The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1886-01-01
The Busy Bees.
Written for Tn LEISURE Hour.

Written for TIM LElsuRR Hour
BY j. A. j.
Examine q swarm ut this season of
the year, and there will he found one
perfect queen, and from two or three
thousand to twenty thousand workers,
and some hundreds of drones. In the
early summer hive will contain sew
cral hundred drones and sometimes as
high as 1000 workers. The queen is
the female bee, and the drones are the
males. The workers were long consid-
cred ncuters, but are really females or
queens partially developed. Reared
in cells too small for their full develop
ment, and denied the rich food with
which the young queens are fed, they
come forth dwarfcd in size and limited
i'll functions; but the better adapted to
perform their special part in the apiar-
an economy. They gather the honey
construct the comb, feed and rear the
young, rcpcl intruders, and are ALWAYS
ready to lay down their lives in defense
of home and kindred. The worker is
armed with Il sting which it is ever
ready to use when its own safety or the
common welfare of the hive is threat
ened, although to use it is certain
death to itself.
The queen is literally the mother OF
her country. The inmates of the hive
are all her own progeny. The eggs
from which the young arc reared are
all deposited by Il single queen. She
seems to be treated with the greatest
reverence and affection by the othc.
bees; and is continually surrounded by
body guard of six to dozen of her
devoted subjects. If she disappears OF
is lost the whole community is instant.
ly seized with an uncomfortable ter.
ror. All is confusion and anarchy until
the joyful hum announces that she is
found, when in a few seconds perfect
tranquility reigns. Ii the queen is not
found and the hive contains worker
eggs or Larvae less than three DAYS old,
the bees will soon rear another queen;
but if this cannot be done, helpless
despair settles upon the hive, all Ia
Dor is abandoned and the little commll.
nifty is soon extinct.
The seeming reverence for the queen
is not TO be attributed to iilial affection
nor to sentiments of patriotism. Ii is
purely a business instinct. Ii the queen
by accident. disease or old age, become
unfruitful, she is mcrcilcssly destroyed,
and immediate steps are taken to rear
Il successor.
The queen, too, is provided with q
sting. which it employs only for the
destruction of rival queens. 1t may
he captured and handled with impun.
ity, and may even be torn limb from
limb without once Offering to sting tho
hand that manglcs it.
The droncs are stingleSs. They are
gentlemen of elegant leisure. subsist
ing upon the fruits of the labor of 9th
ers; but their luxurious career is usual
ly brief. AS soon rs the swarming
season is over, the workers fall upon
them with irresistible fury and DESTROY
them utterly, not one being left to tell
the story. For the remainder of tho
year the amazons conduct the govern
mcnt according 10 their own notions.
This wholesale destruction of TN,
drones can hardly he attributed to Il
blind instinct. for if the swarm be de.
privcd of its queen, the droncs are per.
mittcd to live until new queen is
reared, although the work of destruc-
ton goes on undated in ncirhborinn
hives.
For gathering honey the worker bee
is provided with Il proboscis form.
cd by an extension OF the lower
lip. The proboscis is not tube
used in suction as commonly sup.
posed, but performs the Office of q
tongue. and is used in licking up fluid
sweets from the hectares of flowers
Tits also provided with honey sack
i'll which it stores its gathered sweets
to be borne TO the hive. The walls OF
the honcy-sack are muscular. SO that
having arrived at home the bee is en-
ablcd to force out the contents of the
sack through its mouth into the hone,
cells. However long the nectar may
have remained in the honcy-sack, i,
has undergone no change but is pre-.
ciscly the same as when taken from
the flowers.
The pollen of flowers is also gathered
i'll large quantities, principally as food
for young bees. In the early spring
before pollen can be had, the bees will
consume large quantities of rye-mca
or wheaton flour, when placed within
their reach. Every one understands
how the bees render Il great service in
the fertilization of plants while gath
ering pollen, by bearing it from one
flower TO another; but the most re
markablc thing is. that in gathering
pollen the bee never visits more thar
one species of flower on the same ex.
cursiOn. Were it otherwise it would
be of much less service in plant fer.
tilizati0n.
The bee gathers from the buds of va
rlous trees Il species of gum or glue
called propolls, for use in closing
cracks in the hive, and for covering
over foreign substances OF IL disagree
able character, too large to be re
moved. Honey. pollen, and propolis
then, are vegetable substances gathered
and stored in the hive, Just as they ar,
found in nature, in no manner changed
by the bees; but the wax of which TIL,
beautiful snow-whitc comb is made, i.
fatty substance sccrctcd by the be.
itself. The wax first appears in tn,
form of scales on the under side of tn.
abdominal rings of the worker, and i.
thence removed by the bee, and b,
means of its jaws worked into comb
The wonderful structure of the coml
has furnished the theme for mucl
moralizing and wrccklcss cxpend
iture OF sentiment 1t is true that il
adopting hexagonal cells; hey hav,
secured the form that affords the great
est strength combined with the great
est economy of space; but it is no
worth while to be lost in admiration o.
the wonderful skill employed in scc,,r
ing gcomctrically perfect hexagons
for they do not exist. Careful inspcc
ton will show that these cells are quit,
irregular, and accurate measurement
has so far failed to find among then
single perfectly regular hcxagon.
Nothing can be more attractive fol-
table adornmcnt than new snow-whit.
comb with every cell filled with TIL,
clear. transparent nectar. it is indeed
fit food for the gods. In this condition
IL is most readily mnrl nt b1., lint 1,oo