Roman Beekeeping: Part 16
"Presently, when spring is over, as I have said, the harvesting of the honey follows, with a view to which the whole year's work is carried out."
From: 4 C.E. To: 70 C.E.
Location: Carsoli, L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy
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 It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
Presently, when spring is over, as I have said, the harvesting of the honey follows, with a view to which the whole year's work is carried out. We conclude that the honey is ripe when we notice that the drones are being expelled and put to flight by the bees. They are insects of a larger growth, very like bees, but as Vergil a says "a lazy herd" and idle, sitting near the honey-combs without doing any work; for they do not collect food but consume that which is brought in by others. Nevertheless 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 poet says, "they are kept away from the fold." Some people recommend that they should be entirely exterminated; but I agree with Mago that this should not be done, but that a limit ought to be set to cruelty. For the race ought not to be wholly destroyed, lest the bees suffer from idleness, since, when the drones consume part of their provisions, they become more active in repairing their losses; but, on the other hand, a crowd of robbers ought not to be allowed to form a band, lest they plunder all the wealth of others. Therefore, when you see bees and drones frequently quarrelling with one another, you will open and inspect the hives, so that, if the honey-combs are half-full, they may be let alone for a time, but, if they are already full of liquid and sealed up with wax, just as if they had lids over them, the harvest of honey may be gathered in.
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 midday heat. Two iron instruments are required for this operation, measuring a foot and a half or a little more, one of which should 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, and that with the former they be scraped off and any filth which has fallen upon them may be cleaned away. When the hive has been opened from the back, where there is no porch,' we shall apply smoke made from galbanum or from dried dung ; moreover, these ingredients are mixed with live coals and put into an earthenware vessel. This vessel has handles and is shaped like a narrow pot in such a way that one end of it is sharper through which the smoke may issue through a small aperture, while the other end is broader and has a rather wider mouth, so that the coals can be blown upon through it. 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. When there is an opportunity of inspecting the hives more freely, usually, if there are two swarms, two kinds of honey-combs are also found; for even if they live in harmony together, each community keeps to its own manner of shaping and constructing its waxen cells. All the combs, however, always hang down from the roofs of the hives, adhering very little to the sides and in such a way as not to touch the bottom, thus leaving a passage for the swarms. But the shape of the wax cells depends on the nature of the bee-house; for square and round and also long dimensions impose their own shapes upon the honey- combs as if they were moulds, and that is why the honey-combs are not always found to be of the same shape. But of whatever kind they are, they should not all be removed ; for at the first harvesting of honey, when the country still provides plenty of food, one-fifth of the honey-combs must be left; at the later harvesting, when the winter is already causing apprehension, a third part should be left. This, however, is not a fixed rule for all districts, since plans for the bees must be dependent on the abundance of flowers and the richness of the food available.
If the hanging waxen cells run into length, the combs must be cut with the iron tool which resembles a knife and must be received by putting your two arms underneath them, and so removed; but if they run horizontally and keep close to the roofs of the hives, then you must use the scraping instrument, so that they may be cut down by the pressure exerted on the side which faces you. But old and defective honey-combs ought to be removed, and those which are soundest and full of honey should be left, as also those which contain young bees, so that they may be preserved for propagating a swarm.
Next the whole store of honey-combs must be collected in the place where you intend to make the honey, and the holes in the walls and windows must be carefully daubed over, so that there may be no passage for the bees which obstinately search as if they were looking for lost wealth, and, if they track down the honey, eat it up. Smoke must, therefore, also be kindled of the same materials as before at the entrance of the place to drive away those that are trying to get in. Then those hives from which the honey has been cut out, if they have combs lying across the entrance, will have to be turned round, so that the hinder parts in their turn become entrances ; for in this way, the next time the honey is taken, the old combs rather than the new will be removed, and the waxen cells, which deteriorate as they grow older, will be renewed. But if the hives happen to be surrounded by walls and cannot be moved, we must take care that the combs are cut out, sometimes from the back and sometimes from the front. This process will have to be carried out before the fifth hour of the day and then repeated after the ninth hour or else next morning.
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 wicker work 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 flavour and corrupt the honey with their juice. Then, when the honey has been strained and has flowed down into the basin put underneath to catch it, it is transferred to earthenware vessels which are left open for a few days until the fresh produce ceases to ferment; and it must be frequently skimmed with a ladle. Next 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 by the more careful people, lest any of the honey of the best flavour should deteriorate by having this brought into contact with it.
Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, On Agriculture, trans. E. S. Forster and Edward H. Heffner, vol. 2 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1954), 495-503.
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