 Chapter 3 of Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey Bee. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Adam Marcicic, August 2009, Alexandria, Virginia. Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey Bee by L. L. Langstroth. Chapter 3, Part 2, Continued from Part 1. The cocoon of the royal larva is very much stronger and coarser than that spun by the drone or worker. Its texture considerably resembling that of the silkworms. The young queen does not come forth from her cell until she is quite mature. And as its great size gives her abundant room to exercise her wings, she is capable of flying as soon as she quits it. While still in her cell, she makes the fluttering and piping noises with which every observant beekeeper is so well acquainted. Some Aperians have supported that the queen bee has the power to regulate the development of eggs in her ovaries, so that few or many are produced according to the necessities of the colony. This is evidently a mistake. Her eggs, like those of the domestic hen, are formed without any volition of her own, and when fully developed, must be extruded. If the weather is unfavorable, or if the colony is too feeble to maintain a sufficient heat, a smaller number of eggs are developed in her ovaries just as unfavorable circumstances diminish the number of eggs laid by the hen. If the weather is very cold, egg laying usually ceases altogether. In the latitude of Philadelphia, I opened one of my hives on the fifth day of February and found an abundance of eggs and brood, although the winter had been an unusually cold one, and the temperature of the preceding month very low. The fall of 1852 was a warm one, and eggs and brood were found in a hive, which I examined on the 21st of October. Powerful stocks in well-protected hives contain some brood at least 10 months in the year. In warm countries, bees probably breed every month in the year. It is highly interesting to see in what way the supernumeric eggs of the queen are disposed of, when the number of workers is too small to take charge of all her eggs, or when there is a deficiency of beebred to nourish the young, see chapter on pollen, or when, for any reason, she judges it not best to deposit them in cells. She stands upon a comb and simply extrudes them from her overduck, and the workers devour them as fast as they are laid. This I have repeatedly witnessed in my observing hives, and admire the sagacity of the queen in economizing her necessary work after this fashion, instead of laboriously depositing the eggs in cells where they are not wanted. What a difference between her wise management and the stupidity of a hen obstinately persisting to set upon addled eggs, or pieces of chalk, and often upon nothing at all. The workers eat up also all the eggs which are dropped, or deposited out of place by the queen. In this way, nothing goes to waste, and even a tiny egg is turned to some account. Was there ever a better comment upon the maxim? Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves. Do the workers who appear to be so fond of a tidbit in the shape of a new laid egg ever experience a struggle between their appetites and the claims of duty? And does it cost them some self-denial to refrain from making a breakfast on a fresh laid egg? It is really very difficult for one who has carefully watched the habits of bees to speak of his little favorites in any other way than, as though they possessed an intelligence, almost, if not quite, akin to reason. It is well known to every breeder of poultry that the fertility of a hen decreases with age. Until at length, she becomes entirely barren. It is equally certain that the fertility of the queen bee ordinarily diminishes after she has entered upon her third year. She sometimes ceases to lay worker eggs a considerable time before she dies of old age. The contents of the spermotheca are exhausted. The eggs can no longer be impregnated and must therefore produce drones. The queen bee usually dies of old age sometime in her fourth year, although instances are on record of some having survived a year longer. It is highly important to the beekeeper who would receive the largest returns from his bees to be able, as in my hide, to catch a queen and remove her when she has passed the period of her greatest fertility. In the sequel, full directions will be given as to the proper time and mode of effecting it. Before proceeding farther in the natural history of the queen bee, I shall describe more particularly the other inmates of the hide. The drones are male bees. The drones are, unquestionably, the male bees. Dissection proves that they have the appropriate organs of generation. They are much larger and stouter than either the queen or workers, although their bodies are not quite so long as that of the queen. They have no sting with which to defend themselves, no probiscous, which is suitable for gathering honey from the flowers, and no baskets on their thighs for holding the beebred. They are thus physically disqualified for work, even if they were ever so well disposed to it. Their proper office is to impregnate the young queens, and they are usually destroyed by the bees, soon after this is completed. Dr. Evans, the author of a beautiful poem on bees, thus appropriately describes them. They are short probiscous sips, no luscious nectar from the wild thyme's lips. From the lime's leaf no amber drops they steal, nor bear their groveless thighs the foodful meal. On other toils in pampered leisure thrive the lazy fathers of the industrious hive. The drones begin to make their appearance in April or May, earlier or later, according to climate and the forwardness of the season, and the strength of the stock. They require about 24 days for their full development from the egg. In colonies which are too weak to swarm, none, as the general rule, are reared. They are not needed. For in such hives, as no young queens are raised, they would be only useless consumers. The number of drones in a hive is often very great, amounting not merely to hundreds, but sometimes to thousands. It seems, at first, very difficult to understand why there should be so many, especially since it has been ascertained that a single one will impregnate a queen for life. But as intercourse always takes place high in the air, the young queens are obliged to leave the hive for this purpose, and it is exceedingly important to their safety that they should be sure of finding one without being compelled to make frequent excursions. Being larger than a worker, and less quick on the wing, they are more exposed to be caught by birds, or blown down and destroyed by sudden gusts of wind. In a large apiary, a few drones in each hive, or the number usually found in one, might be amply sufficient. But it must be borne in mind that under these circumstances, bees are not in a state of nature. Before they were domesticated, a colony living in a forest often had no neighbors for miles. Now a good stock in our climate sometimes sends out three or more swarms, and in the tropical climates of which the bee is a native, they increase with astonishing rapidity. At Sydney, in Australia, a single colony is stated to have multiplied to 300 in three years. All the new swarms, except the first, are let off by a young queen, and as she is never impregnated until after she has been established as the head of a separate family, it is important that they should all be accompanied by a goodly number of drones, and this renders it necessary that a large number should be produced in the parent hive. As this necessity no longer exists, when the bee is domesticated, the production of so many drones should be discouraged. Traps have been invented to destroy them, but it is much better to save the bees the labor and expense of rearing such a host of useless consumers. This can readily be done by the use of my hives. The cells in which the drones are reared are much larger than those appropriated to the raising of workers. The combs containing them may be taken out to have their places supplied with workers' cells, and thus the overproduction of drones may easily be prevented. Some colonies contain so much drone comb as to be nearly worthless. I have no doubt that some of my readers will object to this mode of management as interfering with nature, but let them remember that the bee is not in a state of nature, and that the same objection might be urged against killing off the supernumerary males of our domestic animals. In July or August, soon after the swarming season is over, the bees expel the drones from the hive. They sometimes sting them, and sometimes gnaw the roots of their wings, so that when driven from the hive, they cannot return. If not treated in either of these summary ways, they are so persecuted and starved that they soon perish. The hatred of bees extends even to the young, which are still unhatched. They are mercilessly pulled from the cells, and destroyed with the rest. How wonderful that instinct, which teaches the bees that there is no longer any occasion for the service of the drones, and which impels them to destroy those members of the colony, which, a short time before, they reared with such devoted attention. A colony which neglects to expel its drones at the usual season ought always to be examined. The queen is probably either diseased