GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



April, 1921 



IFE'S 



c 



Beekeeping as a Side Line 



LJ 



Llfi^ 'K years 

 n r e filled 

 with won- 

 derful b eg i 11- 

 n i n g-t i m e s. 

 There are the 

 New Years ' 

 Days themselves, 

 like wide gates 

 opening into 



fresh fields, inspiring first days of months, 

 radiant first days of weeks, and every day 

 of them all with its own miracle-working 

 morning. But of all beginning-times. Na- 

 ture 's own favorite is surely the spring. To 

 what great tasks does she then sot her 

 mighty invisible hands! 



Happily, the spring season is not only the 

 most pleasant time to begin keeping bees, 

 it is also the most practical; particularly if 

 the new beekeeper be wise enough to have 

 read widely on the subject during the pre- 

 ceding winter, so that he may know some- 

 thing of what to expect and a little of what 

 to do. Then when he first opens his newly 

 acquired hive, when plum trees are like 

 fountains of white beauty and peach trees 

 are all a sudden blush, how mucli more in- 

 telligent will be this first rapturous look at 

 the marvels therein. Moreover, he will know 

 how to go about it all. He will have ac- 

 quired a smoker and a hive-tool and. a veil. 

 And as some tremulous day nears the noon 

 hour, when he knows from his reading that 

 many bees will be out in the field, thus 

 making an examination of the hive easier 

 and more pleasant, he will light his smoker 

 and put on his veil, puff a whiff of smoke 

 in the entrance, and with liis hive-tool gen- 

 tly remove the cover, Carefully he will sep- 

 arate the combs, pushing part of them close 

 against one another to leave room to lift 

 one out, slowly and quietly, that tlie bees 

 shnll not be crushed or irritated. And there 

 he will -find just what his books told him he 

 would find. 



For, made wise by his reading, he will 

 have been ])9rticular to buy at least his first 

 colony ill ;i modern movable-comb hive. 

 These hives nre very simple and easy to 

 o))erate. The beekeeper buys them all ready 

 to be jiut together, every part cut to the 

 most carefully accuiate dimensions, and 

 finds much of his pleasure in the assembling 

 and nailing of them. Everything is mov- 

 able. There are sejtarate bottom-boards and 

 covers and hive-bodies. The beekeeper pro- 

 vides himself with extra hive-bodies, either 

 full-depth or shallow, so that he can raise 

 the hive cover, at any time, and ]nit on one 

 of these extra bodies, which forthwith be- 

 comes ;i "super.'' Tlius he ad<ls to the c;i- 

 pacity of his hive. Inside each of these cham- 

 bers hang frames, usually ten, that hold 

 the combs. When new, each frame is given 

 a "full sheet of foundation," a thin sheet 

 of beeswax, stamped with tlie inijjress of 

 the hexagonal cells of the honeybee and 



1 



Grace Allen 



^=^^^^^^^^ 



LJ 



cut to the right 

 size. On that 

 sheet of wax 

 foundation the 

 bees build the 

 comb straight 

 and perfect, 

 with cells of the 

 size most valua- 

 bleto beekeepers. 

 Ontside of flowers, there are few things, 

 so delicately beautiful as newly built honey- 

 comb. And the mystery of its making is as 

 baffling. We may explain as learnedly as 

 we will, or as we can, cells and glands, pro- 

 toplasm and metabolism, chemical changes 

 and vital processes. When the best informed 

 of all the human race has exhausted the 

 subject, he can not make one cell of honey- 

 comb nor one tiny particle of wax. The most 

 becoming thing he can do is to yield it his 

 most generous and ardent admiration, let- 

 ting the marvel of it and the beauty of it 

 thrill to his very fingertips, as he looks at 

 its waxen wonder, so fragile, so fragrant, 

 and so clean. This is while it is new. With 

 the years it grows stronger, tougher, darker, 

 less ^ike a thing fashioned by fairies. 



Yet this fairy-like new comb, built by 

 young bees in the dusk of the hive, this 

 thing of mystery and translucent beauty, 

 was made for definite practical use, for two 

 supreme purposes — yea, even three. 



In those waxen cells the bees store the 

 nectar. Fitting urns, indeed, they are for 

 this marvelous gift of liquid fragrance and 

 light borne by silken wings from the cups 

 of sun-blessed flowers. Spread out in these 

 thousands of six-sided vats, the thin nectar 

 is gradually evaporated, slowly and steadily 

 transformed into rich, ripe honey. The 

 mouths of the urns are then sealed over as 

 with white silver and the comb has become 

 the inviolable vault for the priceless treas- 

 ure of the hive. Thus it fulfills one great 

 end of its intended destiny. 



In other of these cells are packed the 

 many-colored pollens, gay rainbow-like dust 

 from the hearts of the flowers. This is a 

 lesser usage for tlie comb, yet a very im- 

 portant one, as pollen is a vitally essential 

 food for bees, being required in especially 

 large quantities during the ])eriod of heavy 

 "brood-rearing" while thousands of larvae 

 are making their rapid growth. 



The other great purpose of the comb is 

 to cradle the young. A certain part, some- 

 what like a carelessly curved sphere, is set 

 apart in the inmost center of the hive as a 

 nursery. Here in cell after cell tiny eggs 

 arc deposited, wee ivory specks that con- 

 tain the unbelievable j)romise of future eyes 

 and legs, gauzy wings and strange incom- 

 prehensible instincts. The egg hatches into 

 a diminutive helpless larva that cannot leave 

 its cell, a wee white baby worm that curls 

 up in its cradle, is fed constantly and gen- 

 erously and does nothing but grow. Until, 



