09/05/2024
Circa. 1884 ~ Harvesting Honey by the Heath Apiarists.
It is a well-known fact in Germany, that the Heath apiarists have a special kind of bee, which is different in many respects from the common German bee and is familiarly known to German bee-keepers by the name of 'Heath-bee ' (Heidbiene). Von Berlepsch, Dathe and other eminent bee-masters, consider it an improved bee.
Of course, the heath-bee a descendant from the common German bee, but it has been reared for many centuries in the same way as the English cattle-breeders rear their famous stock, that is, by selection for special purposes. This circumstance will prove that the Heath apiarists have attained a lofty eminence in bee-keeping, inasmuch as they have been successful in rearing a bee which is so suitable in every way to their requirements. The Heath-bee is, in its outward appearance, very similar to the common German bee; but is distinguished from the latter by being a swarm bee, that is, a bee which is prone to swarm, and casts off three or more swarms. The common German bee will give some years one or two swarms or none at all but will never swarm if its combs do not reach nearly the bottom board of its hive. A first or second swarm will seldom give another swarm in the same year, and a young queen never leads off a swarm in the year of her birth. A colony with such a queen will never build drone-comb in that year. It is otherwise with the Heath-bee. It will swarm unconditionally, even if the combs fill only half the hive. First and second swarms will cast other swarms. A young queen will lead off a swarm in the year of her birth, and her colony will build drone-comb soon after hiving. The Heath-bee will go on breeding to the end of September.
It may be asked, how is it possible to make bee-keeping profitable with such a bee? The Heath apiarists are able to do so. Their hives and management and their pasturage make bee-keeping a success. The swarming fever they control at the right time, and the drone-comb they cut out in the beginning.
There is no doubt that the Heath-bee is a most active bee. He breeds from early spring to the fall, and brood-rearing is the nerrus rerum of all activity in a colony of bees.
Our next will give information respecting the hives in use In the Heath apiarists. C. J. H. Gravenhorst, Brunswick, Germany.
*The above spirited engraving has been reduced from a sketch by G, Arnould, which appeared in Das Buch fur Alle. (Hermann Schonlein, Stuttgart, 1877.)
Source:
The British Bee Journal, February 15, 1884 Page 67
https://ia601301.us.archive.org/29/items/britishbeejourna1884lond/britishbeejourna1884lond.pdf
