AMLR1CAN AGRICULTURIST. 
225 
WONDERS OF THE BEE-HIVE. 
Number IV. 
Strongly defended as the bee-hive is, one might 
very soon be dissuaded from an attempt to look 
inside of it. by one or two attacks from the in¬ 
habitants. A single bee can inflict such an injury 
as to make one cautious, but alas ! for the man 
who is attacked by a whole swarm. 
The anger of bees can, however, be checked 
in various ways. A little smoke blown in at 
the entrance to the hive has the effect of making 
them quite peaceable, and of driving them so far 
away that it is easy to make an examination of 
the lower part of the comb. This may be tobac¬ 
co-smoke, or still better, the smoke of spunk, (a 
tinder frequently oalled punk.) Cotton dipped in a 
weak solution of salt-peter and then dried, is also 
recommended; or, if necessary, the bees can all 
be put to sleep by chloroform, the vapor of whioh 
has as decided an influence on insects as on men. 
We cannot recommend its common use, how¬ 
ever. It takes the bees several hours to recover 
from the effects of it, and some do not survive, 
either because they are suffocated, or perhaps be¬ 
cause they come in contact with the stings of 
their neighbors, which seem to be convulsively 
thrust out in the excitement of the moment. The 
system of management introduced and advocated 
by Mr. Langstroth, takes advantage of the in¬ 
stinct that prompts the bees to fill themselves 
with liquid sweets, and makes them peaceful by 
sprinkling them with sweetened water. 
By some such plan we will suppose ourselves 
to have gained access to the inside of the hive, 
and to have obtained peaceable possession of a 
large sheet of comb, to which we proceed now to 
give our attention, and it is worthy of our study. 
It is a specimen of insect architecture, framed 
according to unvarying instinct, and so admirably 
contrived that no wit of man can improve upon it. 
All that we oan do is to come to it for instruction. 
We find the empty comb very light, though one 
filled with honey is heavy. It is delicate, and 
easily broken with the pressure of the fingers. 
We must handle it with oaution. The piece we 
have is made up of six-sided cups, of about the 
same size and depth, placed side by side, and as 
many similar ones, opening the other way on the 
other side of the comb. Near the upper edge are 
a few oells larger and deeper than the rest, and 
oeoasionally we find one with only five sides. 
This sheet of comb was hung edgewise from the 
top of the hive, and parallel to it, on either side, 
were others like it; and as it had no connection 
with the bottom of the hive, and only partially 
with the sides, it was evidently built from the top 
downwards. And it was built by the bees: no 
one else had a hand in it. The manufacture was 
all earried on within the hive. There are no chips, 
nor gravel, nor sand : no straws, nor threads, nor 
leaves ; no saw-dust, nor scrapings of wood, nor 
lint. Such things may do very well for the nests 
of birds and hornets and mice ; but the bee dis¬ 
dains all such aid, and carries nothing to its hive 
that is weather-worn or soiled. It uses nothing 
at seoond hand. And for neatness and delicacy 
of workmanship, these oells are a model for me¬ 
chanics and artisans. 
“ How skillfully she builds her cell: 
How neat she spreads her wax !” 
And now we ask what the comb is for, and why 
the bees are led to make it, just as they do. 
The bees, living in large companies, and being 
obliged to collect their supply of food for the year 
while the flowers are in bloom, need some means 
of storing up their winter treasures, and also of 
eherishing and feeding their young brood. The 
(bod of the bees is honey ; and they give their 
brood the pollen or fine dust of flowers ; and as 
they are sensitive to extreme cold, it is necessary 
to have these things packed away where they can 
be easily obtained in winter. 
To meet these wants the bees provide small 
cells, which are sufficient to answer as cradles 
for the young bee till it comes to maturity, and 
which will also hold a few drops of honey, or a 
small cake of bee-bread. We sometimes keep 
liquid honey in tumblers or bottles; but these 
would not answer for the bees, as they would cer¬ 
tainly be drowned in their own food, if it was put 
up in vessels of such a size. Probably too, the 
honey keeps better in small cells than in larger 
cups. We put all vessels containing liquids with 
the open side up, at least until they are properly 
corked and secured, but the bees have their cells 
open sideways. This they can do with small 
cells, without risk of losing their contents ; the 
experiment would not be successful with quart 
cups. But why do it at all 1 For two reasons. 
