FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 245 



such a father and such a mother, with no ancestor for unnumbered ages 

 back that ever did a stroke of field or house work, come to be the skillful, 

 industrious being she is? 



On the advent of spring the strength of colony is at its lowest ebb, 

 and the object then in view is to increase its numbers. About the first 

 of April the queen begins to deposit eggs in worker cells which are one- 

 fifth inch in diameter, while the drone cells are one-fourth inch in 

 diameter, one egg in each cell. She soon lays as many eggs as the clus- 

 ter of bees can cover and keep warm. In about three days the egg 

 hatches; in about six days after that the larva is sufficiently fed and 

 so large that it more than half fills the cell and is capped over, and in 

 about twelve days thereafter it emerges a full grown worker — about 

 twenty-one days from the laying of the egg. As fast as the cells are thus 

 made vacant, the queen again supplies each with an egg, and as the bees 

 increase in numbers the circle of the brood increases, until in June a 

 good colony has its hive three-fourths full of brood, and the queen is 

 laying 2,000 to 3,000 eggs per day. Sometimes before that, if everything 

 is prosperous, the first preparation is made for swarming by rearing, 

 drones — sometimes in large numbers if drone comb is not restricted by 

 the apiarist. The drone emerges from the cell in about twenty-four days. 

 When the hive is crowded with bees, and honey is coming in freely, 

 further preparation for swarming is made by the production of queens. 

 For these special cells are made. First they appear like a small acorn 

 cup, the open side downward, in which the egg is laid; the cell is then 

 enlarged downward and abundantly supplied with food, and when 

 capped over resembles somewhat a common peanut. The young queen 

 grows quickly and is ready to emerge in sixteen days from the laying of 

 the egg. There may be a dozen or more of these cells in different stages 

 of progress. About the time the first cell is capped, if everything is 

 favorable, a swarm issues, the old queen and the older bees going out. 

 In about a week the oldest young bee emerges and in a day or two issues 

 with a second swarm, unless the bees have concluded to swarm no more, 

 and have destroyed the other queen cells. 



The young queen, usually when a week or ten days old, flies out to meet 

 the drone, and when once mated she is fertilized as a rule for life, and 

 goes out no more except with a swarm. Curiously enough, fertilized 

 eggs produce workers or queens, if unfertilized, drones, and the queen 

 appears to control the fertilization at will. 



The workers live only six or seven weeks during the active season, and 

 seven or eight months during the quiet season. The drones probably live 

 three or four months sometimes, but seldom, if ever, over winter, while a 

 queen lives from three to five years. 



