National Republican., 1875-06-05
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raj prOductiOns-cOttOn and maize, or Indian
corn. The neck is eDtwined with the primrose
and ivy. illustrating truth and old age.
The famous line. commencing Truth crushed
TO earth" is also given here in the form OF an or
namental border. The ornament at the foot oi
the vase is the water lily; symbol Of elOquence
in Illustration OF Mr.. Bryants Oratorical poe ms
The handles are graceful In outline, aud are or
pantnted with the Indian corn and cotton; white
perched over all, in representation Of humorous
verse. The base has the Tyre. the crossed peni
and the broken Shackles, EN- blems which sum III
Tic life and work Of the oct. -
The Wonderful Character ofthe Honey Bee.
OIalI the insect tribe none has more justly ey
cited the attention and admiration Of manklnC
than the honey bee; and yet, although it has en-
gagged the study of naturallsts for two thous anC
years, we still occasionally find, in the economy
Of this social and industrious little animal. sOmt
ob>cuTely known or unelucidated fact which il
thought worthy of the labOrs Of those who devote
II cir time and abilities to this interesting Drauet
o! natural science. In this article VIC have th'
space TO speak only briefly of the life and habit!
o the queen bee.
a beehive contains three kinds of individuals
the queen, drCnCs and workers. The queen is 9
female, and rot only the ruler but in great part
the mother of the community. The drOneS art
males. and the workers are abOrttSe females. Th'
sole Office Of a queen appears to be the laying o
eggs, and this occupies her almost inccSslntly y
a single one only deposited in e;ch cell. thu,
causing her TO be in continual IN ltiOn. She is
slow and majestic in bcr movements. and differs
from the workers in being larger, having longer
body, shorter wings and a Gu we'd sting. The
queen bee is accompanied by guard OF twelve
workers, office which is taken in turn but never
intermitted. In whatever direction she wishes TO
travel these guards clear the way before her, al
ways with the utmost courtesy turning their ia
towards her and " hen she rests from her IShors,
approaching her with hu nility, licking her face,
mouth and eyes, and appearing TO fond 70 her with
their BnIChnP.
The drones are all males. They are smaller
than her Majesty, the queen. hut larger than
the workers. They live on the honey OF flowers,
but bring none home and are wholly useless en-
cept az be Dg the fathers of the fu ure progeny.
When his Office is ACCOMPLISHED they are de-
strOyed by the workers. The workers do the en-
tire work OF the com annuity. They build the
cells guard the hive and queen, collect and store
tie honey. elaborate the way, feed the young.
kill the drOnes, &c. Tie average number OF
these three kinds OF bees ih a hive is one queen,
700 drCnes Ond 10000 workers. The eggs are
long. slightly curved, and Of blush color.
When laid they are covered ylth ElutnOus
matter, which instantly dries, attaching them to
the bottom Of the cell. For eleven months the
queen lays only workers eggs: afterwards those
which produce droEes. As soon as the change
has aiken place the workers begin to construct
royal cells, in which, without disseminating to
lay drOnes' eggs, the queen deposits hero and
there, (sbout once in three days,) an egg, which
iE destined TO produce queen. The Worker4'
eggs hatch in few days, and produce little
white maggots. which at once open their mouths
TO be fed. These the workers attend TO. In six
days each naggot fills up its cell. 1t is then
rooted in ny the workers: spins q suEel e5cOon,
and becomes a chrysalis and upon the twenty
first day comes forth perfect bee. The drOnes
emerge on the twenty fifth day, and the queens
on the sixteenth. 1t sometimes happens that
the queen dies. or something evil befAlls her, 10
" hIch case, of course, the hive is left without
queen. For l. hours little notice is taken of the
loss. 1t appears not to be known, and the work
ers labor on as usual.
After that period hubbub commences; work is
ahardored; the whole hive is in uprOar; every
bee trayerses the hive 1T random. and with the
most evident want Of purpose. This STATE Ji an
archy sometimes continues Tor two days: then the
bees gather in clusters of dozen So, as though
TO he fixed resolution to supply her loss. 4 lew
Of the workers repair to the cells in which are
deposited the eggs OF the workers; three Of these
cells are quickly broken into one, the edges pol
ished ana the sides smoothed and round "a, 4
single egg being allowed to remain at the bottom
When this egg matches the maggOt 10 fed with q
peculiarly nutritive food called f'royed Le bre
which is never given to any msggOJs b It such as
are to produce queens When Tnis is done work
is resumed. and everything gJes On Us beiJro,
and in due time.
The Reading Of Books.
