370 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



leave the super sooner, and it also has 

 the advantage of being easily examined, 

 if anything is not working right. When 

 I iirst commenced to experiment with 

 bee-escapes, I found propolis and the 

 pressure of the bees against the point of 

 exit, two obstacles to be overcome ; this 

 I have done by the raised floor under the 

 pivoted plate. Here I can let the escapes 

 remain in place for three days before the 

 bees commence to stick them with pro- 

 polis ; and the majority will be in work- 

 ing order if left on the hive a week. I 

 am of the opinion that this patent covers 

 all other bee-escapes described or adver- 

 tised in the Bee Journal, except the 

 cone bee-escape. 



I have written this simply to let others 

 know that bee-escapes have been in use 

 for years, and I think that this one is as 

 good, if not better, than any of them. I 

 have not made any effort to describe 

 how these bee-escapes are made. Here 

 the honey season ends about the middle 

 of July, and it is a big job to remove the 

 surplus, on account of robbing ; but by 

 the use of my bee-escape, it is a pleasure. 



Snickersville, Va. 



[*The advertisment was first published 

 on page 221 of the Bee Journal for 

 April 2, 1884, and the bee-escape is as 

 represented by Mr. Silcott. It is placed 

 in our Museum for the inspection of 

 visitors. — Ed.] 



Bees and Their Products. 



D. CHALMERS. 



There is quite a prevalent idea that 

 bees convert the pollen into honey; 

 some believe, too, that it is wax. Both 

 principles are wrong. The bee in pass- 

 ing over the blossom in quest of nectar 

 (which is unripened honey), becomes 

 coated with pollen, and while on the 

 wing from flower to flower brushes it 

 from off the body with its "feathery- 

 haired legs," in this the tongue also 

 plays a part ; it is then kneaded with its 

 feet or claws (of which they possess six), 

 and with the center pair placed in the 

 basket, also used to carry propolis or 

 bee-glue ; this is gathered from the buds 

 of certain trees for the purpose of seal- 

 ing crevices in the hive. 



The bee gathers the glue with its 

 mouth, and passes it back to the basket 

 in a similar manner that it does the 

 pollen ; in delivering the latter in the 

 hive it merely thrusts its posterior legs 



into the cell and dislodges the pair of 

 little pellets with the same claws as put 

 it there, or else with one hind foot 

 dumps it out of the basket on the 

 opposite leg, but at any rate she gives it 

 n© more attention, but some of her 

 sisters who are doing inside work, come 

 along and pack these pellets solid ; it 

 then goes under the name of bee-bread. 



It is stored immediately around the 

 nest of brood, as it is indispensable in 

 that particular neighborhood, forming 

 part of the preparation for the nurture 

 of the larvae, and in capping the brood 

 cells its use is essential to make the 

 capping porous, otherwise the nymph 

 would die. I do not dispute but that the 

 matured bees may use it as food, but 

 honey is their chief diet. 



When a colony of bees is disturbed, 

 they are impressed with a fear of being 

 robbed, and under this impulse rush to 

 the cells to fill themselves with honey. 

 On some such occasions I have found the 

 bee-bread very much punctured, an 

 evidence, no doubt, that it had been 

 gulped by the bees in their excitement. 



The propolis-laden bee is unable to 

 unload, but makes for wherever it sup- 

 poses its ware is likely to be required, 

 and those that are glueing it, being in 

 want of more propolis, seize it from the 

 passing bee, which continues her tramp, 

 leaving a string between the glue remain- 

 ing in the basket and the mouth of the 

 bee that made the grab, which, by the 

 way, is the sole cause of some comb- 

 honey having a reddish tint. 



What I have written is mostly from 

 practical knowledge, and it is now left 

 for the reader to compare and judge 

 between the propriety of this and the 

 prize essayist theory. 



The bees are divided into three classes 

 — the queen, the drones, and the workers. 

 The latter may again be subdivided into 

 several distinct classes, viz. : The wax- 

 worker workers, the nurses, the honey- 

 gatherers, the laying workers, and so 

 on. We will endeavor to portray their 

 several offices in the order named. 



First, what is a wax-worker worker ? 

 A. — It is not a drone, but a worker-bee 

 that gets so fat from using honey that it 

 sweats wax in scales of about 1/16 of 

 an inch in diameter, and as thin as com- 

 mon paper. 



To produce one pound of this sub- 

 stance it is computed that the bee re- 

 quires to consume about 15 pounds of 

 honey ; the wax, in scales as described, 

 emerges through eight little pouches in 

 the abdomen of the bee, from whence it 

 is taken by its claws, handed to its 

 mouth, and with its forceps worked into 



