The cottage bee keeper; or suggestions for the practical management of amateur, cottage, and farm apiaries, on scientific principles..

Front matter

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Preface

It will naturally be expected by every one who hears of the publication of a new work on bees — in the face of the many excellent treatises already extant, some of which have opened to us many marvels in the natural history, while others have facihtated the profitable management, of these wonderful insects — either that the adventurous author has something new to add to the common stock of already acquired knowledge upon the subject, or that he has, at least, some satisfactory reasons to allege for intruding himself upon public notice ; seeing that to write a book, for which there is no v.acant place on the library shelf of the apiarian reader, must undoubtedly be considered a work of no little folly and presumption. Respecting, as he does, this attitude of very natural expectation on the part of the public, the author of the ensuing pages would submit the following observations to the consideration of the candid reader.

In the first place, there is no one but will readily allow that our knowledge of bees, scientific or practical, however it may have increased of late years, is still Umited ; or that there is at least room for improvement. If this admission be made, it at once follows that there is room for a new work on the subject, however the aparian's library may seem at first sight to be complete without it.

The author hopes that so much of novelty will be found in his book as shall distinguish it from every antecedent bee book, stamp it with an identity of its own, and make it interesting and acceptable even to the old-established bee keeper, Wliile, however, some matters in this book are undoubtedly new, (whether suggestions originating with, or discoveries and improvements made by, himself,) the author having made a free use of every available theory, suggestion, or practice, (from whatever quarter it came,) it follows that the gi-eater part of the volume is old matter, however it. may have assumed a new shape. His aim has been, first, to recommend a more systematic, and at the same time improved, method of cottage bee management than at present prevails ; and, secondly , to invite the attention of amateurs to his own i:)eculiar plan of managing bees on scientific principles, founded on the considerable experience of nearly eight years, assisted by much thought on the subject ; and he beheves there are many persons, who, after a due consideration and trial of the system, (artificial though it may appear,) will approve of it as being both simple and effectual, and perhaps better calculated than most other systems, (in the hands of an attentive and inteUigent bee keeper,) to give satisfaction, as well on the ground of economy as of profit.

The fact is, although it may be said with reason that there never was a time in the whole history of bee-keeping, at least in this country, when the jDursuit has numbered so many votaries as at the present moment — and certainly never did success promise so well to the lover of bees, thanks to the facility with which every kind of inlbrmation on the subject is diffused through the medium of the press — the author believes that the science of practical bee management is yet but imperfectly developed after all, compared with what it may yet become, if our apiarians will only give it the time and attention Avhich it deserves. No practical results, for instance, have proceeded from, at all commensurate with, the splendid discoveries of Huber, Reaumur, and Shirach, relative to the natural history of the bee ; and yet rREKACE. VU

their revelations supply sufficient data upon which a highly scientific treatment of bees might be estabHshed. In tliia little ^YOrk will be found an attempt to bring our higher knowledge upon the subject to bear upon, and improve, the system of bee management actually in vogue among us.

The few wood cuts, it is hoped, will sufficiently answer their purpose of helping out the instructions of the text. If it be complained that they are somewhat rude and primitive, the fault is to be attributed to circumstances, not to intention.

Other bee authors, in di'awing their labors to a conclusion, have thought it well to sohcit the favor of ingenuous mticism; — following in their steps, as considering that many still hidden truths may yet be evoked by a spirit of candid inquiry, tending to throw valuable hght on the subject of these pages, the author would also invite the same.

March 'iOth, 1851.

Chapter I

Page Origin of the -vrork — The study of bees has a moral tendency — Proper way to encourage cottagers in an improved method of managing bees — Opportunities within reach of the country clergy of furthering this branch of rural economy — Advantage to themselves resulting from it — Peculiar difficulties of English bee keepers — Attention and perseverance the best remedy against thetn - ... 1

Chapter II

OP THE ESTABUSHMEST OF AN APIART — CHOICE OF A SlTtJATION, AND REQUISITES FOR IT3

WELFARE.

