66 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



that hatches first will destroy the rest, unless the stock is 

 strong. • 



Question, Does the queen ever feed herself, or is she fed 

 by the workers ? 



Mr. Jeffries. Both ways. Sometimes she feeds herself, 

 and sometimes they feed her. During the height of the honey 

 season, when they are gathering honey freely and she is laying 

 rapidly, any bee that happens to come in with a lot of honey 

 and passes her will offer ber food. I have noticed that by 

 watching them in a hive with but one comb and glass on both 

 sides. 



Question. When you send a queen through the mail, why 

 do you put workers with her ? Is it to feed her ? 



Mr. Jeffries. More for company than anything else. A 

 queen alone does not carry well. 



Question. About how many do you ship with her ? 



Mr. Jeffries. The distance that the queen is to be trans- 

 ported makes a difference in the number of workers that 

 should be shipped with her. If she was not going more than 

 a mile or two, I should put her into the same cage I was going 

 to introduce into the hive ; but if I was going to 'send her five 

 hundred miles, I should put from a dozen to twenty-five or 

 thirty workers with her, according to the season of the year. 

 Early in the spring and late in the fall she would need more 

 than she would in the height of the summer season. 



Question. How many eggs does a bee lay, usually, for one 

 brood ? 



Mr. Jeffries. They are continually laying from the time 

 they begin in the spring until they shut off in the fall. 



Question. Can you give an estimate of the aggregate * 

 number ? 



Mr. Jeffries. I cannot give you an estimate without 

 figuring, because the number varies considerably. Experience 

 this summer has proved that they will lay twenty-four hundred 

 eggs in twenty-four hours. The way we verify that is by 



