442 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



gather for themselves. In fact, I am 

 rather of theoi>inioii, tliat if we keep 

 close watch and force our bees to use 

 eggs rather than larvie three or four 

 days old, as they are apt to do when 

 under the swarming impulse, we shall 

 get a stock of queens superior to many 

 that remain in the hive after a swarm 

 has Issued. 



By careful attention to details, and 

 by taking as much care in the selec- 

 tion of the drone mother as of the 

 queen mother, and always selecting 

 strong colonies of business bees from 

 which to procure both queen and 

 fertilizing drones, working for beauty 

 as far as is practicable, yet making 

 that point alone a secondary one, we 

 can soon produce a strain of bees, that 

 are not only capable of bringing us in 

 a handsome amount of profit, but also 

 as beautiful in color as we may desire, 

 amil so peaceable in disposition as to 

 be handled without danger of their 

 stings. All this will cause trouble 

 and care on the part of the breeder, 

 and as a rnle, in order to bring breed- 

 ing to absolute perfection, it must be 

 made a specialty ; the ordinary bee- 

 keeper cannot rear perfect queens 

 and give that time to a honey apiary 

 as will be found necessary to give the 

 best results. Let us look forward 

 then to the good time coming {and it 

 is sure to come) when our bees will be 

 as near perfection as are our horses 

 and cattle. 



In this article, I have not attempted 

 to give any directions for rearing 

 queens, as they can be found by any 

 one in the various manuals and jour- 

 nals of the day, but have endeavored 

 briefly to point out the necessary re- 

 quirements to make our colonies as 

 perfect as it is possible to liave them, 

 and as the colony depends wholly 

 upon tlie queen, and the drone she 

 mates with, all that we require is to 

 select both male and female parents, 

 from such colonies as possess the most 

 desirable qualities, and by following 

 this plan out in detail, we shall soon 

 be able to accomplish our vmrpose. 

 and that, too, with positiveness and 

 certainty, and in ati exceedingly short 

 period of time. We have the patience 

 to work for a series of years to im- 

 prove our cattle, why not have the 

 patience then for a few months to 

 bring this about with our bees, es- 

 pecially when we know that we shall 

 attain success eventually y 



Pniirie Kurmer. 



Bees in Poetry. 



S. V. COLK. 



Of the little folks of nature the 

 bees are among the most interesting. 

 Tliey shine not only in the field of 

 flowers, but in the field of letters. 

 Tiiey supply the husbandman with 

 food, and the poet with simile and 

 metaphor. This was especially true 

 of the ancient poets. The Milse, in 

 coming hither from the (JoUlen Age 

 of Saturn, started like the linden in 

 Tennyson's " Ampliion," 



with all iier bees behind ber. 



If we ask what has made the bees 

 so interesting, we lind, among other 



causes, that they are creatures with 

 whom order seems to be the first law. 

 The sluggard may go to tlie ant for 

 lessons in the art of perseverance, 

 but his edutatiou is not complete 

 until he has graduated from the bee 

 in the science of method, economy, 

 and the duties of a good citizen. 



A bee makes wise plans, and works 

 for the common weal of his nation; 

 and whatsoever he findeth to do he 

 doeth with his might. Even when he 

 uses his sting, he puts his whole soul 

 into it, for he is soldier as well as 

 citizen. This double character has 

 led the poets to compare the bee 

 community to a State, in which every 

 member has his special duty; but in 

 this comparison the bees "nave the 

 advantage. Our systems are the 

 imperfect development of ages, 

 whereas the bees received theirs per- 

 fect in the beginning; so that Virgil 

 says they pass their lives beneath 

 "unchangeable laws." Shakespeare 

 calls them 



Creatures that by a rule in nuture teacli 

 The art of order to a peopled ItiDgdom. 



Virgil has sung of the bees in fuller 

 strains tlian any other poet, and has 

 interwoven fact, theory, legend in a 

 most charming manner. The fourth 

 book of the Georics, the most perfect 

 of his poems, is devoted to this 

 theme. Here occurs the story of the 

 shepherd Aristieus, who lost his bees 

 and complained to his goddess-mother 

 " in her chamber in the river-deptli." 

 She directs him to Proteus, the seer 

 from whom he learns the secret of 

 replenishing his hives. 



