All three come together about the end of February or beginning of March, and break into the winter dearth2 and silence in much the same sudden, unpremeditated way. You look at the woodlands, cowering3 under the lash4 of the shrill5 north wind, and all seems bare and black and lifeless. But the wind dies down in a fiery6 sunset. With the darkness comes a warm breath out of the west. On the morrow the spring sunshine runs high through all the valleys like liquid gold; the elm-tops are ablaze7 with purple; from the lambing-pens far and near a new cry lifts into the still, warm air; and in the bee-gardens there is the unwonted, old-remembered symphony, prophetic of the coming summer days.
The shepherd, the bee-man, the woodlander—these three live in the focus of the seasons, and feel their changes long before any other class of country folk. But the bee-man, if he would prosper8, must take the sun as his veritable daily guide from year’s end to year’s end. Those whose conception of a bee-keeper is mainly of one who looks on from his cottage door while his winged thousands work for him, and who has but to stretch out his hand once a year to gather the hoard9 he has had no part in winning, know little of modern beemanship. This would be almost literally10 true of the old skeppist days, when bees were left much to their own devices, and thirty pounds of indifferent honey was reckoned a good take from a populous11 hive. But the modern movable comb-frame has altered all that. Now ninety or a hundred pounds weight of honey per hive is expected, with ordinarily good seasons, on a well-managed bee-farm; and in exceptional honey-flows very strong stocks of bees have been known to double and even treble that amount.
The movable comb-frame has three prime uses. The hives can be opened at any time and their condition ascertained12 without having to wait for outside indications. Brood-combs, with the young bees all ready to hatch out, can be taken from strong colonies and given to weak ones, and thus the population of all stocks may be equalised. The filled honeycombs can be removed, emptied by the centrifugal extractor, and the combs returned to the hive ready for another charge; and so the most onerous13 and exacting14 labour of the hive, comb-building, is largely obviated15.
The modern beehive has another great advantage over the old straw skep, in that its size can be regulated according to the needs of each colony. More combs can be added as the stock grows, and thus no limit is set to its capacity. With the ancient form of hive fifteen or twenty thousand bees meant a crowded citadel16, and there was nothing for it but to relieve the congestion17 by swarming18. But the swarming habit has always been the principal obstacle to large honey-takes; and the problem which the modern bee-keeper has to solve is how to prevent his stocks from thus breaking themselves up into several hopelessly weak detachments.
It is all a war of wits between the bees and their masters. In nature the honey-bee is possessed19 of an inveterate20 caution. Famine is especially dreaded21, and the number of mouths to fill in a hive is always kept strictly22 to the limits of the incoming food-supply. Thus a natural bee-colony is seldom ready for the honey-flow when it begins in early April, because it is only then that the raising of the young brood is allowed its fullest scope. This, however, is of no importance as far as the bees themselves are concerned, for a balance of stores of about twenty pounds weight at the end of a season will safely carry the most populous colony through any ordinary winter.
But from the bee-master’s point of view it means practically a lost harvest. All the arts and devices of the modern bee-keeper, therefore, are set to work to overcome this timid conservatism of the hives, and to induce the creation of immense colonies of worker-bees as early as possible in the season, so that there may be no lack of labourers when the harvest is ready.
These first warm days of March, that bring the elm-blossom, and the cry of the lambs, and the old sweet music of the bee-gardens together, really form the most critical time of all for the apiarist23 who depends on his honey for his bread-and-butter. It is the natural beginning of the bee-year, and on his skill as a craftsman24 from now onward25 all chance of a prosperous season will rest. It is true that, within the hive, the bees have been awake and stirring for a long time past. Ever since the “turn of the days,” just before Christmas, the queen-mother has been busy; and now there are young bees, little grey fluffy26 creatures, everywhere in the throng27; and the area of sealed brood-cells is steadily28 growing. But it is only now that the world out-of-doors becomes of any interest to the bees.
This is the time when the scientific bee-man must get to work. His whole policy is one of benevolent29 fraud. He knows that the population in his hives will not be allowed to increase until there is a steady, assured income of nectar and pollen30. He cannot create an early flower-crop, but he does almost the same thing. Every hive is supplied with a feeding-stage, where cane-sugar syrup31, of nearly the same consistency32 as the natural flower-secretion, is administered constantly; and he places trays full of pea-flour at different stations amongst his hives, as a substitute for pollen. There is a special art in the administration of this sugar-syrup. One might think that if the bees required feeding at all, the more they were given the better they would thrive. But experience is all against this notion. The artificial food is given, not to replenish33 an exhausted34 larder35, but to simulate a natural new supply. This, in the ordinary state of things, would begin in about a month’s time, coming at first scantily36, and gradually increasing. By syrup-feeding early in March, the bee-master sets the clock of the year forward by many weeks. He imitates nature by arranging his feeding-stages so that the supply of syrup can be limited to the actual day-to-day wants of the colony, allowing the bees freer access to the syrup-bottles from time to time as their numbers augment37.
