1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



770 



the clothes-wringer, while the baby climbs up the 

 tubs and holds to everything; then when I come 

 back at 10, the white things are all on the line, and 

 no girls are to be seen. But I know where they are. 

 They are in the kitchen, cooking dinner for tie 

 men-folks who will come in presently at the sound 

 of the dinner-bell. When I go along again at 3 

 o'clock the washing is all gone, and the tubs put 

 awaj', and one of the girls will be sewing on the 

 machine, while the other sits a little further away, 

 basting or woi-king button-holes, with the baby 

 playing at her feet. Sometimes I see one of them 

 churning, with the baby in her lap; and once I saw 

 them out in the orchard, and the baby was there 

 too. Always the two sisters, always the work, and 

 always the baby. Do you wonder, then, that I felt 

 glad when I saw them taking the ride yesterday, 

 and resolved to tell the juvenile readers about them? 

 Vermont, 111. Mahala B. CiiADnocK. 



BEES' TOOLS. 



AND .SOMETHING ABOUT THE WAV THEV HANDLE 

 POLLEN. 



'VE seen men at fairs selling a tool which they 

 praised as being good to use as a corkscrew, 

 screwdriver, knife, and file, all combined in 

 one. It was a sort of "jack at all trades," and, 

 like that renowned individual, good at none. 



But the bee has a wonderful implement which 

 consists of a basket, a brush, and a pair of pincers. 

 In this basket, the bee-bread is carried, which the 

 bee loads up as she finds it, and puts the honey into 

 lier honey-sac. Along the rim of the basket are 

 rows of very fine haii-s which form a brush, which 

 the bee uses in brushing from her velvet gown the 

 pollen-dust into the basket. The basket has hinges, 

 and can open and shut, forming a pair of pincers. 

 These are used in pinching off the scales of wax 

 from the under side of the bee, and carrying them 

 to its mouth, which is used as a kneading-trough, 

 where it is worked soft with saliva, and built into 

 comb. Is it not wonderful, that the beautiful comb 

 can be built with the aid of the mouth and hind legs 

 of the bee? 



How many ways these tools of the bees are used! 

 This basket, bi'ush, and pincers, are used to walk 

 with too; the hind legs are used as hands and arms; 

 as the bee has six legs, she can sjiare them for 

 arms. When the bee comes home loaded with pol- 

 len or bee-bread, she can run her legs down into the 

 cell, and rub them together, knocking it off, and I 

 wonder if she doesn't pack it down by jumping up 

 and down on it, as it is said the Dutch girls do when 

 they hop into the ki-aut-barrel, and tramp it down 

 with their feet. 



Did you ever think why it was that tlie bees build 

 separate cells to hold the honey, instead of one 

 great big one? The bees were sealing up their pro- 

 visions in air-tight cans, long years before ])eople 

 ever thought of it. Have you not seen your mam- 

 ma canning fruit? Why does she put it into small 

 cans, instead of large jars? She will tell you that it 

 will not keep long when opened, and uses small 

 ones so it will soon be eaten up. So tiie bee can 

 open one cell, and eat it up before it has time to 

 candy or sour. The Psalmist says, "O Lord, how 

 manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made 

 thcBi all. The earth is full of thy riches." 



Peoria, 111. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



About that load of pollen, is it not this 

 wayV When the bee marches in with his 

 load he pompously parades his prize all 

 over the hive for a time, but finally concludes 

 he liad better put it away and go after more. 

 He slips it oft' about as qiiickly as a one-year- 

 old baby will kick off his shoes and stock- 

 ings, and in mucli the same way. He puts 

 both hind feet into the cell, and then you can 

 see a kind of kicking, and off he goes^ free of 

 his load. The pollen-loaves now simply lie 

 in the bottom of the cell ; and if you tip the 

 comb over, the loaves will fall out on the 

 ground. But presently one of the nurse- 

 bees comes ahmg and pokes her head into 

 the cell, and stays quite a little time, very 

 busily occupied in doing something. Now, 

 when this nurse - bee backs out and goes oft", 

 the pollen is packed down smooth and hard, 

 and I do not know how else she can get it in 

 that shape without pounding it down with 

 her smooth and shiny head, and it seems 

 even then as though she hadn't power suffi- 

 cient to do it. Probably she sticks her '' toe- 

 nails " into the walls of the cell while she 

 punches the pollen down to the bottom, and 

 then pounds it in hard. Who can tell us 

 more al)out it ? 



A HINT TO THE JUVENILES. 



FROM ONE WHO LOVES THE.M, AS WELL AS ALL OK 

 OOD'S CREATURES. 



VERY created thing that has animal life bears 

 a witness that it comes from a loving, compas- 

 sionate Creator. They all enjoy life in theii- 

 own sphere, and hence none are so constitut- 

 ed that they must of necessity lead a life of 

 misery. The earth has an atmosphere that is essen- 

 tial to animal life. The tiniest mote that floats in it 

 has a natural right to breathe it. Man, judging 

 from his surroundings before the Fall, had it in his 

 power to enjoy life to the extent of his capacity for 

 enjoyment; but, oh the sad, sad Fall! The Creator 

 gave man dominion over the fowls of the air, the 

 fish of the sea, and over every thing that moves up- 

 on the earth ; and we, being rational, intelligent be- 

 ings, there is a moral responsibility i-unning paral- 

 lel with this universal dominion. 



I suppose we may kill dangerous animals, poison- 

 ous serpents, the cabbage worm, the Coloi-ado bee- 

 tle, and all that class of depredators, in self-defense; 

 but we should not wantonly take the life of any 

 creature, nor cause unnecessary pain. We have di- 

 vine authority to kill animals as innocent as the 

 lamb, for food; but we should kill them outright, 

 not torture them to death. When I see an able- 

 bodied man armed with a double-barreled gun go 

 out into the fields to make war upon the beautiful 

 birds and other small game, I think he is commit- 

 ting a grievous sin, and letting himself down even 

 to a level with the man who finds enjoyment in the 

 cruel sport called " trap shooting." 1 would have 

 the motto, "Br, kirnl to the lower animaJs," framed 

 and hung upon the wall in every dwelling and 

 schoolroom, thus keei)ing it before the minds of the 

 children. 



Hoping that the rising generation may be more 

 humane than the one whose vacated places they are 

 soon to fill, I remain— Edwin Stanley, age f6. 

 Wyoming, N. Y.. Oct. 23, l.«84. 



