CHAPTER VII.. Bee-Boxes.

BEE-BOXES.

There has been some difference of opinion as to the most suitable dimensions of bee-boxes. I prefer those of Keys, which are twelve inches square and nine inches deep, in the clear. The best wood for them is red cedar, the fragrance of which is regarded by some as agreeable to the bees; but the chief grounds of preference are its effect in keeping moths out of the boxes, and its being a bad conductor of heat, from its lightness and sponginess. Whatever kind of wood be made use of, it should be well seasoned; yellow deal answers the purpose very well. The sides of the boxes should be an inch thick, and the bars on the top three quarters of an inch, about an inch and half wide, and six in number, which will leave an interspace between each of about half an inch. At the back of each box, a pane of glass should be fixed in a small rabbet, which may be covered with a half inch door, hung with wire hinges and fastened by a button.

The size of the door may be suited to the wishes of the apiarian: as this door will only give a view of the centre combs, in case of their being constructed in a line with the bars, or of one or more of the external combs, in case of their being attached at right angles with the bars or diagonally, it will be desirable to have a pane of glass in each side also, that the proprietor may be enabled to judge at any time of the stock of honey contained in the box. These small glass windows will seldom do more than afford the proprietor an opportunity of ascertaining the strength of his stock of bees, and the quantity of honey they have in store; if he wish to see more particularly the operations of the labourers, or to witness the survey which the queen now and then takes of them, he may have a large bell-glass, surmounted by a straw-hive, which latter may be occasionally raised, for the purpose of inspection.

"By this blest art our ravish'd eyes behold, The singing Masons build their roofs of gold, And mingling multitudes perplex the view, Yet all in order apt their tasks pursue; Still happier they, whose favour'd ken hath seen Pace slow and silent round, the state's fair queen."

+Evans.+

An opportunity of beholding the proceedings of the queen is so very rarely afforded, that many apiarians have passed their lives without enjoying it; and Reaumur himself, even with the assistance of a glass-hive, acknowledges that he was many years before he had that pleasure. Those who have been so fortunate, agree in representing her majesty as being very slow and dignified in her movements, and as being constantly surrounded by a guard of about a dozen bees, who seem to pay her great homage, and always to have their faces turned towards her, like courtiers, in the presence of royalty.

"But mark, of royal port, and awful mien, Where moves with measur'd pace the +Insect Queen+! Twelve chosen guards, with slow and solemn gait. Bend at her nod, and round her person wait."

+Evans.+

Mr. Dunbar's observations, upon the movements of the queen in his mirror-hive, do not correspond altogether with what is here stated. He says that he did not find her majesty attended in her progress by a guard, but that wherever she moved the way was cleared; that the heads of the workers whom she passed upon her route were always turned towards her, that they fawned upon and caressed her, touching her softly with their antennæ; but that as soon as she moved onwards, they resumed their labours, whilst all that she passed in succession paid her the same homage. This sort of homage is only paid to fertile queens; whilst they continue virgins, they are not treated with much respect.

The queen is very numerously surrounded, when depositing her first eggs in the cells, her attendants then cling to one another and form a living curtain before her, so completely impenetrable to our eyes, as to preclude all observation of her proceedings; unless the apiarian use the leaf-hive of Huber, or the mirror-hive of Dunbar, it is hardly possible to snatch a sight of her, excepting when she lays her eggs near the exterior parts of the combs. The manner in which bees attach themselves to each other, when forming a curtain, or when suspending themselves from a bough, or taking their repose, is, by each bee, with its two fore-claws, taking hold of the two hinder legs of the one next above it, thus forming as it were a perfect grape-like cluster or living garland. Even when thus intertwined with each other, as Swammerdam has observed, they can fly off' from the bunch, and perch on it again, or make their way out from the very centre of the cluster, and rush into the air. This mode of suspension, so voluntarily adopted, must be agreeable to them, though the uppermost bees evidently bear the weight of all the rest. Mr. Wildman supposes that they have a power of distending themselves with air, like fishes, by which they acquire buoyancy.

