'T'HE SMERicjep* mmm j©^mmmi<. 



791 



and are supposed to be the objects of 

 smell and hcainng. 



The Bee'ti Ejres and Pollen-Baskets. 



Each bee has two eyes, compound, 

 which ave composed of numerous 

 smaller ej-es, having a hexagonal 

 shape. Prof. Frank R. Cheshire, of 

 England, by use of the mieroscoi)e, 

 counted 6,300 of these .smaller eyes on 

 one side of a worker-bee ; 4,9-0 in a 

 queen, the mother of this ; and in one 

 of her sons, the tremendous number of 

 13,090. Think of it, one girl, by a 

 stamp of her daint3' foot, can kill an 

 insect with more eyes than the horrible 

 Argus liad ! 



There are also found, on the upper 

 part of the head, three simple eyes 

 called "ocelli." The bee has three 

 pair of legs, compactly located in the 

 thorax ; on the liinder pair of legs are 

 little hairs wliich form the pollen- 

 baskets. 



Valneol'Bees in Pollentzing Blossoms, 



The bees go forth and gather the 

 pollen from the stamens of the flowers, 

 carrying it from blossom to blo.ssom, 

 thus fertilizing the bloom. The bee is 

 one of man's greatest benefactors, be- 

 cause it fertilizes the blossoms, thus 

 producing fruit. To show how neces- 

 sary they are for this purpose, let me 

 quote a few examples : 



First : When the spring is too cold 

 for the bees to come out, gardeners 

 who raise early cucumbers in hot-beds 

 often have to transfer the pollen from 

 blossom to blossom with tiny spoons, 

 whereas, if the spring was warm, and 

 the hot-beds uncovered so that tlie bees 

 could get at the bloom, there would be 

 no need of this. 



Second : Red clover was introduced 

 into Australia, and although it grew 

 nicely, no seed of much account could 

 be garnered, because of the imperfect 

 impregnation without the bumble-bee. 

 The trouble with the ordinary honey- 

 bees is the shortness of their ])roboscis, 

 that is, they cannot reach down far 

 enough into tlie corollas of the red 

 clover to fertilize them well. So nests 

 of bumble-bees were exported o\er the 

 briny deep, and with their presence 

 came the much-desired clover seed. 



Yes, truly, everything has its pur- 

 poses and various functions to perform. 

 A nest of bumble-bees in a man's 

 clover patch— if red — providing he is 

 raising it for seed, may be worth about 

 $25, or 150, to him. But woe unto the 

 bumble-bees when the juveniles come 

 forth armed with broom-sticks, tea- 

 kettles of hot water, tin -pans, bells, 

 shingles, clubs, etc., to bombard their 

 domicile, and lay it in ruins by vis et 

 armis, although a few are rendered 

 hors de combat, and go home bawling 



to mamma for arnica, or lemon and 



salt, as an antidote. 



Treating a Horse Stung by Bees. 



Let me say right here, if any person 

 should be so unfortunate as to have a 

 swarm of angry bees alight on a 

 sweat}" horse — for they detest them 

 when in this condition — quickly smoke 

 off' the bees, throw a blanket over the 

 raging auimal, give him a dose of 

 laudanum, and rub him down with 

 baking-soda, and this, if the case is a 

 bad one, maj- be depended upon as 

 almost the only cure. 



Bee-Stings and Hlienniatisiu. 



A swarm of bees may contain from 

 5,000 to 30,000, or even as high as 

 45,000 bees, having one queen, a few 

 drones, and the rest workers ; so a 

 person can see if 10,000 bees should 

 ply their swell-producing pins, it would 

 be enough to make a horse crazy or a 

 man a maniac. Its effects were illus- 

 trated in that article, "A Victorious 

 Army Put to Flight by Bees," written 

 for Harper's Young Pcoi^le, where vic- 

 tory and success were turned into bed- 

 lam by the stings of bees. 



