1734 - On Experimental Hives: from Réaumur's Memoires pour servir a l'histoire des insectes - Plates 21, 22, 23, 24 with Translation

I love Réaumur's work. And the plates!...Wonderful!   

This post is the part of the text that specifically describes the illustrations on Plates 21, 22, 23, and 24 which refer to honeybee hives, both traditional and observation hives.  

Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des insectes ... V5. 

Réaumur, René-Antoine Ferchault de, 1683-1757.

(Just the bits referring to honeybees.)

I have translated and used the illustrations appropriate to the text, positioning the particular part of a larger illustration near the text it illustrates.  The entire plate is also included.  In the original book you would have been flipping back and forth all the time to see what the text was referring to.

I could not find a translation, (although that sounds implausible).   I used Google Translate, common sense and an ancient memory of French class to make sense of the plate descriptions, so don't quote me unless  accuracy is not important.  

EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES OF THE FIFTH VOLUME:

P L A N C H E  X X I.

The first figure is that of a hive in a basket.

Figures 2, 3, and 4 also represent hangers in the form of a hive, but they are reversed, so that the interior of them may be seen in the arrangement of the rays or wax cakes which the bees have built there. 
These hives were drawn on a larger scale than that of the hive of FIG. 1, in order to preserve to the cakes a scale which renders them more sensible.

On the outer surface of the last three hives there is no evidence of the crowns of the wooden strands of which they are made, as seen in fig. 1, because the strands of wood are hidden under a plaster, either of plaster, or of cow-dung mixed with earth, etc.

In Figure 2, all the cakes, three of which are marked g g, r r, g g, are parallel to one another; And it is the disposition which is most common to them.

Figure 3, shows a hive whose cakes from the first to the last cake are parallel to one another. The other cakes, of which three are marked, are not in the same manner as the preceding ones, and are not even parallels among them.

Figure 4 shows cakes still otherwise disposed than in previous hives. The cake c c and those following it, including the cake g g, are parallel to each other, but then there is a cake h p, which 
(following  from Page 276) one half of which is parallel to the preceding cakes, and the other half perpendicular to them.
The cakes i, i, i, & c. are also perpendicular to the former. 

Figure 5 shows a group of bees, the top of which are attached to a stick, and of which the following are attached to each other by their legs. There are some groups of bees of considerable size.

P L A N C H E  X X I I.

 

Figure 1 is that of an ordinary bee.



                   Figure 2 shows a bee-buck, a drone.









Figure 3 shows bees such as those of FIG. 1, arranged in daisy-chain fashion; each of these flies, except the first two, is hooked by the legs to the legs of the one preceding it.

Figure 4 shows, in its natural size, that a mother bee was one of the largest, and of the largest, I have seen, for there are smaller ones.

Figure 5 shows a hive made in square tower. In it are the holes which allow the bees to enter and exit, two of the wooden shutters which may open, and below each of which is a glass pane.

A wooden chassis resting on its upper part of the tower, and bearing the capital d. 
The capital d d, is only placed on the chassis e, and the chassis e, is only placed on the hive. Thus, the parts d d, e e can be removed.
When removed, a lantern of glass is uncovered, the figure of which is similar to that formed by the parts ee, dd.

(below from Page 277)
Figure 6 shows a pyramidal & flattened hive,

On one of its broad sides, u, c, f, e, e, five flaps, above which are chassis, each of which is glazed with a glass pane.

f, one of the doors that is open, with honeybees seen through the glass pane. 

g, wax cake.

b, button which can be removed from place, and which plugs a hole which is at the top of the hive. 

a i k a,  i l l k,  l m n l, three parts placed one on top of the other can be separated from each other.

p, p, base of the Hive, which has slides which receive the lower edges of the parts of which part l m n l is composed. 

It is clear, when one wants, this part of the base p p, is the place where the holes which serve as doors to bees are, and which did not appear in this view of the hive.


