Bee Books
Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella on Bees from "De Re Rustica" On Agriculture
Bee Books -- A review of the bee keeping literature of the 18th and 19th centuries
Who was Columella?
Columella was a Roman soldier and farmer. As a young man, Columella served as a tribune of the legion stationed in Syria, but an army career nor the law attracted him, and he took up farming in Italy. Columella was quite aware of other ancient authors on bees such as: Hyginus, Euhemerus, Virgil, Aristotle. Euthronius, and Maro and quotes from them frequently. The De re rustica ("On Agriculture"), in 12 books has survived from his ancient writings. The information in these 12 books cover many Agriculture topics and includes quite a bit about bees. Book IX covers the care of wild cattle and the rearing of bees. He is often quoted by Early English writers.
I have read this book looking for beekeeping information. As Columella tells us, much of the information about bees in the ancient world was written by individuals more intent on flowery words. He attributes their information more to poetic license than submit to the test of our belief. Thus the existing stories :
"were subjects more agreeable to the students of literature, who can read at their leisure, than to farmers who are busy folk, seeing that they are of no assistance to them in their work or in the increase of their substance." So lets take a look at what Columella was able to discover about bees.
About kinds of bees:
"for the larger and rounder a bees, the worse it is, and if it is unusually fierce, it is by far the worst kind of all."
"The irascibility of the better kind of bees is easily soothed by the frequent intervention of those who look after them: for when they are often handled, they quickly become tame."
The queen: "Now the king bees are slightly larger and more oblong in shape than to other bees, with straighter legs but less ample wings, of a beautiful shining color and smooth, without any hair, and stingless, .."
The drone: "They are insects of a larger growth, very like bees.... for the do not collect food but consume that which is brought in by others. Never the less these drones seem to contribute something to the procreation of the younger generation by sitting on the seeds from which the bees are formed, and so they are admitted on terms of some intimacy in order to sit upon the eggs which produce the new offspring; then, when the young bees are hatched, they are hustled out of the hives and, as the same old poet says, "they are kept away from the fold.""
On the beekeeper:
"very great care must be taken by the man in charge, who feeds the bees, when he must handle the hives, that the day before he has abstained from sexual relations and does not approach them when drunk and only after washing himself, and the he abstains from all edibles which have a strong flavor....from acrimonious stench of garlic and onions and all other similar things."
On management:
"Usually in the tenth year all the population of the whole hive is destroyed and exterminated"
Making increases: "Fresh stock must be continually propagated and care must be taken in the spring, when the fresh swarms issue forth, that they are intercepted and the number of dwelling places increased"
Equipment: "The store-house should be chiefly occupied by hives ready for the use of new swarms..."
Clipping a queens wings: "he must be despoiled of his wings, when he oft times attempts to break out with his swarm and fly away; for we strip him of his wings, we shall keep the vagrant chieftain as though in fetters chained..."
Replacing poor queen: "Sometimes the king bee has to be put to death when an old hive falls short of its proper complement of bees and its want of numbers must be made up from another swarm."
Combining weak hives: "In the early spring a young brood is born in the hive, the new king bee is squeezed to death, so that the multitude of bees may live with their parents without discord. But if the combs have produced no offspring, it will be open to you to bring together the population of two or three hives into one, but only after they have been sprinkled with sweet liquid...."
Overcrowding: "for when the disaster to the crowded hive is recognized, you must examine any combs which it contains. You must then next cut away, from the wax which holds the seed, that part in which the offspring of the kingly race comes to life. It is easy to see this, since almost at the very end of the wax there appears as if were the nipple of a breast projecting somewhat and with a wider cavity than the rest of the holes, in which the young bees of the common kind are enclosed."
Bait traps: "But you should also have empty hives placed in the apiary; for there are some swarms which, as soon as they have come forth, immediately seek a home for themselves nearby and occupy on which they find empty."
Chilled brood: "For if we transfer the honey combs when the brood has not come to maturity, the young bees will die when they cease to be kept warm..."
Hive inspections: "From the first equinox (spring), ... during these days the bees ought to receive attention for the first time by opening the hives, so that all filth, which has collected during the winter season may be removed, and after the spiders have been got rid of, the hives may be fumigated with smoke produced by burning ox dung."
