Forsyth County Beekeepers Association of N.C.

Every chance you get plant for pollinators❤

June’s FCBA meeting day is being spent enjoying mead and fellowship at Wandering Sun Meadery in Madison. 🐝

Comment below with a picture of you and your bees, spread the sweetness and love of our favorite pollinators!! 🐝💛

Proverbs 16:24

https://www.ncbeekeepers.org/born-and-bred-queen-rearing-workshop?fbclid=IwAR2VJsOydIOFdzRfZjFf40G5_GtaZDV0MmFouF8HkjprdNBf1vtjqbLDeEU_aem_AZi1zm9_lHJY8gErk9qhDBqvRv1bSn4Zi1grax7WYGzc75f4He1wqRCzy6cFCYNK-OU

Born and Bred Queen Rearing Workshops – NCSBA Born and Bred Queen Rearing Workshops The NCSBA is proud to present Born & Bred 2024 in cooperation with the NCSU Apiculture Program and the NCDA&CS Apiary Inspection Service. There is no better way to expand your beekeeping hobby or business than to know how to produce your own honey bees and queen...

Getting excited about Spring? This is a great reference for plants that promote pollinators
🌸🌼🌿🌱🦋🐝

Promoting Pollinators and Native Plants Pollinators are critical for fruitful gardens, productive farms, and healthy ecosystems, but pollinator populations are in decline in many areas because of habitat loss. One of the most effective ways we can support pollinators is to provide habitat by planting the species they need to survive acros...

More photos from Saturday’s Bee School. Demo day was a hit. Thanks to the mentors for their demos! 🐝

Great questions from our Bee School students today. There’s a lot of info that students had to absorb in the past couple of weeks in their online studies. Today is another in-person question and answer session, as well as demos and a presentation about ‘A Year in the Apiary’.

FCBA Bee School (2nd in-person) class is underway. Great questions from attentive students. Yay for local beekeepers!! 🐝

Wow! Great turnout for first day of
2024’s Bee School. Mentors and students gathered for the kickoff. With a great team of Bee School volunteer instructors and coordinators, we hope to instill a worker bee’s tenacity into our mentors and mentees. 🐝

We have extended our registration deadline to January 19th. If you want to learn about beekeeping, here's your chance. You will also have the opportunity to take the NC State Beekeepers Association Certification test in April, if you wish. This is the first time we have offered an online combined with in-the-classroom (or bee yard) bee school! Come learn from Forsyth County Beekeepers Association members that are fascinated by the honey bee.

Bee School Buzz: Elevate Your Beekeeping Skills With Forsyth County Beekeepers Association Photo by Michelle Brock. The Forsyth County Beekeepers Association (FCBA) invites you to embark on a fascinating journey into the world of beekeeping with their upcoming 2024 Bee School. This program will equip you with the skills and knowledge needed to become a certified beekeeper through presenta...

Registration for Bee School 2024 is open!space is limited. Students will need to use a Google account for some class activities/learning. If you don’t already have one, you can create one for free.

Merry Christmas !
Gleanings in Bee Culture - December, 1965
Image not related to article..
Via. Historical Honeybee Articles - Beekeeping History

Christmas Folklore - Bees and Honey

In connection with these Christmas customs there are two curious observances among the more secluded dwellers of Shakespeare's greenwood, which, though they partake of the nature of superstitions, may very well be allowed a record here. They both occur on Christmas Eve, just upon the stroke of twelve (the witching hour), when the occupants of cot or farmstead, in the one instance, troop down the rustic garden to the beehives, " to hear the bees sing their Christmas carols." The belief is that these busy insects are as pleased at the birth of a new Christmas Day as the members of the human family, and testify their mirth by singing a set of new carols for the occasion. It is certainly a pretty and poetical custom which draws the peasants into the dim garden at midnight on Christmas Eve in the simple faith that the bees are singing Christmas in.

Source:
Shakespeare's Greenwood: The Customs of the Country
By George Morley 1900

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! ANNOUNCEMENT: FCBA’s 2024 Bee School begins in January. Registration opens midnight of December 15. It fills fast! We have seen it full within 24 hours. This is your heads up.