P L A N C H E   X X I I I.

Figures 1 & 2 are those of a very small hive which I used to make several observations and several experiments on bees.

In Figure 1, the hive is visible, the tile of glass, which is raised here, it is easy to imagine that its edges are in the wings of the wooden posts, between which it is placed. 

b b, base of the hive in the small hive of Figure 2, there are a few bees who have already made a cup of wax g, attached to the top of the hive. 
The front tile is lowered. 

In this way, this square is cut, and leaves an opening which allows the bees to go out and enter. This opening is closed, when desired, with a small plate of iron.

This same tile has no cut-out, and it has none in Figure 1, then a door is given to the bees as long as the front of the hive is broad, to the top of the slide intended to receive the lower edge of the tile; 

When we wish to deprive the bees of the freedom to go out, all you have to do is remove the little stone, and lower the tile in the slide. 

B b, base of the hive.

M n, one of the four uprights, which are assembled with cross pieces, two of which are marked m t, t d.  The stick which is placed in the middle of the hive, is made of a stick
from a parrot cage, and gives an idea of ​​the composition of those that can be placed in large hives for help to support the cakes full of honey. 

On the background of the hive, is a fly, larger than the others, towards which several others have their heads turned, it is a mother.

Figure 3 is that of an (?), which I used to cover the previous hive, and on which it may be secured by means of cords c, c, c, & c. The top of this especially is tick, & it has a lining of a thick flannel. The lining appears in d.

FIG. 4, represents a large extremely flat hive. B b, on which the base of the hive is stopped by the screws u, u. In p, are the holes through which the flies can enter and exit. The top has a larger hole in its center, which serves when the flies are to be passed through a compact, and to various other experiments.

The glass panes of this hive are now uncovered, the wooden shutter has been removed, which hides them in ordinary times. R, r, turnstiles which serve to stop by the flap, the lower edge of this same flap, lodges in a slide c c.

Only a few wax cakes have been placed in this hive. T, t, t, wood rods, which use is to give support to the cakes.

FIG. 5, shows the shutter which serves to cover the glass panes of the preceding hive, and in fact to see the internal face, that is to say, that which is applied to the tiles.


This face of the shutter is covered with flannel; which has been done in the view of preserving the heat in the hive, which, being thin, is more exposed to the impressions of cold air than are the ordinary hives. The other side of this shutter is wood.

P L A N C H E   X X IV.

Three different kinds of glazed hives are represented in this board.

Figures 1 and 2 are those of the same hive, which is pyramidal and flat, and which shows one of its great faces. 

In FIG. 1, the glass tiles are hidden by the flap c, c, c, c, four turnstiles which serve to stop the flap,  f,  handle which gives the ease of pulling it from the place, and of putting it back.

In FIG. 2, the flap of  FIG. 1 is removed; the glass panes then allow you to see the part of the hive which is filled with wax cakes g, g, on which are some flies.

In the lower part is the biggest, a,  has flies at rest.

 - p, p, base of the hive.

 - t, holes through which flies can come out and enter.

FIG. 3 shows a pyramidal hive thicker than that of FIGS. 1 and 2, consisting of three parts a e, e f, ft, which can be separated from each other, and from the base p, p.

It has four flaps u, x, & y, y.

Such a beehive may be reduced, if it be desired, to the parts f, e only, & e, a, and then it is of a medium size. One can take only the part a, e, which alone forms a very small hive.

 The cross, which appears through the glass pane when the shutter opens helps support the wax cakes.  The parts a and f must each have their cross, and even a cross of more arms than the one shown.

FIG. 4 is that of the button b which terminates the hive in FIG. 3.
In b is the bolt which freely enters the hole which is pierced in the top of the hive.

Figure 5 shows separately the upper part a e of the hive of Figure 3; but instead of the button, which rises above FIG. 3, a jar is placed on that of FIG. 5.

