The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-08-07
HOW THE, BEE
SPENDS ITS TIME
EyarminG Day the Only. Day of the
Year-FenIty of Worker to Queen
From the Royal Magazine.

Bees. in a way, are something like
cbildren-they hate to feel lonely. A
bee will die of sheer loneliness if you
take it away from its friends. 1t never
does any work for itself, but works
only for the sake of the hive. And bees
love their work, they love the busy stir
in their home, and above all they love
their queen, who is the mother of
them all, and hardly ever stlrs out OF
the hive.
Fancy being the queen and the
mother of the $4,000 busy, buZzing bees
who live in our hive at the bottom of
the garden!
No queen is more lovingly tended by
her subjects than the queen of the
bees. They would do anything for
her. but they can do nothing without
her. Day and night she is surrounded
nv ring of ladies-in- waiting, who al
ways stand with their faces toward
her. so that some of them must walk
backward whenever she moves. She is
fed and she is washed, and nothing is
ever allowed to disturb the one work
that she is busy upon day and night
the work of laying eggs.
If anything should happen to her all
the bees will nearly go off their heads
in their sorrow, and if she should be
lost and her bees can't find her, all her
unhappy children will soon die of dis
tress.
If any accident happens to the hive
the bees protect their queen and the
Young bees with their lives, and if
there should be famine they give her
the last drop of food.
The sentinels who guard the door of
the hive never allow a strange queen
to come in when their mother is at
home.
The queen herself is the busiest of
all in the hive. But she never enjoys
long days of sunshine spent among
the flowers 1t is her duty and her
JOY to keep on laying eggs without
stopping in the darkness of the hive.
She lives three or four years so that
she may do this work properly, but the
common bees who have been born in
the spring only live to see a little of one
bright summer, six or eight weeks,
perhaps. Those who are born late in
the year live longer, for they have not
to work day and night, but sleep
through the winter.
All Work and No Pay.
It is all work and no play in the
hive, till winter comes, and sleep falls
on all. But on the first day of spring,
which comes in February. sleep is
thrown off and work begins again
work, work, work, is the order, all day
and all night.
The queen sets the example by be-
ginning to lay eggS-and this means
that all must bestir themselves. First
of all there must be a thorough
spring cleaning of the hive, and all
the passages must be swept, and all
the poor bees who have died must be
carried away.
Some of the bees are formed into
guard for the queen. Others begin to
fan with their wings as fast as they
can to keep the air moving. Others
set to work to repair the old combs
they are the bee architects, builders
and carvers. Some begin to prepare
food and drink-they are the bee
chemists.
All the bees have special duties,
such as nursing baby bees, or keep
ing the house clean; and always there
are sentinels ~ the door of the hive.
to see that only the proper bees come
IN and out and to make sure that no
mice, snails, moths, ants or other foes
enter to steal the honey.
And on bright, fine days, the forag-
ing bees set out to visit all the flow
ers they can find near the hive-the
wood anemones. the daffodils and the
Tlolets-to gather the liquid in the
mowers That they can turn into honey,
the flower dust, called pollen, that is
stored away to feed the baby bees on.
ana curious sticky stuff called pro-
poIls, taken from trees, that is used
as cement in the hive.
when the days brow warmer, and
summer begins, every bright morning
thousands and thousands of foragers
sally forth from the hive, one big troon
to go to the clover fields, another troop
10 the mignOnette beds, another to the
mac trees and so on, each troop visiting
one particular kind of flower.
Inc liquid in the flowers is carried
away by the bees in little sacs inside
thelr bodies, and the pollen in the lit
ne baskets attached to their hind legs
out hardly any of it is for their own
use. A bee can find all the food it
wants In one or two flowers. Yet in
an hour It visits two, or perhaps three.
Huhured flowers, so busily does il work
Tor the sake of others.
lou can see how eager the bees are
20 get on with their work as they fiy
81 streams in and out of the hive, all
through the summer days. If YOU
watched bee as it arrived at the hive.
you would see it hurrying, without
os9pplns 10 talk or play, to the little
eeH where the honey it has gathered
must be stored and then on it would
80 TO empty out the stores from its
baskets into other separate cells.
I'm raacn load must be put away in its
proper place; and then at once out II
would fly again to the sunshine and the
i'"ers TO bring back another load
Way Blocked by DrOnes.
II you kept very careful watch
pn me busy working bees as they
.iuIIled about in the hive, you would
SSTIon notice that their way was often
plGcked by the larger bees than them
ewes VINO never seem to have any
lung ri TO do but to hinder the Others.
,i,ueSe larger bees are the grand gem
Itu OF the hive-drones they are
l!ieu-and drones they are, for they
Yer do stroke of work for them
luxury. 10Y iiie Vi
In the hive that I am telling YOU
uI there we're quite 400 Of these
aua gentlemen. They were very big
~, me ana each one had 10000 eyes
y, each side of his head, which SEEM
i. r"ther shame considering that
poor workers only had 5000. But
,Heh the drones had no stings. All dav
,ls they did nothing. bat were fed by
- WORKING bees on the food that they
''. ~ so carefully stored away.
.,lney slept in snug corners. summed
leinselVes at the hives door. and per.
- PS now and then few out to see how
~ world was looking, but never 10 do
H'roke Of work. They were always
edted with respect and allowed 10
cared 10 visit. my
sal. ne most important part OF the nur-