M. Quinby

“ Most of them will be loaded with pollen, proving them martyrs to their own industry and your negligence. When I see a bench three feet high and no wider than the bottom of the hive, perhaps a little less, and no place for the bees to enter but at the bottom, and as many hives crowded on as it will hold, I no longer wonder that "bee-keeping is all in luck;" the wonder is how they keep them at all. Yet it proves that, with proper management, it is not so very precarious after all. ”

“ We all agree, I believe, that the old queen goes with the first swarm, and a young one remains in the old stock. Now suppose the first swarm leaves in June, and the old stock yet contains a numerous family. The flowers of buckwheat in August yield a bountiful harvest of honey. This old stock rears a large brood of drones. Is it not proved in this case that the queen was but two months old, instead of eleven? We further agree that young queens accompany second or after-swarms. When these happen to be large and prosperous, they never fail to rear a brood of drones at this season. ”

“ Besides the loss of bees on the snow when standing in the sun, and taking an airing occasionally, there are some economical bee-keepers who urge this disadvantage, "that every time bees come out in winter they discharge their excrement, and eat more honey in consequence of the vacant room." What a ridiculous absurdity it would be to apply this principle to the horse, whose health, strength, and vital heat is sustained by the assimilation of food! and the farmer is not to be found who would think of saving his provender by the same means. ”

“ I think it will be an easy matter to show that every departure from simplicity to gain one point, is attended in another by a correspondent evil, that often exceeds the advantage gained. That we have made vast improvements in art and science, and in every department of human affairs, no one will deny; consequently, it is assumed we must correspondingly improve in a bee-hive; forgetting that nature has fixed limits to the instinct of the bee, beyond which she will not go! ”

“ Did you ever watch by a hive thus raised, in April or May, towards night, when it was a little cool, and see the industrious little insects arrive with a load as heavy as they could possibly carry, all chilly, and nearly out of breath, scarcely able to reach home, and there witness their vain attempts to get among their fellows above them? ”

“ If success depended on some animal whose lease of life was a little longer, it would answer better to calculate in this way. But as a bee seldom sees the anniversary of its birthday, and most of them perish the first few months of their existence, it is bad economy. It will be found that the largest amount of our surplus honey is obtained from our prolific stocks. Therefore it is all-important that every swarm and stock has a queen to repair this constant loss. ”

“ Perhaps a good swarm has set outside the hive, all through the best of the honey season, and done nothing, while they could have half filled a hive; but this is all lost now, as well as the best chances for getting cells. Let me impress the necessity of doing it in season, when it will pay. If you intend to have a swarm from every stock that can spare one, begin when nature points out the proper time, which is, when the regular ones begin to issue. It must, indeed, be a poor season when there are none. ”

“ The bee is small, the load of honey brought home by it is still less, and the quantity secreted in the nectary of each flower, yet more minute. The patient bee visits each, and obtains but a tiny morsel; by perseverance a load is obtained, and deposited in the hive; it is only by the accumulation of such loads that we find an object worthy our notice: here is a lesson; look to little things, and the manner in which they are multiplied, and preserved. It is much better to save our bees than waste them, and wait for others to be raised; "a penny saved is worth two-pence earned." ”

“ Should any one feel disposed to make you a present of a stock or two of bees, I would advise you to accept the offer and be thankful, discarding all apprehension of a failure on that account. Or if any one is willing you should take some on shares, this is a cheap way to get a start, and you have no risk of loss in the old stock. Yet if bees prosper, the interest on the money that stocks cost is a mere trifle in comparison to the value of increase, and you have the same trouble. ”

“ All can understand why it is a loss to have bees eat honey part of the winter and then die—that the honey consumed might have been saved—that it makes no great difference to the bees whether they are killed in the fall or sacrificed in the winter. I am not an advocate for fire and brimstone as the reward of all unfortunate stocks, and shall recommend it only when its use will make it no worse. ”

“ 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? ”

“ Instincts first implanted by the hand of the Creator, have passed through millions of generations, unimpaired, to the present day, and will continue unchanged through all future time, till the last bee passes from the earth. We may, we have, to gratify acquisitiveness, forced them to labor under every disadvantage; yes, we have compelled them to sacrifice their industry, prosperity, and even their lives have been yielded, but never their instincts. We may destroy life, but cannot improve or take from their nature. ”

“ Such circumstances seldom produce swarms, yet as regular as the return of summer, a brood of drones appear. What are they for? Suppose the old queen in such hive dies, leaving eggs or young larvæ, and a young queen is reared to supply her place. How is she to be impregnated without the drones? Perhaps they are taught that whenever they can afford it, they should have some on hand to be ready for an emergency. I have already said when bees are numerous, and honey abundant, they never fail to provide them. I once put a swarm in a glass hive. ”

“ Keeping bees good-natured, offers a pretty fair subject for ridicule: it seems rather too absurd to teach a bee anything! Nevertheless, it is worth while to think of it a little. Most of us know that by injudicious training, horses, cattle, dogs, &c., may be rendered extremely vicious. If there is no perceptible analogy between these and bees, experience proves that they may be made ten times more irritable than they naturally would be. ”

