Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained

M. (Moses) Quinby

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• Publié par: unfey
• Publié le: 01 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 22
• Langue: English

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Title: Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained

Author: M. Quinby

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Language: English

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MYSTERIES

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BEING A COMPLETE

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ANALYSIS OF THE WHOLE SUBJECT;

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THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BEES, DIRECTIONS FOR OBTAINING THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF PURE SURPLUS HONEY WITH THE LEAST POSSIBLE EXPENSE, REMEDIES FOR LOSSES GIVEN, AND THE SCIENCE OF "LUCK" FULLY ILLUSTRATED—THE RESULT OF MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS' EXPERIENCE IN EXTENSIVE APIARIES.

BY M. QUINBY,

PRACTICAL BEE-KEEPER.

NEW YORK:

C. M. SAXTON, AGRICULTURAL BOOK PUBLISHER 152 FULTON STREET. 1853.

Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by M. QUINBY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

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E. O. JENKINS, PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER, 114 NASSAU STREET, N. YORK.

Three kinds of Bees, Queen described, Description and Duty of Workers, Description of Drones, Most Brood in Spring, Their Industry,

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. BRIEF HISTORY.

CHAPTER II. HIVES.

Hives to be thoroughly made, Different opinions about them, The Author has no Patent to recommend, Speculators supported long enough, Prefix of Patent a bad recommendation, Ignorance of affairs and committees, Opposition to simplicity, By gaining one point produce another evil, First Delusion, Chamber Hive, Mrs. Griffith's Hive, Weeks' Improvement, Inclined Bottom-Boards do not throw out all the worms, Objections to suspended hives, See bees often, Hall's Patent, Jones's Patent, An Experiment, Reason of failure in dividing hive, Cause of starving in such hives, Advantages of the changeable hive considered, Variation of these hives, Expense in constructing changeable hives, The surplus honey will contain bee-bread, Description of Cutting's changeable hive, First objection cost of construction, Hives can be made with less expense, Old breeding cells will last a long time, Cells larger than necessary at first, Expense of renewing combs, Best to use old combs as long as they will last, Method for Pruning when necessary, Tools for Pruning, Use of Tobacco Smoke, Further objections to a sectional hive, Non-Swarmers, Contrast of profit, Principle of swarming not understood, Not to be depended upon, Hives not always full before swarming, Size of hives needed, An Experiment, Bees do not increase if full after the first year in same hive, Gillmore's system doubted, Utility of moth-proof hives doubted, Instincts of the bee always the same, Profit the object, Common hive recommended, Size Important, Small hives most liable to accidents, Apt to deceive,

9 9 10 11 11 12

13 14 14 15 15 15 16 16 17 17 18 18 19 19 20 21 21 21 22 23 24 25 25 26 26 28 29 29 30 30 31 31 32 33 34 35 35 36 37 37 37 37 38 39 39 40 41 42 42 42 43

Unprofitable if too large, Correct size between two extremes, Size for warm latitudes, Larger hives more safe for long Winters or backward Spring, 2,000 inches safe for this section, Kind of Wood, width of Board, &c., Shape of little consequence, Directions for making hives, Size of cap and boxes, Miner's Hive, Directions for making holes, A Suggestion, Glass boxes preferred, Glass boxes—how made, Guide-combs necessary, Wood Boxes, Cover for Hives, Jars and Tumblers—how prepared, Perfect Observatory Hive described, One like Common Hive preferred, What may be seen, Directions for making Glass Hive, Plate for Hive,

CHAPTER III. BREEDING.

Imperfectly Understood, Good stocks seldom without brood, How small stocks commence, Different with larger ones, How Pollen is stored in the breeding season, Operation of Laying, and the Eggs described, Time from the Egg to the perfect Bee, Rough treatment of the young Bee, Guess-work, Terms applied to young Bees, Discrepancy in time in rearing brood as given by Huber, The number of Eggs deposited by the Queen guessed at, A test for the presence of a Queen, When Drones are reared, When Queens, Liability of being destroyed, Drones destroyed when honey is scarce, Old Queen leaves with the first swarm, A young Queen takes the place of her mother in the old stock, Other Theories, Subject not understood, Necessity for further observation, Two sides of the question,

CHAPTER IV. BEE PASTURAGE.

