View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Digital Repository @ Iowa State University Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2009 Hive society: the popularization of science and beekeeping in the British Isles, 1609 -1913 Adam Wayne Ebert Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Ebert, Adam Wayne, "Hive society: the popularization of science and beekeeping in the British Isles, 1609 -1913" (2009). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 10587. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/10587 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Hive society: the popularization of science and beekeeping in the British Isles, 1609 –1913 by Adam W. Ebert A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Agricultural History and Rural Studies Program of Study Committee: James T. Andrews, Co-Major Professor Pamela Riney-Kehrberg, Co-Major Professor David Hollander Jeffrey Houghtby John Monroe Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2009 Copyright © Adam W. Ebert, 2009. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Beekeeping Terms ………………………………………………………… iii List of Footnote Abbreviations …………………………………………………… vi Acknowledgments ………………………………………………………………… vii Abstract …………………………………………………………………………… ix Introduction ……………………………………………………………………….. 1 Chapter 1 ………………………………………………………………………….. 21 Science and Reform in English Beekeeping, 1609-1809 Chapter 2 ………………………………………………………………………….. 51 The Union of Science, Reform, and Hive Innovation, 1792-1851 Chapter 3 ………………………………………………………………………….. 92 The Popularization of Scientific Beekeeping, c. 1800-1874 Chapter 4 ………………………………………………………………………….. 126 Public Initiative and Internal Division in the Central Society, 1874-1878 Chapter 5 ………………………………………………………………………….. 151 The Berkshire Beekeepers and Provincial Reform, 1888-1912 Chapter 6 ………………………………………………………………………….. 176 The Irish Road to Scientific Beekeeping, 1881-1913 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………… 211 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………. 222 iii List of Beekeeping Terms Apiarist a person that keeps bees for any purpose. Synonymous with “beekeeper.” Apiarian an eighteenth and nineteenth-century word synonymous with “apiarist” and “beekeeper.” Apiculture the culture of bees. Synonymous with “beekeeping.” Bee space a space measuring roughly one-quarter to one-half of an inch that allows bees sufficient space to work inside the hive. If internal spaces in the hive exceed “bee space,” they typically fill the void with excess comb. Smaller spaces often get filled with resinous bee glue. Brood immature bees in all stages of development including eggs, larvae, pupae, and fully-developed bees about to emerge from their cells. Honeybee brood lives inside the waxen cells that constitute a comb. Brood nest developing brood is usually localized in a continuous space somewhere near the center of the hive. This facilitates temperature regulation and feeding efficiency important for the development of healthy bees. The area of the hive dedicated to rearing new bees is collectively referred to as the “brood nest.” Most of the hive’s surplus honey is stored separately from the brood nest. Cell the hexagonal compartment that bees construct from wax to store honey and pollen. Female workers and male drones develop inside hexagonal cells, whereas queens mature inside a specialized cell that is rounded and hangs vertically in the hive. Collateral hive a type of hive made from boxes lined up horizontally. They did not contain frames or moveable-combs. Colony a term that refers to an established population of bees, especially when housed in box hives rather than straw hives. Comb a comb is comprised of both sides of a continuous set of hexagonal cells. The combs hold the honey and pollen stored in the hive. Honeybees also raise their young inside the cells that constitute the comb. In moveable-frame hives, a wooden frame surrounds each comb. Common hive see “cottage hive” iv Cottage hive the traditional hive used widely in Britain after Roman conquest until the late-nineteenth century. It was usually made of rye straw and stood in a bell-shape. Sizes varied, but many were about nine inches high and twelve inches wide. Deprivation a method of taking honey out of cottage hives without killing the bees. The beekeeper lifted the straw hive from the base and cut out the honey with a long knife. Driving a manipulation that transferred a hive of bees from one hive into a second hive. The beekeeper drummed the side of the hive until the bees ran into a second hive positioned over the first. Drones male bees. Drones develop from unfertilized eggs (haploid genotype). Frame Technically the wooden (or plastic) perimeter that surrounds the combs in moveable-frame systems. More commonly, the term “frame” includes the wooden perimeter and the comb it contains. Hive has two meanings. First, “hive” can refer to the physical structure where a population of bees lives. Second, “hive” can refer to the population of bees themselves—it can be a shortened way of saying “a hive of bees.” Honey extractor the device used to harvest liquid honey in the moveable-frame system. It amounted to a spinning metal cage inside a metal drum. The metal cage held the frames, and as they spun the honey flew out through the holes in the cage onto the side of the drum. The honey slid down the walls of the drum and exited through an outlet at the base. Honeyslinger a nineteenth-century term for the honey extractor. (see honey extractor). Nurse bees female worker bees responsible for feeding the brood and caring for the queen. These are young bees that graduate to other tasks later in life. Propolis the resinous bee glue used to stick together surfaces and cover foreign objects inside the hive. It possesses antiseptic properties. Royal jelly the specialized food continuously fed to queens throughout their lives. All young larvae receive royal jelly for a limited time in their development, but the continued supply to queens allows their reproductive organs to develop and function fully. v Skep see “cottage hive” Spleet the sticks thrust threw the cottage hive before the bees filled a straw hive with combs. The sticks gave added support to the combs since the bees built around them. Stock a term that usually referred to a hive of bees that survived the previous winter. Sometimes, however, beekeepers counted all their hives as “stocks” even if they were new swarms. Suffocation the traditional method of harvesting honey in most of the British Isles. Beekeepers put their cottage hives over a shallow pit that contained burning brimstone. The sulfurous fumes killed the bees and permitted a safe means of harvesting the honey. Swarm when a portion of bees and the reigning queen abandon their hive in order to reestablish in a new location. The remainder of the bees and a virgin queen remain to continue the hive in the original location. Swarming impulse honeybees’ biological response to crowded populations at certain times of the year, especially in the spring and early summer. The bees begin to raise new queens so the old queen can depart with a portion of the bees. Swarming method a style of beekeeping that depends on natural swarms for hive propagation and replacement. Beekeepers watch for swarms to depart their original hive, and then catch them to populate any additional or unoccupied hives. The swarming method was used in connection with the traditional cottage hive. Workers the female bees that perform all tasks in the hive except for egg-laying. Worker bees have the same genotype as queen bees but undergo a different developmental regime as larvae. vi List of Footnote Abbreviations BBKA: British Beekeepers’ Association BBJ: British Bee Journal FIBKAL: Federation of Irish Beekeepers’ Associations Library IBJ: Irish Bee Journal IBKA: Irish Beekeepers’ Association IBRA: International Bee Research Association MCBBKA: Minutes of the Committee of the British Beekeepers’ Association MCIBKA: Minutes of the Committee of the Irish Beekeepers’ Association MCIBKF: Minutes of the Committee of the Irish Beekeepers’ Federation MERL: Museum of English Rural Life MGBBKA: Minutes of the General British Beekeepers’ Association MGIBKA: Minutes of the General Irish Beekeepers’ Association TWAS: Transactions of the Western Apiarian Society vii Acknowledgements This work began to take shape three and a half years ago. Aware of my personal background in commercial beekeeping, fellow graduate students in the department of history at Iowa State University encouraged me to investigate the beekeeping resources in our library. Doubtful of discovering a historically engaging project, I reluctantly followed their advice as I completed a master of arts in history. I soon discovered that Iowa State University boasts one of the strongest apicultural collections in the nation. Many of the materials concerned my area of expertise—the British Isles. To my surprise, those sources contained a fascinating and complex story that dashed my assumptions about