Before I take my leave of the piling or storifying practitioner, whom I consider, as perhaps he may consider me, to be very, very imperfect in the management of Bees, I feel it to be my duty to my readers, and of course to the piling Bee-master, if he should vouchsafe to me a reading, to record a few other facts that bear strongly against the piling practice—facts derived from long and attentive observation of the nature and habits of Honey-Bees. Twelve years' steady practice and constant attention to the movements of these ingenious insects are the foundations I have to build upon. Besides I have proofs, well-authenticated, indisputable proofs, of the abundant produce of honey having been taken from collateral-boxes, and that of very superior quality too; which honey I take from the Bees as being a superabundant store, and not as a part, the taking away of which has any tendency to weaken, or in any way to injure, the prosperity of the colony from which it is taken. But what do we behold when a box is taken from a storied pile?—what that in the least deserves to be termed humanity? Do not a thousand murders stare us in the face? Why should the operator be veiled and muffled up and made sting-proof, if no conflict was expected—if no deeds of violence were anticipated? But violence is anticipated, and practised too, to such an extent that it is no uncommon occurrence for the Bees that escape destruction to desert the other boxes altogether. This ends one part of the business.
And these objections against the practice of storifying boxes will, I trust, induce the reflecting, ingenuous reader to turn his attention to the importance of ventilation in collateral-boxes. By regulating the interior temperature of the hive, suitable and generative heat is confined to the pavilion, that is—to the mother-hive, which heat causes the Queen to propagate her young in the pavilion—this being the middle-box, and near the entrance, a great advantage is thereby afforded to all the Bees passing in and out, that fully demonstrates the necessity of their labours being assisted in the breeding-season, and not obstructed.
It is the heat which causes the working-Bees to deposit their pollen in the immediate vicinity of the seat of nature. This pollen, which is called by some writers Bee-bread, is gathered and deposited for the special purpose of supporting the young larvæ, while helpless insects, or babies, as it were, in the hive. Combined with heat, it is this material which discolours the much admired works of the Bees; it is this which also makes the wax and honey yellow: besides where this pollen is deposited by the Bees, there, or in that part of the hive, will the Queen lay her eggs,—and there of course propagate her species. And as animal nature advances to perfection, so rises the interior temperature of the hive, until an almost suffocating heat obliges the Bees to leave their home. This heat extends itself to the most remote parts of their domicil; and were it not for the influence of ventilation in the end-boxes, a discolouration of their beautiful works would also be extended through the hive, and the Queen would lay her eggs promiscuously as she does in the cottage-hive. But this mischief is corrected by ventilation: can then any reasonable man deny its powerful and useful effects in the management of Bees?
The Queen-Bee is but seldom seen by the most acute observer; she loves to propagate her young in secrecy, at the regular temperature of the hive at her own birth. If she can possibly avoid it, she will not lay her eggs where man can overlook and examine her movements; consequently the ventilation in the side-boxes prevents her extending her works of nature beyond the limits of her native hive. As soon as she feels a cooling change of temperature, she immediately withdraws to her native clime, and leaves her working subjects to store the beautifully white combs with the purest crystal sweet. Bat, were the Queen permitted, as she is in the piling system, as well as in the cottage-hive, to follow her subjects through the whole hive, with one and the same temperature throughout, she would most certainly propagate her young just as she does in the piled-boxes. In that case there would be no advantage derivable from the purity of the honey. Again, on my plan, the middle-box is so situated that the Queen in it is placed conveniently to superintend her labourers; her eye can behold them in the throngest of their labour, being so near the well fortified entrance of her pavilion. In such a favourable situation, she can view the movements of her subjects, and not a moment need be lost, because all their streets and passages are short. The direct ascent to the top of one of my boxes is not quite eleven inches, and with a middle-sized bell-glass superadded, it does not exceed eighteen inches; so that in one day, when the honey-dew is plentiful, ten thousand Bees will gather more treasure than three times that number on the piling system, in which the Bees are compelled to mount up to the Babylonian height of Thorley's fourth box.
These (partly repetitions of what has been stated before, I am aware,) are conveniences which collateral-boxes possess, and which do not belong to piled-boxes. In piled-boxes Bees are subjected to unnecessary labour, which is so far a waste of time. From piled-boxes not nearly the quantity of honey and wax is procured, that may be procured from collateral-boxes,—nor is that deficient quantity of a quality at all comparable with the other. In managing piled-boxes many Bees are destroyed.
These are my objections to that system of Bee-management; and I put it to every person who has practised storifying to say whether they are not well-founded.
L. Bennett and Co. Typ.
10, Guilford Place, Spa-Fields, London.