into extensive use. Still
the hive, as I have said, deserves honourable mention
and a fair trial. The Stewarton hive is octagonal in
shape, and is of several parts put together. It is a
strange-looking affair as it falls from the carpenter’s
bench. A hive complete is made of three breeding-
boxes 6 inches deep and 14 inches wide, and three
honey -boxes 4 inches deep. In honey seasons when

SUPPLEMENT. 151

the bees are in full swing, eagerly panting for work,
the whole six boxes are used as one hive, 30 inches
high and 14 inches wide. Such a hive is capable
of gathering a great amount of honey, and in some
seasons the Stewarton hive has done wonders. Here
again it will be seen that the secret of success lies
in its size. But the peculiarity of the hive lies in
its construction, and the way in which it is worked
or supered. The three breeding-boxes and the three
honey-boxes have bars in them, but no tops. Every
part of the hive resembles somewhat a riddle rim, with
bars running across it. ‘There are slides that run in
and between the bars, and these slides in use form a
top to any one of the compartments. Suppose only
two of the breeding-boxes are used in winter, the slides
are used on the top box. If the other breeding-box be
placed below the other two, the slides remain where
they have been—thus an addition or eke 6 inches
deep, is made to the hive. If the box were placed
above the other two, the slides would be withdrawn
from the second box and placed in the top box. Thus
the three breeding - boxes would be together, with
scarcely a division between them. As soonas the three
boxes are full of bees and brood supering commences,
the slides in the top box are withdrawn, and one of the
honey-boxes or supers is placed on the top of the other
boxes, and receives the slides. The slides of course are
always in use in the topmost box Some who use the
Stewarton hive withdraw only a few slides between
the super and the breeding-box, and those near the
outside, te prevent the queen from going into the honey-
boxes to lay. As soon as the first super is nearly filled
with honey, another is placed above it, and so on till
all are tilled. These 4-inch supers hold from 20 Ib. to
30 Ib. of honeycomb each—and many beautiful octagon
supers of comb are taken from Stewarton hives and
exposed for sale in the honey shops of ‘Glasgow. At
the end of the season the bees are confined to two

152 HANDY BOOK OF BEES,

of the boxes, in which they winter. The breeding-
box, then removed, is placed in a dry place for the
winter, to be re-used, like the Blairgowrie bars, when
summer comes again. If I have failed to give the
reader a correct idea of the Stewarton hive and the
mode of working it, it has been from want of ability
and not of will.

My object in penning this Supplement is to help
bee-keepers of all classes as much as I can. It is
a happiness to all right-minded teachers to stimulate
attention and multiply ideas which may be crystallised
into shape, and be useful to future generations.

While we cheerfully commend all that is good in
other kinds of hives than our own, and in other
systems of management, we can never tire of, or grow
out of love with, the large straw hive, and its system
of management recommended in this—the Handy Book
of Bees; for they have been long tested, and found to
answer all the ends we have in view—viz., large results
from little expense of time and money.

Since the above was written, a short account of the
results of bee-keeping at Carluke this year has been
sent to me by Mr James Rennie, who is probably the
largest bee-keeper of the place. Last year, when I
visited Carluke, Mr Rennie told me he would never
attempt to winter bees in wooden hives, as he had
found straw hives so much better. He also told me
that he considered some districts in Perthshire and
Aberdeenshire, where he had at one time resided and
kept bees, were richer, warmer, and better for honey
than Carluke parish.

In the letter just received from him, and dated the
11th of October, 1880, he says: “This year has been
the best for honey that I ever had in this part of the
country. Fruit blossoms and clover just yielded honey
enough to keep the bees breeding; they made lots of
workers, but no weight of honey to speak of. On
being removed to the moors they got three days of fine

SUPPLEMENT, 153

weather each week for a fortnight, and ten days at the
winding up. Indeed the heather failed before the
weather. There is not a bee-master (worthy of the
name) in Carluke who had not hives 100 1b. in weight
and over, though they were comparatively light when
taken to the heather. Mr Lindsay of Wishaw took
eight hives to the moors: he weighed them before they
went, and on their return—
1. Stock-hive rose in weight from 31 lb. to 82 lb.

