PART VI. 



BEES AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 



IN all ages of the world s history, honey bees have been held in high esteem, and honey 

 as an article of food regarded as a luxury. Aside from the sweet product which they 

 manufacture, there will ever be much interest associated with the study of the peculiar 

 habits and wonderful instincts of these little insects; hence, bee-keeping, as a pursuit, is 

 one of the most attractive of employments, and when properly managed, is also very profit 

 able. Any farmer could keep a few swarms of bees, sufficient to furnish a good supply of 

 honey for home use, and these would require but very little care; but it is quite essential that 

 this attention be given at the proper time. By a little forethought, however, this can be so 

 managed as not to interfere with the regular occupation. To be a successful apiarist and 

 conduct the business on an extensive scale, requires close observation, patient and persistent 

 effort, and promptness to do whatever is necessary to be done without delay. It would be 

 well for the apiarist to commence with a few swarms at first in order to acquire familiarity 

 with the business by actual work and observation among them; he should also be aided by 

 the most authentic writers on the subject, and thus acquire all the practical information pos 

 sible. His colonies will soon rapidly increase, even without any other additions, and he will 

 find it a paying as well as interesting and pleasant employment. 



Natural History of Bees. The honey bee belongs to the order Hexapods, or true 

 insects, and the sub-order Hymenoptera, which includes wasps, etc., such insects as have a 

 tongue for taking liquid food and strong jaws for biting. The honey bee belongs to the 

 family Apidce which comprises all insects that feed their larva? on pollen and honey. The 

 larva of the bee is a footless, maggot-like grub, which is fed on honey and pollen. It has 

 been ascertained that the egg which would otherwise produce a working bee, may be changed 

 during its growth by the workers, when necessary, to a queen. This is done by feeding with 

 a peculiar kind of food which seems to be more stimulating than that fed to the ordinary 

 bees. The mother bee or queen, lays all the eggs from which the colony is hatched, her eggs 

 producing workers, commonly called &quot;neuters,&quot; drones or males, and queens. 



She lives several years, but the working bees do not survive more than one year, and the 

 males are destroyed at the end of the first summer s growth. The queen bee. unlike most 

 insects, deposits eggs ten or eleven months during the year in temperate climates; although 

 in a climate where the winters are very severe, the season of depositing eggs would be some 

 what shorter. When the eggs are about to hatch, the bees seek industriously for that kind 

 of nourishment suitable for the food of the larva?. This consists of pollen, with a proportion 

 of honey and water that has been perfectly digested in the stomachs of the bees. The egg 

 is hatched, when kept in a proper temperature, in about three days, and the larva, which 

 resembles a small white worm, lies coiled up in the bottom of the cell. The bees feed it with 

 the greatest care. In the course of five or six days it has attained its full size, and nearly fills 

 the cell in which it is confined. It now ceases to eat, and the bees close up the cell with a 

 covering of wax-like substance. For the next thirty-six hours the larva is busily engaged 

 spinning its cocoon, and in three days more it enters the pupa state. It is now white, and 

 the head, wings, legs, and every other part of the future bee may be distinguished through 

 its transparent cocoon. In the course of seven or eight days it tears or bursts its covering, 

 and emerges from its cell a perfectly formed bee. This is all accomplished in twenty-one 

 days after the egg is deposited in the cell by the queen mother, or twenty-five days after the 

 time the eggs were laid. The drones or males, however, require four days longer. As soon 

 as the young bee is thus emancipated from its cell, its guardians or nurses gather around it, 

 caressing it with their tongues and giving it all the food it will eat. They then clean out the 

 cell it has vacated, except leaving untouched a great portion of cocoon or web, which serves 

 to bind the sides of the comb more firmly together. When it quits the cell, the young bee is 

 light gray in color. For several days afterwards, frequently a week or two, the working 

 bees occupy themselves inside the hive mostly, and will not be seen flying about much, they 

 being busily employed as nurses to the young hatched bees. (888) 



