The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1878-05-01
Something About Bees.


ing was your own fault, for no doub
you troubled the bees in some wav. anf
their sting is the only thing thew hav,
with which to protect their preciou,
store OF honey and wax. You remetnbe,
what we said about that sting the othsl
day that it was so small that Won couldn'i
see 1t even with a magnifying glass that
made the point of needle apr ear to he
quarter OF an inch broad andyet how
that sting can hurt
Every swarm of bees contained in
these little bee houses that MANY of Won
VINO i've In the country, have seen so
often, is composed of three different
klnds-the queen, the workers, and the
drones. The queen is not the only fe-
male In the swarm, but she is the only
perfect female. All the worker-bees
are females, but not perfect ones, and
/. are the males. '
How busy the workers are They
gather all the honey and bee glue, feed
the young and keep the hives clean. and
siter the close OF the honey season they
kill off all the drones.
With the exception of the queen. all
the bees in hive die in about nine
months, so every winter finds new bees
In the swarm. The queen laws from
1000 to 5000 eggs day, and hive
sometimes contains 20, 1000 bees.
There is very funny thing about
these eggs, and that is that, while all of
them are alike when they are laid, the
workers feed the maggots with different
Kinds OF food to make the different kinds
OF oee-the drones, workers and queens.
Inc queen deposits eggs first for the
workers, and then for the drones and
queens. The queen has sting which
sne never uses, except in fighting with
other queen bees. After the bees have
peen hard at work all day they go to bed
by cllng1ng to each other by the feet
thus making long chains hung from the
top OF the hive. One bee fastens him
self to the ceiling, and the next one
cllngs with its fore-feet to the hind-feet
OF the one above, and SO on, until bun-
dreds are fastened together. We
shouldn't think that the top bee who
has to hold all this string would call II
much of rest.
The bees, beside knowing a great
many other things, know enough to 90
into the house when it rains. If a clond
comes up in the west, they fly awav
home as fast as their wings will carry
them.
Let us see how the workers make this
bee-bread with which the younp bees
are led. The worker starts out on her
travels and comes to big flower and
MES into 1t. When she comes out she
ls covered from head to tail with pollen
which sticks to her legs and the hairs
over her body. She takes her first pair
of legs aud dusts, herself off, and passes
Tn dust to the middle pair and from
them to her hind legs. With the last
Palr OF legs she works the pollen into
little bits of balls. This she does be-
tore gong home, and sometimes she gets
SO heavily laden that when she reaches
the hive she has to call other bees to helm
her unload into pollen cell. Then the
pee works over the pellets until they
become soft paste, and then it is in q
condition to give to the little bees larvfe
When the larvae gets so big with eating
Us to nil its cell, the workers don't feed
IT any more, but cover the mouth of the
cell with wax. Then the larvae. who is
u prisoner, begins to cover the inside of
Its cell with silk, which it spins Just as
the silk worm does.
Then wonderful changes take place in
the chrysalis, and by and by out comes
the perfect bee.
=, Let us see how they build their cells.
Thomas says:
They generally begin at the top or
roof of their chamber and build down.
ward, at first working irreguIarly. and.
as it were, pasting over the surface. and
building horizontal cells of a more per-
form ~
numerous that they extend downward
IA the form OF a vertical wall, other con-
gerles "a collection of several bodies in
one massl OF cells are formed in success
SION, until the whole comb assumes the |
form OF a series of perpendicular plates
or partitions. Each plate consists of a |
double set of cells, the bottoms of which /
are applied to each other, and form the |
partition between each set The cells |
are not always of the same size, but a |
sufficient number of a given depth are
reserved for receiving eggs, and which
are necessarily adapted to the size of the |
future maggot; the smaller or shallower
cells are those in which the honey is
stored.
The breeding and store cells are
placed horizontally, but the mouth of
the cell is sometimes little raised, the
better to retain the honey. The inter
space between the vertical combs is gen.
srally about half an inch; these streets,
as they may be termed, in this city of
industry, being just wide enough to al
low two bees busted upon the opposite
cells to pass without incommoding each
other. In addition to these interspaces
the combs are perforated in various
places, so as to allow passage for the
bees from one street to another. thus
saving them much time"
Don't you call that wonderful 4? But
We find 80 many other things of interest
lhat it will be impossible to tell all about
Them this time. There are the swarm
ings. the wild bees, the gathering of the