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BEES AND BEES.—NO. 5. 
H. A. EARHART. 
SENSE OF SMELL AND HEARING, 
ONEY concealed at a considera¬ 
ble distance from the hive will 
be found and appropriated. 
This sense of smell is more acute 
than any of the others. 
The sense of hearing is also pos¬ 
sessed by the bee, though some 
bee keepers have been doubtful 
about their having this faculty. 
The queen, by a peculiar sound, 
can make the inmates of the hive 
quiet and motionless in a moment. Prior to 
swarming, the q .een is able to agitate the 
whole colony by her excited noise and uueasy 
movements over the combs; and after leaving 
the hive—if through some mishap she falls to 
the ground or the swarm lose sight of her 
the fact of her disappearance will be almost 
instantly communicated to the bees while on 
the wing, whereupon a search will be made 
for the queen, and if not found, the bees will 
all return again to the hive. When a single 
bee discovers some stored-up sweets remote 
from its home, it will soon find means to make 
the fact known among its fellow-workers, aud 
return with scores of them to the spot to 
transport the new-found treasure. From the 
foregoing cases, it is plainly evident that they 
must be capable of distinguishing different 
sounds, and thus know each other’s wants. 
NATURAL HISTORY OF DIFFERENT SPECIES. 
Bees are divided into two great families, 
and each of these are again subdivided into 
numerous tribes, all of which are distinguished 
by some particular peculiarity. The family 
of Solitary Bees consists of males and females, 
and they construct their own nests. There 
are many curious varieties of this class, and 
the study of their habits is particularly inter¬ 
esting. I will describe a few of this class. 
The Mason-Bee is so named from the re¬ 
markable manner iu which it agglutinates 
bits of sand and gravel in constructing its 
nest. 
The Upholsterer-Bee derives its name from 
the way in which it lines its cells with bits of 
leaves. In the Spring it can be seen return¬ 
ing to its home, many times in a day witli a 
small part of a leaf , cut in proper shape to fit 
the cell. This bee usually selects the leaf of 
the locust tree, and collects large quantities of 
polleu, and stores it up in small, round cakes, 
and covers them with several layers of leaves. 
The Carpenter-Bee is so called from its habit 
of working in wood. My readers are, without 
doubt, nearly all familiar with it. Reaumer, 
the naturalist, gives the following description 
of the manner in which this ingenious insect 
builds its house: * ‘She usual l.y selects the pu¬ 
trescent uprights of arbors, espaliers, or the 
props of vines; but sometimes she will at¬ 
tack garden seats, thick doors and window 
shutters. The piece that she chooses is usually 
cylindrical, and perpendicular to the horizon. 
Her strong maxilla- are the instruments she 
employs in boring it; beginning on one side 
for a little way, she points her course oblique¬ 
ly downward, and then forward in a direc¬ 
tion parallel with its sides, till she has bored a 
tunnel of from 13 to 15 inches in length, and 
seven or eight lines in diameter. A passage 
is left where she enters or first begins to bore, 
and another at the end of the pipe. 
As the industrious insect proceeds in her 
employment, she clears away the wood that 
she detaches, throwing it upon the ground, 
where it appeal's like a small heap of sawdust. 
Thus, we see, she has prepared a long cylin¬ 
der iu the middle of the wood, sheltered from 
the weather and external injuries and fit for 
her purposes. But how is she to divide it into 
cells? What materials can she employ for 
making the floors and ceilings of her apart¬ 
ments? The sawdust is at hand, and this sup¬ 
plies her with all that she wants to make this 
part of her mansion complete. Beginning at 
the bottom of the cylinder, she deposits an 
egg, and then lays iu a store of pollen, mixed 
with honey, sufficient for the nutriment 
of the little creature it is to produce. 
At the bight of seven or eight lines, which 
is the depth of each cell, she next con¬ 
structs, of particles of the sawdust glued 
together, and also to the sides of the tunnel, 
what may be called an annular stage or scaf¬ 
folding. When this is sufficiently hardened, 
its anterior edge affords a support for a sec¬ 
ond riug of the same materials, and thus the 
ceiling is gradually formed of these concen¬ 
tric circles, till there remains only a small 
orifice in its center: and this is also filled up 
w : th a circular mass of agglutinated particles 
of the sawdust. This partition exhibits the ap 
pearance of as mauy concentric circles as t he 
insect has made joinings, and is about the 
thickness of a French crown-piece; it serves 
for the ceiling of the lower, and the floor of 
the upper apartment. One cell being com¬ 
pleted, she proceeds to another, which she 
furnishes and finishes in the same manner; 
aud so on till she has divided her whole tun¬ 
nel into apartmeuts, which are usually a to lit 
13 At the proper season the young come 
forth, each in its turn, from these long aud 
ingeniously contrived tunnels. 
Of the Social-Bees there are two groups, 
which differ in appearance, size and hab¬ 
its of life. The Humble-Bee and the Hive- 
Bee comprise these two classes. The family 
of common Humble-Bees, generally called 
Bumble Bees, Is a. very numerous one. Some 
of them are not much larger than honey toes, 
while others are two or three times as large. 