In Virgil the bees are minified 

 types of humanity, just as the gods 

 are magnifie.d ones ; and they go 

 about their business, therefore, after 

 the manner of men : 



Some .seeli supply of food 

 And by agreement labor in the fields; 

 Some in tbelr narrow homes do lay the tear 

 Of the narcissus and tbo pluey »rum 

 From barii of trees, to be their hive's foundations. 



The contrast between the aged and 

 sedate bees, and their more vigorous 

 companions is very curious : 



The aped Kuard towns, and build the combs 

 And moid the curious houses: 'tis their charge. 

 But late at night the youuKer ones return 

 Winpr-weary home, tljeir less thicl£-smeared with 

 thyme. 



One observes that the Latin poet 

 does not forget in his figures to bring 

 the bee-commonwealth under Roman 

 laws and customs. In another place 

 he speaks of their "setting out on 

 their airy march, and pulling up the 

 standards of the camp." Indeed, the 

 Roman bees are soldierly in bearing, 

 though not more so, perhaps, than 

 their English relatives. As, in 

 Shakespeare, some, 



lAke soldiers armed in tlieir stinKS, 

 Make boot upon the summer'.-* velvet buds, 



so the Virgil, 



Some stand like sentinels before the gates. 



At times the whole nation is roused 

 by an unfriendly challenge. Then it 

 is they show themselves true Romans. 

 Their hearls "throb with the spirit 

 of war," says Virgil. A sound is 

 heard " that mimics the fitful blasts 



of trumpets." The excited bees 

 " flash their wings," " whet the points 

 of their beaks," throng around the 

 chief's pavilion, and— muo6t7e dictu ! — 

 " with loud shouts defy the enemy !" 

 Then comes the conflict, in which 



The leaders, midmost of the battle lines. 

 Conspicuous for their wind's, exlilblt how 

 A mighty soul worits In a narrow breast. 



The analogy between bees and men 

 is seldom carried more dangerously 

 near the verge of the ridiculous than 

 when a bee dies and the survivors 

 bear out the lifeless corpse. 



And form the mournful funeral train. 



Time has somewhat dimmed the 

 picture, but with its suggestion of the 

 busts of dead ancestors and other by- 

 gone accompaniments of a funeral, it 

 must have been somewhat vivid in its 

 day. 



Bees, along with ants, birds, leaves, 

 and hailstones, furnished the ancient 

 poets with convenient similes where 

 numbers were involved. Homer com- 

 pares the Greeks gathering for battle 

 to "swarms of closely-thronging bees, 

 always issuing in fresh numbers from 

 the hollow rock." ^Eneas, looking 

 down on Carthage from a distance, 

 saw the people at work on the new 

 buildings like so many bees in sum- 

 mer. And Milton, whose mind was 

 filled with classic forms, makes Satan's 

 minions swarm to the council at Pan- 

 demonium 



As Bees 

 In springtime, when tlie sun with 'raurus rides. 

 Tour forth their popolous youth about the hive 

 In clusters. 



In American poetrv, Emerson's 

 " Humble-bee " and Whittier's "Tell- 

 ing the Bees " are unlike anything 

 the ancient Muse produced, and also 

 differ widely from each other, both in 

 style and sentiment. The former 

 contains the thoughts which arise in 

 the mind of a philosopher as he 

 calmly contemplates the 



Sailor of the atmosphere 



making his tiny voyages from flower 

 to flower ; while tlie latter is a simple 

 and very effective appeal to the affec- 

 tions. Mr. Whittier's poem is founded 

 on the curious custom, introduced 

 from England and said to have pre- 

 vailed to some extent in the rural dis- 

 tricts of our own country, of inform- 

 ing tlie bees, in the event of a death 

 in the family, and draping the hives 

 in black. This was supposed to be 

 necessary to prevent the bees from 

 flying away in search of a new home : 



Under the garden wall, 

 Forward and back. 

 Went drearily sinning tlie chore-girl small. 

 Draping each hive with a shred of black. 



*• 



And the song she was singing ever since 



In my ear sounds on : 

 " Stay at home, pretty bees, fly not hence! 



Mistress Mary is dead and gone!" 



As good order is so strikingly exhib- 

 ited in the government of the bees, for 

 the bees, and by the bees, it seems ap- 

 propriate that in Egyptian hierogly- 

 phics the bee should represent royalty, 

 and, in latter times, become the 

 symbol of the French Empire. In 

 France the royal mantle and standard 



