- Joined
- Sep 4, 2019
- Messages
- 344
- Reaction score
- 310
- Location
- Melbourne, Australia
- Hive Type
- Langstroth
= = = Installment 9 = = =
THE HONEY BEE.
A SHORT SUMMARY AS TO THE REASON WHY IN QUESTION AND ANSWER.
Q. Why is it a barbarous and suicidal practice to smother Bees?
A. Because all useless destruction of life is barbarous and cruel, the honey being as easily taken without the sacrifice. It is suicidal because you destroy that life on which the profits of the following year so much depend.
Q. Why is it better to keep a few large densely-populated hives, rather than a multiplicity of small weakly ones?
A. Because it has been found by experience that large communities of Bees are far more industrious, and that a stock of 40,000 Bees in one hive will store far more honey than the same number in several hives. Densely-populated hives consume but little, if any, more honey in the winter than weakly swarms; an increased temperature is also obtained to resist the cold of winter, and that all-important element, early swarming, is secured thereby.
Q. Why are early second swarms, as a rule, to be preferred to first swarms, to retain as stock for winter?
A. Because second swarms are always governed by a young queen. First swarms are always led away by the old queen; and where first swarms are preserved, year after year, as future stocks, and as the same old queen leads off the first swarm, year after year, there is danger that the queen may die in the hive at a time when there may be no eggs in the cells to enable the Bees to hatch out a successor, in which case the entire community will perish.
Q. Why are late second, third, and fourth swarms, as well as "maiden" swarms, objectionable?
A. Because, in the first place, such swarms are usually late and weak, and issue at a time when the summer is nearly gone, and they can do little more than form a few empty combs in their new hives. The stocks, or mother hives, are much weakened by the loss, and the yield of honey greatly reduced thereby.
Q. Why is the yield of honey from most straw hives so miserably small?
A. Because, in the first place, the ordinary straw hive is too small, and incapable of holding a large quantity of honey. It is also too small to hold sufficient comb to enable the queen to deposit her eggs. But small as these hives are, they are seldom half-populated, the result of which is but little comb is built, but few Bees bred for want of comb and Bees to hatch them, and but little honey is collected, from the scarcity of Bees that can be spared to gather it, the few there are being required to hatch out the brood.(19)
Q. Why is Bee-keeping a particularly suitable occupation for cottagers and people of small means?
A. Because it can be followed without involving any cost, and but little trouble and attention.
A cottager with 10 square yards of garden is in as good a position to gather as large a harvest of honey as a nobleman with his 10,000 acres.
Q. What is the best cure for the sting of a Wasp or Bee?
A. First remove the sting, and then apply a solution of extract of lead (liquor plumbi) to the wound, and in a few minutes all pain and inflammation will cease.
Q. Which is the best aspect for Hives?
A. South-east or south-west; all Hives facing due south should be sheltered from the rays of the noon-day sun.
(19) Perhaps there is no Bee-keeper who is better acquainted with straw hives than Mr Pettigrew. What does he say? “The great bulk of straw hives of English make are exceedingly small and ill-made, and are really not fit to be used as Bee-hives; comparatively, they are not worth one shilling the dozen
With respect to straw hives possessing any superior advantage over wood hives, I may quote that celebrated Bee-keeper, Gelein, whose experience extended over sixty-five years. He says, “It is commonly supposed Bees thrive better in straw hives, because the straw absorbs the moisture, etc. For my part, I perceive no difference. The Bees are careful enough to varnish over the interior of straw hives with a coating of wax, or rather propolis, and this varnish is so thick that no moisture can penetrate between the cords of straw. Wooden hives will all absorb a certain content of moisture, and experience has shown me it is a matter of indifference which are employed, except as to the price”.
“Wooden hives”, says Henry Taylor, “are more durable, less liable to harbour vermin, and better adapted, from their square form, for the convenient arrangement of comb, besides admitting of windows". - Taylor on Bees. The celebrated Dr Bevan and Mr Nutt both favour wooden boxes.
The great objection to straw hives is the very perishable nature of the material, and its aptitude to harbour vermin, besides being cumbersome and unsightly. Well-made box hives are everlasting in wear, are extremely handy, can be made to occupy little space, fitting into one another. Some of the most practical and experienced Bee-keepers in my neighbourhood agree with me in thinking box hives preferable to straw. They are every year becoming more general.
