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Care & Lore
(I) Old sacks & rotting rhubarb leaves
those that provide makeshift covers
for their over-wintered hives
should not be surprised to discover
a spring-dwindling in their bees
(after Cheshire)
(II) timing
timing the supering
of your hive
depends on studying
which flora thrive
(after Dadant)
(III) place your skep
N
trees to the north
open to the south
S
(after Foster)
Edwardes adds that
the south should have
a little east in it
to keep the sun
oblique
(IV) set your hives
a valley is preferred
to high land
a gentle slope
southerly if possible
best of all
the sheep-free fields
of a heedless
seed-farmer
for the weeds' yield
pleases nectar-seekers
(after Cheshire)
(V) arrange your hives
plumb on stands
arranged in formation
Q I C N
U N U X
as this will aid
the bees navigation
(after Cheshire)
(VI) the inscrutable bee
they disdain to be near
man’s labours
for reasons unclear
especially the sight of digging
which the bee abhors
in the vicinity of its hives
(after Edwardes)
(VII) down with
down with loggias, porches,
alighting boards, legs, cavity walls
whatnots, antimacassars
& all such forms of Victorianism!
simple things are preferred
to such worthless complications
(after Wadey)
(VIII) heather honey
for heather high hills
the hives set on flat stones
south-east for dawn sun
(after Davies)
(IX) float
buoy your bees
on floated corks
in water-troughs
(after Dadant)
(X) advice on planting
bees prefer
farther flowers
to those
close-at-hand
suggestions
for honey-flowers
borage
meliot
wild clover
& above all else
wild mustard
(Grout)
(XI) a rose, a bee
a rose
enlivened
by bees
a bee
enlivened
by roses
(after Françon)
(XII) supplement
some pea-flour
carefully sifted
in the trumpets
of crocuses
(after Edwardes)
A. M. Foster, Bee Boles and Bee Houses
Roy A. Grout (ed.), The Hive and the Honey-bee
Frank R. Cheshire, Bees & Beekeeping, Vol. 2
H. J. Wadey, The Bee Craftsman
Tickner Edwardes, Bee-Keeping for All
Andrew Davies, Beekeeping
Julien Françon, The Mind of the Bees
(I) Old sacks & rotting rhubarb leaves
those that provide makeshift covers
for their over-wintered hives
should not be surprised to discover
a spring-dwindling in their bees
(after Cheshire)
(II) timing
timing the supering
of your hive
depends on studying
which flora thrive
(after Dadant)
(III) place your skep
N
trees to the north
open to the south
S
(after Foster)
Edwardes adds that
the south should have
a little east in it
to keep the sun
oblique
(IV) set your hives
a valley is preferred
to high land
a gentle slope
southerly if possible
best of all
the sheep-free fields
of a heedless
seed-farmer
for the weeds' yield
pleases nectar-seekers
(after Cheshire)
(V) arrange your hives
plumb on stands
arranged in formation
Q I C N
U N U X
as this will aid
the bees navigation
(after Cheshire)
(VI) the inscrutable bee
they disdain to be near
man’s labours
for reasons unclear
especially the sight of digging
which the bee abhors
in the vicinity of its hives
(after Edwardes)
(VII) down with
down with loggias, porches,
alighting boards, legs, cavity walls
whatnots, antimacassars
& all such forms of Victorianism!
simple things are preferred
to such worthless complications
(after Wadey)
(VIII) heather honey
for heather high hills
the hives set on flat stones
south-east for dawn sun
(after Davies)
(IX) float
buoy your bees
on floated corks
in water-troughs
(after Dadant)
(X) advice on planting
bees prefer
farther flowers
to those
close-at-hand
suggestions
for honey-flowers
borage
meliot
wild clover
& above all else
wild mustard
(Grout)
(XI) a rose, a bee
a rose
enlivened
by bees
a bee
enlivened
by roses
(after Françon)
(XII) supplement
some pea-flour
carefully sifted
in the trumpets
of crocuses
(after Edwardes)
A. M. Foster, Bee Boles and Bee Houses
Roy A. Grout (ed.), The Hive and the Honey-bee
Frank R. Cheshire, Bees & Beekeeping, Vol. 2
H. J. Wadey, The Bee Craftsman
Tickner Edwardes, Bee-Keeping for All
Andrew Davies, Beekeeping
Julien Françon, The Mind of the Bees
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