Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained Part 10

MANNER OF WORKING WAX.

Transferring the swarms to different hives from one to forty-eight hours after being hived, will show their progress. I have found that wax is attached to the top of the hive at first promiscuously, that is, without the least order, until some of the blocks or lumps are sufficiently advanced for them to begin cells. The scales of wax are welded on the edge quite thick, without regard to the shape of the cell, then an excavation is made on one side for the bottom of a cell, and two others on the opposite side; the division between them exactly opposite the centre of the first. When this piece is an inch or two in length, two other pieces at equal distances on each side are commenced.

If the swarm is large, and honey abundant, it is common for two pieces of comb to be started at one time on different parts of the top; the sheets in the two places are often at right angles, or any other way, just as chance happens to give direction. The little lumps that are placed at random at first are all removed as they advance.

While the combs are in progress, the edges are always kept much the thickest, and the base of the cell is worked down to the proper thickness with their teeth, and polished smooth as gla.s.s. The ends of the cell also, as they lengthen them, will always be found much thicker than any other part of it when finished.

When two combs approach each other in the middle of the hive at nearly right angles, an edge of comb is left there; but when an obtuse angle, the edges are generally joined, making a sheet of crooked comb. It is evident where the two combs join, there must be some irregular cells unfit for rearing brood.

CROOKED COMBS A DISADVANTAGE.

These few irregular cells have been considered a great disadvantage. It is thought, or pretended, that there is a vast difference between the prosperity of a stock with straight combs and one with crooked ones. To avoid them, or cause the bees to make them all straight, has given rise to much contrivance, as if a few such cells could effect much. Suppose there were a dozen sheets of comb in a hive, and each one had a row or more of such irregular cells from top to bottom, what proportion would they hold to those that were perfect? Perhaps not one in a thousand.

Hence we infer that in a hive of the proper size, the difference in amount of brood never could be perceived. This is the only difference it can make, because such cells can be used for storing honey as well as others. But sometimes there will be corners and s.p.a.ces not wide enough for two combs, and too wide for one of the proper thickness for breeding. As bees use all their room economically, and generally at the best advantage, a thick comb will be the result. It is said they never use such thick combs for breeding. How are the facts? I have just such a s.p.a.ce in a gla.s.s hive; one comb two inches thick. How is it managed?

Towards fall this sheet is filled with honey; the cells outside are lengthened until there is just room for a bee to pa.s.s between them and the gla.s.s, when they are sealed over. In spring these long cells are all cut down (except at the top and upper corners) to the proper length for breeding, and used for this purpose. This has been done for five years in succession.

I will grant that there is a little waste room in such s.p.a.ces, for part of the year. It amounts to but little, as it is only outside. They are necessitated to make such combs, because the inside combs, if built in a breeding apartment, however crooked one may be, the next one will generally match it, the right distance from it. But when they are built expressly for storing honey, in such as are made in boxes, the right distance is not so well preserved; hence it is not recommended to compel bees to use such storing apartment for breeding. But suppose we should compel a swarm to labor under these disadvantages, I should not apprehend such disastrous results, (providing they have a proper proportion of worker cells,) as no swarms, or even no surplus honey, as has been represented. Imagine a hive filled with combs that are all too thick, and room wasted when cut down, to the amount of one-fourth of all that is in the hive. Now here are combs enough left to mature three-fourths as many bees as in an ordinary hive, where all are right.

We can now suppose a good swarm will bring home the same amount of honey as though it belonged to other hives; only three-fourths as much can be fed to the brood, and stored in the hive; and the result ought to be, that we get a quarter more surplus honey in boxes. Even if we get no swarm, I cannot see how our surplus honey can be less, as in this case there would be more bees at all times than in a hive that had been reduced by swarming.

Does experience substantiate the theory that stocks with crooked combs are as profitable as when they are straight? When combs are built expressly for breeding, I could never discover any difference. Any person can easily test it by a little observation; not by taking a solitary instance of only one hive, because some other cause might produce the result. Take a half-dozen at least with straight combs, and as many with them crooked; have them all alike in other respects, and carefully watch the result. I think you will have but little interest which way the combs are made, providing _they are made_, as far as profit is concerned. It is true, it would gratify order to have them all straight, and if it was not attended with more trouble than the result would pay for, it would be well to have them so.

