The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-05-23
BEES IN THE HIVE.
From, the Old Homestead,

/
lam going to ask you to visit with mt
to-day one Of the most wonderful cities il
the world. It is q city with no human
beings in 1t, and yet it is densely popula
ted, for such city may contain from
twenty thousand to sixty Thousand in
habitants. Init you will find streets, but
no pavements, for the inhabitants walh
along the walls Of the houses; while ii
the houses you will see no windows, fol
each house just fits its owner, and the
door is the only opening in it. Though
made without hands these houses are
most evenly and regularly built in tiert
one above the other; and here and there
q few royal palaces, larger and more
spacious than the rest, catch the eye con.
| spicuously as they stand out at the corners
of the streets.
Some of the ordinary houses are used te
live in, while others serve as storeaouseE
where food is laid up in the summer tc
feed the inhabitants during the winter
! when they are not allowed to go outside
the walls. Not that the gates are evel
shut: that is not necessary, for in this
| wonderful city each citizen follows the
laws-going ont when it is TINA 10 &C
ont, coming home at proper hours, ano
staying at home when it is his OF hel
duty. And in the winter, when it is very
cold outside, the inhabitants, having nc
fires, keep themselves warm within the
city by clustering together and never ven
turing out of doors.
One single queen reigns over the whole
of this numerous population, and you
might perhaps fancy that, having SC
many subjects to work for her and raj
upon her, she would do nothing bul
amuse herself. On Che contrary, she toe
obeys the laws laid down for her gui
dance, and never, except on one or twe
state occasions, goes out Of the city, but
| works as hard as The rest in performing
her own royal duties.
From sunrise to sunset, whenever The
weather is fine, all is life, activity, and
hustle in this busy city. Though the
| gates are so narrow that two inhabitants
can only just pass each on their way
through chem, yet thousands go in and
out every hour Of the day: some bring
ing in materials to build new houses
others food and provisions to store up
for the winter, aud while all appears
confusion and disorder among this rap.
idly moving throng, yet in reality each
has her own work to do and perfect
order reigns over the whole.
EVENT. you did not already know from
the title what-city. this is that am de.
scribing you would no doubt guessthat it
is beehive; for where in the whole
world, except upon an anthill, can we
find SO busy, so industrious, or 80 orderly
a community as among the bees? More
than hundred years ago blind natur.
alist, Francois Huber, set himself to
study The habits Of these wonder. u
insects, and with the help Of his wife and
an intelligent man servant managed to
learn most of their secrets.
Before his time all naturalists had
failed in watching bees, because if they
put them il hives with glass Windows the
bees, not liking the light, closest up. the
Windows with cement before they began
to work. But Huber invented a hive
which he could open and close at will,
putting q glass hive inside it, and by this
means he was able to surprise the bees
at their work. Thanks to his studies,
and to those of other naturalists who
have followed in his steps, We noW know
almost:ass much about the home Of bees
as we; do about our own ;.and if
re follow out to day the building of q
bee city and the life of its inhabitants I
think you will acknowledge that they are
q wonderful community, and that it is q
great compliment to anyone to say that
he or she is "as busy as bee."
In order to begin at the beginning Of
the story let US suppose that we go into a
country garden one fine morning ia May
when the sun is shining brightly aver
head, and that we see hanging from the
5ough of an old apple tree a black object
which looks very much like a large plum
pudding. On approaching it, howsyer,
We see that it is large cluster or swarm
of bees clinging to each other by sheil
legs, each bee with it's two forelegs cling.
ing to the two hinder ones Of the one
above it. In this way as many as twenty
Thousand bees may be clinging together
and yet they hang SO freely that bee
even from quite the centre Of the swesm
can disengage herself from her neighhorG
and pass through to the outside Of tht
cluster whenever she wishes.
| fthese bees we're left to themselves
| they would find home after 8 time iii {
hollow tree, or under roof OF house, o.
iu some other cavity, and begin to built
.hoir honeycomb there; but as we do no
wish to lose their honey We will bring
! hive and, holding it under the swarm
| shake the bough gently 80 that the bee
fall into it, and cling to the sides as NJ
| turn it over on piece of clean linen oH
the stand where the hive is to be.
And now let us suppose that We ar'
| able to watch what is going on in th'
| hive. Before five minutes are over tb'
Industrious little insects have begun t
disperse and to mako arrangements ~
their new home. A number (perhapI
two thousand) of flarge, numbering bee
of darker color than the rest will, it i
true, wander aimlessly about the hiy'
and wait for the others to feed them ant
| house them: but these are the drones