The bees are not long in entering such a compact by the superior opening of the hive which provides a convenient way of providing oneself with those needed for experiments.

Figure 6 shows a glazed hive, the upper part of which is composed of four equal boxes, which are of little height, placed one on top of the other.

c, d, e,f, g h, l,k, the four boxes which can be separated from one another.

a, the lid of the hive, which is readily removed from the place, and under which is a glass pane. 

i, k, flap of the box 

l k, which is open: then the glass pane allows us to see the cakes which are in the hive, and the flies which are on these cakes.

The flaps of the other boxes are closed, and can be opened as the flap i, k.

The face of each hive opposite to that in sight has a shutter like that which appears on it.

m m n, o o t, two parts of the beehive which are conical, and which serve as the basis for the assembly of the boxes.

 p p, on which the hive is placed. Which, with a similar one on the other side, serves to contain the four boxes, and to fix them with the part m  n.

m, m, o, o, four flaps.

1897 - Influential Beekeeper and Nice Lady - Mrs. J. N. Heater, of Columbus. Nebraska

(This is an interesting book.)

Successful Beekeeper,

Mrs. J. N. Heater

(1893 article)

The subject of this sketch was born in Defiance Co., Ohio, of Scotch, Irish, Dutch, and English parentage. Bees have been kept by her ancestry for many generations.

Mrs. Heater's maiden name was Anna E. Case. She moved with her parents from their Ohio home to Niles, Mich. After several years spent on a farm near the latter place the family moved to South Bend, Indiana. 

Her life up to this time was passed much as is the life of any farmer's child, until she entered the high school in Mishawaka, Ind., and where she finished her career of instruction three years later.   She now took up the rod and cudgel and assumed control in the school room in one of the city schools of Mishawaka. Her health failing she was obliged to resign and return to her home at South Bend, where, after regaining health she entered her father's store as bookkeeper. Preferring the school-room however she soon found herself again engaged in this work and taught several very successful schools in St. Joseph Co. Ind.

In 1876 she joined her parents in St. Edwards, Neb. where they had previously moved. Here she continued her chosen pursuit of school work for one year, when she was married Sept. 18th, 1877, to J. N. Heater.  This worthy personage was, and still is a member of the grip sack fraternity, managing the the business of an eastern manufacturing establishment in the southwestern states, and his entire time is spent on the road.

 To one of so much ambition and former activity, the fact of merely living, soon become extremely monotonous. Having always been much interested in the study of the honey bee, in 1881 she purchased seven colonies and made a practical study of them. 

The next spring 14 nuclei colonies were added and success attended the venture from the very first. For the last, ten years her Eureka apiary has numbered from 100 to 150 colonies of care fully bred Italian bees. 

Several years ago implements and supplies were added to the venture and now this lady owns and conducts one of the most complete supply houses in connection with her splendidly equipped apiary to be found in the west. 

 She personally superintends every branch of the business; issues an annual catalogue and price list, and ships bees, queens, honey and supplies to all parts of the west.

She is an active member of the Neb. Beekeepers' Association, and has many times been honored by this society and she is now an officer of the association.

It is believed that Mrs.Heater has an age which is supposed to be somewhere between 25 and 50. The picture is a late one and hardly does her justice.  (Isn't that an odd comment on her age!!?)

Mr. and Mrs. Heater's home and apiary are located about live blocks from the Union Pacific depot at Columbus, Neb., and her apiary is always open to visitors, and especially to all bee-keepers.

We expect Mrs. H. will be one of the exhibitors at the state fair, and every beekeeper should get acquainted with her. As a writer, she is well versed, and one article prepared by her at our last state convention, was copied by papers in several of the states.

Above from the Nebraska Bee-keeper, August 1893

_____________________________

1895 issue

Last week we gave but a simple announcement of the sudden and unexpected death of one of our best loved of women bee-keepers—Mrs. J. N. Heater, of Columbus, Nebr.

