Roman Beekeeping: Part 6

Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.

A position must be chosen for the bees facing the sun at midday in winter, far from the noise and the assemblage of men and beasts and neither hot nor cold, for bees are troubled by both these conditions. 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 also, when they have collected what they require, they may fly with their burden on a down-hill course without any difficulty.

If the situation of the farm permits, we ought not to hesitate to join the apiary to a building and surround it with a wall, but it must be on the side of the house which is free from the foul odours which come from the latrines, the dunghill and the bathroom. If, however, this position has drawbacks, but yet the worst disadvantages are not all present, even under these conditions it will be more expedient for the apiary to be under the master's eye. If, however, everything is unfavourable, at all events a valley should be pitched upon close at hand, so that the owner may be able to go down rather often and visit it without grave inconvenience; for in bee-keeping perfect honesty is necessary, and since this is very rare, it is better secured by the intervention of the master. Not only is an overseer who is fraudulent abhorrent to the business but also one whose laziness causes filthy conditions; for beekeeping revolts alike against a lack of cleanliness and against fraudulent management.

Wherever the hives are placed, they should not be enclosed within very high walls. If, through fear of robbers, a rather lofty wall is thought desirable, passages through it should be made for the bees in the form of a row of little windows three feet above the ground, and there should be an adjoining cottage in which the keepers may live and the apparatus may be stored. The store-house should be chiefly occupied by hives ready for the use of new swarms and also by health-giving herbs and any other remedies which may be applied to bees when they are sick.

And let a palm or vast wild-olive tree

O'ershade the porch, that when new kings lead forth

The infant swarms and the young bees make sport

In their own spring, from honey-combs set free;

Then let the neighbouring bank invite retreat

From mid-day heat, and let the sheltering tree

Hold them in leafy hospitality.

Next let ever-flowing water, if it is available, be introduced or drawn by hand and provided, without which neither combs nor honey nor even young bees can be formed. Whether, therefore, as I have said, it be running water which has been conveyed in channels or well-water, it should contain heaps of sticks and stones for the use of the bees,

That upon frequent bridges they may rest

And spread their wings to catch the summer sun,

If swift east winds have caught them loitering

And rained on them or plunged them in the deep.

Next, round the whole apiary, little trees of small growth ought to be planted and in particular shrub-trefoils on account of their health-giving properties (for they are a remedy for bees when they are listless); also wild cinnamon and pines and rosemary, and clumps of marjoram and thyme and violets and whatever else the nature of the ground allows to be profitably planted. Not only growing things but also anything whatsoever which has a disagreeable and noisome odour should be kept away from the apiary, such as the smell of a crab when it is burnt on the fire or the odour of mud taken from a marsh. Likewise let hollow rocks and shrill noises produced by valleys, which the Greeks call echoes, be avoided.

Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, On Agriculture, trans. E. S. Forster and Edward H. Heffner, vol. 2 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954), 439-443.

Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (4-70 CE)

Historic Beekeeping

A collection of historic documents about bees and beekeeping.

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