Title: The Italian Alp-bee
Author: Hermann, H. C.
Language: English
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Transcriber Note

Text emphasis denoted as _Italics_ and =Bold=.


[Illustration]

NEIGHBOUR'S IMPROVED BEE-HIVES

FOR

TAKING HONEY WITHOUT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE BEES.

[Illustration]

DRAWINGS AND DETAILED LISTS FORWARDED ON RECEIPT OF POSTAGE STAMPS


=1. NUTT'S COLLATERAL BOX HIVE.=

Consists of three collateral boxes, and octagon top box to cover the
bell glass,--swarming is prevented. Price, £6. 15s. Stand for ditto,
16s.


=2. NEIGHBOR'S IMPROVED SINGLE BOX HIVE.=

Working one large flat glass above, is fitted with a Thermometer, &c.
Price, complete, £3. 3s. Stand for ditto, 10s. 6d.


=3. TAYLOR'S SHALLOW BOX OR EIGHT BAR HIVE.=

Consists of three boxes t»o of them fitted with moveable bars for the
more convenient deprivation of the honey protected from the weather by
a cover of wood. Price, £3. 10s. Stand for ditto, 10s. 6d.


=4. TAYLOR'S AMATEUR BAR HIVE.=

With three boxes, furnished with seven moveable bars in each box; this
Beehive has no additional cover, but is made of stouter wood.--_Vide
page_ 55, "_Taylor's Bee Keeper's Manual_." Price, £3. 5s. Stand for
ditto, 10s. 6d.


=5. NEIGHBOUR'S IMPROVED COTTAGE HIVE.=

Working three bell glasses, is neatly and strongly made of straw, it
has three windows in the lower Hive, with a thermometer affixed to
the center one. This Hive will be found to possess more practical
advantages and is more easy of management than any other Beehive that
has been introduced. Price, complete, £1. 15s. Stand for ditto, 10s, 6d.

(_Continued on page 3 of Wrapper_)



                                  THE

                            ITALIAN ALP-BEE


                        GOLD MINE OF HUSBANDRY:

  SHORT AND PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS TO BREED GENUINE PROLIFIC ITALIAN
                                QUEENS;

             TO MULTIPLY THEM BY HUNDREDS IN A FEW MONTHS

              AND HOW TO CHANGE GERMAN HIVES INTO ITALIAN


                                  BY

                            H. C. HERMANN,

                TAMINS, CANTON GRAUBUNDEN, SWITZERLAND


      The Right of Translation into other Languages is Reserved.


                                LONDON:

                 PUBLISHED BY GEO. NEIGHBOUR AND SONS,

              149, REGENT STREET, and 127, HIGH HOLBORN.

                                 1860.


In sending this little Treatise to the Press it has been thought
desirable to present it to the Public as a _literal_ translation from
the pen of M. Hermann, rather than a more highly finished production in
the English, language.

_We take the present opportunity of mentioning, that the first
introduction of the Ligurian Bee into England was through our agency.
A letter to us from M. Hermann, dated 5th July, 1859, (an extract from
which appeared in the "Cottage Gardener" of that month) has given rise
to the interesting discussion in that periodical._

                                                 G. N. & SONS.



PREFACE.

[Transcriber Note: the original owner of the book, Francis Darwin,
decided to paste a very large bookplate covering the first three
paragraphs of the Preface. A thorough search of the Internet did not
reveal any other copy of this volume.]

As that kind of bee inhabits, at present, but a small strip of country,
they are very rare, and a bee-cultivator who is in possession of such
a hive can turn it into a real gold mine. The interest in the _Yellow
Alp-bee_ is on the increase, for it has not the less value for science
generally, because by breeding such bees one obtains an insight into
their manners of life, and many things are made clear and brought to
light of which it has not been possible to obtain a knowledge before.
Only by breeding bees of this kind one can become a _bee cultivator_ in
the full sense of the word.

To assist the breeder to change his own black or common bees into
Italian bees in the shortest and safest way, and to keep the race pure,
for the purpose of a lucrative income, is the object of this little
work, and I shall be glad if the contents prove a source of profit to
very many friends of the bee.

                                               THE AUTHOR.

[Illustration]



                            NATURAL HISTORY

                                OF THE

                        ITALIAN YELLOW ALP-BEE.

                          (_Apis helvetica._)



When the Lord created the world he placed the plants in their proper
situations, and creatures to those plants, which were to serve as their
food.

But man has in course of time transplanted plants and animals, so, that
often the original country can no more be recognised. In the valleys
and plains man could first commence his devastations, but the heights,
and not easy accessible mountains resisted human cultivation longer;
and it is there where we find nature in her original majesty. Often
plants and animals will cease to thrive in a country, because they are
no more in their place assigned to them by the Creator.

It is different in the steep mountains, where nature is not accessible
to cultivation; there we find everywhere the same plants in a certain
region, as, larches, pines, Alpine-roses, gentian; also animals, as,
chamois, wild goats, white hares, who do not thrive well in the plains.
Here then, in the mountains, must we look for the origin of animals.
For, at the time of the great deluge, all animals in the plains were,
certainly, the first to perish, and those in the mountains were, in all
probability, left for posterity.

The yellow Italian Alp-bee is a mountain insect; it is found between
two mountain chains to the right and left of Lombardy and Rhatian
Alps, and comprises the whole territory of Tessir, Veltlin, and
South-Graubunden. It thrives up to the height of 4,500 feet above the
level of the sea, and appeal's to prefer the northern clime to the
warmer, for in the south of Italy it is not found.

From the mountain those bees later emigrated into the plains, but they
do not thrive so well there.

Some learned men have called them ligurian bees, but that name has
neither historical nor geographical claim, and not one bee-cultivator
of the whole district of the Italian Alp-bee knows what kind of insects
ligurian bees are. The Alps are their native country, therefore they
are called _Yellow Alp-bee_[1] or tame house bees, in antithesis to the
black European bees, whom we might call common forest bees, and who, on
the slightest touch, fly like lightning into your face.

[Footnote 1: It is not at all an indifferent matter by what name
anything is called. Many bee-cultivators in German-Switzerland deceived
by the name of "Ligurian bees," and in expectation to receive a foreign
race, have purchased such bees at high prices from Germany; that they
will not do again, as the natural name, "Alp-bee" will immediately show
where that bee is at home: that is in Switzerland.]

