Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1878-06-05
For the Freeman.
A Chat with Farmers.
BY AGRICOLA.

DO you keep bees? If so, and perhaps,
if not so, you may be interested to learn
something more about their habits and
culture.
There are in Great Britain alone no less
than two hundred and fifty species of bees.
The best known. the most widely diffused
and useful of these, is the honey bee. The
common honey bee originated in Asia, be-
quite at home in all parts ofAmerca l need
not describe this wonderful little insect to
you. He is familiar to all, and has left II
painful impression upon any who have
ventured upon his territory during the
"busy season. All may not know that
the bee has six legs and two stomachs, if
they do understand that he has, ut least,
one sting. The bee has wonderful muscu-
lar strength, and the power of rapid and
long continued flight. In 1872 the glass
bee hive was invented. Since that time
the character and habits of the bee have
been studied with great care and success.
There are three kinds of honey bees in
every hive, viz: females, males and
workers. The females are called queens,
but only one can live in the same hive at
the same time. Her presence is indispen-
sable to the establishment and main
tenance of the government The males
are called drones, and may exist by hun
dreds and thousands in every hive, but
they do not work. The workers are still
more numerous, and are special class by
themselves.
Here we have monarchy as completely
organized and systematized as any despo
tism on earth, with queen on the throne
Or we may consider the bee hive from an
other standpoint. and call it, community
--Mormunism inverted!--not many wive
to one husband, but many husbands to on'
wife, and she the queen of the realm
These husbands are all drones, living OIL
their dignity and priding themselves OF
their royalty! There is, then, an aristocra
CIV of nature, and manifested in the in
stincts of the insect world, and it seem
to be hereditary. Have the kingdoms O
the earth copied the government of tn
bee hive?
The queen bee lays the eggs from whic
the race is perpetuated. The males Z" han
round " in idleness until they die or ar
killed. The workers secrete the wa2
build the cells, and feed and protect th'
Young. The males have no weapons c
defence, anu uTOHcS dS tiley dIo' thoy nav
no right to defend themselves. The f
male workers have stings at the end {
the abdomen. This weapon consists {
one extensile sheath. enclosing two need
shaped darts of extreme fineness, place
side by side. Towards the end these dar
are armed with minute teeth, like saw
The sting is worked by powerful muscle
which drive it one-twelfth of an inch I'M
the thick skin of the hand. When Il
sting enters the flesh an acid poison col
tanned in bag near the base is squeeze
into the wound, and swelling and acu
pain result. When colony of enrage
bees, whose hive has been upset, attack
man or beast, his life even is in peril.
The workers are more fierce and wa
like than the queens, though both Al
alike EARNED and equipped as the law d
reefs" ...
The three kinds of bees which l hay
described are of different size, and ms
be easily recognized. The queen is Il
largest, the male the next in size, and u
worker the smallest. In length the
measure respectively, eight and hal