Thomas Nutt - Neue Methode der Bienenzucht - 1835

Thomas Nutt

On a new method of beekeeping and on a special kind of beehives (!), in which one can harvest 296 pounds of honey annually.

in: Polytechnisches Journal edited by Johann Gottfried Dingler, Volume 56, New Series 6. Volume, Issues 1-6 (= 16th year, 7th-12th issue) pp. 297-312 and 370-392
-fold-out plate with 15 copper engravings

22 x 13 cm, modern leather bindings, yellowed edges, XII, 476 pages, 7 folded copper plates, several tables.

Thomas Nutt (biographical data unknown) had described in 1832 in his monograph on the “Humanity to honeybees” a “ventilated beehive basket.” This consists of several compartments, of which one (the middle) is kept constantly for brood, while the others are intended only for collecting honey. To ensure that the bees in the side boxes build only honey combs and do not establish brood here, the side boxes must be kept somewhat cooler than the middle box, and this is accomplished by ventilation, by creating an air current through openings at the top and bottom.

The present work is a translation of an article from the Journal des connaissances usuelles from 1835, and thus the first German notification of his ideas, even before the German translation of his book (1836). Nutt describes here, among other things, the construction of beehives and their practical ventilation, with particular regard to the proper overwintering of the animals. His model of the beehive basket makes it possible to harvest honey without killing the bees and without breaking the combs (as happens with harvests from woven straw baskets).