As all good and noble things in the world are more scarce than common
ones, so there are more common black bees than of the noble yellow
race, which latter inhabit only a very small piece of country, while
the black ones are at home everywhere in Europe, and even in America.

The Italian yellow bee differs from the common black bee in its longer,
slender form, and light chrome yellow colour, with light brimstone
coloured wings, and two orange-red girths, each one-sixth of an inch
wide. Working bees as well as drones have this mark. The drones are
further distinguished by the girths being scolloped, like the spotted
water-serpent, and obtain an astonishing size; almost half as corpulent
again as the black drones. The queen has the same marks as the working
bees, but much more conspicuous and lighter; she is much larger than
the black queen, and easy to be singled out of the swarm, on account of
her remarkable bodily size and light colour.

These bees are almost transparent when the sun shines on them.

This race has nothing in common with the black bees; this can be
instantly seen by their ways and manner of building. The cells of the
Italian bees are considerably deeper and broader than those of the
black bees. Fifteen cells of the Italians are as broad as sixteen
cells of the black kind. It must be very interesting to measure them
geometrically.

They are extremely tender, amiable little creatures, and a
bee-protector is not necessary with them, as, unprovoked, they never
sting, least of all their own master. It is a specific Swiss bee; the
Alps are their home, and there they thrive beautifully; the higher the
better. The exhalation of an Italian bee-hive is pungent, and easy to
be distinguished from a German hive.

The Italian bees have decidedly the preference. If a piece of honey
is anywhere about, the Italians are sure to be the first to find
it out. Long before the black bees fly out, the Italians come, and
are industrious until late in autumn, when the black bees have long
since ceased to work. Everywhere they scent the honey first, and are
therefore the first to discover a weak neighbouring hive and to rob
them of their stores.

It is seldom known that an Italian hive will harbour German bees, for
the Italians resist an attack much more courageously, and know how to
keep their house clear. On the other hand, after a few weeks, Italian
bees will be observed to march in and out of German hives, just as if
they were quite at home; such is the case if there is only one Italian
hive on the stand. The cause is easily explained. The Italians belong
to the long-fingered craft, and creep into other hives, probably to
look after the stores; then they begin to like the place, and they
stop, joining the black people.

In Germany the commencement has been made some years since to keep
those bees, but they were only obtained in a bastard condition; many
stories go the round about our dear creatures, and virtues and vices
are attributed to them which they do not possess.

Some insist that they are larger, others, that they are smaller, and
others again, that they are as large as the common black bees. Some
say that they do not agree with other bees on the same stand; and some
are of the obstinate opinion that the Italian bee is not pure, and has
a small portion of German blood, and that it is only by their (the
German bee-masters) pains, and careful crossing with their black bee,
that a pure race can be produced.

It is often comical how some even make a distinction of degrees of
preference, of more or less purity of race. Once a friend of bees wrote
to me:--"An Italian queen that we call fine and pure has on the abdomen
only a very, very little point, &c."

These good people bother themselves about half or whole, and three
quarters or full blood, and many other subtilities, without arriving at
the idea that there is no medium pure and impure.

What is not a pure Italian is not Italian at all. If she is Italian she
can only produce Italians; but a bastard never; just as a bastard can
never produce an Italian. That which is not genuine, is, and remains,
spurious.

Once, by the pairing of the Italian bee, brought out of course, there
is no other guide but that of the yellow colouring.

"All that have not on the after part a black point and a yellow
abdomen, we kill at once as being spurious," is an expression of
another bee-cultivator.

Such an incarnate, North-German, Stock-Italian could not be convinced
that there, where the home of the Italian bee is, by far the greater
number of queens are dark, almost chesnut-brown, and, for all that,
there is no difference in the colour of the working bees, whether they
be produced by a light or a dark-coloured queen. All Italian Alp-bees
have the same distinctive mark, that is, the two orange-red girths,
no matter whether dark or light, and a dark queen will just as well
produce light ones, as a light one produces dark queens, and the colour
has therefore not the least influence on the race, but solely the marks
of distinction.

The Marquis of Spinola has called this bee the Apis ligustica, but
on the same ground the Bavarians may call their bee Apis bavaria, or
the Berlinians theirs, the Apis borussia, &c. The circumstance that
these yellow bees are only to be found in the most perfect condition
on the borders of Graubunden, in the Veltlin and Tessin, and that, the
farther one goes from the Alps, the less handsome they are found; as
for example in Nice; until they are entirely lost in lower Italy in
the black species. This circumstance speaks for itself, that the yellow
Alp-bees have been, through the glaciers,[2] unsurmountably separated
from the black bees on this side of the Alps, and could preserve their
race in original purity, while they might and could mix more, by latter
gradual spreading, in lower Italy, Venice, Genoa and Nice with other
kinds. We must therefore look for the original in Switzerland, and can
call them with as much right Apis helvetica as the Genoese calls them
Apis ligustica.

[Footnote 2: The assertions of many German bee-cultivators that the
Italian bee has German blood, as not even the Alps, like a Chinese
wall, would prevent them from mixing with German bees, may sound very
well and comprehensible _on paper_, but the matter would be quite
changed if such a biographer would take the trouble to make, on the
spot, inquiries which would present a scientific basis-. The last
German place from the Julier-pass is called Stalla, between which place
and Poschiavo (a distance of fifty miles) there are _no bees_. In May,
and sometimes to the end of the month, the road leads from Stalla by
the Julier-pass (nine miles), often through snow, then Oberengadien
is passed (where not a single bee exists), and then through the
Bernina-pass which demands a march, in the snow, of about fifteen
miles, and passes are the _lowest points for passage_.

Now, I should like to see that swarm of bees that could take its
wedding-flight from Stalla to Poschiavo over two mountains covered with
snow (for the snow does not melt in June, and even in July and August
the temperature is so low that every bee would perish) for the purpose
of mating with the nearest borderers in Poschiavo. The same may be said
of the entire chain of passes, on the Bernhardin, Gotthard, Splugen,
Lukmanier, nowhere for thirty miles round is a bee to be found, for
they cannot exists where, through the neighbourhood of the glaciers,
the air is so cooled down. There is an end to the insect-world, and
we may be sure that it has not entered into the mind of an Italian to
import a hive from German-Switzerland, by which German blood may have
been brought into Italy.]

