338 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



work upon a bed on the sheath inde- 

 pendently of each other, and each is 

 moved by its own muscle. The ends of 

 the lances project beyond that of the 

 sheath, and are barbed. When the 

 sting enters a foreign substance the 

 lances immediately begin to work alter- 

 nately in such manner as to carry the 

 sting proper its whole length into this 

 substance, even after the sting has been 

 left behind by the bee. 



A healthy sting will work for several 

 minutes after it has been severed from 

 the bee's body. The sting of a dead bee 

 often retains its life and energy for 24 

 hours. Apiarists are often stung while 

 handling dead bees. While the sting is 

 working, the poison bag is constantly 

 contracting, and forces its contents 

 through an opening between the lances 

 into the wound caused by the action of 

 the lances. 



The bee's egg is a marvel in itself, 

 although so small that only a practiced 

 eye can see it. It has its yolk, its 

 white, and its shell, and, besides this, it 

 is enclosed in a beautiful network of air 

 vessels. Three days after it is laid the 

 egg hatches, and we find coiled up in the 

 bottom of the cell a tiny white glistening 

 grub, which for three days is fed on 

 chyle secreted in the heads of the nurs- 

 ing bee. It does not eat this food, but 

 absorbs it through its skin. 



In from nine to eleven days the perfect 

 bee emerges from its cell. As soon as 

 it makes jts appearance the nurses feed 

 it, and in less than 24 hours it has 

 learned to feed itself, and has begun its 

 duty as a nurse- After spending five to 

 seven days as a nurse, it becomes a wax- 

 producer, and for about a week it hangs 

 with its sisters in a cluster and eats 

 enormous quantities of honey, becoming 

 so fat that the wax glands, to relieve 

 the system, draw upon the fat, and con- 

 vert it into wax, as already described. 



During this time the bees need exer- 

 cise, and they get it for about two hours 

 each fine day, when from about 2 o'clock 

 in the afternoon till 4 they go out to 

 play in front of their homes. Mr. Jones 

 assured his audience that young bees 

 actually do play, and that none who 

 have watched them can doubt that they 

 really enjoy their outing. He then 

 minutely described, with the assistance 

 of his charts, the process of comb- 

 building. 



The third week of the bee's life is the 

 most varied in its labors of any in its 

 existence. It is spent in comb-building, 

 pollen-gathering, house-cleaning, venti- 

 lating, home and queen guarding. The 

 bees show an unmistakable desire to be 



part of the queen's retinue, often intrud- 

 ing themselves among her body-guards 

 to the disturbance of the general order 

 of the hive. It is remarkable how often 

 the guards change. After the third 

 week the bee devotes nearly all its time 

 during the day to foraging, and during 

 the night to comb-building. 



LiglitsanilStiailofsofBee-Keeiiing, 



MRS. C. WINN. 



I will begin with the shadows : You 

 know the old adage, "Business first, 

 and pleasure afterward," and surely, if 

 it were not for the business end of the 

 bee, many a shadow would be lifted, and 

 ladies would engage in the work with 

 less fear and trembling. 



A very dark shadow is in having a 

 husband that the bees have a special 

 grudge against, even attacking him at 

 our bee convention, making life miser- 

 able for two or three days. 



Young ladies who are engaged in this 

 work, I would advise you to look to this 

 matter before it is too late, and thus 

 save yourselves many a sad hour ex- 

 perimenting, studying periodicals, books, 

 etc., for remedies for bee-stings. 



Another shadow that fell across our 

 path (while the bees yet belonged to my 

 father), was the mice. During the 

 Winter, after the bees were put into the 

 cellar, every week or two would find us 

 changing the frames from one hive to 

 another, and in one hive the mice had 

 built a nest, and before Spring 3 colo- 

 nies were destroyed, and we killed as 

 many as 14 or 15 mice in traps, etc. 



Considering the number of times the 

 bees were disturbed, they wintered well, 

 and 20 colonies were put on the summer 

 stands ; but two more were soon lost on 

 account of robbing. Having no experi- 

 ence, we did not know what to do to 

 prevent it, and I think, from articles I 

 have read on the subject, that others 

 than myself have had the same shadow 

 over them. 



When I took the bees as my own, 

 there were 18 colonies, and only two or 

 three that did not need feeding to keep 

 them from starving. As, during apple 

 bloom, the weather was so cold and' 

 windy that they were unable to gather 

 any honey, I fed them until white clover 

 bloom. 



It was while feeding them, that I re- 

 ceived the only sting which I have had 

 while working with the bees, and my 

 courage is much stronger now than the 



