Inquisitive Jack.CHAPTERIX.Many curious things about bees.
Many curious things about bees.
Wehave already told so much about bees, that our young readers are perhaps weary of the subject; but it must be remembered that we are relating the story of Inquisitive Jack, and it is proper that we should give a full account of whatever interested him.
It happened in his case, as it has in many others, that the more he knew about this subject, the more interesting it became to him. When he first noticed the bees, crawling about the flowers, and fingering the little delicate leaves in the centre of the blossoms, he did not think much about them; but now that he had become acquainted with the wonders of the bee-hive, he was very curious to gain all the knowledge he could upon the subject. By his own inquiries, therefore, and the help of aunt Betsey, he learned the following additional particulars respecting these curious insects.
After the swarming season is over, a general massacre of the drones in the hive takes place. This usually occurs toward the latter part of July. The unfortunate victims evidently perceive their danger; for they are now seen darting in and out of the hive, and passing from one place to another, as if afraid of being seized. Like some poor man, who owes a debt he cannot pay, and is afraid of being caught by the sheriff, they wander from place to place, as if in a constant state of alarm.
When the working bees meet these drones, they fall upon them and plunge their stings into their bodies. The wounded drones immediately expand their wings and expire. Some of these poor creatures struggle hard for life, but they are all slain at last.
This destruction of the drones may remind us of the old Spartans of Greece, who sacrificed everything to the thrift and prosperity of the state. The bee-hive may be considered a little monarchy, in which the great object is to increase the number and wealth of the community.
The drones having provided for the due increase of the bees, can no farther contribute to the prosperity of the little nation. On the contrary, they will not work even so much as to obtain their own food; they still devour a portion of honey, and thus diminish the general stock which is laid up as a provision against the coming winter. Making everything give way, therefore, to the interest of the community at large, the drones are slain without mercy.
This practice of the bees has furnished a happy illustration to the poet, who thus urges upon mankind a life of industry:
“Nor think a life of toil severe,No life has blessings so sincere:Its meals so luscious, sleep so sweet,Such vigorous limbs, such health complete;No mind so active, brisk and gayAs his who toils the livelong day.A life of sloth drags hardly on;Suns set too late and rise too soon.Youth, manhood, age, all linger slowTo him who nothing has to do.The drone, a nuisance to the hive,Stays, but can scarce be said to live;And well the bees, those judges wise,Plague, chase and sting him till he dies.”
“Nor think a life of toil severe,No life has blessings so sincere:Its meals so luscious, sleep so sweet,Such vigorous limbs, such health complete;No mind so active, brisk and gayAs his who toils the livelong day.A life of sloth drags hardly on;Suns set too late and rise too soon.Youth, manhood, age, all linger slowTo him who nothing has to do.The drone, a nuisance to the hive,Stays, but can scarce be said to live;And well the bees, those judges wise,Plague, chase and sting him till he dies.”
“Nor think a life of toil severe,
No life has blessings so sincere:
Its meals so luscious, sleep so sweet,
Such vigorous limbs, such health complete;
No mind so active, brisk and gay
As his who toils the livelong day.
A life of sloth drags hardly on;
Suns set too late and rise too soon.
Youth, manhood, age, all linger slow
To him who nothing has to do.
The drone, a nuisance to the hive,
Stays, but can scarce be said to live;
And well the bees, those judges wise,
Plague, chase and sting him till he dies.”
The swarming of bees may be compared to the emigration of a great number of people from one country, and forming colonies in another. In the winter, at least three-fourths of the bees in the hive usually perish. But the amazing fruitfulness of the queen more than supplies this waste, and by midsummer,the hive is usually too full for them all to be comfortable.
It is in somewhat the same situation that Ireland is in at the present time—and as many of the natives of that island are coming in swarms to this country, so the bees pass off in crowds, and take up their abode elsewhere. Sometimes two or even three swarms will issue from one hive in a year.
The swarm is very careful to select a good fair day for their emigration. They usually take one of the young queens with them, and, if by any chance the swarm passes off without a queen, they always return to the hive. While swarming, bees are generally peaceable, and may be hived without difficulty.
A writer upon bees tells the following interesting story: “A little girl of my acquaintance was greatly afraid of bees, but was completely cured of her fears by the following incident. A swarm having come off, I observed the queen alight by herself at some distance from the hive; I immediately called my little friend that I might shew her the queen. She wished to see her more nearly; so, after having caused her to put on her gloves, I gave the queen into her hand.
“We were in an instant surrounded by the whole swarm. In this emergency, I encouraged the girl to be steady, bidding her remain silent and fear nothing. I then made her stretch out her right hand which held the queen, and covered her neck and shoulders with a very thin handkerchief. The swarm soon fixed upon her hand, and hung from it, as from the branch of a tree. The little girl was delighted above measure at this novel sight, and so entirely freed from all her fears that she bade me uncover her face. At length, I brought a hive, and shaking the swarm from the child’s hand, it was lodged in safety, without inflicting a single wound.”
Bees are subject to several diseases; among which vertigo is the most remarkable. This causes great lassitude or weakness of the hind legs, an irregular mode of flying, and often produces death. The enemies of bees are numerous, among which we may mention birds, poultry, mice, wax-moths, slugs, hornets, wasps, ants and spiders. Of all these, the most destructive are wasps; these often enter the hive, and as one wasp is a match for three bees, they devour great quantities of honey.
Another great enemy to bees is the king-bird, or tyrant fly-catcher. A gentleman once shot a king-bird, and in his crop he found no less than one hundred and seventy-one bees; on being taken out, and laid on a blanket in the sun, fifty-four of these returned to life.
Great attention has been paid to the rearing of bees, and it has been found advantageous to remove them from one place to another, so that they may obtain fresh pasturage. A gentleman in England had once a swarm which weighed but five pounds when he removed it to Dartmoor Heath; at the end of two months, it was increased in weight no less than twenty-four pounds!
Bees are supposed to have some means of communicating with each other, not very unlike language. Their two horns which come out from the head below the eyes, called antennæ, are supposed to answer the purpose of ears, and to convey sounds as well as to accomplish some other objects.
Bees, as well as ants, are often seen to meet and cross their antennæ, and they then proceed to act as if important information was thus imparted. When the queen of a hive is lost, the intelligence is spread with such rapidity that twenty thousand bees are informed of the fact in the space of a few hours,—a circumstance to be explained only by the supposition of something like language, in use among them.
The lives of most insects are extremely brief. Some live but a few hours; others for a few days, or weeks, or months. By far the larger portion begin and end their existence in the course of the warm season. The drones or male bees are cut off by violence, as we have seen, after having lived three or four months. The average life of the working bee is about six months, though they sometimes live to the age of ten or twelve months.
The queen is a more favored being. She is not only the mother of thousands, but she survives, while many generations pass away. Her life is often extended to the period of four or five years.