ISS 



THE AMERICAN EEE JOURNAL. 



that about once a year we have to kill them 

 oir." 



"My dear Deborah ! " I exclaimed in hor- 

 ror, "you cau't mean it !" 



" Yes. It is the custom. Tliey don't 

 seem to mind it. But let us look now at 

 Ihe store- rooms," said she, hastily changing 

 the subject, as well she might. 



In the storerooms we saw rows upon 

 rows of cells, fitted one upon another, and 

 every one filled with clear honey, and se- 

 curely sealed. 



"This is our winter store," said my 

 guide ; "pure honey, made from the white 

 clover, and put up in the combs by the 

 Workers." 



" IIow do they make the honey V " I asked. 



"They gather it," she replied. "We 

 ; send out thousands of bees every morning, 

 to all the gardens and fields around. Mig- 

 nonette makes good honey, and so do apple- 

 blossoms. We usually make from two to 

 ; six pounds a day. The bees often fly as 

 far as two miles from the hive, and then 

 come back loaded with honey and pollen. 

 Each Worker has a tongue or proboscis 

 with which she licks or brushes up the 

 honey, and puts it into her honey bag. 



"Stop a moment" said she to a Worker 

 who was hurrying by. " You will observe, 

 my dear, that the hinder legs have some- 

 thing like baskets, on the side, in which 

 the pollen or bee-bread is carried. 



"I see it," said I "I have often watched 

 the bees coming out of flowers, covered 

 with yellow dust." I then took the op- 

 portunity to mention to her that I lived in 

 a lily-bell, that I sometimes danced the 

 greater part of the night, and that the bees 

 were very much in the habit of waking me 

 at an unreasonable hour in the morning. 



She said she would attend to it. 



" And how do the bees make wax?" I 

 asked. 



" By a process best known to themselves," 

 replied Ueborah. "It is not in my line 

 just now, and I am quite sure that I could 

 not describe it to you. The bees say they 

 •cannot tell how they do it, but they wish 

 40 keep the secret to themselves. The 

 sides of these cells are the one-hundred and 

 eightieth part of an inch in thickness. So 

 you see we must use an immense quantity 

 of wax." 



"You must, indeed," I replied. And are 

 the cells always made in this shape?" 



"Yes," said she, "they are six-sided. 

 The early bees fixed upon that as the best 

 for strength and economy of space,, and no 

 change has been made since. However, 

 Bumble-bees, she added with a slight ex- 

 pression of scorn as though she had said, 

 the Beggars, "have a way which they pre- 

 fer. They put it up in bags, and store it 

 under-grounil." 



This was no news to me. Such a thing 



has been done in Fairy-land as to "bor- 

 row " a little honey from the bumble-bee, 

 in time of scarcity. But I said nothing. 



" And you tell me workers do the fight- 

 ing. Is there much fighting to do?" I ask- 

 ed. "A great deal," replied Deborah. — 

 "We have many enemies, bother on them I 

 Mice, catterpillars, moths, snails, Avasps, 

 robber-bees and other evil-minded crea- 

 tures ! " As she said this she buzzed fierce- 

 ly and unsheathed her sting. 



"Look here a moment," said she, "and 

 you will see one of them." 



And there in a corner, guarded by a 

 squad of bees, lay a wretched snail prison- 

 er in his own shell. The edge of the shell 

 was covered with a strong cement, which 

 held it firmly to the floor. 



"I think we have him now, the villain !" 

 said my guide. " His shell is fastened with 

 propolis." 



" What is propolis? " I asked. 



"It is bee-glue," she replied, "resin from 

 the buds of the trees." 



At this moment we heard a low murmur 

 of "The Queen ! the Queen !" and turning, 

 we saw passing through the principal gal- 

 lery, a magnificent bee, large and more 

 stately than any of her subject, though her 

 wings were much smaller than theirs. The 

 under part of her body was golden, the up- 

 per part dark. 



She was surrounded by her body guard, 

 and as she passed, her subjects politely 

 backed out of her way, to give her room, 

 and some oft'ered her refreshments in the 

 form of honey. 



" What would become of us, if anything 

 should happen to our beloved Queen ! " ex- 

 claimed Deborah. 



" How long has she reigned ? " I enquired. 



"More than two months," she replied. 



"And how much longer may she reign?" 

 I asked. 



"She may outlive us all," she replied, 

 " Queens live four years, and workers only 

 from six to nine months. Our old Queen 

 went away with a swarm to another hive. 

 "But now," she continued, "if you will 

 come back to the gallerj^ I will oflcr you 

 some of our best honey." 

 ;■ This was tempting, even to a fairy, and 

 we are considered dainty ; that is, the crick- 

 ets and grass-hopper call us so. I tasted 

 some honc}' and found it delicious. 



"This is not like the honey one finds in 

 the flowers," I said. 



"We have our way of purifying and pre- 

 serving it," said Deborah. 



"And bee-bread. Can you tell me ex- 

 actly how to make it ?" I asked. 



"That is not allowed," she replied, 

 " though it would do no harm, as no one 

 but a bee could ever make it. It is made of 

 the polen of flowers, and honey and water; 

 and it wants a great deal of kneading. But 



