A nice indication of the long-term connection with beekeeping on the Glen Tanar estate. The carved queen lies in the garden at the Ballroom on the estate. Bees have lived intermittently in the roof of the ballroom for many years, but the latest colony failed to survive the 2015/16 winter. It will not be surprising if a swarm takes up residence again this season.
John Cooper
“O chestnut-tree, great rooted blossomer” WB Yeats
Although children must nowadays wear goggles, gloves and hard- hats to play conkers, your bees will throw caution to the wind as they make the most of the horse- chestnut, which will be flowering this month.
…..Robert Huish in his 1842 book, Bees: their natural history and general management,
….Arthur Dobbs Esq, in a letter published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, on 1 January 1753: “M. Reaumur has very justly observed, that, besides the three transparent smooth Eyes, which the Bee has placed in a Triangle betwixt the Antennae on the Top of its Head, the Bee has also on each Side of its Head an Eye, or rather a Multitude of Eyes, form’d by a Number of distinct Lens’s surrounded each with short Hairs, which are confirm’d to be Eyes, both from Swammerdam, and in his own Experiments to determine it; and that, when darkened by Paint laid over them, the Bees could not find their Way to their Hive, tho’ at a small Distance, but soar’d directly upwards; nor could they find their Way when the three smooth Eyes were darkened.
17th century Dutch beekeeper and all-round genius JAN SWAMMERDAM was responsible for a great leap forward in our understanding of honeybees. Using this early microscope he produced incredible drawings such as the one on the right, showing the complex structures that make up the bee’s mouthparts.
In the name of science, he had a go at eating some honeybee larvae. His verdict: raw – “very disagreeable”, tasting of “rusty bacon”; and boiled – “they have a somewhat more agreeable taste, but if one continues chewing them, the former taste prevails again.” (If any of our members are tempted to recreate this experiment, we would love to share the experience in a future newsletter.)
Swammerdam lived through a period known as the Dutch Golden Age, rubbing shoulders with the likes of the artist Rembrandt, the mathematician and astronomer Christiaan Huygens, and the philosopher Baruch de Spinoza.
If you are interested in finding out more about Swammerdam, go to janswammerdam.org from where these pictures were sourced.
……Edmund Southerne in his spectacularly titled 1593 book, A Treatise concerning the right use and ordering of Bees: Newlie made and set forth, according to the authors owne experience (which by any heretofore hath not been done): Continue reading “According to …”
… Tickner Edwards, discussing the ancient myth that honey bees emerged spontaneously from the rotting carcasses of dead oxen, in his 1908 book The Lore of the Honey Bee: Continue reading “According to …”
