The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1903-01-16
COMMONWEALTH OF BEES.
The Busy Honey Makers Have Per-
fectIy Organized Government In
Their Colonies.

the natural history Of the insect, and
usually fail to learn the internal
mechanism of the most nearly per-
feet commonwealth which exists, F"
was the remark of t. w. Cowan, Of
London, recently in Seattle. Mr..
Cowan is one of the foremost nat
ural-history students in the world,
making specially Of the bee fam
lily, although he devotes much atten-
tion to other forms of insect life.
He is the author Of textbooks in use
in the colleges and universities OF
America and England, and Of books
Of research He is member of sew
eral natural-history societies on both
side of the Atlantic.
For several months Mr.. Cowan has
been studying the insects OF Califor-
MIA, as there the temperate and the
tropic zones overlap each other, and
many specimens peculiar to each may
be found. He is now on his way to
the Canadian Rockies to collect still
other specimens. When asked to am
plify his first expression, he said:
"A colony Of bees is the study al
most Of lifetime in all its intrica-
cies. Undoubtedly there is no other
insect in the world az valuable TO
man, as the bee carries fertilizing pol
len among the blossoms Of the fruit
trees to 20 times the amount Of any
other agent, besides supplying the
markets of the world with the honey
which in all times has been regarded
as 8 delicacy. The home life Of the
bee is one OF the most perfect regu-
la4ion. They are clean in their hab-
its and enforce a rigid system OF dis
cipline. Their industry is proverb-
ial.
IAN ordinary colony is composed
Of from 10000 to $4,000 bees. At the
head Of the colony is queen. Her
early life is great care to her work
ers. as she is carefully fed and tend
ed. Her growth is complete in about
II days. In the hives are the
several hundred drones, or male
bees, with one OF which she mates.
She lays the eggs which replen-
ish the colony, several thousand
each day. AT the end of the season
the useless drones are killed by the
|, workers. and their bodies are carried
from the hive. 1t is sometimes said
that the queen bee has the manage
ment Of the hive, but this not so. The
government is carried on entirely by
the working bees.
Another common mistake is the be-
lief that the bees extract honey from
the flowers. That which is taken
| from the blossoms is converted into
honey by the bee. First it is nothing
more than cane sugar. The bee makes
| honey and gives it the aroma which
distinguishes the real article from the
imitation. The material for the honey
is gathered by the workers. These
are of neuter gender, but really are
| the undeveloped females. The life OF
these is about six weeks during the
! summer. They gain their maturity
| in 21 days. They travel to and from
! the flo vers at about the rate of 60
| miles an hour and make from 80 to 4C
| trips during single hour. When II
d ~ remember I'd that there are many
thousands of bees constantly at work
it will be seen what an infinitesimal
quantity is carried by each bee each
trip. The bees knowledge of direc
ton is remarkable. No time is lost
in returning again to the flower upor
which it has been working, though the
distance may be three miles and the
flower may be one in great field.
"The service which bees render II
orchardists is extremely great.
have known orchards which were en-
tirely barren previous to the intro
duction of few colonies of bees The
body of the bee is covered with hair
and the pollen dust adheres to it'
feet and body. When It reaches an
other flower some of the fertilizinl
material is left and enriches the bios
som. Wild bees are valuable to rem
der this service, but the domestic col
onics are better. To the anatomy O
the bee have given much study.
Ichose this insect as a subject fol
study because of its commercial i'm
portance, though have devoted m,
time exclusively to the natural his
tory phase"
Mr.. Cowan says. according to th'
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, that il
these days Of profound learning
among scientists of all branches it i
necessary to be specialist. No maj
can know all about everything, and
lifetime is all too short to master th'
details of the life and habits of on
insect. Mr.. Cowan has given tn
whole of long life to research alonl
restricted line of natural history
In California, on this trip, he classi
fed 40 new varieties Of bees, and add
ed them to one Of the largest collec
tion in existence.