The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1879-09-26

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group or to ascertain that the tongue
was the only instrument used in
moulding the wax, is more than can
comprehend. have had glass hives
and put swarms in them, and always
found the first rudiments of comb SO
entirely covered with bees as to be un-
able to see anything of the operation"
Still, there are times that as the bees
approach the sides. of the glass one can
see the wonderful workings Of these
insects. I have a swarm working in
tumbfers, placed over holes made in
the honey board, and this placed over
the brood chamber. To induce them
to work rapidly, put small pieces Of
comb in the tops, and in watching the
bees as they worked the comb down
the sides of the glass, I found that they
did not take the scale from their own
bodies, but from each other, as it was
secreted, and piece by piece welded to
the edges or walls of the cells. Nor do
they seem to use that frothy liquid de-
scribed, but the wax being warm from
the body of the bee and from the heat
below worked smoothly and easily.
In old-fashioned hives the bees were
allowed to build comb as they pleased,
hence they started in many places at
the same time; some parallel with the
sides of tho hive, when, perhaps, in
the far corner the bees were working
in the opposite direction. I once opened
hive in which the comb was rolled
around like a scroll. With the new
frame hive We regulate the shape,
length and depth; we have ten bars in
the first story and along these bars we
have comb guides from which the bees
suspend their combs, forcing them to
build straight. Although some would
say, "Why not leave them as nature
made them ?'' This, like everything
else, has been improved by art, and
although crooked combs do not seem
to interfere with brood raising, they
certainly do, and there is great econo-
my in having straight combs. In box
hives we find crooked combs and small
patches of brood on the even places,
the bees filing the irregular places,
! crooks and turns, with honey and
pollen. In frames where the combs
are straight you have broad sheet of
| brood with its rainbow of honey; and
as this is an emblem of promise to
earth, so is it an emblem of prosperity
to bees.
The cells thus made are divided in
three sizes-drone the largest, honey
next, and worker smallest. The drone
! hexagonal, but as these two sizes are
often made on the same card or frame,
the bees make irregular shaped cells
| between as they also do when two
pieces of comb has been made, and in
meeting the hexagon does not match.
Mr.. Langstroth says, "The cells of
bees are found to fulfill perfectly the
most subtle conditions of an intricate
mathematical problem. Let it be re-
quired to find what shape a given
quantity of matter must take in order
to have the greatest capacity and
strength, occupying at the same time
the least space, and consuming the
least labor In its construction. When
this problem is solved by the most re-
fined mathematical process, the an
swer is the hexagon or six-sided cell of
the honey bee, with its three four
sided figures at its base.'
Is it chance that has given these in
sects this knowledge? Do they really
calculate, as they seem to do, that they
have chosen shape for their cells that
though intricate, are so regularly made
to meet their many requirements? OF
| this instinct Evans has beautifully said:
On books deep po%5ing ye pale sons Of toll
oil,
Say, can ye emulate, with all your rules
Drawn from Grecian or from Gothic schools,
This artless frame? Instinct her simple
A heaven-taught insect battles all your
Not ali You marshalrd orbs that ride so
Proclaim more loud present Deity
| Than the nice symmetry of these small cells,
Where s. on each angle genuine science