CHAPTER XXIX.. Manner of Preserving Hives by

MANNER OF PRESERVING HIVES BY TAKING THEM INTO THE HOUSE IN WINTER.

It is generally supposed that, in the high valleys, and in the mountains, bees can only be preserved by taking the hives into the house in winter, where they must remain, until the snow has disappeared, before they can be set at liberty. I had this fatal prejudice for many years; but it was dispelled by the success attending the union of the five swarms of which I have given a detailed account in Chapter XVIII., at which time a ray of light broke in upon me that has since continued to guide me.

The following winter I left out the one-half of my hives, and moved the other half into a cold room, according to my usual custom, where all the pains I bestowed upon them did not altogether keep them alive, nor preserve them from damp and infection. In vain I swept and cleaned the boards, or placed them on dry hay to absorb the moisture; in vain I gave them capes or joinings. With all my care, there was not one of them free of diseases and infection. The winter was long and severe; and they could not be returned to the air before the last week in March, by which time they were feeble and languid, and far less prosperous than those that had passed the winter out of doors. From that time, I have never taken one into the house. But, as hives that have been weakened by giving out too many swarms, especially swarms of the same year, that have not nearly filled the interior of their habitation with combs, are less subject to become overheated, and to mould, than those that are quite filled, and of which the population is very strong, the inhabitants of the mountains might have the latter in the open air all winter, and only move the others into the house. They will find, as I have done, that strong well filled hives are far best out of doors, provided they take the necessary precautions to prevent them from freezing.

I have somewhere or other read an account of a very ingenious method of preserving hives in winter, but have not made trial of it, in consequence of not having a place fitting for it. According to this plan, one must have an empty room, very cold and dry, in which, from end to end, two long poles are suspended parallel to each other, and a foot of distance between them. As soon as the severe cold begins, and the thermometer is at the freezing point, the hives are all moved into this room, and set up upon the poles, without any board beneath them, and separate about half a foot from each other. Each hive must be numbered, and the numbers noted down, as well as the board and place that each occupied in the apiary, in order that they may be replaced in exactly the same situation on the return of spring. This done, the room is darkened, as the smallest ray of light will induce the bees to quit their hives; and, in this manner, they may be preserved in a healthy state, and without diminution of their numbers, during the winter; and, from being left entirely open below, any dead bees, or bits of wax, fall on the floor, and they escape the danger of infection.

On the return of the fine season, and early in the morning of a calm day, the room is opened, and each hive returned to its own place on the apiary.

I have reason to think that hives, wintered in this way, will consume a quarter, a third, or perhaps one-half less provision than others, if left on the apiary, or shut up entirely from the air; but we must attend less to the rigid economy of the honey, than to the preservation of the valuable insects that collect it for us.

I possess only the theory of a practice of which I should have gloried in being the inventor, as it appears to me infallible, and advantageous in all its relations, but more especially to the inhabitants of the mountains. There two or three people might hire a room among them for the purpose; and, should the air become impure from so many hives being closed up together, it could be purified by opening the door during the night, and closing it well up again in the morning.

CONCLUSION.

I have now given the result of sixty-four years experience. This little memoir has extended beneath my pen far beyond my original intention; but it was of consequence in describing the new methods I had adopted, to give my reasons for every thing I recommended; and, for this purpose, to enter very minutely into the details. I have not written with elegance, but have expressed myself plainly; and, in giving the account of my experiments, it seemed to me that, to be clearly understood, I ought to relate naturally how I set about them, as the different circumstances occurred, and that every reader could more easily follow me, in seeing me act, as it were, than if I merely laid down general rules. Those I have given, have the rare advantage of being applicable to every kind of hive, of wood or straw, whether large or small, and of whatever form or shape. I have not recommended any one kind in particular, not even those that bear my name, as I consider them all equally profitable when skilfully taken care of. Every one may make use of such as he likes best, or such as he can most easily procure. I wish not to lead the apiarian into any expence, but to point out to him clearly those principles and rules that he should not lose sight of, if he wishes to preserve his bees and to profit by them.

If this little work is favourably received by the public, and if my life is spared, I may be induced to give it a sequel, in which will be found new ideas concerning the drones, and their destination, with several experiments to discover if it is of any use to assist the bees in killing them; calculations of the yearly and average profit of a single hive, by which I would encourage the cultivators to work a rich mine whence great profit maybe drawn; and also directions for purifying the honey, as well as for melting the wax, none of which could have a place in this little book, the sole object, as expressed in the title, being the preservation of the bees.