"during the winter time it is not expedient to move or open the hives."
On disease and pest:
"bees are often over taken by disease."
"The little worms also which are called moth-caterpillars and also the developed moths must be killed.
"But great care will have to be exercised between the rising of the Dog star and that of Arcturus that the bees are not surprised by violent attacks from hornets, which generally lie in wait in front of the hives for them to come out."
On hive location:
"feeding grounds ought to be assigned to the bees of which you approve."
"feeding grounds void of cattle and with a sunny aspect"
"located where they are little as possible exposed to storms."
"A position must be chosen for the bees facing the sun at midday in winter, far from noise and the assemblage of men and beast."
"It should be situated in the bottom of a valley, that the empty bees, when they go forth to feed, may be able more easily to fly up to the higher ground, and when they have collected what they require, they may fly with their burden on a down-hill course without any difficulty."
"If the apiary join a building, it must be on the side of the house which is free from the foul odours which come from latrines, the dunghill and the bathroom."
"Where ever the hives are placed, they should not be enclosed within very high walls."
On honey taking:
"Honey of the finest quality is at its best at the autumn equinox which falls before the first of October."
On leaving honey for the bees: "the bees store up honey which they have collected for winter food from the tamarisk flowers and woodland shrubs. Of this nothing at all must be extracted, ..."
"We conclude that the honey is ripe when we notice that the drones are being expelled and put to flight by the bees."
"The morning should generally be chosen for the removal of the honey; for it is not advisable that the bees should be provoked when they are already exasperated by the nidday heat."
"Two iron instruments are required for this operation, measuring a foot and a half or a little more, one of which be an oblong knife with a broad edge on both sides and having a curved scraper at one extremity, and the other flat in front and very sharp, so that with the latter the honey combs may be cut out better..."
"When the hive is opened from the back, we shall apply smoke from from galbanum or from dried dung; moreover, these ingredients are mixed with live coals and put into an earthenware vessel. When a pot of this kind is applied to a hive, the smoke is conveyed to the bees by the movement set up by the breath. The bees, unable to endure the smell of burning, immediately move to the front part of their abode and sometimes outside the porch."
"But whatever be the number of honey combs that are harvested, you should make the honey on the same day, while they are still warm. A wickerwork basket or a bag rather loosely woven of fine withies in the shape of an inverted cone, like that through which wine is strained, is hung up in a dark place, and then the honey combs are heaped in it one by one. But care must be taken that those parts of the waxen cells, which contain either young bees or dirty red matter are separated from them, for they have an ill flavor and corrupt the honey with their juice."
"the honey collected is transferred to earthenware vessels."
"the fragments of the honey combs which have remained in the bag, are handled again and the juice squeezed out of them. What flows from them is honey of the second quality and is stored apart by itself..."
On processing wax:
""The remains of the honey combs are thrown into a brazen vessel; water is then added to them and they are melted over a fire. When this has been done, the wax is poured out and strained through straw or rushes. It is then boiled over again a second time and poured in such moulds as one has thought suitable, water having been first added. When the wax has hardened, it is easy to take it out, since the liquid which remains in the bottom does not allow it to stick to the moulds."
On bee needs:
"ever flowing water, if it is available, or water drawn by hand and provided, without which neither combs nor honey nor even young bees can be formed."
On provided water, "it should contain heaps of sticks and stones for the use of the bees..."
On bee hive construction:
"if the place is rich in cork trees, we shall certainly make the most serviceable hives from their bark, because they are neither cold in winter nor hot in summer"
"or if it grows plenty of fennel stocks, with these too, receptacles can be quite as conveniently made by weaving them together.
"or they be made with the wood of a tree either hollow or cut up into boards."
"Those made of earthenware have the worst qualities of all, since they are burnt by the heat of summer and frozen by the cold of winter."
"Two kind of hives remain to be described, those which are either made of dung or built of bricks."
On moving hives:
The question arises as to what ought to be done for the sake of the bees themselves, when it is advisable that they should be sent to another district because they are suffering from disease or from the barrenness and poverty of the locality."
