|  |
| | 
Hi! you are visitor to this page <<< CLICK ON 'NAVIGATION' TO FIND OTHER PAGES
picture from an advertisement
for the House of Myers
in the
Daily Gleaner, March 2, 1915 Beekeeping has a long history in Jamaica.
Since there were, and may be still are, indigenous stingless, honey producing bees in Jamaica, it may be presumed that the Tainos harvested the honey and probably provided logs for the bees to live in, as the Maya did in Yucatan; so far I have found no documentation to confirm this, nor any about beekeeping under the Spaniards.
This page will deal chiefly with beekeeping in the second half of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th.
History of Jamaica, Edward Long, 1774 Vol III, Book III, Chap VIII pp 881-2
WILD BEE.
This is much smaller than the European, and very frequent in all the South-side woods. It is remarkable for having no sting; and is probably the same species so common in Guadaloupe. It builds in the hollow boughs of large trees, particularly the locust, and makes its comb, not with wax, but a composition of gum, and minute particles of tree-bark, worked into a brownish paste, or cement which acquires, in time, the firm texture of papier machée, but thin, and therefore easily broken in the weaker parts. The cells are pear-shaped, about the size of a bantam’s egg, and filled with a most delicious honey, limpid as crystal, extremely odoriferous, and cordial. These reservoirs hang connected together in clusters, and are so contrived, that each of them has a convenient aperture during the time of work, which is closed, or sealed up, so soon as the measure is full. When the honey is required to be taken out, the cells, or bottles, are to be pierced a little way from the bottom, to avoid draining out the sediment, which is viscid and glutinous.
This honey is gently solutive, the quantity of half a pint generally causing two or three evacuations downwards in as many hours, if taken upon an empty stomach; but, swallowed at meals, it has not this effect. It is, doubtless, applicable to very excellent purposes in medicine; and, as well as the other common honey produced in this island, may be kept for many years in bottles, without running into fermentation like that of Europe. The number of these useful, little insects is greatly diminished by birds and other animals, who constantly prey upon them; but they may be removed, hive and all, into the common apiary, with great safety, where they would be secured under some degree of protection 
[This modern photograph of Melipona beecheii, one of the wild bees of the Americas, illustrates clearly the honey containing cells that Long describes.]
HONEY BEE OF EUROPE These useful infects were first introduced from England, and have multiplied so well, as to spread innumerable colonies over every part of the island, swarms of them being often found in hollow trees in the woods, in holes of rocks, or banks of earth, and other convenient retreats. Several persons here keep apiaries, which supply them abundantly with honey for family-uses, and wax for candles; and some families burn none other but their own manufacture. The honey is, in general, aromatic, delicious, and, like the Minorcan, always in a fluid state. The honey produced on sugar-plantations is not equal in flavour or quality to what is made in other parts; for the bees, when they can find a constant plenty of melasses in their neighbourhood, will not ramble in quest of flowers, but make use of the ready-prepared syrup. The wax is commonly bleached here in the following manner. It is melted in boiling water over a fire; and, as it floats on the surface, it is taken off in very thin cakes by dipping in a plate. When the whole is taken up in this manner, the cakes are laid in the sun-shine, for two or three days, until the yellow tint is entirely discharged; after which, it is perfectly white, like virgin-wax, and fit for use. A commodity, so cheaply produced, should excite the inhabitants to extend the number of their apiaries. A moderate industry would furnish them with sufficient for their own consumption; and, in time, with a superfluity for export. It is an article annually remitted from the Carolinas to Great-Britain, and might with equal advantage be established in this island.
[Two European breeds, Apis mellifera mellifera and Apis mellifera iberica, were introduced into America by the first colonizers. Apis mellifera mellifera is found from the Pyrenees to the Urals, from Scotland and South Scandinavia to Provence. The common names are European Black Bee or English, French or German, Brown or Dark Bee.
Apis mellifera iberica is a mediterranean honeybee which is found in the Iberian peninsula.
