BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
**221**. The experiments made by Berlepsch show that bees, which are deprived of pollen when they construct combs, consume from sixteen to nineteen pounds of honey to produce a pond of comb, while, if provided with it, the amount of honey is reduced to ten or twelve pounds. If the experiment is continued without pollen for some time, the bees become exhausted and begin to perish. It is therefore demonstrated that although nitrogen, which is one of the elements of pollen, does not enter into the composition of bees wax, yet it is indispensable as food to sustain the strength of bees during their work in comb making.
**222**. Honey and sugar contain. by weight about eight pounds of oxygen to one of carbon and hydrogen. When converted into wax, these proportions are remarkably changed, the wax containing only one pond of oxygen to more than sixteen of hydrogen and carbon. Now as oxygen is the grand supporter of animal heat, the large quantity consumed in secreting wax aids in generating that extraordinary heat which always accompanies comb-building, and which enables the bees to mould the softened wax into such exquisitely delicate and beautiful forms. This interesting instance of adaptation, so clearly pointing to the Divine Wisdom, seems to have escaped the notice of previous writers.
**223.** Careful experiments prove that from seven to fifteen pounds of honey are usually required to make a single pound of wax. As wax is an animal oil, secreted chiefly from honey, this fact will not appear ineredible to those who are aware how many pounds of corn or hay must be fed to cattle to have them gain a single pound of fat. From experiments made by Mr. P. Viallon here, and by Mr. De Layeus in France, it seems that in good circumstances bees use only about seven pounds of honey to produce a pound of wax. But the actual cost of comb to the bees is not to be rekoned only by the amount of honey digested by them to produce this wax. It must also be borne in mind that there is nearly always a loss of time, in comb-building, since the bees must digest the honey before the wax cells are formed. As stated before, comb building and honey gathering go on simultaneously, but when a swarm is lived, it takes quite a little time before any amount of comb is built, and in the meantime the harvest is on and the bees that have to build comb are unable to take full advantage of it.
Many bee-keepers are unaware of the value of empty comb. Suppose honey to be worth only ten eents per pound, and comb, when rendered into wax, to be worth thirty eents, the Apiarist who melts a pound of comb loses largely by the operation, even without estimating the time his bees have consumed in building it. It is, therefore, considered a first principle in bee-culture never to melt good worker-combs. A strong colony of bees, in the height of the honey-harvest, will fill them with very great rapidity.
With the box hives (**275**), but little use can be made of empty comb, but by the use of movable frames, every good piece of worker-comb may be given to the bees (**574**).
**224**. As we have seen before, while the small cells are designated as worker-cells, the large ones, which vary greatly in depth and are more especially prepared to store honey, and in which the drones are raised, are known as store or drone-cells.
**225.** Generally, bees build a larger number of worker than of store-cells; yet they do not follow any regulation as to the relative proportion in the quantity of each kind. Not two colonies, in the same Apiary, will show the same number of large cells, even when the hives are of equal capacity, and even if the building was done in circumstances seemingly identical. You will find a colony whose comb will consist of two-thirds worker and one-third store-cells, the adjacent colony will have but one-sixth of the latter, another a few square inches only. In a hive all the large cells are together, in another they are scattered. Some of these drone-combs are built from top to bottom of the hive, others are at the top only, others at the side, or at the bottom, or scattered, etc.
**226.** These faets, not explainable by themselves, when added to the wonderful habits of bees, have led to the theory that it was with foresight, with perfect knowledge and for a special purpose, that bees construct such a varied proportion of the two kinds of cells. Bees are represented as knowing the sex of the eggs which each kind of cells will receive; and foreseeing that their queen may not live long and that the young queens have to be freundated (**120**), they build large cells in which drones could be raised.
**227.** We have demonstrated (**213**) that bees construct their cells without any geometrical calculation. We had previously (**142**) established that the queen does not know the sex of the eggs she is laying, and although regretting to decrease the charm with which bees were surrounded by the imagination of bee-keepers, we will try to demonstrate that, in the building of cells, they simply follow their inclination; as do all other beings, in the aets that they perform. But we have first to put forward a few facts, which are generally accepted, on wbieh we will ground our reasoning.
