Handbook of Nature-Study 



cane sugar of the nectar into the more easily digested grape sugar of 

 the honey. After the honey is emptied from the honey stomach into 

 the cell, it remains exposed to the air for some time before the cell is 

 capped, and thus ripens. It is an interesting fact that up to the seven- 

 teenth century honey was the only means people had for sweetening 

 their food, as sugar was unknown. 



Bee-bread is made from the pollen of flowers w r hich is perhaps 

 mixed with saliva so as to hold together; it is carried from the 

 field on the pollen baskets of the hind legs of the workers; it is 

 packed into the cell by the bees and is used for food. Propolis 

 is bee glue; it is used as a cement and varnish; it is gathered by 

 the bees from the leaf-buds of certain trees and plants, although 

 when they can get it, the bees will take fresh varnish. It is used as 

 a filler to make smooth the rough places of the hive; it often helps hold 

 the combs in place; it calks every crack; it is applied as a varnish to the 

 cells of the honey-comb if they remain unused for a time, and if the door of 

 the observation hive be left open the bees will cover the inside of the glass 

 with this glue, and thus make the interior of the hive dark. 



The young bees are footless, white grubs. Each one lives in its own 

 little cell and is fed by the nurse bees, which give it partly digested food 

 from their own stomachs. 



The removal of honey from the supers does not do any harm to the bee 

 colony if there is enough honey left in the brood chambers to support the 

 bees during the winter. There should be twenty-five or thirty pounds of 

 honey left in the brood chamber for winter use. In winter, the hives 

 should be protected from the cold by being placed in special houses or by 

 being encased in larger boxes, leaving an opening so that the bees may 

 come out in good weather. The chaff hive is best for both winter and 

 summer, as it surrounds the hive with a space, which is filled with chaff, 

 and keeps the hive w r arm in winter and cool in summer. Many bee- 

 keepers put their bees in cellars during the winter, but this method is not 

 as safe as the chaff hive. Care should be taken in summer to place the 

 hives so that they are shaded at least part of the day. The grass should 

 be mown around the hives so that the bees will not become entangled in it 

 as they return from the fields laden with honey. 



What may be seen in the observation hive First of all, it is very 

 interesting to watch the bees build their comb. When more comb is 

 needed certain members of the colony gorge themselves with honey and 

 remain suspended while it oozes out of the wax pockets on the lower side 

 of the abdomen. This wax is collected and chewed to make it less brittle 

 and then is carried to the place where the comb is being built and is 

 molded into shape by the jaws of the workers. However, the bee that 

 puts the wax in place is not always the one that molds it into comb. 



A bee comes into the hive with her honey stomach filled with nectar 

 and disgorges this into a cell. Whejn a bee comes in loaded with pollen, she 

 first brushes it from the pollen baskets on her hind legs into the cell; 

 later another worker comes along and packs the pollen grains into the cell 

 with her head, which is a comical sight. 



The bee nurses run about on the comb feeding the young bee grubs 

 partially digested honey and pollen regurgitated from their own stomachs 

 Whenever the queen moves about the comb she is followed by a retinue of 

 devoted attendants which feed her on the rich and perfectly digested royal 