The Haunted History of Beekeeping.
Image: 1897 - Telling The Bees

Historical Honeybee Articles - Beekeeping History

In some localities in England, bees are invited to funeral’s, and a formal invitation is even sent to them. In Normandy bees are treated as a member of the family, and the dead person is always referred to as a relative of the bees. The death of any member of the family was announced to the bees, thus; your father, mother, brother, sister, uncle, and so on is dead. Among superstitions relating to sympathy between bees and their owner, is the belief that bees suffer great anguish over the loss of their master and the hives must therefore be put in mourning to pacify their sorrowing occupants; for unless this is done, the bees will either never afterwards prosper, die or abandon their hives. If their master died, his widow or nearest relative went out to tell the bees that their master was dead, and put the bees in mourning by draping a black cloth around the hives where they are kept in mourning for six months, during which time the bees are said not to hum. It has frequently been asserted, that bees sometimes take the loss of their master so much to heart, as to leave their hives, alighting upon the coffin whenever it is exposed to show affection to their loved one and to pay lasts respects.

London Review, 1837 and misc. sources.
Image: pg 14 1879 The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine Volume 18

On This Date in Beekeeping History - October 5, 1852

Lorenzo L. Langstroth received a patent on the first movable frame beehive with bee space in America.

Via: Historical Honeybee Articles - Beekeeping History

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

Lorenzo L. Langstroth, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

BEEHIVE

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 9,300,
October 5, 1852,; Reissued May 26, 1863, No. 1,484.

To all whom it may concern;
Be it known that I, Lorenzo L. Langstroth, of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Constructing Beehives; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Source:
http://www.google.com/patents/US9300

Beekeeper inventors took up the challenge of making a better foundation. The most common production style was to press a wax sheet between a pair of rollers embossed with hexagonal patterns. By 1876, A.I. Root had developed a roller mill. In his April 1st, 1879 catalog, he sold two versions of the mill. At the time, this technology was expensive. Roller mills in lengths of 12 inches (extra large frames), 9 inches (standard frames), and 5 inches (for comb honey) cost 100, 50, and 35 dollars, respectively. These early mills were discontinued when Root began manufacturing another mill originally designed by Charles Olm of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Over the years Root modified the Olm mill and mass-produced it in different sizes. He clearly dominated the short-lived foundation mill market in the 18880's and 1890s, outlasting the other small-scale competitors, advertising his mills into the early 1900s.

The Hive and the Honey Bee, pg.37

https://ncsucvmce.eventsair.com/hbvc-2023/registration/Site/Register

2023 HBVC Conference registration Thank you for registering for this year's HBVC Conference. You will receive a confirmation email shortly. If you have any questions please contact the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine Office of Continuing Education at [email protected].

Registration now open for all three BEES Academies for this fall. Seats are filling up fast!

https://www.ncsuapiculture.net/bees-academy-home

Each will include 2 days of live and recorded presentations on important honey bee topics and a half day of hands-on demonstrations and practice. They are aimed at beekeepers with a few years of experience who want to advance their knowledge and improve practices in their apiaries.

Lunch, drinks, and snacks will be provided as well as a manual, a t-shirt, and bound book of lecture notes for notetaking.

🐝📜🌎 The vibrant hum of honey bees (scientifically referred to as Apis mellifera) didn't originate within the landscapes of North America. Instead, their origins can be traced back to Europe, Africa, and Asia. Envision a remarkable journey spanning continents and cultures as these bees embark on a transcontinental odyssey to reach the shores of North America. Their story becomes interwoven with that of European settlers during the emergence of the colonial era. 🗺️🐝⚓

🐝📜🌍 During the 1600s, as European colonists cast their aspirations toward the Western horizon, they brought along a curious cargo – the honey bee – alongside their supplies and aspirations. Accompanying them were the promises of abundant honey and the versatile wealth of beeswax, both highly prized “treasures of the hive.” 🐝🍯🐝

🐝📜🌍 Unbeknown, this introduction held far more significance than a mere historical anecdote. The arrival of the honey bee triggered a sequence of transformations that resonated throughout the very essence of North American ecosystems. 🐝🌻🌎 As diligent pollinators, they forged fresh connections between the Old World and the New, forever modifying the intricate composition of native flora and fauna. 🌼🦌⛰️

"Day of the Midnight Sun"

circa. 1917 ~ How The Bees Saved America.
Happy Independence Day !
Like: Historical Honeybee Articles - Beekeeping History

Image: Charity throws a stick full force at her pursuers.