or dead. In my hives, such an examination may be easily made, the true state of the cause ascertained, and the proper remedies at once applied. See chapter on the loss of the queen. The production of so many drones necessary, in a state of nature, to prevent degeneracy from in and in breeding. I have often been able, by the reasons previously assigned, to account for the necessity of such a large number of drones in a state of nature, to the satisfaction of others, but never fully to my own. I have repeatedly queried why impregnation might not just as well have been affected in the hive as on the wing, in the open air. Two very obvious and highly important advantages would have resulted from such an arrangement. First, a few dozen drones would have amply sufficed for the wants of any colony, even if, as in tropical climates, it swarmed half a dozen times or oftener, in the same season. Second, the young queens would have been exposed to none of those risks which they now incur in leaving the hive for fecundation. I was unable to show how the existing arrangement is best, although I never doubted that there must be a satisfactory reason for this seeming imperfection. To suppose otherwise would be highly unphilosophical, since we constantly see, as the circle of our knowledge is enlarged, many mysteries in nature hitherto inexplicable, fully cleared up. Let me here ask, if the disposition, which too many students of nature cherish, to reject some of the doctrines of revealed religion, is not equally unphilosophical. Neither our ignorance of all the facts necessary to their full elucidation, nor our ability to harmonize these facts in their mutual relations and dependencies, will justify us in rejecting any truth which God has seen fit to reveal, either in the book of nature or in his holy word. The man who would substitute his own speculations for the divine teaching has embarked, without rudder or chart, pilot or compass, upon the uncertain ocean of theory and conjecture. Unless he turns his prow from its fatal course, no son of righteousness will ever brighten for him the dreary expanse of waters, storms and whirlwinds will thicken in gloom on his voyage of life, and no favoring gales will ever waft his shattered bark to a peaceful haven. The thoughtful reader will require no apology for the moralizing strain of many of my remarks, nor blame a clergyman, in forgetting sometimes to speak as the mere naturalist. He endeavors to find, tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in bees, and God in everything. To return to the point from which I have digressed, a new attempt to account for the existence of so many drones. If a farmer persists in what is called breeding in and in, that is, from the same stock without changing the blood, it is well known that a rapid degeneracy is the inevitable consequence. This law extends, as far as we know, to all animal life, and even man is not exempt from its influence. Have we any reason to suppose that the bee is an exception, or that ultimate degeneracy would not ensue, unless some provision was made to counteract the tendency to in and in breeding? If fecundation had taken place in the hive, the queen bee must of necessity have been impregnated by drones from a common parent, and the same result must have taken place in each successive generation, until the whole species would have eventually run out. By the present arrangement, the young females, when they leave the hive, often find the air swarming with drones, many of which belong to other colonies, and thus by crossing the breed, a provision is constantly made to prevent deterioration. Experience has proved not only that it is unnecessary to impregnation that there should be drones in the colony of the young queen, but that this may be affected even when there are no drones in the apiary, and none accept at some considerable distance. Inner course takes place very high in the air, perhaps that less risk may be incurred from birds, and this is the more favorable to the continual crossing of stocks. I am strongly persuaded that the decay of many flourishing stocks, even when managed with great care, is to be attributed to the fact that they have become enfeebled by close breeding, and are thus unable to resist the injurious influences which were comparatively harmless when the bees were in a state of high physical vigor. I shall, in the chapter on artificial swarming, explain in what way, by the use of my hives, the stock of bees may be easily crossed, when a cultivator is too remote from other apiaries, to depend upon its being naturally affected. The workers are common bees. The number of workers in a hive varies very much. A good swarm ought to contain 15,000 or 20,000, and in large hives, strong colonies which are not reduced by swarming, frequently number two or three times as many, during the height of the breeding season. We have well authenticated instances of stocks much more populous than this. The Polish hives will hold several bushels, and yet we are informed by Mr. Doheogost that they swarm regularly, and that the swarms are so powerful that they resemble a little cloud in the air. I shall hereafter consider how the size of the hive affects the number of bees that it may be expected to produce. The workers, as has been already stated, are all females whose ovaries are too imperfectly developed to admit of their laying eggs. For a long time, they were regarded as neither males nor females, and were called neuters, but more careful microscopic examinations have enabled us to detect the rudiments of their ovaries, and thus to determine their sex. The accuracy of these examinations has been verified by the well-known facts respecting fertile workers. Rheem, a German aparyon, first discovered that workers sometimes lay eggs. Huber, in the course of his investigations on this subject, ascertained that such workers were raised in hives that had lost their queen, and in the vicinity of the royal cells in which young queens were being reared. He conjectured that they received accidentally a small portion of the peculiar food of these infant queens, and in this way he accounted for their reproductive organs being more developed than those of other workers. Workers reared in such hives are in close proximity to the young queens, and there is certainly much probability that some of the royal jelly may be accidentally dropped into their cells. As, in these hives, the queen cells when first commenced are parallel to the horizon, instead of being perpendicular to it, as they are in other hives. I do not feel confident, however, that they are not sometimes bred in hives which have not lost their queen. The kind of eggs laid by these fertile workers has already been noticed. Such workers are seldom tolerated in hives containing a fertile, healthy queen, though instances of this kind have been known to occur. The worker is much smaller than either the queen or the drone. It is furnished with a tongue or probiscus of the most curious and complicated structure, which, when not in use, is nicely folded under its abdomen. With this, it licks or brushes up the honey, which is then conveyed to its honey bag. This receptacle is not larger than a very small pea, and is so perfectly transparent as to appear when filled of the same color with its contents. It is properly the first stomach of the bee, and is surrounded by muscles which enable the bee to compress it and empty its contents through her probiscus into the cells. The hind legs of the worker are furnished with a spoon-shaped hollow or basket to receive the pollen or beebred, which she gathers from the flowers. Every worker is armed with a formidable sting, and, when provoked, makes instant and effectual use of her natural weapon. The sting, when subjected to microscopic examination, exhibits a very curious and complicated mechanism. It is moved by muscles which, though invisible to the eye, are yet strong enough to force the sting to the depth of one-twelfth of an inch through the thick skin of a man's hand. At its root are situated two glands by which the poison is secreted. These glands, uniting in one duct, eject the venomous liquid along the groove, formed by the junction of the two piercers. There are four barbs on the outside of each piercer. When the insect is prepared to sting, one of these piercers, having its point a little longer than the other, first darts into the flesh, and being fixed by its foremost beard, the other strikes in also, and they alternately penetrate deeper and deeper, till they acquire a firm hold of the flesh with their barbed hooks, and then follows the sheath, conveying the poison into the wound. The action of the sting, says Paley, affords an example of the union of chemistry and mechanism, of chemistry in respect to the venom, which can produce such powerful effects of mechanism as the sting is a compound instrument. The machinery would have been comparatively useless had it not been for the chemical process by which the insect's body-honey is converted into poison. And on the other hand, the poison would have been ineffectual, without an instrument to wound, and a syringe to inject it. Upon examining the edge of a very keen razor by the microscope, it appears as broad as the back of a pretty thick knife, rough, uneven, and full of notches and furrows, and so