If the latter name were correct, they must have spread from Genoa, the
former ligurian shore, into Upper Italy, and by gradual removal from
their Genoese home, they could not gain in beauty of race, but must
have degenerated in proportion the farther they went from their native
country, &c. But this is not so. Their seat is the extreme north of
Italy; that is, the Italian Switzerland, there they have preserved
their purity.

The proofs of an argument must not be fetched from the moon. A
nationality is never found on the borders, but in the centre of a
country.

Only a short time ago it was asserted in the Bee Gazette of Eichstedt,
that their cell construction is not larger than that of the black bee;
but that is another erroneous assertion which only proves that the
author of such a natural history either never handled a pure Italian
bee; or, like a great many more ink-wasters, hatched something in the
study which is nowhere to be found in nature.

It does not require the use of spectacles to find a difference.

The cubic contents of an Italian bee-cell is larger by thirty per cent,
and the width is one-fifteenth more than that of the German cell. If,
therefore, Italian bees are bred through several generations in German
cells, the bees must ultimately degenerate and become smaller.

Now as it has pleased some naturalists to name them Apis ligustica,
I cannot conceive why we should not rebaptise them, as soon as we
have arrived at the conviction that our researches have been more in
accordance with nature. Therefore courage, and in future.

Yellow Alp-bee, or, if necessary, that it should be latin, _Apis
helvetia_, or helvetica (we are not good latin scholars).


§ 1.

NATURE OF BEES.

  A healthy hive contains in summer three kinds of bees
    1. The queen or mother-bee.
    2. The drones or males.
    3. The working-bees, or imperfect females.


§ 2.

THE QUEEN.

In a hive there is in general only one queen who lays during the time
of her highest prolificness in summer daily from 1000 to 3000 eggs, and
these in the best order; one egg in a cell. More than one queen the
bees do not suffer. Should there be more, they fly away as swarms, or
are killed by the bees.

The queen lays male and female eggs. The male-eggs she lays in
the drone cells, and the female-eggs in the small cells of the
working-bees. The queen requires, reckoning from the egg to her
creeping out ten to seventeen days, according to the weather.


§ 3.

THE WORKING-BEES.

The working-bees originate out of the female-eggs. There are in a hive
from 6000 to 70,000. They require from the egg to maturity eighteen to
twenty-one days, they then remain in the hive for ten or fourteen days
before they fly out.

The bees are able to bring up a queen out of every working-bee's eggs,
and also from the grub if it is not above three days old. In that case
they elongate and increase the width of the cell in the shape of an
acorn, and give more feeding-mucilage than they are in the habit of
giving to the working-bee.

To insure success in the cultivation it requires dexterity, and study
of the nature of bees. The queen requires from the egg ten to seventeen
days to her full development, when she will fly out about from one to
three days, after her creeping out of the egg, to be impregnated, and
then after the lapse of six or ten days more, she commences to lay
eggs. Then she will not fly out again unless with a swarm. The bees
always prepare several queen-cells at one time, which, however, do not
mature at the same moment. The queen is only once impregnated during
the whole course of her life which lasts from about three to five years.


§ 4.

THE DRONES

These are males. There are about 2,000 in a hive, and then only in
summer, for, as soon as the swarming and honey-carrying-time is over,
they are turned out as useless eaters. They serve only to impregnate
the queen. The drones require from the egg to maturity, twenty-one to
twenty-four days.


§ 5.

THE WORKING-BEES.

The working-bees mate probably with the drones, and are, therefore,
capable of laying eggs, but which produce only drones; and, generally,
a hive in which the working-bees commence laying eggs, is going to
destruction. It can soon be observed, as they lay often two, three, to
twenty eggs, without order, in one cell. In such a hive there is no
longer a queen, and it is best to separate it at once or to unite it
with a healthy hive, for such demoralised people generally kill a newly
added queen. Those, who dispute the mating of the working-bees with the
drones are in error. Only place young bees without a queen in a place
distant from any drones, and no eggs are ever discovered; but, as soon
as they are brought in the neighbourhood of drones, and they have no
queens, they lay drone-egg.


§ 6.

BREEDING OF THE QUEEN.

For that purpose choose the largest hive, for it is an old saying,
that "a large cow will produce a large calf."--From so fine a hive you
certainly have fine young ones.

As it is known that out of every working-bee-egg the bees can breed a
queen, and that they often prepare as many as from six to thirty at the
same time, advantage must be taken of that fact.

But do not begin with the breeding of queens until the bees are
sufficiently strong, and have commenced the breeding of drones. This
must be particularly attended to if you want to breed afterwards pure
Italians, for to insure their mating only with Italian drones they must
first exist, and that in strong numbers.


§7.

HOW TO BREED ITALIAN QUEENS WHEN IN POSSESSION OF ONE OR TWO WHOLE
ITALIAN HIVES.

When you have one or two Italian hives, you must endeavor to put them
into hives with moveable parts, if they are not already in one. Then
care must be taken, that by continual feeding with good honey, and
filling up of the hive with sufficient combs, they increase their
strength and prepare a good many drones. The trouble is much less if
the Italian bees are on a stand by themselves, about 500 or 1000 yards
from the others, the farther the better.

It will be well to be cautious, to leave one hive undivided and
untouched that they continue to breed many drones, for the divided hive
will not produce any more drones in the same year, therefore one hive
must be kept strong and untouched, so that you do not run short in
drone-breeding.

When there are sufficient drones or drone-brood on hand, take from a
hive the Italian queen with the third part of her people and building,
and fill up the missing two-thirds with empty and full combs. This
queen is now taken to a distant stand where the common or black bee is
kept, and placed in the stead of a populous hive during the absence of
the most part of the bees. The black bees will at first be surprised
and refuse to enter, as these two species hate each other. Should they
entirely refuse to enter, then remove during the flight, the whole of
the black hives standing on the same front; the returning bees will
then be frightened, and not knowing where to go to, will, in the end,
willingly, and without disturbance, enter to the Italian mother, who
by those means will soon get strong again; and in about five or seven
days, will have laid sufficient eggs to part them again; and so you
can continue as long as you wish to Italianise. In that manner, if
the queen is forthwith strengthened by German bees, no disturbance
takes place in the breeding of drones, you have only to put in a few
drone-cells. But that the Italian mother does not receive black drones
as well, place before the fly-hole a drone-stopper to keep those
customers out.

Let us now return to the Italian stand, where we have taken the mother
from with a third of the people.