**228.** _1st,_ A swarm (**106**), hived on empty frames, always begins its constructions by worker or small cells:
_2d,_ If the queen of a swarm is very prolific, very little of large, or store-comb, will generally be built by her bees:_3d_, If, on the contrary, from old age, or from some other cause, the fecundity of a queen is deficient, her bees will fill the hive with a large quantity of store-combs:
_4th_, If the queen of a swarm is removed, or dies while the bees are building, all the combs, made during her absence, will consist of store-cells:
_5th_, If all or part of the store-combs of a hive are removed, the bees will rebuild large cells, at least three times out of four.
**220.** Besides these five propositions, we will remember that queens generally prefer to lay in small cells (**1.45**), and that they seem to know how to ask the workers to narrow the orifices of the store-cells, when there are no others in the hive to receive their impregnated eggs (**1.46** to **1.4S**).
We have to remark also that, while the queen prefers the narrow cells, the workers prefer to build the wide ones, since they cease to construct worker-cells when the queen is gone, or when she is not on the spot, to remind them, by her presence, that she needs narrow cells for her impregnated eggs (**1.46**), and we will find out the cause of such differences, in the number and in the position of each kind of combs, by following the work of the bees, in some of the circumstances in which they may have to build.
**230.** (_a_) The queen of a swarm is very prolific, the crop is abundant, and the building goes on very fast. The queen lays in all the cells, as soon as begun, disputing for then with the workers, who want to fill them with honey. As she follows the builders, waiting for cells, no large cells are made. After about three weeks, the bees of the first laid eggs begin to leave their cells (**1.21**); the queen goes baek to fill these empty cells, and the workers, henceforth free from restraint, follow their preferences by building store-combs. Result: A few large cells, placed on the side or at the back of the hive.
**231.** (_b_) This other swarm has a queen as prolific as the one above. For two weeks she follows the builders as the first did, laying in the cells as soon as built. But, the crop stopping suddenly, both the building and the laying slacken, when only two-thirds of the constructions are made. Afterthree weeks of scarcity, abundance comes again, and the building is resumed. But the queen is no longer among the workers, waiting for cells; she is at the other end of the hive, where she lays in the cells which were left empty when the larva that they harbored were born. Result: About one-third of store-combs.
**232.** (_c_) This third swarm has a queen whose proliferiness is deficient, yet she has been able to follow the builders for a few days. She is at last left behind, and the workers begin combs with large cells. On reaching these cells, one or two days later, she passes over them without laying (**149**), and rejoins the builders, who hasten to comply with her desire to have worker-cells. But she is soon left behind for the second time, and the workers, unrestrained again, build large cells till she again rejoins them, to be again left behind, and so on. Result: Parts of store-combs mixed, here and there, with worker-combs.
**233.** (_d_) We have removed from a hive all its drone-combs; but as the queen is oceupied in filling empty worker-cells in another part of the hive, the builders, following their preference, reconstruct large cells, thus annulling our work of removal.
**234.** (_e_) We have given one or two combs to a swarm as soon as it was hived, and we wonder why its bees have built so much drone-comb. The cause is obvious: the queen, finding empty cells to fill, remained a long time far from the builders, who, following their inclination, constructed drone-cells.
**235.** We have to utilize the facts just enmueniated. If we desire to prevent a swarm from building too many store-combs, we should watch the builders, and remove the large cells as soon as built; these combs, if worth saving, may be used in the surplus sections. We must remember that, to succeed, it is indispensable that no other cells but the ones to be rebuilt be left at the disposal of the queen. The same rule applies also to the removal of drone-combs at any time; and as the fulfilling of this condition is not always possible, it is better to replace the removed combs with worker comb or comb foundation (**674**).
The above rules are not without exception, for unnoticed circumstances may have some influence on the building of couls; but we think that we have stated the main causes of variation.
PROOLIS.
