Evening star., 1925-05-30
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES L. TR4CEWELL,

a colony of miner bees, taking a
fancy To a flower border invaded
our yard> recently. They came. not
in a swarm. as their more gregarious
bretheren of the hive do, but singly,
each one for himself.
They dug their Holes so quietly and
disappeared in them so completely
| that We did not realize they were
our guests until we happened to dig
one up accidentally in a trowel.
Why, there was a bee in that
| dirt" we exclaimed. How do you
suppose it got down there?"
This discovery set us TO investi-
eating. with the result that we found
what we had taken 10 be ant hills
to be bee burrows. Closer examina-
| ton revealed much wider openings
than in any domestic ant hill, and
pretty soon we saw the bees flying in
and out.
1t is interesting to watch one of
these so called solitary bees" alight
on its own hill, fold its wings close
and disappear, head first. adown the
! neat, glazed passageway it has made
for itself.
Filling the hole with earth only de-
lays the bee in getting out again. If
you dig down with a trowel you will
md that the passageway ordinarily
remains intact, despite your destruc-
ton. That is. you can take away
section after section, but the re-
| mainder stays firm and true.
So carefully works the miner bee
That he-or should it be She-is
real miner will be revealed to the
gardener by degrees as he watches
the bees come and go. The earth they
throw up behind them is reduced al
most to sand. having a grainy texture.
even from red clay.
+ <
The bees came as a pleasant, though
somewhat diSconcerting, interruption
in the everyday quiet of our garden.
They were interesting, but one Won
dered If they could sting?
Would they finally resent the dig
ging around the flowers? Would they
carry lice to deposit on the roots OF
our plants?
we recalled alarming tales we had
read about ants using the aphids, or
plant lice, as their cows milking the
creatures of their pale green secre-
tions herding them into f1ocks, treat
ing them as domestic animals
We hoped that the bees had no such
curious habits. We feared. however,
that they might take a bundle of lice
whatever they called EN-, for their lit
tie ones to feed on.
We pictured the bees greedily eating
away at the roots of our aster plants
or digging their tunnels over beneath
the thriving gladioli, and we saw, as
In a fearful vision, the bright green,
sword-shaped leaves of the "glads''
turning yellow before the blooms had
come.
Perhaps bees were responsible for
the only disease the gladiolus is said
terial blight. which science has found
no way to combat as yet
1t might not be beyond the bounds
of possibility that these very bees
were hauling huge quantities of bac-
terra down into the soil on their dirty
feet
Yet when we looked at the straight.
green lancelike leaves. waving gently
in the wind. each arising out of its
sheath and that out of a firmer and
broader sheath there just out of the
ground, we realized that it all was an
unpleasant dream. a nightmare of the
garden, if you will.
x X x
Sunshine and happiness.
These are the Watchwords of the
bugs, black-spot and mildew. these and
other blights may cast their shadow
for time, but the intelligence of
nature, helped a bit by the intellieence
of man, will GUST them all.
When the sun shines in our garden,
it cleanses not only the grass blades.
and the broad new leaves of the holIv-
hooks and the hibiscus and the little,
new leaves of the kochia, sticking out
of crack there in the baked soil.
When the sun shines in Our Garden
it cleans, too, the spirit and the heart,
and dispels the black clouds of doubts
and fears. 1t brings, from out the un-
wearied skies, quite new sources of
healing.
/ do not wonder that an ancient
race made an entire cult out of wor-
ship of the sun, nor that one of the
Oldest and grandest hymns in the lit
erature of the world is dedicated to
the great orb of the day.
We. America, are sun worshipers,
too, although In a better. newer way.
Every golf course, lying fair on the
hills and in the little valleys, is a
temple of this greater worship of sun
shine.
Every modern home, with plenty of
windows, is a testimony to our love
of sunbeams, one of the best medi-
cines in the world, as it is one of the
best antiseptics.
Every tanned boy or girl is living
testimony to the value of sunshine. 1t
was so once before in ancient Greece,
when they regarded the man or wom-
an with white body with something
bordering on contempt.
There is feeling alive again today
that the healthy. clean person Is the
sunburned, tanned person, whether
man. woman or child. This good cult
of the sun has effects far wider, GER
tainly, than its mere physical benefits.
The outdoor man or woman, other
things being equal. is mare likely to