Meanwhile they have made preparations to begin queen-cells, and mostly
more than one, perhaps from ten to twenty. On the eleventh, the latest
on the seventeenth day, they creep out, and, not to expose them to
the danger of the surplus ones being killed by the bees, they must be
looked after on the eighth or ninth day, and all queen-cells but one
or two must be cut out. The cut out cells are put with a honey-comb
and a few handfulls of bees into a little box about four or six inches
square. These boxes must have wires on two, or better, on all four
sides, so that the bees get used to the smell of each other, and thus
become reconciled.

In such a box the Italian queen-cell is put in to a hive of black bees,
which the day previous has been deprived of the queen, and if possible
in the centre or the heart of the nest. The black bees cannot now enter
into the box, but become acquainted, through the wire, with the smell
of the Italian bees, and by the time the queen, who will be well taken
care of by the two handfulls of bees put with her, is matured, the
black bees will have taken a liking to her.

About three or five days after the adding of the queen-cell, you must
look whether the black bees have not formed queen cells of their own
specie, if so, they must be cut out. Then, the following day, the
fly-hole in the little box which has been kept shut is slowly opened,
and the black bees will gradually enter into the box and pay their
homage to the new queen.

To prevent the mating of the queen with a black drone, a wire must be
attached before the fly-hole of the hive, large enough for the queen
and bees to fly out (for the queen only mates in the open air) but too
small for drones, which are in the black hive; then the stand must be
placed where the Italian mother-hive is, until the queen is impregnated.

In the same manner all queen-cells are treated (all but one or two,
which are left in the hive for the purpose of forming a separate
colony) until all black hives are Italianised. Should, however, a hive
be impregnated where it is supposed any black drones exist, it must
be put on the stand of the black bees, so as to have only pure Italian
drones on the Italian breeding stand.

In three weeks, with only little practice, about fifty hives can be
Italianised. When done, and all the bees are provided with queens of
Italian origin, then the work is much easier, as meanwhile, the young
mothers lay Italian drone-eggs, and the black drones die, or, the
Italian drones obtain such preponderance, that a genuine impregnation
is in most cases certain.

For breeding, always choose the finest mother, if possible, of yellow
colour, having previously convinced yourself that she has been
impregnated genuinely, that is, by an Italian drone, and that she
breeds, as a proof, handsome yellow working bees.


§ 8.

BREEDING OF DRONES.

To increase the Italian drones as fast as possible, deprive the Italian
mother of a hive of her drone-cells, and place instead, empty cells for
further filling them with drone-brood, which she will do forthwith. The
Italian drone-brood hang into the black hives for hatching, taking and
destroying, as much as possible, their own black-broods.

Food must not be spared with brood-hives, as that will induce them to
continue breeding.

So prepared, commences now the proper culture of queens.

For that purpose small queen-breeding-boxes are required for it is
troublesome to single out a queen in a large and populous hive and
otherwise not advantageous to disturb a strong hive by ill-treatment.

The ground-rules for the certain pure-keeping of the Italian race,
consist always of this: to destroy the black drones, and to increase
the Italian ones.

Therefore, it is better to take care that the Italian bees are placed
on a stand where no black drones are allowed. And if now German people
are brought to strengthen the Italian colony then let them pass in
review first and kill the black drones.

The work can be made much easier by letting the bees run into any weak
hive, and only through a narrow slit, when only working-bees can pass
through, but is too narrow for drones, so that the drones can all be
kept back. The next day the bees can be taken out of the hive again and
used.

Not only is the object gained to put away the drones, but the bees
are also discouraged, so that they can be joined with others without
difficulty. Should they have run into a hive deprived of the queen, or
only provided with queen-cells, they will be heartily glad that a queen
is given them and will not leave her. The bees generally become anxious
and tame if the drones and drone-brood are taken away. Endeavouring
now, on the one hand, to permit no black drones on the Italian stand,
which is kept for the improvement of the races, and to destroy them
with their drone-brood and cells, care must be taken, on the other
hand, that the Italian bees breed the largest possible quantity of
drones. Some assert that the Italian queens lay more drone-eggs
than the Germans, but that is not right; they lay them in the same
proportion as the black bees but it can be forwarded by the placing of
drone-breeding-combs in the breeding-nest; for the queen to fill them,
it is above all things, necessary that the hive be populous and the
weather favourable.

As soon as a drone-breeding-comb is filled, it should, without delay,
be placed in a hive deprived of the queen, because those hives in their
queenless state, seize the opportunity to bring up drones as if they
were aware that they would be necessary for the impregnation of their
future queen.

Such a hive seldom destroys drone-brood; while hives with queens, as a
general rule, on the approach of bad weather, tear out the drone-brood
and turn the drones away.

But as soon as the queen, intended for the drone-breeding hive, is
again impregnated, the drones would be in danger of being turned out
again, for in particular, fresh impregnated queens do away with the
drones very quickly, therefore the impregnated queen must be taken from
the drone-hive; in that way drone hives may be kept until late in the
autumn. The queens intended for drone production, particularly in bad
weather, must be stimulated with food; so that they do not relax in
laying eggs.


§ 9.

THE QUEEN-BREEDING-HIVE.

This is a small box with moveable parts, more or less large does not
matter. The principle thing is, that they are made of equal widths that
every comb of each hive fits into any other hive.

About twelve inches long and six inches broad and high (that is square)
might be about the right size. Lengthwise, on the top of the inner
sides, fix two pieces of wood, each about three-eights of an inch
broad. These are the supporters of the combs, on which the combs or
chips rest, to be able to take out easily, and to replace each comb
separately. Better still, if small frames instead of chips are used.
The top opens upwards, and to make it fit tight, nail or paste soft
cloth or paper round the edges. In the top make a hole about two inches
in diameter, which serves as a feeding hole; for such little people
want frequent feeding, else they will often entirely go away.


§ 10.

SUPPLYING OF THE QUEEN-BREEDING-HIVES.

No. 1. That mother which has been picked out as breeding bee must be
taken with part of her people and some brood-combs, honey-combs, and
empty ones, until the little box is quite full, and is then placed on
the stand where the Italian bees and drones are kept. After a few days,
the queen is taken with a few combs of brood and their bees, and is put
into a breeding-box.

No. 2. This also should well supplied with honey, empty combs and a few
ripe breeding-combs. After a few days, when the queen has established
herself well and has filled the cells with brood she is to be again
taken out with a few combs and some people, and form a new colony.

