Iowa territorial gazette and advertiser., 1842-10-22
Agricultural Department.
THE HONEY BEE.

In that very interesting and entertain |
ing book. 's.Jesse's Gleanings in Natural |
llistory," there is an extremely curious
account e the operations Of the Queen
Bee, which is as novel as i, is entertain
ing; and as the attention Of the public has
been drawn to the business Of bee breed
ing, by the many works and essays that
have lately been publish he'd both in the
Cabinet and elsewhere, think it proba
bic that your readers would be pleased
most pleasing works that has ever ar.
peared on that universal topic. The
natural history Of beasts, birds. and fish
es." Speaking Of tic honey bee. the
writer says, 81 have some exiscria.cn' al
hives, which enable nc very accurately 10
inspectthc operations olmy bees; from Tic
construction Of these hives, the combs
are necessarily built between two panes
Of glass, SO that on drawing the slilers.
thetwo surfaces of aromb are exposed to
view. In this way am able to see al
most every thing that is going forward
And have observed, that when the
queen-bee has an inclination 10 d.aosil
her eggs, she goes iog.h, accompanied
by six or eight working bees as a guard.
whose stomachs are filled with honey.
She is very deliberate in her motions,
and seems 10 proceed with great caution:
she first looks into ii csll and il she finds
it perfectly empty, she draws up her long
body and lepositrs an egg. In this way
.he slowly proceeds till she has droppci
ten or twelve eggs. when. perhaps feeling
exhausted, she IS fed by one Of the al
tcndant bees, who have surrounded her
the whole time: and ;h,s is done by lie
bee eisciing the honey from its stomach.
into tho mouth Of the queen; when this
la. been done. the bee ges away and
another taxes its place. The operation
of laying hcr eggs again goes Oh, and is
agan succeeded by The same mode OF
feeding, the attendant bees frequently
touching the antennm Of the queen with
their own. When the operation Of lay
ing the eggs is completed, AMI it gener-
uily occupies some time. tIteqaean .elires
10 that part oflhe hive which is most fill
cd with bees. Daring her progress, the
surface Of the combs is very Ii;tle intrn
eed upon. and the spacslwers parposeIy
10 ba lett unoccupicd; some few of the
coils, however, in a broad comb. are pass
81 over by the queen, and afterwards
filled, either with honey or iariua; these
serving as deposits Of food. from which
the neighboring brood may be fed more
readily, as such cells are never covered
with wax. have for many years watch
ed my hives with the creates. caro- and
assidnity, bu; have never yet seen the
queen bee leave the hive, cxcep, at the
time Of swarming. Her person is SO
sssily distinguished from the other bees
by any one at all conyersant with them.
that If tho qnccn-bee absented herself!
from the hive in the way that Huber de-
scribes her as doing, il seems next to i'm
possible that she should not have been
perceived. either on her departure from,
or her return to the hive.
The vision Of bees seems very i.npcr-
feet; We frequently turned 4 hive, SO
as to make the entrance about two or
three inches from its former position, and
have then always found the bees at loss
to gain admi'tance; indeed, they seem
rather to. feel their way than to see II, al
ter they have once landed themselves an
the platform cf their hives Their pro-
gress through the air is alwsy made in
. direct line to the hive, and t,ac instinct
which enables them to find i, a.nongs,
forty or fifty others placed in row, and
90 nearly similar 10 each other, is very
striking MI. Rogers, in his 'P!easures
Of Memory has pretty idea on this
subject
.lhe y.ried scent. that charmed her >. .s, re
he thinks might point out the way Of her
return to The hive.
The summer Of 1913 was unusually
dry and hot, and in July, flowers Of ii.
most every description had entirely DIS
appeared; observed that the bees. in
consequence of this, seldom left their
hives in search Of honey although the
weather, one would have tholght, would
have tempted them out; they seemed, in.
deed, to be perfectly aware that their la
bors would be useless. recol!ect meet.
ing with an account OF q hive Of bees be.
ing transported from distant place 10
sIot By the side Of Q mountain in ltaly.
where they could procure honey all The
year round; and finding this to be the
case, they soon gave up stocking their
hive, and only went out to collec. honey
as they wanted it; and the same obserya
ton has been made on bees taken from
Europ 10 tie West Indies, who the first
year stored their hives as usual, but new
err afterwards; merely supplying them
selves with food from day-to day.
The lower orders Of people in some
places have curious snperstitions respect
ing bees; "a poor widow told me she had
lost all her hives, and on inquiring the
cause, she informed mc, that on the death