Bees and honey

Front matter

SF 523 : .N5 [copy 1 I

*

W5

Author's Preface to Former Edition

It is now generally admitted that to become a profitable pursuit, bee-keeping must be conducted on scientific principles. The old management (or rather mis-management), permitting the bees to use log-gums, hollow trees, or old boxes for hives, can no longer be tolerated.

To induce the practise of scientific management of the apiary is the sole object of publishing this Book, and to that end we give

THOMAS G. NEWMAN

Author of " Bees and Honey," and Late Editor of the " American Bee Journal " for Nearly Twenty Years.

our own views and experiences, and also quote from those who practise with success the plans and manipulations recommended.

Being desirous of having this Work " fully up with the times," including all the various improvements and inventions in this rapidly increasing pursuit, we have> made a thorough revision of this edition in order to presenfc*tli§ apiarist with everything that may aid in the successful management of the Honey-Bee, and at the same time to produce the most honey, in its best and most

ATTRACTIVE CONDITION. . y

Thomas G. Newman.

Chicago, Illinois.

VK.

Index to Subjects

Adulteration of honey 176

Ancient history of honey .... 157 Appendix 157

Artificial increase 62

Author's Preface 3

ee-diarrhea 138

ee-keeping as a science .... 23

Bee-moth 130

Bee-Pasturage a Necessity 99

Bees profitable in the orchard 32

Brood 18

Buying "swarms of bees" .... 30

Care of honey 175

Cellar-wintering 78

Clipping the queen's wing ... 76

Colony of bees 10

Comb and extracted honey... 175 Comb Foundation and Its Use 89 Comb-honey management .... 141 Different kinds and flavors... 175 Diseases of bees and treatment 133

Dividing colonies 64

Drone-bee 14

Economy to use honey 173

Effect of bee and honey shows 154

Enemies of Bees 130

Establishing an Apiary 23

Extracted-honey Management. 144

Fastening comb foundation. . . 96

Feeding Bees 82

Foul brood — American 133

Foul brood — European, or

black 136

General values and importance

of honey 185

Give children honey 174

Grading and assorting honey. 141 Granulated honey — to relique-

Handling and Quieting Bees 84

Hive-tool necessary 86

Hives and Honey Receptacles 34

Hiving swarms 00

Honey and Bee Exhibits 151 Honey as a commercial product 149

Honey as an article of food. . 17.1 Honey as a remedy for ailments 164

Honey as a wholesome food. . 172 Honey best to sweeten hot

drinks 174

Honey-extractor and its use. . 51 Honey harvest 48

Honey in the comb 40

Honey must be ripe 148

Honey nature, quality, and

sources 161

Honey-plants for decorative

purposes 118

Honey the most delicious

sauce 173

Honey-vinegar 184

How many colonies to begin

with 28

How should honey be marketed? 139

How to extract 56

Improvement in Honey-Bees 68

Introducing a queen 71

Introduction 8

Italian bees 10, 70

Italianizing an apiary 71

Keeping an apiary register ... 88

Langstroth hive 35

Loss of the queen 66

Marketing and Care of Honey 139

May disease 137

McEvoy treatment of foul

brood 133

Moving bees 28

Natural History of the

Honey-Bee 9

Nature of Honey 161

Nuclei 62

Observation Hives 128

Outdoor wintering 80

Pails (tin) for honey 147

Pickled brood 137

Plain section-boxes 41

Plants for field and roadside. . 104 Plants for honey exclusively.. 114 Prescriptions calling for

Preserve the wax 97

Production of Choice Honey 40 Propolis — removing from

hands 33

Quality of honey 162

Queen-bee 11

Queen-rearing 62

Races of bees 10

- Recipe9 'calling for honey.... 176 Removing bees from combs. . . 76 Rendering combs into beeswax 97

Removing honey from the

super 43

Reviser's Preface 5

Robber-bees 57

Separators — cleated 41

Shipping and handling honey. 143 Shipping-cases for honey .... 44 Shipping comb-honey to market 45

Sources of honey 163

Standard frame — adopt a 87

Suitable Location for Bees 25

Supers for holding section-boxes 4 3

Swarming and Queen-Rearing. 59 Swarms — natural 59

Transferring and Uniting Bees 73

Trees for shade and honey... 101

Uniting weak colonies 76

Wax and comb production ... 18

Weak colonies — help 32

What hive to use 35

What kind of bees to get .... 30 When to use the honey-extractor 54

Where to keep honey 175

Who should keep bees 24.