far from anything like sharpness that an instrument, as blunt as this seemed to be, would not serve even to cleave wood, and exceedingly small needle being also examined, it resembled a rough iron bar out of a smith's forge. The sting of a bee, viewed through the same instrument, showed everywhere a polish amazingly beautiful, without the least flaw, blemish, or inequality, and ended in a point too fine to be discerned. The extremity of the sting being barbed like an arrow, the bee can seldom withdraw it if the substance into which she darts it is at all tenacious. In losing her sting, she parts with a portion of her intestines, and, of necessity, soon perishes. As the loss of the sting is always fatal to the bees, they pay a dear penalty for the exercise of their patriotic instincts. But they always seem ready, except when they have taken a drop too much, and are gorged with honey, to die in defense of their home and treasures, or as the poet has expressed it, they, deem life itself to vengeance well-resigned, die on the wound, and leave their sting behind. Hornets, wasps, and other stinging insects are able to withdraw their stings from the wound. I have never seen any attempt to account for the exception in the case of the honey bee, but if the creator intended the bee for the use of man, as he most certainly did, has he not given it this peculiarity to make it less formidable, and therefore more completely subject to human control? Without a sting, it would have stood no chance of defending its tempting suites against a host of greedy depredators, but if it could sting a number of times, it would be much more difficult to bring it into a state of thorough domestication. A quiver full of arrows in the hand of a skillful marksman is far more to be dreaded than a single shaft. The defense of the colony against enemies, the construction of the cells, the storing of them with honey and bee bread, the rearing of the young, in short, the whole work of the hive, the laying of eggs accepted, is carried on by the industrious little workers. There may be gentlemen of leisure in the commonwealth of bees, but most assuredly there are no such ladies, whether of high or low degree. The queen herself has her full share of duties, for it must be admitted that the royal office is no sign cure. When the mother who fills it must superintend daily the proper dispossession of several thousand eggs, age of bees. The queen bee, as has been already stated, will live for, and sometimes, though very rarely, five years. As the life of the drones is usually cut short by violence, it is not easy to ascertain its precise limit. Bee van, in some interesting statements on the longevity of bees, estimates it not to exceed four months. The workers are supposed by him to live six or seven months. Their age depends, however, very much upon their greater or less exposure to injurious influences and severe labors. Those reared in the spring and early part of summer, and on whom the heaviest labors of the hive must necessarily devolve, do not appear to live more than two or three months, while those which are bred at the close of summer, and early in autumn, being able to spend a large part of their time in repose, attain a much greater age. It is very evident that the bee, to use the words of a quaint old writer, is a summer bird, and that with the exception of the queen, none live to be a year old. Notched and ragged wings, instead of gray hairs and wrinkled faces, are the signs of old age in the bee, and indicate that its season of toil will soon be over. They appear to die rather suddenly, and often spend their last days, and sometimes even their last hours, in useful labors. Place yourself before a hive, and see the indefatigable energy of these aged veterans, toiling along with their heavy burdens, side by side with their more youthful com peers, and then say if you can, that you have done work enough, and that you will give yourself up to slothful indulgence, while the ability for useful labor still remains. Let the cheerful hum of their industrious old age inspire you with better resolutions, and teach you how much nobler it is to meet death in the path of duty, striving still, as you have opportunity to do good unto all men. The age which individual members of the community may attain, must not be confounded with that of the colony. Bees have been known to occupy the same domicile for a great number of years. I have seen flourishing colonies which were 20 years old, and the Abe de la Roca speaks of some over 40 years old. Such cases have led to the erroneous opinion that bees are a long-lived race, but this, as Dr. Evans has observed, is just as wise as if a stranger, contemplating a populous city, and personally unacquainted with its inhabitants, should, on paying it a second visit many years afterwards, and finding it equally populous, imagine that it was peopled by the same individuals, not one of whom might then be living. Like leaves on trees, the race of bees is found, now green in youth, now withering on the ground. Another race, the spring or fall supplies, they droop successive, and successive rise. The cocoons spun by the larvae are never removed by the bees. They stick so closely to the sides of the cells, that the knowing bee well understands that the labor of removal would cost more than it would be worth. In the process of time, the breeding cells become too small for the proper development of the young. In some cases, the bees must take down and reconstruct the old combs, for if they did not, the young issuing from them would always be dwarfs, whereas I once compared with other bees, those of a colony more than fifteen years old, and found no perceptible difference, that they do not always renew the old combs, must be admitted, as the young from some old hives are often considerably below the average size. On this account, it is very desirable to be able to remove the old combs occasionally, that their place may be supplied with new ones. It is a great mistake to imagine that the brood combs ought to be changed every year. In my hives, they might, if it were desirable, be easily changed several times in a year. But once in five or six years is often enough, oftener than this requires a needless consumption of honey to replace them, besides being for other reasons undesirable, as the bees are always in winter colder and new comb than in old. Inventors of hives have too often been most emphatically men of one idea, and that one, instead of being a well-established and important fact in the physiology of the bee, has frequently, like the necessity for a yearly change of the brood combs, been merely a conceit, existing nowhere but in the brain of a visionary projector. This is all harmless enough, until an effort is made to impose such miserable crudities upon an ignorant public, either in the shape of a patented hive, or worse still of an unpatented hive, the pretended right to use which is fraudulently sold to the cheated purchaser. For want of proper knowledge with regard to the age of bees, huge bee palaces and large closets in garrets or attics have been constructed, and their proprietors have vainly imagined that the bees would fill them, however roomy, for they can see no reason why a colony should not continue to increase indefinitely, until at length it numbers its inhabitants by millions or billions. As the bees can never at one time equal, still less exceed the number which the queen is capable of producing in one season, these spacious dwellings have always in abundance of spare rooms. It seems strange that men can be thus deceived, when often in their own apiary they have healthy stocks which have not swarmed for a year or more, and which yet in the spring are not a whit more populous than those which have regularly parted with vigorous swarms. It is certain that the creator, has for some wise reason set a limit to the increase of numbers in a single colony, and I shall venture to assign what appears to me to have been one reason for his so doing. Suppose that he had given to the bee a length of life as great as that of the horse, or the cow, or had made each queen capable of laying daily some hundreds of thousands of eggs, or had given several hundred queens to each hive, then from the very nature of the case a colony must have gone on increasing, until it became a scourge rather than a benefit to man. In the warm climates of which the bee is a native, they would have established themselves in some cavern or capacious clef in the rocks, and would there have quickly become so powerful as to bid defiance to all attempts to appropriate the avails of their labors. It has already been stated that none, except the mother wasps and hornets, survive the winter. If these insects had been able, like the bee, to commence the season with the accumulated strength of a large colony, long before its close, they would have proved a most intolerable nuisance. If, on the contrary, the queen bee had been compelled, solitary and alone, to lay the foundations of a new commonwealth, the honey harvest would have disappeared before she could have become the parent of a numerous family. In the laws which regulate the increase of bees, as well as in other parts of their economy, we have the plainest proofs that the insect was formed for the special service of the human