To the advanced and skilful apiarian we would especially commend the use of the frame hives. With these, as we have attempted to show, the bee-keeper has a full command over his hives and bees. Many mistakes, it is true, have been made by uninitiated bee-keepers in using the more elaborate hives. Being struck with the remarkable facilities afforded by these superior hives for the extraction of any one comb, and, perhaps, fascinated with their easy sway over so highly organised a community, these new-fangled bee-keepers have acquired a habit of perpetually and incautiously meddling with the bees. The inevitable results in such cases are, distress to the bees, impoverishment of the stocks, and loss and vexation to the over-zealous apiarian. All these things may be avoided if it is remembered that there are first steps in bee-keeping, as well as in chemistry, croquet, or cricket. In bee-keeping, as in floriculture, it is a great point to know when to "let well alone." There is no florist, however anxious for a prize, who would be continually pulling up his plants to see how their roots were growing. Doubtless the full control which the bars and frames afford over the inmost recesses of the hives is a great temptation to the bee-keeper; but if he yields too readily to it he will imperil his chance of profit and deprive himself of that continuous source of interest which a judicious apiarian always enjoys.
Ignorance Concerning Bees.
Many persons who are well-informed on most subjects are profoundly ignorant on all points of the natural history of bees; and as with old so with young. As an amusing illustration of this, we may transcribe an order we received a few years back from a seminary in the north of England: "Master presents his compliments to Messrs. Neighbour, and begs they will send him a swarm of bees; he encloses six postage stamps, and hopes they will send him a good swarm." This embryo naturalist was evidently of a mercantile turn, and had a mind to buy in the cheapest market, for in a postscript he adds: "Please let it be fourpence, if you can!" We need scarcely say that, in reply, we endeavoured to enlighten our juvenile correspondent as to what constituted a swarm of bees, and returned the stamps, with our thanks.
Superstition Respecting Bees.
Much superstition has existed, and, in some quarters, still exists, among the poor respecting bees. If a death occurs in the family of the bee-owner, these superstitious folk consider it needful to make the bees aware of the bereavement by "waking" them; that is, by giving a few raps at the entrance, and audibly announcing the circumstance. If this be not done, "no luck," say they, will come of the bees the following season. One summer, even near the metropolis, we heard a cottager bemoaning to his neighbour "his bad luck with his bees," when the other replied, "Ah! no wonder; you never 'waked' your bees when your wife died; what can you expect if you omit such needful duty?" In many parts of France, as well as here, it is a custom on such occasions to put the bees into mourning, by placing black crape or some such material round the hives. Bees also receive intelligence when a marriage or a christening takes place: in these cases the hives are draped with red cloth. In fact it is considered an essential element of "good luck" to inform the bees of any remarkable circumstance that occurs in the family of the bee-keeper. How would these good people manage with the newly imported foreign bees, for they can hardly be expected to have learned our "lingo"? This difficulty is, however, not likely to be experienced, for the keeping of superior sorts implies an intelligence that would be above any such pitiable nonsense. Fancy a man in this nineteenth century haranguing his bees after the above-mentioned fashion! Mr. Langstroth says that "some superstitious folk in America assert that the bees sometimes take the loss of their master so much to heart as to alight upon the coffin whenever it is exposed." A clergyman told him that he attended a funeral where, as soon as the coffin was brought from the house, the bees gathered on it so much as to excite alarm. Some years after this occurrence, being engaged in varnishing a table, the bees alighted upon it in such numbers as to convince the clergyman that love of the varnish on the outside, rather than any respect for the deceased within, was the occasion of their conduct at the funeral. Mr. Langstroth adds: "How many superstitions, believed even by intelligent persons, might be as easily explained, if it were possible to ascertain as fully all the facts connected with them!" Only a short time since an English clergyman informed us of a severe contest going on in his garden between Church and Dissent, for he had a hive of bees from a Nonconformist in his parish, and these dissenting bees persistently attacked his hives to such an extent that he really must get rid of them, and thus liberate his episcopal apiary from such discordant disturbers of the peace.[35] Another infatuation is, that you should on no account part with your bees for silver money—only for gold. This is so far sensible that it ensures a respectable price. Certain credulous bee-keepers cannot, on any account, be induced to part with their bees for money; they will barter, but not sell—to sell bees is, in their view, to lay themselves open to evil fortune. If these apprehensions are correct, our punishment will be a severe one, for we have been great offenders in that way, and seem likely to go on sinning.
[35] The explanation may probably be that a strong hive was brought close to weak or queenless ones.
The culture of bees would be greatly promoted if a knowledge of it were considered necessary as one of the regular qualifications of a gardener. So little time is needed to gain the skill requisite for the tendance of an apiary, that it seems only reasonable to expect it of a well-taught gardener, and he should feel a pleasure in the circumstance of its forming a part of his duties. In Germany, where a country gentleman's table is kept constantly supplied with fresh honey, the gardeners are expected to understand the management of hives; and in Bavaria modern bee-culture is taught in the colleges to all the horticultural students. Travellers in Switzerland will call to mind the almost invariable practice of placing new honey on the breakfast tables at hotels in that country. We are told that some of this new honey so highly approved of is only golden syrup with a portion of the colour extracted, and possibly otherwise made up to be palatable; also that there is a factory in Switzerland doing a profitable business in this way. If such be the case, tourists are often taken in. Treacle will do no one any harm, but it is not pleasant to be gulled except for the reason that "ignorance is bliss."
Caution Respecting Flight Hole.
Fine colonies are sometimes destroyed by the entrance-way becoming stopped by some impediment or other, and care is requisite to keep a watch, that so fatal a catastrophe does not happen, because the bees (unless where very simple ventilation is given), excited by their imprisonment, make matters worse, by raising the temperature of their hive to such a pitch that the combs melt from their foundations, and the bees themselves are suffocated, presenting, alas! a most woful spectacle to witness.
We give this hint because of having ourselves suffered from a similar cause when workmen have been employed in the vicinity of hives; these gentlemen, thoughtless of the welfare of the bees, but most careful of their own convenience, have placed a piece of wood across, or otherwise stopped the entrances, to prevent the bees coming out. In summer weather a very short time of confinement in a close hive suffices to complete the work of desolation; but should the bee-keeper's attention be drawn to such a state of things, he must immediately raise the hive from the floor-board and let the poor bees, have all the air possible, leaving them thus exposed for the purpose of affording them a chance of revival. When bees are likely to incommode those whose duties temporarily oblige them to be near the entrances, it is better to cover the hive over night with net in the form of an inverted bag tied at the base, so that, the bees may be able to get air within the net and not be too closely confined. The objection to this is that you stop all labour, which of course harasses the bees for the time, but there will be no other bad results. The foregoing remarks more particularly apply to the summer season. In winter or in the spring, when the weather is cool and the bees are not so numerous, hives may be shut up even for a day or so without much ventilation, and but little harm will arise therefrom.