. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. Brood-Comb—with Queen-Cell. glands previously referred to, worked up by means of the tongue and jaws, very much like a mason works mortar, until they become soft and pliable. The bee is now ready to commence comb building, which it does by depos- iting little bits of wax on the frame where the comb is to be made. Anoth- er follows its example, and so the work goes on until " In the darkness and be- tween the bees, " to use the language of another, " grows downwards that wonderful combination of lightness and strength, grace and utility,
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. Brood-Comb—with Queen-Cell. glands previously referred to, worked up by means of the tongue and jaws, very much like a mason works mortar, until they become soft and pliable. The bee is now ready to commence comb building, which it does by depos- iting little bits of wax on the frame where the comb is to be made. Anoth- er follows its example, and so the work goes on until " In the darkness and be- tween the bees, " to use the language of another, " grows downwards that wonderful combination of lightness and strength, grace and utility, which has so long provoked the wonder and awakened the speculation of the philos- opher, the naturalist, and the mathe- ; A further description of this comb- building would be interesting had I the time. Suffice it to say that when Ovaries of the Laying- Worker. large number of cells. The combs are now ready for the queen to lay eggs in them, or tor the workers to use them for storing. Relation to Flowers and Frnit. There has been more or less prejudice against bees, by fruit-growers who are ignorant of a bee's organism and hab- its. You frequently hear people talk about bees eating up their peaches, grapes and other fruit, in a way that would lead one who did not know bet- ter, to think the bees had jaws, teeth and tusks like a tiger. Now, the truth of the matter is, a bee cannot eat up anything in that way. It has no teeth to do it with, and its jaw is so con- structed that it cannot break even the skin of a sound grape. It can only suck or lick up the juice after the grape has burst from over-ripeness, or dry weather, or has been punctured by wasps or other insects. Bees are not only not a detriment to fruits and flow- ers, but 1 propose to explain now how they are a great benefit, and that we owe it to them that we have many of our fruits and flowers at all. Sir John Lubbock well says: "Most botanists are now agreed that insects, and espe-. Please note
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
