1850. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



163 



BEES -No, 1. 



As tlie avticU-s tliat I now pui-poso^ writing will be a 

 brief cxposiliou of the priiicipul characteristics and 

 proper nianagcniciit ot the ffoney Bee, and which 

 will probably be read by ir.any who have never seen 

 a treatise on the subject, it will be necessary, as a 

 prclimiiiary elucidation, to state what most promi- 

 nently jcrtains to the ihrcc classes ol' bees compri- 

 sing evn-y n.mily, in r;<;;-rd to their physiology and 

 dcniCbtic economy ; yet I'lurn necessity, I must be 

 Vfry brief in a publicalion of this kind. 



A family of bees coi,; ists of a gue'it, tvorkers, and 

 drones. The can en is Ihe ni'.ther of all the increase 

 of every iiive. She a'cne jroditees the eggs from 

 which feme .''.(',010 bee.-- einer>;e every season ! This 

 (imai.ing fecundity may tiuly excite "o\ir surprise, yet 

 analop-y shows nsny parallels in the insect tribes. 

 In sirciig, po| iiliiis lamilirs, s!:e soMom ceases laying 

 during the rntire year. If a hive v.ell filled with 

 bees be (Minined in the dead of winter, brood will 

 befonnil to ^«n;e extent. She commences her spring 

 laying in March or Apil, according to the mildness 

 of the season, and during the month of May produces 

 •200 eggs per day ! Her ofKce is solely to deposit 

 the eggs in the cells, w hich she does at the extreme 

 end of each, where a triangular cavity receives them. 

 At each deposit, a uhitish fluid accompanies the egg 

 to cause it to adhere to its locality. Thus the queen 

 passes- quickly from cell to cell, in the execution of 

 her task, independent of any attention being paid to 

 her by the workers, on account of her royalty, save a 

 respectful opening of a free passage as sheaiivances. 

 These facts have been verified bythe use of observa- 

 tory hives, with glass sides, and only a single leaf 

 of comb. 



The workers are the laborers of the association. 

 They build the combs, gather the pollen [bee-bread] 

 and the honey, nn;l all labor pertaining to the family 

 devolves upon them. They learn nothing from crpc- 

 riencc — nothing from age : but come forth from their 

 cells perfect in all their arts. What took ages for 

 mathematicians to compass, by a waste of "midnight 

 oil," the little bee was master of as she sang her son"- 

 of merry contentment, while quaffing the melifinout 

 nectar trcm the spontaneous profusion of the garden 

 of Eden. The wonders of her architecture I must 

 reserve for a separate article. It has been said that 

 there is an especial class among the workers, for 

 each separate duty, which class can perform no other 

 labor, t^ave that which nature has assigned to them. 

 This is not the case. The workers can lend a hand 

 at any work. The honey-gatherer of to-day may be 

 collecting pollen to-morrow, and the next day fabri- 

 cating combs, feeding the young brood, or acting as 

 sentinels at the entrance of the hive ; but their chano-e 

 of duties is systematic, and governed by instinctive 

 laws among them. This is the only law that gov- 

 erns an association of bees, and it is a law that needs 

 no "amendments." Their constitution is implanted 

 in the censorium — the acme of perfection, so far as 

 regards the operations of this insect ; and while 

 man errs in his architecture, even though master of 

 his profession, the bee never does. 



The sex of workers is a matter of interest. They 

 are neither males nor females, a singularity in nature 

 belonging to this class of insects only. They have 

 the rudiments of ovaries, but not fully developed ; 

 yet in certain peculiar cases, fertile workers do existj 

 as is supposed by many apiarians ; yet this fact has 



never been set at rest. Huber, the German natu- 

 ralist and apiarian, is the founder of this theory ; yet 

 he was blind, and trusted entirely to an assistarit for 

 his discoveries. I shall speak at length on these 

 alleged fertile workers, probably : but let it be under- 

 stood that the queen is the grand source of increase, 

 and if rare instances of workers have been found in 

 whieli some very few have been known to deposit 

 eggs, tli^ncrease from this source is so very small 

 that we look upon it rather as a phenomenon of 

 nature, than as a legitimate source of fecundity. 



The drones are a class that exist but a few 'veeks 

 in the family. These are the males, and there is 

 much mystery hanging over the duties pertaining to 

 this class of bees. Some people consider them°en- 

 tirely useless — even a serious disadvantage to the 

 association, and hives have been invented" with an 

 eye to exclude them from their tenements, while the 

 workers can, from their diminutive size, easily enter. 

 And when I think of the folly of- such persons, who 

 believe in ridding their hives'of this class before the 

 season allotted by nature — the God of nature, who 

 knows as much as they do, and perhaps a little more 

 — I feel that it is "casting pearls before swine," to 

 endeavor to eradicate their ignorance. 1 shall devote 

 my next to this highly important and interesting part 

 of my subject. T. B. Miner, 



Author of tho American Bee-Keeper's Maauiil. 

 Clinton, Oneida Co., ^A"". Y., 1850. 



The first swine of which we can find any reliable 

 account, as having made much improvement in the 

 stock of the United States, was a pair of pigs sent bv 

 the Duke of Bedford to Gen. Washington, by a Mr. 

 Parkinson, an English farmer, who came to this 

 country in I79-. He leased a farm in the vicinifv 

 of Ualtiniore, Maryland, where he resided some time. 

 Instead of delivering these pigs to Washington, he 

 dishonestly sold them. They were generally called 

 the "Woburn," or "Bedford" breed," but in some 

 districts in this country, they were known by the name 

 of (he " Parkinson hog." Thev originated at Wo- 

 burn, the estate of the Duke of Bedford, and were 

 produced by a cross of tlie Chinese boar on the large 

 English hog. In their perfection they were a splen- 

 did breed ; being fine in their points," of deep, round 

 carcass, short legs, and thin hair. They kept easily, 

 and matured early. At 12 to 30 months old, they 

 usually weighed from 300 to 600 lbs. They had 

 light offal, and their meat was of the first quality. 

 Their color was white, broken more or loss with dark 

 blue or ash-colored sjxits. The steward of the Duke 

 of Bedford informed us, in 1841, that the true breed 

 in England had become extinct several years before • 

 and we believe its purity is no longer known in the 

 United States. 



The " Byfield," sometimes known as the " Grass 

 breed," derives its first name from the circumstance 

 of a farmer in the town of Bylield, Mass., about 30 

 years ago, accidentally picking up a pretty pig one 

 day in the market, and taking it home and' breeding 

 from it. The progeny proved to be fine and quiet 

 little animals ; but in consequence of their rarely 

 attaining over 2.50 to 300 lbs. weight, full grown, 

 and being rather shy breeders, they were soon given 

 up as too small and unprofitable for the general pur- 

 poses of the farmer. Their color wao pure white. 



Capt. John Mackav of Boston, Mass., produced a 



