The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-03-08
OUR YOUNG FOLKS.
FACTS IND FANCIEs LIKELY TO
PLEASE THEM.


Its Workers. and Its Lazy Drones-Kitty
and the Duck-A Queer Friendship That
Sprung Up on an English Farm.
Very few Of you would think. perhaps, that
moro pages of manuscript have been written
about the bee than about any other living
thing except man. And this statement does
not include the able compositions" or
'essays" that country school boys have writ
ten on the subject. after having recovered
from painful and binding encounters with
nests Of humble bees. IL is the honey bee,
bowever that has caused the chief consump-
ton Of paper and ink. .,,.5.,.o
In early scriptural days, but the wonderful
peculiarties of the hOney-makeis nave peen
The chief cause of the marked attention gwen
10 the subject by writers. Cicero ana JIlny
both speak of AristOmachus. VINO deVoted
ejxfy wears to bee study. As we ma Inc "oru
STOMACH in the middle of the old gentle
mans name it seems likely that his researches
were stimulated by an abnormally sweet
tooth" The same authors tell us ABOUT
another old enthusiast, who spent some years
in deserts and forests IN quest OF knowledge
about the busy bee.
The dOmestcity OF the honey pee iaInlly'
however is the subject that has so greatly m
interested the savants in all ages Of the world.
In their natural state these bees build their
homes In hollow trees. and the domestic ar
rangements are practically the same a. we zee
them in prepared hives. The family affairs OF
bees are different from those of all other living
creatures Although the total population Of a
hive ranges all the way from 1O,OOO 70 oO'OoV'
there IS only one female and only few hun
bred males. the rest being what are called neu-
tiers. or sexless bees. e
One female in a human population OF thhI
k.r xugfn1d bcnbtlQGg be monarch OF
ali she surveyed. :" like Robinson Crusoe, and
that ia inst the status of the solitary female
bee She is appropriately called the queen,
but she is Of far more importance to her SUP
jects than any queen whose crown y il ato
with human hands In the first place, she
Is the mother of q future hive Just Ike the
one over which she reigns. From her must
come future queens, the thousands OF INDUS
trious workers and the lazy good-for-hothlns
males, or drOnes. .,
When a new colony of bees leave the old
homestead and start out 10 begin housekeep-
inc for themselves the young queen leads
the fight and selects the future home. linen
the workers build the house, as we see, sec
tons Of it in honeycOmb, with a cell ior
every future bee. The heavy work OF the
ouecn then begins She will lay an egg IN
every one of these cells-probably twenty
Thousand or more Before doing this, how
ever, she will personally inspect every cell,
and order her workers 10 make improvements
changes II inc WoIh Has npb Occh NO44O "a
actly 20 suit her royal pleasure. ,,
II should here be noted that the little work
crs have built the cells 10 fit the requirements
Of the future family. There are three differ
ent sizes. to correspond with the three sorts
Of bees The largest and most elaborately
built cells are for the very few queens that
are expected Then few hundred, smaller
than the queen cells. and less elaborate IN
finish are for the lazy drOnes Last come
the thousands of common cells for the faith.
full little workers that make up the body OF
the colony.
As YOU might imagine. it takes some months
for the queen to inspect the architecture OF
her palace of many thousands OF rooms ana
then TO deposit an egg IN each room. But the
process of incubation begins at once, the
warm and even temperature of the hive an
swering the same purpose that the hens body
subserves in changing eggs TO chicks. As
soon as enough full-hedged bees are ready 10
leave the old home they start out TO make
hive for themselves led by one of the young
queens.
When all the eggs ore Matched and all the
Youngsters have gone except the last group
the workers get up a sort of tournament for
the few young queens that are left without
thrones. Then these royal females enter the
arena and fight one another until only one
survives, the old queen, the drOnes. and the
workers acting as spectators, and probably APP
plauding the nice points of attack and de
Tense When the surviving young queen has
gone with the last swarm the tireless little
workers settle accounts with the lazy drOnes.
The drOnes have no stings and cannot fight.
The workers. tired of boarding these male
loafers pounce upon them and quickly Kill all
of them by singing them to death.-Philadel-
phia Times.