 This week it is with a sad heart that we record some of the particulars concerning her departure, and somewhat of her devoted life and labors. Permit us to say that for much of our information we are indebted to the enterprising newspapers published where Mrs. Heater lived and labored.

About three months ago Mrs. Heater left her home to go to Kansas City, Mo., to spend the winter. She was apparently in the best of health, and when on Saturday, March 13 a dispatch was received that she had past away at 4 o'clock that morning, it created a great shock in the community where she was so well known and beloved by all.

The funeral services were held at the family residence, Tuesday. March 16, the Rev. A. L. Mickel, of the Methodist church officiating, with hundreds of friends of the deceased present to pay their respects and extend condolence to the bereaved husband.

The particulars of the death are very sad.  An operation had been performed on Mrs. Heater for some ailment, and was considered successful. but the administration of the necessary anaesthetic had a bad effect on the patient's system, and she was taken down and continued to sink until the end.      

On Friday night, Mrs. Heater could not sleep, and towards morning. Mr. Heater, who was at her bedside, said to his wife: "Shall I sing to you? Perhaps it will put you to sleep.”  The suffering one nodded assent, and Mr. Heater softly sang a favorite song, and she seemed to drop into a gentle sleep, but, alas, the watching husband soon found to his sorrow it was the sleep of Death.

Mrs. Heater was born in Defiance county, Ohio, March 5, 1856. Her maiden name was Annie E. Case. She came to Nebraska in 1875 with her parents and settled in St.Edward, Boone county. She was married to Mr. Heater September 6, 1876. and in July, 1878, they took up their residence in Columbus.

Mrs. Heater was a woman of amiable disposition, warm hearted and of generous sympathies. She was kind hearted, a good neighbor, a loving wife, and merited the good will of all with whom she was acquainted.

Before her marriage, Mrs. Heater taught school in Indiana and Nebraska. About 15 years ago she embarked in the bee-business as a source of employment in the absence of her husband, whose business called him away from home most of the time. For many years she was the leading exhibitor of bees and honey at the State fair. She was one of the distinguished bee-keepers of Nebraska‘s bee and honey display at the World's Fair. She enjoyed the distinction of being the “Bee-Queen of Nebraska."  

In bee-literature Mrs. Heater was known far and wide. She was on the “Question-Box” staff of the American Bee Journal for a number of years, and many of her contributions on bee-culture have been published and widely circulated.

In this sad hour, Mr. Heater has the tender sympathy of a host of friends who well know the loss he has sustained.

It was our good fortune to meet Mr. and Mrs. Heater at the World's Fair convention, in 1893.  Both Mrs. York and the writer were wonderfully drawn toward them, as we felt that in them we had found two true and noble persons.

At the Lincoln convention, last October, we again had a very pleasant meeting with both Mr. and Mrs. Heater. We distinctly remember walking from the hotel to the convention hall with Mrs. Heater, one morning, her husband having some business to attend to that forenoon. Mrs. Heater was so cheerful, so hopeful. and talked on about her prosperous bee and supply business, her property interests, her home, church work, and busy life in general.

Her paper on “ The Past and Future of Bee-Culture," read at that meeting, was a bright gem. It will be found in full in the published report.

But Mrs. Heater is gone. No more will her sweet voice and Winsome ways bless our conventions, or her intelligent pen grace the pages of our literature.

____________

Want to know the names of the other folks in the group above?

1887 - Mignonette: #9 of Root's Bee Plants (with a charming history)

Reseda odorata

Mignonette, besides being a bee plant, has a fascinating history that includes a love story, chasing away headaches, and perfuming stinky neighborhoods.

As a beekeeper in Connecticut I am interested to see mignonette, while not a native, has naturalized.  Reseda odorata, Sweet Mignonette, is the escapee here, but one that has been long grown in gardens.  

A.I. Root comments it might not pay to grow it for pasturage for bees, but they do like it and it often blooms into October which honeybees appreciate.  He also mentions it is not sensitive to frost.

