Evening star., 1932-08-07
Some Wrong Impressions Atr Corrected and
Certain LiHle-Kno7Ou Acti0ities Of Bees
Are ReQealed in Nezv Educational Film
Just Completed for the Department Of
AgricultMp by Uncle Sam s Mo0iemakers.

that every bee seems 20 know her work and
does it
The film next shows the worker bees at their
Fl Id duties, carrying water and gathering nectar
and pollen The sequence that shows the
pcllen-gatherers at work is of the high spots
of the film Remarkable close-ups show a
worker bee taking golden bath in the bowl Of
a portulaca then lowering over the flower, roll
ing the pollen into pellets and carrying the
pellets to the hive the pollen baskets on The
hind legs of the bee-activities which few even
beekeepers, have actually witnessed
We next see a busy procession OF bees laden
with pollen enter the hive, deposit the pellets
in the pollen cells, and other bees packing the
pellets in the cells, heads first. Titles tell US
that pollen furnishes food for the infant bees
and that bees obtain all of their food from the
flowers Bees give the flowers far more than
they receive: they take little nectar but III
turn insure the pollinat.on of the flowers.
1.-THE increasing Importance of bees as
pollenizers is not generally realized and
appreciated" says James J. Hambleton, in
charge of the division of bee culture, United
States Department of Agriculture. Formerly,
wild bees performed the important work OF cross
pollination and no one thought much about It,
But wild bees are decreasing while the work for
them to do is increasing. Bees are natures
fruit of high-grade quality and the seed of many
cultivated flowers and of many plants, the
clovers and radiShes to mention but two, result
from the work of bees in cross pollinat1on- OF
800 blossoms protected from insects, in
pertinent reported not single blossom reached
maturity or yielded any fruit. In Oregon, Tor
instance. where there are many. commercial
orchards it has been estimated that bees are
four times useful to fruit growers as to bee
keepers and in Germany the proportion Is
estimated as II to /.
The camera has caught the worker bees visit
ing various flowers and in the act of gathering
pollen and nectar; battery OF tanners oeatlng
their wings rhythmically to evaporate the ex-
cess moisture from the nectar stored in the
hive; guards keeping watch that no enemy may
pass. We see a fight at the hive entrance when
a bumblebee attempts to rob the colony OF its
precious store of honey And slow motion
photography shows the drones being driven out
in the Fall, carrying out the law of the hive,
that those who do not work shall not eat.
How bees communicate is shown in another
interesting squence. We lone scout at
dish of honey; the scout is marked and the
next scene shows the marked bee back at the
hive performing the peculiar food dance, going
rapidly round and round. Translated, this
dance seems to mean Il have found food go
seek it."
Even more spectacular than the food dance
is the fight between rival queens. Govern
ment apiculturists tell us that the queen has
a long, sharp, barbless sting which she never
uses except on a rival queen, but when two
queens meet they fight to the death in obedi-
ence to Natures stern law of the survival of
the fittest. The camera has caught battle
royal between two queens and we follow the