race, the process of rearing the queen more particularly described. If, in the early part of the season, the population of a hive becomes uncomfortably crowded, the bees usually make preparations for swarming. A number of royal cells are commenced, and they are placed almost always upon those edges of the combs, which are not attached to the sides of the hive. These cells somewhat resemble a small ground nut, or peanut, and are about an inch deep, and one-third of an inch in diameter. They are very thick, and require a large quantity of material for their construction. They are seldom seen in a perfect state, as the bees nibble them away after the queen has hatched, leaving only their remains in the shape of a very small acorn cup. While the other cells open sideways, these always hang with their mouth downwards. Much speculation has arisen as to the reason for this deviation. Some have conjectured that their peculiar position exerted an influence upon the development of the royal larvae, while others, having ascertained that no injurious effect was produced by turning them upwards, or placing them in any other position, have considered this deviation, as among the inscrutable mysteries of the beehive. So it always seemed to me, until more careful reflection enabled me to solve the problem. The queen cells opened downwards, simply to save room. The distance between the parallel ranges of comb being usually less than half an inch, the bees could not have made the royal cells to open sideways without sacrificing the cells opposite to them. In order to economize space, to the very utmost, they put them upon the unoccupied edges of the comb, as the only place where there is always plenty of room for such very large cells. The number of royal cells varies greatly. Sometimes there are only two or three. Ordinarily there are five or six, and I have occasionally seen more than a dozen. There are not all commenced at once, for the bees do not intend that the young queens shall all arrive at maturity at the same time. I do not consider it as fully settled how the eggs are deposited in these cells. In some few instances, I have known the bees to transfer the eggs from common to queen cells, and this may be their general method of procedure. I shall hazard the conjecture that the queen deposits her eggs in cells on the edges of the comb, in a crowded state of the hive, and that some of these are afterwards enlarged and changed into royal cells by the workers. Such is the instinctive hatred of the queen to her own kind, that it does not seem to me probable that she is entrusted with even the initiatory steps for securing a race of successors. That the eggs from which the young queens are produced, are of the same kind with those producing workers, has been repeatedly demonstrated. On examining the queen cells while they are in progress, one of the first things which excites our notice is the very unusual amount of attention bestowed upon them by the workers. There is scarcely a second in which a bee is not peeping into them, and just as fast as one is satisfied, another pops its head in to examine if not to report progress. The importance of their inmates to the bee community might easily be inferred from their being the center of so much attraction. Royal Jelly The young queens are supplied with a much larger quantity of food than is allotted to the other larvae, so that they seem almost to float in a thick bed of jelly, and there is usually a portion of it left unconsumed at the base of the cells after the insects have arrived at maturity. It is different from the food of either drones or workers, and in appearance resembles a light quince jelly having a slightly acid taste. I submitted a portion of the Royal Jelly's for analysis to Dr. Charles M. Weatherill of Philadelphia. A very interesting account of his examination may be found in the proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences for July 1852. He speaks of the substance as, quote, truly a bread-containing, albuminous compound, end quote. I hope in the course of the coming summer to obtain from this able analytical chemist an analysis of the food of the young drones and workers. A comparison of its elements with those of the Royal Jelly may throw some light on subjects as yet involved in obscurity. The effects produced upon the larvae by this peculiar food and method of treatment are very remarkable. For one, I have never considered it strange that such effects should be rejected as idle whims by nearly all except those who have either been eyewitnesses to them or have been well acquainted with the character and opportunities for accurate observation of those on whose testimony they have received them. They are not only in themselves most marvelously strange, but on the face of them so entirely opposed to all common analogies and so very improbable that many men, when asked to believe them, feel almost as though an insult were offered to their common sense. The most important of these effects I shall now proceed to enumerate. First, the peculiar mode in which the worm designed to be reared as a queen is treated causes it to arrive at maturity about one third earlier than if it had been bred a worker. And yet it is to be much more fully developed and according to ordinary analogy ought to have had a slower growth. Second, its organs of reproduction are completely developed so that it is capable of fulfilling the office of a mother. Third, its size, shape, and color are all greatly changed, see page 32. Its lower jaws are shorter, its head rounder, and its legs have neither brushes nor baskets. While its sting is more curved and one third longer than that of a worker. Fourth, its instincts are entirely changed. Reared as a worker, it would have been ready to thrust out its sting upon the least provocation, whereas now it may be pulled limb from limb without attempting to sting. As a worker, it would have treated a queen with the greatest consideration, whereas now, if placed under a glass with another queen, it rushes forthwith to mortal combat with its rival. As a worker, it would frequently have left the hive, either for labor or exercise. As a queen, after impregnation it never leaves the hive except to accompany a new swarm. Fifth, the term of its life is remarkably lengthened. As a worker, it would have lived not more than six or seven months at farthest. As a queen, it may live seven or eight times as long. All these wonders rest on the impregnable basis of complete demonstration, and instead of being witnessed by only a select few, may now, by the use of my hive, be familiar sights to any beekeeper who prefers to acquaint himself with facts rather than to cavill and sneer at the labors of others. When provision has been made in the manner described for a new race of queens, the old mother always departs with the first swarm before her successors have arrived at maturity. Artificial Rearing of Queens The distress of the bees when they lose their queen has already been described. If they have the means of supplying her loss, they soon calm down and commence forthwith the necessary steps for rearing another. The process of rearing queens artificially to meet some special emergency is even more wonderful than the natural one, which has already been described. Its success depends on the bees having worker eggs or worms not more than three days old. If older, the larva has been too far developed as a worker to admit of any change. The bees nibble away the partitions of two cells adjoining a third so as to make one large cell out of the three. They destroy the eggs or worms in two of these cells while they place before the occupants of the third the usual food of the young queens and build out its cell so as to give it ample space for development. They do not confine themselves to the attempt to rear a single queen, but to guard against failure start a considerable number, although the work on all except a few is usually soon discontinued. In 12 or 14 days, they are in possession of a new queen, precisely similar to one reared in the natural way, while the eggs which were laid at the same time in the adjoining cells and which have been developed in the usual way are nearly a week longer in coming to maturity. I will give in this connection a description of an interesting experiment. A large hive which stood at a distance from any other colony was removed in the morning of a very pleasant day to a new place, and another hive containing only empty comb was put upon its stand. Thousands of workers which were out in the fields or which left the old hive after its removal returned to the familiar spot. It was affecting to witness their grief and despair. They flew in restless circles about the place which once contained their happy home, entered and left the new hive continually expressing, in various ways, their lamentations over their cruel bereavement. Towards evening they ceased to take wing and roamed in restless platoons and in and out of the hive and over its surface acting all the time as though in search of some lost treasure. I now gave them a piece of brood comb containing worker eggs and worms taken from a second swarm which being just established with its young queen in a new hive could have no intention of rearing young queens that season. Therefore, it cannot be contended that