Diminution of the Weight of my Hives during the Winter--from the 20th September 1813 to the 31st March 1814.

STRAW.

No. 1. diminished 10 pounds. 2. 10½ 3. 12½ 4. 12 8. 11 10. 9 11. 8½ 13. doubled in October, 11 15. 10½ 16. doubled, 10½ 17. doubled, 14 20. 10 21. 14 22. doubled, 8½ 23. 10½ 24. 9 25. 15 26. 12½ 27. 10½ 30. 13 32. 9½ 38. 8 A. 9½ B. 10 C. 12½ D. 10½

WOOD.

No. 1. diminished 11½ pounds. 4. doubled, 9½ 6. 11 7. 8½ 8. 19 9. 10 11. 15½ 13. 15 21. 10 23. doubled, 11½

To know exactly if the consumption of united hives was greater than that of those hives whose population had not been augmented, I weighed thirty-six hives on the 31st of March 1814, that had been previously weighed on the 20th September 1813; but I omitted those from which I had taken honey, as well as those I fed, as I did not weigh them. It may be observed, by the foregoing table, that the most economical expenditure amounts to eight pounds of honey, and that the greatest consumption is nineteen. I can attribute this enormous difference to nothing but pillage. It is very likely that the straw-hive, No. 38., must have enriched itself with booty in October or in March, while the wooden hive No. 8. had been plundered. Of these thirty-six hives, six had been doubled in October, by the introduction of a strong swarm into each of them, and we see that their expenditure has not been greater than that of those colonies that were left single. In the course of six months and eleven days, one diminished only eight pounds and a half; one, nine and a half; one, ten and a half; one eleven; one, eleven and a half; and the least economical, fourteen pounds. This comparison demonstrates, that hives, doubled by the re-union of the bees of another hive, consume no more in winter than less populous hives, left in their natural state. The fact is clearly proved, though I am ignorant of the cause. I ought to observe, that all these doubled hives, with the exception of one old one, twenty-two years of age, prospered perfectly the year following, and gave me more honey and more swarms than all the others.

NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR.

Some friends, for whom I entertain a very high respect, have remarked, on reading the proof sheets of this translation, that Gelieu appears to be very successful in preserving the bees, but that he does not prove so clearly that any great increase of honey is thereby to be obtained. To the practical apiarian this objection will never present itself; but, for the satisfaction of those who are not acquainted with bees, I regret not being in possession of Gelieu's calculation of the average profits of single and doubled hives: and I regret more especially, that, during the few years my attention has been directed to the management of bees, I have been contented with remarking the thriving condition of the apiary, without giving myself the trouble to calculate the exact amount of its produce. Those, however, who are accustomed to observe and to take care of bees, will know that the whole value of the hives depends on the swarms being large and early, and will therefore see at once the advantages to be gained by attending to Gelieu's directions. The results of my own experience are, in other respects, as follows.

I have tried hives of various kinds: those of the common shape, made of straw; the still prettier sort, made of sea-shore bent (Arundo arenaria); the square-storied hive of wood; also the Huish hives; and, consequently, have had an opportunity of assuring myself that the success of the apiary depends neither on the form nor the material, but entirely on the treatment the bees meet with, and that hives may be made, with equal success, of whatever is most easily obtained in the district they are to be used in, always provided they are kept clean and are well managed. In some of the high valleys of the Alps, where straw is not to be had, and where every blade of grass is carefully economized for the use of the cattle, the hives are merely rough blocks of timber, sawn across the stems of the pine tree, and rudely scooped out to receive the swarms: these answer the purpose just as well as other hives; and the only or the chief difference, is the greater or less facilities which each affords for the extraction of the combs; an operation of easy performance in the Huish hives, when its inventor's directions are adhered to. But, in Switzerland, the same process is accomplished without difficulty in hives of any shape or material, by means of a knife, which is so simple in its construction, and so easily used, that it deserves to be made generally known. I therefore subjoin a figure, with a description and a note of the dimensions, from which it may be made by any country black-smith.

This figure represents the shape of the knife; it is formed merely of a slip of iron, about two feet long by an eighth of an inch thick. The two horizontal lines a a shew the size and appearance of the handle, which is twenty inches long by half an inch broad. The turned-down blade (b), of two inches in length, is spear-pointed, sharp on the edges, and bent perpendicularly from the handle. The other blade (c) is two inches long by one and a half broad, and sharpened all round, as marked by the double black line.