First—if the combs were placed horizontally, like 
a set of pantry shelves, they would not be strong 
enough to bear their own weight when filled with 
honey and covered with bees ; and then, such an 
arrangement would only allow the cells to be on one 
side of the comb, and would require a great deal 
more wax for storing an equal amount of honey. 
The bees begin to build at the top, and work 
downwards; why is this 1 It would be a singular 
thing for a carpenter to begin a house at the 
ridge-pole and build down to the cellar. Of course 
the bees must have something provided to fasten 
their combs to : a branch of a tree, a board, or 
something of the kind. They do not “ build a 
castle in the air,” exactly. But beginning at the, 
top they can get a firm hold, and arrange their 
sheets of comb on plumb-lines, and then all the 
strain of their own weight and of the honey is di¬ 
rectly downwards; on the other hand, if they 
built Hpwards, as they can be compelled to do, the 
comb would be in constant danger of tipping to one 
side or the other, and breaking with the weight 
of the bees. Now for the shape of the cells. 
7 hey are six-sided figures, with very thin walls. 
We might expeot round cells, but this would demand 
much more labor, and a much larger consumption 
of honey for the manufacture of the wax. The 
most economical shape is one allowing the cells to 
be all exactly alike, with no loss of space between. 
These figures show that the square and the 
equilateral triangle would use up all the space, 
without loss. But neither the square nor the tri¬ 
angular form would be the best for the round body 
of the bee. The circular shape would seem pref¬ 
erable, but for the enormous consumption of wax, 
which is indicated by figure 3. 
the hexagon , we shall find it answering every end. 
A hexagon is a figure of six equal sides whose 
corners are all found in the eircumference of a 
circle described about the same center as in fig. 4. 
Any number of these six-sided figures can be 
put together, without chinks between ; and each 
one of the six sides of one cell will form one of 
the walls of another cell; and so we get the gen¬ 
uine honey-comb. 
Fig. 5. 
A comb constructed in this way is less easily 
broken than one made with square or three-sided 
cells, and retains the honey better than if the cells 
were much larger. Most of the cells in a hive 
are made of the size of our last figure ; but 
sometimes when honey is very abundant, they 
are made somewhat larger, and in such cells the 
drone bees are reared. 
' And what shall be the form of the bottom of 
these honey-cups 1 The circular form would be 
unobjectionable so far as any single one is con¬ 
cerned, but as the cells are to be arranged so that 
the same wax-plate is to serve for the bottom of 
two cells, a circular form --__- 
would require a waste- I 
ful use of wax. This is l w‘ 
show'n by the heavy_,2k,_ 
black lino of figure 0. f 
If the arrangement was 
such as to make each of_ A. _ 
the cells opposite two Fig. 6. 
others, there would be 
some saving as shown 
in fig. 7; and if straight 
lines were substituted 
for curved ones, there 
would be still greater 
improvement; and this 
representation is more 
nearly like the form ac¬ 
tually adopted. (Fig. 8.) 
We find in fact that 
the bottom of every 
cell is composed of 
three four-sided plates, 
each of which forms 
part of the bottom of Fig. 8. 
another cell; so that every cell is opposite to three 
others ; an arrangement that gives great increase 
ot firmness to the whole structure. This arrange¬ 
ment is seen in the next figures. 
Figure 9 shows a sin- Fig. 10. 
gle cell opposite to three others ; and in figure 10 
the black lines indicate the boundaries of the cells 
on one side, the dotted ones those of the cells on 
the other side. The cells in this figure are about 
the size of drone oells, and when the bees have 
occasion to join these large cells to smaller ones, 
of course some of the connecting links become 
irregular in shape. 
When the cells are full of honey, they are cov¬ 
ered over with white caps of wax, which protect 
the contentswfrom the air, but are easily removed 
when circumstances demand it. Cells occupied 
by the young brood are also covered with a darker 
colored substance which enables one to distin¬ 
guish them at a glance. 
To this long aocount we will only add the 
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