Each set of boxes must have one close cover, which should be an inch thick and well clamped at each end to prevent warping, as a considerable quantity of steam arises from the bees at certain seasons. The top, being intended to take off and on, should be secured by means of four screws, each placed about an inch and a half from the respective corners; and it should also be fitted to, and screwed down upon, all the boxes before any of them are used, that whenever it may be necessary to remove, or to add a box, the change may be effected with the utmost promptitude. Long taper screws, as nearly of the same size as possible, should be selected for fastening on the tops, and be dipped in grease before put in, to facilitate their removal. Each set of boxes must also have a loose floor, an inch thick and extending about an inch and half beyond the back and sides of the boxes. The outlet for the bees is usually cut in the lower edge of the boxes, but I have found it much more convenient to have it formed by sinking the floor half of its thickness at the centre of its front edge. The width of the part sunk should be about four inches, and should gradually diminish in depth till it reach the centre of the board. The sloping direction thus given will, in case of beating rain or condensed steam falling upon it, prevent any wet from lodging within the hive. The floor must also be clamped at the ends, to prevent warping, though the superincumbent weight renders it less liable to be warped than the top. Either on the right or left hand side of the entrance, as may be most convenient, a groove must be cut half an inch deep and half an inch wide; to this groove a slide must be fitted (made to run easily), for the purpose of closing the box, and preventing the egress or ingress of the bees, as occasion may require.

A centre board between each tier of boxes will likewise be convenient; it should be of the same size as the floor, and have an oblong hole about six inches by four in the middle, to give liberty to the bees to pass from box to box. Apiaries should always have a few supernumerary boards of each sort, and also some supernumerary boxes.

As the boxes and boards require to be made with great accuracy, that they may be nicely adapted to each other, a good joiner should be employed to construct them; for if there be any crevices the bees will, according to their invariable custom, fill them with propolis, and thereby waste their valuable time. The square boxes which I have described are the simplest of any, in their form: some persons prefer the octagon or hexagon form; in some situations, if windows be placed in the three posterior sides, those forms may be more convenient for exhibiting the operations of the bees, or the store of honey in the combs; but they are more expensive and more cumbrous, if made as capacious as the square ones; and these latter answer the intended purposes so well, as to satisfy completely those who have used them. Although I have endeavoured to give a clear description of the form and mode of constructing a bee-box and its appendages, probably it may be more satisfactory to young beginners to obtain a sight or a model of them, I refer them therefore to Mr. Hughes, joiner, Ross, Herefordshire, or to Mr. John Milton, 10, Great Marybone Street.

I cannot dismiss this part of my subject, without saying a few words respecting the hive of Huish, which is contrived with the view of allowing the removal of the exterior bars, that support the honey-combs, without disturbing the brood-combs. The principle of this hive appears to be very good, but I doubt whether it will come into general use; for as bees are not very tractable creatures, they are not likely to construct their combs in direct lines, so as to attach one singly to each of Mr. Huish's bars: the tops of the boxes which I use are constructed like Huish's, yet I never saw an instance in which the combs did not either cross those bars at right angles, or connect themselves in some way or other with two or three bars, so as to render it impracticable to remove a comb or two from the outsides, in the manner that Huish proposes. The sole advantage of Huish's hive consists in this undisturbing mode of removal; and could it be effected, honey might be extracted without withdrawing any of the stored pollen or propolis, or molesting the brood in the centre combs; an inconvenience which, it must be admitted, may be charged upon the storifying system, though I hope I have, in my chapter or Deprivation, pointed out a method that will, in a very great degree, if not entirely, remedy this inconvenience. Huish, in his instructions for using his hives, admits the difficulty which I have here stated, as to the attachment of a single comb to more than one bar, and gives particular directions how to proceed on such occasions; but even under tolerably favourable circumstances, the recommended operation would require considerable nicety, and no small portion of courage; in some cases the difficulty would be completely insurmountable. A hive very similar to that of Huish is described in Wheeler's Travels. He states it to be in use in the neighbourhood of Mount Hymettus. "The hives," says he, "in which they keep their bees, are made of willow or osiers fashioned like our common dust-baskets, wide at top and narrow at bottom." "These tops are covered with broad flat sticks, along which the bees fasten their combs, so that a comb may be taken out whole." We are informed, by Reaumur and Du Hamel, that this Greek method of keeping bees and taking honey was introduced into France in 1754. If it had succeeded, either in France or in this country, I think we should have heard more of it.