Substitute for Pollen, Manner of packing it, Alder yields the first, Fruit Flowers important in good weather, Red Raspberry a favorite, Catnip, Mother-wort and Hoarhound, are sought after, Singular fatality attendant on Silkweed, Large yield from Basswood, Garden Flowers unimportant, Honey-dew, Singular Secretion, Secretions of the Aphis, Advantages of Buckwheat, Amount of honey collected from it, Do Bees injure the crop? Are not Bees an advantage to vegetation? A test for the presence of Queen doubted, An extra quantity of Pollen not always detrimental, What combs are generally free from Bee-bread, Manner ofpackingstores,

43 43 44 44 45 46 46 47 48 48 49 50 51 51 52 53 54 54 55 56 56 57 61

62 63 64 65 65 66 67 67 68 69 70 71 73 74 74 76 77 78 79 80 80 84 85

88 89 89 91 91 92 93 96 97 97 98 98 101 101 102 103 106 107 108 108

Philosophy in filling a cell with honey, Long cells sometimes turned upward, Is a dry or wet season best for honey? How many Stocks should be kept, Three principal sources of honey,

CHAPTER V. WAX.

Is Pollen converted into Wax? How is it obtained? Huber's account of a commencement of comb, Best time to witness comb-making, Manner of working Wax, Are crooked Combs a disadvantage? Uncertainty in weight of Bees, Some wax wasted, Water necessary in Comb-making, Remarks,

CHAPTER VI. PROPOLIS.

What used for, Is it an elaborate or natural substance? Huber's Opinion, Further Proof, Remarks,

CHAPTER VII. THE APIARY.

Its location, Decide Early, Bees mark their location on leaving the hive, Changing stand attended with loss, Can be taken some distance, Danger of setting Stocks too close, Space between Hives, Small Matters, Economy, Cheap arrangement of stands, Canal Bottom-board discarded, Some advantage in being near the earth, Utility of Bee-Houses doubted,

CHAPTER VIII. ROBBERIES.

Not properly understood, Improper Remedies, Difficulty in deciding, Weak families in most danger, Their Battles, Bad policy to raise in Hives, Indications of Robbers, A Duty, A Test, Robbing usually commences on a warm day, Remedies, Common Opinion, A case in point, Further Directions, Common cause of commencing, Spring the worst time, No necessity to have Bees plundered in the fall,

CHAPTER IX. FEEDING BEES.

Should be a last resort, Care needed, Apparent contradiction when feedingcauses starvation,

109 110 111 112 112

115 115 117 118 119 120 122 124 124 126

128 129 129 129 132

132 133 134 134 135 135 136 136 137 138 139 139 141

142 143 144 144 145 146 146 147 147 148 149 149 149 150 151 152 153

154 154 155

How long it will do to wait before feeding, Directions for feeding, Whole Families may desert the Hive, Objections to general feeding, Arrangement for feeding, Feeding to induce early swarms, What may be fed, Is candied honey injurious?

CHAPTER X. DESTRUCTION OF WORMS.

Some in the best Stocks, How Found, A tool for their destruction, Mistaken Conclusions, Objections to suspended Bottom-board, Advantage of the Hive close to the board, Objection Answered, Insufficiency of inclined Bottom-board A Moth can go where Bees can, Trap to catch Worms, Box for Wren,

CHAPTER XI. PUTTING ON AND TAKING OFF BOXES.

Advantage of the Patent Vender, Time of putting on—Rule, Making holes after the Hive is full, Advantage of proper arrangement, Directions for boring holes in full Stock, To be taken off when filled, Time taken to fill a box, When to take off boxes part full, Tobacco Smoke preferred to Slides, Manner of disposing of the Bees in the boxes, Bees disposed to carry away honey, Not disposed to sting, Rule,

CHAPTER XII. SECURING HONEY FROM THE MOTH.

Two things to be prevented, Apt to be deceived about the Worms, Their progress described, A Solution offered, Method of killing Worms in boxes, Freezing destroys them, Objection to using Boxes before the Hive is full,

CHAPTER XIII. SWARMING.

