277 



land should know how to manage these useful 

 insects. To the naturalists they are a highly 

 entertaining race, on account of their peculiar 

 manners, habits and instincts, and they are 

 highly important to the rural economist by rea- 

 son of their valuable produce. The term honey 

 bee, as it is generally used, comprehend the 

 queen bee or female ; the male bee or drone, and 

 working bee or neuter. The natural history of 

 the common bee has been more fully considered 

 than that of any other creature of the insect 

 tribe ; and if we except the silk-worm and coc- 

 cus employed in dyeing, there appears to be 

 none more deserving of the regard which is paid 

 to it. As an object of advantage, by the com- 

 mon consent of mankind in all ages, the honey 

 bee has been deemed of sufficient consequence 

 to demand grave and particular attention. 



There is in every hive, or colony, three kinds 

 of bee, as I have stated — the queen, however, 

 is longer, has shorter legs, shorter wings, and is 

 more active than the others. She is armed with 

 a sting, as every school boy knows. The drones 

 have large eyes and are destitute of a sting. 

 The working bees are armed with a power sting, 

 which they frequently use in the neighborhood 

 of their hive. 



The sting of the bee is a curious weapon, 

 adapted to the industrious habits of its life, which 

 expose it to a multitude of dangers. It is not 

 my purpose, however, to write a history of the 

 bee, that has been amply attended to by different 

 observers, and it is a surprising fact, that there 

 have been seventy-seven ancient, and four hun- 

 dred and forty-four modern authors, who have 

 written on the habits, manners, instinct and pro- 

 duction of this wonderful little animal, the bee. 



My design in this paper is to call attention to 

 "Martin's Patent Bee House or Palace," to 

 which I adverted in a former letter. The ad- 

 vantage of this elegant construction is, that the 

 bee is protected from the bee moth or worm, 

 which is often so fatal to the welfare and even 

 existence of the bee. 



In the arrangement adopted, simplicity is pre- 

 dominant, and the house, is a non-swarmer, a 

 self-cleanser, and what is particularly advan- 

 tageous, the honey may be taken at any time, 

 without resorting to the barbarous practice of 

 smoking and suffocating. The whole expense 

 of this simple apparatus, which can be made 

 by the dullest carpenter, is but a trifle, and so 

 essential has saccharine matter become, on all 

 that relates to domestic economy, that I deem it 

 highly important that every farmer and cottager 

 should become acquainted with its merits. The 

 poorest man in the nation, can with this contri- 

 vance raise honey enough for his own use, and 

 have some to spare for his neighbors. 



In fact, in the hands of a judicious Apiarian, 

 " Martin's Bee House" may become a profitable 

 branch of rural enonomy, for by its use, honey 



can be obtained with but little trouble to almost 

 any amount! It is known that whole families 

 have derived their principal support from raising 

 bees, and whatever is advantageous to the great 

 mass of laborers and toilers, becomes worthy of 

 consideration to the philosopher, patriot, philan- 

 thropist and statesman. I may safely aver, that 

 by this simple structure, every farmer in the 

 Commonwealth could raise enough honey, as to 

 almost entirely supersede the use of sugar and 

 molasses, for it is equally as pleasant, and as 

 equally suitable for most all domestic purposes 

 as the two latter. Honey, as a mere article of 

 household use, is very valuable, and as a medicinal 

 agent, it has in many cases, desirable and useful 

 properties. It shows how important this article 

 may become. I find it recorded that honey to 

 the value of thirty-three thousand dollars was 

 received in the fall of 1841, at Buffalo, which 

 had been sent from the lakes to that city. Why 

 may not all the farmers and citizens of Pennsyl- 

 vania take hold of this subject? Surely it is 

 eminently deserving of their consideration. 



From the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 

 FACTS IN NATURAL HISTORY. 



BY PROFESSOR J. J. MAPES. 



I mention these facts only in the hope of 

 showing that there is pleasure in studying the 

 sciences, and when we come to natural history 

 we shall find the study of that still more amus- 

 ing. The animal and vegetable worlds are well 

 worthy of observation. Probably you all know 

 what is meant by a cycloid. If we make a spot 

 in the periphery of a wheel, travelling on a plane, 

 the figure which that spot describes is a cycloid. 

 Now there is no figure in which a body can be 

 moved with so much velocity and such regula- 

 rity of speed, not even the straight line. Ma- 

 thematicians discovered this not many years ago; 

 but Nature's God taught it to the eagle before 

 mathematics were invented ; and when the eagle 

 pounces on his prey, he describes the figure of 

 a cycloid. 



A globe placed in water, or in air, in moving 

 meets with resistance, and its velocity will be 

 retarded. If you alter the globe to the form of 

 an egg, there will be less resistance. And then 

 there is a form called the solid oj least resistance, 

 which mathematicians studied for many years 

 to discover ; and when they had discovered it, 

 they found they had the form of a fish's head ! 

 Nature had " rigged out" the fish with just such 

 a figure. 



The feathers of birds and each particular part 

 of them, are arranged at such an angle as to be 

 most efficient in assisting flight. The human 

 eye has a mirror on which objects are reflected, 

 and a nerve by which these reflections are con- 



