Apiculture

“ Apiculture, like all other branches of agriculture, depends largely upon the natural resources of the location, and the favorableness or unfavorableness of any particular season, no matter how skillful the management, may make great differences in the year's return. The knowledge, skill, industry, and promptness of the one who undertakes the care of the apiary have likewise much to do with the return. ”

“ Now, in recommending apiculture, or bee-keeping, as a recreation from more serious pursuits, we feel that we incur little risk of increasing the number of bores in society, or of inducing an undue outlay of hours or pounds on the part of those who follow our suggestions. For, on the one hand, the facts likely to be spoken of by enthusiastic apiarians to casual hearers could not fail to interest ”

“ And indeed, one-half of the science and practice of apiculture consists in giving free rein to the spirit of initiative possessed by the bees, and in providing their enterprising intellect with opportunities for veritable discoveries and veritable inventions. Thus, for instance, to aid in the rearing of the larvae and nymphs, the bee-keeper will scatter a certain quantity of flour close to the hive when the pollen is scarce of which these consume an enormous quantity. ”

“ THE science of apiculture, as it is understood to-day, is the slow growth of centuries of human observation and investigation. For unnumbered ages it has been a work of interest to man to reclaim these singularly untamable insects from the state ferœ naturæ to that domitæ naturæ, as the legal phrase has it—to render their natures sufficiently tractable to enable man to appropriate to himself the benefits of their toil. ”

“ To the ladies, shut out from fresh air and sunshine, till pallor and languor point sadly to - 12 - departing health, and vigor, and to men the nature of whose business precludes air and exercise, apiculture cannot be too highly recommended as an avocation. ”

“ 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. ”

“ WHO MAY KEEP BEES. SPECIALISTS.
Any person who is cautious, observing, and prompt to do whatever the needs of his business require, with no thought of delay, may make apiculture a specialty, with almost certain prospects of success. He must also be willing to work with Spartan energy during the busy season, and must persist, though sore discouragement, and even dire misfortune, essay to thwart his plans and rob him of his coveted gains. As in all other vocations, such are the men who succeed in apiculture. ”

“ Apiculture, or bee-keeping, is still at the present day an important business, although honey has lost a great deal of its utility since the introduction of sugar into Europe. Without entering into many 349 details on apiculture, that is to say, on the attention it is necessary to pay to bees, we will mention the principal duties of the bee-keeper. ”

“ The latter class constitute the majority 131 of the beekeeping fraternity and only too often are their needs overlooked by those who write upon the subject of apiculture.
While we are aware that if one is adapted to beekeeping, and enters into it properly in a favorable location and masters it that success will follow; yet, as a rule, we advise keeping bees in connection with some other vocation, as when one becomes thoroughly familiar with all the requirements of beekeeping it is an easy matter to enlarge his apiary. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Many features connected with swarming still remain mysteries. The whole subject requires still more study, and its full elucidation would no doubt be of great practical value to apiculture. The field is inviting. ”

“ Enthusiasm, or an ardent love of its duties is very desirable, if not an absolute requisite, to successful apiculture. To be sure, this is a quality whose growth, with even slight opportunity, is almost sure. It only demands perseverance. The beginner, without either experience or knowledge, may meet with discouragements—unquestionably will. Swarms will be lost, colonies will fail to winter, the young apiarist will become nervous, which fact will be noted by the bees with great disfavor, and if opportunity permits, will meet reproof more sharp than pleasant. ”

“ If we were asked to name the most important desideratum in apiculture, we should say feeding. Judicious feeding at a proper time will save many stocks. We have not only to contend against the absolute destruction during winter of a feeble or ill-supplied stock, but the principle always before the eye of the apiarian should be to be able to commence the season with strong stocks, able to take due advantage of the honey season directly it arrives. ”

“ I can easily see that had I praised several ingenious contrivances for the residence of bees, I should have provoked fewer charges of ignorance of modern apiculture. I repeat, I have read much on the subject; but my recommendations are not -xvi- the results of theory or imagination, but of practical knowledge and of careful watching.
The best hop-garden is that which grows the most and best hops; the best mill is that which grinds most corn; and the best hives are those in which is deposited the largest amount of the best honey. ”

“ They are exponents of English apiculture, which in method would seem clumsy to Americans. In fact, I think I may say that in implements and perhaps I may add methods, the English, French, Germans and Italians, are behind our American apiarists, and hence their text-books and journals compare illy with ours. I believe the many intelligent foreign apiarists who have come to this country and are now honored members of our own fraternity, will sustain this position. Foreign scientists are ahead of American, but we glean and utilize their facts and discoveries as soon as made known. ”

“ If not, you had better see about it, as no bee-keeper in the world can reap a full harvest, and be behind with his supers, hives, frames, etc. It is always best to be ready, whether the harvest comes or not. But should it come, and find the tub bottom up, but little is caught.
It is not best to ask too many questions when you start out in apiculture. Remember that one idea learned yourself, is worth more than if two were told you.
Remember that you may read agricultural papers for years, and without any practice you are no farmer. It is the same with bees. ”