this piece of comb contained what some are pleased to call royal eggs. What followed the introduction of this brood comb took place much quicker than it can be described. The bees which first touched it raised a peculiar note and in a moment the comb was covered with a dense mass. Their restless motions and mournful noises ceased and a cheerful hum at once attested to their delight. Despair gave place to hope as they recognized in this small piece of comb the means of deliverance. Suppose a large building filled with thousands of persons tearing their hair, beating their breasts and by piteous cries as well as frantic gestures giving vent to their despair. If now someone should enter this house of mourning and by a single word cause all these demonstrations of agony to give place to smiles and congratulations, the change could not have been more wonderful and instantaneous than that produced when the bees received the brood comb. The orientals called the honey bee Deborah, quote, she that speaketh, end quote. Would that this little insect might speak and in words more eloquent than those of man's device to the multitudes who allow themselves to reject the doctrines of revealed religion because as they assert they are on their face so utterly improbable that they labor under an a priori objection strong enough to be fatal to their credibility. Do not nearly all the steps in the development of a queen from a worker egg labor under precisely the same objection and have they not, for this very reason, always been regarded by a great number of beekeepers as unworthy of credence? If the favorite argument of infidels and errorists will not stand the test when applied to the wonders of the beehive, can it be regarded as entitled to any serious weight when employed in framing objections against religious truths and arrogantly taking to task the infinite Jehovah for what he has been pleased to do or to teach? Give me the same latitude claimed by such objectors, and I can easily prove that a man is under no obligation to receive any of the wonders in the economy of the beehive, although he is himself an intelligent eyewitness that they are all substantial verities. I shall quote in this connection from Huish, an English aparyon of whom I have already spoken, because his objections to the discoveries of Huber remind me so forcibly of both the spirit and principles of the great majority of those who object to the doctrines of revealed religion. Quote, if an individual with the view of acquiring some knowledge of the natural history of the bee, or of its management, consults the works of Bagster, Beevan, or any of the periodicals which casually treat upon the subject, will he not rise from the study of them with his mind surcharged with falsities and mystification? Will he not discover through the whole of them a servile acquiescence in the opinions and discoveries of one man, however at variance they may be with truth or probability? And if he enter upon the discussion with his mind free from prejudice, will he not experience that an outrage has been committed upon his reason in calling upon him to give assent to positions and principles which at best are merely assumed, but to which he is called upon dogmatically to subscribe his acquiescence as the indubitable results of experience, skill, and ability? The editors of the works above alluded to should boldly and indignantly have declared that from their own experience in the natural economy of the insect, they were able to pronounce the circumstances as related by Huber to be directly impossible and the whole of them based on fiction and imposition. Let the reader change only a few words in this extract for, the natural history of the bee or its management, let him write the subject of religion, for the works of Bagster, Beevan, and let him put, the works of Moses, Paul, etc., for their own experience in the natural economy of the insect, let him substitute their own experience in the nature of man, and for, circumstances as related by Huber, let him insert, as related by Luker John, and it will sound almost precisely like a passage from some infidel author. I resume the quotation from Hewish, if we examine the account which Huber gives of his invention, the royal jelly, the existence and efficiency of which are fully acquiesced in by the aforesaid editors, to what other conclusions are we necessarily driven, than that they are the dupes of a visionary enthusiast, whose greatest merit consists in his inventive powers. No matter how destitute those powers may be of all affinity with truth or probability, before, however, these editors bestowed their unqualified assent on the existence of this royal jelly, did they stop to put themselves to the following questions, by what kind of bee is it made? Whence is it procured? Is it a natural or elaborated substance? If natural, from what source is it derived? If elaborated, in what stomach of the bee is it to be found? How is it administered? What are its constituent principles? Is its existence optional or definite? Whence does it derive its miraculous power of converting a common egg into a royal one? Will any of the aforesaid editors publicly answer these questions, and ought they not to have been able to answer them, before they so unequivocally expressed their belief in its existence, its powers and administration? How purile does all this sound to one who has seen and tasted the royal jelly? And permit me to add, how equally unmeaning do the objections of infidel seem, to those who have an experimental acquaintance with the divine hopes and consolations of the Gospel of Christ. End of Chapter 3 Chapter 4 of Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey Bee This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Adam Marcicic, August 2009, Alexandria, Virginia. Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey Bee by L. L. Langstroth Chapter 4 Comb Wax is a natural secretion of the bees. It may be called their oil or fat. If they are gorged with honey, or any liquid sweet, and remain quietly clustered together, it is formed in small wax pouches on their abdomen, and comes out in the shape of very delicate scales. Soon after a swarm is hived, the bottom board will be covered with these scales. Quote, Thus filtered through yon flutters folded mail, clings the cooled wax, and hardens to a scale, swift at the well-known call, the ready train, for not a buzz boon nature breathes in vain, spring to each falling flake, and bear along their glossy burdens to the builder throng. These with sharp sickle, or with sharper tooth, pair each excretions, and each angle smooth, till now in finished pride two radiant rows of snow-white cells, one mutual-based disclose. Six shining panels gird each polished round, the doors fine rim, with wax and fillet bound, while walls so thin, with sister walls combined, weak in themselves, assured dependence find. End quote, Evans. Huber was the first to demonstrate that wax is a natural secretion of the bee, when fed on honey or any saccharine substance. Most Iparians before his time suppose that it was made from pollen, or bee-bread, either in a crude or digested state. He confined a new swarm of bees in a hive, placed in a dark and cool room, and, on examining them, at the end of five days, found several beautiful white combs in their tenement. These were taken from them, and they were again confined and supplied with honey and water, and a second time, new combs were constructed. Five times in succession, their combs were removed, and were in each instance replaced, the bees being all the time prevented from ranging the fields, to supply themselves with bee-bread. By subsequent experiments, he proved that sugar answered the same end with honey. He then confined a swarm, giving them no honey, but an abundance of fruit and pollen. They subjected the bees to the honey, giving them no honey, and subsisted on the fruit, but refused to touch the pollen, and no combs were constructed, nor any wax scales formed in their pouches. These experiments are conclusive and are interesting, not merely as proving that wax is secreted from honey or saccharine substances, but because they show in what a thorough manner the experiments of Huber were conducted. Confident assertions are easily made, requiring only a little breath or a drop of ink, and the men who deal most in them have often a profound contempt for observation and experiment. To establish even a simple truth on the solid foundation of demonstrated facts often requires the most patient and protracted toil. A high temperature is necessary for comb-building in order that the wax may be soft enough to get into shape. The very process of its secretion helps to furnish the amount of heat which is required to work it. This is a very interesting fact, which seems never before to have been noticed. Honey or sugar is found to contain by weight about eight pounds of oxygen to one of carbon and hydrogen. When changed into wax, these proportions are entirely reversed. The wax contains only one pound of oxygen to more than 16 pounds of hydrogen and carbon. Now as oxygen is the grand supporter of animal heat, the consumption of so large a quantity of it aids in producing the extraordinary heat which always accompanies comb-building and which is necessary to keep the wax in the soft and