The bees described by Long would have been called British Black Bees, and until the mid-1880s these were the bees used for honey production in Jamaica.]
I assume that the bees were kept in hives
that looked something like some of these.
In Europe hives were often placed in
specially made alcoves or niches in walls,
but I do not know if any evidence exists
for this practice in Jamaica.
more on the history of bee-keeping >>>
Douglas Hall notes the beekeeping activities recorded in the diaries of Thomas Thistlewood in the 1770s, at a time contemporaneous with Edward Long's comments:
p 215: Here we have Thomas Thistlewood, Esqr., Justice of the Peace, and Lieutenant of the Fort at Savanna la Mar at the top of his fortune and, the usual illnesses apart, at his most comfortable. Within and beyond the parish his horticultural interests and expertise are recognised and his garden has become an attraction to visitors. Nonetheless, he is not resting on accomplishment. In these years he introduces new activities--hives of bees, an indigo patch, and a trial export of annatto.
P 223: After dinner they walked in his garden and: '... perceived a swarm of bees upon a fig tree leaf, but where they should come from God knows. Friday, 7th December: Mr Hayward lent me, An Essay on the Management of Bees, by John Mills, FRS Lond. 1766.' He soon began to capture swarms of bees and to market honey.
p 232: On the Pen, he was involved in developing one of his more recent enterprises. Mulatto Davie had been hired for some weeks to carry out general repairs, and also to build a bee's house.
p 261: On 1st January, 1779, Thistlewood listed ready money as £184. He had spent more than usual buying provisions; and because of the time spent in logwood cutting and chipping, and in repairs to buildings, his slaves had earned him only £70 for hired labour. Local sales of his Pen's produce had earned him 1352 bitts, or £42 5s. The greatest earnings had come from fruit and vegetables (520 bitts), wildfowl (315 bitts), domestic poultry and eggs (301 bitts), and honey (126 bitts) from a much reduced number of hives. Six of his 16 'stocks' of bees had been lost by vermin, moths, maggots & desertions'.
'bitt' - 'in 1780 the bit was worth 5¼d sterling, but 7½d in local currency'
Dictionary of Jamaican English, Cassidy and Lepage
In Miserable Slavery: Thomas Thistlewood in Jamaica, 1750-86, Douglas Hall, 1998
|
CORRESPONDENCE between RICHARD HILL and
CHARLES DARWIN about Jamaica's bees
Charles Darwin In 1859 an exchange of correspondence took place between Richard Hill and Charles Darwin about bees in Jamaica, especially the indigenous bees.
From Richard Hill to Charles Darwin:
'Spanish Town Jamaica 10 th January 1859. My dear Sir, . . . . I shall not fail to attend to all your requests relative to the naturalized hive and the indigenous Bee,—their honey and their honey comb— A friend who has a fine apiary will put up for me the specimens of the broodless cells you require. Our Melipona I think on examination will be found to be different from that of Mexico. Living specimens were sent to Sir William Jardine by M r Edward Chitty, now of the King's Bench Walk Temple. Through him you will probably obtain some specific intelligence relating to those native bees. The honey cells are sacklets, the honey dark coloured, and the wax nearly as deep in tint as obsidian. We have a log in the Museum of our Society of Arts containing a living hive at work, and if I do not possess myself of what you desire early, I shall be able from this stock to get for you Specimens We have the Xylocopa teredo [carpenter bee] of Lansdowne Guilding.— I shall see if I can procure these. They are rather scarce, but come occasionally under the notice of the Logwood cutters. I shall enquire generally what are our variety of Social and Solitary Apidæ and let you know. Westwood I see gives us the Apis grossa, but I have never seen it. We have a rose-leaf-cutter bee, lining its nest with circular cuttings from the Rose as the Megachile, but in what respect it is specifically distinguished I do not know. All this ignorance serves to render your enquiry very interesting, and therefore a labour of pleasure. With much respect, I remain My dear Sir, Very faithfully your obe t Srvt Richard Hill
Charles Darwin Esq e FRS.' Apis grossa
|
Much later in the year Darwin expressed his gratitude for specimens Hill had sent him:
