Of all the insect associations there are none that have more excited the admiration of men of every age or that have been more universally interesting than the colonies of the common honey-bee.

The ancients held many absurd views concerning the generation and propagation of bees, believing that they arose from decaying animals, from the flowers of certain plants, and other views equally ridiculous from our present point of view.

Where Does Honey Come From?

Honey is a sticky fluid collected from flowers by several kinds of insects, particularly the honey bee; and the common honey bee from the earliest period has been kept by people in hives for the advantage and enjoyment which its honey and wax gives. It is found wild in North America in great numbers, storing its honey in hollow trees and other suitable locations, but not native to this country, having been introduced in North America by European colonists.

The story of the honey bee is one of the most interesting of all stories of the living things found on the earth. The busy bee is the ideal example of hard and persistent work and has for a long time been the subject of interesting study for young and old. The bee is one of the busiest of all of the world’s workers, and it is from the honey bee that we get our expression “as busy as a bee”; such other expressions as “to have a bee in one’s bonnet”; also such others as “quilting bees” and “husking bees” are founded on the known activities of the honey bee. The first expression means “to be flighty or full of whims or uneasy motions” which comes from the restless habits of bees, and “quilting bee” or “husking bee” originated from the knowledge that bees work together for the queen. In a quilting bee or husking bee a number of people get together and work together for a time for the benefit of one individual.

Honey Is Produced by Bees which Live in Colonies.

A colony of bees consists of one female, capable of laying eggs, called the queen; some thousands of undeveloped females that normally never lay eggs, the workers; and, at certain seasons of the year, many males, the drones, whose only duty is to mate with the young queens. These different kinds of individuals can readily be recognized by the difference in size of various parts of the body, so that even the novice at bee-keeping can soon recognize each with ease. This colony makes its home in nature in a hollow tree or cave; but it thrives perhaps even better in the hives provided for it by man. In a modern hive, sheets of comb are placed in wooden frames which are hung in the hive-box in such a way that they can be removed at the pleasure of the bee-keeper. A sheet of comb is made up of small cells in which honey is stored by the bees, and in which eggs are laid, and young bees develop.

How Does a Bee Make Honey from Flower Nectar?

In the spring of the year the colony consists of a queen and workers, there being no drones present at this time. During the winter the bees remain quiet, and the queen lays no eggs, so that there are no developing bees in the hive. The supply of honey is also low, for they have eaten honey all winter, and none has been collected and placed in the cells. As soon as the days are warm enough the bees begin to fly from the hive in search of the earliest spring flowers. From these flowers they collect the nectar, which is transformed into honey, and pollen, which they carry to the hive on the pollen-baskets on the third pair of legs.

The nectar is taken by the bee into its mouth, and then passes to an enlargement of the alimentary canal known as the honey-stomach, where it is acted upon by certain juices secreted by the bee. The true stomach lies just behind the honey-stomach; and if the bee needs food for its own immediate use it passes on through the opening between the two stomachs. On its arrival in the hive the bee places its head in one of the cells of the comb and deposits there the nectar which it has carried in. By this time the nectar has been partly transformed into honey, and the process is completed by the bees by fanning the cells to evaporate the excess of moisture which still remains. When a cell has been filled with the thick honey the workers cover it with a thin sheet of wax unless it is to be eaten at once. The pollen is also deposited in cells, but is rarely mixed with honey. The little pellets which the bees carry in are packed tightly into cells until the cell is nearly full. If a cell of pollen be dug out of the comb, one can often see the layers made by the different pellets. This collecting of nectar and pollen continues throughout the summer whenever there are flowers in bloom, and ceases only with the death of the last flowers in the autumn.

What Does the Queen Bee Do?