**236.** This substance, which is used by the bees to coat the inside of the bee-hive, and make it water and air tight, is obtained from the resinous buds and limbs of trees; the different varieties of poplar yield a rich supply. When first gathered, it is usually of a bright golden color, and so sticky that the bees never store it in cells, but apply it at once to the purposes for which they procured it. If a bee is caught while bringing in a load, it will be found to adhere very firmly to her legs.
Huber planted in Spring some branches of the wild poplar, before the leaves were developed, and placed them in pots near his Apiary; the bees alighted on them, separated the folds of the large buds with their forceps, extracted the varnish in threads, and loaded with it first one thigh and then the other; for they convey it like pollen, from one leg to the other. We have seen them thus remove the warm propolis from old bottom-boards standing in the sun.
Propolis is frequently gathered from the alder, horse-elestnut, birch, and willow; and as some think, from punes and other trees of the fir kind. Bees will often enter varnishing shops, attracted evidently by their smell; and in the vicinity of Matamoras, Mexico, where propolis seems to be scarce, we saw them using green paint from window-blinds, and pitch from the rigging of a vessel. Bevan mentions the fact of their carrying off a composition of wax and turpentine from the trees to which it had been applied. Dr. Evans says he has seen them collect the balsamic varnish which coats the young blussian-buds of the hollyhock, and has known them to rest at least ten minutes on the same bud, moulding the balsam with their fore-feet, and transferring it to the hinder legs, as described \(|_{W}\) Huber.
* With merry hum the Willow's copse they scale, The Fir's Dark pyramid, or Poplar palc; Scoop from the Alder's leaf its oozy flood, Or strip the Chestnut's resin-coated bud; Skim the light tear that tips Nareissus' ray, Or round the Hollywood's hoar fragranee play; Then waft their nut-brown loads exulting home, That form a.fret-work for the future comb; Caulk every chink whcre rushing winds may roar, And seal their circling ramparts to the floor." Evans.
**237**. A mixture of wax and propolis being much more adhesive than wax alone, serves admirably to strengthen the attachments of the combs to the top and sides of the live. It' the combs are not filled with honey or brood soon after they are built, they are varnished with a delicate coating of propolis, which adds greatly to their strength; but as this natural varnish impairs their snowy whiteness, the bees ought not to be allowed access to the surplus honey-receptacles, except when about ready to store them with honey. (**731.**)
**238**. Bees make a very liberal use of propolis to fill any eervices about their premises; and as the natural summer-heat of the hive keeps it soft, the bee-moth (**S02**) sejects it as a place of deposit for her eggs. Hives ought, therefore, to be made of lumber entirely free from eracks. The corners, which the bees usually fill with. propolis, may have a melted mixture run into them, consisting of three parts of resin and one of bees wax; this remaining hard during the hottest weather, will bid defiance to the moth.
**239**. Bees gather propolis, especially when they can find neither honey nor pollen in the fields. Thus, during the honey-crop, very little of it is taken. In some countries, they use it much more plentifully, owing to its being found more readily.
**240**. Propolis is hard and brittle in the Winter, and its use by the bees, to glue up ali parts of the hive, has created the greatest objeetion to drawers, close-fitting frames, hinged doors, etc., with 'which some patent hives are provided, and which become entireiy immovabie, when once coated with it. It is, at all times, the greatest hindrance to the neat handing of the combs, and in warn weather daubs the hands of the Apiarist. It can only be cleaned from the fingers by the use, in place of soap, of a few drops of turpentine, alcohol, spirits of hartshorn, or ether.
To clean it from metal surfaces, use steam or boiling water strengthened with lye. Seraping is necessary to remove it from smooth wooden surfaces.
**211**. Propois is sometimes put to a very curious use by the bees.
''\(\Lambda\) snail, having crept into one of M. Reaumur's hives curly in the morning, after crawling about for some time, adhered, by means of its own slime, to one of the glass panes. The bees having discovered the snail, surrounded it, and formed a border of propolis round the verge of its shell, and fastened it so securely to the glass that it became immovable.''--(Bevau.)
''Forever closed the impenetrable door; It naught avails that in its torpid veins Year after year, life's loitering spark remains.'' Evans.
