The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-09-25
A True Bee Story Fo- Children.

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, and placed them in
the loveliest corner of the garden, un-
der an old apple tree. There was
large bed Of mignonette and a small
field Of clover hard by.
The bees seemed to 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,
but wished to watch the habits Of
the bees as well, and before giving
you the story, am going to tell you
one sad little truth and few facts
about bees: A working bee lives only
about six weeks after he begins his
work in the spring. But during that
six weeks he labors early and late to
gather the honey dew and store it
away in the hive for you and me, and
for the young bees to eat the follow
ing winter, when they dare not stir
out of the hive. Bees will travel on
the wing six or seven miles to find
food and water, if they cannot get it
nearer home. One working bee can
make only about one teaspoonful Of
honey during its lifetime. So it takes
an army of bees to fill one full Of hon
ey.
Now for the story:
The gentleman had heard that it
was common thing for beekeepers to
use manufactured honeycomb in their
hives. 1t is made from beeswa1,
after the honey is extracted, pressed
into large sheets, and fastened in
frames twelve inches square, and then
hung in the hives. The bees make
the cells deeper, fill them with honey,
and cap them over with thin wax, to
keep the honey in the cell and to keep
it clean and sweet. You see the bees
can make little more honey if they
do not have to stop to make the comb.
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 honeycomb," 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
something was wrong, and that the
bees were talking about it.
The gentleman went to the hive and
took off the top and looked in, and
found that one of the large sheets of
the manufactured honeycombs was
broken across, and the honey dripping
down upon the floor of the hive. The
gentleman thought Of way at once
to help the bees. He pressed the
broken comb together, and backed into
it's place in the frame, and then took
clean, white twine, and tied the comb
into the frame, and hung it back in
the hivs. Then he went a short dis
tance and watched and listened to see
what the bees would do and say. The
bees flew into and out of the hive and
soon grew quiet, and commenced 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 one Of the hives
the short grass was white with a
white fuzz or lint. He examined it
closely, and found that it was fine
white lint. He said to himself: "This
is the hive that has the mended
honeycomb in it. I will look in."
He took off the top of the hive
again, and what do you think ne
found ?
The bees had mended the broken
comb with beeswa1, and then those
bright little things had cut all that
twine into bits of fine lint, and car
ried it out of the hive, bit by bit, un,
til there was not the least thread OF
lint left on the honeycomb or in the
hive.-The Western World.