In ordinary circ.u.mstances, when a swarm is first hived, they set about comb-making immediately; yet sometimes they will remain two days, and not make a particle. I have known them to swarm out and cl.u.s.ter in the usual way, and when rehived, commence at once. This seems to prove that they can retain the wax, or prevent secreting it, till wanted. This seldom occurs.

UNCERTAINTY IN WEIGHT OF BEES.

A large swarm will probably carry with them some five or six pounds of honey from the parent stock. I only guess at this, because I am uncertain what the bees weigh exactly. "I can tell you," some one exclaims, "I saw some weighed,--so many weigh just eight ounces." Are you sure there was nothing but bees weighed? Was there no honey, bee-bread, faeces, or other substance, that might deceive you? "Can't say; I never thought of that!" Now it is important, if we weigh bees to know _their_ weight, to be sure we weigh nothing else. It is evident, that if five thousand weigh three pounds, when nothing is in their sacks, they would weigh, when filled with honey, several pounds more.

Hence, the fallacy of judging of the size of a swarm by weight, as one swarm might issue with half the honey of another. Perhaps eight pounds, for large swarms, might be an average for bees and honey. This honey, whatever it amounts to, cannot be stored till combs are constructed to hold it. This principle holds good till the hive is full. That is, whenever they have more honey than the combs will hold, if there is room in the hive, they construct more. But they seem to go no farther than this in comb-making. However large the swarm may be, this compulsion appears necessary to fill the hive. Drone-cells are seldom made in the top of the hive, but a part are generally joined on the worker-cells, a little distance from the top; others near the bottom.

There seems to be no rule about the number of such cells. Some hives will contain twice the number of others. It may depend on the yield of honey at the time; when very plenty, more drone-cells, &c. If the hive be very large, no doubt an unprofitable number would be constructed.

Where the large and small cells join, there will be some cells of irregular shape; some with four or five angles; the distance from one angle to the other is also varied. Even where two combs of cells the same size join, making a straight comb, they are not always perfect.

SOME WAX WASTED.

When constructing comb, they are constantly wasting wax, either accidentally or voluntarily. The next morning after a swarm is located, the scales may be found, and will continue to increase as long as they are working it; the quant.i.ty often amounts to a handful or more. It is the best test of comb-making that I can give. Clean off the board and look the next morning, you will find the scales in proportion to their progress. Some will be nearly round as at first; others more or less worked up, and a part will be like fine saw-dust.

Huber and some others have divided the working bees into different cla.s.ses, denominating some wax-workers, others nurses, and pollen gatherers, &c. It may be partially true, but how it was found out is the mystery.

The angles in the cells used for brood, are gradually filled, and after a time become round, both at the ends and sides.

WATER NECESSARY TO COMB-MAKING.

Whenever bees are engaged making comb, a supply of water is absolutely necessary. Some think it requisite in rearing brood. It may be needed for that, or it may be required for both purposes; but yet I have doubts if a particle is given to the young bee, besides what the honey contains. June, and first part of July, and most part of August (the season of buckwheat,) are periods of extensive comb-making; they then use most water; breeding is carried on from March till October, and as extensively in May, perhaps more so, than in August, yet not a tenth part of the water is used in May.

