1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



477 



words at the end of a line according to sylla- 

 bles ; but syllables are not divided. In this old 

 work, words of all kinds were divided about as 

 it happened. An auxiliary verb is often joined 

 to the principal ; thus, shalbe. donot. cannot, 

 etc. The first word on each page is printed in 

 a separate line at the foot of the preceding 

 page. Numerous references are printed in the 

 margin. The forms of verbs used are such as 

 " one findeth in ye Holie Bible." 



If these old books contained any thing of real 

 value to the modern bee-keeper I would copy it 

 and dwell less on their appearance; but the aw- 

 ful darkness in which those writers lived ren- 

 ders their works to-day of no practical benefit 

 aside from literary curiosities. Through the 

 mind of Butler, however, some gleams of light 

 break forth. In giving the names of ancient 

 writers on bees he mentions Aristomachus, Phi- 

 liscus, Pliny, Aristotle. Columella. Varro; and 

 " infinite others." But in speaking of their va- 

 rious works the writer says: "But in al their 

 writings they seeme vnto me to say little out of 

 experience, and to rely more vpon the relation 

 of hearsay than anle certaine knowledge of 

 their own." But when their experience tallies 

 with his, he has frequently inserted their words, 

 mostly in Latin." for authority and ornament." 

 He well observes further: " But the later writ- 

 ers, imitating the ancient where they thought 

 good, choosing some of their directions and re- 

 fusing others, doe, for the most part, vnluckely 

 light upon the worse." The practical value of 

 these old writings is happily expressed thus: 

 " These and the like, when a scholar hath 

 throughly read, he thinketh himself throughly 

 instructed in these mysteries ; but when he 

 cometh abroad to put his skil in practice, every 

 silie woman is ready to deride his learned igno- 

 rance." 



"Learned ignorance!" that's good. Does 

 any of it come from our schools and colleges'? 



Mr. Butler found honey to be so good for the 

 health that he was incited to write his book out 

 of charity; and yet he says, "I am out of doubt 

 that this book of bees will in his infancy lie hid- 

 den in obscurity for a while." 



(The possessive pronoun "its" was not sanc- 

 tioned till a later period— see Bible.) 



The matter of sex in bees in those days seems 

 to have been hidden in perfect darkness; and 

 here is where their greatest blunders were gen- 

 erally made. The queen was regarded as a 

 male; but Butler's mind begins to get through 

 the fog. and even to dispel it. Just hear him 

 go on: " Aristotle calleth their governor basile- 

 us {rex, or king). As many as followed him, 

 searching no farther than he did, were contente 

 to say as he did. So that I am enforced (vnless 

 I will choose rather to offend in rebus (things) 

 than in iiocihus (words) by their leaue and thine 

 (learned reader) to straine the common signifi- 

 cation of the word " rex," and in such places to 

 translate it (^?tee7ie, sith [since] the males heer 

 beare no sway at al, this being a feminine king- 

 dom." 



The first chapter of the book is devoted to a 

 description of bees, and a very good one it is. 

 Of course, the old blacks seem to be the only 

 ones alluded to. In this chapter we read that 

 bees have dim sight but good smelling ; it is 

 safer to walk among them than to stand; morn- 

 ing is the time to stir them; time alone can cure 

 stings; they dislike hair, but do not care for 

 wool. A bee-keeper must be sweet, sober, qui- 

 et, chaste, cleanly, and familiar, "so wil they 

 louH thee." 



The surroundings of an apiary, described in 

 chapter 2, are just what would be considered 

 good to-day. 



Chapter 3 treats of hives. The process of 

 making the old straw and wicker skeps is quite 



interesting. 



The germ of the modern frame 

 consists of a piece of lath, 

 4 inches long and an inch 

 wide, hollowed out as rep- 

 resented here. To render an old straw skep tit 

 for use. the author goes about it thus: " If you 

 thinke your former dressing will not make it 

 sweet enough, then let a hogge eat 2 or .3 hand- 

 fuls of mault or peas or other corn in the hiue; 

 meane while doe you so turne the hiue that the 

 fome or froth, which the hogge maketh in eat- 

 ing may go all about the hiiie. And then wipe 

 the hiue lightly with a linen cloath, and so will 

 the Bees like this hiue better than a new." 



The gravity with which the above is related, 

 and the vision of that imperturbable "hogge," 

 have afforded me an immense fund of laughter. 

 And yet those Britishers are averse to Ameri- 

 can honey and pork! 



It is impossible to describe here Mr. Butler's 

 treatment of swarms and general management 

 of bees. It is all interesting. Like most of the 

 old bee-books it winds up with a religious talk. 

 In this case it is an exhortation to return to the 

 Jewish custom of paying tithes to the church. 

 The author censures the Papists severely for 

 having broken up the custom, and " for having 

 robbed the people to build idle monasteries." 

 The religious heat of 1609 was intense in Eng- 

 land, for it was mingled largely with their po- 

 litical issues. In fact, this book was hardly 

 before the public when that feeling broke into 

 flame, and the British Isles became one vast 

 sea of confusion, anarchy, bloodshed, murder, 

 arson, and all horrors combined — the whole in- 

 ferno rendered the more ghastly by the lurid 

 flames from burning village and hamlet; and 

 when peace returned, the doctrine of the "di- 

 vine right of kings," either religious or politi- 

 cal, was for ever buried by the Anglo-Saxon 

 race, and the United States made possible. 



Medina, June 9. W. P. R. 



HIVES AND THE WINTER PROBLEM. 



SOME PRACTICAL AND INTERESTING OBSERVA- 

 TIONS. 



Since pulling bees through five months of al- 

 most incessant winter, one should learn some- 

 thing in regard to wintering, if there is any 

 thing left to learn ; and it just occurs to me 

 there will always be unsolved problems in api- 

 culture. It may be out of season to talk about 

 wintering; but I for one am liable to forget it if 

 I don't speak my piece "while yet in memory 

 fresh it dwells." I prepared my bees in several 

 different ways for winter — chaff hives, sealed- 

 cover hives, chatl cushion on some, others with 

 folded gunny sacks between the frames and 

 cover, or top-board. All except chaff hives were 

 in the cellar. I also experimented with tight 

 bottoms, Miller's bottom-boards, no bottom- 

 boards, and wire cloth. In regard to the chaff 

 hives, they seemed to answer all right for win- 

 ter, only that they lost too heavily in bees. In 

 the cellar the tight-bottom hive's, both with 

 sealed cover and pads, lost greatly in numbers 

 by mold. The sealed-cover hives all showed 

 mold from condensed moisture. The Miller 

 bottom-boards showed considerably less mold, 

 either with or without cushions; in fact, they 

 were about as good as wire cloth, if the latter 

 were left only a bee-space below the frames, 

 thereby holding all the dead bees in contact 

 with the frames. 



Two things I am sure at present I do not 

 want; namely, tight bottoms and sealed covers. 

 Taking all things into consideration, I have ar- 

 rived at the conclusion that the proper method 

 of wintering is about as follows: There should 



