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Museo dell'apicoltura, Lituania

{{S|apicoltura}} {{T|lingua=spagnola|argomento=apicoltura|novembre 2006}}

Museo dell'apicoltura, Lituania

L'arnia è il luogo dove vive la colonia di Apis mellifera.

Nell'italiano corrente sebbene arnia sia usato anche come sinonimo di alveare, più frequentemente il termine si riferisce ad una cassetta, tipicamente di legno e costruita dall'allevatore, ove le api realizzano il proprio nido.

Le colonie di api possono giungere a contenere più di 90.000 individui ed è costituita da tre caste: l'ape regina i fuchi e le api operaie. Le api che si incontrano normalmente sono operaie specializzate nell'attività di bottinatura e costituisco di norma la parte più numerosa della colonia.

Un gruppo di Arnie disposto da un apicoltore sul terreno viene chiamato apiario.

Cornici o telai mobili

Le api costituiscono le proprie colonie in molto molto differente rispetto agli altri insetti sociali, come i calabroni e le formiche. Per costituire un nuovo gruppo l'ape regina più vecchia abbandona l'alveare, recando con se un discreto numero di operaie e lasciando la regina più giovane a capo di ciò che resta della colonia originaria. Questo processo viene chiamato sciamatura e sciame il neogruppo di api con la vecchia regina. Da non confondere lo sciame con un gruppo di api che è possibile rinvenire all'interno di un qualunque recipiente, che chiameremo arnia rustica.

Parti di un arnia

• Fondo dell'arnia
• Camera di allevamento o Rialzo inferiore
• Rialzo melario (melario)
• Tetto dell'arnia
• Telai mobili

• • In virtù della somiglianza tra diversi tipi di arnie vedere un arnia verticale tipo Arnia Langstroth

Classificazione delle arnie.

Esistono due tipi di arnie dal punto di vista metodologico:

• arnia rustica: l'arnia che si può rinvenire naturalmente nella cavità di una pianta.
• arnia razionale:
  • arnia di pannelli fissi: sono le arnie que l'uomo costruisce nei primi stadi dell'attività di apicoltore utilizzando cavità di alberi, recipienti di sughero, cesti di vimini, campane di paglia, ove le api costruiscono pannelli di cera secondo criteri propri.
  • arnia di pannelli o cornici mobili: sono le arnie utilizzate nell'apicoltura razionale, di differenti grandezze e spessore, la particolarità che le contraddistingue è che tutte al loro interno sono formate da telai di legno mobili che permettono uno sfruttamento razionale senza necessità di distruggere il nido di allevamento. Es. Langstroth di Lorenzo Langstroth, Layens, Dadant, Keniana.
• Arnia tradizionale

Moneta commemorativa Francese del 1724, che raffigura un arnia di paglia e le api.

Trofonio (Historia Deorum Fatidicorum, 1675).

Frontale di arnia scolpito in pietra (Guadalajara, España).

Arnie scavate in tronchi a Stripeikiai. Lituania

L' arnia tradizionale tessuta in paglia chiamata in inglese skeps, che significa cesta, fu senza dubbio la più diffusa tra le arnie a pannelli fissi. Tutta la regione Mediterranea, l'Asia orientale, l'Egitto la utilizzarono per l'economicità e la semplicità degli elementi necessari alla sua costruzione. Viene tessuta in poco tempo dagli artigiani la paglia è un ottimo isolante termico ed è impermeabile all'acqua.

La raccolta da questo tipo di arnie a pannelli fissi si realizza con l'asportazione o il taglio di questi ultimi. Diciamo che si tratta di una apicoltura non razionale perché si distruggono i pannelli di cera, come conseguenza le api dopo la raccolta del miele devono ricostruirli.

L'arnia di paglia si utilizzò in Europa per secoli, i greci collocavano sopra la bocca superiore quello che sarebbero le nostre testate perché le api costruissero aderenti a questi i pannelli di cera. Su alcune monete commemorative francesi del 1700 si possono osservare queste arnie tradizionali di paglia, riportate tra l'altro anche dalla bibliografia del tempo, (vedi Trofonio). E' da sottolineare che durante l'età media fino all'età moderna gli apicoltori avevano pochi materiali a loro disposizione salvo questo tipo di arnie e i contenitori di legno, ma che comportavano una maggiore fatica.