No. 3. And so on, until you have enough. But never neglect to feed
these little people well,[3] particularly the one which contains the
queen.

[Footnote 3: Else it is to be expected that some fine day they will
take their departure, when generally every one of them will leave, for
such little colonies cannot keep themselves unless it be in the high
honey season.]

Meanwhile the breeding-box, No. 1, deprived of its queen, has prepared
queen-cells, which on the tenth day are cut out, except one or two,
and form likewise new colonies,[4] It must be observed that the bees
which adhere to the combs or the brood, and which guard the cells, are
taken out with them. The strengthening of such colonies is done best by
hanging in of ripe brood near their development, or by young bees which
always set on the combs, and who attend to the real brood business.

[Footnote 4: You must endeavour to insert the queen-cells in the
middle of a comb, where the most of the bees gather; it is done best
by cutting a diamond-shaped piece out of the comb, and then, loosely
inserting the queen-cell cut to a similar shape. If it were inserted
in the lower edge, the bees could not cover it on the approach of cold
weather, and the cell would become cold and the bee perish.]

The same is done with the queen-cells of No. 2, and so on. Care must
be exercised to be well supplied with all the different stages, from
the egg to the queen, so that there are always ready ripe and half-ripe
cells, impregnated and unimpregnated queens in all stages.

If now, a queen has crept out, you must wait until she is impregnated,
and has well supplied the box with brood, then take away the queen,
and put in from another hive a ripe queen-cell; where the queen-cell
has been taken from, a few brood-combs must be inserted, so that
no interruption takes place. If a queen, taken away, can always be
replaced by a ripe queen-cell, fifteen queens may be produced from
one breeding-box during one summer. Care must be taken that there is
always young brood in a queen-breeding-box, so that in case a queen or
queen-cell should meet with an accident, the bees have a substitute,
and no interruption can occur.

The brood is necessary to the bees and makes them industrious.
Therefore, never take a queen from her people until she has well
supplied them with eggs and brood.

Frequent inspection is very necessary, for sometimes everything may be
thought to be quite in order, and yet a hive has, instead of a queen,
_only working_ bees, who, through a longer deprivation of their queen
have themselves commenced to lay eggs but out of which only drones are
produced, to the great disappointment of the cultivator. This disorder
can soon be observed, for the bees lay _many_ eggs and without order in
_one_ cell, while the queen lays only _one_, never more than two in one
cell.

Such a hive, where the bees have commenced laying eggs, may also be
known by blowing into it, when the bees will hum quite hollow, while in
a hive with a queen, the humming is quite lively and cheerful.

If not too far gone, the hive may be brought round by inserting a comb
of healthy brood with the adhering young bees; but if it has gone too
far, it must be united with a healthy hive, else all trouble is lost.
Introduced queens are killed by such demoralised people.


§ 11.

RESERVING OF QUEEN-CELLS.

Often it will happen that there are more queen-cells than can be used
at the moment, for they must not be let lying about long, else they
will become cold; and generally the brood must be protected from cold.

Such queen-cells are placed singly into very small boxes, if only of
the size of two walnuts, and these boxes are put in any hive on a spot
where a proper degree of warmth is developed, say, just above the
little rods which is regarded by many bee-cultivators as the honey-room
in the moveable box. There they can remain until wanted. That a small
wire-grating is placed before the little box is understood, so that if
a queen should creep out unexpectedly before required, the bees can
feed her.

If the queen-cells should have sustained any little injury it must be
patched again directly with a little wax. The best way is to warm a
knife a little and to touch the cell slightly with it, the wax-cover
is then sufficiently softened to repair the damage. Larger injuries
cannot be remedied, and one cannot be too careful in cutting them out
not to damage any of them.


§ 12.

QUEEN-BREEDING WITH BROOD-COMES.

A brood-comb may be taken from the mother-hive,[5] but always _with the
bees adhering thereto_, and can be put in a breeding-box provided with
honey and empty combs. This is placed in the room of a populous hive,
to people it, and after the lapse of ten days the queen-cells are full
and covered; they are cut out as stated before.[6]

[Footnote 5: This is particular to be advised when there is only one
Italian queen which must be preserved to breed drones.]

[Footnote 6: Sometimes the bees put their queen-cells together so
close, and in groups, or opposite to each other, that often it is not
possible to cut the cells for use without damaging them. These must
be left, and watch must be kept for the eleven days, and, as soon a
as young queen creeps out, she must be taken away, all, but the last
yellow one which is left in the hive. If a piece of about an inch
square is cut off, crossways, from below the edge of a young brood-comb
full of grub-eggs, so that the liquid of the brood runs out, it
generally causes the bees to fix their queen-cells on that spot in the
best order.]


§ 13.

ADDING OF QUEENS.

The adding of the queen to hives of other races is done like the adding
of queen-cells. First, the hive is deprived of the queen, then the
queen is put into the box with a little honey and two handfulls of her
own bees, and the box is then placed in the desired hive. After four
days it must be seen whether the black bees have commenced queen-cells.
If they have not the little fly-hole is opened when the bees will unite
and accept the queen. But if queen-cells are formed, it is a proof that
the bees are not yet inclined to accept the new queen. All queen-cells
must now be cut out, and wait a few days to make them feel quite
forsaken, then the Italian may be let in and will then be friendly
received.

If queens or queen-cells were introduced without regard, they would all
be bitten off, as the Italian and black bees are two different races
who hate each other.

It should always be looked to that the queen is first impregnated
before taken from her own people to be given to another, because,
unimpregnated queens are more exposed to the danger of being killed
than already impregnated ones, when the bees are assured of her having
descendants.


§ 14.

PARTICULAR RULES.

To cause a sufficient supply of Italian drones care must be taken
that the hives with Italian mothers are always well provided with
drone-combs, which will cause the queen, when they are placed in the
middle of the breeding-layers, to put in more drone-brood; the more so
by continual feeding with liquid honey. The continuous feeding, with
proper strength of people is the most effective way for the production
of drones. By insertion of ripe breeding-combs near upon running out a
hive can be most effectively and quickly strengthened.

