The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-09-11
ABOUT BEES.
BLOW DOTH the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every Openino flOwer.n


From every opening flower"
know you have seen them-those
wonderful little workers-gathering
honey from the flowers; but perhaps
you did not know quite how they man
aged matters.
If you have noticed bees very close
ly, you may have seen that they are
not all alike in size. The drOnes, the
idle ones who never work at all, are
the largest, and make a great buzzing,
like many idle people. They have no
stings, SO that they cannot defend
themselves against their enemies.
These idle ones would be glad to live
in the hive all winter and eat up the
honey, but the working bees know bet
ter than to let them do that, and as
soon as summer is over they are all
driven out of the hive, and perish out
side, or are stung to death by their in
dignant comrades within.
The workers are smaller, are pro-
vided with sharp stings, and are very
busy little bodies. They are divided
into two kinds, the nurses and the wax
workers. The former are the weakest
and smallest, and attend to the lighter
work. They keep the hive clean, help
to finish the cells which the others
have commenced, feed the grubs and
gather honey. The wax-workers COL
lect materials for constructing the
cells, and do the most burdensome part
of the building; see that there is plenty
of provision in the hive; prepare wax;
defend the hive from enemies; so that
they have very little time to be idle,
and are probably great deal happier
than the drones who eat up the work
ers' honey.
But, beside the drones and the work
ers, there is a very important person
age in the hive, called the queen, who
requires great amount of attention
from her subjects. The welfare of the
hive depends upon the life and pros
perity Of the queen, and every worker
is ready to feed and defend her at the
sacrifice of its own life. She is longer
than the other bees, and has very short
wings, by which she may easily be
known; beside. she moves with more
dignity tnan her followers, and is very
politely treated by every one. She
leads very idle life, yet is provided
with powerful sting. that she may
defend herself, and so has the same adj
vantage, in this respect, as the work.
ers. So important is the queen, that if
she dies or is killed the whole hive is
in confusion, and if another queen cam
not be produced, the swarm dwindles
and dies.
You may wonder that such little
creatures can carry so much material
and do so much work, but if you ex-
anime them carefully you will find they
have both hands and baskets, and are
fitted, by wise and kind Creator, for
the very work they have to do. The
workers have six legs, and the hind pair
is provided with curious little baskets
or pockets, bristling with many hairs
around the edges to prevent any ma
terial deposited within them from fall
Fling out during the bees fight. Here is
placed all the necessary material for
use in the hive, which is carried home
safely. At the end of the legs are little
hooks by which they can hold them
selves securely wherever they may wish
to be, and they are also of such shape
that they may be used to grapple or
handle, and answer the place of hands.
The two pair of front legs are fur
nished with numbers of little hairs,
which answer to brush the pollen from
their legs and bodies, and are useful
little brushes, for you know the pollen
used as food in the hive is caught from
the hearts of the flowers on the bodies
of the bees, and so carried home or de-
posted in the little pockets, which
seem to be the safest and best way.
The honey could not be carried in the
little pockets, as they would be unfit for
other purposes; so the workers are
each provided with membrane, or
bag, in the under part Of the body.
where the honey drawn from the
flowers is deposited, and from whence
it is put into the cells prepared for it
in the hive.
The very first thing the bees do in
taking possession of new hive is to &C.
ment it all around with a resinous SUBJ
stance called propolis, taken from the
buds of trees, with which every chink
is filled, and the top of the hive well
coated, that they may the easier fasten
the combs to it. They then divide into
little companies, and drawing small
pieces of wax from their bodies by
means of their little hooked hands,
shape them into tiny balls with their
mandibles, and secure them to the top
of the hive. So they 60 on drawing
wax from their bodies, kneading it and
attaching it to that which they put on
before, and by pressure form it into the
six. sided cells, which are wonderful
buildings for such insects to make.
But if you think the making and knead-
| ing and fashioning of wax into six-sided
cells is wonderful, what will you say
when tell you that these cells have
about them that which is still more
wonderful? When the comb is all
made ready for use the queen bee is
sent for, and she goes over the whole
comb, laying an egg in every cell. The
eggs are all alike, but the cells in which
they are put are of three different sizes,
and the future of the young bees which
are to come from the eggs depends en-
tirely upon the size Of the cell into
which each egg may fail. One size
produces only drones, another size pro-
duces only workers; the royal cells are
reserved for the queens. The attend
ants, who follow the queen while de-
posting the eggs, watch carefully that
only one remains in each, and it. by