I have known stocks repeatedly to mature brood from the egg to the perfect bee, when shut in a dark room for months, when it was impossible to obtain a drop; also stocks that stand in the cold, (if good,) will mature some brood whether the bees can leave the hive or not. These facts prove that some are reared without water. As they get sufficient honey to require more comb to store it, they will at the same time have a brood; and it is easy to guess they need it for brood as comb, without a little investigation. This much is certain, that they use water at such times for some purpose, and when no pond, brook, spring, or other source is within convenient distance, the apiarian would find it economy to place some within their reach, as it would save much valuable time, if they would otherwise have to go a great distance, when they might be more profitably employed; it always happens in a season of honey. It should be so situated that the bees may obtain it without jeopardizing their lives;--a barrel or pail has sides so steep that a great many will slip off and drown. A trough made very shallow, with a good broad strip around the edge to afford an alighting place, should be provided. The middle should contain a float, or a handful of shavings spread in the water with a few small stones laid on them to prevent their being blown away when the water is out, is very convenient. A tin dish an inch or so in depth, will do very well. The quant.i.ty needed may be ascertained by what is used--only give them enough, and change it daily. I have no trouble of this kind, as there is a stream of water within a few rods of the hives; but I have an opportunity to witness something of the number engaged in carrying it. Thousands may be seen (in June and August) filling their sacks, while a continual stream is on the wing, going and returning.

REMARKS.

The exact and uniform size of their cells is perhaps as great a mystery as anything pertaining to them; yet, we find the second wonder before we are done with the first. In building comb, they have no square or compa.s.s as a guide; no master mechanic takes the lead, measuring and marking for the workmen; each individual among them is a finished mechanic! No time is lost as an apprentice, no service given in return for instruction! Each is accomplished from birth! All are alike; what one begins, a dozen may help to finis.h.!.+ A specimen of their work shows itself to be from the hands of master workmen, and may be taken as a model of perfection! He, who arranged the universe, was their instructor. Yes, a profound geometrician planned the first cell, and knowing what would be their wants, implanted in the sensorium of the first bee, all things pertaining to their welfare; the impress then given, is yet retained unimpaired! They need no lectures on domestic economy to tell them, by using the base of one set of cells on one side of their combs, for the base of those on the opposite, will save both labor and wax; no mathematician that a pyramidal base, just three angles, with just such an inclination, will be the exact shape needed, and consume much less wax than round or square--that the base of one cell of three angles, would form a part of the base of three other cells on the opposite side of the comb--that each of the six sides of one cell forms one side of six others around it--that these angles and these only would answer their ends.

"The bees appear," says Reaumer, "to have a problem to solve, which would puzzle many a mathematician. A quant.i.ty of matter being given, it is required to form out of it cells, which shall be equal, and similar, and of a determinate size, but the largest possible with relation to the quant.i.ty of matter employed, while they shall occupy the least possible s.p.a.ce!"

How little does the epicure heed, when feasting on the fruits of their industry, that each morsel tasted must destroy the most perfect specimens of workmans.h.i.+p! that in a moment he can demolish what it has taken hours, yes days, perhaps weeks, of a.s.siduous toil and labor, for the bees to accomplis.h.!.+

CHAPTER VI.

PROPOLIS.

WHAT USED FOR.

This substance is first used to solder up all the cracks, flaws, and irregularities about the hive. A coat is then spread over the inside throughout; when the hive is full, and many bees cl.u.s.ter outside, the latter part of summer, a coat of it is also spread there. An additional coat it seems is annually applied, as old hives will be coated with a thickness proportionate to its age, providing it has been occupied with a strong family. Huber has said it was also used to strengthen the cells when first made, by mixing it with the wax. If it was their practice at that time, the practice has been abandoned by our bees to a great extent. I have made examinations when comb was first made, when it contained eggs, and when it contained larvae, and have never been able to find anything other than pure wax composing it. After a young bee has matured in a cell, the coating or coc.o.o.n that it leaves is of a dark color, somewhat resembling it, and may have given rise to the supposition. How the article is obtained, appears to be the mystery.

This is a subject about which apiarians have failed to agree. A few contend that it is an elaborated substance; while others a.s.sert it to be a resinous gum, exuding from certain trees, and collected by the bees like pollen. It differs materially from wax, being more tenacious, and when it gets a little age, much harder.

IS IT AN ELABORATE OR NATURAL SUBSTANCE?

No modern observer has ever been able to detect the bees in the act of gathering it.

HUBER'S OPINION.