Will bees injure fruit? 31

Wintering and Feeding Bees 78

Wintering bees in clamps .... 80

Worker-bee 15

Index to Illustrations

Alexander Feeder 83

Alfalfa or Lucerne 112

Alsike Clover 109, no

Anterior leg of worker 18

Apiary of M. M. Baldridge ... 88

Apiary well sheltered 27

Arrangement for relequifying

Bases and cross-section of cells 90

Basswood or linden 100

Bee and Honey exhibit at

Oklahoma Fair 151

Bee-escape — Porter 49

Bee-feeder — division-board ... 82

Bee-house in Germany 129

Bee-smoker 85

Bee-tent 153

Bee-veil . . , 86

Brood-comb destroyed by moths 130

Brood-Frame disected 39

Buckwheat 113, 114

Cage for mailing queen-bees . . 72

Column for drive-way or lawn. 119

Cleome 115

Comb foundation 91

Comb foundation drawn out

into comb 94

Comb foundation mill 92

Corner of building for exhibiting bees 152, 153

Corrugated-papershipping-case 142 Crate for snipping honey in

cases 46

Cross-section of sheet of comb

foundation 93.

Cutting combs to fit a frame. . . 74

Cutting down a bee-tree 73'

Dadant, Chas 89

Dadant, C. P 4

Dadant Tri-State hive 37

Doolittle, G. M 63

Dovetailed or lock-cornered

hive 37

Drone-bee 3, 14

Eggs and brood 18

Encalyptus trees of California. 127 Extracted-honey apiary in California 56

Fence or cleated separator ... 41

Figwort 126

Floral lawn 120

Floral window 122

Fox-glove 121

Foul Brood (American) 134

Frame of brood, queen-cells,

etc 21

France, N. E 135

Fruit-blossoms ready for bees. 33

Gentle Italians 71

Getting comb honey ready for

market 141

Glass honey-jars 148

Goldenrod 123

Head of drone 15

Head of queen n

Head of worker 17

Hershiser wax-press 98

Hive-body with plain hanging

frames 38

Hives shaded with roofs 28

Hives under snow 80

Hiving the swarm 71

Hoffman-Langstroth brood-frame 38

Hoffman, Miss Hettie E 25

Holding brood-comb to detect

. '< foul brood 136

*Honey and vegetable wagon . . 140 Honey-comb, showing three

kinds of cells 95

Honey-evaporator 149

Honey-extractor 51

Honey-extractor ("Baby") for extracting sections of hon-

TT e y • 55

Honey-extractor fastened for

extracting 147

Honey-locust limb, pod and

seed 103

Honey-locust tree 99

Honey-wagon used in Chicago. 143

Ideal hive-tool 87

Italian queen 70

Langstroth, Rev. L. L 36

Lincoln Monument in beeswax 132

Marigolds 125

Mignonette (mammoth) ..116, 123

Milkweed 106

Miller, Dr. C. C 8

Miller Feeder 83

Miller queen-introducing cage. ^2

Mint ' 126

Motherwort 117

Natural swarming — cutting

down the swarm 58

Newman, Thomas G ,2

New York State honey exhibit at Columbian Exposition in

1893 154

Oblong and square sections of

Observation hive inside of window 128

One-piece honey-section 41

Original Langstroth hive 35

Ovaries of drone-laying worker bee 67

Ovaries of queen 12

Pailful of sweetest "honey" . . 174

Parker foundation fastener ... 96 Part of field of white clover in

Iowa in

Plain division-board 62

Posterior legs of worker 17

Queen-bee 3, 11

Queen-cells on a bit of comb. . 60

Queen-excluders 48

Queen-registering slate 66

Quinby, M 34

Rape 125

Respiratory organs of the honey-bee 29

Reversible honey-extractor ... 53

Roof-apiary in Chicago 26

Row of basswood trees 101

Shallow super and frames for

extracting honey 47

Shipping-cases 45

Sourwood , 124

Square tin cans for shipping

Stingless bees of Central

America 98

Sting of bee — sectional view . . 84

Successful Michigan apiary ... 6

Super and section-holders 42

Super with plain sections and

fences 43

Swarm-box 61

Swarm-sack yy

Sweet clover 104, 107

"Talking Bees"— They're just.. 156

Tall-growing sweet clover .... 105

Tin pails for honey 167

Tongue of honey-bee 69

Transferred comb— appearance

of 75

Tulip or poplar 102

Two-story hive for extracted

Uncapping honey-combs for extracting ■. 145

Uncapping-knife 54 *

Von Hruschka, Major 52

Wax-extractor 97