Time to expect them, All Bee-Keepers should understand it as it is, Means of understanding it, Inverting a stock rather formidable at first, Requisites before preparation of Queen's cells, State of Queen-cell when used, State when swarms issue, Clustering outside not always to be depended upon, Examinations—the result, Remarks, Conflicting Theories, Both Old and Young leave with swarms, Cause of the Queen's inability to fly suggested, Evidence of the Old Queen's leaving, Mr. Weeks's Theory not satisfactory, Particular directions for testing the matter, Empty Hives to be ready, Bottom-boards for hiving,

156 157 158 159 159 161 162 162

164 165 165 167 167 168 169 169 170 170 171

172 172 174 174 176 177 178 178 178 179 179 180 181

181 182 182 183 185 186 18 7

187 188 188 189 189 190 190 1 91 191 192 192 192 193 193 194 196 197 197

Description of swarm issuing, Manner of hiving can be varied, Usual Methods, When out of reach, When they cannot be shaken off, All should be made to enter, Should be taken to the stand immediately, Protection from the Sun necessary, Clustering Bushes, How swarms are generally managed that leave for the woods, Nothing but Bees needed in a Hive, Seldom go off without clustering, Do swarms choose a location before swarming? Means of arresting a swarm, Some Compulsion, How far will they go in search of honey? Two or more swarms liable to unite, Disadvantage, Can often be prevented, Indications of swarming inside the Hive, Preventing a swarm issuing for a time, To prevent swarms uniting with those already hived, When two have united—the method of separating, No danger of a sting by the Queen, Some precautions in hiving two swarms together, How to find Queen when two strangers are together, Boxes for double swarms immediately, Returning a part to the old stock, Method of uniting, When care is necessary, Swarm-Catcher, Swarms sometimes return, Repetition prevented, Liability to enter wrong stocks, First issues generally choose fair weather, After Swarms, Their Size, Time after the first, Piping of the Queen, May always be heard before and after swarm, Time of continuance varies, Time between second and third issues, Not always to be depended upon, A Rule for the time of these issues, When it is useless to expect more swarms, Plurality of Queens destroyed, The Manner, Theory doubted, After-swarms different in appearance from the first, when about to issue, Time of day, weather, &c., Swarms necessary to be seen, Returning after-swarms to the old stock, When they should be returned, Method of doing it, More care needed by After-swarms when hived, Two may be united,

CHAPTER XIV. LOSS OF QUEENS.

Of swarms that lose their Queen, A suggestion and an answer, A disputed question, A multitude of Drones needed, The Queen liable to be lost in her excursions, The time when it occurs, Indications of the loss, The Result, Age of Bees indicated, Necessity of care, Remedy, Mark the date of swarms on the Hive, Obtaining a Queen from worker brood, They are poor dependence,

198 199 199 200 202 203 203 203 204 205 206 207 207 208 208 209 211 211 212 212 213 213 214 215 216 2 17 218 218 219 219 220 222 222 223 224 225 225 225 225 226 226 227 227 228 229 229 230 231 232 233 233 235 235 235 237 237

238 239 240 241 243 243 244 245 246 246 247 248 249 249

CHAPTER XV. ARTIFICIAL SWARMS.

Principles should be understood, Some Experiments, The result unsatisfactory, Further Experiments, A successful method, Advantages of this method, Artificial swarms only safe near the swarming season, Sometimes hazardous, Some Objections, Natural and artificial swarms equally prosperous, This matter too often delayed, Is the age of the Queen important?

CHAPTER XVI. PRUNING.

Different opinions as to time, Another time preferred, Should not be delayed, Objection to Pruning, Stocks pruned now are better for winter,

CHAPTER XVII. DISEASED BROOD.

Not generally understood, My own experience, Description of Disease, The cause uncertain, Remedial Experiments, Public inquiry and answers, Answers not satisfactory, A cause suggested, Reasons for the opinion, Cause of its spreading, Not easily detected at first, Symptoms to be observed, Scalding the honey to destroy the poison for feeding, When to examine stocks that have swarmed, Care in selecting stock-hives for winter, Accusations not always right,

CHAPTER XVIII. IRRITABILITY OF BEES.