How The Bees Saved America

The brave patriots of the American Revolution were having a particularly hard time of it in the summer of 1780. General Washington and his ragged, half-starved soldiers were in camp just outside of Philadelphia, where it was certain that the enemy was getting ready to make an important move. Man after man had risked his life trying to get their secret, but so far no one had been able to give Washington the important news without which he dared not risk his small force in battle.

But the great Washington, himself, scarcely took the independence of the colonists more seriously to heart than did little Mistress Charity Crabtree. Despite her prim Quaker ways, no eyes could spark with greater fire at the mention of freedom than those that smiled so demurely above her white neckerchief and plain gray dress. Charity was a soldier daughter, and though his patriotism made her and her brother John orphans, when the boy also left to fight for his flag, Charity did not shed a tear, but handed him his sword and waved him Godspeed. Though she was all alone now and only twelve years old, the little maid kept a stout heart. "If I hold myself ready to serve my country, I know the time will come," she said, as she walked back from the gate through the fragrant lane, Honeycombed with beehives. "Meanwhile, I must keep my bees in good order."

Charity's father had been a bee farmer, and he kept all these hives at the entrance of his lane, so the bees could search the highway for wild flower sweets. One of his last acts was to send a beautiful comb of their honey to General Washington, whereupon the General had smacked his lips and said: "Those bees must be real patriots. They give the best that is in them to their country."

Charity stopped now to notice how well the bees were swarming. They seemed particularly active this morning, but she was not afraid of these little creatures who do not sting unless they are frightened or attacked. "I shall have a great many pots of honey to sell this fall," she thought. "It is good Providence who inspires the bees to help me keep our little white house all by myself, until brother John returns." Then suddenly the little Quaker maid turned pale. She stopped for a second with her hand to her ear, and then she ran quickly to the highway. These were terrible times, when, at any moment, bullets might whizz about like hailstones, and every good colonist lived tensely, in fear the little American army would be captured and their brave fight for independence lost forever.

It was a man in citizen's dress who galloped down the road. His hat was blown off and he pressed his left hand to his side. When he saw Charity he just was able to rein in his horse and, falling from his saddle, draw her close so she might catch the feeble words he muttered between groans. "You are Patriot Crabtree's daughter?" he murmured, and the girl nodded, as she raised his head on her arm. "I am shot, I am wounded," he gasped. "Leave me here, but fly on my horse yonder to General Washington's camp. Give him this message: 'Durwent says Cornwallis will attack Monday with large army.' Do not fail him!" cried the man. "Be off at once! The enemy is pursuing close."

Poor Charity had just time to repeat the message and assist the fainting man to a grassy place under the elm tree's shade, when the air thundered with a thudding of hoof beats, and before the terrified girl could gain her horse, a dozen soldiers leaped over the garden wall at the back of the house. "For my country!" the plucky maid cried, and leaped to the saddle. But even then she realized that if once the British saw her they could easily remount their own horses, evidently left on the other side of the wall, and so capture her and prevent her from reaching Washington. As it was they discovered the unconscious soldier, whom they quickly surrounded by a guard, then spied the fleeing girl and immediately gave chase. "Ho, there!" they cried. "Stop, girl, or by heaven well make you!" They crowded after her into the mouth of the lane, while Charity cast about hopelessly for some way of escape. Suddenly, with the entrance of the soldiers, the bees began to buzz with a cannon's roar, as if to say, "Here we are, Charity! Didn't Washington say we were patriots, too? Just give us a chance to defend our country!"

Like lightning, now, Charity bent from her saddle, and seizing a stout stick, she wheeled around to the outer side of the hedge that protected the hives like a low wall. Then, with a smart blow, she beat each hive until the bees clouded the air. Realizing from experience that bees always follow the thing that hits them rather than the person who directs it, she threw the stick full force at her pursuers.

As Charity galloped off at high speed she heard the shouts of fury from the soldiers, who fought madly against the bees. And, of course, the harder they fought, the harder they were stung. If they had been armed with swords the brave bees could not have kept the enemy more magnificently at bay.

