THE STORY OF THE BEES. 

 H. R. RowsoME. 



Almost every one has, on some drowsy midsummer day, stood be- 

 fore a hive of bees, as close as he dare, and watched with absorbing- 

 interest the small portion of their daily toil he was able to see going on 

 around the hive entrance, and has wondered what operations were carried 

 on within that busy community. 



If the hive is of a comparatively modern form — one with movable 

 combs set within wooden frames - it is an easy and safe matter to open 

 the hive, take out the combs, and watch its inmates by the hour. Bees 

 do not know one person from another, except as one learns their whims 

 in order to deal with them peaceably ; they are annoyed by persons 

 standing in front of a hive and interfering with their flight to the hive. 

 It is not well to wear wooly or black clothes when among bees, because 

 the hereditary antipathy of bees to the bear is aroused if they catch their 

 hooked feet in wooly clothes or hairy wrists ; bears, on their part, keep 

 up their traditions by destroying many telegraph poles in searching for 

 bees' nests, on account of the humming of the wires. 



Place a veil of leno over your head, get a bee-keeper's smoker, and 

 puff a few whiff's of smoke in at the entrance to the hive. This drives 

 the sentinels, who are looking for robber bees, into the hive ; gently lift 

 up the cover and blow half a dozen puff's over the tops of the frames. 

 The smoke causes the bees to ^o down into the hive ; each one dips head 

 first into a cell and fills herself with honey and is then as good natured as 

 a man after a full dinner. Now with a screw-driver pry a frame loose 

 and lift it out. On a warm day all the combs may be taken out and 

 leaned against the hive. One should be careful not to make rapid move- 

 ments as if inviting a fight, and should avoid crushing- the bees or jarring 

 the hive. 



One will first notice that it is at the top of the combs that the honey 

 is placed. This is for the sake of convenience in feeding the brood 

 below, just as in a stable, the hay is stored in the loft. Honey, as such, 

 does not exist in flowers but is really made by the bees. The bee has a 

 very long under lip of reddish color, which can very readily be seen when 

 in use ; and with this she laps up the nectar that is contained in flowers. 

 This nectar passes into a sort of crop and there undergoes a chemical 

 change, which gives it certain medicinal qualities that make it curative 

 of colds. This is honey. The bee gathers a load of twice its own weight. 

 One can easily notice how a loaded bee drops heavily upon the alighting 

 board, almost with a thud, or, missing it, falls into the grass before the 

 hive and pants and struggles for half an hour to reach the hive. Each 

 bee fills one cell at a time The honey, as it is carried into the hive, 

 is nine-tenths water, most of which has to be removed or the honey will 

 sour. The bees accomplish this, especially at night when they cannot 

 work in the field, by standing in rows before the entrance of the hive ; 

 and there, in rank after rank all along the bottom board and up on the 

 combs, their heads all pointed towards the interior, with abdomens thrust 



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