plastic state requisite to enable the bees in as such exquisitely delicate and beautiful shapes who can fail to admire the wisdom of the creator in this beautiful instance of adaptation. The most careful experiments have clearly established the fact that at least 20 pounds of honey are consumed in making a single pound of wax. If any think that this is incredible, let them bear in mind the amount of animal oil secreted from honey and let them consider how many pounds of corn or hay they must feed to their stock in order to have them gain a single pound of fat. Many aparyons are entirely ignorant of the great value of empty comb. Suppose the honey to be worth only 15 cents per pound and the comb when rendered into wax to be worth 30 cents per pound, loses nearly $3 by the operation and this without estimating the time which the bees have consumed in building the comb. Unfortunately, in the ordinary hives but little use can be made of empty comb unless it is new and can be put into the surplus honey boxes but by the use of my movable frames every piece of good worker comb may be used to the best advantage as it can be given to the bees to aid them in their labors. It has been found very difficult to preserve comb from the bee moth when it is taken from the bees. If it contains only a few eggs of this destroyer these, in due time will produce a progeny sufficient to devour it. The comb, if it is attached to my frames may be suspended in a box or empty hive and thoroughly smoked with sulfur. This will kill any worms which it may contain. When the weather is warm enough to hatch the eggs of the moth this process must be repeated a few times at intervals of about a week so as to ensure the destruction of the worms as they hatch for the sulfur does not seem always to destroy the vitality of the eggs. The combs may now be kept in a tight box or hive with perfect safety. Combs containing bee bread are of great value and if given to young colonies which in spring are frequently destitute of this article they will material assist them in early breeding. Honey may be taken from my hives in the frames and the covers of the cells and the empty combs return to be filled again. A strong stock of bees in the height of the honey harvest will fill empty combs with wonderful rapidity. I lay it down as one of my first principles in bee culture that no good comb should ever be melted. It should all be carefully preserved and given to the bees. If it is new it may be easily attached to the frames putting the honey edge into melted wax pressing it gently until it stiffens and then allowing it to cool. If the comb is old or the pieces large and full of bee bread it will be best to dip them into melted rosin which besides costing much less than wax will secure a much firmer adhesion. When comb is put into tumblers or other small vessels if it is simply crowded in so as to be held in place by being supported against the sides it would seem as though they were disgusted with such unworkman like proceedings and they cannot rest until they have taken it into hand and endeavored to make a job of it. If the beekeeper in using his choicest honey will be satisfied to dispense with looks and will carefully drain it he may use all such comb again to great advantage not only saving its intrinsic value but greatly encouraging his bees to occupy and fill all receptacles in which a portion of it is put. Bees seem to fancy a good start in life about as well as their more intelligent owners. To this use all suitable drone comb should be put C remarks on drones Ingenious efforts have been made of late years to construct artificial honey combs of porcelain to be used for feeding bees no one to my knowledge has ever attempted to imitate the delicate mechanism of the bee so closely as to construct artificial combs for the ordinary uses of the hive. For a long time I have entertained the idea as very desirable and yet as barely possible I am at present engaged in a course of experiments on this subject the results of which in due time I shall communicate to the public while writing this treatise it has occurred to me that bees might be induced to use old wax for the construction that they shaved off with glass and if given to the bees under favorable circumstances it seems to me very probable that they would use them just as they do the scales which are formed in their wax pouches let strong colonies be deprived of some of their combs and after the honey harvest is over and supplied abundantly with these pairings of wax whether nature abhors a vacuum or not bees certainly do when it occurs among the combs of the main hive they will not use the honey stored up for winter use to replace the combs taken from them they can gather none from the flowers and I have strong hopes that necessity will with bees as well as men prove the mother of invention and lead them to use the wax as readily as they do the substitutes offered them for pollen see chapter on pollen if this conjecture should be verified by actual results it would exert a most powerful influence in the cheap and rapid multiplication of colonies and would enable the bees to store up most prodigious quantities of honey a pound of bees wax would store up 20 pounds of honey and the gain to the beekeeper would be the difference in price between the pound of wax and the 20 pounds of honey which the bees have consumed in making the same amount of comb strong stocks might thus during the dull season when no honey can be procured be most profitably employed in building spare comb to be used in strengthening feeble stocks are a great variety of purposes give me the means of cheaply obtaining large amounts of comb and I have almost found the philosopher's stone in beekeeping the building of comb is carried on with the greatest activity in the night while the honey is gathered by day thus no time is lost if the weather is too forbidding to allow the bees to go abroad the combs are very rapidly constructed as the labor is carried on both by day and by night on the return of a fair day the bees gather unusual quantities of honey as they have plenty of room for its storage thus it often happens that by their wise economy of time they actually lose nothing even if confined for several days to their hive quote it is off the little busy bee improve each shining hour end quote the poet might with equal truth have described her as improving the gloomy days and the dark nights in her useful labors it is an interesting fact which I do not remember ever to have seen particularly noticed by any writer that honey gathering and comb building was done simultaneously so that when one stops the other ceases also I have repeatedly observed that as soon as the honey harvest fails the bees intermit their labors in building new comb even when large portions of their hive are unfilled they might enlarge their combs by using some of their stores but then they would incur the risk of perishing in the winter by starvation when honey no longer abounds in the fields it is wisely ordered that they should not consume their hoarded treasures in expectation of further supplies which may never come I do not believe that any other safe rule could have been given them and if honey gathering was our business with all our boasted reason we should be obliged to adopt the very same course wax is one of the best non-conductors of heat so that when it is warmed by the animal heat of the bees it can more easily be worked than if it parted with its heat too readily by this property the combs serve also to keep the bees warm and there is not so much risk of the honey candying in the cells or the combs cracking with frost if wax was a good conductor of heat it would often be icy cold moisture would condense and freeze upon them and they would fail to answer the ends for which they are intended the size of the cells in which workers are reared never varies the same may substantially be said of the drone cells which are very considerably larger the cells in which honey is stored often very exceedingly in depth while in diameter they are of all sizes from that of the worker cells to that of the drones the cells of the bees are found perfectly to answer all the most refined conditions of a very intricate mathematical problem let it be required to find what shape a given quantity of matter must take in order to have the greatest capacity and the greatest strength requiring at the same time the least space and the least labor in its construction the problem has been solved by the most refined process of the higher mathematics and the result is the hexagonal or six sided cell of the honey bee with its three four sided figures at the base the shape of these figures cannot be altered ever so little except for the worse and more desirable qualities already described they answer as nurseries for the rearing of the young and his small airtight vessels in which the honey is preserved from souring or candying every prudent housewife who puts up her preserves in tumblers or small glass jars and carefully pastes them over to keep out the air will understand the value of such an arrangement there are only three possible figures of the cells says Dr. Reed which can make them all equal and similar without any useless spaces between them these are the equilateral triangle the square and the regular hexagon it is