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MYSTERIES

OF

BEE-KEEPING EXPLAINED:

BEING A COMPLETE

ANALYSIS OF THE WHOLE SUBJECT;

CONSISTING OF

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BEES, DIRECTIONS FOR OBTAINING THE GREATEST
AMOUNT OF PURE SURPLUS HONEY WITH THE LEAST POSSIBLE
EXPENSE, REMEDIES FOR LOSSES GIVEN, AND THE SCIENCE OF
"LUCK" FULLY ILLUSTRATED--THE RESULT OF MORE
THAN TWENTY YEARS' EXPERIENCE IN
EXTENSIVE APIARIES.



BY M. QUINBY,

PRACTICAL BEE-KEEPER.



NEW YORK:

C. M. SAXTON, AGRICULTURAL BOOK PUBLISHER
152 FULTON STREET.
1853.


Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by
M. QUINBY,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States
for the Southern District of New York.

E. O. JENKINS, PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER,
114 NASSAU STREET, N. YORK.




CONTENTS.


CHAPTER I.

BRIEF HISTORY.

Three kinds of Bees,                                              9
Queen described,                                                  9
Description and Duty of Workers,                                 10
Description of Drones,                                           11
Most Brood in Spring,                                            11
Their Industry,                                                  12


CHAPTER II.

HIVES.

Hives to be thoroughly made,                                     13
Different opinions about them,                                   14
The Author has no Patent to recommend,                           14
Speculators supported long enough,                               15
Prefix of Patent a bad recommendation,                           15
Ignorance of affairs and committees,                             15
Opposition to simplicity,                                        16
By gaining one point produce another evil,                       16
First Delusion,                                                  17
Chamber Hive,                                                    17
Mrs. Griffith's Hive,                                            18
Weeks' Improvement,                                              18
Inclined Bottom-Boards do not throw out all the worms,           19
Objections to suspended hives,                                   19
See bees often,                                                  20
Hall's Patent,                                                   21
Jones's Patent,                                                  21
An Experiment,                                                   21
Reason of failure in dividing hive,                              22
Cause of starving in such hives,                                 23
Advantages of the changeable hive considered,                    24
Variation of these hives,                                        25
Expense in constructing changeable hives,                        25
The surplus honey will contain bee-bread,                        26
Description of Cutting's changeable hive,                        26
First objection cost of construction,                            28
Hives can be made with less expense,                             29
Old breeding cells will last a long time,                        29
Cells larger than necessary at first,                            30
Expense of renewing combs,                                       30
Best to use old combs as long as they will last,                 31
Method for Pruning when necessary,                               31
Tools for Pruning,                                               32
Use of Tobacco Smoke,                                            33
Further objections to a sectional hive,                          34
Non-Swarmers,                                                    35
Contrast of profit,                                              35
Principle of swarming not understood,                            36
Not to be depended upon,                                         37
Hives not always full before swarming,                           37
Size of hives needed,                                            37
An Experiment,                                                   37
Bees do not increase if full after the first year in same hive,  38
Gillmore's system doubted,                                       39
Utility of moth-proof hives doubted,                             39
Instincts of the bee always the same,                            40
Profit the object,                                               41
Common hive recommended,                                         42
Size Important,                                                  42
Small hives most liable to accidents,                            42
Apt to deceive,                                                  43
Unprofitable if too large,                                       43
Correct size between two extremes,                               43
Size for warm latitudes,                                         44
Larger hives more safe for long Winters or backward Spring,      44
2,000 inches safe for this section,                              45
Kind of Wood, width of Board, &c.,                               46
Shape of little consequence,                                     46
Directions for making hives,                                     47
Size of cap and boxes,                                           48
Miner's Hive,                                                    48
Directions for making holes,                                     49
A Suggestion,                                                    50
Glass boxes preferred,                                           51
Glass boxes--how made,                                           51
Guide-combs necessary,                                           52
Wood Boxes,                                                      53
Cover for Hives,                                                 54
Jars and Tumblers--how prepared,                                 54
Perfect Observatory Hive described,                              55
One like Common Hive preferred,                                  56
What may be seen,                                                56
Directions for making Glass Hive,                                57
Plate for Hive,                                                  61


CHAPTER III.

BREEDING.

Imperfectly Understood,                                          62
Good stocks seldom without brood,                                63
How small stocks commence,                                       64
Different with larger ones,                                      65
How Pollen is stored in the breeding season,                     65
Operation of Laying, and the Eggs described,                     66
Time from the Egg to the perfect Bee,                            67
Rough treatment of the young Bee,                                67
Guess-work,                                                      68
Terms applied to  young Bees,                                    69
Discrepancy in time in rearing brood as given by Huber,          70
The number of Eggs deposited by the Queen guessed at,            71
A test for the presence of a Queen,                              73
When Drones are reared,                                          74
When Queens,                                                     74
Liability of being destroyed,                                    76
Drones destroyed when honey is scarce,                           77
Old Queen leaves with the first swarm,                           78
A young Queen takes the place of her mother in the old stock,    79
Other Theories,                                                  80
Subject not understood,                                          80
Necessity for further observation,                               84
Two sides of the question,                                       85


CHAPTER IV.

BEE PASTURAGE.

Substitute for Pollen,                                           88
Manner of packing it,                                            89
Alder yields the first,                                          89
Fruit Flowers important in good weather,                         91
Red Raspberry a favorite,                                        91
Catnip, Mother-wort and Hoarhound, are sought after,             92
Singular fatality attendant on Silkweed,                         93
Large yield from Basswood,                                       96
Garden Flowers unimportant,                                      97
Honey-dew,                                                       97
Singular Secretion,                                              98
Secretions of the Aphis,                                         98
Advantages of Buckwheat,                                        101
Amount of honey collected from it,                              101
Do Bees injure the crop?                                        102
Are not Bees an advantage to vegetation?                        103
A test for the presence of Queen doubted,                       106
An extra quantity of Pollen not always detrimental,             107
What combs are generally free from Bee-bread,                   108
Manner of packing stores,                                       108
Philosophy in filling a cell with honey,                        109
Long cells sometimes turned