2. Do. do. 60 ,, 143 ,,
3. Do. do. 45 ,, 105 ,,
4. Do. do, 53 ,, 140,,
5. First swarm do. 60 ,, 120,,
6. Do. do. 65 ,, 135 ,,
7. Do. do. 55 ,, 140,,
8. A turn-out do. 30 ,, 89,,

“Mr Lindsay takes no second swarms from his hives.
You will see that his eight hives gained on the moors
the additional weight of 555 Ib., which is within a frac-
tional part of 70 lb. per hive average.

“Mr John Jack of this place had a stock-hive which
yielded two swarms, and the first swarm yielded two
swarms which are commonly called virgins. On their
return from the heather they weighed as follows :—

Stock-hive, . F 3 : : s 97 Ib.
First swarm, . . ‘ 47 ,,
Second swarm, . . : 112: ;;
First virgin, . ; é , . 37 ,,
Second virgin, , ‘ : : 26 ,,

Total, .» 819 |b.

“Mr Jack’s first virgin broke down in going to the
heather.

“The following figures represent the weight of one of
my stock-hives and its swarms :—

Stock-hive, . 3 ; 3 « 1021b,
First swarm, . : 3 F ‘ . 148,,
Second swarm, 2 : 3 é 76 ,,
Third swarm, ; : : F 92 ,,
Virgin from second do., : ‘ ‘ 56 ,,

Total, - 474 1b.

154 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

“Please write soon and let me know if you ever
knew a return equal to my stock-hive and its swarms.—
Yours truly, JAMES RENNIE.

“*11th October 1880.”

I am thankful to Mr Rennie for this “pattern card”
of suecessful bee-keeping, which I now present to the
bee-keeping community of Great Britain. The system
of management which has realised such grand results is
the one which is recommended by the ‘Handy Book of
Bees.” And this “pattern card” of Mr Rennie’s ap-
pearing in the fourth edition is no small compliment tuo
the system recommended, and no small encouragement
to the apiarians of this country.

With a view to prevent the readers of this book
from writing to me to know where this and that hive
can be obtained, let me here say that Mr Samuel Yates,
seed-merchant, 16 and 18 Old Millgate, Manchester,
supplies me and hundreds of bee-keepers in England
with good straw hives and other bee furniture.

Mr James Allen, carpenter, Stewarton, Ayrshire, makes
and sells Stewarton hives. The bar-frame hives may
be had of scores of hive-makers and hive-dealers through
England—and of Mr Raitt and some others in Scotland.
I do not trade at all in hives (empty) of any kind
whatever, or in bee furniture. Occasionally I sell stocks
of bees to parties applying for them.

THE CALENDAR.

In writing the first edition of this work, it was our in-
tention to add a Calendar of operations to it ; but we found
that there was writing enough in the manuscript to fill
the pages without it. In this edition one or two unim-
portant chapters have been left out, and all unnecessary
illustrations, so that the work could be improved without
increasing its size. Indeed, the Calendar itself will be con-
fined to narrow limits, Since the publication of our first
edition a few years ago, a considerable advance has been
made in apiarian science by a widespread section of in-
telligent readers. The progress made in practical bee-
keeping of late is so perceptible, that we cherish the hope
that we may have the happiness of knowing that thousands
of the rural population derive a substantial income from
this source. From all parts of the country we are re-
ceiving most gratifying reports—reports of successful
management, and honey-harvests greater than were ever
dreamed of a few years ago.

.

January.—If bees have food enough in their hives now,
the less they are disturbed, indeed the quieter they sit
amongst their combs, the better. Though all healthy

156 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

hives are benefited by the bees taking an occasional air-
ing in mild weather during the winter months, the in-
mates of healthy hives sit more closely and quietly to-
gether than those of unhealthy ones, On turning up a
hive infected with foul brood, we invariably find the bees
sitting very loosely in it, and that they begin to spread
themselves over the combs rapidly.

