346 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



June 



Crete the milky chyme, without wliieh the eggs can 

 not hatch. This chyme i3 surely more vital to the hith- 

 erto dormant egg than the sap of another root is to a 

 grafted cion. If this doctrine is correct, two female 

 eggs from the same queen, one reared a queen in a 

 valuable colony and one in a worthless colony, will 

 each partake a little of the energy or worthlessness 

 in which it was developed. Still further, two combs 

 filled with eggs from the same queen, one given to 

 an energetic colony and one to a worthless one, will 

 hatch out workers varying in the same directions. 



(4) The determination to do just so, and no other 

 way, that bees manifest so strongly, is quite suggest- 

 ive of the idea that they recognize the force of some 

 mighty laws that they would not swerve a hair's 

 breadth from if they could, and could not if they 

 would. 



(5) A bee's love is not personal, but seems to be a 

 love of locality, somewhat like that of the cat among 

 animals, only a great deal more so. 



(6) This division of labor is among men one of the 

 triumphs of modern civilization; but the wise little 

 bees reaped the advantages of a division of labor 

 ages long ago. 



(7) I guess this " fixed agreement " is an error. 

 Their good judgment, and wonderfully keen scent, 

 will account for their movements, I think, without 

 supposing that they agree to harvest a certain white- 

 clover field to-day, and the chestnut pollen to-mor- 

 row, and the earliest basswood bloom the next day. 

 They do certainly have some speedy way of finding 

 out just about where their bread is buttered. 



(8) " Bark " — who would have thought of that as a 

 source of propolis? And are there indeed two grades 

 of propolis, one to putty up cracks, and one to mix 

 with beeswax in laying the foundation for the combV 



(9) Narcissus was a nice and sensible (?) young fe). 

 low who fell in love with himself. He cried sosmuch 

 to think he couldn't marry himself that he all pined 

 away. His tears were considered imperishable, and 

 the tear-shaped drops of propolis, often dotted about 

 the top of the hive, are here compared to them. 



(10) How accurate this is! They won't build comb 

 much in advance of the honey-flow; but when the 

 honey comes in, then the cells will be extended right 

 away. 



(11) This is a rather doubtful point. It may possi- 

 bly be that the old sentineUbees around the enti^ance 

 do observe the weather for the benefit of the colony; 

 but I rather think it is the fleld-bees themselves that 

 do that ; in fact, they must sometimes, or they could 

 not get home so promptly, just in advance of a sud- 

 den shower. 



(12) Notice that Virgil does not fall into the preva- 

 lent modern error of saying that workers sting the 

 drones, but gives us the exact facts. Bees very 

 I'arcly sting drones, although I have seen one case of 

 it. They simply drive them out of the hive. If they 

 will go elsewhere, well and good; if they insist on 

 returning, they just keep worrying them till they 

 worry them to death. (Human smart housekeepers 

 are oft accused of doing the same with the mascu- 

 lines.) Pin an insect to the wall with a cruel pin, 

 and he will live two or three d^js; but shut him up 

 in a little box, where he can worry and scrabble 

 around, and he will worry himself to death in a few 

 hours, sometimes in one hour. 



(13) Hero's another thing you don't have to believe. 

 Jove is another name for Jupiter. The Cyclops 

 were enormous one-eyed giants who lived under- 

 neath Mount .^tna, and worked at the blacksmith 



trade. They made thunderbolts for Jupiter to throw 

 when it thundered. When they got a fresh order 

 for a thousand of them, that must be done in time 

 for the next storm, I suppose they pitched in about 

 as friend Root's boys do in filling the spring orders. 



(14) Some of the critics strongly condemn Virgil 

 for bad taste in comparing honey-bees to Cyclops. 

 It is bold: but to my mind it seems admirable; in 

 fact, scarcely any passage in the poem more im- 

 presses me, considered as poetry simply. 



FRANK BENTON'S NOTE. 



Mr. Benton has my thanks for the added note con- 

 cerning Virgil's bee-eater, as drawn from actual ob- 

 servation. Should this translation ever be Irepub- 

 lished in permanent form, I shall be glad to avail 

 myself of it. 



BAD GRAMMAH. 



I didu't see, until it appeared in the Juvknxle, 

 that I had a singular verb agreeing with two nouns, 



"Rare as the wealth and taste of kings adDHis." 

 The verb can not be changed without spoiling the 

 rhyme; but we can cuff one of the nouns into an ad- 

 jective, and make it, — 



" Uare as the tasteful wealth of kings adorns." 

 So that's the way we'll play it was. 



E. E. Hastv. 

 Richards, Lucas Co , O., June 8, 1883. 



Well, I do declare ! And so, friend Hasty, 

 we are to believe this " tin-pan business " 

 all came from that story about the priests 

 raising a din to drown the baby's cries. Our 

 boys in jail once on a time took a sudden 

 fancy to singing hymns with such unusual 

 energy that suspicion was aroused, and in- 

 vestigation showed they sang to drown the 

 noise one of theirnumber made in trying to 

 saw off one of the bars of their grating ; so 

 you see those priests were not the only ones 

 who used zeal in their devotions, to drown 

 some other noise and divert suspicion. 



I can't quite agree on No. 4, friend Hasty. 

 I will grant that Cyps brought up in a hive 

 with gentle Italians would very likely learn 

 to be gentle too ; but I don't believe a queen 

 would raise offspring perceptibly different, 

 no matter what kind of bees nursed her. 

 Still, you may be right, and I wrong. — In re- 

 gard to No. 7 : There is something wonder- 

 fully strange in the way bees do scatter over 

 their whole field, giving each basswood-tree 

 about an equal number of bees, even though 

 they be miles apart. Why is it that some 

 trees are not overlooked entirely, and others 

 overcrowded V— Friend II., the little sketch- 

 es you give us in this paper, of ancient myth- 

 ology, are especially interesting after having 

 read about Jupiter and Mercury in our re- 

 cent Sunday-school lesson ; and your whole 

 translation seems to be eminently fitting for 

 a juvenile bee journal. We have already 

 discussed, here in the office, having the 

 whole in a neat little book, when it is fin- 

 ished. 



,^ I ^ — . 



HOW NETTIE'S PA HUNTS BEES. 



ALSO SOiME SUGGESTIONS IN REGARD TO CHEAP BEE- 

 HIVES. 



E do not keep many bees, but sometimes pa 

 hunts them. First he puts out some bait, 

 which is some honey-comb, then watches to 

 see which way they fly. When they gather all they 