“ Although apiculture is extremely fascinating to most people who have a taste for the study of nature, requiring, as it does, out-of-door life, with enough exercise to be of benefit to one whose main occupation is sedentary, the income to be derived from it when rightly followed is a consideration which generally has some weight and is often the chief factor in leading one to undertake the care of bees. ”

“ The fickle, careless, indolent, heedless man, will as surely fail in apiculture, as in any other calling. But I repeat, in the light of many years of experience, where accurate weight, measure, and counting of change has given no heed to conjecture, that there is no manual labor pursuit, where the returns are so large, when compared with the labor and expense.
An intelligent apiarist may invest in bees any spring in Michigan, with the absolute certainty of more than doubling his investment the first season ”

“ Two colonies are plenty, and then let their knowledge increase in the same ratio as do their bees. The next thing in order, after purchasing bees, should be a good standard work on apiculture; and study it well. A person should be full of theory, and then they are ready for practice. Those who are energetic, willing to work, intelligent and willing, eager to learn, observing, persevering, and attentive to their work, will rarely ever fail in apiculture. ”

“ 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. ”

“ These will include the purchase of comb foundation and sections, repairs, eventual replacing of hives and implements, and the interest on the capital invested. By locating in some section particularly favorable to apiculture—that is, near large linden forests, with clover fields within range, supplemented by buckwheat; or in a section where alfalfa is raised for seed; where mesquite, California sages, and wild buckwheat abound; where mangrove, palmettos, and titi, or where sourwood, tulip tree, and asters are plentiful—the net profits here indicated may frequently be doubled or trebled. ”

“ On the whole, there should be expected from the raising of bees for any purpose whatever only fair pay for one's time, good interest on the money invested, and a sufficient margin to cover contingencies. With no greater expectations from it than this, and where intelligence directs the work, apiculture will be found, in the long run, to rank among the best and safest of rural industries. ”

“ In the year 1874 was established the British Bee-keepers' Association, with one of the first entomologists of the day, Sir John Lubbock, at its head; and under its auspices there have since been held annual shows at the Crystal and Alexandra Palaces, at which bees themselves, their dwellings and paraphernalia, and their products, have been submitted to the awards of judges as well as to the popular inspection. Several periodicals are either wholly or in part devoted to apiculture, and altogether appearances are healthy and hopeful. ”

“ Though great progress has been made during the last five-and-twenty years in the pursuit of apiculture, much remains to be done, particularly in spreading far and wide a knowledge of recent discoveries, and attempting to induce a more general adoption of this most profitable and interesting occupation. It would be difficult to refer to a pursuit in which larger returns are yielded, considering the limited outlay; and as profit is a consideration with the majority of those who have bees, we propose to keep it chiefly in view in the present paper. ”

“ If the distance from the top of the frames to the honey board, or between the frames and the hive, is less than three-eighths of an inch, the bees will propolis it together, and if it is more, they will build comb between.
Mrs. L. Harrison.
What Should be Worked For.
As publishers, says the Weekly Bee Journal, we should,
1. Encourage planting bee-pasturage, that there may be, every season, a crop of honey to gather, in order to make apiculture a certain occupation.
2. Foster district and local societies to afford mutual instruction, and strengthen fraternization. ”

“ Huber, to whom we are indebted for so many interesting and careful observations on apiculture, tried the experiment of placing in pots branches of the poplar, before the buds had opened, and these he put near his apiary. The bees, settling on them, separated the folds of the largest buds, extracted the resinous matter in - 77 - threads, loaded it on their thighs, as they do pollen, and carried it to their hives. In the spring one may often notice a loud humming round the foliage of deodars, firs, and other coniferæ ”

“ The danger of overstocking is largely imaginary, yet in establishing a large apiary it is of course essential to look to the natural resources of the location, and especially to decide only upon a place where two or more of the leading honey-producing plants are present in great numbers. ”

“ In the ordinary course of events some colonies are likely to come through to the early harvest in good shape, but if all those contained in a large apiary are in prime order at this time it is good evidence of skill on the part of the attendant, this even though the weather and other circumstances may have favored his work. To secure a yield of surplus honey the part remaining to be done, if all goes well, is merely to put the surplus receptacles in place, admit the bees, and remove the combs when filled and sealed. ”

“ The fact that drones develop from unfertilized eggs is to be noted as having an important practical bearing in connection with the introduction of new strains of a given race or of new races of bees into an apiary. ”

“ Care to establish in all cases conditions similar to the above before bees cease flying in the autumn will insure the apiarist against any serious losses in wintering out of doors, even in the severest portions of our country. ”

“ Upon the workers, which are undeveloped females, devolves all the labor of gathering honey, pollen, propolis, and bringing water, secreting wax, building combs, stopping up crevices in the hive, nursing the brood, and defending the hives. ”

“ 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 ”