What localities are favorable, or otherwise, to the production of honey — Rules to be observed — Shelter from high winds and protection against damp — Importance of coolness of situation — Internal heat alone productive of prosperity — Pedestals — Importance of ascertaining the weight of every article of bee furniture — Distance at which hives should stand from each other — Height from the ground — Importance of water — Danger arising from the neigborhood of ponds or rivers — ^Vermin and offensive smells to be avoided — Advantage of low shrubs and a screen of trees in front of the apiary — Proper standing ground — Injury arising from drippings of trees, &o. — Apiary should be out of sight of a public highway — But visible from the most frequented part of the house .....-.--..

Chapter III

OP STOCKIXG THE APIART, WITH DIRECTIOSS FOR THE PURCHASE OP STOCKS AND SWARMS.

Purchase of swarms the cheapest — Best way of commencing an apiary — Proper weight and time of issue of a swarm — Importance of ascertaining the age of the queen bee — Swarms from strong two-year-old stocks to be preferred, if they

CONTENTS.

Pago threw off swarms the previous year — A swarm of the current year, out of a last year's swarm, to be rejected — Relative value of swarms and stocks — Purchase of stocks in spring to be preferred, otherwise in autumn — Precautions against deception— Rules to be observed in the selection of stocks — Indications of vigor in a hive — Proper weight — Transporting hives -- 13

. CHAPTER IV.

OF STRAW COTTAGE HIVES — THEIR SIIAPE, SIZE, AM) CONSTRUCTION.

The-old fashioned bell hive objectionable — Mr. Payne's hive most suitable for cottagers— Though too small — Two sizes recommended — Stock hive large, spoliation hive small— Material and method of construction— Entrance way— Reasons for approval of large hives -17

Chapter V. The Cottage System Of Bee Mauage5iest In The Open Aik

Advantage of a bee dress— I. First Year— Propriety of destroying the queen in the spring if her age exceeds two or three years— Method of returning swarms and capture of queen— Rising of the prime swarm with a new queen, and treatment of It— Wl It if the old queen leads off the swarm— Encouragement of a large swarm— Treatm^int of casts— Excision of royal cells— Supplying hive room- Removal of a bee glass, how effected— Weighing hives— Proper weight— Making up a deficiency of food— Sheltering hives from the sun— Wintering bees- :\Ir. Taylor's screens— II. Second Year— Board cleansing— Excision of mouldy comb— Spring feeding- Treatment of weak stocks— Swarming— Bee glasses— Super hives— Driving— Materials for, and manner of conducting the process— Uniting bees— Fumigation— Autumn spoliation of hives— Same stocks to be preserved from year to year— Renewal of comb— Summary of advantages peculiar to the system recommended in this chapter nn

CHAPTER VI. HIVES OP STRAW SriTABLE TO AMATEUR BEE MANAGEMENT

Mr. Gelding's Grecian hive— Its superiority to every other kind of hive— Mr. Taylor's straw hive— Slight modification of Mr. Golding's hive— Size too small— Two sizes recommended— Construction— Painting hivee— Boxes unsuitable for the open air-.-.. 41

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER yil.

THE AlUTETR SYSTEM OF BEE SUXAGEJIEST IX THE CPES AIR.

Page Of the depriving system ; unsuitable to out-door apiaries — Plan here recommended to the amateur not essentially different in its different features to that before detailed in the fifth chapter — History of artificial swarming — Dr. Scudamore — Difficulties in the way or a general adoption of this method — Proper time for making artificial swarms — Depends on two things ; state of weather and season, and forwardness of stock — Importance of waiting till the commencement of the grand honey harvest, and the considerable appearance of drones — Process of forming artificial swarms — Treatment of the old stock — Xo casts to be permitted — Summer management of the prime swarm — Arrangement of the hives in an apiary — Preservation of brood in the autumn — And of comb — Reasons for recommending artificial swarming - 45

CHAPTER Till.

OF BOXES, ETC., SrlTABLE FOR AX K-DOOR APIART.