Wax in segments of worker ... 19

Web of moth-larvae 131

Well-sealed honey in sections.. 44 Well-sealed honey in shallow

frames 47

Whisk-broom to brush bees ... Tf

White clover ill

Willow 125

Wilson, Miss Emma M 24

Winter-case 81

Wire imbedder 96

Worker-bee 3, 16

York, George W 187

Engravings for Sale. — We have quite a large stock of engravings of bee-yards and other pictures relating to bee-keeping that we have used from time to time in the American Bee Journal, and also the ones in this book. No doubt many of them could be used again by bee-keepers in their local newspapers, on their letter-heads, on souvenir cards, or in other profitable or interesting ways. By selling the ones we have it will help us to pay for others that we are constantly having made and using. We do not have a catalog or printed list of the engravings, but if you will let us know just what you want. as shown in this book or in the American Bee Journal, we will be pleased to quote you a low price, postpaid. Make your selections, and then write to us.

The Preface of the Reviser

This short treatise for beginners was originally written and published by Mr. Thomas G. Newman, then editor of the American Bee Journal, at Chicago — the oldest bee-publication in America. Mr. Newman died in 1903. The present editor, Mr. George W. York, has requested me to revise the book, and bring it up to the modern state of the pursuit of bee-culture.

Progress is prompt, in bee-culture as in other things. There are perhaps more changes in bee-culture than in most other

C. P. DADANT

Reviser of "Bees and Honey; or First Lessons in Bee-Keeping."

agricultural branches, because the discoveries of the wonders of the bee-hive are relatively modern. Those who have read previous editions may not recognize the book in its new form. But I have nevertheless tried to preserve as many as possible of Mr. Newman's flowery descriptions, in which he excelled. I have also retained such of his methods as I consider safe and practicable. In short, I have tried to produce a book suitable for beginners, giving the most simple methods available in our day. C. P. Dadant.

Hamilton, Illinois, September /, 1911.

Introduction

It -has been computed that in our World, the different species of living animals number over a quarter of a million. Among this vast concourse of life, we find much food for thought and meditation, but for instructive lessons none can rival the marvelous transformations that insect life undergoes in its process of development!

The repulsive maggot of today may tomorrow be the active little fly, visiting leaf and flower, in merry and sportive mood! The repugnant caterpillar of to-day, may to-morrow be decked with green and gold, through its speedy transformation to the butterfly, of brilliant tints and gorgeous beauty.

This is not a whit more wonderful than are the transformations from the egg to the tiny larva, from the larva to the pupa, and from the pupa to the fully developed honey-bee, with its wondrous instincts and marvelous habits! The student never ceases to wonder and admire, as he turns over leaf after leaf of "the book of Nature," devoted to this interesting insect. Indeed, there is a fascination about the apiary that is truly indescribable; but even that richly rewards the apiarist for all the time and labor bestowed upon it. Every scientific bee-keeper is an enthusiast. The wonderful economy of the bee-hive, from its very nature, presents to the thoughtful student, both admiration and delight at every step!

A single bee, with all its industry, energy, and the innumerable journeys it performs, may collect only about a teaspoonful of honey during one season — and yet more than one hundred pounds of honey is often taken from one hive!

Does not the contemplation of this fact teach us a profitable lesson of what great results may arise from persevering and associated labor?

