effect, and sold upon its merits. If it 

 does no harm to adulterate an article, 

 it can do no harm to label it ; if it does 

 harm, surely it would be but moral 

 honesty to tell the buyer what he was 

 purchasing : 



Mr. Robert Thwaite suggests in a 

 communication, that it would be profit- 

 able for all farmers to keep a few colo- 

 nies of honey bees. There is a large 

 quantity of honey sold in Philadelphia, 

 he says, which comes from California 

 and New York, and but very little from 

 Pennsylvania. In 1876 Mr. J. S. Harbi- 

 son shipped from six apiaries in San 

 Diego county, California, ten car loads 

 of honey, each car containing 20,000 

 lbs. or 200,000 lbs. in all. The annual 

 income of this gentleman on his honey 

 amounts to $25,000 per annum. A gen- 

 tleman in New York, in 1874, sold 58,- 

 000 lbs. of honey from his own apiaries. 

 It is much easier, says Mr, Thwaite, to 

 produce pasturage (in addition to nat- 

 ural resources) to support 100 colonies, 

 than to provide pasturage for 100 head 

 of sheep, the profit on this being more 

 than double that in sheep. The honey 

 lost in California for want of bees to 

 gather it is of more value than the gold 

 gathered. It is estimated that the 

 value of the honey crop collected annu- 

 ally is worth $8,800,000. The wax is 

 estimated at $6,000,000, or a total of 

 $14,800,000. Of this amount $1,200,000 

 worth of honey and 700,000 lbs. of wax 

 are exported, and yet, says the writer, 

 the culture is only in its infancy. Two 

 Michigan farmers, both of whom own 

 large tracts of cultivated ground, had 

 informed him that the profits on their 

 bees exceeded that of their farms. 



The Senses of Bees. 



The senses of bees were the next subject 

 of investigation, and we will give in brief 

 the results which Huber reached : The 

 lenses of the bees' eyes are not adjustable, 

 and though they can see accurately to great 

 distances, they seem blind to objects close 

 by. Bees dart down to the door of their 

 hives with a precision which is generally 

 unerring ; but if from any cause they miss 

 the opening, they are obliged to rise in the 

 air in order to take another observation. 



If bees hear — which is a doubtful ques- 

 tion, the old-fashion "tanging" to the con- 

 trary — they certainly hear only what affects 

 their welfare. Their sense of taste is also 

 far from perfect, foul ditch water being often 

 preferred by them to limpid streams or even 

 dew, and ill-smelling plants having quite as 

 much attraction as sweet ones ; it is the 

 quantity rather than the quality of their 

 food for which they care. They are also 

 fond of the secretions of the aphides, the 

 milch-cattle of the ants. 



Their sense of smell is very keen ; the 

 presence of honey they detect even in the 

 most carefully-conceaied places. Honey 

 bees often, in scarce seasons, attack the 

 bumble bees on their return from fields 

 laden with honey, and force them to dis- 

 gorge all they have collected, its presence 

 in the honey-bag must have been detected 

 by the sense of smell. The seat of this 

 sense is in the mouth; this Huber deter- 

 mined by presenting successively to all 

 parts of the body, on camel's hair pencils, 

 odors especially repugnant to them. When 

 held near the mouth, the bee started back 

 as if annoyed. On one occasion he mixed 

 honey with camphor, which they especially 

 dislike : they managed to separate and re- 

 move all the honey, leaving the camphor 

 untouched. 



The sense which seems to be most per- 

 fect in these little creatures is that of touch 

 and that seems to reside wholly in the an- 

 tennae. Greetings, caresses and the com- 

 munication of intentions are always ef- 

 fected, by one bee toward another, by cross- 

 ing their antennae. It must be remembered 

 that no light enters a hive under ordinary 

 circumstances. " The bee," says Huber, 

 "constructs its comb in darkness ; it pours 

 its honey into the magazines, feeds its 

 young, judges of their age and necessities, 

 recognizes its queen, all by the aid of its an- 

 tenna?, which are much less adapted for be- 

 coming acquainted with objects than our 

 hands. Therefore, shall we not grant to 

 this sense modifications and perfections un- 

 known to the touch of man ? "—Popular 

 Science Monthly 



The Bee that Saved a Kingdom. 



Once upon a time there was a bad king, 

 and the people wished him to make a cer- 

 tain good law. "No," said he, "I will not 

 make that law— it is too good ; it will make 

 peace. Here is the law I wish to make. 

 Then all my people will go war." The two 

 documents lay in front of him on the table 

 all written out, and whichever one he signed 

 would be the law of the land. He took up 

 a big quill pen, drew the bad law near him, 

 and dipped the peu in the ink. Just then a 

 bee began to buzz. It was a wise bee. 



"Zigu ze ozzer — zeozzer — ze ozzer ! " 



The king would not listen ; so the wise 

 bee lit on his nose and stung him just a lit- 

 tle, still buzzing : 



"Zigu ze ozzer— zigu ze ozzer— ze ozzer — 

 ze ozzer — ze ozzer ! " 



"Open the window," roared the king, 

 " and drive out this bee, or kill him !" 



They opened the window. Out flew the 

 bee, and in rushed the wind. It blew very 

 hard. The papers flapped and flew across 

 the table. The bad king was so mad that 

 he stamped his foot, seized one of the pa- 

 pers, and signed it in a rage. 



The bee hurried to the garden and whis- 

 pered to the honeysuckle : 



"Zome of your bpzt— zome of your bezt !" 



" Long live the king ! Long live the good 

 King Blunderbuss ! " 



" O ho ! " said the king to himself, when 

 he heard that, "that is the best sound I have 

 heard for many a year." 



