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They are smaller than either the queen or drone, 
very sprightly in their movements ; they are armed 
with a sting, which they use as a weapon of defence ; 
this sting is barbed, and when inserted to a slight depth 
the bee is unable to withdraw it, and in attempting to 
do so tears it forcibly from themselves, which proves 
their destruction in a few hours. 
BEE-HOUSES OBJECTIONABLE. 
In every sense of the word, bee-houses are objec- 
tionable. They afford better habitations for millers, 
spiders, ants, &c., than they do protection to your bees. 
The best bee-house in the world is a good hive , and the 
shade of a tree , or a loose board placed over your hive 
to protect it from sun and storm. These covers should 
project over the top of the hive some five or six inches 
all around. A large stone or block of wood may be 
laid on the cover to hold it in its place, to prevent the 
wind from blowing it off. 
LANGUAGE OF THE BEE. 
The bee possesses a language, at least peculiar to 
itself. The inarticulate sounds of the bee, which are 
instinctively uttered, are readily understood by its own 
species. The expression of ideas by articulate sounds 
for the communication of thoughts, is but the acknowl- 
edging of those sounds as representatives of our ideas. 
Ihen properly speaking the conveyance of ideas from 
one to another, either by sounds or gesture, becomes 
language so soon as those ideas are understood between 
two individuals. Were it not so, the mute would be as 
isolated from associations of man, as the insect world. 
That man actually holds converse with the bee, receives 