They are distinguished by a black head and 
body, with golden rings alternating with 
black ones. They construct and live in under¬ 
ground dwellings, in societies of 50 or 00, aud 
not uufrequently number twoor three hundred. 
They are not able to endure the rigors of 
Winter. In the Spriug one female manages 
the resuscitation of the species. Early and 
late she toils with unremitting zeal to build a 
house in which to rear her progeny. This she 
does by excavating in the ground aud lining 
her nest with dry grass aud roots. Here she 
deposits her eggs. The larva spins a cocoon iu 
which it is finally transformed to a perfect 
bee. These cocoons are afterwards used as 
storehouses for honey. The family goes on 
increasing until September, when they grow 
languid and show sigua of final dissolution 
Many are now found crawling on the tufts of 
grass or among the flowers upon which they 
reveled in their matin glory—now so numb of 
the chilly dews and showers as to be unable to 
return home; and thus they are doomed to 
perish with their Summer friends—the flowers. 
They now begin, gradually, to forsake their 
nest and seek some dry bank, where they bur¬ 
row down in the earth from 30 inches to two 
feet. Iu this manner they sleep away the 
long and weary Winter months, surviving the 
extreme cold and t hus perpetuating the species. 
It is a matter of surprise to many persons 
who have found them buried so deep; and 
they often wonder how it was possible for 
them to penetrate so far beneath the surface. 
Mau has never been able to domesticate this 
species, though the experimout was tried; 
yet, as soon as the chilly Autumn blasts be¬ 
gan to sigh among the trees, they would de¬ 
sert their home and not leave a drop of honey 
in the cocoons. Thus these wild field-bees 
seem to live for self-enjoyment alone. They 
are, uo doubt, intended by the Divine Author 
to fill a void iu nature and help people every 
part of the globe with living creatures; but 
be that as it may, there is still enough and to 
spare, in meadow, field, and grove for the 
toiling Humble-Bee. 
Dauphin Co., Pa. 
LETTERS FROM COUSINS. 
Uncle Mark;—I am making grape culture 
quite an interesting diversion, aud am grow¬ 
ing about 30 different varieties. 1 have some 
of each class of Labrusca, Riparia, and -Esti¬ 
val is; also those claimed to be crosses of the 
above-named sorts. I intend to try some of 
1 the Vinifera.s and Ricketts's hybrids out- 
of-doors, under a muslin covering during 
the growing season, and bury the vines in 
Winter. The Mission Grape of California is 
raised here thus, and some of the bunches 
weigh over two pounds. The Black Hamburg 
and Sweetwater came through without mil¬ 
dewing this year with this treatment.. The na¬ 
tives I am training under the different meth¬ 
ods described by Fuller, Husmann and oth¬ 
ers, and as you so kindly published my arti¬ 
cles about Strawberries and Camping Out, I 
thought of sending an account of how some of 
the new varieties did with me this year, but 
after writing them concluded to wait another 
3 'ear and verify my conclusions to my own 
satisfaction. RUFUS w. smith. 
Salem Co.. New Jersey. 
[This is the kind of a letter I like to get. It 
shows that the writer is taking the right 
course to become a successful horticulturist, 
aud a shiumg light in the Youths' CIud. I 
am much pleased to learn that you are pursu¬ 
ing such an interesting course of investiga¬ 
tion, and 1 hope that at the conclusion of this 
year’s experiments, you will not forget to fa¬ 
vor the Youths’ Department with a detailed 
report.— Uncle Mark.] 
Dear Uncle Mark;—! will write and tell 
my Cousins a little more about Kansas. I 
w rote in my last letter that we had just moved 
out here in Kansas. We like it here totter 
and better, everything is so new and odd. 
For instance, don’t you think it would look odd 
to see the farmers go right out on the prairie 
whore the cattle—great herds of them—have 
been grazing all Summer, aud mow their 
Winter’s hay? And the farmers stack their 
hay out on the prairie, and fasten a strand of 
barbed wire around it. Any of the cattle 
which have run loose all Summer are fat 
enough for beef. 
The wheat was a good crop this year, but 
the farmers say that it pays totter to buy 
their flour, and raise com instead. Com is a 
splendid crop. There will be plenty of fruit 
as soon as the orchards get old enough to bear. 
This is a very healthy country. We all have 
such large appetites, that it seems as though it 
was impossible to cook enough; I think so 
when I have to get supper after I get home 
from school. I wish I could toll you about 
schools aud lots of other tilings, but haven’t 
room this time. Yours truly, mary weed. 
Coffey Co., Kansas. 
NOTE. 
The names of the members of the Horticul¬ 
tural Club will to published soou. No per¬ 
sons will to considered members unless they 
havesent in their names since January 1, 1884. 
This Cut represents the IMMENSE FOUNDRY- of the 
OLIVER CHILLED PLOW WORKS, SOUTH BEND, Ind. 
Manufacturers of the OLIVER CHILLED PLOW and the CASADY SULKY PLOW. 
Send for Circulars and Full Particulars. 
