Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-10-24

WAT pees IN tulS country produce Valuo OF
el0, 100000 yearly in the shape Of honey and
wax. This could be multiplied by ten without
much difficulty. First, however, the farmers
must be taught the art of bee culture, and this
II precisely what it 10 proposed shall be at
tempted. Next year plant will be established
for the purpose by the division of entomology,
and experiments will be made with methods
for caring for bees. Also 1t will be ascertained
which Of the various races are best adapted to
the climate, and . study will be made Of their
diseasea Possibly DR.. Benton, the expert re-
ferred to, will be sent abroad 10 secure fine
stocks. OF course there were no honey bees
on this continent until the white man brought
them hithor from the old world.
A RrAsoNABLY PoPuLous HIVE.
One may well spend lifetime in the study Of
bees without acquiring nearly all the knowledge
that Is obtainable respecting them. Nothing
can be more interesting as well as instructive
than observation of these little creatures, 90
wonderful in their social organization and man
ner OF living, regulated by laws as strict as
those which govern mankind. With them is
realized the condition recognized az ideal by
advocates OF women's rights, where tho females
run everything, the males being considered use
ful only for the purpose OF perpetuating the
species. reasonably populous hive will con-
tain about 80, 900 workers. all of whom are Of
the gentler sex, though se1ually undeveloped.
They are not obliged to lay eggs, because the
single queen attends to that business entirely.
Within few days after tho queen becomes
full-tedged insect she flies out Of tho hive
and mates with one of the drones, as the males
are called, which at the proper season are
always flying about In this way provision is
made for the fertilization OF all the eggs that
she will lay within the next three years or more.
Upon returning to the hive she at once begins
laying, crawling over the comb and depositing
In each cell one egg. Thus she oviposits in many
hundreds OF cells at o time. perhaps. and on the
third day the eggs hatch out into little worm
like Larvae. 1t is the duty Of the younger workers
to take care Of these larv@. and this they do by
going from cell to cell and depositing in each q
very nutritious fluid composed of albumen,
sugar and fatty matter from glands in their
heads. The larve grow very rapidly on this
diet and on the twelfth day the nurse
bees seal up each cell by covering it
over with wax. When the twenty first day
arrives the little ones bite their way out of the
cells and appear as perfect bees. For three
plumage and feed, but after that they imme-
diately take up the duties of nurse bees them
selves and devote their attention to feeding and
caring for the young. Soft goes on continually.
the queen constantly laying eggs and the young
workers taking care Of the growing Larvae In
this manner the population of the hive il main
tanned, Notwithstanding the fact that most Of
the workers do not live more than two or three
months They literally work themselves to
death, gathering honey and building.
APPROACH OF THE swARMINa SEASON.
At the approach Of the swarming season,
which arrives in May and is also the time for
mssing, the queen bee begins laying male eggs
They are the same sort Of eggs as produce the
workers, but they are not fertilized. For that
reason they hatch out only drones, and OF these
several hundreds may be born in hive. Cells
of special size and shape are constructed by
the workers for the incubation Of these drones,
which are given somewhat different food and
require twenty-four or twenty-five days of
nursing before coming out of their capsules.
When the mating ID over and the harvest Of
honey begins to diminish they are driven out
OF the hives into the cold world, where they
quickly starve to death. because they are not
provided by nature with any instruments for
getting food from the blossoms.
When the swarming time is coming on the
workers know that it is necessary to rear more
queens, because she who is the mother OF them
all will shortly desert them and the population
of the hive would be wiped out in the absence
OF an egg-laying female. Luckily, any worker
egg can be made to produce queen. 1t il all
a matter Of proper diet for the larva and ac-
commodation for it while it is developing. So
the workers build number of unusually large
cells OF elongated shape. perhaps as many as a
dozen. In each OF these they see that an egg is
lodged. and, as soon as the occupant is Matched.
likewise secreted by the glands in their head
such as is never given to any but queen larve
so rich Is this food, particularly in sugar. that
by the sixteenth day the young queen is ready
to emerge from her sealed capsule.
THE OLD AND NEW QUEENS.
Just day or two before this, however-so
carefully is the whole affair calculated-the old
queen has made up her mind that change Of
residence is desirable for her. So she runs
about in the hive and makes a great disturb
ance, trying to excite the workers and persuade
them to accompany her. Presently she Hies out
and takes with her swarm, leaving perhaps
only few behind. The latter aided by those
which return from the fields. not having been
present at the time of the exodus, devote their
attention to taking care Of the queen cells
which are about to open, also looking out for
the growing young. Each queen cell has been
carefully guarded by special sentinels to pre-
vent the occupants from getting out prema-
turely, because, il they did 80, and there should
be more than one queen in the hive at the same
time, an awful fight would ensue. When the
old queen has gone with the swarm and the
proper moment has arrived, the remaining
workers let single young queen out of her
prison. She knows that there are other young
queens around and she walks about, uttering a
note Of challenge to them, which sounds like
peep. peep"
The other queens answer her with . similar
piping noise from their guarded cells II she
were permitted to do 80 she would bite open
every one OF their capsules in the rear and sting
them to death, but the workers will not allow
It, Sometimes in the excitement of swarm
ing the guards fail to do their duty properly,
ana two or more young queens obtaining their
freedom at the same time engage in mortal
bat. each desiring to reign over the hive.
IL may be that the new queen will get disguised
ana lead of second swarm from the hive,
upon which the workers will Eberate another
queen, and the business will proceed as before
antil the remaining workers consider that the
hive cannot stand any more drafts from. its
population. Having arrived at this conclusion
they will permit the queen at liberty to sting
the others to death in their capsules, and win
even hcp her in killing her rivals, because it 10
n recognized fact in the bee world that there
cannot be two mistresses in tho same house
A few days after the new queen has thus been
set to rulo over the hive she IL inspired to seek
a mate and for that purpose flies out and high
III tho air, where drOnes from other hives are
to be met with. Very often some accident will
happen to her on this excursion. She may be
gobbled by bird or otherwise injured. Sup
posing that she does not return, the colony in
her hive will necessarily become extinct, be-
cause there il no cgg-layer to continue the
family. Under such conditions il il usual for
some OF the workers, in their anxiety to per-
petuate the species, to develop the power Of
laying eggs. Unfortunately, however, all the
eggs they lay, being unimpregnated, produce
only drones and the population Of tho hive is
wiped out very soon. It has been surmised
that the chance Of accidents Detailing the Queen
bees on their flights for mating purposes ID
contemplated by nature for keeping these in
sects from increasing unduly.