I 



62 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



March, 



she runs about over the blossom, how 

 she hovers while she skilfully rolls 

 the pollen into masses which she deft- 

 ly places in her baskets. Again, watch 

 that one sipping nectar, and note her 

 eagerness as she thrusts her tongue 

 into this and into that corolla — and 

 can scarcely hold back her little body 

 so eager is it to get to the next blos- 

 som. Watch closely, else you will 

 fail to see her as she flits from flower 

 to flower. Lazy beings do not work 

 that way. 



Go back to the hive. See that line 

 of bees fanning the entrance. Now 

 patiently wait till you see a bee stop 

 that monotonous work. I'll warrant 

 that you get tired of watching before 

 she gets tired of the work. Is she 

 lazy? The test of laziness is the 

 monotonous and never-ending task, 

 for he who can keep steadily at work 

 on such a task is industrious. 



Thus It is with every function of the 

 bee-hive. No matter what she is do- 

 ing, tKe little bee is eager and active 

 at it. If well she never shirks nor 

 is slow, but rather does she carry 

 her woric on till utter weariness calls 

 a halt. 



Take note of the work during a 

 heavy honey-flow. Get out early to 

 see the start. Then all day long the 

 inp'ouring stream of nectar-loads con- 

 tinues, the weary burden carriers of- 

 ten falling at the very portals of their 

 home — exhausted. Yet they rest but 

 a moment, and rapidly crawling into 

 the hive they soon reappear eager to 

 repeat the performance. All day thus, 

 from nine till ten — till the noon hour 

 — through the long mid-day hours — 

 till five and yet they stop not. At six 

 they are still eagerly hurrying, though 

 every bit of comb is glistening with 

 fragrant honey, and every home-bee 

 is oozing sweetness, while the air is 

 heavy with the moist incense. Seven 

 o'clock comes but not till darkness 

 creeps over the earth does the work 

 stop, and even then • by getting the 



hive between you and the western 

 sky you will see many weary bees 

 straggling home from the nectar- 

 loaded flowers. 



One most striking illustration of ac- 

 tivity on the part of an individual 

 bee, for the reader will remember that 

 it is the individual bee that Mr. Mil- 

 ler has insulted, will I oflfer as an 

 instance of positive proof that the 

 bee is eagerly industrious. The case 

 is by no means an isolated one, but 

 one not to Fe seen except occasion- 

 ally. 



There were thrown out from a hive 

 late one afternoon and early evening 

 a hundred or more dead and dymg 

 bodies of some stranger bees. They 

 lay in front of the hive, scattered over 

 a space of two or three square feet 

 some having crawled before dying 

 not less than two feet from the hive. 

 The following morning while standing 

 by the hive I saw a bee tugging at a 

 dead worker on the ground. She pull- 

 ed this way and that, and finally, by 

 a great effort, mounted with her bur- 

 den and disappeared in the distant 

 air. I naturally thought that she had 

 but just brought the dead bee from 

 the hive, but in less than a minute 

 back she came and hovered about the 

 ground as if in search of something. 

 Then alighting by another dead 

 body she grasped and pulled at that, 

 and flew away with it. Again and 

 again I saw her repeat this act, never 

 once entering the hive, never once 

 seeking the society of her living sis- 

 ters, but plodding away by herself 

 clearing the ground in front of t^he 

 hive of the dead bodies. Later on 

 another bee joined in the task, and a 

 few hours later when I took note of 

 the progress of the work I found the 

 ground completely cleared of the 

 dead bees that had been thrown there 

 the evening before. 



The task was a self-imposed task. 

 An amount of work was done which 

 relatively would be beyond the possi- 



