South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-03-19

.
+ The longitudinal strips are placed
/ together edge % edge and the liquid
Is drawn out os the flower cup by
the action OF the tongue-muscles in
the same way as water il lifted by
a pump.
Watching a hive at work on a
I busy summer day the attention IS
first drawn 20 the pollen gatherers
I laboring IN BY the thousand with the
\ big. oval brightly colOred masses
/ fixed 90 their hind legs and IL Is
first 10 the poilen-carrying organ
ism that the glass Is now naturally
q directed. The six legs. which look
/ all very much alike 20 the naked
eye. are seen 10 Do in three pairs
and the construction Of each pair
differs very markedly from that Of
/ its fellows. So far from their being
simple legs. each has no fewer than
nine joiated parts and nearly every
part carries special piece OF
mechanism vital in the daily work
OF the bee.
Device or Thigh
"The poIlen-carrying device is on
the thigh Of the hind leg. The
thigh broadered out and hollow cd
and round this oblong cavity is a
fringe OF incurrlng 0ristle which
look as if they would hold any
thing. But before the pollen can
be packed in these baskets II must
. be collected end kneaded together.
2 Practically the whole body OF the
bee is used IN gathering.
Under the low power Of the micro
scope il is seen that hardly any part
Of the trunk or limb is without it's
dense covering of hairs. but with
the high objective these hairs cease
70 be hairs but are changed into
actual feathers. delicate herring
bone implements which sweep up the
pollen nectar that lies below. Nearly
every joint OF each leg is furnished
with a comb OF Dristles with which
this pollen dust IS scraped off and
transferred to the carrying baskets
after being moistencd by the tongue;
while the hind legs have each a
complete perfectly fashioned curry
comb. Here the leg is widened and
fattended and covered on one side
with nine or 10 rows of short strong
spines with which the bee Scrapes
her body. Just as a groom curry
combs a horse.
AT ordinary times she Will care
fully pack her load of pollen into
it's proper receptacle before return
ing 10 the hive so that it shall be
all ready for transference to the
cells At the CeI-mouth she pushes
each lump off by neans of her other
legs, leaving it to lie rammed down
into the cell by the store-keepers. No
distinction is made here, every kind
and color of pollen being indis-
.criminately stored into the same cell
and when the cell Is full a thin
layer Of honey is Smeared over all
to preserve it from the air. When,
however, time presses, the bee will
not stop 20 knead up the load but
will carry it home as it is. arriving
in the hive smothered completely
from head TO foot as with gold
dust. Then the house-bees gather
around her soon scraping her free
from her incumbrance and she starts
off again for another load"
II has been conceded by some
writer's that all these different
groups Of workers are perfectly
/ guided and controlled by an invisible
and intangible force the source of
which science has not yet dis
covered.
A colony or stand Of bees is made
up of a single mother. commonly
- fn
60, 900 workers which are sterile or
incomplete female bees and several
hundred drones or male bees. The
only occupation of the queen is the
laying of eggs and when the occa-
sion requires II she can lay from
l 900 to 1000 eggs in "a hours.
The drones are lazy lot. APP
parently all they do is TO gorge
themselves with nectar, take a
cleansing flight about noon for a
short time, then return to the hive
and repeat the operation The
worker bees tolerate this all sum-
mer but at the approach Of fall when
the honey flow stops, then the signal
for the massacre is given and every
drone Is stung and thrown out. 1t
takes from so to so pounds Of honey
to carry a colony through the win
ter.
Perplexing Questions.
One of the perplexing questions
that has bothered many bee students
is why so many drones are Matched
when one and only one becomes the
husband Of a queen every four or
FIVE years. The az erage life Of a
queen is from three TO five years
that of a worker bee 30 days to a
few months, aud in that time she
has collected about q tablespoon full
Of honey. SO every time you take
a swallow of one of natures sweets
YOU can safely say, here goes the
life work OF a bee
I gained some Of my early knowl-
edge of the bee from Daniel Whit
mer. a Dunkard minister, and the
late Brother John of Notre Dame
The former. who lives out about 10
miles on the Sumption Prairie road
had at one time about 125 stands
and some seasons collected between
1000 and 5000 pounds of honey.
He has been in this business for
about 40 years Before he started
he was afflicted with rheumatism.
In fact Il was so bad that he was