Arnia tradizionale di tronco

Questo tipo di arnia costruita partendo da un tronco scavato era molto diffusa, fu chiamata "vaso".

Gli apicoltori utilizzavano gli stessi dall'epoca dell'Impero Romano. In Europa possiamo anche osservare vasi costruiti in tronchi diversi di alberi, legno di sughero, (sughero), vimini rivestito in gesso, vasi di legno. In bibliografia possiamo seguire l'evoluzione dall' arnia fissa a quella di quadro mobile. Columella nella sua opera I dodici libri di agricoltura ne realizza una eccellente descrizione, luoghi dove situare l'apiario, raccolta, già nell'anno 50 d.C. Nella Meliponicoltura tradizionale maya anche i tronchi scavati furono le arnie più comuni per le api senza pungiglione. Gli Egizi, i Siriani ecc. costruivano vasi di argilla cotta per le loro api. In Lituania è molto comune scolpire alberi che srvono come arnie ma si possono osservare anche tronchi scavati che vengono utilizzati come arnie orizzontali.

Collegamenti esterni

• L'Apis mellifera nella Numismatica. Fernando Biole. PDF 3.243 Kb
• Apicoltura. Storia dell'Apicoltura.
• Apicoltura. Libri antichi

Tipi di arnia razionale

Tipica arnia italiana tipo Carlini.

• Arnie verticali.. Questo tipo di arnia ha una capacità illimitata, dal momento che può essere ampliata aggiungendo rialzi alla camera di allevamento in relazione alle necessità.
  • Arnia Layens. Questa arnia deriva dal tipo orizzontale, è una sola camera di allevamento di maggior volume, ove non c'è separazione tra zona di allevamnro e zona del miele.
  • Arnia Langstroth
  • Arnia Dadant
  • Arnia Smith
  • Arnia Lusitana

• Arnie horizontali. Questi tipi di arnie sono di limitata capacità, dal momento che non importa la grandezza di costruzione, non è fattibile aggiungere rialzi.
  • Arnia orizzontale con laterale inclinato (Top Bar Hive o Keniana) in inglese KTBH.
  • Arnia orizzontale con laterale retto (Top Bar Hive o Tanzania). in inglese Tanz, arnia tipo Layens.

• Arnie di riproduzione
  • Nuclei: costituiti da due a cinque telai si impiegano per allevare una nuova colonia partendo da poche api e una regina. Se la regina non è stata fecondata si chiamano nuclei di fecondazione..

Misure di tipologie differenti di arnie verticali

Tipo	Langstroth	Dadant	Lusitana	Layens
Misura camera di allevamento	46,5x38x24	46,5x38x31	37x38x31	secondo il n° dei quadri
Misure dei rialzi	46,5x38x24	46,5x38x17	37x38x16
Misure della camera	42x20	42x27	33x27	35x30
Misure melario	42x20	42x30	33x12	35x30
Superficie quadro	160 dm²	220 dm²	180 dm²	240 dm²
Nidiata teorica	45.000 api	60-62.000 api	50.000 api	67.200 api
kg di api x nidiata	4,5 kg	6 kg	5 kg	6,7 kg
Capacità in litri	42,4 L	54 L	43,5 L
Capacità totale	84,8 L	84 L	65,9 L
Capacità nel melario	25 kg	16 kg	13 kg

Categoria:Apicoltura

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Rowland Hill

Sir Rowland Hill KCB, FRS (December 3, 1795 - August 27, 1879) was a British teacher and social reformer. He campaigned for a comprehensive reform of the postal system, based on the concept of penny postage, and later served as a government postal official. He is usually credited with originating the basic concepts of the modern postal service, including the invention of the postage stamp.

Earlier life

Hill was born in Blackwell Street, Kidderminster, Worcestershire. Rowland's father, Thomas Wright Hill, was an innovator in education and politics, including among his friends Joseph Priestley, Tom Paine and Richard Price. At the age of 11, Rowland became a student-teacher in his father's school. He taught astronomy and earned extra money fixing scientific instruments. He also worked at the Assay Office in Birmingham and painted landscapes in his spare time.