If this is adroitly38 done, the effect on the colony is remarkable39. The little company of bees whose part it is to direct the actions of the queen-mother, seeing what is apparently40 the natural fresh supply of food coming in, in daily increasing quantities, at length cast their hereditary41 reserve aside, and allow the queen fullest scope for egg-laying. The result is that by the time the real honey-flow commences the population of each hive is double what it would be if it had been left to its own resources, and the honey-yield is more than proportionately great. It is well know among bee-men that a hive containing, say, forty thousand workers will produce very much more honey than two hives together numbering twenty thousand each.
There is another vital consideration in this work of early stimulation42 of the hives, which the capable bee-master will never neglect. When the natural honey-glut is on, the whole hive reeks43 with the odours given off from the evaporating nectar. The raw material, as gathered from the flowers, must be reduced by the heat of the hive and other agencies to about one-quarter of its original bulk before it is changed into mature honey. The artificial food given to the bees will, of course, have none of this scent44, and the old honey-stores in the hive are hermetically sealed under their waxen cappings. To complete the deception45 which has been so elaborately contrived46, the bee-master must furnish his hives with a new atmosphere. This he does by slicing off the cappings from some of the old store-combs, thus letting out their imprisoned47 fragrance48, and filling the hive at once with the very essence of the clover-fields where the bees worked in the bygone summer days. The smell of the honey at this time, combined with the regular and increasing supply of syrup, acts like a powerful stimulant49 on the whole stock, and the work of brood-raising goes rapidly forward.
In intensive culture of all kinds there are risks to be run peculiar50 to the artificial state of things engendered51, and modern bee-breeding is no exception to the rule. When once this fictile prosperity is installed by the bee-master, no lapse52 or variation in the due amount of food must occur. Even a single day’s remission of supplies may undo53 all that a month’s careful manipulation has brought about. English bees understand their native climate only too well, and the bitter experience of former years has taught them to be prepared for a return of hard weather at any moment. Under natural conditions, if a few weeks’ warmth has induced them to raise population, and a sudden return of cold ensues, the bees will take very prompt and stern measures to meet the threatening calamity54 of starvation. The queen will cease laying at once; all unhatched brood will be ruthlessly torn from its cradle-cells and destroyed; old, useless bees will be expelled from the colony. And this is exactly what will happen if the artificial food-supply is allowed to fail even for the shortest period.
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1
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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2
dearth
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| n.缺乏，粮食不足，饥谨 | |
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3
cowering
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的现在分词 ) | |
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4
lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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5
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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7
ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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8
prosper
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| v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣 | |
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9
hoard
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| n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积 | |
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10
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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11
populous
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| adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的 | |
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12
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
onerous
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| adj.繁重的 | |
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exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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obviated
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| v.避免，消除（贫困、不方便等）( obviate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
citadel
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| n.城堡；堡垒；避难所 | |
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congestion
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| n.阻塞，消化不良 | |
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18
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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19
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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23
apiarist
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| n. 养蜂家 | |
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craftsman
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| n.技工，精于一门工艺的匠人 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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fluffy
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| adj.有绒毛的，空洞的 | |
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throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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28
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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29
benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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30
pollen
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| n.[植]花粉 | |
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31
syrup
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| n.糖浆，糖水 | |
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32
consistency
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| n.一贯性，前后一致，稳定性；(液体的)浓度 | |
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33
replenish
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| vt.补充；(把…)装满；(再)填满 | |
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34
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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35
larder
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| n.食物贮藏室，食品橱 | |
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36
scantily
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| adv.缺乏地；不充足地；吝啬地；狭窄地 | |
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37
augment
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| vt.(使)增大，增加，增长，扩张 | |
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38
adroitly
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| adv.熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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39
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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40
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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41
hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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42
stimulation
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| n.刺激，激励，鼓舞 | |
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43
reeks
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| n.恶臭( reek的名词复数 )v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的第三人称单数 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
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44
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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45
deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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46
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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47
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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49
stimulant
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| n.刺激物，兴奋剂 | |
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50
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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51
engendered
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| v.产生（某形势或状况），造成，引起( engender的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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53
undo
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| vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销 | |
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54
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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