From Charles Darwin to Richard Hill:
 'Down, Bromley, Kent.Aug. 8th,
Darwin's study Down House
My dear sir, I have delayed answering your last kind note, until I got the hive (after some delay owing to mercantile forms) from Mr. Bishop. Mr. B. has been very obliging and when you see Mr. Wilkie pray give him my best thanks. The quality of honey was astonishing and so excellent that honey for him then repaid the cost of the hive. The combs were rather too crowded and old (till all fully formed) to be very good for measurement; yet I can clearly see that the cells are larger (in about proportion of 60 to 51) than the cells of British combs. This is a curious fact (and shows that Latraille was correct): the size of the cells of European cells are so uniform that I think that I remember that some wild [?] man proposed them as a standard unit of measurement! The walls of the cells are, I am almost sure, considerably thicker than in our cells; but I have as yet made no precise measurements. Now these facts made me anxious to obtain ½ dozen dead Bees and perhaps 2 or 3 drones: until you oblige me by trying to get them from Mr. Wilkie's Stock , and send them in box in letter, as they could not weigh one ½ oz. It is possible that the species may be different, or that our species may have grown larger under your magnificent climate. . . . Your letters have excited in me much interest about you, and I was quite delighted (if you will not think it impertinent in me to say so) to hear of all your varied accomplishments and knowledge, and of your higher attributes in the sacred cause of humanity. I am sure I feel grateful to you for all your kind assistance, and I beg leave to remain with sincere respects, My dear Sir, Yours very faithfully, (Sgd.) Charles Darwin.'
|
The Mr Wilkie mentioned in the letters will appear again in a later item.
From Richard Hill to Charles Darwin:
'Spanish Town Jamaica 26 November 1859. My dear Sir, I received your letter when our latter rains were setting in,—a lingering but not a heavy season. I was in consequence precluded from getting out to M r Wilkie's Apiary for the specimens of Bees you desired to have. Could I have seen M r Wilkie, I should have obtained what you wanted readily, but he has been and still continues absent in a distant parish. I now send you what may be acceptable until I am able completely to meet your wishes. There are in the box four workers and one drone. M r March, a naturalist very well known to Sir William Hooker,—from whom I procured these specimens, promises me a complete suite from the Queen downwards. He has been searching over his Farm in the Salt pond plain for our Meliponas, but without success. He intends to supply me with a joint of a tree containing the Sacklets,—when he finds a hive. . . .  With best regards believe me my dear Sir, Your very obedient Servant Richard Hill
Charles Darwin Esq re'
King's House, Spanish Town |
The last letter was written in Spanish Town two days after Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published in London
Letter writers in the Gleaner do some basic calculations:
BEE-FARMING. To the Editor of the Gleaner. Sir,—Why are bees not more kept? It is a fairly profitable occupation. Both the wax and the honey find a ready sale in the market. And the necessary outlay is of the most limited kind - a few candleboxes, a piece of board, and four stumps to support the apparatus upon. The rest is done by nature. I cannot help thinking that, here and there, a reduced gentleman might, to the improvement of his circumstances and the maintenance of his independence, beneficially take up the occupation. Daily Gleaner, October 29, 1879
In Jamaica the Bees work all the year round, and there are two seasons for pulling, one the spring and one autumn, at which time each Hive sends out three swarms. An empty kerosene box* forms a very useful hive and is most used here - size 19’’ x 14’’ x 9½’’ and containing about 2,527 cubic inches. When filled that gives about 2½lbs. wax and 1 gallon honey or 5lbs. wax, 2 gallons honey per annum. Wax is worth about 1s per Ib. and honey 2s 6d per gallon. This gives a gross return of 10s per annum per hive, allowing 2s per. hive for contingent expenses, netts 8s or $2 per hive per annum, 620 hives nett $1,240. This does not allow for loss of hives. 620 Hives would give 3,100 lbs. wax, 1,240 gallons honey.