Educational reform In 1819, he established the Hazelwood School at Edgbaston, a "well-to-do" neighbourhood of Birmingham, as an “educational refraction of Priestley's ideas”. Hazelwood was to provide a model for public education for the emerging middle classes, aiming for useful, pupil-centered education which would give sufficient knowledge, skills and understanding to allow a student to continue self-education through a life “most useful to society and most happy to himself”. The school, which Hill designed, included such marvels (for its time) as a science lab, a swimming pool, and forced air heating. In his Plans for the Government and Liberal Instruction of Boys in Large Numbers Drawn from Experience (1822, often cited as Public Education) he argued that kindness, instead of caning, and moral influence, rather than fear, should be the predominant forces in school discipline. Science was to be a compulsory subject, and students were to be self-governing. Hazelwood gained international attention when French education leader and editor Marc Antoine Jullien, former secretary to Robespierre, visited and wrote about the school in the June, 1823 issue of his journal Revue. Jullien even transferred his son there. Hazelwood so impressed Jeremy Bentham that the school was moved to Bruce Castle in Tottenham, London in 1827.

Colonization of South Australia The colonization of South Australia was a project of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who believed that many of the social problems in Britain were caused by overcrowding and overpopulation. In 1832 Rowland Hill published a tract, entitled Home colonies : sketch of a plan for the gradual extinction of pauperism, and for the diminution of crime, based on a Dutch model. Hill then served from 1833 until 1839 as secretary of the South Australian Colonization Commission, which worked successfully to establish a settlement without convicts at what is today Adelaide. The political economist, Robert Torrens was chairman of the Commission. Under the South Australia Act 1834, the colony was to embody the ideals and best qualities of British society, shaped by religious freedom and a commitment to social progress and civil liberties.

Postal reform

Hill interested himself in a reform of the postal system, as well.. In the 1830's at least 12 1/2% of all British mail was conveyed under the personal frank of Peers, dignitaries and Members of Parliament, while censorship and political espionage were conducted by postal officials. Fundamentally, the postal system was mismanaged, wasteful, expensive and slow. It had become inadequate for the needs of an expanding commercial and industrial nation. There are stories, most likely apocryphal, about how Hill gained an interest in reforming the postal system -- that he noticed a young woman too poor to redeem a letter sent to her by her fiancé. At that time, letters were most often paid for by the recipient, not the sender. The recipient could simply refuse delivery. Frauds were commonplace; for example, coded information could appear on the cover of the letter; the recipient would examine the cover to gain the information, and then refuse delivery to avoid payment. Each individual letter had to be logged. In addition, postal rates were complex, depending on the distance and the number of sheets in the letter.

Richard Cobden and John Ramsey McCulloch, both advocates of free trade, attacked the policies of privilege and protection of the Tory government. McCulloch, in 1833, advanced the view that "nothing contributes more to facilitate commerce than the safe, speedy and cheap conveyance of letters."

Hill's famous pamphlet, Post Office Reform: its Importance and Practicability, was privately circulated in 1837. The report called for "low and uniform rates" according to weight, rather than distance. Hill's study showed that most of the costs in the postal system were not for transportation, but rather for laborious handling procedures at the origins and the destinations. Costs could be reduced dramatically if postage were prepaid by the sender, the prepayment to be proven by the use of prepaid letter sheets or adhesive stamps (adhesive stamps had long been used to show payment of taxes -- for example, on documents). Letter sheets were to be used because envelopes were not yet common -- they were not yet mass-produced, and in an era when postage was calculated partly on the basis of the number of sheets of paper used, the same sheet of paper would be folded and serve for both the message and the address. In addition, Hill proposed to lower the postage rate to a penny per half ounce, without regard to distance. He presented his proposal to the Government.

The Penny Black

In the House of Lords the Postmaster, Lord Lichfield, thundered about Hill's "wild and visionary schemes." William Leader Maberly, Secretary to the Post Office, denounced Hill's study: "This plan appears to be a preposterous one, utterly unsupported by facts and resting entirely on assumption". But merchants, traders and bankers viewed the existing system as corrupt and a restraint of trade. They formed a "Mercantile Committee" to advocacate for Hill's plan and pushed for its adoption. In 1839, Hill was given a two-year contract to run the new system.

Postal service rates were lowered almost immediately, to fourpence from the 5th of December, 1839, then to the penny rate on the 10th of January 1840, even before stamps or letter sheets could be printed. The volume of paid internal correspondence increased dramatically, by 120%, between November, 1839 and February, 1840. This initial increase resulted from the elimination of "free franking" privileges and smuggling.

