River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1878-05-30
HOUSE AND FARM.
something About fgees.

because you are afraid of them, and
probably have been stung. Bnt you
must remember that after all, the sting
ing was your own fault, for no doubt
you troubled the bees in some way, and
their sting is the only thing they have
with which to protect their precious store
of honey and wax. You remember what
we said about that sting the other day
that it was so email that you cOuldn see
it even with magnifying glass that
made the point of a needle appear to he
a quarter of an inch broad and vet how
that sting can hurt!
Every swarm of bees contained in
these little bee houses that many of you
who live in the country, have seen so
often, is composed of three different
kinds-the queen, the workers, and the
drones. The queen is not the only f'-
male in the swarm, but she is the only
perfect female. All the worker-bees are
females, but lot perfect ones, and the
drones, who never do any wgrk ar all,
are the males.
How bnsy the workers are! They
gather all the honey ana bee-glue, feed
the young and keep the hives clean, and
after the close of the honey season they
With the exception of the queen. all
the bees in nivc die in about nine
months, so every winter finds new bees
in the swarm. The queen lays from
1000 to 1900 eggs dav, and a hive
sometimes contains 10000 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 bee-the drOnes, workers and
queens. The queen deposits eggs first
for the workers, and then fer the drones
and queens. The queen has q sting
which she never uses, except in fighting
with other queen bees. After the bees
have been hard at work all day they 90 TO
bed by clinging to each others blythe feet,
thus making long chains hung from tie
top of the hive. One bee fastens him
self to the CEILING, and the next one
clings with its fore-feet TO the hind feet
of the one above, and so on, until hun
dreds are fastened together. We shouldn't
think that the top bee who has to hold
all this string would call it much of a
rest.
The bees, beside knowing a great
many other things, know enough to go
into the house when it rains. If a cloud
comes up in the west, they fly away
home as fast as their wings will carry
them.
Let us sec how the workers make this
bee-bread with which the young bees
are ted. The worker starts out on her
travels and comes to a big flower ard
flies into it, When she comes out she is
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 and dusts herself off, and pass
es this dust to the middle pair and from
them to her hind legs. With the last
pair of legs she works the pollen into
little bits OF balls. This she does before
going home, and sometimes she gets so
heavily laden that when she reaches the
hive she has to call other bees to help
her unload into pollen cell. Then the
bee works over the pellets until they
become soft paste, and then 1t Is IN
condition to give TO the little bees larvte.
When the Larvae gets so big with eating
SO To fill its cell, the workers don't feed
ii anv more, but cover the mouth of the
cell with wax. Then the larvae, who Is Il
prisoner, begins to cover the inside of
its cell with silk. which il spins just as
the silk worm does.
Then wonderful changes take place in
the chrvsalis, 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 |
waId, at first working irregularly, and, |
rs it were, FASTING over the surface, and |
building horizontal cells of more peg !
feet form These at length become so
numerous that they extend downward in
the form of vertical wall. other con-
gerles "a collection Ct several bodies in
one mass) of cells are formed in success
sion, until the whole cGnb assumes the
form of series of perpendicular psatest
or partitions. Each plate consists OF
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
sufficient number Of given depth
ale 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.
UC DlctultlS NAC wis ~
placed horizontally, but the mouth of
the cell is sometimes lite raised, the
better to retain the honey. The inter-
space between the vertical combs is gen.
orally 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 thesc interspaces
the combs are perforated in various
places, so as to allow passage for the
bees fr5m one street to another, thus
saving them much time"
Don't you call that wonderfnls But
we find so many other things of interest
that it will be impossible to tell all about
them this time. There are the swarm
ings, the wild bees, the gathering OF the
honey. bags, which some of the wild bees
build from the branches of trees in great
masses f ur feet long. At some other
meeting of the club we will talk over all
these matters.-N. Y. Tribune.