''Maraldi, another eminent Apiarist, states that.i snail without a shell having entered one of his hives, the bees, as soon as they observed it, stung it to death; after which, being unable to dislolege it, they covered it all over with an impervious coat of propolis.''--(Bevan.)
'For soon in fearless ire, their wonder lost, Spring fiercely from the comb the indignant host, Lay the pierced monster breathless on the ground, And elap in joy their victor pinions round: While all in vain concurrent numbers strive-- To heave the slime-girt giant from the hive-- Sure not alone by force instinctive swayed, But blest with reason's soul-directing ail, Alike in man or bee, they haste to pour, Thick, hard'ning as it falls, the flaky shower; Embalmed in shroud of glue theummy lies, No worms invade, no foul miasmas rise.'' Evans.
**2412.** In these instances, who can withhold his aduiration of the ingenuity and judgment of the bees? _In the first case, a troublesome creature gained admission to the hive, which, from its unwieldiness, they could not remove, and which, from the impenetrability of its shell, they could not destroy ; here, then, their only source was to deprive it of locomotion, and to obviate putrefaeth; both which objects they accomplished most skillfully and securely, and, as is usual with these sagacious creatures, at the least possible expense of labor and materials. They applied their cement where alone it was required--round the verge of the shell. _In the latter case,_ to obviate the evil of decay, by the total exclusion of air, they were obliged to be more lavish in the use of their embalming material, and to ease over the "slime-girt giant," so as to guard themselves from his noisome smell. What means more effectual could human wisdom have devised, under similar circumstances?
**2413.** In bygone days, it was a prevalent belief, that when any member of a family died, the bees knew what had happened; and some were superstitious enough to put the hives in mourning, to pacify their sorrowing oceupants; imagining that, unless this was done, the bees would never afterwards prosper! It was frequently asserted that they sometimes took their loss so much to heart, as to alight upon the eoffin whenever it was exposed. A clergyman told the writer that he attended a funeral, where, as soon as the eoffin was brought from the house, the bees gathered upon it so as to excite much alarm. Some years after this oceurrence, being engaged in varnishing a table, the bees alighted upon it in such numbers, as to convince him, that love of varnish, rather than sorrow or respect for the dead, was the oceasioni of their conduct at the funeral. How many superstitions, believed even by intelligent persons, might be as easily explained, if it were possible to ascertain as fully all the faets connected with them!
Whittier has 'written a little poem, 'Telling the Bees," _a propos_ of their knowing of some one's death.
The following is the first stanza of another poem by one of our later writers:
"Out of the house, where the slumberr lay,
Grandfather cane one summer day,
And unler the pleasant oreharl trees
He spake this wise to the nurturing bees:
'The clover bloom that kissed her feet
And the posey bed where she used to play
Hav' honey store, but none so sweet
As are our little one went away.
O bees, sing soft, and, bees, sing low;
For she is gone who loved you so.' "
(Eugene Field.)
**24.** Commercial Uses of Propolis.--"Dissolved in alcohol and filtcrcd, it is used as a varnish, and gives a polish to wood, and a golden color tu tin. A preparation made with finely-ground propolis, gum arabic, license, storax, benzoin, sugar, mitre, and charcoal, in quantities varied at will, is moldled into fumigating cones, for perfuming rooms or halls.'--(Dubini, Mian, 1nsl.)
**24.** The following letter from a noted Russian Apiarist, to Mr. E. Bertrand, then editor of the _Revue International d' alpine,_ will be found of interest:
"During my pleasant stay at your pretty villa, I spoke to you of the utilization of propolis in the varnish of our wooden wave, which resist the dissolving power of hot water so well. I have just found a description of the process, and will communicate it to you.
"Propolis is purchased by hucksters, who psy five copecks--a little over two events--and sometimes even less, for permission to scrap it or plane the propolis from the walls of a hive that has lost its bees. The shavings, covered with propolis, are heated, put into a wax-press, and subjected to the treatment used in the extraction of beeswax; the propolis is then purified in hot water, tu which sulphuric acid is auffled. About fifty per cent. of propolis is thus obtained, which sells at forty cents per pound.