In fructifying the flowers, too, bees present us with a field of study. Many plants absolutely require the visits of bees or other insects to remove their pollen-masses, and thus fertilize them. Hence, Darwin wisely remarks, when speaking of clover and heartsease: "No bees, no seed; no seed, no increase of the flower; the more visits from the bees, the more seeds from the flower; the more seeds from the flowers, the more flowers from the seeds." Darwin mentions the following experiment: "Twenty heads of white clover, visited by bees, produced 2,290 seeds; while twenty heads, so protected that bees could not visit them, produced not one seed."

Thus is infinite wisdom displayed by Nature on every hand! Nothing is created in vain; each has its proper sphere, and each its appropriate work to perform. We admire "the grand harmony of design," and in meditative surprise we are soon

" Lost in wonder, love, and praise."

DR. C. C. MILLER Author of " Fifty Years Among the Bees," and Best-Known Bee-Keeper.

Natural History

of the Honey-Bee

Every apiarist should be well informed, not only on the habits, but also on the Natural History of the honey-bee.

While honey was "from the beginning" among the first of sweet things, and the sweetest of first things, given by the Creator to man — sugar is, separated from its source and prepared for use by the hand of man, but of modern birth! For thousands of years honey was man's only sweet; and source of nourishment — but only for a short time has sugar had its partial sway, and that alone in modern times. It is recorded that the land where Abraham dwelt — 'Canaan — was one "flowing with milk and honey;" and when the old Patriarch, because of the famine that prevailed there, sent his sons to Egypt to buy corn, he sent as a present to the Egyptian ruler some of Canaan's famous honey. — Gen. 43: 11.

We may well conclude that Canaan's famous honey was then as famous as in subsequent ages was the honey from Mount Hymettus, in Greece.

The earliest mention of honey as an article of commerce, is, that the Jews were engaged in trading it at Tyre, that old and honored mart of trade in Phoenicia. — Ezek. 27: 17.

Sirach, who lived, about the time of the rebuilding of tTie Temple at Jerusalem, speaking of the necessaries of life, mentions honey, with flour and milk.

The Persians, Grecians and Romans, used honey quite extensively as an article of diet; they also used it largely in preparing their food, and by it most of their beverages were sweetened.

Ancient Sages, among whom were Homer, Herodotus, Cato, Aristotle, Varro, Virgil, Pliny and Columella, composed poems extolling the activity, skill and economy of bees, and in more modern times, among such authors have been Swammerdam, a German naturalist; Maraldi, an Italian mathema-

IO BEES AND HONEY; OR

tician; Schirach, a Saxon priest; Reaumur, inventor of a thermometer; Bonnet, a Swiss entomologist; Dr. John Hunter; and Francis Huber, who, though totally blind, was noted for his many minute observations, by the aid of his assistant, Burnens, which caused quite a revolution in ancient theories concerning honey-bees. He was also assisted by Mdle. Jurine, who, by delicate microscopic examinations, rendered important service not only to Huber, but also to future generations. Nearer to our day, we may mention as the leaders of modern practical apiculture: Dzierzon, Von Berlepsch, Leuckart, Von Siebold, John Lubbock, L. L. Langstroth, Samuel Wagner, M. Quinby, Adam Grimm, J. S. Harbison, Capt. J. E. Hetherington, Prof. A. J. Cook, G. M. Doolittle, Dr. C. C. Miller, A. I. Root and his sons, Chas. Dadant, E. W. Alexander, Thos. Wm. Cowan, Frank R. Cheshire, and a host of others.

The Races of Bees

Of the different races of the honey-bee, the common ot black bee is the most numerous, though it is not older than the Italians, which were known to the ancients several hundred years before the Christian era, and are mentioned by Aristotle and Virgil. The Egyptian, Carniolan, Cyprian, Caucasian, and others, have also been tried. But the Italian is the favorite in the United States, because of its activity, docility, prolificness and captivating beauty.

Italian Bees

Pure Italian bees are recognized by the three yellow rings on the first three segments of the abdomen, next to the thorax or middle portion of the body. They are also singularized by their quiet behavior on the combs when the hive is opened. If the bees are properly handled none of the Italians will rush about the combs or fall off while in the hands of the apiarist.

A Colony of Bees

In its usual working condition, a colony of bees presents a scene of the most lively interest. It contains a fertile queen, many thousands of workers (more or less numerous according to the season of the year), and in the busy season from several hundred to a few thousand drones.