1855. 



NEW ENGLAND F.\RMER. 



575 



'THE LITTLE BUSY BEE." 



jher comfort and hapjjiness. How ought such a 



_,.,,.. „ , 1 <TT 1 beautiful example to init to the bhish those unduti- 



The follo^^1ng is a part of a lecture on the "Hab- f^j cliildren who treat their mothers with irrever- 



its and Instincts of Bees," delivered before the ence and neglect, and who, instead of stri^^ng with 



Philadelphia Spring Garden Institute, during the lo\-ing zeal to lighten their labors and save their steps, 



earlv part of December, lSo4, by the Kev. L. L.' treat them more as though they were servants hired 



T ' c r^ c n AT " AT T • *u 1 only to wiut uiion every whim, and humor every ca- 



La>'GSTROTH, of Greenfield, Mass. Mr. L. is the 1 . - ^ .' ' : 



' I price, 



author of a most interesting work on Bees, from jf ^j^g ^^^^^ \^ baleen from the bees, as soon as 

 which Ave have occasionally quoted. We do not be- they ascertain their loss, the whole colony is thrown 

 lieve that the Curators of our Lyceums could offer into a state of the most intense agitation ; all the 

 a more attractive and pleasing subject to their sm-\^^^ of the hive are at once alxandoned ; the bees 

 ,. ,, ^ 1 ^ i- -NT T Irun over the comb in wild desi)air, and often the 



Qiences than one or two lectures irom Mr. L. on i , ,. ., i r .i r .u i • 



ujc ^,c V, « 1 c , ^yj^j^jg q[ i\^(^x\\ rush forth from the hive in anxious 



this topic. His work, while highly instructive, has ^^gj^j-ch for their beloved mother. When they return 

 at the same time the fascination of a well-wrought to their now desolate home, by their mournful tones 

 novel; and his lectures, delivered in an easy, con- .they manifest the deepest sense of their deplorable 



versational style, would not fail to be gratifying to f^-i^'^nii^y- T^'?"" "°^'' ^^ such times is of a pecuHar- 

 , „ , ly sorrowful character : soun(lin"r sometmno: like a 



nnv rinss nr hpnrprR •' . ,, ... .1 • i 1 



succession of wailings on the minor key, and can no 

 more be mistaken by the experienced apiarian or 



any class of hearers. 



The honey bee belongs to the class of insects 



which live in a perfect community ; indeed, bees can ; bee manager for their ordinary happy hum, than 

 flourish only when associated in large numbers as a the piteous moanings oi' a sick child can be coiifound- 

 colony. In a soUtary state, a single bee would be j ed by an anxious mother with its joyous crowings, 

 almost as helpless as a new-born child, and would | when overflowing with health and happiness. Even 

 be unable to endure even the ordinary chill of an after the bees have recovered from their first dis- 

 autumnal night. If a family of bees is examined ; traction of grief, they plainly manifest that some 

 before it sends off a new colony in the spring, three I overwhelming calamity has befallen them. Often 



different kinds of bees will be found in the hive : — 

 1. One bee of peculiar shape, commonly called the 



those that have visited the fields, instead of enter- 

 ing the hive with that dispatchf'ul haste so charac- 



queen bee. 2. A number of large bees, called teristie of a bee returning to a happy home, hnger 

 drones. 3. ^lany thousands of a smaller kind, about the entrance with a dissatisfied look. Their 

 called workers, and similar to those which are seen home, like that of a man who is cursed mther than 

 on the blossoms. A large number of the cells vaW ! blessed in his domestic relations, is such a melan- 



choly place that the}- enter it only •with reluctant 

 and slow monng steps. 



The defence of the colony against numei'ous ene- 

 mies, the construction of the combs, the i)ronding 

 of stores, the rearing of the young, and in short, 

 the whole work of the hive — the lajing of eggs ex- 

 cepted — is carried on by the industrious Avorkers. 



be found filled with honey and bee- bread, while vast 

 numbers contain eggs and immature young — a few 

 cells of unusual size and shape being devoted to the 

 rearing of the young queens. 



The queen bee is the only perfect female in the 

 hive, and all the eggs are laid by her. The drones 

 are the males, and so imperfectly developed that 



they are incapable of laying eggs, and retain the j There may be gentlemen of leisure in the common- 

 instinct only so flir as to give the most devoted at- wealth of bees; but most assuredly, there are no 

 tention to feeding and rearing the young. The 'such ladies, either of high or low degree. The 

 queen-bee or, as she ought more properly to be j queen herself has her full share of duties ; for it 

 called, the mother bee, is the common mother of the j must be admitted that the royal ofhce is no sinecure, 

 whole colony. She reigns, therefore, most unqucs-Uvhen the mother who fills it must superintend daily 

 tionably, by a divine right, as every good mother is, the prcjper disposition of some tMO or three thou- 

 or at least ought to be, in the bosom of her own 

 family. The fertility of the queen bee is veiy 

 great. She will often lay as many as three thousand 

 eggs in a single day. 



As the common bees never attain the age of a sin- 

 gle year, a constant succession of young ])ees must 

 be added to the hive ; and therefore, no colony can 

 long exist without the ])resence of this important 

 insect. She is as absolutely necessary to its welfare 

 as the soul is to the bal\ . The queen bee is treat- 

 ed by the bees as every mother ought to be l)y her 

 children, with the most unbounded resj)ect and 

 affection. A circle of her loving offspring constantly 

 surrounds her, testifying in different ways their du- 

 tiful regard — offering lier honey from time to time, 

 most affectionately eml)racing her with their anten- 

 r\«-, and carefully smootliing her beautiful plumage. 

 In the frontispiece of my treatise on bees I have 

 given an exact rejiresentaticjn of the attitude in which 

 they gather around her. If she wishes to travel 

 over the combs, they not only make Avay for her, 

 but most poHtely back out of her presence, and ever 

 seem intent on doing all that they can to promote 



sand eggs. It is very true that the di-ones 



"On others' toils in pampered leisure thrive, 

 The lazy fathers of the industrious hive." 



But then, as a penalty for this exemption from 

 labor, at the close of the summer they are all iguo- 

 mmiously put to death. 



Bees sometimes act the ]iart of highway robliers ; 

 a number of them will waylay and att;ick a humble 

 bee, which like an honest trader jogging home with 

 a well-filled purse, is returning witii a sack full of 

 honey to his nest. They seize the poor fellow and 

 give him at once to understand that they are deter- 

 mined to have liis hartl-carned sweets. Tliey do 

 not kill him, for they are much too selfish to en- 

 danger their own ])recions ])crsons ; and even if 

 they could take his life without losing their stings 

 — a" loss which is always fatal — they would still 

 be unable to extract his treasures from the deep 

 recesses of his honey bag. 



They, therefore, begin to bite and tease him after 

 the most approved fashion, all tho time singing in 

 his cars, not your money, but "your honey or your 



