Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1894-09-22
A True Story of 1.-The BLESSED Bees"

Once upon n time-not so very long
ago,-a gentleman who had a beautiful
garden thought that it would be very
nice to have some bees; so he bought
six or seven hives. ana p aced them in
the loveiiest corner of the garden, un-
der an old %app!e-tree. There was a
large bed of mignDnettc and a small
fed of clover hard BY.
The bees seemed 10 like their new
home very much, and went To work
gathering honey, and buzzing the while
in the cheeriest way.
Now this gentleman not only wanted
the honey that his bees would make. hut
he wished TO watch the habits Of the
bees as well, and Lefore giving YOU the
story. | am going to tell you one sad
little truth and a few facts about bees.
A working-bee lives only six weeks aft
er he begins his work in the spring.
But during that six weeks he works
early and late to gather the ~honey-dew
and store il away in the hive for you
and me. and for the young bees to eat
the following winter, when they dare
not stir ont OF the hive. Bees will travel
On the wing six or seven miles to find
food or water If they canno get it near
er home. One w~orking-bee can make
only about n teaspoonfui of honey
during its lifetime; so it takes an army
Of bees 10 till one hive full Of honey.
Now for the story.
The gentleman had heard that Il wv.
a common thing for beekeekers 70 use
manufactured honey-comb in their hives.
1t is made from becswaN. after the honey
is extracted. pressed into large sheys.
and fastened in frames twe.yes inches
square. and then hung in the hives.
The bees make the cells deeper, ill them
with honey, and cap them over with
thin white wax. to keep the honey in
the cell and to keep it clean and sweet.
You see that the bees can make a little
to make the comb. Honey made in
manufactured comb is called extracted
honey. Ii is taken from the comb in q
machine made for this purpose. Then
the comb is hung in the hive, and tie
bees Ill it again. So the gentleman put
this kind of comb in three hives; but in
the other hives he left the bees to make
the good old-fashioned kind OF honey
in the boney-comb, that Is so sweet and
beautiful.
One morning the gentleman found
that the bees around one of his hives
were flying wildly in and out. making
an angry buzzing the while. He knew
at ones that something was wrong, aad
that the bees were talking about it.
The gentleman went TO the hive and
took off the top and looked IN. and found
that n Of the large sheets OF manufact-
ured honey-comb was broken across,
and the honey dripping down upon the
floor OF the b.ve. The gentleman
thought at once of a way u help the
bees. He pressed the broken comb to-
gether, and then took clean white
Irvine, and tied the comb into the frame,
and hung il back in the hive. Then be
went a short distance, and watched ard
listened to see what the bees would do
and say. The bees flew into aud out of
the hive and soon grew quiet, and COM
menced their cheerful happy buzzing,
without one note of anger.
The next morning the gentleman
went out again very early, and found
the bees quiet and happy: but he saw
something that surprised him very
much. In front of Que of the hives the
short grass was white with a fine fuzz
or lint. He examined it closely and
found that it was fine white cotton lint.
He said To himself:
This is the hive that has the mended
h~oney-comb in il. | will look in
He took off the top OF the hive again,
and what do you think he found?
The bees had meaded the broken
comb with beeswax, and then those
bright little things had cut all that
Irvine into bits of fine lint. and carried
it OF. of the hive, bit by bit, until there
was not the least thread of lint left on
the honey-comb or in the hiye.-Aiice
b. Eaqle, an So. Nicholas.