The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1865-07-12
A Minister and his Bees.


careful study Of nature. He has interest
ei him.elf in watching closely the habits
Of bees, and in n recent lecture in London
gave some of the results of his obserya-
tions. We find some extracts in Lon
don paper:
The lecturer commenced by explaining
why he had chosen this subject, and how
he had acquired his information. He
was in the habit, with his wife and chill
dren, of going down to cottage in Kent,
in the summer months, and as il had
been wisely said the bow must not al
ways be bent, he had sought out amuse-
ment in hours that he could spare from
those duties which devolved on him as "A
minister, AMI he found that amusement
in studying the hive; and the result of
that study was the observations he
would lay before them. At his cottage
he had nearly dozen hives; some of
had glass windows and some had not.-
Frequently during the day he sat by these
hives listened to the music of the inhabit-
ants, and watched their habits, and lot
ted down such observations as occurred
to him. The lecturer proceeded to dcs-
cribe the inhabitants of the hive There
were not three different kinds of bees,
but three species of bees in the same hive
the queen bee, the working bee, and
the drone bee. There was division of
labor among the working bees. There
were the bees that collected the honey.
bees that collected the bee bread, for the
nourshment of the young brood, bees ap-
pointed to shape the cells, others to guard
the hive, and lastly, bees to ventilate the
hive. 1t was "A curious fact that the hon
ey bee did not go from flower to flower,
but selected ore flower upon which it set
tied and labored at that single fowerr.
He could take any of his bees IN his
hand without any fear of their stingino
him, but if Il stranger went near, the
guard at once suspected him, and imme-
diately flew at him. The sentnels reliev-
ed each other at intervals, mounting
guard three or four at a time If a hive
were watched, 1t would be found that
those who were appointed as ventilators
came TO the mouth Of the hive, four of
five at time, and using their wings as
fans kept up II current Of air, so that the
other workers labored in moderate tenn
perature. 1t was curious fact. and
well worthy of notice, that if bee mas
ter. in order to yeDtiate the hive, made
a hnln N thn f,,,N ba H.
closed it up. From this it would seem
that the bees knew that fresh air was es.
seniial to healthy life, but that draught
was pernicious
In describing the queen bee, and the
great Difference and attention paid it by
the other bees, the reverend doctor said
that he had observed that the bees were
very fond of strong drink, and especially
OF rum swectened with sugar. On one
occasion he found the bees in one of his
hives declining, and he gave them some
rum TO revive them. Instead, however.
of using it as u medicine, they drank to
excess; for, on looking into the hive sub
sequenily, he found the ladies in waiting
instead of behaving themselves in their
usual decorous manner. tumbling about,
and the queen herself very totterlng. In
fact, they had got SO drunk that, though
it was in November, they thought it was
swarning time, and rushed out of the
hive, but the frosty air soon sent them
back to their hive and 10 their sober
senses.
Of droncs, or male bees. there were
from l,500 TO 1000 in hive. 1t might
be asked what was the use of 2, 200 drone
bees IN hive, since the queen only se-
lected one as husband, and if the hus-
band died never married another, but re-
mained widow. Well, this was puz-
zling question. He had made discov-
cry which led him TO adopt theory
which he must acknowledge had been op-
posed by certain able apiarians During
the breeding time, when the bees were
developing in the cells appointed for that
purpose, the temperature was never less
than 30 or 90 degrees. During the cool
OF the morning till twelve at noon, the
drones remained in the hive. At twelve
they went ont for an hour or 50, and
then returned to the hive, remaining till
the evening. lie noticed that the time
OF their absence was just when the sun
was hottest, and the drones being fat, be
believed that they remained in the hive
TO keep up the heat. The drones were
drunken, lazy fellows. AS soon as the
queen had selected her husband, the 9TH
er males began to sip the honey, never
doing anything to keep up the stores of
the hive, The other bees must have
learned somewhere the maxim that if any
man will not work neither shall he eat,
for as soon las they began to fll the hive
with honey, they garroted the drones and
threw them out Of the hive.
The lecturer then pointed out the folly
and wickedness Of those who, using the
common straw hives, burned the bees to
get the honey. There were three differ
ent kinds of hives by which this might
be avoided-the storying, the collateral,
and the nadir hives. BY these methods
the bee-master saved his bees, and obtain
ed honey greater in quantity and purer
in quality. lie thought that any one iv-
ing in the country might make fs or fl0