Sometimes bees, in coming out for an airing, take so
much honey that they cannot fly. They become benumbed
outside, and cannot return to their hives. This is very
evident when a great number of hives are standing near
each other, and especially when the bees are living on
heather-honey. The ground amongst the hives becomes
thickly strewed with chilled bees. When this happens
the bees should be swept together, gathered into small
supers or boxes, and well warmed before a fire or in a
half-cooled oven. The heat soon restores them, and when
let go, enables them to return to their hives.

Though September is the best month for feeding bees
for winter, some bee-keepers fail to give enough then, and
continue to feed afterwards for months. This late feeding
cannot be too strongly condemned. There is often great
difficulty experienced in getting bees to take food during
cold weather. If necessary (from past forgetfulness) to
feed bees in January, let the food when given be warm,
say 100°, or blood-heat. If the bees will not take it, let
them be brought into a warm room or hothouse, and there
fed with warm food, keeping them in their hives while
indoors.

The smallest door possible affords bees in straw hives
ventilation enough, but those in wooden hives are bene-
fited by ventilating-holes in them. Such holes help to
let the moisture escape, which otherwise would condense
on their sides and rot the combs. Their crown-holes
should be left open, but covered with wire to keep

CALENDAR. 157

mice out. If wooden hives have no crown-holes, one or
two dozen of small holes bored through their sides and
crowns with gimlets or small brace-bits will tend to rid
them of moisture.

It has been suid by some one that bees die in a tem-
perature of 34°—that is to say, when the mercury falls to
within 2° of the freezing-point inside a hive, bees:cannot
live. I have not yet put this to the test of experiment ;
but if it is a fact, the importance of covering hives well in
winter cannot be too strongly insisted on.

Cottagers who make their own hives should get them
ready during the long evenings of winter ; and amateurs,
too, should prepare beforehand for an increase of swarms.

February. — This month is one, generally speaking,
of inactivity amongst bees. As the days lengthen, the
hopes and enthusiasm of bee-keepers are awakened, and
some preparations are made for future events. The
seasons from 1870 to 1873 inclusive were unfavourable
ones for honey-gathering. 1874, though not one of the
best seasons for bees, was very favourable in the months
of June and July, enabling good swarms to rise in weight
to 100 lb. each. In the north of Scotland some rose to
120 lb. and upwards.

When the weather is mild, queens generally begin to
lay this month: in the south, early in February; in the
north, not till the end of the month. In this neighbour-
hood, which is about half-way between London and
Edinburgh, I once saw young bees on the wing on the
15th of February. The queens that year commenced
to lay in January. About four years ago we had a very
late spring. The first batch of brood that year was not
hatched till the middle of April. An open early spring
and a warm early locality are advantageous to bees, for
their lives are of short duration,— nine months — but

158 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

many of them do not live solong. If ahatch of brood be
not obtained in March to fill up the ranks thinned by
death, many hives become so weak in bees that these
have a hard struggle to live. In a cold spring and late
locality, I think it is desirable to stimulate bees by artifi-
cial feeding, and thus cause them to breed earlier than
they otherwise would do; but great care is necessary in
this work. Better be a little late in beginning it than
too early; and when once begun, continue feeding
till the bees can work out of doors. It should be borne
in mind thatspring feeding is merely to stimulate and
keep alive. Half a pound of sugar and half a pint of
water, boiled, will make four or six doses for a good hive
during this month. Asa rule, March is soon enough to
begin feeding bees.

This month all the boards of hives should be well
scraped or cleaned. If the bee-master wishes to change
the position of his hives, he may venture to do it this
month, for bees come out but seldom now ; and when they
do come out, it is for a winter dance and purposes of
cleanliness, and they never then go far from home. In
times of honey-gathering, bees leave their hives and go
straight to field or orchards, and may not discover that the
position of their hives has been altered (if altered it has
been) till they return to the old stand. Insummer, hives
should be removed from one part of a garden to another
by short stages—say one or two yards every day. This
month they may be removed from one side of a garden to
another without much risk. When this is done, all the
hives should go at once ; for naturally some bees would
return to the old place, and if they found a hive near it,
they would seek a home there instead of going to their
new position.