Huber tells us, that "near the outlet of one of his hives, he placed some of the branches of the poplar, which exuded a transparent juice, the color of garnet. Several workers were soon seen perched upon these branches,--having detached some of this resinous gum, they formed it into pellets, and deposited them in the baskets of their thighs; thus loaded, they flew to the hive, where some of their fellow-laborers instantly came to a.s.sist them in detaching this viscid substance from their baskets." Some of our modern apiarians have doubted this account of Huber's. Now, in the absence of anything positive on this subject, I am inclined to adopt this theory; that it is a resin or gum produced by trees. (I cannot say that I am exactly satisfied with the story of bringing the "branches and laying them by the hive," &c.) That bees gather it in its natural state, is in accordance with my own observation.

FURTHER PROOF.

Our first swarms that issue in May, or first of June, seldom use much of the article pure for soldering and plastering; but instead, a composition, the most of which is wax. I have noticed at this season, when old pieces of boards that had been used for hives, were left in the sun, that this old propolis would become soft in the middle of the day. Here I have frequently seen the bees at work, packing it upon their legs; it was detached in small particles, and the process of packing was seen distinctly, as the bee did not fly during the operation, as in the case of packing pollen. It is a.s.serted that when bees need it they always have it, indicating that they can elaborate it like wax. I can see no reason why they do not need it in June as much as August; yet, in the latter month, they use more than a hundred times the quant.i.ty. At this time, they manifest no disposition to gather any from the old boards, &c. It would seem they prefer the article new, which they now have in abundance. Boxes filled in June contain but very little, sometimes none. Why not, if they have enough of it? but when filled in August, they always have the corners, and sometimes the top and sides, lined with a good coat. Cracks, large enough for bees to pa.s.s through, are sometimes completely filled with it. In this season, a little before sunset of some fair day, I have frequently seen the bees enter the hive with what I supposed to be the pure article on their legs, like pollen, except the surface, which would be smooth and glossy; the color much lighter than when it gets age. I have also seen them through the gla.s.s inside, when they seemed unable to dislodge it themselves, like pollen, and were continually running around among those engaged in soldering and plastering; when one required a little, it seized hold of the pellet with its teeth or forceps, and detached a portion. The whole lump will not cleave off at once; but firmly adheres to the leg; from its tenacity, perhaps a string an inch long will be formed in separating, the piece obtained is immediately applied to their work, and the bee is ready to supply another with a portion; it doubtless gets rid of its load in this way; it is difficult to watch it till it is freed from the whole, as it is soon lost among its fellows.

Now if this substance is not found in its natural state, how does it happen that they pack it on their legs just as they do when getting it from a board of an old hive, or pollen, when collected? They never take the trouble to pack the wax there, when elaborated. Do not these circ.u.mstances strongly favor the idea of its being a vegetable substance? Perhaps the reason of its being collected at this season in greater abundance, may be found in the fact, that the buds of trees and shrubs are now generally formed. Many kinds are protected from rain and frost, by a kind of gum or resinous coating. It may be found in many species of Populus, particularly the balsam poplar, (_Populus Balsamifera_) and the Balm of Gilead, (_Populus Candicans_). By boiling the buds of these trees, an aromatic resin or gum may be obtained, (used sometimes for making salve;) the odor is very similar to that emitted by propolis, when first gathered by the bees, or by heating it afterwards. In the absence of facts, we are apt to subst.i.tute theory.

This appears to me to be very plausible. Yet I am ready to yield it as soon as facts decide differently. Perhaps not one bee in a thousand is engaged in collecting this substance--there being so few may be one reason why they are not often detected, yet few as they are, a few of us should set about close observation; something certain might decide.

Apiarian science is sadly neglected; a large amount of error is mixed up with truth, that patient, scrutinizing investigation must separate.

REMARKS.

I feel anxious to get to the practical part of this work, which I hope will interest some readers who care but little about the natural history. I shall begin with spring, and will now endeavor to mix more of the practical with it, as we proceed to the end of the year. In order to ill.u.s.trate some points of practice, I may have occasion to repeat some things already mentioned.

CHAPTER VII.

THE APIARY.