Roman Beekeeping: Part 9

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 It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.

We have now said enough about the choice of feeding-grounds, dwelling-places and their sites. These having been provided, the next things that we require are swarms of bees, these come to us either by purchase or without being paid for. Those which we are going to buy we shall test with particular care by means of the points already mentioned, and we must consider how numerous they are before we purchase them, by opening the hives; or if there are no facilities for inspecting them, we shall at any rate take note of what we are allowed to see, namely, whether a goodly number of bees are standing in the entrance-porch and whether a loud noise is to be heard of bees buzzing inside. Also if it so happens that they are all silent and at peace within their dwelling-place, we shall be able to estimate their great or small number from the sudden noise on the part of the bees as a result of our applying our lips to the hole by which they enter and blowing into it.

But we must be particularly careful that the swarms are brought from the neighbourhood rather than from distant regions, since they are usually irritated by a change of climate. But if this is impossible and 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 daytime, and liquids which they like must be poured into the hives, so that they may be fed while remaining shut up.

Then when they have arrived at their destination, if daylight has come on, the hive must be neither opened nor placed in position until evening comes, so that the bees may go forth quietly in the morning after a whole night’s rest, and we shall need to watch care- fully for about three days to see whether they all sally forth in a body; for when they do this, they are meditating escape. We will presently prescribe what remedies we ought to apply to prevent this.

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 labour 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. Nevertheless, since sometimes, owing to local conditions, an indifferent set of bees has to be procured (though never on any account should a bad one be acquired), we shall exercise care in seeking out swarms by the following method.

Wherever there are suitable woodlands where honey can be gathered, there is nothing that the bees would sooner do than make choice of springs near at hand for their use. It is a good plan, therefore, usually to frequent these springs from the second hour onwards and watch how many bees come to them for water. For if only a few are flying about (unless there are several sources of water which attract them and cause them to be more widely dispersed) we must conclude that there is a scarcity of them, which will make us suspect that the place will not produce much honey.

But if they come and go in large numbers, they inspire greater hopes of our catching swarms of them; and the following is the method of finding thern. 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 neighbourhood; but if they are late in doing so, you will calculate the distance by the period of their delay. If you notice them returning quickly, you will have no difficulty in following the course of their flight and will be led to where the swarm has its home.

As regards those who apparently go farther away, a more ingenious plan will be adopted, as follows. 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-down 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. Then, when he can no longer sec the bee, he lets out another, and if it seeks the same quarter of the heavens he persists in following his former tracks. Otherwise he opens the hole and allows them to emerge one after another, and marks the direction in which most of them fly home, and pursues them until he is led to the lurking-place of the swarm.

If it is hidden in a cave, the swarm will be driven out with smoke, and when it has sallied forth, it is checked by the noise of brass being beaten; for, terrified by the sound, it will immediately settle on a shrub or on a higher kind of foliage, that of a tree, and is enclosed in a vessel prepared for the purpose by the man who has tracked down the bees. But if the swarm has its home in a hollow tree and either the branch which the bees occupy stands out from the tree or they are inside the trunk of the tree itself, then, if the small size of the branch or trunk allows, first the upper part, which is empty of bees, 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. Then, when it has been cut off at both ends, it is covered with a clean garment (for this too is very important), and if there are any gaping holes,they are daubed over, and it is carried to the place where the bees are kept, and, small holes being left in it, as I have said, it is put in position like the rest of the hives.

The searcher for swarms should choose the morning for his search, so that he may have the whole day to spy out the comings and goings of the bees. For often, if he is too late in beginning to observe them, when they have finished their usual tasks, they go home and do not return to the water, even though they are near at hand, with the result that the man who is searching for them does not know how far away the swarm is from the fountain. There are some people who during the early spring collect wild parsley and, in the words of the great poet,

Bruised balm and wax-flower's lowly greenery,

and other similar herbs in which this kind of creatures takes delight, and rub the hives thoroughly with them, so that the scent and juice stick to them; then, after cleaning them, they sprinkle them with a little honey and place them here and there in the woods not far from the springs and, when they are full of swarms, they carry them back home. It is not, however, expedient to do this except in places where there is an abundance of bees, because it often happens that chance passers-by, finding the hives empty, carry them off with them, nor is the possession of one or two full of bees enough to compensate for the loss of several empty hives. But where bees are more plentiful, even if many hives are carried off, their loss is made up by the bees which are obtained. Such is the method of catching wild swarms of bees.

Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, On Agriculture, trans. E. S. Forster and Edward H. Heffner, vol. 2 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954), 451-459.

Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (4-70 CE)

Historic Beekeeping

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