24 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jak. 



to try to drive you away. Almost every hive 

 lias a particular ' path ' through the air, and 

 we ai'e to watch and see where this path is, 

 and let them have it, full width. 



"Now boys, for business; pull down all 

 the old sheds there may be around the bee 

 hives, clear away all rubbish, and if the 

 hives are set on any kind of benches, clear 

 these all away, and set them right on the 

 ground ; or rather, raise them on 4 half bricks, 

 laid down flat; if we ai'e going to have a con- 

 venient village, we must have the houses 

 on the ground, not up on stilts. 



" We have not called upon papa yet, but 

 now we shall have to ask him for a load of 

 nice sawdust, and then we are ready for the 

 little broom and hoe, to make the streets, 

 and lanes and alleys of our city. It may be 

 a little city sometime, if we keep at work as 

 the bees do, and do not get discouraged. 

 Now I expect you will disagree with me, 

 when I tell you how we are to lay out the 

 streets ; for I am going to plan our city, just 

 as the bees plan their rooms inside their 

 houses. If you look at a piece of honey 

 comb, you will see the cells are six sided, 

 like this : 



DRONE COMB. 



WORKER CO>ir.. 



" There are several reasons why the bees 

 cannot have square rooms, as we do, and one 

 of them is that the bees are round, and would 

 not fit in square cells. A young bee I im- 

 agine would find himself quite uncomfor- 

 table, in a square cradle, and if the cells 

 were made round, they would not fit up 

 against each other, as they do now, without 

 waste corners. So you see the bee makes 

 his cell six sided to save room, labor and 

 material. Now we wish our bee village 

 made six sided for the same reason, and to 

 save travel, in working among them. If you 

 have only seven hives, we will make them 

 stand about like this ; one in the center, and 

 six around it. 



"You see by the drawing, how the hives are 

 to be placed, and where the sawdust is to be 

 spread for the paths. On the south side of 

 each hive, I have shown you the grai)e vine 

 trellis you will probably have after a 

 while. You can just see the tops of the 

 posts, and the top strips. 



"As we must have everything exact in lay- 



ing out a city, we will cut a stick just six 

 feet long, and an-ange all the hives so they 

 are just six feet from the center one, and 

 from each other. Make a nice walk of saw- 

 dust from the hives to the house, that we 



HEXAGONAL, APIARY OF 7 HIVES. 



may not get mamma's floor muddy when we 

 run back and forth ; now make a walk be- 

 tween and around all the hives, and bank 

 sawdust up nicely all round them, to keep 

 them warm, and to keep the grass and weeds 

 from growing in the way before their doors. 

 If you will fix their doorways all nice and 

 clean, they will get just as proud of their 

 homes, as the old hen does of her chickens : 

 you see if they do not. 



" If the hives do not stand just as y6u want 

 them, or pretty nearly so, when you com- 

 mence, you must move them into place a lit- 

 tle at a time each day, or you will make 

 serious trouble. If you move a bee's hive, 

 even a few feet, he is as much lost as you 

 would be, if your own house were moved a 

 mile, for he always comes home to the exact 

 spot fi"om which he started out. If you com- 

 mence your improvements in the spring, be- 

 fore the bees begin to fly, you can set the 

 hives anywhere you choose, without making 

 any trouble, but you cannot do this in the 

 summer time while they are flying. When 

 the sawdust is all fixed, sister is. to keep the 

 paths all swept neatly with her little broom, 

 and all hands are to contribute in keeping 

 everything neat and tidy." 



" But we have not heard the bees ' talk ' 

 yet." 



" Haven't you y Well, just go up to a hive 

 on the back side, and rap gently, just as if 

 you wished to come in." 



" They say Buzz-z-z-z-z." 



" Well, what do you suppose that means T''^ 



" I guess it means, 'Go right away, and let 

 us be.'" 



