The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1898-01-01


sha ssa. sssFsrY - tsss. tsswe wasez
Naa ssesst Faths@.
The queFsi-ss whether yafteus ~.
secss anG animals aass sLs powers pop.
ularly attributed to them OF knowing
in advance what the weather is going TO
be, and in particular of predicting the
severity of the coming winter, has fire.
quently been discussed. A correspond
ent of Cosmos, NJ. p. de Ridder, writes
to that journal that he believes the bee
to possess this power beyond doubt.
and he proceeds to give his reasons for
that belief. We translate his letter be-
low. Says NJ. de Ridder;
Everyone knows that at the APP
proach of winter certain birds leave
northern regions and fly southwark
seeking aader a warmer sky a refuge
ss~ssss ne ~ese ens> ~<r~~~ ~ sh~ eersa
"Rnt everyone does not know OF the
admirable foresight shown by the bee
about the time of the earliest cold
weather, II also feels the approach of
winters nay. more. the bee sesisS *
understand long time in advance
whether the winter Is 10 be mild or Sc
we're Between the migratory birds and
the bee there is this differences the
former are driven away by the cold and
the bad weather from the regions where
they are; the latter are guided by a
special instinct of foresight, an instinct
which l make bold to call the bees
meteorology.
"But the bee does not know how to
fec before the approach of the winter.
and cannot do so; he cannot abandon
the store so laboriously laid up during
the fine weather.; he cannot leave the
hive where he has put away the neces-
sites of life for the coming winter.
MANY times have 1 witnessed the
vigilance and foresight of the bee.
Forty years ago bee-keepers were still
using the old miter-shaped straw hives
with two openings or entrances. Well,
l noticed that about the beginning of
October the bees stopped up these two
entrances with wax, SO as to leave pas
sage for only one bee at time, thus Civ
ing lesson to the bee keeper who had
neglected to put board over.the en-
frances to prevent the introduction of
cold air.
Certain persons think that the bee
plasters up these openings as the cold
increases, but this is an error. The bee
knows enough to take his precautionary
temperature co7 81 tfa for when the
five or six degrees (about 40 degrees
FahrenheiD he does not leave the hive.
and when~the-temperature approaches
freezing he cannot, wffhoas essessss ss
himself to paralysis ana death, separate
Himself from the mass of individuals,
who then form compact ball.
There are others who believe that ex
traordinary precautionary measures
taken by the bee are only the result of
and that chance plays the
chief part in them. This hypothesis is
lot tenable. Besides, the bee-keepers
IT all countries agree in saying-and
heir attention must have been often
called to the phenomenon-that every
lime that the bees have taken care to
zeal Theoretically the entrances to the
i've, so as to leave but a minute pas
age for air, the winter has been of ex-
RENE rigor. On the other hand, the |
rears when the bees have done nothing /
o preserve themselves from the cold
lave been marked by relatively mild
winters during which no heavy frosts
ave occurred
Here the question naturally pre-
ents itself: How can the bee foresee
he weather so far in advance, when
nan, with all his intelligence and
has not yet succeededin do
ng this?
Sin truth, find no satisfactory an
wer to this question.
Must we suppose that, toward the
nd of the summer, a rigorous winter is
eralded by drafts of air Of exception
lily low temperature, that escape our
and our instruments, but |
re perceived by the bee, for protection
gainst the cold?
However it may be, before his |
Instance of prediction, whose exact |
1ony of large number of bee-keepers,
very observer of meteorological phe-
CINEMA should stand COMPOUNDED and
xpress his admiration for the mys-
erious meteorology of the bee. Lit
rary Digest.
Determination in Philadelphia.
Hundreds of colored boys are en-
Logged in Philadelphia to sell hot fish
akes on the streets. The cakes, as IL
lie, are cooked by colored women and