Their means of defence, Time of greatest Irritability, Proper Conduct, How to proceed when attacked, A person's breath offensive, and other causes, Their manner of attack, Smoker described, Effect of Tobacco Smoke, Sting described, Does its loss prove fatal? Means of protection, Remedies for stings,

Are they all guilty? Rats and Mice, Are all the Birds guilty? King-bird—one word in his favor, Cat-bird acquitted, Toad got clear, Wasps and Hornets not favored, Ants—a word in their favor, Spider condemned,

CHAPTER XIX. ENEMIES OF BEES.

252 253 253 254 256 257 259 259 259 26 0 261 261

262 263 263 264 265

266 267 267 268 268 268 270 270 272 273 274 274 275 275 276 276

277 278 278 279 279 279 280 281 282 283 284 285

286 287 288 288 289 290 290 291 292

Wax-Moth unrivalled for mischief, Indications of their presence, Management, Care in turning over Hives, Other symptoms of Worms, When they grow larger than usual, Time of Growth, Time of Transformation, Freezing destroys Worms, Cocoon, and Moth, How they pass the Winter, Stocks more liable to be destroyed last of Summer, When Bees are safe, Means to destroy them, Making them drunk and their execution by Chickens,

The Cause, Effects, First Indications, Prevention,

CHAPTER XX. MELTING DOWN OF COMBS.

CHAPTER XXI. FALL MANAGEMENT.

First care, Strong Stocks disposed to plunder, Bees Changeable, Requisites for good Stocks, Great disadvantage of killing the Bees, Section of country may make a difference in what poor stocks need, When Bees are needed, Caution, Principal Difficulty, How Avoided, Advantages of making one good stock from two poor ones, Two families together will not consume as much as if separate, An Experiment, Season for operating, The Fumigator, Directions for uniting two families, Uniting with Tobacco Smoke, Condition of Stocks in 1851, How they were managed, Cause of their superior Thrift, Swarms partly filled pay better than to cut out the honey, Advantages in transferring, Another method of uniting two families, Uniting Comb and Honey as well as Bees, When feeding should be done for Stock Hives,

CHAPTER XXII. WINTERING BEES.

Different methods have been adopted, The idea of Bees not freezing has led to errors in practice, Appearance of Bees in cold weather, How part of the swarm is frozen, How a small family may all freeze, Frost and Ice sometimes smother Bees, Frost and Ice in a Hive accounted for, The effect of Ice or Frost on Bees and Comb, Frost may cause starvation, Other Difficulties, Further Illustrations, Accumulation of Fæces described by some writers as a disease, The Author's remedy, Buying Bees, Experiments of the Author to get rid of the Frost, Success in this matter, Bees when in the house should be kept perfectly dark, A room made for wintering Bees, Manner of stowingawayHives,

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307 307 308 308 309 309 310 311 311 311 312 312 312 313 314 315 317 318 318 319 320 320 321 322 323

325 326 326 327 327 328 329 330 330 330 332 336 337 337 3 38 338 339 339 340

Temperature of room, Too much Honey may sometimes be stored, Management of room towards Spring, Time for setting out Bees, Not too many stocks taken out at once, Families may be equalized, Snow need not always prevent carrying out Bees, Does not Analogy prove that Bees should be kept warm in Winter? The next best place for wintering Bees, Evils of wintering in the open air considered, But little risk with good stocks, Effect of keeping second-rate stocks out of the sun, Effects of Snow considered, Stocks to be protected on some occasions, Do the Bees eat more when allowed to come out occasionally in Winter?

CHAPTER XXIII. SAGACITY OF BEES.

Are not Bees directed alone by instinct? What they do with Propolis, Mending broken Combs, Making passages to every part of their Combs,

CHAPTER XXIV. STRAINING HONEY AND WAX.

Methods of removing Combs from the Hive, Different modes of straining Honey, Getting out Wax—different methods,

CHAPTER XXV. PURCHASING STOCKS AND TRANSPORTING BEES.