"This propolis is poured into hot linseed-oil and beeswax, in the following proportions: Propolis 1, beeswax '?', oil 2. Previously, the oil should 'linger,' as we say, on the stove, for fifteen or twenty days, that is, remain hot without boiling, to give it the property of drying. The wooden ware is dipped into the above mentioned preparation, and must remain in it ten or fifteen minutes, after which it is cooled, and rubbed and polished with woolen rags.''--(A. Zoubareff, St. Petersburg, Sept. 26, 1882.)
## Chapter 3.
**proof of Rees.--**honey.
**246**. The main food of bees is the honey or nectar, produced by plants and flowers. That honey is a vegetable product was known to the ancient Jews, one of whose Rabbins asks: "Since we may not eat bees, which are _unclean_, why are we allowed to cat honey?" and replies: "Because bees do not _make_ honey, but only _gather_ it from plants and flowers."
**247**. Yet during its sojourn in the honey-sack, the nectar undergoes a chemical change. Most of its eane-sugar, or saccharuse, is changed into grape-sugar, or glucose.* This change is due to its mixture with the saliva of the glands, while in the honey-sack (**63**). "But the eane-sugar yet remains in large proportion in honey gathered on the mountains" (Girard),--or when it is gathered very fast.
**248**. The nectar is produced by the plants in _nectariferous tissues_, in which aceunulations of sugar can be found, and exudes most frequently through small apertures, named _stontta_.
**249**. It contains more or less water, according to the kind of flowers, and the conditions in which it is produced. Some flowers give nectar which is almost completely deprived of water. Such is the _fusrichia_. When the nectar of this flower is produced in very dry weather, it sometimes crystallizes in the blusson, as it comes in contact with the air.
In some other flowers, as in the _Friillaria imperialis_, the nectar contains as much as ninety-five per cent of water. But in many cases, in dry weather and especially in late honey crops, the nectar contains but little water. Although the honey of the summer crop may be said to contain from sixtyto eighty per eent of water, there are many late plants that give honey which needs little evaporation. The honey from heather is said to be difficult to extract from the combs (746), owing to its density.
**250.** The quantity of nectar produced by the flowers decreases during drought, and increases on the first or second day after a rain. But it is then more watery. In some seasons the saccharine juices abound, while in others they are so deficient that bees can obtain scarcely any food from fields all
white with clover. A change in the secretion of honey will often take place so suddenly, that the bees will, in a few hours, pass from idieness to great activity.
As a rule, the quantity of nectar, exuded by the plants, varies according to the time of day and atmospheric conditions. Usually, it is most abundant in the morning. Its quantity decreases as the sun rises higher. At three o'clock in the afternoon, the flowers give the least nectar. Then the yield again increases till dark. In Algeria, Africa, in the neighborhood of Blidah, bees cannot find honey later than eight in the morning.
**251.** It is when the blossom is ready for fertilization, that the nectar is most abundant in it; if it is not gathered by insects, it is re-absorbed by the plant and serves, together with the sugar accumulated in the ovaries, to nourish the seeds.
**252.** The accumulations of sugar in the tissues, may exist, not only in the flower, but in different parts of plants, in the cotyledons, in the leaves, in the stipules, in the bracts, and between the leaves and twigs. They help the development of the tissues.
Sometimes the nectariferous tissues are destitute of stomata or openings. Then the accumulated nectar may force itself through the cuticle or skin of the plant.
The water of the sap, which runs incessantly in the plants, goes out through the different tissues in unequal quantities; as some tissues are more porous than others. Generally, water escapes in the form of steam; but, in some circumstances, when the air is moist, the water is emitted in liquid form, and may carry with it, to the outside, a part of the aeemulations of sugar through which it has passed, thus producing honey-dew. The more sugar this water contains, the slower its evaporation will be.
**253.** The dampness of the soil and of the air, and a temperature producing a profuse transpiration in plants, then a sudden stop of transpiration, are the best conditions to produce the maximum of nectar in the nectariferous tissues and of liquid exudations on the outside.