Wooden boxes preferable to straw hives— Construction and quality of wood — Dimensions— Two coltateral boxes to one colony sufficient — Plenty of room to be given in glasses or caps over the stock hive — Adapters — Bars and their arrangement — Thermometers, how useful, and where to be placed — Guide comb to be affixed to the roof of the box, diagonally- — Two bottom boards to each colony ; one to every box — Closing sides of zinc - ----...--62

CHAPTER IX.

OF THE BEE HOUSE AXT) WINDOW APUBT.

Observations on bee houses — Sheds objectionable — Dr. Bevan's beehouse — ^Instructions for erecting a bee house — Cross-barred frame for supporting the boxes- Window apiary ; its advantages — Entrance blocks ... ...

CHAPTER X.

MAXAGEJfEJTT OF THE BEE HOUSE OR WDfDOW APURT.

A few hiveg of straw to be kept in the open air — The depriving system not perfect — Treatment of straw hives — How to stock a bee house, Ac. — I. First Ykah— With a prime swarm — Forcing airtificial swarms and destmction of queen — Caation

Xil CONTENTS.

Page Natural swarming preferred in the event of the destruction of the old queen — If queen destroyed or not, casts to be expected — Treatment of casts — Feeding newswarms — Supplying room — Preparing for autumjial formation of artificial stocks — Removal of full bee glass — Method of forming artificial stocks — Uniting bees — Treatment of them — Advantages of such stocks — Second plan for rearing artificial stocks — Autumn feeding — Winter treatment — Board-cleansing — II. Second Year — Spring feeding — Spring treatment — Summer management — New method of increasing an apiary, wholly irrespective of swarming — Artificial swarms to be mado out of old straw hives — How to form one good stock out of two old ones — Renovation of comb in boxes — Renewing colonies in a bee house by replacing old with young queens

CHAPTER XI.

OP FEEDING BEES:

Top feeding preferable to feeding at bottom — Objections to Mr. Nntt's plan — Care to be taken to prevent escape of heat in a hive in spring — Two kinds of feeders recommended and described — One for copious feeding in autumn — The other for partial feeding in winter and spring — Objections to winter feeding — August or September feeding to be preferred — Food — Sugared ale — Barley sugar ■ - 96

CHAPTER XII.

OF CERTAIN INSTRtTMENTS, EITHER OSEFCL OR NECESSARY TO BEE MANAGEMENT.

Xinc plate — Bee dress — Bee knife of two kinds — ^Weighing machine for garden hives — Conclusion -- .........

THE

COTTAGE AND FARM BEE KEEPER,

Chapter I

PREUMINARY NOTICES, RECOMMENDATORY OF COTTAaE AND AMATEUR BEE KEEPING.

THE history of this volume — how and why it came to be -written — I may perhaps be allowed to state in a few words. When I first settled down in an agricultural district, having long been passionately addicted to the study of bees, but chiefly as a recreative pursuit, I turned my attention to the subject anew, with a more practical intent, as I began to view in it one means, among others, of improving the condition, both financial and moral, of the surrounding peasantry, many of whom were sufiering greatly under the pressure of the times. The vicinage, as affording bee pasturage, had ever been considered remarkably good ; and the honey of the district, too, was much esteemed. The culture of bees itself, however, was almost in its lowest condition, at least amongst the poor. I argued to myself, therefore, that if only half-adozen famihes could be permanently benefited by my instruction and encouragement, it would amply repay me for any trouble I might incur. To lose no time, I at once established a second apiary of my own, in the management of which I hope to acquire such sound additional knowledge of bee matters, as should qualify me to act as a pioneer, and ultimately to become the propounder, of a better system than that which prevailed around me ; nor was it long before I felt myself in a position to start my plan of cottage bee encouragement. At the same time, I sought other aid in the published treatises of older and more experienced bee keepers, some of whom I knew had endeavored to write for the benefit of the poor. But seek as I might, 1

D. H. HILL LIBRARY North Carolina State College

Fon.gl.t in vain for the tract wliose instructions generally my own experience -vvould justify me in recommending to their notice. It was about this time I formed the design of myself attempting to supply this desideratum in apiarian literature ; but after spoiUng much good paper, and wa ting not a httle valuable time, I \n as fain to give it up in the end, not from any doubt as to the matter or instructions which I designed to give being good and useful, but from a sense of the difficulty I should find in successfully handling the subject, so as to bring it down to the understanchng of the poor. From the dibris of this tract, however, arose the conception and outhne of the present work, which by degrees assumed its actual form — ^less modest and unpretending it may be than the parent from whose ashes it proceeded, but, I would fain hope, not the less calculated to please and to be useful.

