378 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Fi^. 4. — The oil palm that funii.shes food and drink, also honey. 



ponding- to the swelling brood surfaces, they 

 augment the number of little citizens. They 

 are kindly accepted b}' their elder sisters, 

 who clean them and give them food. This, 

 then, is the youth of our bee-state — the time 

 of immolating love. All effort is aimed 

 toward warming and nourishing the Little 

 helpless babies. And those tiny larvae, so 

 recently from the egg's, really need a great 

 deal of maternal care. However, their 

 growth is extraordinary; and after nine 

 days they build their own cocoons for 

 sleeping during their metamorphosis, which 

 requires twelve days. At intervals of a few 

 hours the young nurse bees give these larvse 

 exquisite food which they secrete from their 

 milk-glands situated around the cerebrum. 

 Only by a strict admirable arrangement is 

 made possible the enormous growth, from 

 about 15,000 inliabitants to 70,000 and 

 sometimes 90,000. For the preparation of 



the milk (jelly) a 

 great deal of albu- 

 men-furnishing pollen 

 is needed, besides wa- 

 ter and some honey. 



The oldest bees un- 

 dertake the dangerous 

 task of gathering the 

 water. This water can 

 not be stored directly, 

 but indirectly; a great 

 deal of the water is de- 

 posited in the honey 

 near the brood - nest, 

 and last, but not least, 

 in the very blood of 

 the bee. If, after a 

 long period of rainy 

 or snowy cold weather, 

 all the store of water 

 is consumed, t h o u - 

 sands of valiant work- 

 ers fly out if the wea- 

 t h e r permits, a n d 

 many remain on the 

 battlefield of work, 

 and never return to 

 the well - loved home. 

 Some become chilled, 

 and otheis are thrown 

 by the rough wind into 

 the water which they 

 are ti-ying so vainly to 

 take. 



Other bees bring 

 pollen from the wil- 

 lows, alders, and othei 

 plants, for the trea- 

 sures of pollen in the 

 combs stored by the 

 sisters, long since 

 dead, begin to diminish rapidly, and the 

 bees do not like to live from hand to mouth. 

 In our country, toward the end of April 

 the love of the worker bees has a new 

 attractive object — that is, the care of the 

 male habitants of the hive — the drones — 

 which are nursed with peculiar attention. 

 As the first drone youths are hatching in 

 their manly vigor and beauty, it is a joy for 

 the young sisters to cherish and nourish the 

 chivalrous knights; for at this time it is 

 beneath the drone to seek food in the comb. 

 Booted and spurred they stride proudly 

 across the rows of their devoted sisters ; and 

 when they fly in search of a bride one can 

 easily distingiiish their loud bombarding 

 tones. 



This is the flowering time — the prime of 

 life of the bees — and at such a time it is a 

 pleasure to deal with them, for they know 

 nothing of vigilance, hatred, jealousy, or 



