Apiary

“ On this account the orchard is a good place for an apiary, for it seems—more abundant the honey, more plentiful will be the fruit. Bees bear the fructifying matter from one sex of flowers to the other, but they confine their attention to one kind of flower during each excursion: and the careful observer may see how the colour of the pollen on the bodies of the bees will vary from yellow to red and brown, according to the kind of flowers from which it has been gathered. ”

“ It is of the first importance to the success of an apiary, that it should be in a neighbourhood where the bees can be supplied with an abundance of good pasturage, as upon that will depend the fecundity of the queen and the harvest of wax and honey. ”

“ Usually a stronger body, and improved health, the results of pure air, sunshine, and exercise, will make each successive day's labor more easy, and will permit a corresponding growth in the size of the apiary for each successive season. One of the most noted apiarists, not only in America but in the world, sought in bee-keeping her lost health, and found not only health, but reputation and influence. Some of the most successful apiarists in our country are women. ”

“ A last inducement to apiculture, certainly not unworthy of mention, is the offerings it brings to our tables. Health, yea, - 18 - our very lives, demand that we should eat sweets. It is a truth that our sugars, and especially our commercial syrups, are so adulterated as to be often poisonous. The apiary, in lieu of these, gives us one of the most delicious and wholesome of sweets, which has received merited praise, as food fit for the gods, from the most ancient time till the present day. ”

“ Langstroth, no man has probably done so much to promote the interest and growth of improved apiculture in the United States. His hive, his book, his views of wintering, his introduction of the bellows-smoker—a gift to apiarists—all speak his praise as a man and an apiarist. ”

“ The early part of the season was poor, but I had during the season 21 natural swarms and over 3000 lbs. of section honey for sale, with a surplus of 3000 lbs. in brood frames; more than enough to winter them, which I brought to my home apiary. The above harvest was wholly from smart weed, which was grown on overflow land near the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. The loss in this apiary will not exceed 10 from all causes. All are strong and booming. The soft maples are now in bloom; every fair day the bees are carrying in pollen and a very little honey ”

“ Management of an Apiary.—The main consideration in establishing an apiary is to secure a favourable location, which means a place where honey of good marketable quality may be gathered from the bee-forage growing around without any planting on the part of the bee-keeper himself. ”

“ This is the only case in which I like to employ either this or tobacco-smoke, which answers as well if not too long continued.
Your apiary or bee-shed should be placed as near your dwelling as possible, sheltered from the north and northeast winds, and at the greatest possible distance from poultry. ”

“ When you want to form an apiary, it is necessary at first to decide upon what design you will prefer, and then to adapt your bee-house to it; the bee-house itself being a wooden closet with shelves in it, each large enough to hold two or more hives. The holes for the entrance of the bees must be in front of the apiary; and they are generally made three inches long, and a quarter of an inch high, with a little shelf before each for the bees to alight upon before they enter the hive. ”

“ Every bee-keeper should be a book-keeper; that is, so far as to have a permanent record of the events of the apiary and the fortunes of his bees. A book similar to a tradesman's journal would be very suitable for the purpose. In it he should note down the date of the first swarm of the season especially, and those of the other swarms also; and in autumn, the quantity of honey taken from each hive should be entered, with remarks on the probable size of the various stocks. ”

“ If the taking of the honey be the object of the bee-master, then "driving" is manifestly a better plan than resorting to the fumes of sulphur for the purpose; for the bees from whom the store is taken can be joined to - 182 - stocks that are weak in numbers, with considerable advantage to the future prosperity of the apiary. ”

“ Although we never attempted to start a London apiary at all approaching in extent that of our predecessor, we have occasionally kept bees on the house-top, both in Holborn and Regent Street. At each of those situations we have noticed that the bees bring pollen as well as honey into their hives. One summer there was brought under our notice an illustration of the acuteness of the scent of bees and of their diligent search for food, proving, too, that if sweets can be obtained, even from unusual sources, the bees will find them out. ”

“ These rear their young in cells of mud, in mud-cells lining hollow weeds and shrubs, and in burrows which they dig in the hard earth. In early summer, during warm days, these glistening gems of life are frequently seen in walks and drives intent on gathering earth for mortar, or digging holes, and will hardly escape identification by the observing apiarist, as their form is so much like that of our honey-bees. They are smaller; yet their broad head, prominent eyes, and general form, are very like those of the equally quick and active, yet more soberly attired, workers of the apiary. ”

“ When the apiary is situated in a garden, there will be no want of bushes and low-growing shrubs on which the bees may alight when swarming. But when it is located on a lawn or smooth level, the swarm is extremely apt to fly off altogether, or to take up its station on some high tree in the vicinity, from which it is difficult to dislodge it. ”

“ Even the apiarist who keeps black bees and desires no - 165 - others, or who has only pure Italians, will still find that it pays to practice this selection, for, as with the poultry fancier, or the breeder of our larger domestic animals, so, too, the apiarist is ever observing some individuals of marked superiority, and he who carefully selects such queens to breed from, will be the one whose profits will make him rejoice, and whose apiary will be worthy of all commendation. ”

“ The arrangement of the hives in the apiary is a subject which will pay for thought. When beginning, this is easy enough, as they may be arranged almost any way, so long as shade and short grass are assured. After the apiary grows they may be arranged in several convenient ways; one is to have the lines of hives facing each other, thus making an alley for the bees; while there is a safe passageway for the man in the rear of the two rows. ”