"If we are obliged to convey them over long distances, we shall be careful that they are not disturbed by the roughness of the road, and they will be best carried on the shoulders and at night; for they must be given rest in the day time and liquids which thy like must be poured into the hives, so that they may be fed while remaining shut up."
"They should be place in position until evening comes, so that the bees may go forth quietly in the morning after a whole night's rest."
On hive management:
"they will have to be so placed as to be at a little distance from one another, so that, when they are being inspected, one which is handled in the course of being attended to may not shake another which is closely joined to it, and alarm the neighbouring bees."
"The fronts of the hives, which afford entries for the bees, should slope down more than their backs, so that the rain may not flow in"
"The holes through which they go in and out ought to be very narrow, so as to admit as little cold as possible"
On winter protection: "we shall daub outside with a mixture of clay and ox dung, and we shall only leave entrance by which they may come and go... we shall cover them by heaping stalks and leaves on the top of them and fortify them, as far as circumstances allow, against cold and bad weather."
On feeding: "if too long a fast occurs, it is best to pour sweet liquids through the entrance of the porch by means of small pipes and thus support them during the temporary scarcity until the rising of Arcturus and the coming of the swallow with promise of more favorable weather for the future."
On swarms:
"These come to us either by purchase or without being paid for."
"Bees which come to us by gift or by capture are accepted less scrupulously, although even in these circumstances I would not care to possess any but the best, since good and bad bees require the same expenditure and the same labor on the part of their keeper; also (and this is especially important) inferior bees should not be mixed with those of high quality, since they bring discredit upon them; for a smaller yield of honey rewards your efforts when the idler swarms take part in the gathering of it."
"He will be able to find out beforehand their decision to escape by putting his ear to each of the hives in the evening; for about three days before they intend to break out an uproar and buzzing arises like that of an army setting out on the march."
"It is the duty of a good overseer in spring time to keep an eye upon the hives until about the eighth hour of the day."
"when the host of bees has settled in a mass on the neighboring branch of a leafy shrub, you should take notice whether the whole swarm hangs down in the form of a single bunch of grapes. This will be a sign either that there is only one king bee in it...."
"If the swarm is divided into two or even more clusters, you need to have no doubt that there are several chiefs..."
On hunting bees:
"First we must try to discover how far away they are, and for this purpose liquid red ochre must be prepared; then after touching the backs of the bees with stalks smeared with this liquid as they are drinking at the spring, waiting in the same place you will be able more easily to recognize the bees when they return. If they are not slow in returning, you will know that they dwell in the neighborhood."
"The joint of a reed with the knots at either end is cut and a hole bored in the side of the rod thus formed, through which you should drop a little honey or boiled must. The rod is then placed near a spring. Then when a number of bees, attracted by the smell of the sweet liquid, have crept into it, the rod is taken away and the thumb placed on the hole and one bee only released at a time, which, when it has escaped, shows the line of its flight to the observer, and he, as long as he can keep up, follows it as it flies away. They when he can no longer see the bee, he lets out another, and if it seeks the same quarter of the heavens he persists in following his former tracks."
"The searcher for swarms should choose the morning for his search, so that he may have the whole day to spy out the coming and goings of the bees."
"If it is hidden in a cave, the swarm will be driven out with smoke..."
"If the swarm has its home in a hollow tree is cut through with a saw which should be very sharp so that the operation may be more quickly carried out, and then the lower part so far as it seems to be inhabited and when it has been cut off at both ends, it is covered with a clean garment and carried to the place where bees are kept and put in position like the rest of the hives."
On honey plants:
The region should be rich in:
thyme, marjoram, savory, rosemary, trefoil, holm oak, ivy, red and white jujube-trees, tamarisks, almond and peach trees (majority of the fruit bearing trees) and woodland trees .. acorn bearing oaks, linden trees, plus countless herbs and wild plants such as mustard, wild radish, wild turnip wild endive..."
"But of all the plants which I have suggested, thyme yields honey with best flavour; the next best are Greek savory, wild thyme and marjoram."
On the caretaker of bees:
"for in beekeeping perfect honesty is necessary, and since this is very rare, it is better secured by the intervention of the master."
"for beekeeping revolts alike against a lack of cleanliness and against fraudulent management."