well known to mathematicians that there is not a fourth way possible in which a plane may be cut into little spaces that shall be equal similar and regular without leaving any interstices end quote an equilateral triangle would have made an uncomfortable tenement for an insect with a round body and a square would not have been much better at first sight a circle would seem to be the best shape for the development of the larvae but such a figure would have caused a needless sacrifice of space materials and string while the honey which now adheres so admirably to the many angles or corners of the six-sided cell would have been much more liable to run out I will venture to assign a new reason for the hexagonal form the body of the immature insect as it undergoes its changes is charged with a superabundance of moisture which passes off the bees build over its cell a hexagon while it approaches so nearly the shape of a circle as not to incommode the young bee furnishes in its six corners the necessary vacancies for its more thorough ventilation so invariably uniform in size as well as perfect in other respects are the cells in which the workers are bred that some mathematicians have proposed their adoption as the best unit for measures of capacity to serve for universal use can we believe that these little insects unite so many requisites in the construction of their cells either by chance or because they are profoundly versed in the most intricate mathematics are we not compelled to acknowledge that the mathematics must be referred to the creator and not to his puny creature to an intelligent candid mind a piece of honeycomb is a complete demonstration that there is a great first cause for on no other supposition can we account for so complicated a shape and yet the only one which can possibly unite so many desirable requisites quote on books deep pouring ye pale sons of toil who waste in studious trance the midnight oil say can ye emulate with all your rules drawn or from Grecian or from Gothic schools this artless frame instinct her simple guide a heaven-taught insect baffles all your pride not all yawned marshaled orbs that ride so high claim more loud a present deity than the nice symmetry of these small cells where on each angle genuine science dwells end quote Evans end of chapter 4 chapter 5 of Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey Bee this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain if you have any information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Adam Marsatich August 2009 Alexandria, Virginia Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey Bee by L. L. Langstroth chapter 5 Propolis or Bee Glue this substance is obtained by the bees from the resinous buds it is usually of a bright golden color and is exceedingly sticky the different kinds of poplars furnish a rich supply the bees bring it on their thighs just as they do beebred and I have caught them as they were entering with the load and taken it from them it adheres so firmly that it is difficult to remove it quote Huber planted in spring some branches of the wild poplar before the leaves were developed and placed them in pots near his apiary the bees alighting on them separated the folds of the largest buds with their forceps extracted the varnish in threads and loaded with it first one thigh and then the other for they convey it like pollen transferring it by the first pair of legs to the second which it is lodged in the hollow of the third end quote the smell of the propolis is often precisely similar to that of the resin from the poplar and chemical analysis proves the identity of this two substances it is frequently gathered from the elder horse chestnut birch and willow and as some think from pines and other trees of the fur kind I have often known bees to enter the shops where varnishing was being carried on attracted evidently by the smell and bevan mentions the fact of their carrying off a composition of wax and turpentine from trees to which it had been applied Dr. Evans says that he has seen them collect the balsamic varnish which coats the young blossom buds of the hollyhock and has known them to rest at least ten minutes on the same bud molding the balsam with their forefeet and transferring it to the hindre legs as described by Hubert quote with Mary hum the willows copes they scale the furs dark pyramid or poplar pale scoop from the alders leaf its oozy flood or strip the chestnuts resin coated bud skim the light tear that nips Narcissus ray or round the hollyhock's whore fragrance play soon tempered to their will through Eve's low beam and linked in airy bands the viscous stream they waft their nut brown loads exulting home that form a fretwork for the future comb a chink where rushing winds may roar and seal the circling ramparts to the floor end quote evans a mixture of wax and propolis is used by the bees to strengthen the attachments of the combs to the top and sides of the hive and serves most admirably for this purpose as it is much more adhesive than wax alone if the combs as soon as they are built are not filled with honey or brood they are beautifully varnished with the most delicate coating of this material which adds exceedingly to their string but as this natural varnish impairs their delicate whiteness they ought not to be allowed to remain in the surplus honey receptacles accessible to the bees unless when they are actively engaged in storing them with honey the bees make a very liberal use of this substance to fill up all the crevices about their premises and as the natural summer heat of the hive keeps it soft the bee moth selects it as a proper place of deposit for her eggs for this reason the hive should be made of sound lumber entirely free from cracks and thoroughly painted on the inside as well as outside when glass is used there is no risk that the bee moth will find a place in which she can insert her ovipositor and lay her eggs the corners of the hive which the bees always fill with propolis should have a melted mixture of three parts rosin and one part beeswax run into them which remains hard during the hottest weather and bids defiance to the moth the inside of the hive may be coated with the same mixture put on hot with a brush the bees find it difficult to gather the propolis unequally so to remove it from their thighs and to work so sticky a material for this reason it is doubly important to save them all unnecessary labor in amassing it to men time is money to bees it is honey the arrangements of the hive should be such as to economize it to the very utmost propolis is sometimes put to a very curious use by the bees quote a snail having crept into one of m ream hours hives early in the morning after crawling about for some time adhered by means of its own slime to one of the glass panes the bees having discovered the snail surrounded it and formed a border of propolis run the verge of its shell and fastened it so securely to the glass that it became immovable end quote quote forever closed the impenetrable door it not avails that in his torpid veins year after year life's loitering spark remains end quote heavens quote Maraldi another eminent a perian has related a somewhat similar instance he states that a snail without a shell or slug as it is called has entered one of his hives and that the bees as soon as they observed it stung it to the death after which being unable to dislodge it they covered it all over with an impervious coat of propolis end quote quote for soon in fearless ire their wonder lost spring fiercely from the comb the indignant host lay the pierced monster breathless on the ground and clap enjoy their victor pinions round while all in vain concurrent numbers strive to heave the slimegirt giant from the hive alone by force instinctive suede but blessed with reason soul directing aid alike in man or bee they haste to pour thick hardening as it falls the flaky shower embalmed in shroud of glue the mummy lies no worms invade no foul miasmas rise end quote heavens quote in these cases who can withhold his admiration of the ingenuity and judgment of the bees in the first case a troublesome creature gained admission to the hive which from its unwieldiness they could not remove and which from the impenetrability of its shell they could not destroy here then their only recourse was to deprive it of and to obviate future faction both which objects they accomplished most skillfully and securely and as is usual with these sagacious creatures at the least possible expense of labor and materials they applied their cement where alone it was required round the verge of the shell in the latter case to obviate the evil of decay by the total exclusion of air they were obliged to be more lavish in the use of their embalming material and to case over the slime-girt giant so as to guard themselves from his noisome smell what means more effectual could human wisdom have devised under similar circumstances end quote quote if in the insect seasons twilight ray upon the darkling mind a doubtful day plain is the steady light her instincts yield to point the road over life's unvaried field if few these instincts to the destined goal with sureer course their straightened currents roll end quote Evans end of chapter 5 chapter 6 of Langstroth on the Hive by L. L. Langstroth