1883 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



413 



VIRGIIi^S TREATISE ON BEES. 



Conlcudcd. 



THE PUOPER WOKK FOR BEES OP DIFFERENT AGES. 



fJlHElK city's walls to elders arc the care, 

 To cap the combs, and cunning work prepare ;(1) 

 — ' The younger wearied come at evening time 

 With legs full packed with pollen from the thyme: 

 They pasture the arbutus by the way. 

 The smiling crocus, and the willows gray; 

 The rich, fat linden, and the cassia too. 

 And hyacinths with red and rusty hue. 



HABITS OF LABOR. 



To all one rest from toll, one work to all. 



Forth from the gates they rush at m(jrning's call. (:.') 



Dilay is nowhere; but when vesper tells 



To cease from pasture o'er the plains and dells. 



Then seek they to the sheltering roofs of home. 



Their bodies then relresh beneath its dome; 



A sound is heard, they fan with murmuring roir 



On 'lighting-board and threshold of the door. {■]) 



When now to seek their chambers it is best, 



In later night the sounds are stilled to rest; (4) 



Their members, wearied while in fields they strolled. 



Their own sweet rest doth for a season hold. (.5) 



BEES BEFORE AND DURING STORMS. 



Not far. Indeed, 'hey venture o'er the plain 

 To leave their homes when waits impending rain, 

 Nor with implicit faith believe the sky 

 When fierce east winds in stealth are drawing nigh; 

 But, safe from storms, beneath their city's walls. 

 Bring water simply when occasion calls. (C) 

 Some little llights round home anon they try. 

 And pebbles oft they carry Avhen they fly ; (T; 

 As little boats their needful ballast crave, 

 Unstable else before the tossing wave, 

 But, with their pebbles, steady as a scale 

 They bear themselves straight through th: harmless 

 gale. 



(1) If this is not the way it is, we will play it is the 

 way it ought to be. Let the old folks tinker up 

 things and "potter around" at home, liodiug time 

 to tell a story once in a while about times when they 

 were young; and let the brawny young chaps " skir- 

 mish " for honey and pollen. But if the exacl facts 

 are sought for, why, then, I suppose the aged bees 

 arc a good deal like the old man of Cilicia, braver 

 and more industrious to the last. I believe authori- 

 ties now hold that the oldest bees work almost whol- 

 ly in the fields, and keep at it till they fall and per- 

 ish, the wearing-out of the wings being often ihe 

 cause of the final disaster. But I for one would not 

 be surprised to hear it proved, some time or other, 

 that the sentinels, and those that do the more dif- 

 ficult work with propolis, are really aged bees. 



(2) I'm thinking of that hive of black bees friend 

 Root had a few years ago. They found out he had 



41 patch of spider plant (which secretes honey only 

 in the night), and that by getting out before it was 

 fairly light they could get a lion's share of it. If 

 they waited a little they would have to divide with a 

 hundred or more colonies, and so they slept with one 

 little deaf ear open, and heard "morning's call" a 

 little beforehand, and "rushed forth fromthegates" 

 when It was so dark that friend K. had to get down 

 on his knees to be sure they were actually coming 

 out to work. 



(3) The usual minute accuracy of Virgil comes to 

 the front again here. It is not the common buzzing 

 about the doorway that is meant in this place, but 



the curious, steady, muffled roar which commences 

 at nightfall of each day when a fine lot of nectar has 

 been gathered in. The roar continues until enough 

 water is evaporated from the new honey, or enough 

 so they decide it will do for the present. Honey 

 just as it comes from the flower would very quickly 

 spoil if they did not "cook it down." They don't 

 put the thin honey in the cells and then blow on it 

 like little boys blowing a plate of hot soup, as some 

 folks seem to get the id(.>a. They know a trick worth 

 two of that. Their own bodies are full of air-tubes, 

 and they ciT.jjjratc the water out of tlicmsclvcs, and, 

 holding the thin honey in their honcj'-sacs, the sur- 

 plus water filters through the walls of the sac and 

 takes the place of that which was evaporated out of 

 their blood by the fanning. They also keep the tube 

 of their ligulj, or trunk, full of thin honey during 

 the process, and press it outtill a tiny drop hangs on 

 the end. They are careful not to let it fall olf. They 

 keep pressing it out and drawing it in again as they 

 keep up the fanning. In fanning they all stand 

 with their heads one way, and move their wings 

 gently. A rapid current of air is thus preduced that 

 takes away moisture very rapidly. 



(4) In our country I believe the bees sometimes 

 have to fan all night to finish up their job; but 

 probably this scarcely ever happens in Italy, where 

 Virgil lived. The daily runs of honey arc small in 

 Italy, and as a natural i-esult the bees wosW get the 

 honey "done" long before morning. 



(5) This is not far from the exact truth. Ancient 

 investigators seemed inclined to go too far in speak- 

 ing of bees resting, and moderns are inclined to go 

 t(jo far the other way In denying that bees ever rest 

 at all. Truth lies somewhoire between the two. Bees 

 have absolute need of but very little rest— much 

 less than animals. 



(0) The need of water seems to be one of the most 

 imperative of all their needs. Wilhout water, their 

 babies would suffer greatly, if not die outright; con- 

 sequently they go for that in very bad or threaten- 

 ing weather, when nothing else is carried. 



(7) It seems too bad to explode this pretty lale of 

 sag;',city; but I'm "afeered" it will not stand the 

 test of modern research. The facts out of which the 

 mistake seems to have arisen are interesting, and 

 not at all discrecitable to Virgil and other ancient 

 observers. In cold windy weather in the spring of 

 the year, some hardy old bees will not keep quiet, 

 but insist on searching t-he country to see w/hat they 

 can find. And what can be found at such times? 

 Almost absolutely nothing, except old propolis stick- 

 ing to empty hives and disused fixtures. Various 

 substances are made to do duty as propolis at Mmes, 

 and the stuff may be almost any shade of red or 

 bi'own, or even black. Nipping and prying away at 

 this stuff, the resolute old chaps break off large ir- 

 regular chunks of it. It is so hard with cold that 

 they can not make it into rounded pellets as usual ; 

 but they manage somehow to fasten it on in the 

 usual place of carrying pollen-balls, and home they 

 go with it. Ancient scientists seem to have jumped 

 at the conclusion that these black-looking, angular 

 fragments were pebbles, carried for ballast. 



Very many thanks for the kind and complimenta- 

 ry way this translation and commentary is received. 

 And as for having it in book form some day, we'll 

 sec what we shall see. E. E. Hasty. 



Richards, O., July 'J, 1883. 



Friend Hasty, I came pretty near jumping 



