THE BEE-KEKPERS' REVIEW. 



147 



before its readers an article bearing the 

 title of "Tlie Husy Bee." Us author is 

 II irvev Siitheriaml, and he writes in a 

 vein ilecitleiliy humorous as well as in- 

 structive. To his credit be it said, he 

 does not make the usual mistakes of the 

 non- professional when attempting to 

 "write on bees." Perhaps Mr. Suther- 

 land Is a professional, but I do not re- 

 member to hive lieird of him. 



Let me give you a sample of his hutnor. 

 He is describing how the drones are 

 turned out of house and home, at the end 

 of the harvest, and here is how he does 

 it:— 



Drones are brought forth in large num- 

 bers — too large, it would seem, since a 

 colony with 6.000 or 8,000 drones will 

 perhaps rear no more than two queens 

 that mate but once in their lives. But it 

 is necessar}- that the queen shall certainly 

 meet a strong- winged lover when she flies 

 forth. Her embrace is fatal to him. As 

 for the other idlers and Alphonses, they 

 are killed off when summer roses fade. 

 The workers come back to the hive al- 

 most empty. 



"My I" puffs one bee, "I'm about 

 tuckered. Hunted high and low and 

 look what a little dab I got." 



"Me, too, "answers another. "In all 

 my life, and I'm nearly four weeks old, 

 I never saw times so hard and honey so 

 scarce. Here, you ! Get out of the way 

 till I put my honey in that cell." 



The drone takes his time about moving. 



" Why'n't you get your own honey?" 

 snaps the worker. 



"Huh.'" grunts the drone, stupidly, 

 wiping his mouth. 



"Why'n't you get your honey? Lazy, 

 good-for-nothing thing 1 Us poor girls 

 has to slave early and late just to feed 

 you, you loafer." 



"A-a-a-ah, go chase jourself ! You're 

 too fresh !" snarls the drone, shambling 

 awav. 



"What's th it? Did you hear what he 

 said to me? Well, of all things! For 



half a cent I'd 1 will, too. Get, now ! 



Clear out o' this !" 



"Got as much right here as you have," 

 growls the drone. 



"Vouhave, eh? Well, I'll show you 

 just how much right you have here. 

 Come on, girls I 'Raus mit ihm !" 



The crowd gathers, angry and resent- 

 ful. They seize the luckless drone by 

 the coat collar and hustle him. The cry, 

 " 'Raus mit ihm !" becomes general. 



"Don't be afraid of 'em. They can't 

 sting. Lazy loafers ! They'd eat us out 

 o' house aii<l home. There goes one ! 

 Head him off, some-body ! Catch him !" 



The fanners, on duty at the door clutch- 

 ing the floor with their claws and work- 

 ing tlieir wings as if flying, tlius making 

 the air as sweet and pure inside as out, 

 look up from their work and grin. 

 "vServes 'em right," they say, " 'Raus 

 mit 'em !" 



"Quit, now ! Quit, I tell you !" the 

 drones bawl. "1 didn't do nothin' !" 



That makes the workers lautrh. "That's 

 no lie," they chuckle. " 'Raus mit 'em !" 



The ejected drones c jax the door keep- 

 ers to let them back. "You know me. 

 Let me in, won't you? Aw, now, I think 

 you might." 



"Nup," say the sentinels. "Can't do 

 it. Orders, you know. Move on, now, 

 or I'll " 



The chill night kills them, and the 

 toads about the hives lay on fat for win- 

 ter. Sometimes if the weather warms 

 up and the honey flows again the drones 

 get back, but as soon as expenditure ex- 

 ceeds income out they go for good and 

 all. 



When human society, now so imper- 

 fectly adjusted, shall have become as 

 completely organized as that of the 

 bees, is this to be the fate of us men- 

 folks ? Let us be thankful that we live 

 in these times, troublous though they be ! 



Some of you may remember that, in 

 the March Review, Mr. Greiner suggest- 

 ed that, millions of years ago, the bee 

 may not have been what it is now — that 

 it combined not only both sexes in one 

 individual, but it could also gather hon- 

 ey, and pollen, and build comb. Here is 

 Mr. Sutherland's way of looking at it: — 



It is as certain as anything can be that 

 at one time the bee was simply male and 

 female. The irresponsible male buzzed 

 about getting his own livitig, marrying 

 and dying. The responsible female not 

 only got her own living, but that of her 

 children. Somehow they came to see the 

 advantage of comnnmal effort, and, just 

 as women say now: "If you'll wash the 

 dishes, I'll wipe'em," one female bee 

 said to the others: "I'll be the mother if 

 you'll get the living." It was a bargain, 

 and they took the drones to board. 



In my introduction to this extract, I 

 said that the author of this article had 

 avoided the mistakes usually made by 

 non-professionals, but he did make one 



