1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



545 



try rather than bv fraud and choaiiiig; for if 

 they wei-e fi'aiids and I'heats they could not. In 

 tJie ndtnre of things, have built up a great bus- 

 iness.] 



NUBBINS. 



A GOOD REPORT FROM I5EE-ESCAI'ES. 



The bee-eseapes are genuine seed corn, filled 

 to the tij). They succeed witli us. and are re- 

 garded as invaluable, both in extracting and 

 I'emoving comb honey. Three cheers for Mr. 

 Reese. 



The nubbin is ahead of the ''stray straw." 

 We make Doolittle's cups work. Come up, 

 doctor, and learn how. We will feed you on 

 straw bei'ry shoi'tcakc. 



It is too had that that little ".stray straw" of 

 an editorial " we" rests so ill in the doctor's in- 

 tellectual stomach. Of course, all good cus- 

 toms aj'e based on some reason. If I say " we " 

 it is a general expi'cssion. and the sentence or 

 thought containing it i-epresents the paper. I 

 say ■■ 1." and it means me — my own personal 

 propei'ty. How better make this important 

 distinction? 



ANALYZING SAMPLES OF IIOXKV TAKEN FROM 



OUR MARKETS, HY OlM{ KEST GOVERNMENT 



C'HEMLSTS. 



The Chemical Department at Washington is 

 having .lO samples of honey secured on the mar- 

 kets analyzed by several of our liest chemists— 

 Pi'of. Scovell, of K(Mitufl\y, among the others. 

 This is wise and good. VVhether this will be 

 satisfactory remains to be seen. If not. it all 

 helps. Prof. Scovell tells me that he finds dex- 

 trine in sevei-al. and he does not suppose dex- 

 trine could ever be found in gcnuiue honey. 

 This is a full eai'. no nuhbin. I liope this result 

 will giv(! us many. 1 look eagerly for the full 

 report. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, ^lich. 



WHY THE BEES MAKE CELLS HEXAGONAL. 



A I)AY-1>KEAM. 



ent in the way of woi'k. for it would take ten 

 times as much wax, and we wouldn't get our 

 combs built all summer, and basswood coming 

 on, they say, in a week or two. Oh, yes! It 

 W()}ild be something difterent." 



•'No," said another bee with an experienced 

 look, " leave that sort of thing for those human 

 butterflies who are never happy unless they can 

 put their hair up in a different way every day " 

 —here she gave a little push at her back hair to 

 see if it was all smooth and straight. " We 

 folks have no time for any such foolishness. 

 We must take the ulan that will need the least 

 wax and take up the least room." 



"Yes, business is business," said another; 

 "but is there no chance for improvement? 

 This is an age of progress, and it isn't clear to 

 my mind that something else may not be just 

 as economical as six sides. You know we heard 

 of some bees up in Canada making cells with 

 four sides. Why shoiild they make them so if 

 they didn't think it would be an improve- 

 ment?" 



"Just because they're like you, old Cranky," 

 snapped out a nervous-looking bee. 



But the bee with the experienced look appear- 

 ed very thoughtful, and. in a half-meditative 

 mannei'. said, as if slowly talking to herself, 

 "I'm not sure but I know a plan Whereby we 

 may find out a better way if tliere is one, or else 

 conlii'm the opinion that six sides is best." 



Then rousing herself, as if from a reverie, she 

 said, in a very business-like manner, " Here, 

 some of you youngsters, roll up a number of 

 balls of wax. perfectly I'ound." And as they 

 we.jit to work on the balls which they very soon 

 had finished, she went on to explain, " You see, 

 the cells are to accommodate the babies, which 

 are round— that is, I don't mean they are round 

 like a ball, but round like a sii'aw, and then 

 round like a ball at each end. Now, if we can 

 find how to place together a number of wax 

 balls so as to have them the closest together 

 possible — that is, with the least waste space be- 

 tween them— then we'll know just how to make 

 our cells." 



I had read a good deal about the reasons why 

 hexagonal cells are. best, and had seen that dif- 

 ficult mathematical demonstrations had been 

 used in connection- therewith. I wondered 

 whether all that was necessary, and thought of 

 it off and on for a long time. One hot day I sat 

 by a hive in which a swarm had just been 

 housed, and the steady humming of the bees all 

 around me gave me a sort of drowsy feeling. I 

 said to myself. " How do those bees know how 

 to start cells? They have worked more or less 

 In them, and perhaps done some repairing, but 

 they have no knowledge or experience at actual- 

 ly starting cells, for all the cells in the old hive 

 were started long before they were born." 



Just then — was it imagination, dreaming, or 

 what? — I heard one of the bees in the hive say- 

 ing, " There, we've quite a lot of wax plastered 

 around: let's put it in shape." 



" What shape?" said a pert young miss. 



" What shape should it be, but the .shape cells 

 always are— six-sided ?" was the reply. 



"Oh! that's .so old-fashioned," said the young 

 one: " I'm tired of those everlasting six sides." 



"Say!" spoke up a very eager young voice, 

 let's make them five-sided. There's very little 

 less in five than six, and it will be quite stylish 

 to have something different from our neigh- 

 bors." 



"Something different! I guess you would 

 have something different," said a bee with rag- 

 ed wings. "And you'd have something differ- 



Then she placed one of the balls on the floor 

 of the hive and said, " Now I want to put this 

 ball just as close to the next one as possible. 

 You see that it makes no difference which side 

 I put, it: so long as it touches, they are the 

 same distance apart from center to center; for 

 every point of the surface is at the same dis- 

 tance from the center. So we'll put it at this 

 side. Now I want to put a third ball as near 

 as I can to these two. As we found before, we 

 can not get two balls any nearer together than 

 to touch; and if this ball touches the others, 

 that's as near as they can be got together. So 

 we'll place it here." 



A low hum of approval ran through the 

 throng, and the one they called Cranky looked 

 somewhat fidgety. 



Then old experience continued, " Now for a 

 fourth one. Just as before, we can't do any 

 better than to have it touch two of the balls, 

 for, you see, put it where I will, I can't get it to 

 touch nioi'e than two balls, so I'll put it here, 

 touching the first and third." 