March.—By examining hives at the commencement of

CALENDAR. 159

this month, we ascertain how they have kept their bees in
winter. By gently lifting them off their boards, and
turning them up, we may see in what condition they are,
without the use of smoke, In cold weather they now sit
quietly amongst their combs; and if a hive contain four
or five seams of bees—that is to say, four or five lots of
bees—about the size or breadth of a tea-cup saucer, or
crown of a man’s hat, and each lot separated by a comb
from the next lot, the hive is (all else being well) in first-
rate condition, and will probably be ready for swarming
early in May. Ifa smaller hive have three such seams of
bees at the beginning of this month, it will in an ordinary
season be ready to swarm some time in May. The seams
of bees in weak hives are often reduced to three, and
these not much larger in a frosty morning than a gentle-
man’s watch. Such weak stocks often go spark out, not
for want of food, but for want of bees. When two hives
standing together have only two seams of bees each early
in this month, they should be united at the earliest op-
portunity, for one good hive is better than two weak ones,
By examining hives frequently, their state may be well
understood. When bees are moving about, the smoke
should be used before hives are turned up.

Bees commence to breed in February and March ; and
when they do begin, they may be seen seeking for water.
And in about ten days after they begin, patches of sealed
brood may be found in hives—the strong hives with
larger patches, and more of them, than the weak hives,
A hive containing five seams of bees will have three
patches of brood to begin with ; and those of three seams
only, one patch of brood, Here we have evidence of the
value of strong stocks. While these early patches of
brood are being hatched, the weather gradually becomes
warmer, and bees cover more comb. The patches become
larger day by day, and other combs are embraced, and

160 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

brood put in them. This goes on till the extremities
of the combs are covered.

By using the smoke of fustian, and by examining his
hives often, any young apiarian may become in a short
time—say, three months—a master of the mysteries of
bee-keeping, and an expert in the manipulation and
management of his hives.

By one calm examination of a hive this month, the posi-
tion and shape of royal cells, and the difference between
worker-comb and drone-comb, may be well understood.

As bees increase in number, and move more actively
about, more food is consumed in a hive. If artificial
feeding is necessary, more should be given at the end of
this month. Whatever is worth doing, should be done
well. And when progress and prosperity begin, they
should be encouraged. Hives should have plenty of warm
covering for two months after breeding commences.

April. Now the populations of hives multiply very
fast, and every fine day a great quantity of pollen is col-
lected. Honey is now gathered from the flowers of
gooseberry, plum, and other trees. Strong hives rapidly
increase in weight, and eggs are set as widely as possible—
that is, as far asthe bees cover their combs. The fertility
of queens, and the industry of bees, are marvels in the
history of bee-hives. When all the combs of a hive are
covered with bees, and filled with eggs and brood, it is,
in ordinary seasons and circumstances, within three weeks
of being ripe for swarming. In examining a hive at this
time, to ascertain if the bees cover their combs, no smoke
is used; the hive is simply raised high enough to let us
see the bees in their natural position.

If swarms are not wanted early, or at all, supers should
be put on hives shortly after all their combs are covered
by their bees. If the reader will once more read over

CALENDAR. 161

the chapter on Supering, he will sce that it is important
to induce the bees to commence to fill supers at or from
their tops or crowns, and that this is done by the use of
guide-combs. A few pieces—the larger the better—of
white drone-comb, fixed in a super, induce the bees of
the hive on which it may be placed to commence to fill
it at once,

Both on the swarming and non-swarming systems of
management, drones will appear in strong hives about
the end of this month or beginning of next. arly
drones, it is said, indicate early swarms; but this is not
invariably the case ; for we have known hives possess a
superabundance of drones for weeks before they were
ready for swarming, and we have known hives send off
colonies before a drone was hatched in them.