Why the word luck is applied to Bees, Rule in taking Bees for a share, A man may sell his "luck," First-rate stocks recommended to begin with, Old stocks are good as any if healthy, Caution respecting diseased brood, Result of ignorance in purchasing, Size of Hives important, How large Hives can be made smaller, Moderate weather best to remove Bees, Preparations for transporting Bees, Securing Bees in the Hive, Best Conveyance, Hive to be inverted, Conclusion,

341 342 342 343 343 344 344 345 346 347 348 348 349 350 352

353 353 354 355

357 358 360

362 364 364 365 365 366 366 367 368 369 370 370 370 371 372

PREFACE. Before the reader decides that an apology is necessary for the introduction of another work on bees into the presence of those already before the public, it is hoped that he will have the patience to examine the contents of this. The writer of the following pages commenced beekeeping in 1828, without any knowledge of the business to assist him, save a few directions about hiving, smoking them with sulphur, &c. Nearly all the information to be had was so mingled with erroneous whims and notions, that it required a long experience to separate essential and consistent points. It was impossible to procure a work that gave the information necessary for practice. From that time to the present, no sufficient guide for the inexperienced has appeared. European works, republished here, are of but little value. Weeks, Townley, Miner, and others, writers of this country, within a few years, have given us treatises, valuable to some extent, but have entirely neglected several chapters, very important and essential to the beginner. Keeping bees has been, and is now, by the majority, deemed a hazardous enterprise. The ravages of the moth had been so great, and loss so frequent, that but little attention was given to the subject for a long time. Mr. Weeks lost his entire stock three times in fifteen years. But soon after the discovery was promulgated, that honey could be taken from a stock without destroying the bees, an additional attention was manifest, increasing to a rage in many places. It seems to be easily

understood, that profit must attend success, in this branch of the farmer's stock; inasmuch as the "bees work for nothing and find themselves." This interest in bees should be encouraged to continue till enough are kept to collect all the honey now wasted; which, compared with the present collections, would be more than a thousand pounds to one. But to succeed, that is the difficulty. Some eighteen years since, after a propitious season, an aged and esteemed friend said to me, "It is not to be expected that you will have such luck always; you must expect they will run out after a time. I have always noticed, when people have first-rate luck for a time, that the bees generally take a turn, and are gone in a few years."

I am not sure but, to the above remarks, may be traced the cause of my subsequent success. It stimulated me to observation and inquiry. I soon found that good seasons were the "lucky" ones, and that many lost in an adverse season, all they had before gained. Also, that strong families were the only ones on which I could depend for protection against the moth. This induced the effort to ascertain causes tending to diminish the size of families, and the application of remedies. Whether success has attended my efforts or not, the reader can judge, after a perusal of the work.

It is time that the word " luck ," as applied to beekeeping, was discarded. The prevailing opinion, that bees will prosper for one person more than another, under the same circumstances, is fallacious. As well might it be applied to the mechanic and farmer. The careless, ignorant farmer, might occasionally succeed in raising a crop with a poor fence; but would be liable, at any time, to lose it by trespassing cattle. He might have suitable soil in the beginning, but without knowledge, for the proper application of manures, it might fail to produce; unless a chance application happened to be right.

But with the intelligent farmer the case is different: fences in order, manures judiciously applied, and with propitious seasons, he makes a sure thing of i t. Call him " lucky " if you please; it is his knowledge, and care, that render him so. So with bee-keeping, the careful man is the "lucky" one. There can be no effect without a preceding cause. If you lose a stock of bees, there is a cause or causes producing it, just as certain as the failure of a crop with the unthrifty farmer, can be traced to a poor fence, or unfruitful soil. You may rest assured, that a rail is off your fence of management somewhere, or the proper applications have not been made. In relation to bees, these things may not be quite so apparent, yet nevertheless true. Why is there so much more uncertainty in apiarian science than other farming operations? It must be attributed to the fact, that among the thousands who are engaged in, and have studied agriculture, perhaps not more than one has given his energies to the nature and habits of bees. If knowledge is elicited in the same ratio, we ought to have a thousand times more light on one subject than the other, and still there are some things, even in agriculture, that may yet be learned.

It is supposed, by many, that we already have all the knowledge that the subject of bees affords. This is not surprising; a person that was never furnishe d with a full treatise, might arrive at such conclusions. Unless his own experience goes deeper, he can have no means of judging what is yet behind.

