3Q 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



sweet smcllina; linden grove, or the distant 

 heathery hills. Returning thence on rapid wing, 

 in a "bee-line," she comes laden with distended 

 honey-bag and well-filled breadbasket, these to 

 be discharged into the common hoard, and gar- 

 nered in the cellular repositories prepared with 

 such artistic skill for their reception. And 

 this continues, with scarce an intermission, from 

 early dawn to dusky eve ; though this incessant 

 activity inmost instances, leads to a premature 

 death. Her wings become ragged and worn ; 

 her muscles relax ; swallows, hornets and 

 spiders way-lay and entrap her ; sudden storms 

 and gusts of rain dash her to the earth; and the 

 deceitful mirror of brook and pond tempts her to 

 a watery grave. Hence the bee, as Dzierzon 

 has proved, in spring and summer, hardly 

 gets to be six weeks old. To the bee in winter, 

 there can be no reference here, as she, with- 

 drawn from all out-door labor, hybernates, or 

 rather simply vegetates in quiet retirement and 

 domestic repose. Where then would the active, 

 untiring bee find time to bestow special regard 

 to and nurse recognition and attachment for 

 her owner, though he were a bee-keeper as re- 

 spectable and venerable as the ancient Aristseus 

 himself. 



Undoubtedly those workers, whose particu- 

 lar charge it is for the time to mount guard at 

 the entrance of the hive, will not fail to take 

 special notice of Mr. Bee-keeper whenever he 

 happens to visit the apiary. But if we may be 

 permitted to regard matters from the standpoint 

 of an insect, and to assume that it, like our- 

 selves, takes its own size as the standard of 

 measure, the respectable gentleman just 

 referred to might appear to the eyes of the 

 bee somewhat like a large, dark, menacing 

 giant, with great fiery eyeballs, and enveloped 

 ill a blue mist bedimming the sun. Not a very 

 engaging and lovable object, surely. 



On the whole, too, I would ask every honest 

 bee-keeper to declare on his conscience, 

 whether, on such occasions, when the bee ap- 

 proached him with pressing closeness, for 

 recognition, he ever observed on the part 

 of the said bee any evidence of loving attach- 

 ment or respectful regard, or any demonstra- 

 tion of a desire to cultivate a friendiy ac- 

 quaintance or renew pleasant sociable inter- 

 course, such as the question propounded seems 

 fairly to imply ? I suspect he will not answer 

 aye — nor will he utterly repudiate the notion 

 of tlie blue mist, as an illusion of the imagi- 

 nation. 



" Good !" exclaims our inquiring bee friend, 

 "Good! but our excellent bee master surely 

 will not always be standing there as a mere 

 looker-on. He will, at least in the spring, raise 

 lip his hives and peep within; or, if he has 

 movable comb hives, will now and then take 

 them apart for examination ; will divide stock; 

 will raise queens, and will make artificial col- 

 onies — and thus necessarily form and cultivate 

 a closer acquaintance with his bees." All 

 right, my worthy friend, I reply. But, alas, I 

 must confess that in us bee-keepers, at those 

 moments when we undertake actually to handle 

 bees, the coolness and courage which we are 

 wont to make our pride and boast, are apt to 



ooze out wonderfully, unless we equip our- 

 selves in sting-proof armour. We are quite 

 ready at such times to array ourselves in deep 

 disguise, and then stalk about boldly in im- 

 penetrable incognito. With hands encased in 

 thickest woolen mittens, with head ensconced 

 in close-meshed bee-cap, and with loose linen 

 blouse enveloping the body, we move in mas- 

 ciuerade, so that neither friend nor brother 

 could identify us — much less our favorite bees, 

 friendly and familiar as they might be disposed 

 to be. Even the boldest operator among us will 

 scarcely disdain, on such occasions, to blow a 

 whifF of tobacco smoke into the nose and eyes 

 of the prying and obtrusive bees, who come 

 ciuizzically whirring around, striving to peep 

 under his visor, to ascertain whether it is in- 

 deed the snailing face of their well-known and 

 much-loved owner that is so well guarded and 

 so sedulously kept from view. Incredible num- 

 bers of cigars are annually smoked, in self-de- 

 fence, by "practical apiarians," while making 

 artificial colonies ; and meerschaums and clay 

 pipes, by the groce, are in demand during the 

 season when first and second swarms are to be 

 hived. And since, in the case of tobacco, de- 

 mand and supply have of late years not kept 

 due pace with each other — the weed having 

 risen in price, while cash has grown scarcer, and 

 the worshipful operator, in his zeal for his own 

 safety, not being always careful to procure the 

 best quality of the needful commodity, it may 

 well be doubted whether the bees feel specially 

 flattered by the flavor of tlie article used; and it 

 can scarcelj'' be imagined that their sympathies 

 will thereby be enlisted or their favorable re- 

 gards secured, while the interesting work is 

 going on. 



But suppose we could honestly and conscien- 

 tiously concede to the unquestionably ingenious 

 bee, a degree of intelligence enabling her to 

 comprehend, in all its amplitude and extent, the 

 true relation subsisting between herself and 

 her owner, would she not diligently seek to 

 protect herself and her stores from the skillful 

 hands of the accomplished bee-master? What 

 is there in all he does, on the more important 

 occasions, to entitle him to the devoted atluch- 

 ment of his hard-working charge, though he 

 have the vanity to dignify himself with the 

 endearing appellation of bee-father ? He looks 

 very complacently all summer on the toil of his 

 favorite, and rejoices to witness the ever-grow- 

 ing accumulation of stores. Then, in autumn, 

 he sneaks off to a drug-shop and buys an ounce 

 of villainous brimstone, and with its suffoca- 

 ting fumes dooms the hapless inmates of his 

 hives to swift destruction. Next, pressing, and 

 seething, and skimming, he separates wax from 

 honey, and hastening to market converts both 

 into cash — exulting over his gains as though the 

 money were the product of his own veritable in- 

 dustry; and there his kindness ends. Now what 

 could a conscious intelligent insect perceive in all 

 this to inspire attachment to her owner, or cause 

 her to rejoice in his presence at the apiary? Are 

 not we bee-keepers the most arrant honey- 

 thieves on earth ; and would not the bees just- 

 ly hail us by that title, could they speak ? 



Finally, we must not neglect to do justice to 



