200 



THE AMERICAN AP.ICULTURIST. 



many days, forming, so to speak, 

 ladders over which the worker bees 

 and those returning from the fields 

 may pass. These chains they make 

 of different lengths, and the bees 

 of which they are formed are placed 

 in seemingly uncomfortable posi- 

 tions ; especially is this the case 

 when a new swarm begins to build 

 and the hive is still empty, for then 

 those bees which come home laden 

 with honey feed those which hang- 

 in these clusters as well as the 

 working bees and administer to 

 them part of the honey, reaching it 

 to them with the tongue, and also 

 permitting them to eat a portion of 

 the pollen with which they are 

 laden. 



Others mould the cells and cap 

 them over ; others clean the hive ; 

 still others cement the cliinks and 

 crevices in the hive with propolis ; 

 some pack into the cells the pollen 

 which is brought home from the 

 fields by the working bees, whose 

 duty this seems to be ; others care 

 for and feed the young, make and 

 knead the larval food ; others guard 

 the entrance of the hive, while still 

 others assume yet different duties. 



Others go forth and obtain honey, 

 wax, propolis, and water out of the 

 brooks or marshes, etc. They have 

 sufficient knowledge of the location 

 of their homes to find them again 

 without diflicult}^ so that if, while 

 they are absent, one removes the 

 hive only a short distance, they 

 lose their way. Likewise, should 

 they be overtaken by the thickest 

 fog, the}^ find their way back again. 



For their different occupations. 

 Nature has provided them with ap- 



propriate members, and an extra- 

 ordinary skill and celerity. They 

 partly lick, partly suck the hone}' 

 with their proboscis and take it in 

 their honey bag, wherein all that is 

 harmful is separated, and especially 

 that from the honey dew, which 

 then goes to the poison bag, caus- 

 ing the swelling produced by sting- 

 ing, but the honey they return 

 perfectl}' good and wholesome to 

 the cell. 



The pollen, which the bees use 

 partly for nourishment, partly for 

 food for the young, they gather in 

 an incredibly short time, fly there- 

 with a little \\i\.y and give it during 

 flight to the front feet ; these share 

 it with the middle feet, and the 

 middle feet rub it upon the shovel- 

 like hollow of the hind feet, which 

 is all done in the twinkling of an 

 eye. This they repeat until they 

 are fully laden when they return 

 home. Upon reaching the hive, 

 they deposit the pollen in a cell 

 very ingeniously, stretch the two 

 beladened feet behind them, and 

 brush off the two little balls of 

 pollen with the middle feet from 

 tlie hind ones, leaving them in the 

 cell ; for then another bee which 

 attends to home duties is in readi- 

 ness to take it, and she with her 

 mandibles kneads it and packs it 

 in the cell. 



But, if it has rained, or very 

 early in the morning the flowers 

 are covered with a heavy dew, and 

 thereby the pollen does not pack 

 well on the spoonlike cavity of the 

 hind legs, it covers them therewith, 

 and the little particles of pollen 

 adhere to the hairs of the whole 