“ Hives in my apiary average about 40 lbs. each extracting.
No. 5. In regard to the number of colonies an apiarist could oversee, it depends more on the talent and genius of the overseer than upon the number of colonies possessed. While one man can direct and control hundreds of employés, another cannot even manage his own labor to lead to the best results.
At some future time I would like to describe, in your Journal, the best and speediest methods of extracting honey in large apiaries as practised in this country. ”

“ At the distance of three or four miles another apiary is placed with another farmer, and so on. For this accommodation the bee-keepers pay either in money or in shares. It is estimated that on an average an acre will support twenty-five swarms, yielding fifty pounds of honey each. The apiaries are cared for by men in the employ of the bee-owners. Many ingenious contrivances have been introduced for the purpose of saving the labor of the bees and the keepers. ”

“ Ever after that memorable visit, when any of his Clergy complained to the Bishop of poverty, he would say to them, "Keep Bees! Keep Bees!"
In the words of an Apiarian friend, I solicit information from every one who may have it in his power to transmit it to me, and on the other hand, I profess my perfect readiness to impart whatever knowledge I may possess in the management of an Apiary, to any person who will favour me with the application; my aim is general utility, and the establishment of a national advantage. ”

“ It is a great desideratum that all the bars and frames in an apiary should be of precisely the same dimensions, - 255 - so as to fit every hive. A hive that is weakly may often be advantageously strengthened by having put into it a comb of brood from a populous stock, to which an empty frame from the weak one may be given; no bees must be on the brood-comb—these should be shaken off or gently dislodged with a feather into the hive from which the comb is taken. The frames of combs should then be, one by one, placed so as to fill in the vacancy, leaving, the empty frame nearest the side. ”

“ These little pests are a consummate nuisance about the - 273 - apiary. They enter the hives in winter, mutilate the comb, irritate, perhaps destroy, the bees, and create a very offensive stench. They often greatly injure comb which is outside the hive, destroy smokers, by eating the leather off the bellows, and if they get at the seeds of honey plants, they never retreat till they make a complete work of destruction. ”

“ As bees do not make honey, but only gather it, and as honey is mainly derived from certain flowers, it of course follows that the apiarist's success will depend largely upon the abundance of honey-secreting plants in the vicinity of his apiary. True it is that certain bark and plant lice secrete a kind of liquid sweet—honey of doubtful reputation—which, in the dearth of anything better, the bees seem glad to appropriate. I have thus seen the bees thick about a large bark-louse which attacks the tulip tree, and thus often destroys one of our best honey trees. ”

“ Apiculture may also bring succor to those whom society has not been over-ready to favor—our women. Widowed mothers, dependent girls, the weak and the feeble, all may find a blessing in the easy, pleasant, and profitable labors of the apiary. Of course, women who lack vigor and health, can care for but very few colonies, and must have sufficient strength to bend over and lift the small-sized frames of comb when loaded with honey, and to carry empty hives. ”

“ Birkbeck, Dr. Hancock, and Mr. Booth, respecting Bees, honey, wax, &c. of course the first chapter is new; as is chapter X. giving an account of the apiary of the Most Noble the Marquess of Blandford, at Delabere Park, which can hardly fail of being interesting to every reader: it is principally from the able pen of Mr. Booth. Chapter XVIII. on Apiarian Societies, is new also. ”

“ Practical Management.—The Apiary.—In the practical management of bees, the formation and due arrangement of the apiary is of some importance. The prime requisites are shelter from the extremes of heat, and cold, and quiet. Facing southwards, the hives should be carefully screened from the north and north-east. A group of young trees, or a close-growing hedge, will answer the purpose well ”

“ In feeding during the cold days of April, all should be close above the bees to economize the heat. In all feeding, care is requisite that we may not spill the feed about the apiary, as this may, and very generally will, induce robbing. ”

“ But the prejudices against bees are quite unnecessary; bees are as tractable as they are intelligent, and it is the purpose of this little book to show that bee-culture is an easy and safe, as well as a deeply interesting, pursuit. Possibly, also, some who do us the favour to read our detailed explanations will see how the rural clergyman, or the benevolent landlord, who keeps an apiary of his own, may be of signal service to his poorer neighbours in explaining to them the mysteries of bee-keeping. ”

“ The sections should surely be in place at the dawn of the white clover season, so that the apiarist may secure the most of this irresistible nectar, chaste as if capped by the very snow itself. They should be taken away as soon as capped, as delay makes them highways of travel for the bees, which always mar their beauty. ”

“ To procure colonies from which to form an apiary, it is always best to get them near at hand. We thus avoid the shock of transportation, can see the bees before we purchase, and in case there is any seeming mistake, can easily gain a personal explanation, and secure a speedy adjustment of any real wrong. ”

“ Successful apiculture demands close and accurate observation, and hard, continuous thought and study, and this, too, in the wondrous realm of nature. In all this, the apiarist receives manifold and substantial advantages. ”

“ Said "Cyula Linswik"—whose excellent and beautifully written articles have so often charmed the readers of the bee publications, and who has had five years of successful experience as an apiarist—in a paper read before our Michigan Convention of March, 1877: "I would gladly purchase exemption from in-door work, on washing-day, by two days' labor among the bees, and I find two hours' labor at the ironing-table more fatiguing than two hours of the severest toil the apiary can exact. * * * I repeat, that apiculture offers to many women not only pleasure but profit. ”

“ It should, also, be within sight and hearing, and at no great distance from a continually-frequented room in the dwelling—perhaps the kitchen, if convenient, that, in their swarming season, they may be secured as they leave the parent hive. The apiary is a beautiful object, with its busy tenantry; and to the invalid, or one who loves to look upon God's tiny creatures, it may while away many an agreeable 257 hour, in watching their labors—thus adding pleasure to profit. ”