Daily Gleaner November 11, 1879
* a kerosene box was a container used to ship two cans of kerosene; these boxes were used for a variety of purposes, at least into the 1930s; besides being beehives they were cut up to make frames for the comb; they were also used as firewood, and for making fences; as makeshift seats and tables; as containers for babies abandoned by the roadside. Similar boxes which had contained soap or candles were also used.
Daily Gleaner 1866 July 23 When sales of properties and household effects were advertised in the 1870s and '80s, bee hives and apiaries often featured among the listed items
For rent in 1869: WALWORTH PEN, three-quarters of a Mile from Halfway Tree Church, and four Miles from Kingston, a comfortable Family Residence, just repaired and painted, with Guinea Grass for two Horses.
Daily Gleaner, September 4, 1878
In the 1878 Directory Hermann Weirauch is listed as having a bakery and apiary at Walworth Pen, St. Andrew.
| 
Daily Gleaner, July 18, 1889 | 
Jamaican honey and bees wax won awards at
Exhibitions in Europe, such as the Paris Exhibition
of 1878 and the Amsterdam Exhibition of 1883
In December 1891 there were apparently no exhibits of bee products at the St Catherine Agricultural Show at Cumberland Pen; the Governor, Sir Henry Blake, commented on the failure to develop beekeeping:
While examining the minor products at Cumberland Pen Show, His Excellency the Governor particularly enquired regarding the progress of bee-culture in the island during his absence. He stated that it was a pity more attention was not paid to the matter as there was money in honey and beeswax.
Daily Gleaner, December 5, 1891
The beekeeping exhibits at the Exhibition had not, it seemed, made any great impact.
The last of the Wilkie apiary?
The Mr Wilkie who helped Richard Hill with bee specimens may have been the Robert Wilkie who was a parish official in St Catherine, St Dorothy and St John in the first half of the 19th century.
References to him are very sparse, but the sale of Wilkie's Pen in the 1890s, with the mention of an apiary, raises the possibility that this was 'Mr Wilkie's apiary' mentioned by Hill.
 Daily Gleaner, July 21, 1893
| The 1890s saw an upsurge of interest in beekeeping in Jamaica; the new Italian bees and the new types of hives were introduced to more people. New apiaries and bee supply businesses were set up.
There was also interest in the possibility of developing honey production to higher levels for the foreign market.
|
| Traditional peasant beekeeping methods:
[From Mr. H Scotland's (Jr) paper which appeared in the March 1893 number of the Bulletin of the Botanical Department] The common plan for removing the honey from the hive is quite barbarous, the bees are made to leave the hive by the use of smoke. Many of them get singed and burnt by the careless way in which the smoke is applied, and the flavour of the honey is spoiled; the combs are then scooped out, without regard to the different grades of honey which a hive always contains. These combs are then placed upon a sieve and chopped up; the product being caught in a receptacle below. The honey thus obtained is a mixture of bee bread, - of pollen - the juice of young bees (or larvae) and exuviae and excreta, - which if known of by the general public, they would be more careful to ascertain from what source they get their honey. Indeed I have been informed from good authority, that a shipment of honey of this kind was once made from here, and on arrival at its destination it was found to be of such bad quality that it was sold to a firm of blacking manufacturers at the rate of 6d. per gallon. The bees thus deprived of all their honey combs are again returned to the empty hive to get on as best they may. | The more up-to-date methods of a commercial apiarist:
| The Hooper Brothers were important apiarists and suppliers of bees and beekeeping equipment from the early 1890s well into the early 20th century
James Doidge played an important role, especially in 1898-9, in getting information on modern beekeeping out to farmers across the island. 
The traditional box hive in use
Jamaican peasant beekeeper c 1908-9 photographed by Sir H H Johnson
the worthy frog
|
| |
| | |
| | | |