In the case of small hives used for supering, it is desir-
able to enlarge them by ekes, and wait till the. ekes are
nearly filled with combs before supers are placed on them.
They will thus be enabled to breed more bees and do
more work than they could do without the ekes.

May.—May and June may be deemed the most inter-
esting and busy months in the apiary. Now all is activ-
ity. The bees go abroad early, and carry in water for the
day while dew is on the grass, and before honey can be
obtained from the flowers. Almost from sunrise to sunset
bees may be found returning to their-hives with water,
or pollen, or honey, and frequently with both pollen
and honey. It is a time of activity too for the owners
of large apiaries. The time of multiplication is at
hand. Swarming commences this month. The bee-
master should examine his hives internally every week
to ascertain their state and ripeness. We have seen that
if a hive is not ready for swarming, the smoke blown
into it drives the bees up amongst the combs, and few

L

162 HANDY BOOK OF BEES,

are left on the board when the hive is turned up. The
sweat of the bees of such a hive lies in drops in the door-
way in the morning. But when ready to swarm, the heat
of the hive is so great that the sweat or condensed mois-
ture at the door is dried up or driven out two or three
inches beyond the door. The noise of the hive is great
in fine weather, and many bees have to work hard at the
door to temper the excessive heat of the domicile ; and
this is done by the rapid motion of their wings, which
increases the circulation of air inside. About four days
before first swarms issue from their hives, eggs are placed
in royal cells, and very often these may be seen on ex-
amination when many of the bees are abroad seeking
honey. Hives, with queens set in them, should be care-
fully watched in fine weather; and if the owner or his
family have no time for watching, swarms should be
taken from such hives artificially, as already described.
Swarms that come off naturally should be hived as soon
as possible, and placed on a stand (where they have to
remain) before the bees begin to work.

Sometimes swarms decline to stay in their hives, and
leave it to cluster again on the branch of a tree. In such
cases they act from caprice; and this should be remem-
bered, for if returned to the same hive, they would prob-
ably leave it a second time. They may readily accept
another hive; and another swarm as readily accept the
one that was capriciously deserted. Eking, supering, and
nadiring, may be practised this month according to the
aims and notions of the bee-master. If feeding be neces-
sary this month, every strong hive should get not less
than a pound of sugar dissolved in a pint of water. Both
bees and brood require much food during this month.

June.—If the weather during last month has been

CALENDAR. 163

favourable for honey-gathering, the supers that were
placed on strong hives at the end of April may be exam-
ined. If found filled and sealed, they should be cut off
the hive with a bit of fine wire, raised with wedges for
about an hour, and then taken off. If more honeycomb
be wanted, and not swarms, larger supers with guide-comb
in them should take their places. We say larger, for
almost all hives are stronger in bees at the end of May
than they were at its commencement. If larger supers
be not used, or supers large enough to hold all the bees,
narrow ekes should be placed below the hives as well as
supers over them. It is bad policy and practice to let
bees cluster outside their hives for want of room inside.

Second swarms may be expected about ten days (gene-
rally) after natural swarms, and about seventeen days after
artificial swarms. But the time depends on the age of
the grubs in royal cells at the time of swarming. By
turning up hives as soon as swarms have left them, the
royal cells will be found with either eggs or grubs in them.
If they contain little worms, floating on something shin-
ing, like a drop of milk in each cell, we conclude that they
have been there two or three days. If the royal cells are
nearly filled, and being covered in (lids formed over them),
they are about seven days old, and will be perfected
in seven days more, when piping will commence: and
three days after this begins, second swarnis will issue.

In every apiary at this season there is a superabun-
dance of young queens, and some of the supernumeraries
may be utilised. ‘Lessons of great importance to those
who seek to manage bees profitably may be learned from
using surplus queens. Almost every hive that has
swarmed naturally, or been swarmed artificially, has one,
two, or three more than it requires. These can be cut
out and often used with advantage. In the case of late

164 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

swarmers, we put queens in them, or royal cells with
royal inmates (cut from earlier swarmers). To give late
swarmers perfect queens as soon as their own have left
or been taken from them, is one of the master-strokes of
bee-management. They are thus helped by getting per-
fect queens long before they could rear them. By giving
queens in this way to late swarmers, second swarms will
not be obtained from them, if the introduction of queens
from other hives has been successful.

