THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



271 



through coiitiiinous labor grow gray 

 and are torn and ragged at the 

 ends. Not long thereafter some 

 of them will die at home, others 

 in the fields while collecting stores, 

 as their wings are so worn, they 

 will no longer support their bodies, 

 especially when laden with hone^-. 

 On account of their short life the}^ 

 multiply rapidly and never will be- 

 come depopulated nnless weakened 

 through repeated swarming, or if 

 on account of a honey dearth the 

 queen considers it advisable to start 

 but a small amount of brood or 

 none at all, or the queen is lost, 

 or if their eggs are lost and there 

 is no young brood at hand. This 

 however will happen but seldom 

 with a good populous colon}-, or 

 in one that keeps up the tempera- 

 ture in the brood nest that it permits 

 the mother bee to care for her brood. 



THE INTERMENT OF THE DEAD. 



The bees generally select a rainy 

 day when they cannot gather honey 

 for the burial of the dead old bees as 

 well as the interment of the 3'oung 

 brood accidentally lost. On this 

 occasion two or three bees will 

 carry a dead body outside, when 

 another bee will lay hold of the 

 corpse with its fore legs and fiy a- 

 way with it. If the load prove too 

 heavjr, two bees will carry the 

 corpse, the one taking hold at the 

 liead, the other by the hind extrem- 

 ities and will fly away together 

 and let their load drop at quite a 

 distance from the hive. 



However, with the first appear- 

 ance of sunshine again, work of 

 this character is abandoned and 

 they start for the more necessary 



work in tlie fields, leaving the other 

 for the next opportunity ; but when 

 absolutely necessary they will car- 

 ry out of the hive during the night 

 everything that is hurtful and in- 

 jurious. 



A very excellent and valuable 

 attribute of the bees is that they 

 become easily acclimated and live 

 and thrive well either in an extreme- 

 ly hot or in a very cold climate, 

 being able to take advantage of 

 both. Such is not the case regard- 

 ing other insects. In this respect 

 they have, in some degree at least, 

 the nature of an European, inhabit- 

 ing a temperate climate and who 

 will do well again in a very hot or 

 very cold latitude. That is what 

 cannot be said of an African, a 

 Moor or a Greenlander. 



[To he continued.'] 



EDITORIAL. 



Once again, in the history of 

 our Journal, we are turning over 

 the closing pages of another year. 

 How solemn and impressive are the 

 thoughts that crowd through our 

 minds, one after another, as we 

 look back over the past and review 

 our thoughts and acts, only to find 

 them indelibly recorded, to be stud- 

 ied and criticised b}'^ coming gener- 

 ations when we perchance shall be 

 lying in the bosom of mother earth, 

 in peaceful forgetfulnessof the busy 

 toil of the world ! 



How much better is it, when our 

 work is completed and we are rest- 

 ing from our labors, that we can 