Further, it must be remarked that, as the Italian bees build _larger
cells_ than the black bees, it is well to give the Italians opportunity
to begin building anew. It is to be supposed that those who have
decided to introduce a strange race of bees, Italians, must have some
knowledge of bee-cultivation, and must also possess bees of their own
native race; for one who has no idea at all of the higher branches of
bee-cultivation, for him to introduce a strange race would be money
thrown away; such an one would do better to try his experiments on
common bees until he is well practised.

Those who do not particularly care to change all their hives into pure
Italians can add the Italian queen-cells in a box to the black bees,
and can abandon the queen creeping out to her destiny, as to which
drone she will mate with. Although not many Italians are by those means
gained in the first years, there will be plenty of bastards, and for
the second year a very good foundation for Italianizing, because the
stock is already Italian, and the Italian element preponderates. Care
must be taken to mark the _original mother_ well, and only to obtain
posterity _through her_.


§ 15.

THE AUTUMN CULTURE

For queens it is only so far applicable, as the period must be waited
for when the black drones are killed, and care has been taken to
reserve only Italian drones, which is done by depriving some Italian
hives of their queens, and also of their queen-cells, so that they
cannot breed any more queens. These bees will not kill their drones.
By abundant feeding bees can be induced, even in the late autumn, to
breed drones and to suffer them. When the drones are driven out of a
hive they must be put, with some honey, into a box supplied with a
wire-grating, and placed in a hive deprived of its queen. After a few
days they are let loose and will then soon get used to the queenless
bees. They may also be put into the top of a hive with a queen, but
then, they must be kept shut in until wanted for use.


§ 16.

IN THE EARLY SPRING

Queens of a pure race may be bred with advantage, because the Italians
breed drones two or three weeks earlier than the black bees, so that
the Italian mothers can mate when there are no German drones whatever.
However, the finest queens are only obtained by waiting the natural
time when the inclination for breeding exists; from about a fortnight
before to a fortnight after swarming time.


§ 17.

BOXES WITHOUT MOVEABLE PARTS.

Those who are not in possession of boxes with movable parts, but yet
wish to Italianise their native bees, have much more trouble, and must
leave it to chance whether the queen, bred from Italian brood, will
mate with black or Italian drones. It is difficult and not everybody's
business to take the finished queen-cells from such hives; but a clever
bee-cultivator will know how to help himself even then.

In such a case all the people in the Italian hive must be driven out,
and the hive put in the place of one, or better, two strong native
hives, during the time of their strongest flight, and the empty hive
will be populated by German people, who immediately begin to make
queen-cells.[7]

[Footnote 7: Here, too, a wire-grating may be fixed before the
fly-hole, large enough to permit free entrance to the bees, but too
narrow for drones; this will keep the hive pure. Of course, as soon the
queen makes her mating-flight, the hive is carried, in the evening,
after sunset, to the place where the pure Italians are until the mating
is over.]

The two native hives are then taken away and placed on another stand,
or, if there is only one, on the bottom shelf of the bee-house. It is
always better to take away all hives with black drones, so that here
are only Italian drones flying. The loss of people will do them the
less damage, as they would without that have had to give out a swarm.

In order that the forced or artificial swarm from the Italian
mother-hive may soon be in full strength, it is necessary to put the
swarm into a hive already filled with combs, which must be well fed to
excite them to breed.

The separated Italian hive is opened after seven days, when the
queen-cells are nearly ripe, and divided into as many parts as there
are undamaged queen-cells; it is always better to give two cells to
each part, so that if one should get hurt, the bees have another one
ready.

Each of such parts is taken with the bees adhering to them and put
with some empty honey-combs into an empty hive. Supposing there were
ten such parts with queen-cells, then there would be ten colonies.
But these alone would give neither profit nor amusement, and would be
altogether too weak to prosper; they must therefore undergo a forced
operation by being placed in the room of a populous hive, that is, in
the place of ten native hives during their best flight, keeping a wire
before the whole to keep out the drones, but admitting the bees.

As at the beginning, the bees of the black race will be rather shy,
caution must be had to clear the entire front of the bees of the native
race, by putting them either higher or lower; by these means they will
lose about as many people as would make a swarm which they would have
had to give up all the same, and the ten new Italian hives will all
profit by it, get strong, populous, and will thrive. For as soon as
the bees, returning from the field, find no hive of their kind in the
same front, they will at last become tame and enter quietly with the
Italians. But if the bees coming from the field find only one hive of
black bees in the same front, they will invariably go in the hive of
their race left standing.

It is hardly necessary to mention that the drone-wire must be
sufficiently large to allow the queen to pass.

On the third or fourth day before the young queen creeps out, all new
hives are brought where the mother-hive, or the drones are kept for
mating; or all the hives with black drones may be shut up by a wire
until the mating is over.

To make sure that the queen on her mating-excursions will find drones
immediately, there are ways to stimulate the bees, that they will lead
the drones out early in the morning; it is done by feeding the hive
very early with thinned honey, which will cause the drones to undertake
an early pleasure-trip on that day.

If there be an opportunity to add to a new hive formed from eggs of
queen-cells an Italian ripe drone-brood comb it is well to do so, for
by so doing the purity of race is much insured. As said before, the
great knack is, to be prepared with the proper number of drones.

Many bee-cultivators make a great blunder in that respect, in cutting
out the drone-cells, thinking that they are unnecessary eaters, but
not considering that, _the fewer_ drones there are on a stand _the
greater_ the danger of losing queens. For, natural enough, the queen
flies out to mate and to find a drone, if she finds one immediately,
she can return home directly and the hive is saved. But if the drones
are scarce, and the queen cannot soon find a lover, she will delay
her wedding-journey, or even go home again without having gained her
object; and is, therefore, obliged to repeat her journeys. The oftener
she flies out, and the longer she must remain out, the more the danger
that she may be destroyed during her wedding-tour. This is well to be
considered. Queens which I placed to mate on a distant stand, with but
few drones were always impregnated from eight to ten days later than on
the principal stand, where the drones flew in abundance.


§ 18.

TRANSPORT OF QUEENS.

If many queens are produced, they are principally bred for presents to
other lovers of bees, or for sale to extend the race, and by the art to
raise queens early it is in your power quickly to multiply a favourite
race of bees. We will now give a few hints how queens can be sent to
distances.