Almost as soon as the honey and pollen begin to come in, the queen of the colony begins to lay eggs in the cells of the center combs. The title of queen has been given to the female bee which normally lays all the eggs of the colony, under the supposition that she governs the colony and directs its activities. This we now know to be an error, but the name still remains. Her one duty in life is that of egg-laying. She is most carefully watched over by the workers, and is constantly surrounded by a circle of attendants who feed her and touch her with their antennæ; but she in no way dictates what shall take place in the hive. The eggs are laid in the bottom of the hexagonal cells, being attached by one end to the center of the cell. The first eggs laid develop into workers, and are deposited in cells one-fifth of an inch across. As the colony increases in size by the hatching-out of these workers, and as the stores of honey and pollen increase, the queen begins to lay in larger cells measuring one-fourth of an inch, and from the eggs laid in these cells drones (or males) develop.

The eggs do not develop directly into adult bees, as might be inferred from what has just been said; but after three days there hatches from the egg a small white worm-like larva. For several days the larvæ are fed by the workers, and the amount of food consumed is truly remarkable. The larva grows rapidly until it fills the entire cell in which it lives. The workers then cover the cell with a cap of wax, and at the same time the larva inside spins a delicate cocoon under the cap.

What Are Drone Bees Good for?

The worker brood can at once be distinguished from the drone brood by the fact that the workers place a flat cap over worker brood and a high arched cap over drone brood; and this is often a great help to the bee-keeper in enabling him to determine at once what kind of brood any hive contains. Twenty-one days from the time the egg is laid the young worker-bee emerges from its cell, having gone through some wonderful transformations during the time it was sealed up, this stage being known as the pupa stage. For drones the time is twenty-four days.

About the time the drones begin to appear, the inmates of the hive begin to prepare for swarming, which, to any one watching the habits of bees, is one of the most interesting things which takes place in the colony. Several young worker larvæ are chosen as the material for queen-rearing, generally located near the margin of the comb. The workers now begin to feed these chosen larvæ an extra amount of food and at the same time the sides of the cells containing them are remodeled and enlarged by the destruction of surrounding cells. The queen (or royal) cell is nearly horizontal at the top, like the other cells of the comb, and projects beyond them; but then the workers construct another portion to the cell into which the queen larva moves. This is an acorn-shaped cell placed vertically on the comb, about as large as three ordinary cells. As the cell is being built, the queen larva continues to grow until the time comes for her to be sealed up and enter her pupa state. Although it takes the worker twenty-one days to complete its development, the queen passes through all the stages and reaches a considerably larger size in but sixteen days.

In the swarming season, at about the time the new queens are ready to leave their cells, the old queen leaves the hive and takes with her part of the workers, this being known as swarming.

How Do Bees Build the Honey Comb?

In the hands of a bee-keeper the departing swarm will be put into another hive provided he wishes to increase the number of his colonies; but in a state of nature the swarm will find an old hollow tree or some similar place in which to establish itself. The bees, before leaving their old hive, fill themselves with honey until the abdomen is greatly distended, and for this reason it is not necessary for them to collect nectar for a day or two, for they have other work to do. Some of the bees begin to clean out the new quarters and get it fit for occupancy; but most of them begin the construction of new combs. To do this they suspend themselves in curtains from the top of the hive, and remain motionless for some time. The wax used in building comb is secreted by the workers in eight small pockets on the lower side of the abdomen while they thus hang in curtains. Finally, after enough wax has been formed, they begin to build. The small flakes of wax are passed forward to the mouth, there mixed with a salivary secretion to make the wax pliable, and then are placed on the top of the hive by the first comb-builders. Other workers then come and place their small burdens of wax on those first deposited, and this continues until the combs are finished. There is more to comb-building than the mere sticking on of wax plates, however, and nothing in all bee instincts is more wonderful than the beautiful plan on which they build the comb. The cells are hexagonal in shape, so that each cell in the center of the comb is surrounded by six others. Nor is this the only remarkable thing in their architecture, for each comb is composed of a double row of cells, the base of each cell being formed of three parts, each one of which is likewise a part of a separate cell of the other side of the comb. By this method the bees obtain the greatest possible capacity for their cells, with the least expenditure of wax. The accuracy of the cells of the comb has in all ages been an object of admiration of naturalists and bee-keepers.

