Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-01-05

queen bee.
The food which they feed to the
Young queen that is to be, is mix
ture of honey and bee-bread.' This
food is called by the bce-kecpcr ''roy-
al jelly" The working bees are all
females--imperiectly developed fc-
malcs--and it follows that il yon take
any young working bee and give her
plenty to eat and room to grow, and
nothing to do. in time she will be-
come a queen bee. There's a moral
rs is moral for you.
The drones are all perfectly devcl-
oped male becs--lazy gentlemen who
bask in the sunshine and eat. A male
bee never works any. The bees who
do all the work. inside and ont.arc All
females--imperfectly developed fe-
male bees. 1t requires l6 DAYS to
hatch a queen, and 81 days to hatch a
working bee, and longer to hatch a
drOne than any of the rest. q DAYS be-
ing required for that.
The female working bees appear
satisfied with their lot in life, in gen
eral. and fully persuaded that it is
their mission to make honey for the
gentlemen drones to eat. But, mark
YOU. as Winter approaches. OF if there
has been poor honey harvest. the
female working bees appoint regu-
lar day of knock down and drag out,
and sting all the gentlemen drones to
death with fearful slaughter, so that
the store OF honey may last the queen
and the workers through the Winter.
There's another moral from the life
of the bee. and it is not found in Dir.
Watts. either.
Nature does not provide gentlemen
drones with stings.sO there is nothing
left for them but to submit to be stung
TO death by the infuriated females
Yet another moral not to be found in
DIR. Watts. GLOW the morals do come
in in showers along here y The fe-
male bee has to do all the work, but
she also is alone provided with a
sting. Very proper, indeed,
Bee-keepers have now learned 10
control the rearing of bees almost at
pleasure, and produce them of such
kinds and in such numbers as they
want. This gives bcc-keepcrs great
advantage in rearing queen bees from
any given choice stock, for blooded |
stock is as important in bees as it is
in horses or people.
An enthusiastic bee-keeper some
time ago tried very singular expe-
riment. He took a frame of brood |
cells full of Young unmatched bees, |
away from the hive, and put il by |
itself. There was no queen bee cell |
among them, and of course the Young
bees as they hatched out never saw or |
heard of such Il creature as queen |
bee. Nevertheless, with that strange,
instinct which is past
finding out by the wisest of us. these
young bees were innately conscious
Of their loss, and as soon as they
,onld move about, built out and elon-
gated a cell, and fed the larva in ii,
md actually reared a queen for them
selves. When we find out how these
young bees know enough to do that,
we shall be some centuries wiser than
we are now.
Let me show you q queen bee,
said our friend. He dived down into
Ihe bunch of bees, with his hand, just
As you would put your hand into
bag of peanuts, showed the bees aside |
This way and that. and finally held up
1n his fingers the royal lady herself !
She was nearly twice as large as the
resi, and of a shape.y form, with a
shining downy coat all over her, and
royal yellow stripes of great brilliancy |
across her queenly back.