One thing which they say bee-stings 

 are good for, I must not fail to men- 

 tion, and tliat is rheumatism. If you 

 are in any way troubled with such in 

 yonr lower limbs, procure a pair of 

 trousers witli broad legs, not forget- 

 ting to have strings ready to tie them 

 at the bottom, so that the bees cannot 

 crawl out. Having obtained a bottle- 

 ful of honey-bees, run them up the 

 leg of your pantaloons, and being sure 

 you have tied the pants at the bottom, 

 uncork the bottle from the inside of 

 your pocket. 



Now all is read 3' to excite the medi- 

 cine and cure the rheumatism. The 

 way to set the stingers in operation is 

 to start and run a race with some 

 friend, and no matter how hard they 

 bite, persevere and they say it is a cure. 

 This may be a " scientific pleasantrj'," 

 but there is no school like the school 

 of experience, jou know. 



Honr tlio Bee Gathers Pollen. 



To return to the pollen-baskets: The 

 bee gathers the farina with its tongue 

 and the hairs of its legs and bodj' ; 

 then by means of its tongue and legs 

 it moulds the jiollen into little balls. 

 These balls are then taken up by the 

 front ))air of legs, transferred to the 

 second jiair, and tlien with the middle 

 one^ it is packed away into tlie pollen- 

 baskets on the hinder ones, until it 

 often hangs over like hay does on a 

 wagon. Having reached its home, the 

 jJoUen is deposited in a cell ; then us- 

 ing its head as a battering-ram, the 

 farina is compressed into the bottom 

 of the cell. 



The toad is one of the bee's dead- 

 liest enemies. In the evening it comes 

 around to the hive and, watching its 

 chance, it springs into the air, at the 

 same time giving its oyster-shaped 

 mouth a funny motion, and Mr. Bee is 

 gone. The toad will thus catch lots of 

 them, and grow fat off' of the sweet 

 convivium. 



A Colony's Care lor its Queen. 



The queen is the mother-bee of the 

 colony. She is treated with tlie great- 

 est respect and affection by the bees. 

 A circle of bees constantly environ 

 her, or else a retinue follow after, of- 

 fering her their sincere affections, 

 either bj- gently caressing her with 

 their antennre, or feeding her with 

 honey from time to time. If they are 

 deprived of her, the whole colony is 

 thrown into a state of the most intense 

 excitement, either rushing over the 

 combs or flying a short distance from 

 the hive in search of their beloved 

 mother, soon returning to join the ex- 

 cited throng. 



Finally becoming cognizant of their 

 terrible misfortune, the bees return to 

 their home, and with sorrowful tones 

 reveal their deep sense of so deplor- 

 able a calamity. All business is sus- 

 pended — just as when a great human 

 king or queen dies —and if another 

 queen is not soon introduced, or eggs 

 supplied from which thej' can rear one 

 the colony soon perishes, wasting 

 away in numbers, and becoming too 

 careless to repel the ravages of the 

 devastating bee-moth. 



What scene could more minutely or 

 pathetically describe the death of a 

 queen or king among men, than this 

 of a colony of bees when deprived of 

 their mother? Upon the announce- 

 ment of the death, the people rush 

 forth from their houses, business is 

 suspended, they gather together in 

 motly crowds and discuss the situation, 

 showing by their lethargic forces, 

 hyjJochondriacal ways and sobbing 

 tears the depth of their loss. 



Tbe TVorlters and Drones. 



The workers are the neuters, or the 

 bees that gather honey. In them lies 

 the strength of tlie colony, being some- 

 times from 10,000 to 30,000 strong. 

 They visit either flowers that are foul- 

 odored, or those of a sweet, aromatic 

 flavcn-, sipping up the soothing nectar, 

 diving down into the chalice of the 

 lilj' as well as the corolla of the com- 

 mon white clovers. 



Up to about tbe first ten days of 

 their lives they are the house-keepers, 

 sweeping up the floor with their slen- 

 der limbs, or propolizing the cracks to 

 keep out the whistling wind. This 

 propolis is gathered from flowers and 