I was looking around for a source of seeds and found it first at The Shop: Monticello.

They comment:

"Mignonette was introduced to ornamental gardens in Europe about 1725, and because of its sweet fragrance both as a garden plant and as a cut flower, its popularity grew steadily on both sides of the Atlantic through the 19th century.  

Thomas Jefferson recorded sowing seeds for this annual at Monticello in 1811. The tiny, pale green and white flowers emit a fresh, fruity scent in summer and are attractive to bees and butterflies."

The photo below is from their seed. 

The Vermont Wildflower Farm catalog adds a great suggestion, saying that grown in a pot for a sunny windowsill mignonette is a  delight.  What a nice scent to come home to on a sunny porch!

However, getting focused on what people thought of it back in the 19th century I found a wonderful article from The Floricultural Cabinet of Joseph Harrison, a "Florist's Magazine" from 1849.

Step, E., Bois, D., Favourite flowers of garden and greenhouse

MIGNONETTE.—RESEDA ODORATA.

It is only one age since this fragrant weed of Egypt first perfumed the European gardens, yet it has so far naturalized itself to our climate as to spring from seeds of its own scattering, and thus' convey its delightful odour from the parterre of the prince to the most humble garden of the cottager.

In less than another age we predict (without the aid of Egyptian art) that the children of our peasants will gather this luxurious little plant amongst the wild flowers of our hedge-rows.

The Reseda Odorata first found its way to the south of France, where it was welcomed by the name of Mignonette, Little-darling, which was found too appropriate for this sweet little flower to be exchanged for any other. 

By a manuscript note in the library of the late Sir Joseph Banks, it appears that the seed of

the Mignonette was sent in 1742, by Lord Bateman, from the Royal Garden at Paris, to Mr. Richard Bateman, at Old Windsor; but we should presume that this seed was not dispersed, and perhaps not cultivated beyond Mr. Bateman's garden, as we find that Mr. Miller received the seed from Dr. Adrian van Royen, of Leyden, and cultivated it in the Botanic Garden at Chelsea, in the year 1752. 

From Chelsea it soon got into the gardens of the London florists, so as to enable them to supply the metropolis with plants to furnish out the balconies, which is noticed by Cowper, who attained the age of twenty-one in the year that this flower first perfumed the British atmosphere by its fragrance. The author of the Task soon afterwards celebrates it as a favourite plant in London—

"the sashes fronted with a range, Of orange, myrtle, or the fragrant weed."

The odour which this little flower exhales is thought by some, whose olfactories are delicate, to be too powerful for the house, but even those persons we presume must be delighted by the fragrance which it throws from the balconies into the streets of London, giving something like a breath of garden air to the " close-pent man," whose avocations will not permit a ramble beyond the squares of the fashionable part of the town. 

To such it must be a luxurious treat to catch a few ambrosial gales on a summer's evening from the heated pavement, where offensive odours are but too frequently met with, notwithstanding the good regulations for cleansing the streets and the natural cleanliness of the inhabitants in general. We have frequently found the perfume of the Mignonette so powerful in some of the better streets of London, that we have considered it sufficient to protect the inhabitants from those effluvia which bring disorders in the air. 

The perfume of Mignonette in the streets of our metropolis reminds us of the fragrance from the roasting of coffee in many parts of Paris, without which some of their streets of business in that city would scarcely be endurable in the rainy season of the year.

The Sweet Reseda or Mignonette is now said to grow naturally in some parts of Barbary, as well as in Egypt. Monsieur Desfontaiues observed it growing in the sands near Mascar in the former country, but it might have been accidentally scattered there, or have escaped from the gardens of the Moors.