As soon as there are some cells constructed, and even before the cells are entirely completed, the queen begins to lay eggs, and the workers begin to collect the stores of honey and pollen. They also collect in considerable quantity a waxy substance from various trees, commonly called propolis, with which they seal the inside of the hive, closing up all openings except the one which serves as the entrance.

The cells which are used for the storage of honey generally slant upward slightly to help keep the honey from running out. Queen-cells are made only when a new queen is to be reared.

Can a Bee Sting?

It is true that bees cannot bite and kick like horses, nor can they hook like cattle; but most people, after having had an experience with bee-stings for the first time, are inclined to think they would rather be bitten, kicked, and hooked, all together, than risk a repetition of that keen and exquisite anguish which one feels as he receives the full contents of the poison-bag.

What Happens When a Bee Stings?

After the bee has penetrated the flesh on your hand, and worked the sting so deeply into the flesh as to be satisfied, it begins to find that it is a prisoner, and to consider means of escape. It usually gets smashed at about this stage of proceedings, unless it succeeds in tearing the sting—poison-bag and all—from the body; however, if allowed to do the work quietly it seldom does this, knowing that such a proceeding seriously maims it for life, if it does not kill it. After pulling at the sting to see that it will not come out, it seems to consider the matter a little, and then commences to walk around it, in a circle, just as if it were a screw it was going to turn out of a board. If you will be patient and let it alone, it will get it out by this very process, and fly off unharmed. I need not tell you that it takes some heroism to submit patiently to all this maneuvering. The temptation is almost ungovernable, while experiencing the intense pain, to say, while you give it a clip, “There, you little beggar, take that, and learn better manners in future.”

Well, how does every bee know that it can extricate its sting by walking around it? Some would say it is instinct. Well, I guess it is; but it seems to me, after all, that it “sort o’ remembers” how its ancestors have behaved in similar predicaments for ages and ages past.

Odor of the Bee-sting Poison.

After one bee has stung you, if you remain where you were stung, the smell of the poison, or something else, will be pretty sure to get more stings for you, unless you are very careful. It has been suggested that this is owing to the smell of the poison, and that the use of smoke will neutralize this scent. This probably is so.

What Should I Do If I Am Stung by a Bee?

The blade of a knife, if one is handy, may be slid under the poison-bag, and the sting lifted out, without pressing a particle more of the poison into the wound. When a knife-blade is not handy, push the sting out with the thumb or finger nail in much the same way. It is quite desirable that the sting should be taken out as quickly as possible, for if the barbs once get a hold in the flesh, the muscular contractions will rapidly work the sting deeper and deeper. Sometimes the sting separates, and a part of it (one of the splinters, so to speak) is left in the wound; it has been suggested that we should be very careful to remove every one of these tiny points; but after trying many times to see what the effect would be, I have concluded that they do but little harm, and that the main thing is, to remove the part containing the poison-bag before it has emptied itself completely into the wound.

Why Are Some Races White, and Others Black, Yellow and Brown?

What you eat determines your color, according to Bergfield, a German investigator. Not necessarily that you yourself could effect any change in color, but your ancestors for thousands of years have unconsciously been influenced by the food they have eaten and the drinks they have drunk.

For instance, the original men were black, says Bergfield. Their chief diet was of vegetables and fruits, he explains, and these same food contains manganates that are not unlike iron. Dark browns and blacks result from this combination. It is a scientific fact that negroes who drink milk and eat meat are never as dark as those who eat vegetables.

Again, Mongols are yellow because they have descended from races that were fruit-eating, and who, making their way into the deepest nooks and widest plains of Asia, developed into shepherds and lived largely on milk. Of course it is now known that milk contains a certain percentage of chlorine, and has a decidedly bleaching effect. In the case of Caucasians, they are said to have become white by adding salt to their foods, which common salt is a strong chloride, and powerful in bleaching the skin.