Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-03-05
BEES AND HONEY.
The Life Of the Honey Bee, Explained
by Dr.. Lyon.

We will begin with the beginning
of the year. If we open one of our
simplicity" or Langstroth hives on
any cool day in January, or indee d
in any part of the winter, we will
find the bees clustered" not "dor-
mant," i. e., apparently dead, but
torpid" their whole energies con
cpntrated upon keeping up the ami
NAL heat. Most persons have seen a
cluster of bees hanging from the
limb ola tree in the swarming sea
son, in shape something like an in
verted pear. Now the cluster in the
hive in winter time is something
like this, except that the bunch of
bees, in this case, is intersected by
the combs of honey and wax which
hang in the hive in vertical posi-
ton and parallel to each other.
The idea seems to be to economic
the animal heat by all getting as
close together as possible. The bees
on the outside of the bunch and
others from within take their places,
thus carrying out beautifully the
principle OF mutual support and
rotation in Office" But the queen
bee alone is exempted from all work
Of this kind and kept warm and snug
all the time in the middle of the
cluster, for on her the life of the
whole colony depends. The life and
warmth of the cluster is maintained
by consuming a part of store of
honey laid by for winter. Most
other insects make no provision for
winter, but at that season mostly die
of, the few survivors lying dormant
in some crevice till warm weather
comes again, when they have to be-
gin life alone, as with the wasps and
humble bees. Indeed, in the ma
jority of cases, the mature insects all
die and only the eggs or larvae sur
vive the winter.
If bees were like wasps in this re-
spect it would require the greater
part of the summer for them to
'build up" or increase enough to
gather any considerable amount of
honey, so that they would be of lit
tie or no profit to man. But as it Is,
they are strong in numbers and
ready to take advantage of the
earliest opportunities in spring and
early summer, and all through sum
mer and autumn are either strength
ening their forces or laying up sur
plus honey for the use of man.
Many of the wonderful instincts o;
the bee can only be explained on the
theory that the Creator formed them
mainly for the service of man.
Having taken peep at the cluster
in winter quarters, let us next visit
them on one of the bright sunny
days of February or March, when
the soft NAPLES are in bloom. We
will find them busily coming and GO
ing from the hive door; many OF
them seem to be sporting in the sun
shine, but others are intent on bust
ness, and we see them running quick
~ into the hive with little balls OF
pollen, on the 'pollen- baskets" OF
their third and last pair of legs.
Bees, like other insects have six legs;
they use all of them in walking, and
in addition they use the fro t
pair as arms and the hind pair as
saddle-bags. This pollen is of vari-
GUS colors, but chiefly yellow, red
and white. They get it from various
kinds of flowers. If any one will ex
anime almost any kind of flower he
will perceive that a fine dust can be
shaken from the stamens of the
blossom. If this be viewed with a
magnifying glass OF even moderate
power, distinct grains can be made
out. With a microscope of higher
power this pollen is an object of
wonderful beauty, some kinds re-
semble oranges, some lemons, some
are ike chestnut burrs in shape
The pollen of soft maple, which is
e l.; L., 70, -, l,
spring, and which is abundant now,
looks almost exactly like grains OF
wheat. And just as we make our
bread from wheat, SO our little
friends make their "bee- bread' from
,his pollen, and they use it chiefly in
feeding the baby-bees. The "bee-
bread" is sort of mixture of pollen
and the honey and is rich nitrogen
GUS substance well adapted to pro
mote the rapid growth of the young
bees or larvae. But it is not so well
suited to the taste of man, us those
can testify who have been so I'M
fortunate as to chew up some of it
along with the honey comb. In a
we'll managed hive the bee-bread
should never be mixed with the sur
plus honey. Many people have a
Irejudice against honey because in
the old-fa~hioned way of taking it
and sque zing it out of the combs,