The Princeton union., 1878-05-29
HOUSE AND FARM.
something ABOUT Bee,.

OSNANAoS
probably have been stung. But 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 small that you couldn't see
it even with magnitying glass that
made the point of needle appear to be
a quarter Of an inch broad and yet 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 fe-
male in the swarm, but she is the only
perfect female. All the worker.bees are
females, but rot perfect ones, and the
drones, who never do any wsrk at all,
are the males.
How bnsy the workers are! They
gather all tile honey ana bee-glue, feed
the young and keep the hives clean, and
after the close of the honey season they
kill OFT all the drOnes. 90
With the exception of the queen, all
the bees in nive die in about nine
months, so every winter finds new bees
in: the swarm. The queen lays from
1000 to 5000 eggs day, and hive
sometimes contains 10000 bees,
There is a 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 for the drones
and queens. The queen has sting
which she never uses, except in fighting
with other queen bees. After the bees
haye been hard at work all day they 60 to
bed by clinging to each others blythe feet,
thus making long chains hung from the
top Of the hive. One bee fastens him
self to the CEILING, and the next one
clings with its fore-feet to the hind-f feet
Of the one above, and so on, until hun
dreds arc fastened together. We shouldn't
think that the top bee who has to hold
all this string would call it much of
rest,
The bees, beside knowing a great
many other things, know enough to 90
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 see 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 and
HES 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
Awe she has to call other bees to help
her unload into pollen cell. Then the
bee No:ks over the pellets until they
become soft paste, and then it is in
condition to give to the little bees larvae.
When the larva gets SO big with eating
as to fill its cell, the workers don't feed
it any more, but cover the mouth of the
cell with wax. Then the larve, who is
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:
"Thcy generally begin at the top or
roof OF their chamber and bniid down
wald, at first working irregularly, and,
as it were, psst:ng over the surface, and
building horizontal cells Of mere per-
feet form. These at length become so
numerous that they extend downward in
the form OF a vertical wall. other con-
gerles Ga collection OF several bodies in
one mass) OF cells arc 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
arc not always Of the same size, but a
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
shal)ower 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 a 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 theso interspaces
the combs are perforated in various
places, so as to allow passage for the
bees fr,m one street to another, thus
saving them much time"
Don't you call that wonderful? 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 four feet long. At some other
of 1,,l>