7Hi 



THE HIVE IN THE TIME OF EOI 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



IAN EMPEMOMS 



liY FRANK RIOIITER 



As people rose from the first state of sav- 

 agery to domestic and economical life, the 

 bee followed them from the mountains and 

 forests to the gardens and courts of their 

 new homes. Bee culture advanced step by 

 step Avith the civilization of men. The tirst 

 civilized jDeople exercised regular bee cul- 

 ture and made use of its products for their 

 wants. 



In the care of bees and the study of their 

 habits the Romans and Gi'eeks stood at the 

 head of all nations. Their great statesmen, 

 poets, and learned men sucla as Pliny, He- 

 siod, Virgil. Ovid, Columella, etc., studied 



A woven beehive such as was used by ancient 

 Romans 



bee culture, and only in that way was it 

 possible that, in the time of C. Junius Col- 

 umella, in the middle of the first century, 

 it rose to the highest state which presup- 

 posed knowledge not inferior to those of our 

 time. 



Originally the bees lived in trees and 

 caverns until Aristans lodged them in arti- 

 ficial dwellings and thus made an invention 

 which by and by spread over the Avliole 

 world. The hives first were made of hollow 

 tree-trunks and later of trunks worked out 

 by hand; most of them were of oak-trees; 

 but higher esteemed were hives made of the 

 bark of the cork oak. Tlie contents of such 



a hive amounted to 648 fists. It was soon 

 found that the capacity of a hive ought to 

 be in proportion to the size of the colony. 

 The back of the hive was provided with a 

 movable i)artition wluch not only permitted 

 manipulation from belaind, as the beekeep- 

 eis of tliat time recommended, but also 

 allowed enlarging the inner space when 

 there Avas a good honey-flow and plenty of 

 bees. 



In time, when work did not thrive, the 

 2jartition Avas pushed inside (Columella), 

 and thereby the room diminished in order 

 to prevent the Avorkers from becoming idle 

 or discouraged (Aristotle), or cease AA^ork- 

 ing (Pliny). The joints were spread over 

 Avith cow-dung to prevent drafts of air. 

 Hives made of bark Avere more highly A'alued 

 than those of hurdleAvork (basketwork), 

 {alous vitilis). In Italy the flexible and 

 tough tAvigs of the ferul-shrub Avere used 

 for tAvisting. Such hives of hurdleAvovk 

 were certainly better than those of barks or 

 AA'illoAv-tAvigs. Hives of avUIoav tAvigs gen- 

 erally Avere round, Avhile those of ferul tAvigs 

 had a quadrangular shape. 



In Italy the Romans also used boards for 

 making hives. According to Roman tradi- 

 tion the hives Avere 3 feet high and a foot 

 broad. They were round, pointed at the 

 top, and drawn in in the middle, so that 

 they resembled the bee in shape. The hive 

 Avas divided into three sej^arable parts. The 

 top or cover had the form of an iuA'erted 

 cup. Tlie middle piece corresponded to 

 our supei', and the bottom part Avas the 

 brood-chamber. The bottom-board consisted 

 of a disk of basketAvork, and it also served 

 to diminish the room in the brood-chamber 

 Avhen it Avas pushed inside and was fixed by 

 three cleats. Over the hurdleAvork was 

 spread a mixture of quicklime and coav- 

 dung or slippery cay. According to Varro 

 several entrance-holes were placed in the 

 narroAV and upper part of the brood-cham- 

 ber not in the front, but on the left and 

 right side of the skep. Palladius fixed their 

 number to tAvo or three, and advised that 

 they be small and narroAV, not larger than 

 to allow a bee to pass in order to preA^eir^ 

 the AA'ind bloAving in and noxious insects 

 from entering. 



The author of these lines was iuA'ited to 

 make a model of such a skej) after the 

 description of Varro, for the exhibition in 

 Vienna. Accordingly I made a sketcli of 

 the Roman hive and shoAved it to the l)ee- 

 master of the becmasier school in Vienna. 

 After having looked at the sketch for a 