The only way in which I conceive that Huish's idea can be followed up effectually, is, by employing the experimental hive of Huber; but the majority of persons who undertake the management of bees, will look to them as a source of profit; and to these the expense of such a hive would render it completely unavailable. Huber's first experiments were made in single leaf-hives an inch and a half wide; his latter trials, on several of these connected together, each an inch and a quarter wide, which left the same room for the passage of the bees as the single hive. See Chapter XI. Reaumur's hives consisted of wooden frames, with glass windows, but of such a width, as to allow the bees to construct two combs parallel to each other. This form is unfavourable, inasmuch as it conceals from the observer whatever passes between them.

Mr. Thorley, who practised the plan of super-hiving, surmounted his octagon boxes and flat-topped hives, with a large bell-glass, over which he placed a common straw-hive, to take on and off. From an extract which I have made from Dr. Evans's book in the chapter on Instincts, he appears to have adopted this method.

It was by the aid of similar glasses that Maraldi was enabled to give to the world so accurate an account of the natural history and labours of bees.

"Long from the eye of man and face of day, Involv'd in darkness all their customs lay, Until a Sage, well vers'd in Nature's lore, A genius form'd all science to explore, Hives well contriv'd in crystal frames dispos'd, And there the busy citizens inclos'd."

+Murphy's Vaniere.+

Wildman also, in addition to his usual mode of keeping bees, upon the storifying plan, occasionally employed flat-topped hives surmounted by a large bell-glass; and at the close of his Treatise we are informed that he had latterly adopted another method of super-hiving, which is still practised by apiarians of the present day. Instead of employing one large glass, he made use of four or five small ones, each holding about a pint; and those who are fond of using honey fresh from the hive, will find this a convenient mode of keeping their bees, though probably not so profitable a one as the general plan of storifying. A stock of these hives and glasses, on the most approved construction, is kept constantly ready for sale at Mr. John Milton's, 10, Great Marybone Street. The bees, upon this plan, are hived in the usual way, the top board being kept closed, till the glasses are placed over it, which may be done as soon as convenient after the hive has been put in the situation in which it is intended to remain. The glasses and top board should be covered with a common straw-hive, to exclude the light, as bees are found to work best in the dark. When the glasses are sufficiently filled with combs and honey,--and this period will very much depend upon the season,--if the bees still remain in them, placing an empty hive under the full one win generally cause them to descend, and facilitate the removal of the glasses, which may take place as often as the harvest of honey will admit, consistently with the leaving of a full winter's supply for the bees. See chapter on Nadir-hiving. The usual mode of taking the honey in these glasses is, first to cut off the communication between them and the hive on which they stand, by loosening the thumbscrew in the centre, and turning the board so far round as to close the openings; then, by means of a thin spatula, separating the glasses from their adhesion, and either carrying them, inverted, a short distance from the hive, into a shady place, or raising each glass by means of a wedge, and leaving it thus for about an hour. In either case the bees will quit the glasses and return to the family by the usual entrance. To effect the removal, I think it preferable to use two flat pieces of tin, after the manner of dividers, placing the tins successively under each glass, carrying it away upon one, and leaving the other over the opening till the glass has been emptied and replaced or another substituted in its room: and where it is wished to take only one or two glasses, this mode must always be adopted. The bees will rarely fill more than one set of glasses, during the first year; though in future years, if the season be favourable, they may be expected to fill two sets. The best time for removal is the middle of a fine day, when the greatest number of bees are roaming the fields. This method of management will not prevent the bees from swarming, unless it be combined with storifying, which it very easily may.