278 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 



Wm. Hubbart and Maj. Wm. Haw- 

 thorne" on the bench, one Isa- 

 bel Holdred, to ask protection 

 from an "infernal" bee. This 

 was in February, 1659, thirty years 

 before the witchcraft trials which 

 were held before the same court. The 

 records say, "Isabel Holdred testi- 

 fieth shee was tormented night and 

 day and several apiticions appeared 

 to ye deponent in the night, the first 

 night a Humble bee. The Deponent 

 was exceedingly affrightened and 

 skipped to Nathan Gold, who was in 

 the opposite chimney corner and 

 caught hold of ye hayre of his head, 

 and her speech was taken away for 

 ye space of half an hour." 



There is a chance for much specu- 

 lation here upon which the faded and 

 crumbling records of that early day 

 give no light. Why was Nathan in the 

 opposite corner? Her speech was 

 taken away, but Nathan may have 

 said a good deal, if she grasped his 

 "hayre" the full half hour! We 

 hear nothing more of the bee, but Isa- 

 bel's troubles were not ended, for we 

 find in the "Records and Files Vol. I," 

 that she was "presented" for "un- 

 seemly carriage," the case being left 

 to "Refen-ees" who "found no cen- 

 sure on her, as she was troubled with 

 fits and her own husband present in 

 the house." 



One wonders if the Referee consid- 

 ered the "fits" or the "husband in the 

 house" the greater excuse for her 

 "unseemly carriage"; also, the infer- 

 ence from the records is that, al- 

 though the bee is not mentioned 

 again, the husband was "stung." 



Massachusetts. 



GREEK BEEKEEPING IN 1675 



(From "A Journey in Greece," by 

 George Wheeler, Esquire). 



This Mountain (Hymettus) is cele- 

 brated for the best Honey in all 

 Greece, of which it makes a great 

 quantity to send to Constantinople, 

 where it is much esteemed for making 

 Sorbets. They use therefore to bring 

 all the Honey made hereabouts, to be 

 marked with the Mark of this Monas- 

 tery of Cosbashi, to make it sell the 

 better. We eat of it freely, finding it 

 to be very good ; and were not at all 

 incommodated with any Gripings af- 

 ter it. This Mountain was not less 

 famous in times past for Bees and ad- 

 mirable Honey, the Antients believ- 

 ing that bees were first bred here, and 

 that all other Bees were but Colonies 

 from this Mountain; which is so, we 

 assured ourselves, that it must be 

 from this part of the Mountain that 

 the Colonies were sent; both because 

 the Honey here made is the best, and 

 that here they never destroy the 

 Bees. It is of a good consistence, of a 

 fair gold-colour, and the same quan- 

 tity sweetens more water than the 

 like quantity of any other doth ; which 

 they sufficiently experience in making 

 Sorbets. They wondered at my Com- 

 rade, in that he preferred the white 

 Honey of France (as that of Pro- 

 vence is), telling him the white Honey 

 was raw, and not perfectly concocted, 

 either by Nature or the Bees. Strabo, 



I remember, saith The best Honey of 

 Hymettus was by the Silver Mines: 

 But where they were is now unknown ; 

 unless hereabouts by the same reason. 

 Now the best Argument to prove that 

 Bees had their original from hence, is, 

 that here they never destroy or impair 

 the Stock of Bees in taking away their 

 Honey. A thing which I no sooner 

 knew, but I was inquisitive to under- 

 stand their Method in Ordering- the 

 Bees; which being an Art so worthy 

 of the Knowledge of the Curious, I 

 shall not think it beside the purpose, 

 to relate what I saw, and was in- 

 formed to that effect, by such as had 

 Skill in this Place. 



The Hives they keep their Bees in, 

 are made of Willows or Osiers, fash- 

 ioned like our common Dust-baskets, 

 wide at the Top and narrow at the 

 Bottom; and plaister'd with Clay or 

 Loam, within and without. They are 

 set the wide end upwards, as you 

 see here, the Tops being covered with 

 broad, flat Sticks, are also plaister'd 

 with Clay on the Top; and to secure 

 them from the Weather, they cover 

 them with a Tuft of Straw, as we do. 

 Along each of those Sticks, the Bees 

 fasten their Combs; so that a Comb 

 may be taken out whole, without the 

 least bruising, and with the greatest 

 ease imaginable. To increase them in 

 Spring-time, that is, in March or 

 April, until the beginning of May, 

 they divide them; first separating the 

 Sticks, on which the Combs and Bees 

 are fastened, from one another with 

 a Knife; so taking out the first Combs 

 and Bees together, on each side, they 

 put them into another Basket, in the 

 same Order as they were taken out, 

 until they have equally divided them. 

 After this, when they are both again 

 accommodated with Stocks and Plais- 

 ter, they set the new Basket in the 

 Place of the old one, and the old one 

 in some new Place. And all this they 

 do in the middle of the day, at such 



time as the greatest part of the Bees 

 are abroad ; who, at their coming 

 home, without much difficulty, by this 

 means divide themselves equally. This 

 Device hinders them from Swarming 

 and flying away. In August they take 

 out their Honey; which they do in 

 the day-time also, while they are 

 abroad; the Bees being thereby, they 

 say, disturbed least. At which time 

 they take out the Combs laden with 

 Honey, as before ; that is, beginning 

 at each outside, and so taking away, 

 until they have only such a quantity 

 of Combs in the middle, as they 

 judge will be sufficient to maintain 

 the Bees in Winter; sweeping those 

 Bees, that are on the Combs they take 

 out, into the Basket again, and again 

 covering it with new Sticks and 

 Plaister. All that I doubt concerning 

 the Practice of this here in England, 

 is, that perhaps they gather a less 

 quantity of Honey from the Bees 

 here in England, and that, should 

 they take the like quantity of honey 

 from the Bees here in England, they 

 would not leave enough to presei-ve 

 them in Winter. But this hinders not 

 much; for being less covetous, and not 

 taking so much Honey from the poor 

 Bees, the great encrease and multi- 

 plying of them would soon equalize, 

 and far exceed the little Profit we 

 make by destroying them. This is 

 done without Smoak; wherefore the 

 Antients call this Honey "Akapni- 

 son," Unsmoaken Honey; and I be- 

 lieve the Smoak of Sulphur, which we 

 use, takes away very much of the 

 Fragrancy of the Wax, and sure I am, 

 the Honey can receive neither good 

 Taste nor Smell from it. 



Ancient Grecian hive 



FOOD SCIENCE AND THE 

 HONEYBEE 



By H. W. Sanders 



The study c' foods, their chemical 

 composition, their function in life, is 

 a branch of applied science that has 

 made remarkable strides during the 

 past few years, both in agricultural 

 experimentation and in medicine. 

 The first attempts to formulate 

 rules and principles of feeding from 

 a scientific view point were by no 

 means a success, because of their en- 

 deavor to use a living organism as 

 if it were a laboratory retort, but 

 latterly, since the nature and func- 

 tions of vitamins have become more 

 plain, and since a greater allowance 

 has been made for such uncontroll- 

 able factors as idiosincracies of the 

 individual or changes in the general 

 health of the subject and consequent 

 variations in the aliility to assimilate 

 the chemical constituents of food, 

 real progress has been made, and the 

 true value of much of the patient 

 work of the first investigators real- 

 ized. 



It is rather surprising that the 

 honeybee has so far missed the at- 

 tention of scientists working along 

 this line,' because this insect, in com- 

 mon with the rest of the order, sep- 

 arates the different functions of life 

 into well-defined periods correspond- 

 ing to its metamorphosis. In the 

 first period the entire energy of the 