this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Adam Marsatich August 2009 Alexandria, Virginia Chapter 6 pollen or bee bread this substance is gathered by the bees from the flowers and is used for the nourishment of their young repeated experiments have proved that no brood can be raised in a hive unless the bees are supplied with it it contains none of the elements of wax but is rich in what chemists called nitrogenous substances which are not contained in honey and which furnish ample nourishment for the development of the growing bee Dr. Hunter dissected some immature bees and some comics to contain farina but not a particle of honey we are indebted to Huber for the discovery of the use made by the bees of pollen that it did not serve as food for the mature bees was evident from the fact that large supplies are often found in hives whose inmates have starved to death it was this fact which led the old observers to conclude after Huber had demonstrated that wax is secreted from an entirely different substance he was soon led to conjecture that the bee bread must be used for the nourishment of the embryo bees by rigid experiments he proved the truth of this supposition bees were confined to their hive without any pollen after being supplied with honey eggs and larvae in a short time the young all perished was given to them with an ample allowance of pollen and the development of the larvae then proceeded in the natural way when a colony is actively engaged in carrying in this article it may be taken for granted that they have a fertile queen and are busy in breeding on the contrary if any colony is not gathering pollen where others are the queen is either dead or diseased or once be examined in the backward spring of 1852 I had an excellent opportunity of testing the value of this substance in one of my hives was an artificial swarm of the previous year the hive was well protected being double and the situation was warm I opened it on the 5th of February and although the weather until within a week of that time had been unusually cold I found many of the cells filled with brood on the 23rd the combs were again examined and found to contain neither eggs, brood, nor bee bread the bees were then supplied with bee bread taken from another hive the next day this was found to have been used by them and a large number of eggs had been deposited in the cells when this supply was exhausted egg laying ceased and then renewed when more was furnished them during all the time of these experiments the weather was unpromising and as the bees were unable to go out for water they were supplied at home with this important article Searsone is of opinion that the bees are able to furnish food for the young without the presence of pollen in the hive although he admits that he had a great expense of vital energy just as the strength of an animal nursing its young is rapidly reduced when for want of proper food the very substance of its own body as it were is converted into milk my experiments do not corroborate this theory but tend to confirm the views of Huber and to show the absolute necessity of pollen to the development of brood the same able contributor to science thinks that pollen is used by the bees when they are engaged in comb building and that unless they are well supplied with it they cannot rapidly secrete wax without very severely taxing their strength but as all the elements of wax are found in honey and none of them in pollen this opinion does not seem to me to be entitled to much weight that bees cannot live upon pollen without any honey is proved by the fact that large stores of it are often found in hives whose occupants have died of starvation that they can live without it is equally well known but that the full grown bees make some use of it in connection with honey for their own nourishment I believe to be highly probable the bees prefer to gather fresh bee bread in old stores in the cells hence the great importance of being able to make the surplus of old colonies supply the deficiency of young ones see number 28 in the chapter on the advantages which ought to be found in an improved hive if both honey and pollen can be obtained from the same flower then a load of each will be secured by the industrious insect of this anyone may convince himself to dissect a few pollen gatherers at the time when honey is plenty he will generally find their honey bags full the mode of gathering is very interesting the body of the bee appears to the naked eye to be covered with fine hairs to these when the bee elites on a flower the farina adheres with her legs she brushes it off from her body and packs it in two hollows baskets one on each of her thighs these baskets are surrounded by stouter hairs which hold the load in its place when the bee returns with pollen she often makes a singular dancing or vibratory motion which attracts the attention of the other bees who had once nibble away from her thighs what they want for immediate use the rest she deposits in a cell for future need to be sealed over with wax it has been observed that a bee in gathering pollen always confines herself to the same kind of flower on which she begins even when that is not so abundant as some others thus if you examine a ball of this substance taken from her thigh it is found to be of one uniform color throughout the load of one will be yellow another red that of the plant from which it was obtained it is probable that the pollen of different kinds of flowers would not pack so well together it is certain that if they flew from one species to another there would be a much greater mixture of different varieties than there now is for they carry on their bodies the pollen or fertilizing principle and thus aid most powerfully in the impregnation of plants this is one reason why it is so difficult to preserve pure the different varieties of the same vegetables whose flowers are sought by the bee he must be blind indeed who will not see at every step in the natural history of this insect the plainest proofs of the wisdom of its creator I cannot resist the impression that the honey bee was made for the special service at first the importance of its products when honey was the only natural sweet served most powerfully to attract his attention to its curious habits and now since the cultivation of the sugarcane has diminished the relative value of its luscious sweets the superior knowledge which has been obtained of its instincts is awakening and increasing enthusiasm in its cultivation in the highest georgics which is entirely devoted to bees speaks of them as having received a direct emanation from the divine intelligence and many modern aparyons are almost disposed to rank the bee for sagacity as next in the scale of creation to man the importance of pollens to the nourishment of the brood has long been known and of late successful attempts have been made the bees in Sierra Zones apiary were observed by him early in the spring before the time for procuring pollen to bring rye meal to their hives from a neighboring mill it is now a common practice in the continent of Europe where beekeeping is extensively carried on to supply the bees in early spring with this article shallow troughs are set in front of the apiaries which are filled with deep with finely ground dry unbolted rye meal thousands of bees resort eagerly to them when the weather is favorable roll themselves in the meal and return heavily laden to their hives in fine mild weather they labor at this work with astonishing industry and seem decidedly to prefer the meal to the old pollen stored in their combs by this means the bees are induced to commence breeding early and rapidly recruit their numbers the feeding is continued till the bees cease to carry away the meal that is until the natural supplies furnish them with a preferable article the average consumption of each colony is about two pounds of meal at the last annual aparian convention in Germany a cultivator recommended wheat flour as an excellent substitute for pollen he says that in February 1852 he used it with the best results the bees forsook the honey which had been set out for them and engaged actively in carrying in large quantities of the wheat flour which was placed about 20 paces in front of the hives the construction of my hives permits the flour to be placed at once where the bees can take it without being compelled to waste their time in going out for it or to suffer for the want of it when the weather confines them at home the discovery of this substitute removes a serious obstacle to the successful culture of bees in many districts there is a great abundance of honey for a few weeks in the season and almost any number of colonies which are strong when the honey harvest commences will in a good season lay up sufficient stores for themselves and a large surplus for their owners in many of these districts however the supply of pollen is often so insufficient that the new colonies of the previous year are found destitute of this article in the spring and unless the season is early and the weather unusually favorable the production of brood is most seriously interfered with thus the colony becomes strong too late to avail itself to the best advantage of the super abundant harvest of honey see remarks on the importance of having strong stocks early in the spring end of chapter 6