Ruskin very appositely says that ''you might
read all the books in the British Museum (if you
could live long enough and remain an utterly
iIliterate, uneducated person; but if you read
ten pages oi a good book, letter by letter, aud
with real accuracy, you are, in some me ISure
educated The ditieIenceDeLWeen education and
nOn-educatiOn exists in accuracy. Nearly every
word in our language has Oecn, tlrst word OF
some other lHnguage-Ot Saxon. German. Greek
Latin or FTench-nOt to mention the Eastern pri n
itiYC dialects. Many OF these have been under
going a change Of sense or use on the lips OF each
nation. hut retaining their deep, vital manning.
II you do not know your Greek alphabet, learn
il. Young OF old, girl " boy, whoever you may
be. il you wish TO read seriously, then get good
dictionaries, and when in doubt about word
hunt it down patiently. This does not imply
lesrniUg Greek Latin, or French. 1t take: half
lifetime 10 learn a lang guage perfectly
High Vandalism.
The fatLer Of the great queen Of France c Itha-
rine di MedCi, Alexander, son Of Lorenzo di
Nedici i mcurioled in the family histories as hlv-
ing been treacherousIy murdered by relative in
I::57 and buried in the tomb OF hts father in the
AediCcan chapel OF he church Of san Lorenzo, in
Florence. This noble chapel. which received on
its " hilC and black marbles thc immOrtI! decO.
ration 0, Michael Angeles WORK. has been this
sPT.HZ tic scene OF an outrage upon the stnctity
OF tho tUmbS not lately paTalleleu, and most gen
orally deprecated and dC9uunced. Certain Flor
entiLc citizens and scientists, more enviOus til IN
TeVc-enf have forced ppencd he tomb Of I,Nreuzo
and handled the bones Of its two occupants
decidedly roC=h. The bodies were daily
discovered 81 the sarcOpha gus-One, that oil
Lorenzo, clad in black. and with its head con-
cealed under the black tunic covering the body:
heOthcT, that OF Alexander, was clad in white a
white embroidered sLirt OTDamented with lace,
ard the legs covered with white leggings. Time,
edGT rtTuE, had thus strangely provided TIE
developments Of these bodies Another curious
Ol
Of Alexander. 1t is black. curly hair, Of coarse
quality. such as indicates the mixed blOod-NOOr.
ish and lJaliaG-Oi its owner. The traces of more
tai wounds discovered upon his body prove the
accounts OF his assassination handed down since
his time to have been correct 1t Is repOrta that
the bodies were rudely handled, and cast Ick
again into the marble sarcOphagus as though
they had been 1.-The bones Of a dog" What a
comment upon the transient nature Of worldly
greatness, This man was the father OF Catherine
di NcdiC!, sOnin-laT OF Charles '.
Earthenware-Bernard Palsy.
To give the date when vessels were FIRST fash
iOned rom the earth and bakel would lead u.
back to the very Threshold Of time. From evca
vations along the Nile fragments CT pottery have
been thrown up from a depth Of thirty-nine feet
and This furnishes 4 record OF nearly "A OJJ year:
for the age Ui We read Of the potter
wheel long before he time lob. In old Greece
the pvtters had medals and h0nOrs and statues
The greatest ol sculPtCI> mad designs lUr them
and where yer the Romans remained as cUnJu=r
urs they 50 up kilns and pOrteres, and DR. New
man tells Oi an idol in China TO which the p)tteI
pTayE. il would in crest our readers to trac the
history oil pottery closely down to l5i0. the timG
OF Bernard Palissy, bui our limits forbid it. 4
that tin Palsy was about iUrty years old, an
was then suffering m4rtyTdUm in the perls;-
tlOn Of his invention.
lie mad ability in drawing, design and in chem
istry, and he was inspired by seeing cup O
enamelleG pottery to seek for the secret Of
making it, and Tor sixteen lO0g years he ap
piled himself to the task against the advice Ol
his friends and all the obstacles of poverty
When his wife and children we're absOluteiy y
starving, and when he had actually sold the
clothes of his back, he kept up the fires In hi:
furnace by throwing in what few chairs and
;ables he had left. He now regarded as q
mad man. but with this last fire success came
and Palsy was rewarded Tor all his toll. He
found kings and queens among his patrons, and
statues, altar pieces, stove tiles and immense
quantities Of dishes and vases all bore his mark
Then. again, trouble in q new form overlook him
lie reiOrmer, and the Old Church party
destroyed his workshops at Sautes. and had hiT
arrested. The King demanded him. and on the
night OF the massacre OF ST. Bartholomew he LAY
in the TulIeres. In a few years he was lodged
10 the bastiIP and he died in prison at the age o
ninety in I-S9. In genuine Palissy the fossil
shells he used are recognized by naturaliSts. Hi
fish are those OF the Seine. and the plants ant
reptiles all belong to the locality Of Paris. Iii
rustic pieces were used as ornaments, princpali!
on Bullets SO exact were bis limitations Of nature
II lie only at rare intervals that a specimen Of hi
ware is seen in this country.
CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL.
sf.