“ Whether there are four distinct kinds of eggs producing them, or the power is given to the workers to develop such as are wanted, from one kind, we cannot say. If we make two kinds of eggs, it helps the matter but very little. There is still an anomaly. There is but one perfect female in a nest to germinate eggs, and the myriads produced (being over 80,000 in twenty-four hours, according to some historians) shows that the fecundity of our queen-bee is not a parallel case by any means. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A quantity 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 quantity of matter employed, while they shall occupy the least possible space!"
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 workmanship! that in a moment he can demolish what it has taken hours, yes days, perhaps weeks, of assiduous toil and labor, for the bees to accomplish! ”

“ What prudent man would emigrate with a family, if the prospect of a famine was plainly indicated, when, by remaining at home, there was enough, at least for the present? Who can help but admire this wise and beautiful arrangement? The combs must contain brood; the bees must find honey during the rearing of the queens. If a swarm were to issue the moment of obtaining honey, the consequence might be fatal, as there would not be a numerous brood to hatch out, and replenish the old stock with bees sufficient to keep out the worms. ”

“ It has been urged that every bee soon learns all passages and places about the hive, and consequently will know the direct road to the box. This may be true, but when we recollect that all within the hive is perfect darkness—that this path must be found by the sense of feeling alone—that this sense must be its guide in all its future travels—that perhaps a thousand or two young workers are added every week, and these have to learn by the same means—it would seem, if we studied our own interest, we would give them all the facility possible for entering the boxes. ”

“ Very often a hive is to be constructed, or an old one unfit to use any way, needs some sticks across, or something to take time. When the hive is obtained, it must be washed with something nice to make the bees like it; a little honey must be daubed on the inside; sugar and water, molasses and water, salt and water, or salt and water rubbed on with hickory leaves, "is the best thing in the world;" several other things are just as good, and some are better. Even whisky, that bane of man, has been offered them as a bribe to stay, and sometimes they are persuaded and go to work. ”

“ It is economy to do it—bees enough may be saved to pay the expense. During the first spring months, the stocks contain fewer bees than at any other season. It is then that a numerous family is important, for the purpose of creating animal heat to rear the brood, if for nothing else. One bee is of more consequence now than a half dozen in midsummer. When the hive stands in a bleak place, the bees returning with heavy loads, in a high wind, are frequently unable to strike the hive, and are blown to the ground; become chilled, and die. A chilly south wind is equally fatal, but not so frequent. ”

“ 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? ”

“ Strong stocks, that during a yield have occupied every cell with brood and honey, when it fails, will soon have empty cells left by the young bees, hatching. These empty cells, without honey to fill them, appear to be a source of much uneasiness. Although such hive and caps may be well stored, I have ever found them to be the worst in the apiary, much more disposed to plunder, than weaker ones with half the honey. As weak stocks cannot be bettered now, it is best to remove them at once, and put the temptation out of the way. ”

“ Industry belongs to their nature. When the flowers yield honey, and the weather is fine, they need no impulse from man to perform their part. When their tenement is supplied with all things necessary to reach another spring, or their store-house full, and no necessity or room for an addition, and we supply them with more space, they assiduously toil to fill it up. Rather than to waste time in idleness, during a bounteous yield of honey, they have been known to deposit their surplus in combs outside the hive, or under the stand. ”

“ Mix with water just enough molasses and vinegar to make it palatable; this is to be put in white saucers or other dishes, and set among the hives at night. Like nobler beings, if not wiser, when once they have tasted the fatal beverage, they seem to lose all power to leave the fascinating cup; but give way to appetite and excitement till a fatal step plunges them into destruction! ”

“ It has been argued by some, and with much reason, that "nature is the best guide, and it is better to let the bees have their own way about swarming—if honey is abundant, and the stock is in condition to spare a swarm, their own instincts will teach them to construct royal cells; if it fails before they are ready, and the royal brood is destroyed, it is because the existence of the swarm would be precarious, and it is best not to issue." ”

“ Whatever location is chosen, it should be decided upon as early in the spring as possible; because, when the chilling winds of winter have ceased for a day, and the sun, unobstructed, is sending his first warm rays to a frozen earth, the bees that have been inactive for months, feel the cheering influence, and come forth to enjoy the balmy air. ”

“ I have occasionally adopted yet another method of making a good stock from two poor ones, which the reader may prefer. When all your old stocks have been reinforced that need it, and you still have some swarms with too few bees and too little honey for safety as they are, two or more can be united. The fact, which has been thoroughly tested, that two families of bees, when united and wintered in one hive, will consume but little, if any more, than each of them would separately, is a very important principle in this matter. ”

“ If we expect to ascertain when a queen is lost at this season, we must notice them just before dark on the first warm days—because the mornings are apt to be too cool for any bees to be outside—any unusual stir, or commotion, similar to what has been described, shows the loss. This is the worst time in the year to provide the remedy, unless there should happen to be some very poor stock containing a queen, that we might lose any way—then it might be advisable to sacrifice it to save the other, especially if the last contained all the requisites of a good stock except a queen. ”