THE HONEY BEE.
A SHORT SUMMARY AS TO THE REASON WHY IN QUESTION AND ANSWER.
Q. Why is it a barbarous and suicidal practice to smother Bees?
A. Because all useless destruction of life is barbarous and cruel, the honey being as easily taken without the sacrifice. It is suicidal because you destroy that life on which the profits of the following year so much depend.
Q. Why is it better to keep a few large densely-populated hives, rather than a multiplicity of small weakly ones?
A. Because it has been found by experience that large communities of Bees are far more industrious, and that a stock of 40,000 Bees in one hive will store far more honey than the same number in several hives. Densely-populated hives consume but little, if any, more honey in the winter than weakly swarms; an increased temperature is also obtained to resist the cold of winter, and that all-important element, early swarming, is secured thereby.
Q. Why are early second swarms, as a rule, to be preferred to first swarms, to retain as stock for winter?
A. Because second swarms are always governed by a young queen. First swarms are always led away by the old queen; and where first swarms are preserved, year after year, as future stocks, and as the same old queen leads off the first swarm, year after year, there is danger that the queen may die in the hive at a time when there may be no eggs in the cells to enable the Bees to hatch out a successor, in which case the entire community will perish.
Q. Why are late second, third, and fourth swarms, as well as "maiden" swarms, objectionable?
A. Because, in the first place, such swarms are usually late and weak, and issue at a time when the summer is nearly gone, and they can do little more than form a few empty combs in their new hives. The stocks, or mother hives, are much weakened by the loss, and the yield of honey greatly reduced thereby.
Q. Why is the yield of honey from most straw hives so miserably small?
A. Because, in the first place, the ordinary straw hive is too small, and incapable of holding a large quantity of honey. It is also too small to hold sufficient comb to enable the queen to deposit her eggs. But small as these hives are, they are seldom half-populated, the result of which is but little comb is built, but few Bees bred for want of comb and Bees to hatch them, and but little honey is collected, from the scarcity of Bees that can be spared to gather it, the few there are being required to hatch out the brood.(19)
Q. Why is Bee-keeping a particularly suitable occupation for cottagers and people of small means?
A. Because it can be followed without involving any cost, and but little trouble and attention.
A cottager with 10 square yards of garden is in as good a position to gather as large a harvest of honey as a nobleman with his 10,000 acres.
Q. What is the best cure for the sting of a Wasp or Bee?
A. First remove the sting, and then apply a solution of extract of lead (liquor plumbi) to the wound, and in a few minutes all pain and inflammation will cease.
Q. Which is the best aspect for Hives?
A. South-east or south-west; all Hives facing due south should be sheltered from the rays of the noon-day sun.
(19) Perhaps there is no Bee-keeper who is better acquainted with straw hives than Mr Pettigrew. What does he say? “The great bulk of straw hives of English make are exceedingly small and ill-made, and are really not fit to be used as Bee-hives; comparatively, they are not worth one shilling the dozen
With respect to straw hives possessing any superior advantage over wood hives, I may quote that celebrated Bee-keeper, Gelein, whose experience extended over sixty-five years. He says, “It is commonly supposed Bees thrive better in straw hives, because the straw absorbs the moisture, etc. For my part, I perceive no difference. The Bees are careful enough to varnish over the interior of straw hives with a coating of wax, or rather propolis, and this varnish is so thick that no moisture can penetrate between the cords of straw. Wooden hives will all absorb a certain content of moisture, and experience has shown me it is a matter of indifference which are employed, except as to the price”.
“Wooden hives”, says Henry Taylor, “are more durable, less liable to harbour vermin, and better adapted, from their square form, for the convenient arrangement of comb, besides admitting of windows". - Taylor on Bees. The celebrated Dr Bevan and Mr Nutt both favour wooden boxes.
The great objection to straw hives is the very perishable nature of the material, and its aptitude to harbour vermin, besides being cumbersome and unsightly. Well-made box hives are everlasting in wear, are extremely handy, can be made to occupy little space, fitting into one another. Some of the most practical and experienced Bee-keepers in my neighbourhood agree with me in thinking box hives preferable to straw. They are every year becoming more general.