My first object, however, remains unaltered. I wish to induce all residents in the country, who have leisure and opportunity, to encourage bee keeping among their poorer neighbors — and not with a view to their pecuniary advantage only, for the study of bees is capable of ministering to a much higher end. There is scarcely a more interesting branch of natural history to be mentioned, and none certainly more instructive. To quote the words of Dr. Bevan: "In common with the other branches of natural liistory, it leads to. a salutary exercise of the mental faculties ; it induces a habit of observation and reflection ; no pleasure is more easily attainable, nor less alloyed by any debasing mixture; it tends to enlarge and harmonise the mind, and to elevate it to worthy conceptions of nature and its Author."' Every word of this is true. The rustic bee keeper, if he have only a soul to appreciate .the works of God, and an intelligence of an inquisitive order— and intelligence is sure to expand with the attentive study of any branch of natural history — cannot fail to become deeply interested in observing the Avonderful instincts, (instincts akin to reason,) of these admirable creatures ; at the same time that he will learn many lessons of practical wisdom from their examjile. Having acquired a knowledge of their habits, not a bee will buzz in liis ear without recalling to liim some of these lessons, and helping to make him a wiser and a better man. It is certain that in all my experience I never yet met with a keeper of bees who was not a respectable, weU-conducted member of society, and a moral, if not a rehgious, man. It is evident, on reflection, that this pursuit, if weU attended to, must occupy soin*^ considerable share of a man's time and thoughts. He must be often about his bees, ^Yhich will help counteract the baneful allurement of the village "pubUc," with all its accompanying syren-hke evils. Whoever is fond of his bees is fond of his home — is an axiom of u-refragable truth ; and it is an axiom that will be sure to kindle in every true EngUshman's breast a favorable regard for a pursuit, wliich, though humble, has undoubted power to produce so happy an influence. ""Where the Frenchman sings of his country, we talk o{home. . . .We point with exultation, (and I trust with gratitude,) to the firesides of England, and claim the admiration of the world for the virtue which has gained so high a reward." [Xo home-loving American can be a stranger to these feelings, and cannot fail to be susceptible of the same happy influences.] Who will not assist in any eflbrts, great or small, which may continue this our claim to universal admiration? Who, that sees in the love of home the companion of many other TU'tues, which, if not yet developed into active exercise, are still only dormant, and may be roused into wakeful energy at any moment ?

To gain the attention, however, of the poor themselves, with the hope ot successfully instructing them in an improved system of bee culture, is confessedly not an easy task. While in other countries the peasantry need httle instruction from their superiors in this matter — their own quick intelligence supplying them with every necessary encouragement— it must be acknowledged that our rustic poor are slow of apprehension to a proverb, and unready at learning even from the successful examples of others. Hence it is proper to give them gradual instruction, taking care to make the first converts in a neighborhood of the most industrious and inteUigent of its cottagers. It is obviously useless, also, to recommend to their notice any system of comphcated machinery or of fanciful contrivance. Every suggestion and every improvement which it is intended they shall take in, must be of the most simple kind. I do not think it necessary to say much on the subject of expense ; for costly experiments must ever oppose an insuperable barrier to bee improvement among the poor. SimpUcity of detail, therefore, and perseverance in instruction, as well as personal example, must go hand in hand together in any attempts to increase the number of or to improve the system actually in vogue among, cottage bee keepers. I would fain trust that the system of cottage management, explained further on, wiU not be found so difficult as to prevent its answering the first of the requisites above mentioned ; for the other, the benevolence of the higher classes and their kind co-operation must be looked to.