This genus of plants, of which we have twelve species, was named Reseda by the ancients, from resedare to assuage, because some of the species were esteemed good for mitigating pains; and we learn from Pliny, that the Reseda was considered to possess even the power of charming away many disorders. He tells us, that it grew near the city of Ariminum, now Rimini in Italy, and that when it was used to resolve swellings, or to assuage inflammations, it was the custom to repeat the following words, thrice spitting on the ground at each repetition :—

"Reseda, cause these maladies to cease: knowest thou, knowest thou, who hath driven these pullets here? Let the roots have neither head nor foot."

We notice these absurd superstitions of the ancients, which are scarcely yet extinct in many country villages of this and other countries, to show how much the minds of the ignorant have always been prone towards the marvellous, and not that we "Hold each strange tale devoutly true."

Although it is so short a time since the Sweet Reseda has been known in Europe, we find that it has crept into the armorial bearings of an illustrious family of Saxony; and, as Cupid does not so frequently bestow honours of heraldry as his father Mars, we cannot avoid relating the romantic tale which introduced this fragrant and modest little flower to the Pursuivant-at-Arms.

The Romantic Story

The Count of Walsthim was the declared lover and intended spouse of Amelia de Nordbourg, a young lady possessing all the charms necessary for the heroine of a modern novel, excepting that she took delight in creating little jealousies in the breast of her destined husband. 

As the beautiful Amelia was an only child of a widowed mother, a female cousin, possessing but few personal charms, and still less fortune, had been brought up with her from infancy as a companion, and as a stimulus to her education. The amiable and humble Charlotte was too insignificant to attract much attention in the circles in which her gay cousin shone with so much splendour, which gave her frequent opportunities of dispensing a part of that instruction she had received to the more humble class of her own sex. 

(Warning: LONG sentence...)

Returning from one of these charitable visits, and entering the gay saloon of her aunt, where her entry or exit was now scarcely noticed, she found the party amused in selecting flowers, whilst the Count and the other beaux were to make verses on the choice of each of the ladies. Charlotte was desired to make her selection of a flower; the sprightly Amelia had taken a Rose; others a Carnation, a Lily, or the flowers most likely to call forth compliment; and the delicate idea of Charlotte in selecting the most humble flower, by placing a sprig of Mignonette in her bosom, would probably have passed unnoticed, had not the flirtation of her gay cousin with a dashing colonel, who was more celebrated for his conquests in the drawing-room than in the field of battle, attracted the notice of the Count, so as to make his uneasiness visible; upon which the amiable Charlotte, who, ever studious of Amelia's real happiness, wishing to amuse and to call back the mind of her cousin, demanded the verse for the Rose. 

The Count saw this affectionate trait in Charlotte's conduct, took out his pencil, and wrote for the Rose,

"Elle ne vit qu'un jour, et ne plait qu'un moment,"
"She only saw one day, and only enjoyed a moment,"

which he gave to the lovely daughter, at the same time presenting the humble cousin with this line on the Mignonette :—

"Ses qualites surpassent ses charmes."

Amelia's pride was roused, and she retaliated by her attention to the colonel and neglect of the Count, which she carried so far as to throw herself into the power of a profligate, who brought her to ruin. The Count transferred his affections from beauty to amiability; and rejoicing in the exchange, and to commemorate the event which had brought about his happiness, and delivered him from a coquette, he added a branch of the Sweet Reseda to the ancient arms of his family, with the motto,

"Your qualities surpass your charms."

The Mignonette is one of the plants whose unassuming little flowers never weary our sight; it is therefore made the image of those interesting persons whom time cannot change, and who, although deficient in dazzling beauty, attach us for life, when once they have succeeded in pleasing without its aid. 

—Flora Historica.

Flora Historica is a small book with a big name - 

Flora historica, or, The three seasons of the British parterre historically and botanically treated : with observations on planting, to secure a regular succession of flowers, from the commencement of spring to the end of autumn : to which are added, the most approved methods of cultivating bulbous and other plants, as practised by the most celebrated florists of England, Holland, and France

The above article on mignonette was taken, in part,  from Flora Historica by the Florist'd Magazine.