Before we leave this subject, let us give the reader an-
other idea (a little bit of our own peculiar practice), which
he may find in future years to be of some importance.
In bee-keeping, practice must vary with the season. A
man with open eye and active brain will not always be
guided by rote and rule; he improves upon his own
practice and the teaching of others. In most seasons
large bee-keepers have early and later swarmers. Some
seasons hives contain but little honey three weeks after
swarming. In such seasons we do not get much honey at
the first harvest ; but still occasionally we turn the bees
out of hives when they do not contain much honey, and
put them into empty hives ; and immediately take swarms
from later stocks to repeople those hives from which the
bees have been driven. Why? Because the queens in
these hives are just born, and will not commence to lay
for ten or twelve days ; whereas the queens in the later
swarmers are laying two thousand eggs daily. The bees
have thus an opportunity of setting the eggs laid by their
queens, and filling their hives with brood from side to
side; and the “ turnouts” put into the empty hives have
time to make combs before their queens commence to lay.
It is not necessary to wait till.the twenty-first day before
the bees are turned out, if their hives are repeopled imme-
diately afterwards, for the swarms imported to them hatch

CALENDAR. 165

the brood that may have been unhatched at the time of
turning out. This practice is of considerable importance,
for late swarms are thus made equal to early ones. And
by turning the bees out of hives as soon as piping com-
mences, or as soon as queens are born in them, there is
no fear or danger of losing second swarms from them.
The turnouts of large hives that have not yielded second
swarms are valuable, because they are large and have
young queens,

As to the first harvest of honey, which generally begins
in June, we have to ask the reader to consult the chapter
on “ Turnouts.” If early honey be specially wanted, or
bees transferred from one kind of hive to another without
sacrifice, the bees of parent hives should be turned out of
them about three weeks after first swarming, and put
into empty hives. But when the turning-out system is
not adopted, the hives of early swarmers will require
supers or ekes before the honey season ends.

In about four weeks after first swarms have been put
into empty hives, they should be examined to see whether
they require enlarging. If they are full or nearly so, and
the weather be favourable, they should be enlarged by
supers, ekes, or nadirs, as their owner may determine.
If not enlarged, preparations will be made for swarming ;
and swarms from swarms of the current year are termed
“virgin.” The seasons are exceptionally fine when it is
profitable to take virgin swarms.

July.—In writing a calendar, one is constantly beset
with the difficulties and differences of early and late sea-
sons, as well as early and late localities. In 1868, bees
were gathering great stores from heather on the 24th of
July. Some three years later the heather was just burst-
ing into blossom about the 20th of August. A firm hold of

166 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

principles will do more for the reader than an enumeration
of details of management ; for after all that can be said,
much must be left to the judgment and experience of
“every apiarian.

July is perhaps the best month for honey, taking one
county with another. White clover is the principal
honey-plant this month.

Swarming is permitted by many experienced hee-
keepers till the middle of this month; but where bees are
not removed to the heather, swarming should be pre-
vented after the first week in July by eking and supering.
Late swarmers are generally heavier when they swarm
than those that swarm earlier, and therefore often contain
a great deal of honey three weeks after swarming. By
putting all their bees into empty hives, their honey may
be obtained. This is the system advocated in the chap-
ter on “Turnouts.” Late swarms and turnouts should be
well attended to during the first ten days of their separate
existence, for then they have a passion for comb-building,
A few half-pounds of sugar given at this time enable the
bees to build comb rapidly and fill them with brood.
This branch of bee-management is less attended to than
many others. Indeed all should he kept in a state of
progress this month. Breeding should be encouraged and
promoted to the uttermost in all hives intended to be
kept for stock another year, for hives filled with brood in
July and August will be strong and populous during the
following winter and spring. :