It is because I believe our rural clergy have it in their power more than any body else to encourage tliis branch of rural economy, that I would address these pages especially to them. Owing to their continual residence within their parishes or cures, they have the best opportunities, both of acquiring themselves a thorough knowledge of the practical management of 'bees, and, at the same time, of recommending it to the notice of their people by precept and example. Nor is it alone in respect of the more extended good which they may do to others that I would call their attention to this subject, but also oir account of the peculiar inte?est -and pleasure which they themselves may derive from it. Independently of the interest which attaches to the apiarian art from economic considerations, and the pleasure of appropriating to one's own use the surplus produce of bee industry — a pleasure, by the way, of a very exquisite kind, as every bee master will bear me witness — it merits, as a branch of natural history, the attention of every lover of nature, and the curious investigator of her secret things. There is still so much mystery attached to the habits of the bee, and especially to the internal economy of the hive, that the scientific study of these insects affords ample scope for much patient and hopeful research. Supposing, however, that the whole history of the hive bee had been opened up so as to preclude the hope of further discovery, there is quite enough in the simple verification of the discoveries of others to interest and astonish the lover of nature. In every way, indeed, the study of bees is so fascinating and instructive, that I would gladly induce many of my brethren in the ministry to share its pleasures with me.

Having said thus much on the subject of bee-keeping generally, by way of recommending an increased attention to it, let me say a few words as to its difficulties. These certainly are neither few nor trifling, although perfectly easy of mastery by the patient, intelligent, and persevering bee owner. The less he can lay claim to this complex character, the greater of course will his difficulties become. But are not these qualifications considered necessary to success in every branch of rural economy — I may say, in every pursuit of life? Did one ever hear of stupidity, sloth, or inattention succeeding in any enterprise of whatever

THE COTTAGE AND FARBI SEE KEEPER. 5

kind ? The farmer who is content ■ndth an occasional stroll over his fields, and a similar inspection over his yards and granaries, will in vain expect to thiive. Can we wonder at the iU success of an ignorant or negligent bee keeper ? And yet how often is the expression of surprise heard from the Ups of some individual who has started an apiary, that his bees have disappointed him ; when, if particular inquiries were instituted into the cause of the disaster, ten to one it would be found that the hives had been left unnoticed from October to May, and from May to October! The management of bees, which always requh-es some delicacy, and not a little dexterity of treatment, assuredly demands no less attention and care than other matters of a similar nature. A considerable apprenticeship is necessary in order to obtain the mastery over it as a science. There is no " royal road" to successful bee-keeping, as there is none in any thing else. ,In his preface to his very useful book, Mr. Taylor has well styled the tyro apiarian's path, " usually a rough and uncertain one;" so rough, indeed, and uncertain, (chiefly owing to a lack of care and pains,) that three out of every five I^ersous, who take up this study even warmly, will be found to reUnquish it with disgust at the end of a few years. Not to dwell here on faults of management, there are other causes of failure, almost peculiar to this country, a few of which I may briefly enumerate. "While in America or Australia,* it is almost incredible of how large an apiary one hive may become the parent in a very few years ; in England, a similar hive may stand year after year, without change, apparently strong, yet unproductive in either swarms or honey, perhaps in both together. A stock, at the time of purchase, may have had a three or four-year-old queen, (an evil which is seldom acknowledged, and still more seldom guarded against,) who dies some time in our long winter before there is a brood wherewith to replace her ; the winter may be mild and the spring cold and late, and no honey gathered till the end of May, whence proceeds the death from starvation of many a colony of bees, (which might be saved by a judicious and timely supply of food,) or its productiveness for the current season destroyed. A rainy summer, too, may foUow, or a very dry one, neither of which yields much honey ; in short, a

* In a late work on New South Wales, I read the following astonishing account of the produce of a single stock of bees : — ' In the district Illawarra, near Sydney, one hive haisbeen known to multiply itself to 300 ( 1 1 ) in tlie course of three years !'