While Charity was riding furiously miles away, down the pike, past the bridge, over the hill, right into Washington's camp, her would-be pursuers lay limply in the dust—their noses swollen like powder horns. When the little maid finally gained admission to Washington's tent, for to none other would she trust her secret, the great general stared at her gray dress torn to ribbons, her kerchief draggled with mud and her gold hair loosened by the wind. But Charity had no time for ceremony. "I have a message for thee, sir," she said, standing erect as a soldier beside the general's table. "I have ridden these many miles while a dozen of the enemy have been kept at bay so I might bear it." When she gave Washington the message he sprang from his seat and laid his fatherly hand upon her shoulder. "The little Quaker maid has saved us," he said, and his voice rang while he looked deep into her gray eyes, lighted with honest loyalty. "I brought the message only as I was directed, sir," she said. "It was my bees that saved their country."

You can imagine Washington's surprise and that of his officers who crowded in with warm praise for the girl, when Charity told them of the story of the patriotic bees.

Washington laughed. "It is well done, Little Miss Crabtree," he cried, warmly. "Neither you nor your bees shall be forgotten when our country is at peace again. It was the cackling geese that saved Rome, but the bees have saved America."

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Source:
American Bee Journal, September 1917 Page 307
https://archive.org/details/americanbeejourn5657hami/page/307/mode/1up

Charity and her bees image::
http://swensonhivesandhoneybees.blogspot.com/

"Tammy Horn, senior researcher apiculturist at Eastern Kentucky University and the author of Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation, originally unearthed the story from a 1917 issue of American Bee Journal, but scholars haven't yet been able to verify whether or not the event actually took place. Even if it is just a tall tale, it's certainly a remarkable one."
(Plan Bee: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about the Hardest-Working ...By Susan Brackney-2009)

Page 1
Image: 'Tanging A Swarm of Bees'
Illustrated London News, September 13, 1884 (A)

'Tang' is of an old word, meaning 'to hold.' Villagers watch as bees are swarming in the air. Children hit pans and buckets with keys and spoons, a process known as ’tanging’ to coax the swarm to settle so they can be caught and placed into a beehive.

“The issue of a swarm of Bees in the bright and merry months of spring, is one of the most beautiful and delightful sights and sounds to be met with in the country side; everybody within view or hearing is attracted by the tumultuous assemblage, and if in a district where old customs are still rife, "tang-tang-tang " is heard on every side as the cottagers turn out with key and shovel to "ring the Bees." It is a popular idea that unless this is done the swarm will be likely to fly to a far distance, and perhaps be lost. I need hardly say the "ringing " has no effect whatever on the Bees, but the pleasant reminiscences connected therewith make it always a welcome sound to hear.” -John Hunter, 1875 (1)

For centuries the practice of tanging bees was regarded as quite necessary to effect a speedy and satisfactory settling of the swarm. Although beekeepers today have discontinued the practice, considering it not effective and wholly unnecessary, it is however a very ancient practice, older than the days of Aristotle.(2) The ancient classical writers; Lucretius, Aristotle, Varro and Virgil, all wrote about the clashing of cymbals, which was the ancient method of tanging, with a fervor worthy of classic poetry and bee music.(3) Virgil writes in the Fourth Georgics; "Beat loud the cymbals of great Cybele, then gladly will they settle on the tree."(4)

(A) Image: A Swarm of Bees - Illustrated London News, September 13, 1884

(1) John Hunter, A Manual of Bee-keeping, page 111, c. 1875

(2) The Honey Bee: Its Natural History, and Management, Page 179, Edward Bevan, 1838

(3) Rustic Adornments for Homes of Taste: And Recreations, Shirley Hibberd, page 283, 1857

(4) The Story of Aristaeus and His Bees, a translation of Virgil's fourth Georgic, R. M. Millington, 1870

Happy Fathers Day! 🐝

This father's day we acknowledge our founding father, A. I. Root, "the father of modern day beekeeping". He was a shining example of the American spirit. Curious and an innovator, his inquisitive mind led him to build a better beehive and create new ways to harvest honey. He manufactured a beehive that made it possible for beekeepers to harvest their honey without destroying the colony of bees. He transformed his knowledge and learning into the Bee Culture Magazine and an encyclopedia on beekeeping: The ABC's of Bee Culture. Both of which are still published today. His integrity and strong values transcend 5 generations and inspire us today.