Prepaid letter sheets, with a design by William Mulready, were distributed in early 1840. These Mulready envelopes were not popular and were widely satirized. According to a brochure distributed by the National Postal Museum, the Mulready envelopes threatened the livelihoods of stationery manufacturers, who encouraged the satires. They became so unpopular that the government used them on official mail and destroyed many others.

In May, 1840, the world's first adhesive postage stamps were distributed. With an elegant engraving of the young Queen Victoria, the Penny Black was an immediate success. Refinements, such as perforations to ease the separating of the stamps, would be instituted with later issues.

Later life

Rowland Hill continued at the Post Office until the Conservative Party won re-election. Sir Robert Peel returned to office between August 30, 1841 and June 29, 1846. Amid rancorous controversy, Hill was dismissed in July, 1842. Fortunately, the London and Brighton Railway named him a director and later chairman of the board, from 1843 through 1846. He lowered the fares from London to Brighton, expanded the routes, offered special excursion trains, and made the commute comfortable for riders. In 1844 Edwin Chadwick, Rowland Hill, John Stuart Mill, Lyon Playfair, Dr. Neill Arnott, and other friends formed a society called "Friends in Council," which met at each other's houses to discuss questions of political economy. Hill also became a member of the influential Political Economy Club, founded by David Ricardo and other classical economists, but now including many influential businessmen and political figures as well.

In 1846, when the Conservatives left office, Hill became Secretary to the Postmaster General, and then Secretary to the Post Office from 1854 until 1864. For his services Hill was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1860. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society and was given an honorary degree from Oxford.

He died in Hampstead, London in 1879. Sir Rowland Hill is buried in Westminster Abbey; there is a memorial to him on his family grave in Highgate Cemetery.

Legacy

Hill's legacies are two: the first was his model for education of the emerging middle classes. The second was his model for an efficient postal system to serve business and the public, including the postage stamp and the system of low and uniform postal rates, which we often take for granted. In this, he not only changed the postal services around the world, but also made commerce more efficient and profitable. In fact the Uniform Penny Postage continued in the United Kingdom into the twentieth century, and at one point, one penny paid for up to four ounces.

There are three public statues of him. The first, sculpted by Sir Thomas Brock and unveiled in 1881, stands in the town of his birthplace, Kidderminster. The second, by Edward Onslow Ford stands at King Edward Street, London The third, less known, by Peter Hollins, used to stand in Hurst Street, Birmingham but it is currently in the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery store. A life size white marble bust by W. D. Keyworth, Jr. may be viewed in St. Paul's Chapel, Westminster Abbey.

At Tottenham there is now a local History Museum at Bruce Castle (where Hill lived during the 1840s) including some relevant exhibits.

The Rowland Hill Awards, started by the Royal Mail and the British Philatelic Trust in 1997, are annual awards for philatelic "innovation, initiative and enterprise."

In 1882, the Post Office instituted the Rowland Hill Fund for postal workers, pensioners and dependants in need.

References

Literature

• Matthew Davenport Hill and Rowland Hill, Plans for the Government and Liberal Instruction of Boys in Large Numbers Drawn from Experience (1822); new ed. with additions (1827).
• Rowland Hill, Home Colonies: a Plan for the Gradual Extinction of Pauperism and the Diminution of Crime. London, Simpkin and Marshall (1832) 52 pages. (New York Public Library SGF p.v.16, no.11.)
• Rowland Hill, Post Office Reform: its Importance and Practicability (1837)
• Rowland Hill and Arthur Hill, A History of Penny Postage with intro. by George Birkbeck Hill, "The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the Penny Postage". 2 vols. London, T. De La Rue & Co. (1880)
• David Allam, The Social and Economic Importance of Postal Reform in 1840. Batley: Harry Hayes, 1976
• R. H. Coase, Rowland Hill and the Penny Post. Economica, New Series, Vol. 6, No. 24 (Nov., 1939), pp. 423-435.
• H. W. Hill, Rowland Hill and the Fight for the Penny Post. Frederick Warne, 1940
• M.J. Daunton, Rowland Hill and the Penny Post, History Today, August, 1985.
• Jean Farrugia, The Life and Work of Sir Rowland Hill, 1795-1879.