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EXTRACTS FROM MY OWN NOTE-BOOK.

Why do the Drones stay in the Hive all the morning? Most of the Bees are then out gathering honey, so the Drones have to stay at home to keep up the heat of the Hive by their great fat bodies, just as a gadding wife leaves her husband to look after the children, while she is out taking her pleasure. I do not believe the Drones feed the young grubs, as some have said, for they have no proboscis at all to put into the deep cell; and the young grub is curled up in the bottom of it. Indeed it is so short that they cannot feed themselves. You may often see the Workers putting their proboscis into the Drones' mouths, and giving them honey. Their jaws also are quite small and weak. I have said that very few Drones go off with the new swarm; they are not needed there, as the old Queen Bee leads out the colony, and is ready to lay eggs-in fact, does lay them the moment the combs are built.

I will now give you one or two scraps out of the Note-Book* I keep about Bees, that you may see how I jot down rough notes about them; I would advise you all to do the same.

"June, 1837.-I saw the Bees working at the bean blossom. The ants were sharing the honey

* For further extracts from the Note-Book, see Appendix.

THE BEE WORKING AT THE BEAN BLOSSOM.

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with them through the holes which were pierced at the bottom of the upper side of the corolla, or white part of the flower. There were mostly two holes, one at each place, under which you will find honey if you pick the flower carefully to pieces. These holes, no bigger than that made by a pin, become black in a short time. I at first thought that the ants made the holes, and that the Bees profited by their work. I watched the bean plants narrowly for hours; at last I saw a Bee come to a fresh flower, and pierce it with the horny case of his proboscis, and then suck away. You may fancy that I was not a little glad at seeing this.

"A large swarm was put into Hüber's Leaf-Hives, May 28, 1836. A piece of comb insecurely fastened, or broken off by some jolt in moving, fell on the floor. I left it in the box, and it was used over again by the Bees; the cement by which the scales of wax are joined, not having set to such a degree as to prevent their using the old comb. They never can work old comb over again when the scales are hardened together.

66

"May 30, 1836.-I saw the bottom board completely strewn with the small glittering scales of wax. These may be seen even in a common straw Hive, as they work out at the door by the motions of the Bees, and the flapping of their wings. They are most plentiful towards the morning, which

298 THEY WILL GO DOWN TO THE SEA TO DRINK.

seems to show, that the wax falls from the waxpockets of the Bees in the night, when the real work of building the combs goes on much less, if it is not stopped altogether. I saw the Bees pick up these scales.

"One of the Workers coming in laden, dropped one of her balls of Bee-bread, and yet flew perfectly well, which shows they are able to balance themselves even with half a load."

In the Isle of Wight the people have a notion that every Bee goes down to the sea to drink once a-day. Water is needful for them in the breeding time, and they will drink water with salt in it, and like it better than the freshest brook that runs. It is very curious to see how eagerly they will flock by thousands to the drinking-troughs in April, May, and part of June; and then their thirst seems to be quenched all of a sudden, for not a Bee will be seen at the drinking-trough. The reason seems to be, that they do not want so much water after the main part of the young brood is hatched.

I am often asked which way a Bee-hive should face, east, south, or west? For the most part, southeast is the best aspect. But the great heat of the sun should be kept from the Bees in summer by some sort of shade. The following fact, which

ADVANTAGES OF EARLY RISING.

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I have heard from a Bee-master in Germany, will serve to show that in some places one aspect is best, and in some another. In most German villages the number of Hives which each cottager is allowed to keep is settled by the law of the place. This is done that the whole country may not be overstocked, but that there may be an equal distribution of Hives in all good Bee districts. If a man has more swarms than he is allowed to keep in his own garden, he sends what he has to spare to some friend, where the lawful number is not full. By this means less honey is wasted than in England, and no one place overstocked and the Bees starved in middling years. An old man, who had long kept many Hives, found that he did not get so much honey from his Bees as in years past, before so many people round about him took to Bees. He did not despair, but set his wits to work, and so hit on this plan. He shifted all his Hives, which had before stood nearly south, round to due east. Now what was the use of this? The sun came on his Hives an hour or two sooner by this move, and so his Bees were out, and had secured a large share of the morning honey, before his neighbours' Bees were stirring. The Bee is a bird, and the proverb says―

Early Birds pick up Worms.

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A MAHOMMEDAN FABLE.

Men-Bees would do well to remember this.

Always have your bed-room to the east, if you have a choice.

A Mahommedan will never tread on a piece of paper, but, wherever he sees one, stoops to pick it up. He fears that perchance the name of God, or some verse of the Koran (his sacred book) may be written upon it, and this he holds would be defiled by the sole of his foot. He thinks that at the day of judgment, all men, who shall then be saved, will have to pass along a red-hot iron bridge, sharp as a knife edge, and be thrown over the burning fiery gulf from this world to paradise. All the pieces of paper which they have, during their lives, saved from being trodden upon, will then fly and place themselves under their bare feet, as they pass along the burning bridge. Now I am, I trust, a true Christian, and so, of course, do not believe in this Mahommedan fable. It is, however, a very pretty story, and teaches a lesson which we should do well to learn

Reberence for holy things.

I, however, have long been in the habit of looking to see what every piece of printed paper contains before I tear it up, and some very odd scraps of knowledge I have thus picked up. Some bird skins, which had been sent from America, were