Happy Birthday Eva Crane! -June 12, 1912
The "Grand Dame of Honey Bee Researchers."
In January 1949 Eva founded the IInternational Bee Research Association - IBRA

Eva Crane was an authority on the history of beekeeping and honey-hunting who traveled the world in pursuit of bees. She was known throughout the world as the "Grand Dame of Honey Bee Researchers."

Biography of Eva Crane (June 12, 1912 - September 6, 2007)
Like US: hHistorical Honeybee Articles - Beekeeping History
Ethel Eva Widdowson, beekeeper, physicist and writer: born London 12 June 1912; Lecturer in Physics, Sheffield University 1941-43; Director, Bee Research Association (later the International Bee Research association) 1949-84; OBE 1986; married 1942 James Crane (died 1978); died Slough, Berkshire 6 September 2007.

The name of Eva Crane is synonymous the world over with bees and beekeeping. She was at once author, editor, archivist, research scientist and historian, and possibly the most traveled person in pursuit of bees that has ever lived. She was a noted authority on the history of beekeeping and honey-hunting, including archaeology and rock art in her studies. She founded one of the leading institutions of the beekeeping world, the International Bee Research Association (IBRA), and ran it herself until her 72nd year. And yet her academic background was not in apiculture or biology, but in nuclear physics.

She possessed "an intellect that took no prisoners", said Richard Jones, her successor as director of the IBRA. Always precise, her maxim was "observe, check the facts, and always get your research right". Yet she was a modest person with a piercing curiosity. She insisted that she wasn't at all interesting; that it was the places she went to, and the people she met, that were. For that reason, though a clear, intelligent and most prolific writer, she never wrote a memoir. The nearest she came was a book of travel writings, Making a Bee-line (2003), written near the end of her long life.

Crane has been compared with Dame Freya Stark in her willingness to travel to remote places, often alone and at an advanced age. Her aim was to share her beekeeping knowledge with farmers, voluntary bodies and governments, but, typically, she claimed to have learned far more than she taught.

Between 1949 and 2000 she visited at least 60 countries by means as varied as dog-sled, dugout canoe and light aircraft. In a remote corner of Pakistan, she discovered that beekeeping was still practiced using the horizontal hives she had seen only in excavations of Ancient Greece. Another place that intrigued her was the Zagros mountains on the borders of Turkey, Iraq and Iran, where rich local traditions and an unusual variety of hives suggest that it was here that the age-old association of man and bees first began.

She was born Eva Widdowson in 1912, the younger daughter of Thomas and Rose Widdowson. Her elder sister was Elsie Widdowson, who became a world-famous nutritionist. Eva was educated at Sydenham Secondary School in Kent, and won a scholarship to read mathematics at King's College London. A brilliant student, and one of only two women then reading mathematics at London University, she completed her degree in two years. An MSc in quantum mechanics soon followed, and she received her PhD in nuclear physics in 1938.

An academic career at the cutting edge of quantum science seemed to beckon. Eva Widdowson took up the post of Lecturer in Physics at Sheffield University in 1941. The next year she married James Crane, a stockbroker then serving in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve.

Among their wedding presents was a working beehive. The idea had been for the couple to use the honey to eke out their wartime sugar ration, but Eva quickly became fascinated with bees and their ways. It led to a radically different and unexpected turning in her life, from the arcane study of particles and energy to the lively, buzzing world of the hive.

She took out a subscription to Bee World and became an active member of the local beekeepers' association. Later she became secretary of the research committee of the British Beekeepers' Association (BBKA). However, convinced of the vast potential of beekeeping in the tropics, her outlook was international. In 1949 she founded the Bee Research Association, dedicated to "working to increase awareness of the vital role of bees in the environment". The charity was renamed the International Bee Research Association (IBRA) in 1976.

The rest of Eva Crane's life was devoted to building the IBRA into a world centre of expertise on beekeeping. Based in her front room at Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire until 1966, the association eventually found an office in the village and since 1985 has been based in Cardiff.

Her work as an editor and archivist was prodigious. From its outset in 1962 until 1982 Crane edited the association's Journal of Apicultural Research. She also edited Bee World from 1949 until her retirement in 1984 (the two journals were united in 2006). Another major activity was compiling and publishing regular research abstracts, Apicultural Abstracts, which she also edited from 1950 to 1984. It is now one of the world's major databases on bee science.