6 THE COTTAGE AND FARM EEE KEEPER,

thousand are the casualties to be feared in this fitful climate, with which the more fortunate bee keeper of other countries is happily unacquainted. Say then, whether it is reasonable to expect success in the face of these difficulties, where a considerable skill and much persevering watchfulness are not present to meet and counteract them ? To be successful in bee-keeping, there must be a sufficient experience in bee management, whether derived from a practical acquaintance Avith the subject, or from a diligent study of the best manuals of yistruction in the matter ; it is requisite to be thoroughly initiated in the mysteries of judicious feeding, and to understand somewhat of that improved system of bee culture, by whose means the great honey harvests are secured at those rare but favored seasons when they occur, and the most is made of indifferent years ; while at the same time the acquisitive propensity is kept duly in check, so that if much is iahen as legitimate spoil, enough shall still be left to support the prosperity of the hive. Difficult, however, as unquestionably is the science of bee-keeping, it is not beyond the reach of attentive perseverance ; and the very difficulties, as iu most cases, only serve to enhance the pleassure and gratification of the patient bee master. It has been judiciously observed, that " no one who pays a fair amount of attention to the management of those very interesting insects will willingly rehnquish the keeping of them." Carelessness and indifference alone find the difficulties to which I have alluded insurmountable, and I take leave to say they deserve to do so.

Chapter II

OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN APIARY, CHOICE OF A SITUATION, AND REQUISITES FOR ITS WELFARE.

There are some parts of England where, it is to be feared, the utmost attention to bee-keeping can meet with only very partial success. In such places, it is but once, perhaps, in four or five years that anything like a fan- harvest of honey is obtained. It may be asked, therefore, is it worth while encountering the many vexations and discouragements of the intermediate years, for the sake of this inadequate, and only occasional, remuneration ? This is a question, of course, for every intenchng bee keeper to answer for himself. Having myself kept bees for about seven j^ears in a locaUty of this kind, I can speak feehngly of the disappointment and loss occasioned by it. In all that time, I never had the good fortune to obtain a single pound of honey by fair moans ; and what I did obtain, at the cost of a hive's sacrifice, was both poor in quality and insignificant in quantity. Nor was my case at all singular in this respect, my neighbors to a man complaining of the like ill success, in spite of attention and pains bestowed, without grudging. I was in consequence very nearly giving up the piu-suit, as many others had done before me, although not reputed to be readily daunted by mishaps. My advice, therefore, to every aspiring bee keeper, who can assure himself that the locality in which he happens to reside is of this nature, is this : to let hee-Tieeping alone. Happily, however, such instances of very bad locahty are rare. Most places will at least amply repay the labor and cost of estabUshing an apiary ; while some few highly-favored districts will yield astonishing suppUes of the most dehcious nectar. Whoever happens to reside in the vicinity of large woods, heaths, or commons, or still better, within reach of aU these together, may ron.=iider himself especially fortunate. A broken country, however — by which I mean a country devoted to no particular

8 THE COTTAGE AND FAUM BEE KEEPER.

branch of husbandry — is not far inferior, where water, woods, and meadows divide the land between them.

The question being settled, " to be or not to be," as regards the establishment of an apiary ; next are to be considered sundry necessaria to its well-being, wliich, for facihty of reference and conciseness, I have drawn up in a set of rules, gleaned for the most part from a variety of sources, both ancient and modern, at the same time attested by my OAvn experience or approval. They have reference in general to the requisites of every kind of apiary, but are drawn up for the more especial instruction of those who prefer the use of the cottage liive, standing in the open air. I think it unnecessary to dwell upon the subject of pasturage, which has been fully treated of by other writers, because nothing but supplying it, (if it must be supplied artificially,) on a large scale is of any material advantage to the prosperity of an apiary. 'White clover and huckwheat, (the latter of which is excellent food for poultry,) may be sown largely with double advantage — clover more especially, as sheep and cattle are extremely fond of it ; also the more laurustinus about a house the better for early spring-feeding; but, beyond this, I would recommend no especial provision for the apiary, as the land so occupied may be cultivated to a much better advantage. To proceed, then.