The broad blade (c) cuts and separates the wax from the sides of the hive, and the spear-point (b), which is also sharp on each side, admits, from its direction and narrowness, of being introduced between the combs, to loosen them from the top of the hive; and, for the same reason, it also answers the purpose of pruning the combs.

The honey-comb which is thus extracted, or which is obtained from the capes, is greatly superior to that which is suffered to remain in the hives till the autumn. The wax is thin and transparent, and the honey, being newly drawn from the nectaries, is particularly rich and delicious, as it has not had time to lose the fragrant and delicate flavour of the young flowers.

Huish, it may be observed, gives very clear directions for extracting the combs from the hives that bear his name; he also recommends the uniting of swarms; but I could never obtain his instructions on this latter point. Doubting nothing of its practicability, however, I made the experiment, but having no guiding principle to direct me, it was like going to sea without a compass; and, in consequence, my hopes were soon wrecked, and I had the misery of seeing the whole of the swarm that I had saved from suffocation, speedily put to death by the bees of the hive that I had so rashly forced it to enter. The result, however, was widely different when I made the trial again last autumn, guided by the directions contained in this little volume, for I accomplished the union of my swarms without difficulty--even without previously having seen it done, and without having received a single sting; and I had thus the pleasure of witnessing my hopes crowned with complete success.

For this operation, it is not necessary either to have the courage of a warrior, or the intelligence and coolness of a philosopher like M. de Gelieu. An ordinary degree of judgment to understand his directions, and confidence enough implicitly to follow them, will enable any one to perform it, provided he sets about it cautiously, and takes care not to hurt the bees, or to handle them roughly.

I managed It, with the assistance of two persons, without gloves, or any shield or shadow of defence, except a little tobacco-smoke, involving us, as it were, within the influence of a charmed atmosphere, that seemed to stupify the bees, and render their sting powerless, while it inspired us with confidence to proceed. I recommend it being done at first by three persons, one to manage the hive and extract the combs, another to sweep the bees back gently with a feather or goose-wing, and a third to manage the fumigating bellows; or, if the fumigating-bellows are not at hand, to blow occasional whiffs of smoke from a tobacco-pipe.

When my first cluster of bees was shaken out of the pillaged hive upon the table-cloth, I had the happiness of seeing them instantly begin their ascent (not on the wing) but in a regular march. It was a spectacle of intense interest. They entered the full hive as orderly and as peaceably as any body of regular troops ever took possession of a citadel; and next day the original possessors and the new settlers, were seen, in perfect harmony, working together for the general good.

But whether they thought proper to kill a queen for themselves or not, was a fact that I had no means to ascertain.

Thus encouraged by my first experiment, I proceeded to extend it. My whole apiary consisted of eight Huish hives, isolated on single pillars of wood, at the distance of three feet from each other. We emptied three more of the hives, and joined a swarm to each of the remaining three, making four doubled stock hives. The gardener who has the care of them, had five hives of his own, three of which were deprived of their honey in the same way, and the swarms joined to the remaining two, which he had kept as stock hives; and I am now enabled to state exactly the quantity of honey that each has consumed from September 1828, to the end of March 1829.

No. 1. diminished 12 lb. 2. " 9 3. " 12 4. " 11

The Gardener's Hives.

No. 1. A large common hive 17 lb. 2. A Huish hive 13

It ought, however, to be mentioned, that my four hives got a pound and a half of honey among them, in February; but those belonging to the gardener got no feeding. The entrances of all of them were left open during the winter, and there were not altogether above two dozen dead bees found on the boards, when they were lifted to be weighed.

The gardener's hive. No. 2., received two swarms in addition to its own; and this allied army took possession just as peaceably as the others, and actually consumed less honey during the winter than No. 1., which was only doubled. In effecting the union, the citizens had been plentifully regaled with a sprinkling of liquid honey, previous to the introduction of the strangers; and there were as many luscious drops of the banquet left, as gave the new comers no disrelish to their quarters.

For some years past, I have suffered no sticks to be put across the inside of any of my hives, as they render the extraction of the combs impracticable.

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It may be right to add, in conclusion, that I have, in one or two places, slightly altered the text where the meaning seemed obscure, and where mistakes might otherwise have occurred. I ought, perhaps, to have translated these passages quite literally, and to have corrected them in separate notes; but ignorance of book-making must be my excuse.

FINIS.

P. NEILL, PRINTER.

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Transcriber Note

Minor typos were corrected.