For that purpose, take a box four inches square, in the lid of which
make three or four incisions or cuts, to admit air to the bees. A piece
of covered old honey is loosely wrapt up in blotting-paper and nailed
firmly to the bottom of the box. That the nail may not pass through
the honey and the honey gets loose and smother the bees, it is well to
put a piece of pasteboard or leather, of about two-inch square under
the head of the nail, as a lining. Then put the queen with a handful
of her own people (500 or 1000) in the box and nail it down; then wrap
a loose piece of linen round the box, so that the bees have sufficient
air, but that the light is somewhat interrupted, to keep them quiet on
the journey. The blotting-paper must be wrapt round the honey in such a
manner that the honey shows at one end that the bees can gradually eat
it up. If, neither blotting-paper be used, nor the honey nailed down,
there would be risk that the honey rolled about during the journey and
smothered the bees, or run out of the comb and drown the bees in it.
The blotting-paper takes up any honey run out, so that the bees can
only gradually eat it up.

It must be well understood that a queen is not sent before she is
impregnated, that is, until she has laid eggs. These boxes will stand a
journey of ten days.


§ 19.

REMARKS ON UNITING BEES.

Another caution must be observed on uniting of two bee-colonies.

Bees are naturally avaricious and therefore permit every bee, even a
stranger, laden with honey to enter. This is a hint, and advantage must
be taken of this their passion.

Before two colonies are joined together, take care that the bees which
are to be added are quite satiated with honey. It does not matter if
both parties have been previously well fed, for then they are not so
capable of beginning to fight.

Bees, well filled with honey are everywhere welcome, and when the bees
have discharged their burdens in the cells they fraternise and forget
all quarrels.

Honey is therefore a very good means of union. But to sprinkle the
bees only with honey, or honey-water, produces just the contrary
effect; they become irritated and impassioned and kill each other.
If, therefore, you desire success, give them honey to their heart's
content. If a hive is to be driven out, stop up loosely the principal
hole, blow a little smoke into it, then turn it over and knock
it gently for about ten minutes; the object will thus be gained,
because the bees, anticipating the danger, will make haste to provide
themselves with food for the journey. A bee can suck in double her
weight in provision.

A very sure way to strengthen Italian queens with German people is,
that the Italian queen with her company, and a few combs are put into
a box, and, gradually, brood nearly running out is introduced: not all
at once, but every one or two combs, so that the brood running out is
strong enough to cover the brood in store. By so doing the queen will
have an increase of people who will adhere to her, not having known
another queen yet. This way of strengthening is the safest, only too
many combs must not be put in at one time, because then, the queen with
her weak people could not produce sufficient warmth for the entire
hatching of the brood.

There is another way to be recommended. The Italian queen with her
people are put in the box, intended for the purpose, with a sufficient
number of combs, empty and full of honey. Then bees without a queen, or
which have been deprived of the queen one, or a few days previous, and
have been confined _without the least brood_ or combs are let into the
Italians through a small hole, so that _only one_ at a time can go in
and must, so to say, _beg_ her admittance.

Hives where the queen has been taken from, but which have young brood
or queen-cells, are not to be called deprived of their queen, they have
even the best hopes to bring up, in a short time, several queens; for
that reason they kill any new introduced queen.


§ 20.

THE FEEDING

Is always done best from above with a bottle, the mouth of which is
tied over with loose linen, so that the bees can always suck in the
honey without attracting robbers.


§ 21.

THE ORIGINAL MOTHER BEE

Must be particularly carefully preserved to have always, in case of any
cross-breeding, _one queen_ of undoubted purity. To make quite sure the
queen can be marked by clipping one of the wings; she can then be easy
recognised.

It is more certain to procure every year or two an _original Italian
hive_, from their native place, with which to freshen up the race.
Those who have opportunities to sell Italian bees, which is almost
everywhere the case, will find it more than enough to their advantage,
as this little extra expense places them in position to breed pure
queens with the greatest certainty, and they will be enabled to serve
their customers always with genuine Italian Alp-bees, and consequently
increase their sale.

A queen of the Italian species lives generally from three to four
years, often to five years. Therefore, with some care, what has been
missed the first year, may, at any rate, be made good the second year,
if one knows how to save and preserve the mother or breeding--queen.


[Illustration]



APPENDIX.

-------------

GENUINE ITALIAN ALP-BEES.

[Illustration]


I have appointed my friends, Messrs. Geo. Neighbour and Sons, of 127,
Holborn, and 149, Regent Street, London, my sole agents for England,
and they will take orders, I undertaking to execute the same, at the
following charges--the cost of carriage to paid by the purchaser.


A YOUNG, YELLOW, IMPREGNATED QUEEN,

FROM MARCH 15 TO APRIL 30,

With 500 Bees, for 20 shillings; with 1000 Bees, for 22 shillings;
with 5000 Bees, for 35 shillings:


FROM MAY 1 TO JUNE 31,

With 500 Bees, for 15 shillings; with 1000 Bees, for 17 shillings;
with 5000 Bees, for 30 shillings:


FROM JULY 1 TO AUGUST 31,

With 500 Bees, for 10 shillings; with 1000 Bees, for 12 shillings;
with 5000 Bees, for 25 shillings:


FROM SEPTEMBER 1 TO NOVEMBER 30,

With 500 Bees, for 8 shillings; with 1000 Bees, for 10 shillings;
with 5000 Bees, for 20 shillings.

Queens less fine, young as well as old, cost 2 francs each less

PURE GERMAN QUEENS,

TILL THE END OF JUNE,

With 500 Bees, for 6 shillings; with 1000 Bees, for 8 shillings;
with 5000 Bees, for 15 shillings:


FROM JULY 1 TO NOVEMBER 30,

With 500 Bees, for 3 shillings; with 1000 Bees, for 4 shillings;
with 5000 Bees, for 6 shillings.


[Illustration]


ITALIAN DRONES,

TILL JULY 30,

2 shillings per 100:

FROM AUGUST 1 TO OCTOBER 30,

3 shillings per 100.


[Illustration]


UNIMPREGNATED YOUNG ITALIAN QUEENS,

6 shillings each.


[Illustration]


ITALIAN QUEEN CELLS,

3 shillings each.


A PROPORTIONATE DISCOUNT ON LARGE ORDERS

The Bees are only provided with sufficient honey for the journey.
Should a queen die on the journey, I send another for half the price.
As proof, the dead queen must be sent to me in a letter.

Tamins, Canton Graubunden,

H. C. HERMANN,

Bee Cultivator.

[Illustration]


THE RICINUS SILKWORM.