She assiduously collected and filed scientific papers, which eventually resulted in an archive of 60,000 works on apiculture. It includes a unique collection of 130 bee journals from around the world, including perhaps the only complete runs of some of them. The archive is now so large (and in need of professional management) that it is housed at the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth.

In support of the IBRA and its work, Crane also established the Eva Crane Trust. Its aim is to advance the science of apiology, and in particular the publication of books on the subject, and the promotion of apicultural libraries and museums of historical beekeeping artifacts throughout the world.

Eva Crane was a prolific writer, with over 180 papers, articles and books to her name. Her broad-ranging and extremely learned books were mostly written in her seventies and eighties after her retirement in 1984 from the day-to-day running of the Association. A Book of Honey (1980) and The Archaeology of Beekeeping (1983) reflected her strong interests in nutrition and the ancient past of beekeeping. Her writing culminated in two mighty, encyclopaedic tomes, Bees and Beekeeping: science, practice and world resources (1990; at 614 pages) and The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting (1999; 682 pages). These distilled a lifetime's knowledge and experience and are regarded as seminal textbooks throughout the beekeeping world.

circa. 1878 ~ Bee Expert in Three Weeks

"...A gentleman living in the northern suburbs secured a hive of bees two or three weeks ago as a nucleus for an apiary, and in the course of ten days be had read ten different works on the honey bee, and invented half a dozen patent hives...." circa. 1878 Chester, Pennsylvania (1)

The first patent ever obtained for a beehive was in England by Dr. Gedde, for his invention of octagon hives, in the year 1675. By the year 1879, (over 200 years) it remained the only patent taken out in England for a beehive. In contrast, by 1879, America recorded 1101 patents for beehives. (3)

In the early days of bee culture the country was full of patent-right venders who sold county or state rights. Some of these sharks reaped a harvest in selling moth-proof hives. Practically all of these patentright venders sold useless contraptions, and most of them were men without principle so much so that the business of selling out county and state rights had fallen into ill repute. (2)

Under the head of inventions relating to bee culture is given a list of all the useful ideas and inventions, patented or otherwise, that have been accepted by beekeepers. It is but fair to state that there is hardly a hive covered by patent not expired in use today that is worth much. The field of apicultural invention has been so thoroly covered by some 2500 patents on file in the Patent Office that it is practically impossible to secure a patent on any hive or bee appliance today that will have claims of any value. Even if the patent is granted the claims are generally so loosely drawn, and so complicated to avoid conflicting with other patents, that they will be worthless. As already pointed out at the close of the article on inventions, no patent granted today on beehives or bee-feeders will be worth anything to the inventor. The unpatented hive has so far reached the point of utility and perfection that it would be practically impossible to make any improvements; and the improvements, if any, would not be fundamental. (2)

There were many beekeeping innovations related to bee culture during this period, and the field was quite crowded with 'experts' rushing to get patents on a multitude of beekeeping devices . The U.S. Patent Office records hundreds of patents for beehives between 1790 and 1874.

The quote below, is a sort of complaint during that period, related to this fact.

"...A gentleman living in the northern suburbs secured a hive of bees two or three weeks ago as a nucleus for an apiary, and in the course of ten days be had read ten different works on the honey bee, and invented half a dozen patent hives...." circa. 1878 Chester, Pennsylvania (1)

Source:

Image:
Wisconsin Historical Society
https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM106254

Black and white drawing of a beekeeper sitting on a hive box leaning against a tree, his chin resting on his hand. He is holding a book titled "The Hive and the Honeybee," and a book, "How to Keep Bees" lies on the ground. In the left bottom corner of the page, a box with "Live Bees" and "Rush" written on it lies on its side. An open beehive is on the ground in front of him, and the man is squinting up at bees flying from the beehive towards a swarm on a tree branch above his head.

(1) Gleanings in Bee Culture, Volume 6, 1878, "No Drones There"
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Gleanings_in_Bee_Culture/Xai4AAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA421&printsec=frontcover

(2) The ABC and XYZ of bee culture: By Amos Ives Root, Ernest Rob Root, 1917, page 557
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/187036 /573/mode/1up

(3) Introduction or early history of bees and honey, By William Carr, 1884 - Page 9
https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_X6JbAAAAMAAJ/page/n141/mode/2up