THE HABITS OF THE HONEY BEE. 



BY GEO. H. CLARKE. 



1. The honey bee acts only as a gatherer of honey, or 

 nectar, from the flower, and is not a distiller, or a maker of 

 honey, and has no such power. 



2. Bees also gather both pollen and honey at the same 

 time, and many flowers yield both at the same time. 



3. The bee does not use its tongue to spread wax with. 

 Considerable was said, a fe\^years ago, upon the subject 



of feeding bees on a large scale for profit, upon the theory 

 that whatever the bee would eat or swallow, and carry to 

 the hive, would be transformed into the purest honey before 

 it was deposited in the comb; and according to this belief, 

 many, to my knowledge, bought Cuba honey and brown su- 

 gar by the barrel, to feed their bees with, expecting to get 

 rich from the profits the first year. These great specula- 

 tors prepared their feed according to the following rule : 

 15 lbs. of Cuba honey, 35 lbs. common brown sugar, and 50 

 lbs. of water — said to make 100 lbs. of the purest honey, 

 as soon as deposited in the comb. This proved to be a 

 humbug. 



From what I had seen of the honey bees, I could not be- 

 lieve that they had the power of making good honey from 

 such a poor composition. I consequently spoke unfavora. 

 bly ofany such speculation; but many still persisted in the 

 truth of it. Time had not told the story then ; and to sat. 

 isfy myself thoroughly upon the subject, I made an cxpcri- 