[Illustration]


This worm is particularly recommended, as it will feed readily on
linden leaves (Dipsacus) and Ricinus thistles, and therefore augurs
a great future, as the difficulty of growing mulberry trees in our
northern clime was the chief hindrance. By the introduction of this
worm all is remedied, and the agriculturist anticipates a brilliant
future; he will soon be able to dress in silk instead of tick.

The silk of this worm is not as fine, but quite as good, and more
productive than that of the genuine silkworm.

I sell these insects:

  Eggs, 13 shillings per dozen.
  Chrysalis, 3 shillings each.
  Moths, 5 shillings each. And,
  Printed Instructions, 1 shilling.


LONDON: W. OSTELL, PRINTER, HART STREET, BLOOMSBURY.


GEORGE NEIGHBOUR & SON'S CATALOGUE.

=6. AN IMPROVED COTTAGE HIVE.=

Precisely the same in construction as the No. 5 described above, but
without windows or thermometer. Price, complete, £1. 8s.


=7. THE LADIES' OBSERVATORY HIVE.=

Is of stout glass and admits of one bellglass for deprivation, with a
cover of straw for the whole, is admirably adapted for witnessing the
labour and progress of its industrious inmates, and is an interesting
addition to the conservatory or greenhouse in which it may easily be
placed. Price, complete, £3, 5s.


=8. THE COTTAGER S HIVE.=

Is intended for the use of cottagers, and consists of three common
straw Hives with floorboard; it is recommended to those Apiarians who
are desirous of setting their poorer neighbours in the way of keeping
bees, on the improved system without destruction. Price, 10s. 6d.


=9 & 10. BEE FEEDERS.=

No. 9, is intended to fit a drawer under wood Hives. Price, 5s. No. 10,
is for Hives either of wood or straw, and is used on the top of the
stock Hive. Zinc, price, 4s. In earthenware, 43, 6d.


=11 & 12. FUMIGATORS.=

Used with the prepared Fungus, for uniting weak stocks, &c. Price, 2s.
and 2s. 6d.


=13. HONEYCUTTERS.=

For easily cutting out the comb. Price, 5s. per pair.


=14. TAYLOR'S IMPROVED COTTAGE HIVE.=

As described page 163, Bee Keeper's Manual. Price, £1. Is. With Stand,
£1. 10s.


=15. FOUNTAIN BEE FEEDERS.=

Price, 6s.


=17. SINGLE BAR HIVE.=

The Stock Hive is furnished with seven moveable bars, and admits of
super Hives or glasses. Vide page 61, ''Bee Keeper's Manual,'' Price
£2. 12s. Stand, 8s.


=18. EIGHT BAR STRAW HIVE.=

Similar in its arrangements to No; 3, with an outer cover of straw.
Price, complete with Stand, &c., £3. 12s. The Stock Hive maybe obtained
separate. Price, with floor board, 15s.


=19. HUBER'S BOOK OR LEAF HIVE.=

Price, £2. 58.


=20. NEIGHBOUR'S PATENT UNICOMB OBSERVATORY HIVE.=

Is a great novelty, being constructed with glass sides, admitting of
one comb only The queen bee and the hidden mysteries of the hive are
continually exposed to the full light of day; it is furnished with
double glass to keep up an uniform degree o: heat. Price, in polished
oak, £3. 3s.


=22. GOLDING'S GRECIAN HIVE.=

Price, complete with three glasses, adapting board, &c., £1. 6s.


=23. TAYLOR'S DIVIDING HIVE.=

Is fitted with eight moveable bars, and takes apart in the centre,
for the purpose of forming artificial swarms. Two Hives form the set
complete. Price, £2. 10s.


_24. COVER OF ZINC FOR BEE HIVES._

Price, 7s. 6d. to 10s.

Ornamental covers corresponding in style with the variety of Beehives
herein described may also be obtained. Bee Houses, Covers in all sizes,
&c., made to order.


=25. FLAT TOP BELL GLASSES.=

With ventilating tube, 12 in. wide and 6 in. deep, 7s. 6d.; 10 in. wide
and 6 in. deep, 4s. 6d. Payne's Glass, 3s, 6d.


=BELL GLASSES.=

=26.= To contain 10 lbs., 10 in. high, 7 in. wide.  Price 5s. 0d.

=27.=      "      6  "     7   "       5½    "        "   2s. 6d.

=28.=      "      3  "     5   "        4    "        "   1s. 6d.

=29.= A new shape without knob, may be placed on the table inverted, with
        lid 5 in. by 6 in. Price, 4s. 6d.


=30. SHALLOW GLASSES.=

Being so much preferable for the Bees storing honey, G. N. and Son have
introduced this season a new shape, made of two sizes without knobs, 9½
in. wide and 4 in. deep, 4s. 6d.; 13 in. wide and 4½ in. deep. Price,
5s, 6d.


=31. BEE DRESS OR PROTECTOR.=

To prevent being stung when operating on the Bees. Price, 5s,, by post 6s.


=31. THE CYLINDRICAL SHALLOW WOOD HIVE=

Is varnished, and will be found more durable than straw; glasses or
small hives worked on top. This Hive is only adapted for a bee house,
or where the protection is equivalent to one; similar in principle to
No, 18. Price of hive and floor board, 15s.; if fitted with bars, 16s.
6d.

  Common Straw Hives                              2  6
  Small ditto super ditto                         2  6
  Small Wooden Super Hives with window            3  6
  Floorboards                 each 2s, 6d, and    3  0

It is strongly recommended that all beehives be placed under cover, to
protect them from the sun and rain, and that their entrance be in a
south-eastern aspect.

  "Treatise on the Humane Management of Honey Bees," by T. Nutt      10
  "Bee Keeper's Manual," by H. Taylor                                 4
  "The Bee Keeper's Guide," by I. H. Payne                            4
  Prepared Fungus in Packets (maybe sent by Post for 2d extra)        1
  Thermometers for Nutt's Hives (Collateral Boxes)                   10
  Ditto             ditto       (Middle Box)                          5
  Ditto        for Cottage Hives                                      4
  Zinc Slides, Ventilators, &c., in sets, for Nutt's Hives           10


       *       *       *       *       *


Transcribers Note

The original owner of the book, Francis Darwin, decided to paste a very
large bookplate covering the first three paragraphs of the Preface. A
thorough search of the Internet did not reveal any other copy of this
volume. So, this notice is copied there.





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