Parent hives or turnouts and second swarms should be
carefully noticed about ten or fourteen days after their
queens are born; for, as we have already seen, young
queens sometimes never return from their marriage tours.
Swarms which thus lose their queen are seized with fits
of grief in which they may be found making a great noise,

CALENDAR. 167

and racing and running wildly both inside and outside
their hives. In such queenless swarms drones are never
killed ; if the bees are seen killing their drones, the bee-
keeper has evidence that they not only have queens, but
queens timely fertilised and in a normal state. Some
few days after young queens begin to lay, the bees begin
to worry their drones. Queenless swarms should be fur-
nished with queens from other hives.

Eking and supering should be well attended to this
month. All full supers should be taken off and others
put on. Let us remind the reader that it is an easy
matter to get supers filled in July, weather permitting,
for now plenty of white comb can be obtained from
the hives of swarms, and placed in supers. The bees
speedily fix such combs in the supers and fill them
with honey.

In bar-frame hives, the bars filled with honey should
be removed, and empty bars placed in their stead.

August.—Generally speaking, August is the last month
of honey-gathering in Great Britain; and where bees
are taken to the moors, it is often the best. From 20
to 60 lb. of honey are frequently gathered per hive
on the moors. About the first week of this month is
the usual time, in ordinary seasons, for removing bees
to the heather. Young apiarians are often very unfor-
tunate in their first journey with their bees to the moors.
An excellent clergyman, who lost a cow by death, wrote
in his diary these words, “ This day I am a cow poorer,
but a thought richer.” And many a bee-keeper finds that
his first journey with his bees has made him a hive
poorer, but a thought richer. Experience is the most
effective teacher. In sending off or removing hives in
summer, thorough ventilation should be secured before

168 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

they are moved; for in moving them by cart or railway,
all natural ventilation is stopped. Fly-proof wire on the
doors and crowns of hives will give the ventilation neces-
sary. If the combs of hives be not fastened to cross-
sticks, it is exceedingly difficult to remove them in hot
weather without shaking the combs down.

If the weather be favourable for honey-gathering while
the bees are on the heather, it is often necessary to en-
large hives even in August. We have had supers of 30
lb. each filled by swarms while on the heather. The ac-
cumulations of honey is often so rapid in hives on the
moors, that they hang outside in clusters soon after they
are placed there.

As bees do not sit on honeycomb, it will be under-
stood that the more honey a hive contains, the less room
it has for bees. Eking and supering may have to be
continued till the end of this month.

When honey-gathering ends, hives lose in weight very
fast. But the honey the bees eat then is generally in the
brood-combs ; and for some days after outdoor work ends,
the bees remove some honey from centre combs to other
parts of the hive. The bee-farmer will not sustain much
loss by letting his hives remain a week on the moors
after the honey has gone from the heather. The hives
cool and their combs harden by being left for a time be-
fore they are brought home.

Before hives are taken to the moors they should be
examined with a view to select and mark those to be
kept for stock. If too heavy for keeping, 10 or 20 lb.
of honeycomb may be cut from each of them. Those
marked for honey should be supered or eked before they

go.

September.—In apiculture this is the month of general

CALENDAR, 169

harvest—and honey-taking is the most unpleasant work
the bee-keeper has to perform.

Before the honey is taken, another examination of
every hive should be carefully made—and hives pretty
full of well-formed worker-combs selected for stocks.
From 40 to 50 1b. each is probably the most eligible
weights for stock-hives in September. But their weights
may range from 20 to 60 Ib. each. Strong stocks
cause no anxiety to their owners, and will yield as much
profit as twice or thrice their number of weak ones.
And now is the time to make stocks strong for another
year. The bees of the honey-hives should be driven
into empty ones and united to those selected for keep-
ing. Thus every hive may be made strong in bees.
Those who know better than destroy valuable hives in
the brimstone-pit, should beg the cottagers to preserve
their bees, instead of suffocating them with sulphur.
Those who have no bees of their own to strengthen
hives, should drive the swarms of cottagers, and give 2s.
6d. per swarm for them. For years I have bought con-
demned bees in September at 1s. per Ib. ; but now there
is great difficulty in finding cottagers in this locality who
will part with their bees. The sulphur-pit will soon be
a thing of the past. Those who use bar-frame hives
may strengthen their stocks by taking some honey-bars
from their stocks and putting brood-bars from honey-
hives in their places. The brood that is hatched in
August and September lives till spring ; and hives with
plenty of brood in them now will be in good condition
in March and April. Six sheets of brood now indicate
five seams of bees in March; and five seams of bees, as
large as the crown of a man’s hat, in a cold morning in
March, indicate that the hive is one of great strength.

