Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 266, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 November 1911 — BEED AND BEE KEEPING [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BEED AND BEE KEEPING

A very curious and Interesting invesmale. It has been found that in most these are very different from tfurs, and it cannot any longer be denied that instances occur in which spe#ai senses that are hot possessed by woman beings are developed in anljphfe.- One of these, called ’The sense 'IS fflrtcUen,” enables bees to return from long distances to their hives, unaided by any of the live different ways have of recognizing our surroundTo test this matter thoroughly, the |srtlle honey makers have been taken Considerable distances from their hives, to localities which It was certain that Itoy had never before visited; yet when set free they flew a» unhesitatingly, as directly and unerringly home as from places perfectly known to them. 3 A few years ago it occurred to a well known bee keeper that this remarkable ability on the part of bees might be made useful. Convincing himself that lm could rely upon their speedy return from anywhere within the range of tone or four miles from their hives, whether they had ..ever been at the .Vhtoe from which they started homeward or not, he set to work to test toelr ability to carry messages, as do toming pigeons. He accordingly procured a few bees from a friend who lived on the further side of a barren, Je&dy tract of land, which, offering no .Inducements in the way of possible food supplies, was never visited by the toaects, and crossed over to his own Going to his garden with his children ‘le touched certain tiny packages, prepared for the occasion, with bird lime. %pen these were written, in minute handwriting, certain messages from bli two little girls. The packages consistCd of the thinnest paper fastened with toe thinnest of thread and done up in the smallest parcels possible. Releasing the bees, one by one. from the pasteboard box in which they had been Imprisoned, he fastened with a trained hand each of the little packetß to the back of a bee, which be then allowed to fly away. Like homing pigeons, they started off at once across the unfamiliar desert for their home, arriving there in an incredibly short space of time with their packages secure upon their backs.—St Nicholas.