152 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The social bees are the bumble-bee artd the honey-bee. They 

 live in communities, which like those of the human race are 

 composed of drones, workers and queens. 



The big, bustling bumble-bee with its shining coat of black 

 and gold, which one always feels like stroking, is most useful 

 to the farmer, its principal work being the pollenization of red 

 clover. 



The queen bee spends the greater portion of the spring and 

 summer laying eggs. The cells in which the eggs of the 

 workers and drones are laid are also used for the storing of 

 honey. These cells are hexagonal in form and nearly hori- 

 zontal, while those of the paper making bees are always vertical. 



They are constructed in such a manner as to secure the 

 greatest storing capacity as well as the greatest strength. The 

 drone cells are much larger and more firmly braced than those 

 of the worker brood but differ in no other respect. All of them 

 incline upward to facilitate the storing of honey and to prevent 

 its running out before capping. If you carefully examine a 

 box of honey you will find that the lower rows of cells are much 

 more inclined than those of the upper part. 



The queen cell is always much larger, is cylindrical in form, 

 and of a dark brown color and in shape resembles a peanut, its 

 sides being pitted. This insures much greater strength than if 

 they were smooth on the principle that, "a certain amount of 

 material is stronger in a large hollow cylinder than in a smaller 

 one that is solid." 



After the eggs hatch the larvae are fed on pollen and honey. 

 In a few days they fill the cells, and refuse to eat. Then they 

 are covered over with wax by their caretakers and we speak of 

 this stage of their existence as "sealed brood ;" though a novice 

 in the business, whose strong point is poultry raising, informed 

 us one day to our great amazement, that his bees were 

 "brooding." 



The larva after being sealed spins a fine silk cocoon and after 

 two weeks' sleep during which it undergoes a most mysterious 

 transformation, bursts its prison walls and emerges a perfect 

 bee. 



It is very interesting to watch the young bees out on the light- 

 ing board for an airing, and being caressed and fed. If taken 

 carefully up on the finger, they will move quietly around with- 



