THE HONEY BEE
"_Simple and sweet is their food; they eat no flesh of the living._"
--VON KUEBEL.
One can hardly believe that this small, ever busy creature each year
gathers many million dollars worth of products for man in this country
alone to say nothing of its inestimable value on the farm and especially
in the orchard, where it assists in carrying pollen from blossom to
blossom. It is of far greater value to man as a carrier of pollen than
it is as a honey gatherer and yet under especially favorable conditions
in one year a strong colony may produce between twenty-five and thirty
dollars worth of honey.
[Illustration: Worker, queen and drone honey bees; all about natural
size. (After Phillips, U. S. Dept. of Agri.)]
The general habits of the bee are fairly well known by all. They live in
colonies consisting largely of workers, one female or queen and males or
drones. Whenever the number of workers becomes sufficiently large to
warrant a division of the colony, a young queen is reared by the workers
and just before she matures, the old queen leaves with about half of the
workers to establish a new colony. This division of the colony is called
swarming. If a hive, box or other acceptable home is not provided soon
after the swarm comes out and clusters, it may fly to the woods and
establishes itself in a hollow tree where the regular work of honey
gathering is continued. This accounts for so many bee-trees in the
woods. The bee has been handled by man for ages, but it readily becomes
wild when allowed to escape to the woods.
[Illustration: Stages of development of honey bee; a, egg; b, young
grub; c, full-fed grub; d, pupa; all enlarged. (After Phillips, U. S.
Dept. Agri.)]
The bee colony offers one of the best examples to show what can be
accomplished by united effort where harmony prevails. Certain of the
workers gather honey, others are nurses for the queen and young brood in
the hive, others guard the hive and repel intruders, and others care for
the hive by mending breaks and providing new comb as it is needed. Each
knows its work and goes about it without interfering with the work of
others. It is one huge assemblage of individuals under one roof where
harmony and industry prevail.
Throughout the long, hot summer days the workers are busy from daylight
until dark gathering nectar, while at night they force currents of air
thru the hive to evaporate the excess water from the nectar. When
flowers are not available near the hive they simply fly until they find
them, be it one, two or more miles. As long as they are able to gather
honey they continue to do so and when they give out they drop in the
field and are forgotten, others rushing to take their place. Often when
winter is approaching and the store of honey is low the less vigorous
ones are cast out from the hive and left to die. If man could learn a
few of the lessons which the bee teaches, he would be a better, a more
useful and a wiser addition to society.
OBSERVATIONS AND STUDIES
[Illustration: Two colonies of bees poorly cared for. Note box hives,
crowding, lack of shade, and high weeds. It is a crime to treat bees
this way.]
Go into the fields and study the work of the bee. Follow it from flower
to flower. See if it visits different kinds of flowers or if it gathers
its whole load of honey from one kind. Make a list of all the blossoms
you find bees visiting. Does the bee move slowly from flower to flower?
Can you see it thrust its tongue into the flower? How long does it stay
on one blossom? Does it visit red clover? Pull a red clover blossom
apart and compare the depth of the blossom with the length of the honey
bee's tongue, and determine the reason why it does not visit red
clover. The bumble-bee has a much longer tongue so it can get the nectar
from red clover blossoms. Without the bumble-bee clover seed could not
be successfully grown. Can you see small balls of yellow pollen on the
hind legs of the bee? The pollen is collected from blossoms and is
pasted on to the outside of the hind legs in the pollen basket. When the
bee returns to the hive, it stores the small balls of pollen in the
cells of the comb for use later in the preparation of bee-bread. When
the bee is disturbed in the field does it fly away or will it sting?
When it stings does it always lose its sting? What makes the sting of
the bee poisonous? Examine the wings of bees in the field and note how
they are torn from continued work of gathering honey. The older ones
often lose so much of their wings, that they can no longer carry loads
of honey. Where is the honey carried and how is it placed in the honey
cells in the hive?
[Illustration: A strong colony of bees properly housed and shaded. This
colony in a very unfavorable season stored about 50 pounds of surplus
honey.]
Go now to a hive and study the bees as they go and come. Do those
returning fly as fast as those which leave? Why not? When they return do
they come direct to the mouth of the hive? Do those which leave fly
direct from the hive or circle about first? Can you detect guards which
move about at the entrance of the hive? What happens when a fly or other
insect alights near the opening? Will the bees sting when you disturb
them about the hive? If possible study the colony inside the hive. To do
this you will need smoke to subdue the guards and a veil to protect the
face. Can you find the queen? Is she larger than the workers? Examine
for honey-comb, bee-bread, worker brood, queen cells and drone cells. If
possible study the actions of a colony while swarming.
Write a brief report of what you can learn of the life, work and habits
of the honey bee.
* * * * *
"_Happy insect, what can be
In happiness compared to thee?
Fed with nourishment divine,
The dewy morning's gentle wine!_
"_Nature waits upon thee still,
And thy verdant cup does fill;
'Tis filled wherever thou doest tread
Nature's self thy Ganymede._
"_Thou doest drink and dance and sing,
Happier than the happiest king!
All the fields which thou doest see,
All the plants belong to thee,
All the summer hours produce,
Fertile made with early juice,
Man for thee does sow and plough,
Farmer he, and landlord thou._"
--From THE GREEK OF ANACREON.