In conversation relative to this work, with a perso n of considerable scientific attainments, he remarked, "You do not want to give the natural history of bees at all; that is already sufficiently understood." And how is it understood; as Huber gives it, or in accordance with some of our own writers? If we take Huber as a guide, we find many points recently contradicted. If we compare authors of our day, we find them contradicting each other. One recommends a peculiarly constructed hive, as just the thing adapted to their nature and instincts. If a single point is in accordance with their nature, he labors to twist all the others to his purpose, although it may involve a fundamental principle impossible to reconcile. Some one else succeeds in another point, and proceeds to recommend something altogether different. False and contradic tory assertions are made either through ignorance, or interest. Interest may blind the judgment, and spurious history may deceive.

It is folly to expect success in bee-keeping for any length of time, without a correct knowledge of their nature and instincts; and this we shall never obtain by the course hitherto pursued. As much of their labor is performed in the dark, and difficult to be observed, it has given rise to conjecture and false reasoning, leading to false conclusions.

When I say a thing is so , or say it is not so , what evidence has the reader that it is proved or demonstrated? My mere assertions are not expected to be taken in preference to another's; of such proof, we have more than enough. Most people have not the time, patience, or ability, to set down quietly with close observation, and investigate the subject thoroughly. Hence it has been found easier to receive error for truth, than to make the exertion necessary to confute it; the more so, because there is no guide to direct the investigation. I shall, therefore, pursue a different course; and for every assertion endeavor to give a test, that the reader may apply and satisfy himself, and trust to no one. As for theories, I shall try to keep them separate from facts, and offer such evidence as I have, either for or against them. If the reader has further proof that presents the matter in another light, of course he will exercise the right to a difference of opinion.

I could give a set of rules for practice, and be very brief, but this would be unsatisfactory. When we

are told a thing must be done , most of us, like the "inquisitive Yankee," have a desire to know why it is necessary; and then like to know how to do it. This gives us confidence that we are right. Hence, I shall endeavor to give the practical part, in as close connection with the natural history, that dictates it, as possible.

This work will contain several chapters entirely new to the public: the result of my own experience, that will be of the utmost value to all who desire to realize the greatest possible advantages from their bees.

The additions to chapters already partially discussed by others, will contain much original matter not to be found elsewhere. When many stocks are kept, the chapter on "Loss of Queens," alone, will, with attention, save to any one, not in the secret, enough in one season to be worth more in value than many times the cost of this work. The same might be said of those on diseased brood, artificial swarms, wintering bees, and many others.

If such a work could have been placed in my hands twenty years ago, I should have realized hundreds of dollars by the information. But instead of this, my course has been, first to suffer a loss, and then find out the remedy, or preventive; from which the reader may be exempt, as I can confidently recommend these directions.

Another new feature will be found in the duties of each season being kept by itself, commencing with the spring and ending with the winter management.

In my anxiety to be understood by all classes of readers, I am aware that I have made the elegant construction and arrangement of sentences of second ary importance; therefore justly liable to criticism. But to the reader, whose object is information on this subject, it can be of but little consequence.

CHAPTER I.

A BRIEF HISTORY.

THREE KINDS OF BEES.

Every prosperous swarm, or family of bees, must contain one queen, several thousand workers, and, part of the year, a few hundred drones.

 QUEEN.

WORKER.

QUEEN DESCRIBED.

DRONE.

The queen is the mother of the entire family; her duty appears to be only to deposit eggs in the cells. Her abdomen has its full size very abruptly where it joins the trunk or body, and then gradually tapers to a point. She is longer than either the drones or workers, but her size, in other respects, is a medium between the two. In shape she resembles the worker more than the drone; and, like the worker, has a sting, but will not use it for anything below royalty. She is nearly destitute of down, or hairs; a very little may be seen about her head and trunk. This gives her a dark, shining appearance, on the upper side—some are nearly black. Her legs are somewhat longer than those of a worker; the two posterior ones, and the under surface, are often of a bright copper color. In some of them a yellow stripe nearly encircles the abdomen at the joints, and meets on the back. Her wings are about the same as the workers, but as her abdomen is much longer, they only reach about two-thirds the length of it. For the first few days after leaving the cell, her size is much less than after she has assumed her maternal duties. She seldom, perhaps never, leaves the hive, except when leading a swarm, and when but a few days old, to meet the drones, in the air, for the purpose of fecundation.