1878 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



227 



and i\.gassiz, before attempting to explain 

 the matter to the people, take the time to 

 get a hive of real live bees, as did Darwin, 

 and not be obliged to take any thing at sec- 

 ^md liaud. If they two, were afraid of stings, 

 a.ny expert honey raiser coidd afford them 

 tlie facilities for a safe observation and thus 

 l>revent tlieir going into such folly, or false- 

 hood, to call things by their rightnames, for 

 they pretend to have knowledge where they 

 have none. Take the money and buy a hive of 

 heex. all ye that thirst for knowledge, and 

 take it direct from God's own works, instead 

 of receiving it second hand. 



For particidars in regard to the North 

 Pole, or as to whether tlie planet Jni)iter is 

 habitable, we may be obliged to listen to 

 those who know better than we do ; but in 

 our own industry no such necessity exists, 

 for a swarm of bees is within the reach of 

 all. 



When distinguished persons have visited 

 my apiary, I liave almost invariably heard 

 them mention the great discovery of Agas- 

 siz, in regard to the way in which bees 

 build their comb, and when I explain that 

 it was a great mistake, they usually think 

 that so great a man as Agassiz, and one 

 wlio always went to the ants and bees with 

 his own eyes, must have been right, and 

 that I had made a mistake somewhere. 



I have occupied all this space, my friends, 

 .just to give you an illustration of how little 

 real ivork, some of the great scientists and 

 lectiu'ere are in the habit of doing, and of the 

 importance of proving things for yourself, 

 with your ovm eyes and hands. 



If we examine the bees closely during the 

 Keason of comb building and honey gather- 

 ing, we shall lind many of them with the 

 wax scales protruding between the rings 

 that form the body, and these scales are 

 either picked from their bodies, or from the 

 l)ottom of the hive or honey boxes in which 

 they are building. If a bee is obliged to 

 carry one of these wax scales but a short 

 distance, he takes it in his mandibles, and 

 l(wks as business like with it thus, as a car- 

 penter with a board on liis shoulder. If he 

 lias to can-y it from the bottom of the honey 

 box. he takes it in a way that I cannot ex- 

 plain any better, than to say he slips it un- 

 der his chin. When thus equipped, you 

 would never know he was encumbered with 

 anything, unless it chanced to slip out, 

 when he will very dextrously tuck it back 

 with one of his fore feet. The little plate of 

 wax is so warm from being kept under his 

 chin, as to be quite soft when he gets back ; 



and as he takes it out, and gives it a pinch 

 against the cond) where the building is going 

 on, one would think he might stop a while, 

 and put it into place ; but not he ; for off he 

 scampers and twists around so many^ differ- 

 ent ways, you might think he was not one of 

 the working kind at all. Another follows 

 after him sooner or later, and gives the wax 

 a pinch, or a little scraping and burnishing 

 with his polishing mandibles, then another, 

 and so on, and the sum total of all these ma- 

 noevers is that the comb seems almost to 

 grow out of nothing ; yet no bee ever makes 

 a cell himself, and no comb building is ever 

 done by any bee while standing in a cell ; 

 neither do the bees ever stand in rows and 

 '•excavate", or anything of the kind. 



The iinished comb is the result of the uni- 

 ted efforts of the moving, restless mass, and 

 the great mystery is, that anything so won- 

 derful can ever result at all, from such a 

 mixed up, skipping about, way of working, 

 as they seem to have. When the cells are 

 built out only part way, they are filled with 

 honey or eggs, and the length is increased 

 when they feel disposed, or '"get around 

 to it," perhaps. It may be that they find it 

 easier working with the shallow walls about 

 the cells, for they can take care of the brood 

 much easier, and put in the honey easier 

 too, in all probability; and, as a thick rim is 

 left around the upper edge of the cell, they 

 have the material at hand, to lengthen it at 

 any time. This thick rim is also very nec- 

 essary to give the bees a secure foothold, for 

 the sides of the cells are so thin, they would 

 be very apt to break down with even the 

 light weight of a bee. When honey is com- 

 ing in rapidly, and the bees are crowded for 

 room to store it, their eagerness is so plainly 

 apparent, as they push the work along, that 

 they fairly seem to quiver with excitement ; 

 but, for all that, they skip about from one 

 cell to another in the same way, no one bee 

 working in the same spot to exceed a min- 

 ute or two, at the very outside. Very fre- 

 quently, after one has bent a piece of wax a 

 certain way, the next tips it in the opposite 

 direction, and so on until completion ; but 

 after all have given it a twist and a pull, it 

 is found in pretty nearly the right spot. As 

 near as I can discover, they moisten the 

 thin ribbons of wax, with some sort of fluid 

 or saliva. As the bee always preserves the 

 thick rib or rim of the comb he is working, 

 the looker-on would suppose he was making 

 the walls of a considerable thickness ; but if 

 we drive him away, and break this rim, we 

 will find that his mandibles have come so 



