THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



67 



The size of the drop indicates the cohesive force 

 with which the particle? of honey arc held to- 

 gether ; when another kind of attraction, called 

 gravitation, is brought to bear on it, (the same 

 force that pulled Sir Isaac Newton's celebrated 

 apple off the tree). If the drop only attained a 

 certain size, it would remain suspended — the 

 force of cohesion would he greater than the 

 force of gravita'ion ; hut other particles added 

 give the latter the advantage, and consequently 

 the drop falls. The honey is held in the cell by 

 this very attraction of cohesion, and conse- 

 quently the cells have to conform in size to the 

 drop of honey, or the other attraction, gravita- 

 tion, would cause the honey to run out." 



" Ah ! I see now what you are driving at," 

 exclaimed he, "and consequently the bee can- 

 not be any larger than the cells, as it has to go 

 into them to put its honey in, and to pet it out. 

 If it were otherwise the bees would be in the 

 same fix of the fox in iEsop, who went to dine 

 with the stork and had minced meat served in 

 a bottle." 



"That is one reason, but not the principal 

 one. The queen lays her eggs in the bottom of 

 the cells, where they hatch, are fed by the nurs- 

 ing bees, undergo the different transformations, 

 and emerge full size. Of course they can be no 

 larger than the cell in which they were reared. 

 This is so true, that drones which are some- 

 times reared in worker cells, are no larger than 

 workers ; and I have known workers reared in 

 cells built so near the sides of the hive that they 

 could not be made of full depth, that were but 

 little larger than a house fly." 



"So the cell is a sort of Procrustean bed," 

 said my friend, "and those that occupy it must 

 be made to fit it. I think I will go home and 

 quit hunting bumble bees." 



"Stop awhile, till I give you another idea in 

 this connection. Does not this also explain the 

 shape and arrangement of the cells ? A great 

 deal has been said and written, to explain why 

 the bees build their cells with such wonderful 

 uniformity of angle and such remarkable econ- 

 omy of space. Many solutionshave been propo- 

 sed, but none of them is entirely satisfactory! 

 Another law of attraction is ' that when parti- 

 cles of fluids are left free to arrange themselves 

 according to the law of attraction, they assume 

 the form of a globe or ball.' For instance the 

 drop of honey, just spoken of, the dew drops on 

 the leaves of plants, tears running down the 

 cheek, and drops of rain. 



" Now the cells being constructed, primarily, 

 for the purpose of holding honey, it is but 

 natural to suppose that they would conform as 

 near as possible in shape as well as size to the 

 substance which it is intended to contain. 

 Therefore they would be circular; but when we 

 come to set them together, w r e find that they 

 will not fit each other and that there is a great 

 loss of space. If that space is filled with wax, 

 there is a waste of material ; so nature, alwaj'S 

 economical, adopts the only shape that will an- 

 swer the purpose for which they were intended; 

 and constructing all the walls and partitions of 

 an equal thickness, the thing is done, without 

 requiring the bees to work out a difficult mathe- 

 matical problem. There is no other shape ex- 



cept a cube or square that could be adopted, 

 and that would neither suit the form of the 

 maturing bees, nor be of such a shape as to take 

 advantage of the law of cohesion in retaining 

 the honey. The hexagon varies so slightly 

 from a circle that it is substantially the same." 



D. L. Adair. 

 Hawesville, Ky., August, 1808. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Another Mishap. 



Last November I buried four small swarms 

 of bees, without ventilation, in a bin of oats. 

 Boards were set up around the hives, to keep 

 the oats away from them — leaving about six 

 inches space between the hives and boards. 

 They were covered with oats to the depth of 

 two feet, and had honey enough to last them 

 till spring. They were taken out in March, 

 dead. They evidently had lived only a short 

 time, as but little of the honey was consumed. 

 My neighbors told me when I buried them, that 

 I would lose them. But I knew better, as Mr. 

 Adair had told me, through the Journal, that 

 bees could not be smothered. 



Another swarm of the same size — hive eight 

 inches square, and eight inches high, inside 

 measure — that set in the granary on the oat bin, 

 came through the winter in good condition. 



Will Mr. Adair please to explain why this 

 latter swarm, that was ventilated, was saved ; 

 while the others, without ventilation, were lost? 

 There was no raiding the hive a trifle here, to 

 let in the air ; and no way that light could be 

 admitted. 



A Wolverine Bee-Keeper. 



Tomato Honey. 



To each pound of Tomatoes allow the grated 

 peel of a lemon and six fresh peach leaves. 

 Boil them slowly till they are all to pieces ; then 

 squeeze through a bag. To each pound of 

 l : quid allow one pound of sugar, and the juice 

 of one lemon. Boil them together half an hour, 

 or till they become a thick jelly. Then put into 

 glasses, and lay double tissue paper over the 

 top. It will scarcely be distinguished from real 

 honey. 



One drop of water hath no power ; one spark 

 of fire is not strong ; but the gathering together 

 of waters called, seas, and the communion of 

 many flames, do make both raging and invinci- 

 ble elements. And una apis, nulla apis, one 

 bee is no bee ; but a multitude, a swarm of bees 

 uniting their forces together, is very profitable, 

 very comfortable, very terrible ; profitable to 

 their owners, c mfortable to themselves, terri- 

 ble to their enemies. — Purchas. 



In no way can we get at all the facts, correct 

 errors, and reconcile statements, unless each 

 collector carefully observes, and truthfully gives 

 his own experience in the various fields of pur- 

 suit. — American Naturalist. 