If any queens in an apiary are three years old, they

170 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

should be destroyed, and young ones put in their places,
and when all the brood is hatched, a careful and thorough
examination of every hive should be made to see if foul
brood exists, and if any be found the hives containing it
should be put down for honey.

This month is the time for autumn feeding—for giving
to stock-hives enough to keep them till March or April.
Swarms put into empty hives now, and fed well, make
combs and store up honey enough for themselves. We
prefer two swarms in September for one hive to be filled
by sugar alone. Instructions have been given in one of
the chapters how the sugar has to be given.

As soon as the bees have been driven from honey-hives,
their sticks should be withdrawn by a pair of pincers, and
the combs placed before a fire. Whatever process be
adopted for extracting honey, it should be put in opera-
tion as soon as possible after the bees have been driven
from the combs. We have always believed that a very
simple instrument will be invented and used for pressing
honey from combs.

In taking honey from hives, the combs with brood in
them may be placed in an empty hive, mouth upwards, in
a natural position, and held upright by wooden pins or
wedges, As soon as the hive is pretty well filled with
combs of brood, a swarm of bees should be cast amongst
them, and a board placed over all. The bees hatch all
the brood in the combs thus roughly pinned in, and with
this swarm doubled in population by the birth of so many
young bees, a bee-master can strengthen many of his
hives. Under careful, good management, both the bees
and brood of honey-hives can be utilised with great ad-
vantage in an apiary of large hives kept for profit.

By putting a swarm into an empty hive with a small
straw or wooden super on it, the bee-master may get many

CALENDAR. 171

pounds of pure honeycomb by feeding this swarm with all
his refuse combs and impure or soiled honey. We have
filled supers by feeding swarms placed in empty hives in
September. The bees in such cases take no impurities
from the combs to the supers. After filtering impure or
soiled honey, they present it to us in a beautiful state of
purity.

After the refuse combs have been well licked or cleaned
by the bees, they should be boiled in pure water for wax.
Wax is so adhesive that it is difficult to remove it from
any pot or dish it may touch. A good handful of soda
used in water destroys in a great measure its adhesive
powers, and therefore makes easy the work of cleaning
dishes in wax-boiling,

September, of all the months of the year, is characterised
by robbing and fighting amongst bees. They have thiev-
ish propensities all the summer months, but then they
can find honey in flowers more readily than by becoming
housebreakers. In September, robbers are prowling about
constantly, and test the defensive powers of every stock
‘in the garden. If they get admission, and are not re-
sisted, a hive is soon robbed of all its honey. Generally
speaking, the enemy is repulsed. The doors of hives
should be contracted as soon as honey-gathering ends.

October, November, and December.—Under proper and
enlightened management bees require no attention from
September till March. If feeding in September has not
been attended to, it should be done as soon as possible.
Late feeding is very dangerous, for it may induce bees to
commence breeding, and a frosty night may come and
chill the brood to death. We have known hives ruined
by late feeding. The chilled brood became foul. We
have tried late feeding with a view to get a late hatch of

172 HANDY BOOK OF BEES.

brood to strengthen hives; but finding the loss greater
than the gain, the practice has long since been abandoned.
Autumn feeding should be finished as early as possible.

As soon as it is over, all hives should be protected and
covered well. When snow is on the ground, the reader
will remember to shut the doors of his hives to keep his
bees from going out till the snow be thawed.

THE END.

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